Ego Ironstone
The free city of Himrave. Belonging to no noble's domain, this place was ruled not by an aristocrat but by a Unified Guild—an alliance forged when the city's many guilds each contributed a portion of their strength to form a single governing body.
The Mercenary Guild, the Merchant Guild, the Blacksmith Guild, the Alchemist Guild, the Mage Guild—every guild that had put down roots in Himrave had pooled part of itself into this collective power. That Unified Guild decided and enforced every matter of the city. And the one who had summoned me was none other than its Guildmaster.
I followed a militiaman up through the guild building and stepped into the upper-floor chamber where the Guildmaster waited.
"Welcome. I've been expecting you—the savior of our Himrave."
"Ahaha, savior? That's a little much."
The moment I entered, I was met by the Guildmaster rising from his seat in warm welcome. When he elevated me with that title and I answered with an embarrassed laugh, he smiled back—yet his voice was firm.
"No. I mean every word. When the earthquakes first struck Himrave, I truly believed the city might vanish that very day. And then, not long after, a black trunk of stone rose above Bramante Volcano."
"That would be what formed when I stopped the eruption."
"Indeed. To be honest, when I first heard that a mere fifteen-year-old had stopped a volcanic eruption and created a spectacle of that scale, I doubted it. Sigrun, was it? I assumed she had filed a false report."
"A fair suspicion. If someone told me a fifteen-year-old had stopped a volcano, I'd have called it a lie myself."
I could hardly blame him. Had I been in his place and heard that a child of fifteen had sealed a volcano—and that the black stone pillar had risen because of it—I would have dismissed the claim as nonsense.
"But then… I saw Morana, the Void Cult's archbishop you captured. After that, I had no choice but to believe. No one else returned from Bramante Volcano, and anyone strong enough to bind a powerhouse like her could only have been the one who stopped the eruption on the spot."
"It's a little embarrassing to say it myself, but… yes. That's right. I really did stop it."
Even if he had wanted to doubt me, Morana in chains and every circumstance surrounding the event proved my words true, and so the Guildmaster declared he would trust me. Had he pressed me further without accepting the evidence, I might have been forced to explain True Name Release the way I had to Sigrun—but once the circumstantial proof was all there, he seemed to regard further interrogation as discourteous.
When I confirmed the truth once more, the Guildmaster bowed to me without the slightest hesitation.
"On behalf of Himrave, I offer you my deepest gratitude. Thank you—truly—for saving our city."
"Ah…! P-please straighten up. This is far too much. You have to preserve a Guildmaster's dignity, don't you?"
Why was everyone bowing to me so much today? Still, having already endured something similar from Sigrun not long before, I recovered from my fluster more quickly this time and waved both hands at him.
Yet even after my protests, the Guildmaster kept his head lowered in thanks. Only after another ten seconds or so did he finally rise again.
"I know how heavy my head is. Himrave is an enormous city even by continental standards. No one understands the weight of this office better than I."
And that weight was real. As the man who led a Unified Guild woven from every kind of guild, the burden of his position rivaled that of most nobles. Yet he continued, saying he knew that truth best of all.
"Even so, a heavy head must still learn when to bow. As the one charged with Himrave, if I will not lower my head to the benefactor who saved this city, then when would I ever?"
"Well… if you put it like that…"
When he spoke with such conviction, what more could I say? I simply nodded and accepted his gratitude. Only then did the Guildmaster brighten with a smile and nod in return.
"Then let us move on to the next matter. After you have saved all of Himrave, mere words of thanks will hardly do. Tell me what reward you desire. Whatever it is, I will do everything in my power to grant it."
"Mm… a reward I want, is it?"
I rubbed my chin and let out a quiet hum. A reward in exchange for saving Himrave. The question left me without an immediate answer, and I had no choice but to think.
He had said "anything," but I could not truly ask for just anything. I could hardly demand a specialty product from a city on the opposite side of the continent.
Something I can obtain right here in Himrave would be ideal…
I had no desire to name a reward that would take ages to procure and leave me stuck in the city. What did I need that I could receive at once?
As I turned the problem over carefully in my mind, one item flashed through my thoughts.
Ah—wait. Himrave, of all places…
Himrave handled more than thirty percent of the continent's rare and unusual ores. That meant it held strange minerals found nowhere else, and among them was one metal that could be obtained only here and commanded the highest price of all.
Ego Ironstone. That's right—there was that.
Ego Ironstone. A metal discovered only in minute quantities deep within Himrave's mines, nestled among far more common precious ores. It often appeared embedded inside the raw stone of other minerals.
This metal liquefied in response to threats against itself, could not be destroyed by physical force, and possessed the property of drawing other pieces of itself together until they became one. But its most important trait—the reason it sold for more than any other mineral in Himrave—was this: the moment it first accepted a human's mana, it reshaped itself into the form of some living creature and thereafter regarded the owner of that mana as its parent, following them devotedly.
The forms it takes are said to vary wildly.
When mana was poured into an Ego Ironstone that had never before received any, the simple metal transformed. Its new shape was known to differ from case to case, yet it was generally accepted that the creature it became reflected the personality and capacity of the mana's owner.
Ego Ironstone itself was rare enough that documented cases were few, but some had become gentle animals—cats, butterflies, sparrows—while others had taken the forms of fiercer beasts such as spiders, eagles, or snakes.
And my reason for wanting one was simple.
A mage ought to have at least one pet.
In the game, Ego Ironstone had been a clever companion that aided players in countless ways. In battle it spent the player's mana to provide combat support; outside of combat it carried light loads and handled small chores. Because it could also liquefy its body, it could slip through locked doors with ease and even transform into various tools when the situation demanded. It was the very definition of versatile—so I voiced the request carefully.
"Would it… be possible to receive some Ego Ironstone?"
"Ego Ironstone, you say?"
At my words the Guildmaster's brows lifted slightly skyward. He clearly had not expected that answer, and his reaction made me tense in spite of myself.
Was that too greedy a request…?
Ego Ironstone was genuinely precious. The amount obtained from a single ore was never enough to form a proper pet; producing even a barely serviceable one required combining the yield of at least five ores. Only lumps of Ego Ironstone fused from five or more pieces held real value, and those were usually obtained only at steep auction prices.
Given all that, the thought that I might have asked for too much flickered through my mind.
But the Guildmaster's next action swept that tension clean away.
"Is anyone outside? If so, come in."
The door swung open at once, and a militiaman who had been waiting outside stepped into the room.
"Yes, Guildmaster. You called?"
"Yes. Do you happen to remember how many pieces of Ego Ironstone make up the largest lump currently stored in my personal vault?"
"Hmm… I cannot say with perfect accuracy, but when I last counted, I believe it was the combined yield of fifty-four pieces."
A single mass of Ego Ironstone fused from fifty-four pieces. The moment I heard those words I swallowed hard without meaning to.
Sigrun, standing beside me, clearly had no precise grasp of the lump's value—but I could estimate it well enough. If a mass of fifty-four Ego Ironstones ever went on the market, it would cost the entire fortune of a mid-tier count's house to purchase. For someone in my current position, it was a quantity I could neither imagine owning nor even dare to covet.
So why, at this very moment, had the Guildmaster mentioned that particular lump?
I had a suspicion, yet I could not quite allow myself to believe it. I swallowed quietly—and then the words that turned suspicion into certainty left his lips.
"Bring that Ego Ironstone at once. It is to be given to the savior who rescued our Himrave."