Benito led Ignacia to another room. There were another 2 men inside.
"This is Lady Ignacia. She will go to Pinus Forest with us," Benito said, "this is Alex and Lucas. They are in 'Eques' and great with fighting."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Ignacia" said Alex, a man who was in his middle twenties. He has short brown hair, brown eyes, and muscled body
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Ignacia" said Lucas, a man who was in his late twenties. He has short green hair, green eyes, and muscled body.
"It's nice to meet you two too," Ignacia said.
"All right. I will explain the details and suspected location for you, Lady Ignacia" Benito said and explained all the details to Ignacia.
"If we rode our horses on this route continually, we will reach to the outskirts of Occidens within today. We can rest at the inn of our networks," Benito said after he explained everything.
"All right. Shall we go?" Ignacia said.
"Yes, Let's go," Benito said.
We were riding our horses to go to the outskirts of Occidens. We encountered some of monsters along the way but Ignacia wiped them out with one blow. We reached to the inn in the outskirts of Occidens at night. We had a dinner before we went to rest.
"I will take you to meet Fernando tomorrow. He's the great blacksmith in Mirarus Empire. I want more weapons for my team as well. This is a key of your room, Lady Ignacia" Benito said and handed her a key.
"Thank you," Ignacia said and went to her room.
The next day,
Ignacia and Benito went to meet Fernando while Alex and Lucas went to gather the information.
The smithy was located in the outskirts of the town, not far from the inn.
Benito led Ignacia to go inside the smithy.
"Oh, it's you, Benito. What can I do for you?" said Fernando, a big, strong man, who was in his forties. He has grey hair, black eyes, and tan skins.
"I brought your new customer and I want more weapons as the same," Benito said, "this is Ignacia De Virtusarium. She works with our team and she's looking for the great blacksmith."
"Is she a noble?" Fernando whispered.
"Yes, she is but she's different," Benito whispered.
"What can I do for you, Lady?" Fernando asked. He did not like to deal with the nobles.
Ignacia took out the drawing plan of Katana Sword from 'Magic Space' to show him and said, "I want this design of sword and it must be very strong and hard to break after I used it with my magic power." She had no problem when she used her magic power on two-edged sword but the shape of Katana Sword was different. It must be made by the skilled blacksmith.
"Can you show me your magic power, Lady?" Fernando asked. He showed an interest in her after he saw her drawing plan and heard the details of her requirement.
Ignacia activated 'Fire Magic' in large flames to show him.
"Whoa…your power is really amazing," Fernando said, surprisingly.
"I told you, right?" Benito said.
"You can use all the best materials. I have no limit about budget but I want the best sword that can resist my magic power in long term," Ignacia said.
"I see what you wanted. I need 3 months to make a masterpiece for you. It took time to find the best materials to make it," Fernando said.
"All right," Ignacia said and gave him 100 gold coins, "I paid you 100 gold coins as a deposit. It might help you to find the best materials easier,"
"Oh, that's good," said Fernando happily, "I won't disappoint you, Lady"
After we finished everything in the smithy, we went back to meet Alex and Lucas at the inn.
Benito handed swords, daggers, and arrows to Alex and Lucas and asked, "Did you find something?"
"No, there is nothing much here. We must find more clue near the border." Alex said.
We rode our horses to go to the border between Occidens and Pinus Forest. There were fortress and the thick walls along the border. We saw many black knights guarding at the gate between Occidens and Pinus Forest.
We passed through the gate after we showed our ID plates.
"As I told you, we have never found the exact whereabouts of The Demon King and Five Ordo Demons. Some say that they are in Pinus Forest, some say that they are in Tempestas Forest. So, we assumed that they might stay near the border between Pinus Forest and Tempestas Forest where there are a lot of monsters," Benito said.
"If we are in the worst-case scenario, I would like you all to run to me. I will teleport all of us out of there," Ignacia said.
"All right," Benito said.
"I got it," Alex and Lucas said.
We rode our horses through the woods until the sun went down. We found a location where we can get a rest for tonight.
Ignacia used her senses to check surrounding areas. She found nothing suspicious and said, "This area is safe. I didn't sense any monsters nearby."
"Let's rest for today," Benito said.
★★★
Alex and Lucas set up camp while Benito was looking around the area.
Ignacia helped them light a small fire.
Alex and Lucas prepared the meals for us.
After we finished our meals, Alex and Lucas went to rest while Ignacia and Benito were guarding the area.
"Why did you work as a mercenary, Lady Ignacia? I mean everyone know about your status," Benito asked.
"I want to get the real experience," Ignacia said and asked, "how long did you work in The Fama Guild, Mr. Benito?"
"You can call me Benito. I worked there since I was young. I'm an orphan. Madam found me on the street and raised me until I became an adult. I helped her do errands job at first and do everything after I learned swordsmanship," Benito said.
"I see," Ignacia said. She understood his feelings because she had lived like him in the previous life as Daiki.
'Swoosh' the sound of the air.
Ignacia suddenly felt something coming toward us.
A beautiful vampire like female model, who has long black hair, red eyes, red lips, fanged teeth, and pale skins, appeared behind Benito.
"Behind you," Ignacia shouted. She activated 'Fire Magic' to burn her.
Benito dodged her bite on time.
"It's hot, boy" Valentina said. Her body healed itself. She walked toward Ignacia.
Benito slashed at vampire but she used her power to blow Benito away. His head and body hit the tree, it made him lost his consciousness.
