The skeleton on the Trist Staff seemed to suddenly glow with a strange vitality, and a stream of flames rose from the staff. Seeing that the situation was wrong, the dark elf Lucy hurriedly picked up the mage's money bag containing the rent of the dungeon and ran in the direction of the tavern counter.

“...... Tika!" the mage pronounced the last part of the incantation, and the flames on the staff coalesced into balls and flew towards Lucy's back.

"Ness!" The elven woman who had been sitting at the table next to the counter suddenly stood up. In an instant, she was in the middle of the fireballs sent by the dark elves and mages.

"Ice elves, all over the world, listen to my call, use your cold breath to reflect the attacks of the enemy in front of you, and return them to him with a hundredfold strength!"

With the elf's hands open, a mirror made of ice crystals appeared in front of the fireball, and the fireball immediately changed direction when it touched the ice mirror, and flew in front of the mage instead.

After a loud bang, the black-robed mage with his body burned beyond recognition stood there with the Trist staff in his hand, while the rest of the residents of Thor, who had been watching the excitement around the mage, were all lying on the ground.

The sound of the "Gla La-......" and "Oh no......" wooden planks and the screams of the owner of the last inn converged into a special symphony, and under the wonderful magical power, half of the last inn collapsed.

A black gas erupted from the Trist's staff and enveloped the archmage's body, so that none of the wooden blocks and debris that fell from the upper floors fell on the mage's head, but the rest of the people who had just been injured by the reflected fireball suffered a second fate. In the midst of the screams of the sky, a gust of wind blew. lifted the corners of the elf woman's clothes. The same iron plaque engraved with the Thieves' Guild appeared on the Elven woman's waist.

The shopkeeper, the waitress, and other guests who were not affected hurriedly rushed forward. Try to rescue the people who were first hit by the force of the fireball and then crushed by the collapsed half of the hotel. No one noticed that the elf who cast the magic that reflected the fireball back and the dark elf who had snatched the mage's money bag had quietly disappeared from sight.

The mage, who had suffered both physical and financial blows, remained in place, and although the owner of the inn was tempted to try to ask for some compensation for the destruction of the inn, he did not have the guts. Even before the bill for the mage's food and drinks for half a day had been delivered, the mage did not say a word, and regardless of the wounds on his body, he took the Triste staff and turned away, and disappeared into the dark night streets of Thor.

―――――――――――――――――――――――――

Demon Amtils and Goblin Sets served as dealers from yesterday while eating. When half of the hotel collapsed, the hostess, who was lucky not to be injured, heard a qiē that happened yesterday at the last hotel.

"What a hapless Mr. Akiman. After hearing what happened to the mage yesterday, the goblin gave this comment softly.

But the demon's opinion seemed to be a little different: "Dare to gamble with the rent, why didn't the reflected fireball roast him on the spot? At least we can get a few days of food, which is better than the gold coins are gone and the mage has slipped away." ”

"But Mr. Aqiman doesn't look like a man who can run away. "Actually, the relationship between the goblins and the mage is not bad, so at this time, Seth can't help but defend the mage who usually occasionally speaks out to him to take a little risk.

"Hmph. The demon refused, and changed the subject to the other side: "Do you have any money? Go pay the bills, Seth?"

Goblins have never been a wealthy race. And Seth is even worse than his people who have been struggling with poverty for many years. After all, his boss, the dungeon lord and demon Amtils, hadn't paid Goblinsette a single copper coin for more than half a year.

So. When the owner of the final inn in Thor's City arrives with a bill in hand, the demons and goblins have only one choice but to flee. The most basic reason for this situation is that the demon who is the owner of the dungeon currently has the same amount of coins in his pocket as the goblin's wallet, while the two guys who are penniless on their bodies have ordered more than ten gold coins of food and wine in the final inn, and what is even worse is that the bill sent to them by the shopkeeper has an extra half of the inn that includes compensation for the destruction of the archmage's fireball last night (although it was bounced back by someone using ice mirror magic). The Archmage ordered food and drink for half a day, and several other items including the cost of a few generous drinks to the audience, and the numbers on the account could not be paid even if the demon had not lost his wallet.

The persistent pursuit of compensation has caused the owner of the inn to become immune to the demon's seduction, but the demon's movement is impossible or unstoppable.

The demon may not be as skilled in all kinds of magic as the archmage, but once it is cast, his magic is usually effective, and this time was no exception: in the blink of an eye, the demon and the goblin had appeared somewhere outside their dungeon, on the head of Caesar, the Red Dragon, the owner of the Volcano.

The goblin, which was originally green, turned red in an instant, and the demon that was originally red did not look anything unusual from the outside, except that the clothes all over the body were on fire. After all, it is a red dragon that has been accompanied by fire and lava for many years, and falling on its head without defense is no different than burrowing into an oven yourself.

