Mil heard the voice and turned to see Yulia. She must have come to look for Mil after she was slow to return.
The village elder walked over to her. “I’m sorry, Yulia. We were just talking. Now let’s go home.” He began heading back to the house.
Then, with the worst possible timing, they all heard a roar.
“Grrrooohhh!”
“It’s the dragon!”
The red dragon was descending on the village from above.
“It’s the same one as yesterday! It’s back!”
“Dragons are smart creatures. It won’t attack once it knows it can’t win.”
“So it doesn’t think it lost last time? We’ll just have to drive it off again then.”
“Grrrroooohhh!” The dragon’s chest shone with red light as it inhaled deeply, and then flames erupted from the depths of its maw.
“Fire?! It really was a fire-breathing dragon!”
A torrent of flames scorched the square and its surroundings, sending the villagers standing outside fleeing in all directions.
“Uh-oh! That dragon’s mad! It’ll destroy our whole village!”
Villagers had to scramble to put out fires as the dragon’s flames hit wooden buildings.
“I-I can stop the f-fire! Aqua rain!”
When Yulia held her hands up to the sky, large drops of rain came falling from above. The rain gradually grew to cover more area, quickly extinguishing the buildings that had just started to burn.
“You saved us, Yulia!”
The fire was under control, but the fire-breathing dragon was still a problem.
I have to take it down myself! Mil decided. “I’ll do something about that dragon!”
Mil reached for her sword, but the village elder held up his hand to stop her.
“Please let us handle this, Mil.”
“That’s right. We can’t always count on adventurers.”
“We’ll sort this out ourselves!”
The farmers each picked up one of the enchanted tools and got ready for a fight.
“Huh? But...”
“We see dragons like this about once a year. It’s not our first time fending one off. You can leave us to defend our own village.”
“Grrraaaooohhh!” With a ferocious roar, the dragon descended, accompanied by an intense gust of wind that made Mil shield her face with her arms.
The farmers raised a battle cry and rushed at the descending dragon, swinging their enchanted weapons to release a barrage of fire, lightning, and ice attacks.
The farmers were certainly tough, but the dragon’s intense assault left them no opportunity for an effective counterattack.
Once Yulia was done extinguishing the fires, she headed toward the dragon. “I’ll h-help too.”
But before she could get near, the village elder caught her and held her back. “No, Yulia.”
“Um... Dad?”
It was the farmers who explained everything to her.
“That’s right, Yulia. You just watch.”
“We’ll prove we can defend the village without you.”
“We’ve been counting on you for too much.”
“B-But... Your enchantments have run out...”
The enchantments were already gone from the tools they were holding. Each farmer might have been as tough as a first-rate adventurer, but they couldn’t fight a dragon with nothing but ordinary hoes and sickles.
“Yulia, you want to go to the royal capital, don’t you?” The village elder said as they watched the farmers fight.
“I...”
“We know you’re worried about us. Well, we’ll show you that you needn’t be. We know how to drive off monsters. Even dragons.”
“But... But...” Yulia’s eyes were red, like she might start crying any second.
What can I do...? Mil wondered.
The farmers couldn’t stand to be holding Yulia back and preventing her from going on a journey. They didn’t say it outright, but their plan was to defeat the dragon without her help so she could leave the village with peace of mind. It was a plan that could easily backfire if they died trying.
If they just had better weapons...
Mil’s bag was full of daggers and enchanted items taken from the Demon King’s Castle, but all required high stats to use them. The villagers probably weren’t high level enough.
If I could just enchant something... Oh, I’ve got it!
The tools couldn’t withstand Mil’s forbidden magic. It had to be Yulia’s enchantments. But her enchantments would soon lose their effect. There was only one way to change that—using the powers of the goddess to make her potential skills blossom.
If it works...
Mil tried using Goddess Eye to see Yulia’s stats.
Oh... It’s possible!
Yulia’s enchantment magic was ready to awaken.
“Yulia! Let me give you something!”
“Wh-What? What are you doing?”
“I’m using my powers to awaken your skills! Just leave it to me!” Mil took a breath then began casting. “Blessings of the Goddess—Goddess Bloom!”
The faint light emitted from Mil’s palms was taking the form of an angel embracing Yulia.
“Uh, wha—?! Mil, what is this?”
“Stay calm and trust me.”
When the light finished gathering in the angel, that meant Yulia’s skill was fully awakened.
Imbue ultimate elemental magic appeared in the status window; it worked. Yulia’s previous enchantments all had limited uses, but maybe now...
