Chapter 20: The Blood Elpirian

Rohan and Martin proceeded along the path the Dwarves had carved, rather than the way they had entered.

They moved so quickly that Demico, who had entered later, had to dash in a panic to catch up to Rohan.

Only after running down the long and winding mine tunnel did Demico finally reach the mine’s entrance, where he could get close to Rohan.

“Your Highness!”

He must return.

It would be disastrous if he stayed here any longer.

That was what Demico was about to say.

“How dare you humans step foot in this place so fearlessly!”

A booming, thunderous voice echoed through the mine entrance.

“Gasp.”

Demico’s mouth hung open.

In front of the two of them, a crowd of Dwarves, faces twisted in anger, blocked the way.

‘T-this is bad.’

This was a total emergency.

It seemed the Dwarves had discovered the intrusion as soon as Rohan broke through the barricade and entered.

“Um… Please, calm down for a moment and listen to what I have to sa—”

“A human has trespassed upon Roktercia!”

“Trespassed!”

“How dare you invade this sacred ground without permission! You’ll taste the blade of my beautiful axe!”

The largest Dwarf at the forefront lifted the axe resting on his shoulder and shouted.

At that, the other Dwarves also raised their weapons and roared.

“Waaaah!”

“Kill them! Kill them!”

“Slice the human’s throat!”

Demico felt his pores bristle and cold sweat trickle down his back.

Unlike the countless Dwarves, there were only three of them.

And even if one was a knight, the numbers were far too lopsided.

‘We’re going to die.’

Coming to Roktercia had been a dream, but this wasn’t the way he wanted to visit!

“Your Highness.”

Demico clenched his sweaty fists and looked at Rohan.

And then...

“…?”

He couldn’t help but open his eyes wide.

‘Is he…smiling?’

Unlike his trembling self, Rohan was actually smiling.

To smile in this situation—that could only mean…

“Your Highness. No matter how afraid you are, you must keep your wits about you.”

Yes, he must have gone mad.

Even as a prince, he was still a child.

How could a fourteen-year-old stay sane after witnessing such a terrifying sight?

“They say even if you wander into an ogre’s nest, you can survive as long as you keep your head.”

By contrast, Demico, being an adult, thought he should at least steel his own heart.

‘I have to convince them, somehow.’

Honestly, he was scared too, but there was no choice.

Demico tried to step forward toward the Dwarves.

But—

“Wait, why don’t you hear me out?”

“…!”

Someone had stepped forward even before him.

“I’ve brought a story you all might find very interesting.”

With a calm face, Rohan addressed the Dwarves.

---

“A story we’d find interesting?”

“That human must be out of his mind!”

“Hahaha!”

Naturally, the Dwarves didn’t listen at all.

They thought the child was spouting nonsense out of a desperate desire to live.

But—

“Did you know that mithril is buried in Roktercia?”

At Rohan’s next words, the Dwarves who had been laughing suddenly fell silent.

“Did you…what did you just say?”

“Mithril?”

“Of course mithril is in Roktercia! Yes, that’s right! Though, I’ve never actually seen it myself!”

The Dwarves’ large, pointed ears perked up.

“Heh.”

That included even the leader of the Dwarves, Elder Graham.

However, he calmly pressed on.

“It’s admirable for a young human to know about the great Rockteum’s legacy. But that won’t save you from death.”

“You can find the legacy of Rockteum, your ancestor god.”

“What?”

Graham’s brown beard quivered.

“You speak as if you actually know where it is.”

“I do.”

“You, a human, claim to know the location of the mithril?”

The Dwarves had searched for generations for Rockteum’s legacy, mithril, but never found it.

And this child claimed to know where the fabled ore was?

“Don’t make me laugh!”

Boom!

Graham slammed his axe handle to the ground in anger.

“I’ve had enough of your nonsense. It’s a waste of time to listen any longer! Human, just die.”

Thud, thud, thud.

Raising his massive axe, Graham advanced on Rohan with a frightening expression.

