It would hardly be an exaggeration to call him a spirit extortionist.

It was already remarkable enough to threaten an ordinary spirit and squeeze things out of it, but the spirit in question was none other than Heavenly Fire General Zbagni.

"What is it?"

Lee Han called to the hamster in a displeased voice.

There was something strangely unpleasant about the hamster's gaze.

-N-No. I was admiring how remarkable you are.

"Hmm..."

The hamster broke out in a cold sweat.

It had been so impressed by Lee Han's skill at squeezing things out of spirits that it had forgotten, but this brat's instincts were growing sharper and sharper.

How could anyone develop this quickly?

Fortunately, Lee Han seemed to think negotiating with Heavenly Fire General came first and did not suspect anything further.

"Then is it withdrawing? When will it withdraw?"

Surely you did not think it would be that easy.

Heavenly Fire General spoke as though Lee Han had asked something absurd.

Once a dimension had spread across the continent, its master ordinarily did not withdraw willingly.

It was easy to understand if one compared it to the students of Einroguard.

If a warehouse whose owner was unknown suddenly dropped into someone's private room one day, who would obediently find the owner and return it?

Even when the dimension of the frost giants encroached upon the school, they had gone through all that trouble to persuade them...

The other side says its condition is revenge.

"Revenge?"

Both Lee Han and the hamster found it strange that the master of another dimension would demand such a condition.

Yes. Revenge. It said foul-smelling creatures attacked its servants.

Lee Han immediately understood what that meant.

If dimensions overlapped, then it meant it was possible to cross from this side into the other side as well.

Someone nearby had probably crossed into the opposing dimension and attempted a counterattack.

'...Gasp, surely it was not Professor Bagreg.'

Lee Han suddenly became worried.

Of course, they had not been in the village for very long, but he wondered whether Professor Bagreg had attempted a counterattack in that time to try to resolve the problem.

-Foul-smelling creatures. Does it mean evil-god worshipers?

Probably?

The hamster easily understood Heavenly Fire General's metaphor. Having lived for so long, it knew that beings from other dimensions disliked evil-god worshipers.

Feeling embarrassed, Lee Han nodded.

"I see. It could only be evil-god worshipers."

-?

The hamster wondered why the boy was suddenly repeating something so obvious.

"...Wait, there were evil-god worshipers around here?"

Lee Han was startled a beat too late.

Of course, the Empire's lands were vast beyond imagination, and considering the scale of the western region currently suffering from heat damage, it would have been stranger if there were no evil-god worshipers.

But he had become involved with them so often recently that merely hearing the name put him on guard.

Surely they had not been lying in ambush to target Lee Han himself?

-Evil-god worshipers are the sort who stick their heads into anything like this, so it is not surprising.

The hamster spoke indifferently.

People thrown into chaos, unstable dimensions, all of those were things evil-god worshipers liked very much.

'I did not want to get involved.'

He was already receiving more unwanted attention from them than enough.

Rather than stepping forward for no reason, Lee Han decided to report it quickly.

Heh heh. Mage... You cannot deny my contribution to this matter, can you?

Heavenly Fire General asked in a voice filled with expectation.

Honestly, no matter how curt the mage was, it would not be easy to ignore a spirit that had negotiated while sacrificing one of its own treasures.

If he had a conscience...

"...Fine. I acknowledge your contribution this time..."

"Lord Wardanaz?"

"!"

When Nigisor's voice came from behind him, Lee Han quickly severed the connection with Heavenly Fire General and banished it back to the spirit world.

He thought he heard faint curses from far away, but Lee Han did not care.

"Who were you speaking with?"

"Ah... This hamster here."

"......"

"No. It is a magical hamster! Wait. Say something."

Lee Han shook the cage, but the hamster endured it in silence. It was the last shred of pride it had left. Lee Han was about to shake it even harder, but gave up.

"What is it?"

"Mm. I came to apologize for doubting you, Lord Wardanaz."

Nigisor spoke hesitantly while watching Lee Han's reaction.

Lee Han had helped Nigisor many times before, and Nigisor's conscience troubled him for failing to trust a friend and becoming suspicious.

No matter how absurd the story sounded, Nigisor should have believed him.

Looking behind Nigisor, Lee Han saw Siana peeking out and watching his reaction as well. Lee Han waved a hand as though it was fine.

"I am not angry at all, so there is no need to worry. It was a rather absurd story."

"...Behind you! Behind you!!"

"Still, I would appreciate it if you did not play such childish pranks."

Siana stamped her feet at her friend's reaction.

To think a crack in their friendship would come back to haunt her like this.

Tiziling, who arrived late, was startled and screamed.

"Look behind you!"

"?"

Lee Han immediately turned around. The space that had originally been a dead end was slowly swirling and changing. The way it changed silently without giving off the slightest presence was enough to send chills down the spine.

Then a group of people walked out from within it. Their clothing had no sense of unity whatsoever.

"......"

"......"

***

The greatest pride of the vampire Juzen was his own family, one of the oldest in the western Empire.

Among the races of the Empire, vampire houses often boasted long histories because of their characteristic exclusiveness and tendency to act as a group.

However, most of those ancient western vampire houses no longer remained.

A catastrophe in the past had annihilated many houses and scattered their members.

From that time onward, Juzen had only his second-greatest pride left. It was the belief that he faithfully served the Fair Regent.

"Sanguros..."

"Watch your tongue, lowborn."

Juzen glared at the lunatic of the Ksaksarigol Order standing beside him.

