- 81 -

Drew was watching a group of mercenaries performing their training.

I can adapt their routine to my needs and start my own exercises.

He has spent ten minutes running around the perimeter of the corral with his armor on. He’d done squats until his legs felt like newborn jelly legs again.

He was now trying to find anything else to do first before he attempted to not drown himself in the trough.

The mercenaries were given the next 24 hours of free time. Some went drinking, and the rest got together for some exercising. They ran around the town, did pushups, chin ups and hanging crunches from a beam in the barn, and then paired up for some sparring.

Maggie opted out of the sparing to work on mending some armor. Drew tried to maintain his meditation while he flew through the barn and corral. He pushed himself to his limits; taking tight turns, flying through hanging loops of rope, and dodging around the mercenaries while they sparred.

Out of breath, he landed on the table Maggie was working on and took out his [lightning bolt] wand to charge it.

“That's the spirit Drew, no pain no gain.” Maggie said. “Don’t forget to work on your mana and stamina regeneration techniques.”

A John stopped by with a big grin on his face to drop off some pastries he’d baked earlier. They were Mishroom and some kind of crunchy nut.

“And don’t forget to eat to maintain your stamina.” He said.

Drew scarfed down the pastry and Jeff and Monroe finished their sparring match and were gearing up for a run.

“Thank you for the pastry John, can you make sure Damien gets some when he is done with his notes?” Drew said, picking at the last crumbs on the table. “I’m going to follow Jeff and Monroe on their run.”

It would be good to stretch my wings, I’m not sure how fast I can go now after I leveled up my flying skill.

Drew picked up a bucket and flew along behind the two mercenaries as they ran through the streets to the east gate.

After this gets easy, I’ll fill it with water and take it up a notch.

The two mercenaries ran without stopping and it quickly became clear that they were going to outlast the overburdened Skurr.

Drew landed besides the east gate to catch his breath.

“Don’t worry guys, go on without me!” Drew said.

The city guard stared at the talking skurr, he kept his comments to himself.

“Some stamina training.” Drew offered by way of explanation. “I’ll be gone in just a minute.”

He sat down to meditate and recover his stamina.

Gosh my muscles are burning. Maybe I can find a hot bath to ease things up and heal a bit…

“Can I heal my muscle fatigue?!” Drew shouted.

The guard gave them a strange look they straightened back out to stare out the gate.

Drew activated his healing ability and noticed that his stamina regenerated faster without the pain in his muscles.

I don’t have a debuff, but it feels like it’s working. Atleast the pain is going away.

His stamina filled up quickly and Drew flew back through town to test out his healed muscles.

He spotted the kids from the other day the three boys are standing around the skinny elf girl and they are arguing.

“Your imaginary friend is stupid!” The boy with the stick sword said.

“Yeah, last week you said you’d bring it to show us but you didn’t. You are a liar!” The younger boy shouted.

“Shut up! He’s real! You don’t know. He just didn’t want to meet you guys yet.” She said.

“Kirtus, this is kid stuff. Just drop the whole thing. Talking fire isn’t real.” The largest boy said.

“He is real. Just like the demon bird we saw. Nace is my friend. He’s helping me find my father.” Kirtus said as she stood up.

She was holding a heavy iron pot with a lid. Its sides were blackened with burnt grease and ash from countless years in the fireplace.

“But I brought him today, he didn’t want to come but I caught him in the pot.” She said.

Talking fire? Is that a thing? Maybe it’s a friendly fire spirit or something?

“No way! You are just lying again!” The younger brother shouted.

“Wait guys, there’s smoke coming from the pot… what if she’s got it in there?” The older brother asked and he gripped his stick tightly.

“You will see! I’m not a liar. Say hello to my little friend Nace!” She shouted as she swept away the lid of the iron pot.

- 82 -

Drew moved to the rooftop to get a better view inside the pot as the three boys stood frozen.

Inside was a small glob of liquid fire. It puddled at the bottom of the heavy pot. Like any normal liquid would.

It took a bite out of a small piece of split firewood then looked up at the boys.

