Chapter 399 – The Manipulator

As she asked me for help the clay pieces slimed back together into the three bodies again.

「Luka, cut them up one more time so I can get some time to think up something.」

「Sure!」

She ran back into the fray and cut them up again.

I searched for any magic I could find being used around me.

Luka wasn’t a magician, but she did have a good sense of perception.

She had fought these things for a while, but didn’t sense what was controlling them.

Whatever enemy magician controlled them had to be very advanced.

The magician was good with concealment, as we discovered in the ring that was near Jearl’s stable.

「Will it take more time?」

「I’m ready. Femm, run as I tell you!」

『Sure.』

I read a very faint flow of magical stream. I got Femm to run along it. Luka ran with me.

「This way? Seems to lead far away.」

「Yeah, normally the controlling magician would be close.」

Femm followed my directions and ran full speed for 30 minutes.

「Femm, Luka, don’t stop. If you see something, cut it down!」

「Wuff!」「Sure!」

Just then I took a huge magical bolt and slammed it deep into the ground, as if I was charging through the earth.

The ground echoed in the blast and the wind as we ran past pushed against my back.

The snow and earth mixed and spread over the ground around us.

The dirt in the air fell, and we could see something moving in the air because of it.

「There it is!!!!」

Luka said, and charged right at it with an attack.

「Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!」

It’s scream rattled in our ears and we saw blood spray and fall on the ground.

「I can finish it now!」

「No, Luka! Not yet!」

If we finished it off now, we couldn’t ask why it was doing this.

As our eyes followed the trail of blood, we could see who it was Luka had cut open.

It had changed its concealment magic to healing magic and left itself open.

『I can smell him!』

「That’s some concealment magic!」

It seems that this was a small demon. It had a deep stab wound in its chest.

It was trying desperately to stay alive and had stopped moving.

「Another demon…」

「But even a demon like this could control those clay things from afar.」

『You think that statue too?』

「Too hard for it, I think.」

We were quite a ways from Elkay now.

It would take a lot of magic to control both of the monsters from far distances.

I bound the demon up so he couldn’t move.

「Where are the others!」

「…」

The demon stared at me and said nothing.

I wasn’t good at questioning others, and it was hard enough to get a demon to talk.

「Let’s take him to the agent.」

「Yeah.」

Demons weren’t people. An agent really had no jurisdiction over them.

Even so, since the town took damage because of them, we should leave the matter to the agent to deal with.

「Luka, take care of those clay monsters now.」

「Sure, you take care of Mister Demon.」

「Got it. Glad I lugged this cage I made previously in the bag.」

I took out the cage I made for the so-called Demon Lord and his friend and put him in.

「You just going to stick him in there?」

Luka asked, as she dispatched the clay monsters that had arrived and now she putting in her own bag in heaps and clumps.

「I guess. You need something for the clay, like a jar or something?」

「No need, my bag won’t get dirty because of something like this.」

「I see.」

You could just run water through it to clean it, after all.

It just took time and was a bit tedious.

That’s why you didn’t put a lot of dirty stuff inside.

「I’m used to putting dirty stuff in it anyway, no big deal.」

「I know, but…」

「Should I put it in that cage instead? It’s a small demon, so not a tight fit.」

「Yeah, he’s a lot smaller than that “demon lord” or his demon friend.」

So I put him in the cage. He resisted, but it was for nothing.

Then I sealed it with a strong magic seal.

「Ok, now how do we carry him?」

「With gravity magic?」

Luka was done with the clay monsters and said.

「That’s the easiest, but people will notice the magic.」

Luka said, picking up the cage and putting it on her shoulder.

I was thinking she’d at least look back and tell me she’d carry it, but she put it back down again.

「Wuff wuff」Femm said happily, wagging its tail.

『You blew that statue into the sky. Wherever the other demon is, it’s gone into hiding now.』

「You’re probably right.」

So I lifted the demon-in-a-box with gravity magic and got on Femm.

We rode back into Elkay with Luka running beside.

「Did you fight those clay things all night?」

「Well, I guess you could say that.」

「You should have called me. I could have helped.」

「I know that but…」

「Something else wrong?」

Luka nodded and looked at me seriously.