Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 8

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 8
Tei, who had been caught in the filthy sewage, came to his senses and realized he was now lying in a pool of clean water.
Had he drifted through the central treatment facility? How far downstream had the current carried him?
“Are you conscious now?”
Glashalavolias, with a rope wound around his waist, was hanging above Tei and looking down at him bluntly.
That same rope was tied to Tei’s body as well.
It seemed Tei had survived drowning because of Glashalavolias.
“Well, well. Looks like you made it through.”
“I’m in no danger of harm myself. Aside from the considerable trouble you caused me, there’s no problem.”
“Thanks, then.”
“No need for thanks. It’s been ages since I left the Middle Realm, and if my contractor dies pathetically, I lose out too.”
That would be true.
Many Imps are summoned through basic demon-summoning magic, but Imp Butlers as special as this one aren’t summoned often at all.
Imp summoning is, in essence, a random draw.
Pure luck of the draw.
To get a guaranteed summon, you’d need to know the demon’s True Name, and a demon’s True Name is classified as extremely secret knowledge.
Though Black Magic and contracts with demons have been permitted since the Foreign Gods War a thousand years ago, such forbidden knowledge hasn’t spread unchecked.
Demons were only marginally better than the Foreign Gods themselves, and they weren’t creatures you could truly trust.
Even as they conversed, Glashalavolias continued moving while keeping Tei tethered to him.
And shortly after, they reached a place where they could climb out.
With Hellfire burning above the Imp Butler’s head, they could see their surroundings—and it was quite the surprising sight.
Here and there, things that looked decidedly science-fiction in nature were moving about, though they appeared to be powered by magic.
These were Golems maintaining the Ancient Sewage System.
“But what in the world is this place?”
“Quite so. Do you not know?”
“I know vaguely that this is some awesome ancient facility, but nothing beyond that.”
“Your contractor knows nothing, it seems. Most disappointing.”
“And if you’re disappointed, what of it? The contract’s already made—there’s nothing you can do about it! Ha!”
At Tei’s attitude, the Imp’s eyes took on the look of someone observing something hopelessly foolish.
“As a sentient demon, I shall bear with it.”
“Suit yourself. Anyway… we really do need to figure out an escape… Say, listen, Aes.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Show me every Black Magic spell you can use.”
“Are you trying to steal and learn my Black Magic?”
“If it’ll keep us alive, we need it.”
“Hmm… normally, teaching Black Magic knowledge would require proper compensation.”
“You know I’ll figure it out by watching anyway, so what’s the point?”
“There are quite a few non-combat Black Magic spells as well.”
“Fine, fine… so what do you want instead?”
“I’ll teach you Soul Theft. Give me the Soul Fragments you obtain from it. Depending on how many fragments you gather, I’ll share my magic accordingly.”
“You know Soul Theft too?”
Tei was taken aback. Wait—an Imp actually knows how to use such powerful Black Magic?
“A demon of my caliber can manage that much.”
Glashalavolias said it with a touch of pride.
But he had reason to boast.
Soul Theft was rather formidable Black Magic, but learning it normally came with a steep price.
“Let’s move first. This magic can’t be used unless there are living things around.”
“Right. But first, let me just check my supplies.”
Tei began taking inventory of what he had.
Remarkably enough.
His Backpack was waterlogged but intact.
Moreover, foreseeing the possibility of things falling into the sewage, he’d wrapped all his food supplies in waterproof cloth, so there was no damage there.
As Tei pulled those items out and checked them, he muttered.
“I packed provisions for five days just to be safe… but how long was I unconscious?”
“About a day.”
“If I’ve been drifting downstream for about a day… best case scenario, I might be able to get back within four or five days.”
“That’s overly optimistic. You fell nearly vertical. You’ve gone quite deep. And furthermore, is there even a way back to reach?”
“So in the worst case, it could take tens of days?”
“Indeed. This water appears to be purified, so it should be drinkable… but humans can’t survive without food.”
“If worse comes to worst, I’ll just have to hunt and eat monsters.”
‘At least I’ve got the Cooking skill through the Hunter System. I wonder if grilling monsters over Hellfire will make me sick or not.’
Tei considered this to himself, then summoned his floating Hellfire magic and drew the ball of flame toward him.
For now, he’d dry his clothes and equipment before moving on.
Sizzle, sizzle.
“Drying clothes over Hellfire—now that’s a feeling to set the soul on fire.”
Tei, who had grown somewhat sentimental, attempted something like verse. A side effect of rebirth. Thrust into an environment so different from his past life, he occasionally found himself spouting such nonsense.
“What in the world is that supposed to be?”
The Imp Butler’s expression twisted in absolute revulsion.
“Never mind. I get the urge to talk nonsense sometimes.”
“Humans are truly a difficult species to comprehend.”
