Chapter 17: Quarrel at the Head, Make Up at the Foot

"Why?" Gwen asked, puzzled.

Viktor had come with the knight squadron, but now he was proposing to separate and act alone.

She didn't understand. If Viktor didn't need the protection of the knight squadron, why had he accompanied them in the first place?

Or rather, what was his real purpose for coming to Mount Vesuvius?

"I need to go to the volcano's crater first," Viktor said.

Under Gwen's sense of justice, all lies would be exposed. But he wasn't lying, which meant Viktor truly intended to go to the crater.

Gwen recalled Viktor's initial reason for accompanying them.

"Could it be that the magical creature you mentioned is at the crater?"

"Hmm..."

Viktor fell silent for a moment, the image of that colossal magical beast flashing through his mind.

So, he answered, "Something like that."

...What did he mean by "something like that"?

Yet he wasn't lying. Gwen was curious but wasn't the type to pry into others' privacy.

This was, after all, a dormant volcano, and Viktor had said he was very familiar with Mount Vesuvius's terrain.

There shouldn't be any problems.

Gwen nodded, agreeing to his request to leave the group.

"I'll come find you once I've finished my business," Viktor said.

As soon as he finished speaking, a blue magic array sparkling with tiny stars appeared beneath his feet.

With a flash of blue light, his figure vanished without a trace.

Seeing a living person disappear right before her eyes left Gwen feeling dazed.

A knight who had witnessed their entire exchange approached Gwen, who was still in a daze, and asked, "Knight Captain? Did you two... have a quarrel last night?"

Gwen turned her head, opening her mouth.

"No, it's not what you think..."

Before she could finish, the knight continued:

"Ah, it's normal for couples to have conflicts. I often argue with my wife too, but our son is already eight years old."

"Quarrel at the head of the bed, make up at the foot. How can there be overnight grudges between husband and wife?"

The more Gwen listened, the redder her face became.

"Stop talking nonsense! Let's move out!" she scolded the knight and hurriedly left.

"Huh? Knight Captain Gwen! I didn't say anything wrong... Sigh, young ladies these days are so sensitive. It's clear I hit the nail on the head."

Gwen couldn't hear clearly what the knight said afterwards.

Her face was slightly red, like a little girl whose secret had been exposed.

But in reality, she knew better than anyone.

There was no relationship between her and Viktor.

Just as she would never fall in love with Viktor, Viktor would never fall in love with her.

Gwen mounted her white horse, thinking somewhat gloomily.

If nothing unexpected happened, she might end up marrying Viktor after all.

After all, the engagement between their two families had been decided long ago.

Gwen was the second daughter of the family. She could only comply with the family's decisions, unable to change them.

Gwen didn't want to get married, let alone to the Viktor she knew before, who made her feel terrible.

'How could I possibly marry such a jerk?'

As this thought flashed through her mind, she suddenly recalled the events of last night.

He had been like an elegant nobleman, every action that of a gentleman.

He had even given her the only bed, though she didn't know when.

When she woke up, she found Viktor quietly sitting in the chair, reading that abstruse magic book, having sat there all night.

She felt guilty, but Viktor told her in return that mages had their own ways of resting, only needing quiet surroundings.

Was he... really a jerk?

Gwen couldn't help but wonder.

Dedicated to becoming an absolutely righteous knight, Gwen had never truly dislike anyone.

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Not even Viktor.

'I should have been quite quiet last night...'

Shaking off those unnecessary thoughts in her mind, she raised her silver sword and swung it forward.

"Move out!"

......

A shower of blue light fell from thin air, forming a teleportation array in mid-air, revealing Viktor's figure.

He opened his eyes, and the scenery around him had changed dramatically.

The surroundings were so desolate that there was almost nothing left, only a few scattered charcoal-like stones standing on the hill.

He was now positioned halfway up the volcano, quite a bit ahead of the knight squadron.

This was the maximum range his teleportation magic could reach.

Trying to teleport directly to the summit in one go was still unrealistic.

Seeing that there was no one around, Vega, perched on his shoulder, spoke to him in a loud voice:

"Why did you choose to separate from them?"

"The knight squadron's route should align with yours. If you had stayed with them, you would have reached here eventually."

Viktor patted its head and explained:

"I don't need their company."

"There are some things I need to investigate on my own. There's no need for others to know."

Vega found this strange. Viktor seemed as if he had been planning this for a long time.

