Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Chapter 29: The Mechanic and the Last of the Feldroks Part 1

Daniel finds yet another surprise when he wakes up the following morning. Naturally, he is startled at first, but it's not like the first night of their meeting. Hekate is asleep on his lap against his hip, but she didn't faint during an attempt to kill him. Instead, she's curled up in a ball like a cat, with her big tail curled around her cheeks and the blanket covering as much of both of them as possible, even though it's a small blanket.

He smirks, petting her head gently. She does seem to like it when he does, but...

This is going to bite me in the butt in a different way, isn't it?

Regardless, Daniel does his best to let her rest. She's a magic user, meaning restoring her mana and stamina are highly valuable. He has a handful of the mana restorative potations, which should be highly useful if they're in a pinch. Though, he has to be mindful of her small size. Unless he intends to also feed her antidote potions, just one mana potion could prove to intoxicate the small fox-eared girl. And, he doesn't even know what the repercussions of feeding her antidote potions would be, since they're still an alcohol. They just detoxify the alcohol before it can affect the person. It doesn't mean that there aren't any harmful long-term effects.

Of course, back on Earth, it would be unthinkable to feed a child alcoholic drinks, even if they're actually utilitarian in this world, which gives him pause as well. For now, she's doing well without any assistance from consumables. Daniel has plenty of revolver rounds remaining, plenty of food and water he seized, and of course, all but two of his rifle rounds. Assuming a Feldrok is comparable to a dragon, and assuming he can catch it off guard, he might be able to get them through this castle without either of them getting hurt.

They eat a good breakfast, and Hekate sits against his side, smiling.

Yep. Definitely getting bitten later. Oh well.

They clean up their camp after finishing breakfast, and they carefully sneak out of their alcove. They stay close, as they don't know if any new adversaries would come to investigate. They're in a hallway, which is winding, and Hekate listens carefully. She nods to indicate that it's safe, and Daniel pets her head. He leads the way, following the 'rule of right'; taking right turns when presented with intersections, marking corners, and investigating until they come to a dead end or recognize an intersection or room they've been in. Thankfully, Daniel has been collecting the bodies, but Hekate's sense of smell can detect the blood of the monsters they've slain, even down to unique identification, so she can confirm a room quickly without them having to walk all the way across the humongous, pitch black rooms.

Daniel suspects it's not an ancient temple or tomb, since there are no traps. Instead, it seems to be an ancient castle, as all of the hallways have defensive structures, and the walls are sturdy. He has some idea of the layout from the directions they've been heading, but he can't see well enough to make a map, and he doesn't have material to do so, since paper is expensive and none of the demons had any.

There are puddles and streams that are too deep for the young fox girl to cross without getting water in her boots or soaking her clothes. She rides on Daniel's back as he walks across, and she watches their front while holding his revolver. He taught her the basic means to use it, but he doubts she'll be willing to fire it. He'll have to be especially careful of her sensitive ears when he fires the rifle.

The next room they come to that is a new room is too large to see across, even for Hekate. She can barely see the ceiling, but confirms there aren't any airborne targets. However, near the middle of the room, a rather large creature, given the hand gestures she shows Daniel, is eating something else. They make their way along the right wall, still following the rule of right, moving cautiously to avoid any trips or slips that would draw attention of the monster. While Hekate's burden is the darkness itself, Daniel is on offense once she informs him of the hazard. As such, he uses her faintly glowing outline from her magic power to determine where he can step. So far, it's worked quite well, even if he can't see the thing he's stepping on. Hekate knows to pick the best footing for him, and she has been doing an excellent job as his guide.