And so I contacted Goran and Eric right then and there.
“Goran, Eric. I want mithril and magic stones. Can you help me?”
‘Well, I could help you. But what are you going to use them for?’
I explained it to them.
‘Oh? That’s good. The kingdom’s treasury can pay for that. Goran, I’ll leave the rest to you.’
‘Mithril and magic stones can be prepared as long as we have the money, so don’t worry about that.’
Adventurers brought magic stones in every day.
And mithril was often brought into town from the mines.
After this was settled, I returned to where Serulis was.
“Serulis. We finished making the magic tool. Try putting it on.”
“…Mister Locke and Miss Philly. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Serulis was very happy. Her eyes were even brimming with tears.
“Serulis, I’m so happy for you.”
“Now you can come adventuring with us, sister Serulis.”
Shia and Nia said happily.
However, I wasn’t so relieved just yet.
“Serulis. Put the bracelet on and come out to the garden.”
“Huh? Okay.”
When we were outside, I had Serulis and Kathe stand side by side.
And then I cast an illusion on both of them.
This was to see how strong the mental resistance was.
“Uh…I saw a bear.”
“Hmm? Yes, there was a bear. I see. You cast an illusion, didn’t you? That won’t work on me.”
Serulis looked puzzled.
They had both seen the illusion, but they were not tricked by it.
So this at least meant that it had raised Serulis’s resistance.
“I see. Then what about this?”
I strengthened the magic a little by little. I wanted to see how far I could go.
“Ah!”
“Woah.”
I had to use all my strength to eventually succeed in scaring both of them.
This meant that it was just as hard to fool Serulis as it was the wind dragon ruler.
“There shouldn’t be a problem if your resistance is this high now.”
“Good! Thank you so much, Mister Locke!”
“Thank you for helping, Kathe.”
“It is a rare experience to be able to have Locke cast an illusion on you. I shall boast about it to Leea. Still, that was very impressive, Locke.”
“Really?”
“I am the wind dragon ruler. That means I have a stronger resistance than most. And yet you were able to beat me.”
“But it took me way too long, and I used up so much energy. I wouldn’t have been able to do it during a real battle.”
“Gahahahaha! I see!”
Kathe laughed happily.
Then Serulis said,
“Now I can finally join the vampire hunters.”
“Well, wait a minute.”
“What?”
“You have to have Goran’s permission.”
I said as I connected the bracelet to Goran.
‘What is it? Locke? If it’s about the magic stones…’
“No, that’s not what it is.”
“Daddy!”
‘Hm? Serulis. What is it?’
Serulis explained the situation to him and asked for his permission.
Goran was hesitant at first, but ultimately gave his consent.
The next day, Shia, Nia, and Serulis left in order to meet up with the others of the beastkin tribe.
“Be careful.”
“I know. And thank you for everything, Mister Locke.”
“Your life is what is most important!”
“Don’t worry, daddy.”
Goran could not help but be worried.
I also called out to my apprentice, Nia.
“You be careful too.”
“I will!”
I was very worried.
I would have gone with them if we didn’t have to protect the water dragon settlement.
“Shia, take care of them.”
“I know. I will do my best.”
Once the three of them were gone, I headed for the water dragon settlement. Grulf came with me.
“Locke. I’m glad you came.”
“Thank you.”
As always, Princess Leea and Grand Chamberlain Morris were there to greet us.
I took Grulf on a walk as I listened to them talk about the attacks on the settlement.
There were attacks every day.
However, they were only attacks on a small scale.
They were mostly just strike-teams made up of lesser vampires. They were easy to drive back.
“…I think I will start staying the night here.”
“Really? That would be great.”
“We would be very relieved.”
The dark ones generally attacked at night.
This was because the majority of the dark ones were nocturnal.
Morris said,
“Still, why do they keep sending lesser vampires?”
“Yes… Perhaps they are searching for a hole in the barrier.”
“A hole?”
“The dark ones are not stupid. They know that they cannot defeat you regardless of how many lessers they throw at you. So it must be to gather information.”
So there was a main army hiding nearby.
Once they found a weakness, they would come in all at once.
And so that was why I decided to stay the night.
“We should inspect the barrier carefully every day.”
“We do check it, but perhaps there is something we have overlooked. I would be glad if you could help.”
After that, it was decided that I would help protect the settlement at night and return to the capital in the morning.
In the city, I helped Philly make more magic tools.
As the process had been simplified, all I had to do was cast some magic on them at the end.
Of course, they were still not as good as the one we made for Serulis.
However, it was still a great improvement for the kights that would use them.
And then I returned to the water dragon settlement at night.
I also decided to fight in the front, even if they were just lesser vampires.
I thought that I might learn something about them.
Life continued like this for a while and was mostly peaceful.