"It's good for you to come back, if I'm not mistaken, today is the deadline for paying rent?" The red dragon, who had been sticking his head out to answer the Dark Knight Salas, who was leaning against the gate of the dungeon, raised a claw and swept the demon to the ground, and by the way, caught the almost burned goblin on the ground.

It was evident that the red dragon had also cast an additional spell to protect against the heat, and the goblin turned from red to normal green in an instant. Compared to the goblins, who looked like they were normal except for a few scorched clothes, the demon didn't have this treatment. I don't know if he was busy saving the fire from his clothes, or he was in a hurry to use magic to resist the heat around him, but the demon actually ignored the red dragon's question.

"This does not bode well. The Dark Knight hurriedly scoured the demon's side. But they found it empty.

The dragon was not in a hurry. Instead, he lay down in the open space in front of the gate of the dungeon.

"Where's the money bag?" asked the Dark Knight, who searched the demon's body and couldn't find a single copper coin.

"I didn't find it. The demon gave a simple, clear answer.

"That'...... Where's the money bag on the mage?"

"Stolen. ”

"Where's the mage?"

"Slipped. ”

"What about the rent?"

“............”

The simple and clear answer was that the Dark Knight immediately understood the situation he was in. And the red dragon, who stared at the demon with his eyes, seemed to know that the tenants on his land would never be able to pay the rent.

"Look at what you see, it's not like staring at me, and you have the money to hand it over. "The Dungeon Lord, Demon Amtils, did not hesitate to immediately adopt a policy of cheating.

"I don't care, if you can't collect the rent today, you will move out immediately. The Red Dragon's stance was so tough that he even spat out a fireball at the demon's head to show it.

The demon hurriedly threw out the flames on his head, and although he grew in the abyssal demon realm full of magma, it was no fun to let a fire burn on his head. "But no money is no money, and we don't want to move away, so what if we don't want to?" replied the demon, who had managed to extinguish the fire.

The red dragon's reply was unusually crisp, and another fireball fell on the demon's head.

Seeing this, the Dark Knight Salas hurriedly called out to his skeleton horse: "Taxis." We went to pack our bags. ”

The goblin, who had just escaped from the horror of being surrounded by the heat, stood still, watching the flames on his dungeon master's head extinguish and rekindle.

"There's no need to be so ruthless, we've been neighbors for half a year. The demon who had once again extinguished the fire began to change his strategy and tried to make friends with the Red Dragon.

"But you haven't paid a single copper coin in rent for half a year, no. A puff of green smoke came from the red dragon's mouth.

The demon hurriedly pulled up the burned shirt on his body and put it on his head: "You see, if the mage hadn't absconded with the money, we could have paid the rent now......" The demon began to try to blame all the reasons for not paying the rent on the archmage who was judged in absentia.

"Although he absconded, but the mage didn't bring the money?" The goblin, who was rarely clever once, heard the loophole in the dungeon master's words, and told the truth in passing: "The mage should have gone after the two dark elves who stole the money bag, right?"

At this moment, the skeleton Mataxis with a package on his back walked out of the dungeon gate, and the Dark Knight who followed it added in passing: "You lost half of your money yourself, didn't you?" boss. ”

"Ah......h The devil's screams rang out. "But the money is lost, isn't it? Old man Long, be pitiful for once. A few more days, right?"

Looking at the appearance of the charred demon on his chest crawling on the ground, the red dragon Caesar did not continue to spray fireballs on him, "Then you say, when can you pay the rent?"

"Three months...... One month!...... Two weeks, okay?" the demon, who was unable to stand up in pain for a moment, began to bargain, but this was only a unilateral price reduction as the green smoke gathered around the dragon's mouth. "Anyway, before you die......" the demon added as low as he could.

However, the red dragon did not miss the last sentence, and a giant fireball larger than the previous fireballs combined appeared in the red dragon's mouth. And the only reason why this fireball didn't fall on the demon was because of the goblins that suddenly ran in front of the demon.

"Don't!" Seth tried to spread his short arms, trying to hide the form of the demon lying on the ground in the eyes of the red dragon.

The Dark Knight, who had not expected Seth's actions at all, froze in place, although the fireball in the red dragon's mouth was terrifying, it was never so easy to kill the demon who had been accompanied by fire and heat since childhood, and as for the goblin, I am afraid that any fireball that landed on the demon's head and chest just now could kill him instantly.

"Go away, Seth, I'm going to see the old dragon......" The demon was still stubborn, but the next words could not be said because the Dark Knight was covering his mouth as he rushed over. The Dark Knight Salas wasn't worried about the demon's safety, but he was just afraid that if the fireball from the red dragon's mouth fell, it would affect the goblins standing bravely in front of the demon.

The fireball did not fall, but rolled into the red dragon's mouth as it tilted its head. "Little one. Are you trying to pay the rent on behalf of this bastard dungeon master of yours?"