These shabby lunatics had appallingly insolent manners.

It was one thing not to show respect before Juzen, who came from a ducal house, but to carelessly speak the revered name of Sanguros.

However, the deranged prophet showed no concern whatsoever for Juzen's threat and answered.

"I apologize. Does the Fair Regent desire hearts here in the territory of the flame giants?"

"!"

Juzen's expression changed.

As expected, even among fellow evil-god worshipers, these madmen of Ksaksarigol were beings one could never lower one's guard around.

Those with outstanding powers of foresight were this troublesome.

To think the prophet had already realized Juzen's objective.

The Sanguros Order had suffered far too much damage in the past. Not only the organization of the order, but Sanguros personally had suffered tremendous harm as well.

They had to restore the order's organization and followers, and they also had to offer sacrifices to their god. Among the best sacrifices for such a purpose were powerful races from other dimensions.

If they gathered the hearts of flame giants, they would make fairly useful offerings.

"...Yes. That is correct."

Ahead of them, the mercenaries Juzen had brought along laughed as they collected spoils from the corpses of flame giants.

Since Juzen wanted nothing but the hearts, he was generously giving the rest to the mercenaries. They were lowly creatures, but they also made useful meat shields.

"Then we withdraw. The flame giants are enraged."

"......"

Juzen fell into thought.

It was unpleasant to be ordered around, but the words certainly made sense. They had killed quite a few flame giants, so it would not be strange for them to become enraged.

They had made a tidy profit by taking advantage of the heat damage spreading through the west and the weakening cracks in space, so perhaps it was time to leave.

If the flame giants became enraged and chased them out, that would be fine in its own way. The ones who would have to endure the damage would be the bastards of the Empire.

"O Fair Regent! I offer this sacrifice to you, so look down upon your follower!"

Juzen raised high the heart of a flame giant, dripping with blood and fire.

Then Sanguros swallowed the sacrifice and bestowed power in return as an equivalent exchange.

It was a dimensional gate that even the giants who ruled this dimension could not track.

Even the mercenaries carrying the spoils flinched in fear at the grotesque sight.

Many mercenaries worked with evil-god worshipers for money, but only a small number truly stepped into faith in an evil god. Unless one was born with a twisted nature, it was not easy to believe in an evil god.

"Let us go!"

Juzen, the prophet, and the other mercenary subordinates slowly walked out.

And they came face-to-face with a group of mages they had never seen before.

***

"......"

"......"

Cold sweat ran down Juzen's back. Judging by their horrified expressions, the mercenaries seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Killing a few mages was no difficult task, but there was no way mages like those had come alone to such a small village.

There was a strong possibility that other mages, knights, or even priests were nearby.

"I-I thought we were going to die!"

One of the mercenaries shouted loudly.

"I thought we were going to become lost between dimensions!"

"Y-Yeah. Where are we?"

'Not bad.'

Juzen was slightly impressed.

Lowborn people had talents of their own. Seasoned mercenaries were skilled at inventing plausible excuses on the spot.

While traveling through the Empire, people were sometimes swept into cracks and became lost between dimensions. That happened even more often in regions like this, where the distance between dimensions had narrowed and they overlapped.

Most could leave again through the place they had entered, but some became lost forever and never returned.

The mercenaries were now pretending to have barely escaped with their lives. In that case, most people would not question them too closely.

"This is Hurez Village."

"Hurez Village! This is the western Empire, right?! Thank goodness. We are alive!"

-...Suspicious...

The hamster squeaked so that only Lee Han could hear.

There was something exaggerated about the mercenaries' behavior.

But what was it?

Mercenaries normally did one or two suspicious things while carrying out commissions, so it could have been a more trivial reason than expected.

Perhaps they had inflated their commission fee or stolen something along the way...

"M-M-M-M-M-M-M-Monster."

"?????"

When the prophet suddenly began repeating "monster" like a broken artifact, not only the mercenaries but Juzen as well were greatly startled.

"W-What is wrong, Mage!"

"Meetamonsternotgoodmeetamonsternotgood..."

"There are no giants here! It must be because of the giants. This is bad."

The mercenaries assumed that the prophet was suffering delayed shock because of the giants. In truth, it was difficult to guess any other reason.

"......"

Lee Han silently sank into thought. Then, at an angle hidden from the others, he took out the crystal top, offered mana, and performed divination.

The top stopped immediately. It was a warning of danger.

-Damn it. I cannot tell whether they are evil-god worshipers or simply mercenary bastards with rotten tempers.

The hamster spoke with a frown.

It had watched Lee Han's divination as well, but that did not mean it had revealed the answer. Mercenaries themselves could easily be dangerous.

Judging from the circumstances, it seemed quite likely that they were evil-god worshipers, but if that judgment was wrong...

Whoosh!

A curtain of fire suddenly spread through the air. Supported by Nigisor, Lee Han immediately swung his staff and fired a barrage of water-orb shots.

Juzen and the evil-god worshiper of Ksaksarigol, caught by surprise from an unexpected angle, suffered severe injuries.

"It is an ambush! Damn it, we have been discovered!"

"I told you we should not travel with those lunatics!"

'So they really are evil-god worshipers!'

The hamster became certain from the mercenaries' conversation. "Lunatics" was a term commonly used for evil-god worshipers.

-How did you figure it out?!

"Split apart, Perkuntra's..."

-...Do not tell me...

Had this bastard simply attacked without caring whether they were mercenaries or evil-god worshipers?!