“F-finally, more air. It was stif—f-fling in the pot Kirtus. I could barely breath-he.” The puddle of flames said. It spoke quietly, its voice shifty and crackly like a fireplace.

“No way! It can speak?” The leader boy said. He had been holding his breath just like the other boys.

“Oh? Are th-hese your f-friends? I’ll give th-hem a wish too if they bring me someth-hing to eat-t-t.” Nace said. “I like dried wood, or Mish-h-hrooms. No need to cook th-hem, I can roast th-th-them my self. Hah! I made a joke.” It chuckled to itself.

Kirtus was smiling broadly at her friends, and shaking excitedly.

“He grants wishes. He’s going to help me find my father. But he needs food to grow strong enough to use the wish.” Kirtus said.

The eldest boy moved slowly to take a step back and brought up his hand up to his face.

“Kirtus. Put the pot down.” The eldest boy whispered. “That thing is dangerous.”

“What is it Dyler?” The older brother asked as he backed up. He grabbed his younger brother and pulled him back away from the puddle of fire.

“Nace is friendly guys. What are you doing? Now you guys can get wishes too!” Kirtus said.

“It’s a demon.” Dyler said.

It’s more of a fire slime. But the kid is right that it’s dangerous. As much as I wanted another monster to talk to, this one really has the potential to burn down a building.

“Now, th-that’s not very nice. We could have been f-f-friends.” Nace said. He pulled the last of the firewood into his mouth and pointed a small flabby hand at the boys. “Jus-st BURNNNN!”

Liquid fire burst out all over the ground as Kirtus screamed and dropped the pot.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Oh shit!

The ground was aflame all around the children and the little fire ball was still yelling.

The eldest boy pushed the two brothers roughly out of the way and grabbed the stick to use as a weapon.

“Nace! Nace! Stop that. What are you doing?” Kirtus yelled.

Drew swooped in and dropped the bucket in the fire monsters face. It grunted and slid out of the pot onto the ground.

He used [Mage Hand] to pull the girl back as flames poured out of the small monster again.

She screamed and fell backwards tumbling on the ground.

The fire spread to a woven basket full of blankets and the angry glob of flame pulled itself along the trail of fire as it licked its lips.

Shit! How do we stop this thing?

The eldest boy, Dyler ran forwards and sliced through the animate blob of fire with the stick. His strike easy passed through the monster, spilling its liquid fire over the ground.

“You got it Dyler!” The younger boy said.

“Heh! It wasn’t so tough.” He said.

The puddle of liquid fire pooled itself together and turned to face the boy.

“Get back!” Drew shouted.

He flew towards them but the monster spat its flames out over the boy.

Drew grabbed the screaming kid as he dropped the stick and gripped his thigh. His leg was bathed in flames from the knee down.

Drew activated his healing spells and turned to keep one eye on the monster as it slid from the scattered spots of flame towards the basket once again.

Debuff: Burning: (0/1)

Shit! No timer, does this fire not go out on its own?

The two brothers ran off screaming and Kirtus knelt where she was, crying into her hands.

“Why? No he’s a nice fire. Why Nace?” She sobbed.

Drew pulled the boy over to the side of a building and used [Mage Hand] to scoop up handfuls of dirt and pile them onto the boys burning leg.

“Hey, kid! Get a grip, man. We need to smother these flames.”

The boy couldn’t hear him. He kept pushing at Drew, and scrambling to crawl away.

“Hey! Listen to me! I can heal you once they are out.” Drew said.

“Sit still!” He shouted and slapped the kid across the face.

“I am going to put out this fire and heal you. Now grab this dirt and help me smother it.” Drew said.

The kid got the message and started piling the dirt over his burning leg. He grit his teeth against the pain.

The smoke finally caught someone’s attention.

“Fire!” The call was echoed as people started to grab tools and buckets of water.

“Kid!” Drew shouted to the girl crying on the ground. “Get over here! Help me put out the fire.”

Kirtus looked at Drew with blank watery eyes.

I need to get some other wands built. Something to fight fire with if things blow up again.