Recalling how interested Viktor had been upon hearing about Mount Vesuvius, Vega couldn't help but suspect that he knew something.

The man and the bird walked on Mount Vesuvius, which had erupted once before.

However, after that eruption, Mount Vesuvius had lost its eruptive power and became a dormant volcano.

The residents at the foot of the mountain had established towns, and now, several hundred years of history had passed.

After centuries of weathering, the ground here had formed into charcoal-like limestone, full of cracks and weathered volcanic rocks.

Hoping to see any plants here? That would be a bit difficult.

But after hundreds of years, no one worried anymore that this volcano would erupt again.

The volcano was about several hundred meters high, and Viktor quickly reached the summit area.

The closer he got to the summit, the more clearly Viktor could feel that extremely rich fire element.

It wasn't just him; Vega had the same feeling.

It turned its head, glancing at Viktor with a somewhat peculiar look.

"Interesting. I really want to open up your head and see how you thought of coming here."

"You've actually discovered a 'Calamity'."

Viktor's expression remained very calm. Vega understood that he had known all along that something was here.

Calamity.

To be precise, this was the specific name recorded in history for the Furnace Beast.

There were six Calamities in the world, corresponding to six magical elements.

Wind, Wood, Fire, Earth, Water, and Thunder.

And what was sealed in this Mount Vesuvius was the Fire Calamity, Guledon.

Its form was as vast as the sky, its entire body bathed in furnace fire, like a demon god in flames.

The reason they were called Calamities was that once they appeared, they would cause natural disasters and chaos in the land, to a degree that struck terror into people's hearts.

Their existence was only harmful, never beneficial, to any living being.

This was the 'Calamity', true to its name.

"I'm curious. It's 'sleeping' so well here, what do you want with it?" Vega asked Viktor, looking down at Guledon below the volcano's crater.

"To collect some interest in advance."

Viktor stood at the volcano's mouth, looking down from above.

It was so deep that the bottom couldn't be seen, making one wonder if anything existed down there at all.

Hot air shot out from the mountain's mouth, the astonishing heat hitting their faces.

His gaze suddenly became very determined.

The cold wind and scorching air intermingled, blowing his coat. At this moment, standing at the highest point of the volcano, even Vega's voice beside him was hard to hear clearly.

"Hey, hey, what are you standing here for? Don't tell me you're going to jump down from here?"

Viktor didn't respond. Vega fell silent for a moment.

"You're not really going to jump, are you?"

Its word-by-word inquiry had no effect whatsoever.

Because Viktor had already said to it:

"Hold on tight!"

With that, he leapt towards the hundred-meter-deep volcano.

"You could at least ask for my opinion!!!"

The scenery of red-hot rocks around them kept falling, and Vega used its beak to grip Viktor's clothes tightly.

At this moment, it even forgot that it was a bird with wings.

The scene before their eyes kept shaking, and finally...

After a flash of white light, the figures of the two disappeared in mid-air.

......

"Having been a god for so long, this is the first time I've felt so crazy."

When Vega opened its eyes, it seemed to have arrived in another space.

It was pitch black all around, with only the floor visible to the naked eye.

"It's so dark. Viktor? Viktor?"

Viktor was right behind it. Seeing that the crow had woken up, he picked it up and placed it on his shoulder.

Vega was about to ask Viktor to light a fire to illuminate the surroundings, but before it could speak, a huge snoring sound erupted from the darkness in front of it.

It almost deafened the crow's ears.

"Damn, who's snoring... uh..."

Vega stopped talking.

It saw the source of the snoring, or rather...

At this moment, it was right in front of Vega, eyes closed in deep sleep.

How should it be described?

Like a towering pillar reaching to the sky.

It was as tall as a mountain, inspiring awe and fear.

The Fire Calamity, Guledon, had appeared before them.

A cold sweat broke out on Vega's head, making its feathers seem to shine brighter.

"Kid, you're not thinking of challenging it, are you?"

"Don't joke around! I'm just an ordinary bird now, I can't help you with anything!"

Viktor didn't look at it. He conjured a flame at his fingertips, illuminating the path ahead.

It also illuminated the true form of this giant beast.

"Don't say that."

"You are my greatest asset in defeating it."

The next second, the wind-like snoring stopped.

Huge red eyes opened, like enormous lamps.

"ROOOOOAAAARRR!!!"

It looked down at the two ants from its towering height, its roar echoing throughout Mount Vesuvius.