Chapter 19: Into the Dwarven Tunnels

Lord Demico of Gerald was a young noble.

It was because the aged baron had handed over his position, and his eldest son, Demico, inherited the title.

Demico was tall, with brown hair and light chocolate-colored skin.

His exotic appearance was due to his mother, the former lord’s wife, who hailed from Rosham, the southernmost city of the Empire, often called the Land’s End.

After a brief greeting, a woman smiled and stood beside Demico.

“You must be weary from your long journey. A room has been prepared for you, so please rest and recover from your fatigue.”

It was Demico’s wife, Baroness Bellata.

“I’m fine, but please, show these knights to their rooms.”

As Rohan pointed to the knights who had followed behind, Demico’s eyebrow twitched as he watched.

‘He speaks like some old man…’

No matter how you looked at it, his way of speaking wasn’t something you’d expect from a fourteen-year-old child.

The truth was, Demico was not at all pleased with this visit from the prince.

He’d only accepted because Count Nidro had sent a letter and his father had insisted.

A young prince coming to solve our territory’s problems.

He didn’t have high expectations.

“It seems His Highness has other matters to attend to.”

At Demico’s sharp remark, Rohan lifted his head and looked at him.

Since Demico was so tall, Rohan, who was shorter, had no choice but to look up.

“I’m not here to rest but to carry out His Majesty’s orders. So, I hope the Baron will cooperate.”

“Is that so? Well, the thing is, I have to check on the mine now, so I don’t have time.”

At Rohan’s words, Demico made an excuse.

From his perspective, he thought the prince might only make a bad situation worse by meddling.

‘I wish he’d just keep quiet and leave.’

Baroness Bellata, standing beside Demico, shifted anxiously at his words.

Anyone could see her discomfort.

But Rohan only smiled more brightly and said,

“That’s perfect. I was just about to ask if we could go to the mine together.”

“Pardon?”

“I came to solve the mine problem, so wouldn’t it be wrong not to see the mine? Lead the way. I’ll follow.”

Rohan even reached out his hand, requesting guidance, and Demico let out a hollow laugh.

“Heh… very well.”

As he led the way to the mine, Demico’s expression turned oddly complicated.

‘Wait, why am I leading the way?’

He had no reason to go with them, but before he realized it, he was obeying the prince’s words.

“Ahem, this is the mine.”

The mine wasn’t far from the lord’s castle.

This was a big reason why the castle was so dusty and dirty.

“My lord, you’re here!”

“My lord! Hello!”

As they approached the entrance, the territory’s residents, who were working, greeted them one by one.

Demico, as if used to it, raised his hand and responded.

“You must come to the mine often.”

“Yes, well.”

Demico replied awkwardly to Rohan’s question.

In truth, he’d been coming to the mine almost every day lately.

After working and sweating alongside the territory’s people all day, he would collapse from exhaustion by evening.

He had no choice but to do this—all because of the disputes with the Dwarves.

The trouble started when the coal mine tunnels intersected.

Each side had started mining from their own territory, but when the tunnels met, both sides claimed ownership of the mine.

“Did you request the meeting I asked for?”

“I did… but…”

Before coming here, Rohan had sent a letter to Demico.

He’d requested that Demico arrange a meeting with the Dwarves.

“They refused.”

“Well, I expected as much.”

It wasn’t a surprise.

Rohan had already decided that if they didn’t show up, he’d visit them in person.

Given how tense things were due to the dispute, it was only natural that the Dwarves wouldn’t welcome the involvement of a third party like himself.

“In that case, could we go directly to the disputed area?”

“Hmm… It’s been closed off for a while, so it might be dangerous.”

The mine had been closed because of the dispute.

No one had gone there for a long time, so it would be quite desolate.

“Sounds like we can go as long as we’re willing to take the risk.”

“…Are you really going?”

Demico’s eyes narrowed.

He hadn’t imagined the prince would personally enter that coal mine.

Most nobles would hate to go near a dusty mine like that.

And Rohan was royalty, no less.

‘He really is different—must be because he was born a commoner.’

Demico’s eyebrow twitched as he spoke.

“If you insist, I’ll guide you.”

“Good.”

Meanwhile, Rohan’s eyes sparkled as he watched Demico walk ahead.

The Demico he knew hated vanity and pretense to an extreme degree.

To win favor with such a person, it was best to be honest and show your true self.

‘I need to make sure he doesn’t get hurt this time.’

After the territory’s people were injured in the conflict with the Dwarves, things had escalated to sword-and-spear skirmishes.

In that battle, Demico lost his sense of smell in an explosion, lost his title as lord, and eventually became a vagabond—later joining the intelligence organization he’d founded himself, the “Cipher Veil”.

Rohan had a particular reason for wanting to win Demico’s favor.

It was because Demico was an ‘ore expert’.

He could tell what was hidden underground just by smelling the earth—a truly superhuman sense.

Since ores were a vital asset to the Empire, Rohan believed it was wise to bring such a talented person to his side as soon as possible.

Moreover, Demico was the lord of Gerald, whose cooperation was essential in this matter.

“It’s a bit dark from here on.”

Lost in thought, Rohan realized they were already at the mine’s entrance.

“If you’re scared, you can always run outside.”

“Don’t worry. I have my trusty bodyguard knight here.”

Rohan stepped into the mine’s entrance.

“Let’s go in.”

Demico’s eyebrows shot up as he watched Rohan walk ahead for the first time.