Two men showed up, one had a large bucket of water, and the other had a shovel and rake.

“Mia’s Grace! This fire is everywhere!” The man with the rake said.

The other man dumped his bucket of water in the burning basket. “Get to work then!”

They doused the flames and started raking dirt and mud around. The man with the rake slowly made progress smothering the flames.

Where did that little monster get to?

Debuff Removed: Burning. 225 exp.

“There. You aren’t burning anymore. Stay still and I’ll heal you up a bit more. Rest and you will get your HP back in no time.” Drew said.

“Dyler! Kritus? What are you kids doing here? You two were around that fire the other day.” The guy with the rake said.

Dyler grit his teeth and stood up. He was favoring his burnt leg.

“Pa! It was a demon!” He cried.

Drew ran out of the way and flew up to sit on a barrel near the street.

“Not this nonsense again. I told you yesterday that lying about demons starting fires would get you a mandatory service quest.” Dylar’s dad said.

I kinda feel bad for getting these kids in trouble the other day.

The man with a bucket came running back and doused some flames.

“Quit yapping, there’s still fire to put out.” The man said.

“It’s some kind of magical fire, it keeps coming back after I smother it.” Dylar’s father raked out the mud and dirt onto the basket to smother the flames.

It’s got to be that monster, it’s sustaining the flames. If it’s a spell then I can drain it.

“Keep lying and I’ll turn you in to the guards myself. They will know how to give you an appropriate punishment.” He said.

The flames had been mostly ignoring the muddy spots and there was a large area of flaming spots left burning around the metal pot.

Drew threw his three [Mana Drain] talismans among the flames and they visibly shrunk and dimmed.

Kirtus started to cry, big gasping sobs.

“Nace is gone. He’s gone. You killed him. I won’t find my papa now.” She cried.

The man with a bucket came running back and paused, unable to say anything to comfort the crying child.

Maybe it was some kind of genie? Could it really grant wishes? But it set this kid on fire. So that means it’s a bad guy. We can capture it and get the girl her wish. I bet she’s fed it enough already and it’s been holding out on her.

“Quit crying, it was a demon. It was lying to you idiot.” Dylan said. “It can’t grant wish-“

The pot flipped over and new flames spewed out. Everyone except Kirtus jumped back as the glob of fire shot out.

“Burn and die!” The monster shrieked. It charged towards Kirtus.

“Look out!” Drew swooped down and used [Mage Hand] to grab the shovel off the ground and smack the glob or fire out of the air.

The flaming glob splattered everywhere, barely missing Drew and the girl.

“Dylar get away from there!” The man said and threw dirt onto the scattered flames.

It’s still in range of my talismans, it should have a hard time pulling itself back together.

Drew threw shovel after shovel of dirt onto the scattered flames and Dyler’s dad raked them out.

“May not be the best time,” Drew said between shovelfuls of dirt. “But it seems your son has been telling the truth.”

“Maybe so. But if he’s mixed up with demons like you then he’s in even more trouble.”

As the wet dirt covered the area, small spots of the monster’s liquid fire sizzled out.

“As long as you are against this fire demon then I have no quarrels with you.” Dylar’s father said. “You will want to be gone when the guards arrive.”

“Not seen a fire demon before, heard of smiths using them in enchanted smithies but this one’s obviously gone bad.” The guy with water bucket said as he returned again with a full bucket.

Drew kept quiet until the guy left to fetch more water.

“Do they all talk?” Drew asked.

“Most demons do, if only a little.” The man said as he spread the water in a wide arc over the area with the rake. “But you would know your own kind right?”

“I’m not a Demon. I’m a Skurr. Some of us learn to talk. This monster was really smart. It had tricked the girl into feeding it. It claimed it could grant her a wish.” Drew said.

The last of the specks of liquid flame sputtered out and Drew finally got the combat notification.

Combat Results: Forge Sprite lvl 37. 2100 exp.

Skill Upgrade: [Mage Hand] lvl 4

Yep, guess that’s a Forge Sprite. Wouldn’t it say ‘Demon’ if it was one?

