Compared to the illusory forest from before, the woods outside of Atska were much neater and less compact. There was no path, but the trees were sparse enough that one could clearly see a path between the city and a mountain range deeper within the forest. Juno followed Lei through the thicket, with Iliya trailing from behind.

 

'...'

 

'Isn't this way too awkward?!'

 

Between the three, it was silent enough to hear a pin drop. It seemed that Lei wasn't one for idle chatting, and Iliya merely followed behind. Even so, the walk to their destination was quite long, so the silence was offsetting. As such, Juno decided to ask for some information. After all, despite the nature of their pursuit, the adventurers were still going to end up investigating the crime, right? 

 

"Lei, you said the mining was being done in 'caves', right? Why are we headed straight towards that mountain?"

"The mining is being done in the caves under the mountain." Lei's answer was clear and concise, but left no room for further explanation. After a few seconds of walking, the atmosphere became awkward again.

 

"Umm... If it's not much for you to answer...What is the 'lumite' thing that they're mining?" Iliya piped up from the back of the line. After a few seconds of pondering, Lei spoke again.

 

"You... are an adventurer, no? The stone they gave you in the beginning is lumite. Everyone has one." He stopped to hold up his right arm, revealing a silver gauntlet with a dark gray gem embedded in it. "Normally, this is the largest piece of lumite you'll possess. They're used to store divine energy from defeated demons, which translates to experience. The more you get, the more you can exchange at the guild, and the higher you can rank. But the material itself is highly resonant with divine energy.  Most people seem to think that once they get some lumite gear they'll be able to become an insanely strong adventurer. It's dangerous, though, so the king's made an artificial scarcity of it."

"So the reason they're illegally mining is..."

"Normally only small quantities of it in things like spellstones are available. The large chunks that can be made into items, those are only available to adventurers of Expert level or above. If you mine it illegally, and sell off big chunks for weapon production, there's a large profit margin."

"But is that so bad?" Juno joined the conversation. "Shouldn't this kind of stuff be readily available for the general public? The scarcity is fake, isn't it?"

"There's a baseline based on experience for safety reasons. If one doesn't handle lumite correctly, it can absorb immense amounts of divine energy."

"...and without divine energy, the body of all living things begins to decay." Iliya finished the answer, walking closer to Juno. With that depressing end, the three were once again plunged into silence.

 

Unexpectedly, Lei broke the silence this time around.

 

"Aren't you the holy priestess? Why aren't you with the hero?"

Juno slightly flinched at the question. Upon realizing her identity, most would ask Juno this question. So Lei probing in was Juno's own fault. That being said, it wasn't as if it was an easy thing to explain.

"It's a long story, but I'll summarize it..."

Skipping the initial five months of fighting low-leveled demons, Juno started to rant about the horrible treatment she had suffered under the care of the "hero". For a good five minutes, the forest was full with the grievances Juno had against her former party. The worthless harem, the collateral damage, the crappy upgrades, the Alice, it was enough to make just about anyone burst a vein.

 

"I feel like I've heard of that 'Alice' before." 

"Alice? She's the hero's main mage, so she's pretty well-known."

"No, I feel like I'm forgetting something, but it probably isn't that important." Lei glanced back towards Juno. "Even so, you're mainly a healer? So you can't directly fight?"

Lei had accurately pinpointed Juno's weak point. As a healer, she really couldn't do much damage. The one time she had to manually defeat an enemy, she went through hell fighting with her bare hands. Just then, Juno remembered her saving grace. Putting her arm around Iliya, Juno smirked. 

"I'm fixing that by getting a party! See, if I buff a bunch of random adventurers, it'll work out! "

"Actually, Juno... Your magic... doesn't work on me."

"..."

"Pfft." 

"Don't laugh! " 

Juno's face was turning red from embarrassment. Of course, she knew about the technicality with Iliya's condition, but did she really have to point it out in front of Lei? The aforementioned man stopped for a second, gathering his breath.

 

"I'll be honest, healer's aren't really in high demand these days. Actually, I recommend you to invest in a weapon, probably an easy one like a spear."

"A weapon? I'm not a fighter, though. My magic-"

"It doesn't matter what magic you've got. Besides, most people use a combination of magic and weaponry to fight. It's more efficient that way. Rather than standing around all day, you can learn to defend yourself."

Juno considered the options. Being the holy priestess, she always had a spot around the hero, healing them. As such, she had never thought about choosing a different path. But this wasn't a game world, so like how she abused the stacking enhancement spells, she could also abuse the ability to pursue multiple skills. 

 

"Actually it's very rare you find people that specialize in one specific thing." Lei pushed back his cloak, revealing a curved scabbard hanging from his waist. "The vast majority of adventurers are some variety of swordsmages that use magic to enhance their fighting. Speaking of swordsmages, there's another one."

Lei turned his head up, nodding towards a clearing next to the mountain. Juno followed. From afar, she could see a red-haired youth, surrounded by a four people with various weapons.

