"What's the situation, your grace?" A woman who appeared to be in her late twenties asked.

The only people left in the hall except me and my butler were: the Duke and his old butler, Markus, Viscountess Sara, the man whom Markus called Lord Hayden, and this woman.

"Lady Hina, we have received information that there is a demon attack on the western part of the city. I, myself only know that much"—the Duke turned towards me— "boy, can you brief us about the current situation?"

"Yes, give me a moment."

I wasn't exactly aware of the current situation myself, so I tried contacting Flare telepathically.

[Flare, what's the current situation?]

[Master, I am soaring through the sky above the residential district, and as I see, the fire is spreading. The knights are attempting the rescue, but in midst of fire and demon rampage, their attempt is going in vain.]

[How many demons are there exactly?]

[Right now, it's 25, but their number seems to be increasing. Someone must be summoning them in the midst of this chaos.]

[Okay, change into your divine form and help them however you can.]

After this conversation with flare, I looked back towards the Duke. "Things aren't looking well. The demons and fire are getting in the way of rescue."

The Duke hit the wall in frustration. "Damnit!"

"Father, our best option here will be to send the knights in a group of five. Naturally, there will be one water mage among them. While the three focus on defense, the other two can work on the rescue."

"Yes, Markus, I will leave you in charge of the rescue. Go to the Knight's headquarter and mobilize the required number of knights for the task. We will only go on offense after the rescue is over."

"I will head there immediately father," Markus said as he hastily rushed out of the hall.

"How many demons are there? Can you confirm that?" the Duke looked towards me and asked.

"The number seems to be increasing. Someone must be summoning them as we speak, but I can confirm that it's over 25."

"Twenty-five?!"

The whole room fell in shock. This was indeed a shocking matter considering the fact that this all was happening inside the city.

"Hayden, I will need your help to set up emergency shelters."

"You can forget it. This all happened because of your carelessness, and I am not going to donate a single penny here."

Duke's face reddened when he heard the response. The anger that he was barely able to contain up until now finally came out of his mouth. "Then get out of my sight, you fool! We don't need you here. All you do is cause problems in the first place."

"Hmph! We will see how long you will be able to hold that attitude," Hayden said as he walked out of the hall.

"Please calm down my lord. We still need to deal with the issue," the old butler who was standing behind him said.

Duke closed his eyes and took a long breath. After a brief moment, he turned towards Viscountess Sara and Lady Hina.

"I would like to request your help in setting up emergency shelters. Funding isn't a problem; I need help with resources."

"Of course, my lord. I will try to arrange the necessary food. But that will take some time.. at least a week," Lady Hina replied.

"That's alright, we have emergency rations stored here. We will be able to handle things until then. Though the nights are cold now, so we will also need clothes and shelter."

"I will try to arrange the tents.. though I don't think I will be able to arrange the clothes for everyone," Viscountess Sara replied.

"That will be alright. We can use firewood from the woods behind the academy."

That was an excellent idea. I was somewhat glad that all the trees that I destroyed will finally be useful for the greater good.

"And as for you, my boy"—He turned towards me— "I want you to find the summoner of these demons. Whoever it is, give them hell."

"I am on it," I replied. But as I was about to walk out, Flare contacted me telepathically.

[Master, the fire is spreading towards the Trading District. I can change its route with my abilities, but containing it is impossible for me in the midst of my evolution.]

[Okay, please stop it from spreading as much as possible. I will be there soon.]

"I will try to do something about the fire before that. Please focus your resources on the rescue. If everything works out, it's going to rain soon."

I rushed outside the hall and walked towards the ground at the center of the castle. Flare looked busy so instead of relying on her, I tried manipulating the mana myself and floated as high as I could in the air. From up there, I was able to see the city completely.

I could see that Flare was directing the fire towards the unpopulated part of the city and trying to keep the damage to a minimum.

"Woaa!"

I was barely able to maintain myself in the air, so I slowly came down before I fell from there. Now that I had a proper assessment of the surrounding, it was time to start acting.

[Flare, I am going to use wind and water magic together to put off the fire. But there is a limit to the amount of mana I can manipulate in this form. I think we should merge.]

[Yes master, I am coming towards you.]

After she said that, she started circling the sky above me. I took it as a signal that it was a time for us to merge.

I then closed my eyes and tried tinkering with the telepathic link between us. When I went deeper into her thoughts, I was finally able to reach her soul. I then took that soul within me and opened my eyes.

I could sense that flare had merged her flame with the raging fire of the city. And that was why she was able to give that raging fire a direction.

I raised myself up in the air and flew towards the sky over the residential district. Almost half of the residential district was already on fire. And it looked like those who survived this chaos had already gathered in the academy ground.

'I will need to be careful not to make that part of the city wet.'

I manipulated the surrounding mana into a large sphere. When I realized the sphere was large enough, I touched it with my hand and converted the concentrated mana into the water using water magic.

There was a limit to how much mana I could convert. But that limit turned out to be a good thing since the wind I was able to manipulate would only be able to carry a limited amount of water.

I then used the wind around to carry that water and make it fall all over the residential district. The fire was huge so I would need to maintain it for a while to put out the fire. Though by the way I was using four magics at the same time and manipulating the surrounding mana, I might not be able to hold on much longer.

'But this is something I need to do. Just a little longer...'