By this time, more people had shown up, including Kirtis’s mother who burst into tears when she spotted her daughter covered in mud and soot. She was dressed in a cloth apron like a baker’s apprentice.

“Kays, my darling! What happened to you?” She wailed.

“Dylar you started another fire?” A man in the crowd asked.

“No! It was a demon!” Dylar said. He looked away from where Kirtus was hugging her mother.

Many in the group were shocked or dubious.

Drew tried to back away slowly but Dyler saw him.

“See! I was telling the truth about the demons! There is the Demon Skurr that set the fire before.” And Dyler pointed to the scortched ground everywhere. “And today there was this other demon made of fire that set fire to everything.”

“Well? Which is it? Was there a fire demon or are there demons everywhere boy?” A man in the crowd shouted. And several voices from the crowd agreed with him.

“Well, I…” Dylar stammered.

Kirtus was still crying in her mother’s arms, and Dylar’s father was letting his son speak for himself.

Drew straightened up and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

“He’s telling the truth.” Drew said. “The fire yesterday was my fault, and today there was a forge sprite.”

Gasps went through the crowd.

“A talking Skurr?”

“A demon.”

“A trick bird.”

“It’s no trick! I’m an adventurer, came in to town two days ago with the wagon train. I have the combat log to prove we killed it.“

Several villagers were growing increasingly alarmed.

“What’s a Forge Sprite doing here?”

“Lies!”

“Just feeding it would cost a fortune.”

“It’s dangerous!”

“Adventurers are all trouble!”

“Demon!”

If one of them claims I turned them into a newt then I’ll start another fire.

“Believe what you will. But we defeated a monster made of fire today, if not for Dylar and these men’s efforts the whole town could have burnt to the ground.” Drew said.

“Quarrels between Demons have no business in our town.” A finely dressed man said stepping forwards. “Leave at once Demon.”

I thought the Johns would have gotten us kicked out, turns out it gonna be me.

“He may be a demon but he saved the town.” Dylar said. “We can’t kick him out.”

“Not really helping your case there kid.” Drew said.

“I’m not a demon you idiot. I’m just a smart skurr that knows some fancy enchantments.” Drew said.

Demon is just a term they throw around for dangerous monsters, isn’t it. It may not be a race that the demon king belonged to.

The two mercenaries Drew had been doing laps with came running up with Damien lagging behind.

“We will be leaving soon. We are repairing our wagon, then I’m sure we will go.” Drew said. “No need to get your nickers in a twist.”

The fancy dressed man scoffed and a few people in the crowd chuckled.

“Now see here, no de-“

Damien stepped in to interrupt the man and got the crowds attention with his raised voice.

“Hello everyone. Sorry for the commotion. My name is Damien I’m an enchanter and this Skurr is my companion. We were just repairing the enchantments around town. It seems things have gotten out of hand here.” Damien said turning to look at Drew. “It seems there was a fire?”

“Enchanter in deed!” The finely dressed man said with a huff. “You sold me a bag of enchanted stones not two days ago and I looked them up. All they do is get heavier!”

Ha! This guy must own the arcane shop. Is he a wizard or a merchant?

“Indeed sir, and they were well crafted in-fact. Drew here carved them himself on our ride down from the north.” Damien said. “His same claws that carved those stones carved wards for Rottervale not long ago, and he carved many of the wards on your walls keeping you safe now.”

The man grew red in the face listening to Damien speak.

“So he is your familiar then! Then it’s you who has been starting these fires, not demons. Are you planning to drive up your prices further with some excitement?” The merchant said.

“Damien wouldn’t stoop-“

“It’s fine Drew.” Damien said and cut Drew off with a gesture. “Yes, my familiar got out of hand. My apologies to those that had their property damaged in the flames.”

What? I mean yeah, there was some damage but it was that sprite’s doing. Damien shouldn’t have to pay.

“Now wait, it wasn’t anything I did to-“

“Enough Drew. I’ll handle it.” Damien said sharply.

Drew was shocked and clapped his beak closed.

The hell is going on with him?