“Yulia, try enchanting something.”
“O-Okay...”
“But Mil, that would mean...” The village elder was about to stop her.
“Everything’s going to work out,” Mil reassured him. “Yulia’s more powerful than before.”
Yulia ignored the village elder and reached for a tool to reapply its worn-out enchantment. “Flame enchant.” Intense flames gathered around Yulia, then flowed into the tool.
Mil took the enchanted tool from Yulia and examined it with Goddess Eye.
Two-handed Weapon: Hoe
Required Stats: None
Description: Ultimate fire enchantment. Unlimited uses.
The magic was more refined, and the tool’s uses were no longer limited. Now it would be a powerful weapon, no matter how long it was used.
“Everyone! Use these tools! Yulia’s gonna enchant them all!”
Yulia began enchanting one tool after another. Then she approached the farmers who’d backed away from the dragon with worn-out weapons.
“But, adventurer, we can’t—”
“It’s fine! Use them all you like!” Mil reassured them.
The farmers stopped trying to argue with Mil, and instead they turned the tools against the dragon. They’d been on the defensive the whole time, but their powerful new enchantments were enough to push the dragon back.
“Ooh, the enchantment’s not running out!”
They swung their tools with renewed vigor, keeping the pressure on the dragon with elemental magic attacks of all kinds. They’d always held back in the past because they feared wasting the limited uses of each enchantment. With no limits to worry about, they could swing the tools without restraint.
“Grrrooohhh...” Unable to bear the onslaught, the dragon howled and then fled into the skies.
“It’s finally leaving... It gave us its all and still lost. It won’t be back after that. But Mil, why aren’t Yulia’s enchantments running out?”
“I used my powers to give her a new skill. I bet she could get even stronger, but it’ll be hard for her to learn more here.”
Although Yulia was talented, her magic had been limited to advanced tier spells. With nothing but a few spell books that merchants brought to the village, she couldn’t develop her magic as much as she wanted to.
“It took a little help from me, but now Yulia can make enchantments that never run out.” Once enchanted, the tools would stay enchanted. With this power, the villagers could band together to drive off foes as powerful as dragons without needing the magic constantly reapplied.
“Wow... I can hardly believe it. Enchantments that never run out...” The village elder glanced at Yulia. “Now we can get by without constantly relying on Yulia.”
“Huh...?”
“Yulia.” The village elder approached her. “What do you really want to do?”
“Dad...”
“If you’d like to stay with us in the village your whole life, then that’s fine. But if you’d like to study magic in the royal capital, we want to support you.”
Yulia hung her head. She was conflicted. She loved the village she’d grown up in, but wanted to learn more about magic. Both were important to her. “I...” Just as she seemed ready to burst into tears, she hugged the village elder and hid her face.
“Y-Yulia.”
“Dad... I...”
Mil heard Yulia sobbing into her father’s chest. The village was everything to her, and the village elder was her only family.
She had to choose between remaining in the village or seizing an opportunity to travel. Even Mil, an outsider, could sense how torn Yulia was.
I should’ve been more considerate...
She regretted casually inviting Yulia to travel with her the night before. This was a major turning point in Yulia’s life, and yet Mil had tried to talk her into it with no thought.
The village elder placed his hand on Yulia’s shoulder. “We’re not saying goodbye forever, you know? You can come back if you get lonely. We’ll always be right here.”
Yulia raised her small voice. “I...”
“Yes?” The village elder asked softly.
Yulia raised her head. “I’d like to go to the royal capital.” She looked straight at the village elder with eyes full of determination. “I’d like to learn more magic.”
The village elder smiled warmly and nodded. “Then go, my child,” he said while putting his arms around her shoulders.
Yulia continued to sob with her face buried in the village elder’s chest.
The village elder turned to look at Mil. “My daughter, Yulia...can I leave her in your hands?”
“Y-Yes. Leave her to me. But are you sure about this, Yulia?”
“Yes. It’s just like my dad says. I’m not saying goodbye forever.”
A cheer suddenly erupted from the villagers.
“Yulia! Do your best out there!”
“You can come back anytime!”
“We’re proud of you, Yulia!”
Yulia wiped away her tears as she listened to their cheers. She smiled and nodded firmly.
“Now come have something to eat, you two,” the village elder said. “It’s not too late to have breakfast before setting out.”
“Okay. Oh, um, Yulia!” Mil turned to face her and extended her hand. “I’m glad to have you with me.”
“Y-Yes... Me too.”
The pair shook hands.