“…He really isn’t afraid of anything, is he?”

---

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Somewhere, the sound of water dripping echoed.

The inside of the mine was pitch black, and a strange smell lingered in the air.

The two of them walked deeper and deeper into the mine.

“I see glowstones here and there.”

“Yes. We can’t exactly work with torches down here.”

“Are these made from ground mineralis?”

“…!”

At Rohan’s words, Demico looked surprised.

“You know about mineralis?”

“Isn’t it a flower that glows on its own, growing in caves?”

“Wow.”

Demico was truly impressed.

Even most herbalists and botanists didn’t know about mineralis.

The more he saw of this prince, the more unusual he seemed.

“How did you know about it?”

“Oh, well…”

You told me yourself in my previous life.

“The Imperial library has every kind of book you can imagine.”

“Ah.”

Demico accepted this explanation.

If there was anywhere with books on mineralis, it would be the Imperial library.

“By the way, do you always talk like that?”

“My manner of speaking? What about it?”

“Well… you sound like an old man.”

“Haha.”

Rohan didn’t bother to change the way he spoke, so Demico figured it made sense.

“I wasn’t always like this. Until I entered the Imperial City, I was just a naive child.”

“…Hmm.”

Demico let out a small grunt, unsure what to say.

It was common knowledge throughout the Empire, even to the stray dogs, that Rohan was born a commoner, but it was still awkward to mention it openly.

After a moment of silence, Rohan spoke first.

“It seems you don’t believe I’ll be able to solve this problem.”

“…!”

“Well, I can’t blame you. Even I’d doubt a commoner-born prince with no real education could just show up and solve a problem that no one else has managed to fix.”

“That’s…”

Demico couldn’t hide his flustered reaction at being so accurately called out.

Rohan gave a faint smile at the sight.

“It’s all right. I just said so, didn’t I? Even I would have thought the same. Besides, your face is so transparent I can see all your thoughts.”

“Grr…”

Demico rolled his eyes in embarrassment, breaking into a cold sweat.

He’d never learned to be two-faced, so he couldn’t hide his true feelings.

“But regardless of how you feel, there’s something I’d like to ask of you, given the gravity of this matter.”

“A favor… sir?”

“I’d like you to come with me to the Dwarves’ city, ‘Rocktercia’.”

“What?”

For a moment, Demico wondered if he’d misheard.

“That place… It’s not somewhere you can just go if you want.”

Demico shook his head.

‘Does he even know what Rocktercia is?’

He really did seem like a child.

He was naively talking about visiting Rocktercia together.

“I know. No human has ever set foot there.”

“…And you say that, but still make such a request?”

Rohan grinned.

“What if we became the first humans to set foot in Rocktercia?”

“Wait… Hold on.”

Seeing Rohan’s confident expression, Demico was struck with a sudden hope.

‘If I could really go to Rocktercia…’

Gulp.

He swallowed dryly.

Demico Gerald.

He was the lord of Gerald, but also a self-professed ore expert.

For someone like him, the Dwarven city of Rocktercia was a place of dreams.

“Is there really a way to get there?”

Demico barely managed to steady his racing heart and asked.

Rohan nodded.

“Have you ever heard of mithril?”

“…!”

It was almost too much to take in.

The prince knew about mithril?

Even for an ore expert like himself, he’d only ever heard the name in passing.

“No way…”

“Oh, is this the spot? Where the dispute started?”

But Rohan, after dropping such a bombshell, was looking elsewhere.

“Ah, yes. That’s right. It’s currently closed off.”

As Demico said, the tunnel extended onward but was blocked with wooden planks.

“Hmm.”

Rohan looked around and soon picked up a pickaxe.

“…What are you doing?”

Demico’s confusion was short-lived.

“Hyah!”

Crash!

Startled by Rohan’s sudden swing of the pickaxe, Demico shouted.

“Your Highness! Wh-what are you doing!”

Thud! Crack! Crash!

But Rohan, unfazed, kept smashing the wooden planks with the pickaxe.

Thunk! Crack!

After a few more swings, a gap wide enough for a person to squeeze through opened up.

“Phew. This pickaxe is heavier than I expected.”

Rohan wiped his now sweat-drenched brow as he spoke.

“Wh-why are you breaking that?”

Demico was so flabbergasted, he could barely form words.

Why smash up perfectly fine planks blocking the tunnel?

Rohan looked at the dumbfounded Demico and dropped the pickaxe to the floor.

“I just asked, didn’t I? What if we became the first humans to set foot in Rocktercia?”

“Wha…?”

Rohan nodded with a smile.

“Let’s go. It’s time to meet the Dwarves.”

“Whaaaat?”

As Rohan disappeared through the gap, Martin followed right after without hesitation.

Demico clutched his head at the sight.

“I-is he insane…?”

He was starting to think the prince was out of his mind.

Even for an imperial prince, charging into a disputed area like that—!

“Hurry up! We don’t have much time!”

“Y-Your Highness!”

Hearing Rohan’s voice echo from deep inside, Demico hesitated.

He was the baron.

When the prince entered a disputed zone, what was he supposed to do…?

“Ah, this is crazy…”

Demico squeezed his eyes shut and pushed himself through the gap.

There was no way he could just turn back—he had no choice but to go in and bring the prince back.

“Your Highness! Let’s go together!”

Since he was much bigger, he thought he could easily drag the young prince back if he had to.

And he would soon realize how badly mistaken he was.