"Ah! We must hurry and save him!" Before Iliya could head towards the clearing, Lei puller her back.

”No, stay and watch. I told you, he’s a Master.”

 

It was impossible to hear the conflict, but in a flash, Alfred had caused a fiery explosion that blew the surrounding to bits. Despite the distance, the golden radiance of his sword was clearly visible. Holding his other hand above his sword, Alfred chanted an inaudible spell.

”Shit, this idiot!” All of the sudden, Lei jolted forwards.

Before anyone could react, the sound of metal clashing rang across the entire forest. Counteracting the fire was a bright blue bolt of lightning. When Juno arrived at the scene, both Alfred and Lei had settled down.

 

”You idiot! How can you think of using so much fire in a forest?”

”Oh, so now you want to talk ethics... As if lightning is any better!”

”If I didn’t stop you you would have burned down everything! Do you have any idea how much money that would’ve cost us?! I already had to spend fifty gold because of what you did!”

As if nothing had happened, the two were bickering once again. Suddenly, Lei threw his blade towards the side of one of the fallen men from before.

”Whatever, let’s finish this job first!” The scimitar has barely grazed the man’s face, leaving a sharp red trail on his cheek.

”Wh-what do you want from us?!” Before the man could make an attempt to escape, Alfred threw a ring of what looked to be fire around his arms and legs. Then, he proceeded to do the same with the other captives.

”Illegal mining.” Lei’s interrogation skill wasnt winning any awards, but it was satisfactory.

”We didn’t even do that much! There were demons inside hogging the lumite, anyways, so it’s not like the humans could have gotten it!”

“Demons?” Lei looked at Alfred, who nodded back. “Fine. I’ll investigate it.” Before he could go, he was interrupted by Juno.

“Wait, Lei... Is that the Tempest Blade?”

This entire time, Juno was more focused on the scimitar on the ground than the conversation. The blade was a navy blue, borderline black. At first glance, it looked like it was cracked, but upon closer inspection it was obvious that the blue crack were in some sort of pattern. Despite being part of the hero’s troupe, Juno was versed in the rumors of this world. So given  the characteristics of a lightning-based slayer swordsmage with that specific weapon, Juno had an inkling of what Lei’s full identity could be.

 

The Tempest blade was a notorious demon hunter in the western side of the kingdom. Although there were only a few dozen adventurers skilled enough to be considered slayers, this one was especially famous for being on par with the summoned heroes of the past. For Juno to have encountered such a high-profile person, she truly was lucky!

 

Lei held up his scimitar. “Oh, this? It’s my sword. So it’s just ‘Sword’.”

”Lei, for the last time, stop calling your scimitar ‘Sword’!” Alfred nudged Lei on the shoulder, then turned towards Juno. “Yes, he’s the Tempest Blade. Wait, did you even introduce yourselves beyond your first names?”

“No.”

“Then do so!“

 

Sheathing his blade, Lei bowed towards Juno. “I’m Lei Shan, a Slayer. Why did you know about the ‘Tempest Blade’ nickname?”

“It’s just  a rumor I picked up back when I was with the hero. I’m Juno Yu, the current holy priestess.”

”Wait, holy wha-“ Alfred’s confusion was cut off by Iliya.

”You may call me Iliya. Juno was the one who saved me, I am in her debt.”

”Wait, can we talk ab-“

”Alright, Alfred. Your turn.” The other three stared at Alfred.

”No, hold on, I think there’s some important inf-“

”Alright, Alfred. Your turn.”

The chorus of pressure forced Alfred into submission.

 

”Okay, geez! I’m Alfred Ennendare, heir to-“

“Ennendare?” Once again, all three stared at Alfred like cats looking at a can of food. 

”Is there... something...wrong?”

 

For the second time in a day, Juno explained her situation to a stranger. And so, the adventurers’ plans to find demons were set back by another five minutes. After Juno was finished, Alfred rounded up the four men from before and prepared to head back.

 

”I’ll go back with these four now. If you want, you two can either come with me or go with Lei.” Alfred waved, causing the rings to grab the miners and transport them to him. “Sorry about my sister, I’ll try to talk to her, to see what’s up.”

 

As Alfred left the group behind, Juno couldn’t help but feel like an elementary schooler that had just told on a kid to their parents. Following Lei, the three ventured into the caves.

 

For the first few minutes of walking, there were no signs of life, aside from the marks of mining. However, the deeper they went in, the more unease Juno felt. 
In an instant, her surroundings changed.

 

”Watch out, it’s a trap!” Juno turned towards Lei, but he had already disappeared from her sight. Turning towards the right, Juno breathed a sigh of relief as she found Iliya, still there.

A familiar voice emerged from the darkness behind Juno, and as Juno turned around, she saw a familiar 9/10 face.

 

“We meet again, priestess. How interesting.”