There was a hint of sarcasm in the Red Dragon's words. The eyes of the demon and the dark knight were immediately focused on Seth. They never thought that the little goblin would have such a good friendship with the dragon.

In the face of the red dragon's question, the goblin did not answer immediately, but carefully saw that there was no green smoke floating out of the red dragon's mouth, and then slowly pulled out the tattered small backpack that usually hung on his waist and no one had ever paid attention to it, and began to gently take out the things collected inside, a few small cloth bags.

The cloth bag was carefully spread out, and there was neither gold nor precious stones in it.

A sun-dried four-leaf clover. After the goblin had carefully scrubbed all its bones again and again, the skeleton Mataxis brought the legendary little grass that would bring luck to the goblin;

A small bone of unknown origin, carved with the mark of a Holy Knight's rose, which Seth begged the Dark Knight Salas to carve for him in his spare time;

A black silver necklace with a four-leaf clover pendant on it that had been set with inferior gemstones, which had been turned over from a garbage heap thrown by a mage, who generously gave it to him on the spot, and the goblin never wore it around his neck after spending three months of rest to pick it up;

A rusty dagger that was broken in half, and the goblins usually held it to send the dream of becoming the head of the Holy Knights. Demon Amtils kicked a goblin from the third floor of an inn to the ground during a bad mood, and later gave it to the goblin as atonement. This is also the only gift that the demon has given to the goblin since they have known each other for many years;

A few of the most common glass beads in the hands of street children, without any toys or dolls or the like, goblinsette picked them up in the grass when they were very young, and has been carrying them with them ever since, for fear of being laughed at by others, these glass balls were taken out of the goblin's backpack for the first time.

That's all the treasures of goblins.

The Red Dragon's eyes slowly swept over the objects on the ground, and his face seemed to begin to be covered with a layer of black smoke, while the Demon and the Dark Knight stared blankly at the goblin, they really didn't expect the goblins to keep these things they had sent out so carefully until now; Skeleton Horse Taxis gently shook off the Dark Knight's package and walked over to the goblin, if the skeleton horse still had flesh, he must have begun to lick the goblin's face with his tongue at this moment.

Looking at the red dragon's gloomy expression, Seth carefully untied the small bow and arrow he was carrying behind his back and put it on the ground, and the Dark Knight was surprised to find that the bow and arrow that he had found in Neil Canyon that day seemed to be a child's toy had been wiped unusually clean at the moment, as if it had just been taken out of the arsenal.

Tears began to ooze from the corners of the goblin's eyes: "Mr. Caesar, I know these things are worthless......"

The red dragon leaned his head over the goblin, listening to the goblin's choked voice.

"But here we are...... Mr. Amtils digs the hole hard every day...... Mr. Salas, and Mr. Aqiman, they are ...... I don't want to move...... If they move away, who will help Mr. Caesar keep an eye on the treasure hunters...... And Mr. Amtils' dream ......"

The Dark Knight couldn't take it any longer, and Salas stepped forward, gently placing his sword on the ground, and began to unarm himself and the skeleton Mataxis.

Suddenly, the famous Trist Staff appeared out of thin air in front of everyone, and fell to the ground in front of the red dragon along with the demon's scythe, leaving the red dragon to choose from along with the goblin treasures.

Archmage Aqiman, who was scarred all over his body and even had a large bruise on his face, appeared in front of the dungeon: "Mr. Red Dragon, please take our weapons as collateral, we will definitely pay the rent in two weeks." ”

The mage spoke the words of the Dark Knight and the demon, and the momentum of the head held high emphasized the mage's determination even more, although this momentum and expression appeared on the mage's injured face, which looked very comical.

However, the Red Dragons did not pledge their weapons and equipment of inestimable value, as the mage said, nor did they investigate why the mage who had absconded with the money in the demon's mouth appeared at this time. What the red dragon did was to bow his head and pick for a while, and then pick one out of the goblin glass beads: "I'll come back in two weeks." ”

The flying figure of the red dragon had disappeared into the sky, and the demon Amtils, who was still sitting on the ground, still echoed in his ears the words that the red dragon telepathically said to him before leaving: "This time it's for the sake of the little one's face, if I don't receive 150 gold coins in two weeks, I will clean up your bastard boy instead of your mother." ”

The Dark Knight put the package back on the skeleton horse, and the goblin didn't bother to pack up the things on the ground and pounced on the archmage: "Mr. Achman, you...... Are you alright?"

The archmage gently tugged at the corner of the black robe and wiped the scars on his face: "I found those two dark elves. ”

Neither the stars nor the moon, obscured by heavy clouds, could point anyone in the way, and cold snaps whistled by, carrying annoying winds and sand, as if to destroy a qiē on the ground.

Traveling in the dark of night like this is definitely not a good idea for the average traveler or adventurer. (To be continued......)