“But this thing’s got real power. Dries things fast.”
Once his clothes were fully dry, he dried the backpack as well. The Hellfire left everything reeking of sulfur.
After gearing up once more,
Tei began exploring the Ancient Sewage System alongside his summoned demon.
* * *
A Walking Mushroom appeared.
Not just one, either.
A staggering number of them.
“They don’t even clean this place?”
The corridor stretched nearly twenty meters high, and its width was equally vast.
Yet from the ground all the way to the ceiling, fungi and moss clung in dense clusters.
And beneath all that, clusters of so-called Walking Mushrooms were plainly visible.
“An actual ecosystem down here?”
“Ancient as the sewage system may be, it seems no magical countermeasures were put in place for passages like this.”
“What really gets under my skin is that the maintenance Golems are still running at all.”
“If a permanent enchantment were applied, it would be entirely feasible. Even just Restoration Magic would allow them to function eternally, so long as no one deliberately destroys them.”
“Right, that’s a thing.”
Restoration Magic—it returned damaged objects to their original state. A second-rank spell, typically used for mending items.
If Golems had been imbued with it permanently, then Glashalavolias was right; maintaining these passages would be no mystery.
“What will you do?”
“Hunt them. And good timing too—those things are edible.”
“Truly?”
“Yeah.”
Tei recalled various famous animated series and manga from his past life.
Dungeon Meals!
A manga about surviving by hunting and eating monsters within dungeons.
In truth, the concept of eating things found in dungeons predated that particular anime and manga.
Among classic games, there existed something called the Foodie’s Blade, which, when used to carve up monsters, made them edible.
Not that one even needed to delve into such past-life trivia.
In this world too, there were plenty of edible monsters.
Some were so delicious that gourmands paid exorbitant prices for them.
Walking Mushrooms weren’t particularly delicious, but they weren’t unpalatable either.
Simply tasted like mushroom—nothing more, nothing less.
Of course, considering what nutrients these creatures drew from down here in the sewage, one’s appetite might well vanish; but in an emergency like this, he was in no position to be selective.
“The problem is… there are far too many. But I’ve got a method.”
The mushrooms were moving something through the passage. On closer inspection, they were corpses.
Human. Or rat-man. Or Goblin. Or giant centipede.
Indeed.
Horrifyingly enough, the mushrooms used these corpses as breeding grounds to propagate!
Nightmarish.
Moreover, with numbers that vast, attacking them would bring a stampede crashing down on him instantly.
But it wasn’t as if there were no way to manage it.
Tei began his preparations.
* * *
A Walking Mushroom on the outer edge turned its body toward the tapping sound. These creatures had no eyes, nose, or mouth.
Their entire bodies functioned as sensory organs—in fact, they detected enemies through vibration.
So naturally, it turned toward where the sound had come from.
It wobbled as it walked, moving toward the source of the noise.
Then the sound clicked and clacked, growing distant.
The Walking Mushroom continued its pursuit.
He moved like that for quite some time.
Then he felt a sudden wave of searing heat wash across his body.
Thrash! Thrash!
Without a mouth, it couldn’t cry out. And truthfully, these creatures couldn’t feel pain at all.
But they could sense when they were being attacked—that’s why it was thrashing about!
Yet.
The fire didn’t go out. To make matters worse, he felt something draining away from within himself!
Shrieeeeek!
That was Soul Theft—the magic Glashalavolias had unleashed!
Indeed.
It had been lured in.
Tricked by the oldest method—rope with a stone tied to it, clattering to draw it out—it had wandered far from its nest only to be ambushed like this.
Between the clinging flames and the Soul Theft, its life was snuffed out in an instant and it collapsed!
“Just as I thought. You learn by theft in a single attempt.”
And the demon and the human who had carried out this deed conversed.
“Of course. Child’s play. By the way—this thing had a soul too.”
“A mushroom without a soul? That’s hardly possible.”
“Here.”
“Much obliged.”
Tei tossed a Soul Fragment to the demon.
“But why do I have to hand it over like this?”
“It is the law. I am bound to you by a summoning contract—I may only keep what you give me directly. What I obtained through the Soul Theft Black Magic I just used will vanish when I return to the Infernal Realm.”
“So there were constraints like that. I’ve learned something new.”
“The world has changed so much, it seems. That a human as ignorant as you could wield Black Magic at all.”
“The Foreign Gods, probably.”
As they conversed.
Tei drew a blade from his Backpack and carved up the Walking Mushroom.
He hacked its body into chunks, then withdrew from the spot.
They weren’t completely far from the nest yet. There was no way to leisurely roast mushroom here.
So, putting some distance between them.
He roasted it over Hellfire and ate.
For some reason, the mushroom roasted over Hellfire had a faint taste of meat to it.
The Black Mage’s Blacksmith Is Too Easy
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Automaton G
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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