Chapter 44 - Nameless Village (2)

Fortunately, Acel's flames didn't spread to the kidnapped people. Those rescued by the group kept expressing their gratitude, bowing repeatedly.

"Thank you, thank you!"

"It's nothing, we just did what we had to do."

Saya and Warren took charge of dealing with the survivors. Acel and Quill went to search the burned corpses and the bandits' hideout for anything useful.

"...Are you really a mage who just does research in a study? You seem used to this kind of thing," Quill asked while rummaging through a corpse's pockets.

Acel chuckled and threw him a money pouch he found.

"I lived like this when I was young. Not exactly good memories."

The slums were a world of survival of the fittest. The strong took, the weak lost. Acel survived there like a hyena. A life of searching dead bodies for useful items and receiving scraps as a low-level drug gang member.

Thanks to that, he was immune to corpses. The burning smell was a bit much, but even that was better than the stench of decay. Acel roughly dropped the corpse he was holding and dusted off the ashes on his hands.

There wasn't much to gain from the bandits' hideout. There was some money, but not much even then...