Alex and Lucas were woken by the loud sound. They hurriedly went out of the tent and saw Vampire walking toward Ignacia. They shot the arrows at Vampire but she used her power to block their attacks and teleported to be behind Alex. She used her long, sharp fingernails piercing into his back and leaned forward, aiming to suck his blood.
Ignacia activated 'Fire Magic' to burn at her again, distracting her from Alex and Lucas.
"Help Alex and Benito. I will fight with her," Ignacia shouted.
Valentina teleported to Ignacia and said, "I told you it's hot." She aimed to attack Ignacia but her hand was cut off by Ignacia instead. Her hand slowly regrew itself.
Ignacia used 'The Eyes of Truth' to see her weak part. She could see that her weak part was her heart. She activated 'Fire Magic' to burn her with large flames, then used sword to stab into her heart very quickly. She continued to activated 'Lightning Magic' on the blade to make more damage at her heart.
"Kyaaaa…" Valentina screamed, then said, "It's hurt…no…stop…don't kill me."
Ignacia said nothing but activated more 'Lightning Magic' to damage her heart more.
"Kyaaa…" Valentina screamed. Her body was in flames and could not heal itself. "Don't kill me. I will do anything." She begged her.
"Who will believe you? Aren't you the one of ordo demons?" Ignacia asked. She activated more power of 'Lightning Magic'.
"Argh…yes, please stop. Let's talk…kyaa," A vampire said frighteningly.
Ignacia activated 'Familia', engraving her power on Vampire's heart to enslave her. She pulled out her sword and stopped to burn her.
"What did you do to me?" Valentina asked. Her body slowly healed itself.
"Make you my slave," Ignacia said and asked, "what did you want to talk?"
"You fool," Valentina said and disappeared.
Ignacia activated 'Familia' to make her heart throb, like it was piercing by hundred needles all the time.
Valentina appeared in front of her.
"Who's fool again?" Ignacia said with a smirk.
"It's me. I'm sorry," Valentina said, her eyes were in tears.
"Move location first," Ignacia said. She did not want the others to know about this power of her.
We walked far away from the area where we fought.
"I'm a second rank of Ordo Demons, how ashamed of me," Valentina murmured to herself.
"Who are you? And what you are?" Ignacia asked.
"I'm Valentina, one of Five Ordo Demons. As you can see, I'm a vampire," Valentina said.
"Did you see the humans who came in this forest before?" Ignacia asked.
"Ah, if you meant a group of humans who came here one month ago, they were killed by the other ordo demons," Valentina said.
"Where are the demon king and the ordo demons residing?" Ignacia asked.
"…Do I have to answer all of your questions?" Valentina asked anxiously. "Well, you know, Queen Gehenna is very cruel. I can't do something against her."
"Well, you can choose to die by my hand or that Queen Gehenna," said Ignacia coldly.
"…I can tell you only that we are residing deep inside the Pinus Forest and Queen Gehenna cast the spell on the castle to make it invisible. That's why humans could not find us," Valentina said.
"Gehenna is demon queen, right? Is there demon king? What kind of creatures?" Ignacia asked.
"No, there is no demon king. The demon king was her father and he died a century ago. Queen Gehenna is a powerful, ancient dragon," Valentina said.
"What about Five Ordo Demons?" Ignacia asked.
"Apart from me, there are Witch, Succubus, Werewolf, and Snake Beast-woman," Valentina said.
"You have to report me when they have plan to harm humans. If you reported me late or chose to betray me, you will die first," Ignacia threatened her.
"All right. How can I find you?" Valentina asked.
"You will know how to find me by yourself. You can use your mind to communicate with me. Don't show up yourself when there are people around me. If you did so, I have no choice but to kill you," Ignacia said.
"I got it. Anyway, can you give me some of your blood as a reward? I was badly damaged because of your attacks," Valentina asked, timidly.
Ignacia slit her arm, then held out her arm for her.
Valentina sucked her blood for a short while.
"Have you had enough?" Ignacia asked.
"Ah, I'm sorry. Your blood is very delicious. Please give me your blood from time to time. I will be your good slave," said Valentina delightedly.
"Don't you fear the demon queen?" Ignacia asked.
"I do fear her but I prefer blood to everything," said Valentina delightedly, "you see, I have never killed humans. I only sucked their blood and left. So, I can suck their blood again and again."
"Are you really a demon?" Ignacia asked, curiously.
"I'm a vampire but I became a demon because I'm boring with my long life," Valentina said.
"Why don't you just die then?" Ignacia asked.
"You're meanie. I'm not bored that much," said Valentina sulkily.
"You are too old to sulk, you know?" Ignacia said.
"You! I will take my leave then," Valentina said and disappeared.
Ignacia healed her wound and went back to the camp. She walked into the tent. She saw Alex lying down on his chest, putting bandage on his wound.
"Oh, you came back. Did you get hurt, Lady Ignacia?" Lucas asked, frighteningly.
"No, I didn't. What about their conditions?" Ignacia asked.
"I used healing potion to heal Alex's wound but his wound was deep. He was badly hurt. And Benito did not regain his consciousness yet," said Lucas nervously.
Ignacia walked toward Alex, then activated 'Healing' to heal his wound.
Alex's wound was healed completely as if he was not injured.
"Oh, you can use healing magic. Thank you for saving him, Lady Ignacia" said Lucas delightedly.
"Don't mention it," Ignacia said, "you should get some rest. I will guard the area."
"Thank you," Lucas said, gratefully.
★★★