The Seven Demon's Tamer

What used to be expensive furniture was now firewood packed together in a pile. The fancy dining table now lay in splinters beside what remained of his plush leather armchair.

The entire area was leveled, but strangely, only the remains of Leo's building were left behind.

With everything crumbled to pieces, the only thing they could think about at the moment was to give the remains one last worth.

It was already night after all, so they made a campfire with the wood splinters. The flames danced and crackled, sending up sparks into the air.

It wouldn't have been possible if not for Brok, given the state of their vicinity and the current time.

There were no shops or supermarkets around to purchase a lighter, and even if they decided to travel far, it was already too late in the night. No one would dare sell actively at this time, especially due to the rules the FSG placed on the entire country.

The FSG's agents were well known for their strictness and no one could dare disobey their orders.

With wood but no means to make fire, they were becoming hopeless until all of a sudden, Brok solved the trouble by offering them a lighter from his pocket.

The small metallic object practically gleamed in the dim light like a precious gem, and for a moment, all three men stared at it as if it were the most beautiful thing they'd ever seen.

No one would have ever thought a lighter had the ability to light up the mood of men.

But then again, that raised the question: why the hell would a man be walking around with a lighter in his pocket?

"Seriously, Brok," Ryder raised an eyebrow, unable to contain his curiosity any longer. "Why do you carry a lighter around? You don't smoke, do you?"

Brok's face flushed red as he fidgeted with the lighter. "Well... uh... you see..." He cleared his throat dramatically.

"A man must always be prepared for any situation! What if we needed to start a signal fire? Or burn important documents? Or—"

"Or light a romantic candle for a special lady?" Leo interjected with a smirk, his eyebrows dancing up and down despite his exhaustion.

"You are way off the reason in fact!" Brok muttered. "You are terrible at guessing!"

"I dwell in the underworld you know, and for quite a while."

Ryder couldn't help but chuckle. "So you were theoretically just waiting for the perfect moment when we'd need to burn down Leo's furniture?"

What a weirdo. But still, they were grateful. Even if they didn't know what Brok's main objective was for carrying around a lighter.

The backlash of overexerting himself finally caught up to Leo as he collapsed right next to the campfire with swollen limbs.

His breathing was heavy, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead despite the cool night air. The flames cast dancing shadows across his strained facade.

It was quite surprising that the fight that had occurred quite long ago was still affecting Leo now, and only getting worse.

Well, Brok was a summoner so it was understandable that he could recover from fatigue pretty quickly. Leo however wasn't.

He certainly had passed his prime. His young and handsome appearance was mere deception. He was 112 years old.

He shouldn't even be able to walk on his own without assistance, but not only could he walk, he was also capable of fighting.

He could fight familiars and still come out in triumph. But the fact that he was weaker now remained.

Ryder studied Leo's condition with concern. The man who had seemed invincible when they first met, now looked so fragile.

"Hey, old man," Ryder said softly. "You're not planning to die on us before we even get to the Red Eastern guild, are you? Because that would be terrible timing."

Leo managed a weak chuckle. "I'm not gonna die dammit, my life energy just isn't as thick as it was back then, it withered with age.

I was in similar condition after I fought you and Luxy for the very first time."

Ryder stared at the campfire, watching the flames consume what remained of Leo's possessions. A fragment of what might have been a picture frame crackled and popped, releasing sparks into the night sky, captivating his attention.

How could his day be any worse. Just that morning, they'd been dealing with village FSG chasing them, afternoon was a horde of familiars raining down. Now they were homeless, preparing to join a guild.

He honestly was feeling exhausted despite all these thoughts, and just like Luxy, he could stay awake for days if he really wanted... but he decided against it, staring at the campfire and hoping boredom would make him sleepy.

Luckily, it truly worked in making him dizzy and he finally fell on his back, staring at the twinkling stars till eventually, he fell asleep.

The night flashed by and it was morning again. All the events of the previous day felt like a dream now.

In fact, any of them would have been ready to swear it was a dream until they saw their surroundings and the campfire Leo's furniture had become.

Ryder opened his eyes to be greeted by the warm morning sunlight radiating through the clear air where Leo's roof used to provide shade.

Getting off the ground where he had dozed off, he turned towards his side to see Leo in a meditating position. The older man sat cross-legged with perfect posture, his breathing deep and controlled.

The swelling from Leo's arms and legs had reduced significantly, and Ryder could guess that it was his life energy in motion.

Leo had mentioned how he could heal himself with his life energy, but seeing it in action was still impressive.

"Morning, old man," Ryder said quietly, not wanting to disturb Leo's concentration, but couldn't help himself before spouting his taunting comment. "Still alive, I see. I was half-expecting you to have joined the stars."

Leo's lips twitched in what might have been a smile, but he didn't open his eyes or break his meditation. "Joined the stars eh? Kid, I was healing broken bones and torn muscles when your grandfather was still learning to walk.

It takes more than a little overexertion to put me down permanently."

"Just checking," Ryder stretched, still feeling uncomfortable from sleeping on the hard ground. "Wouldn't want to explain to the Red Eastern guild why we showed up with a corpse instead of the legendary Summoner's Slayer."

"Great," Leo repeated with a scoff. "I don't think it is proper to refer to me as great, not anymore."

Brok disappointingly was still deep in sleep, lazily snoring into the air.

What a turn-off, Ryder thought, shaking his head at the sight of Brok sprawled on the ground with drool pooling beside his mouth.

Almost as if he could feel Ryder's disappointment, Brok suddenly woke up at that moment, startling awake.

"Wha—where—" Brok sat up abruptly, looking around wildly as if expecting to find himself in his own bed instead of the ruins of Leo's home. "Oh. Right. For a moment I thought I was having a really weird dream."

"I thought as much too, but unfortunately, this is reality," Ryder said dryly.

Brok wiped the drool from his chin with the back of his hand, looking embarrassed. "Sorry about the... you know." He gestured vaguely at the small puddle he'd created.

"The snoring or the drooling?" Leo asked, finally opening his eyes and ending his meditation. "Because both were equally horrible."

"I don't snore!" Brok protested defensively.

Leo and Ryder both chuckled, finding it pointless to continue the meaningless argument.

"Now that you are all awake, can we get moving?" Leo spoke, rolling his shoulders to work out the stiffness from his meditation session.