Chapter 196: A Request for Help (1/2)

“…Raging Flames Lake is our territory, don’t get too cocky outsiders.” Even though his words were still as tough as before, his stature had diminished significantly. Clearly, he knew that his own might wasn’t comparable to our own.

Not giving me any chance to rebut, he turned his eyes onto the Demon Fire Salamander. “What did you call me out for?”

The salamander mooed a couple in response to the elemental who seemed to understand what it was saying. The two traded words for quite a while as I quietly listened in on the fascinating scene, taking care not to interrupt them.

“Hah, you’re saying they have no hostile intent? Don’t kid around, devils who come here are all up to no good.”

“Moo moo mooo.”

“You’re kidding! You’re saying the seal has been undone, after 80 000 years?!”

“Moo moo, moo mmoo.”

“…really?”

“Moo moo.”

“…I understand.” Their conservation ended but the fire elemental seemed visibly upset by its contents. Unwillingly, he turned to me and asked: “Hey, that devil in armor, even though the Demon Fire Salamander has vouched for you, I still have to ask you one more time, you are really from the Prison of the Dead?”

“That’s right.” I nodded my head. “Is there even a need to lie about such a matter? Besides, we don’t know a single thing about these surroundings lands or we would have spun a more convincing tale already.”

“I guess that’s true, looks like you really don’t know a single thing after all…” The elemental sighed though it seemed that he was willing to trust us at least. “Honestly, I chose to believe you all because of the salamander.”

“That Demon Fire Salamander?”

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“That’s right. It said that after capturing it, you didn’t try to kill it. Moreover, it saw you appear out of thin air and because your direction coincided with its own, it decided to observe you. However, it came upon a Fire Devouring Fish and in the midst of that ensuing battle, you captured it…” As he said that, he pointed at the salamander in question. Essentially, what all that was trying to say to me was that all my explanations weren’t even worth a few moos from a salamander.

Right at the very end, the elemental even made sure to make that point extra clear to me: “All devils can’t be trusted with their words, even now I still can’t bring myself to trust you all.”

“Honestly, I don’t you need to trust us at all. We never intended to foster any sort of relation between us. So, if there’s nothing else, we’ll take our leave.” As I said before, this wasn’t me running away, after all, I beat him once already. I simply didn’t wish to waste more time here, mhm.

‘Here it comes…’

“Please wait, there’s actually something I need your…hmm…help with…”

‘I knew it…they wanted something from us after all. I could sense that yellow exclamation mark above their heads from a mile away…yes, I played World of Peacecraft, I’ll admit it.’

‘I just knew there was a reason why his tone suddenly became so tame.’

“If you don’t mind, I think I’ll have to pass on that.”

“…” Even though his face was still a fuzzy mess, I could tell that it blackened the instant I rejected him.

“Fine, fine. What do you need of us? Let’s be clear here, if it’s too hard, I’ll still say no.” Once again, my soft heartedness got the better of me, forcing me to reach out to those in need. However, it wasn’t as if there were no merits to helping them either. Giving it some thought, I realized that since we were still unfamiliar with Purgatory as a whole, forming some connections with the local powers wasn’t all that bad either, even if said local power was kinda…

“The problem we have right now is…”

After confirming my consent, the fire elemental gave an excited nod before starting on an explanation of their situation.

The natural world was truly a wondrous place, no matter what creature it was, they always had a natural born enemy or counter. At times, such a nemesis could be found just nearby or even from the same source. Take for example a snake’s venom, while it might be able to poison most creatures to death, that same venom was also a crucial component in synthesizing antivenom.

Similarly, while the fire elementals and the salamanders make their home in the flames, their nemesis could also be found in the same living space.