“If you kill me here, you’ll never see mithril for the rest of your lives. Are you really…sure you’re fine with that?”

Hesitation.

Graham’s steps, so fearsome just moments ago, came to a halt.

“Elder…”

“What if what that human says is true?”

The Dwarves murmured behind him.

Then, a diminutive Dwarf with a white beard stepped forward.

“Elder. The human can’t escape anyway. We’ll kill him soon enough, but shouldn’t we at least confirm what he says?”

A face full of wrinkles and a hunched back.

The only unusual thing was that he leaned not on a cane but on a magnificent spear.

“Debeco.”

At the old Dwarf’s words, Graham’s pupils trembled.

He had a point.

They were completely surrounded.

It was unlikely, but if what the human said was true…?

‘Rockteum’s legacy is the treasure our Dwarves have sought for so long.’

How much effort had been spent searching for mithril?

His father, his grandfather, even his great-grandfather.

The stele found late at the Rockteum Temple.

For over two thousand years, the Dwarves had searched for the legendary ore, mithril, described there.

Meanwhile, Rohan grinned inwardly.

‘They’ll never be able to kill us.’

Rohan knew very well just how obsessed the Dwarves were with mithril.

And he also knew how their attitude would change if he actually led them to mithril.

That’s why Rohan was so bold.

“No mere human could know the location of mithril.”

Graham’s grip tightened on his axe.

Even if Debeco—known as the sage—said so, it was impossible…

“In fact, I am the ‘Apostle of the God’ sent by Rockteum.”

“…!”

“…!”

At Rohan’s next words, the Dwarves’ eyes widened.

“Whether you believe me or not is up to you… But Rockteum said, if you kill the ‘Apostle of the God’ he sent, not a single Dwarf will ever find mithril.”

“…!”

The Dwarves’ agitation grew fiercer.

“I-Is it true?”

“Did Rockteum send him for us?”

“Look at that confident face. Does he look like he’s lying?”

“Elder! Is he truly the Apostle sent by Rockteum?”

Now they were in an uproar.

“Ooh! Rockteum hasn’t forgotten his descendants!”

“I’ll be able to see mithril with my own eyes while I’m still alive!”

Dwarves are simpler than humans.

And that simplicity gave them their unmatched skill with their hands.

They drank, they crafted.

Their lives revolved around those things.

‘Well, it’s not a complete lie.’

In his previous life, Rohan had seen and even touched real mithril.

He had been invited to the Prana Confederation in the third year of his reign as Emperor.

As the head of the Schubert Empire, he attended the event, where Elpirian ‘Nas,’ the head of the Prana Confederation, revealed that the Dwarves had recently discovered a tremendous ore.

It was the legendary mithril, thought only to exist in myths.

The leaders of every nation were invited as the first human representatives to Roktercia and were given a tour of the mithril mines.

“Human. Is…is it true?”

As public opinion began to shift, Graham was shaken as well.

It was probably because he hadn’t just said he “knew,” but had claimed to be the ‘Apostle of the God Rockteum.’

“As I said before, whether you believe me or not is your choice.”

“Heh.”

Graham ran a rough hand through his hair.

“I can’t believe it, but what do we have to lose?”

He shouted to the Dwarves.

“Hey! Take the humans to Roktercia!”

“Yes, Elder! But… how should we take them?”

At the Dwarf’s question, Graham struck his head with a fist.

Wham!

“Idiot! What do you mean, how? Tie them up with rope and take them! Or do you want to escort them with honor?”

“Argh. Y-yes, sir!”

The Dwarf rubbed his head and brought some rope.

Rohan, still smiling, held out his body without resistance.

“Your Highness.”

Martin was nervous, but Rohan was so calm that he decided to follow for now.

“A-Are we really…”

Demico was the most flustered of all.

Were they really about to enter Roktercia like this?

Not beheaded, but simply brought along?

So the whole ‘mithril’ business from the mine was for this purpose?

‘We may not die now, but once we’re inside, we’re doomed. God, please save me!’

As he was bound tightly with rope, Demico prayed fervently to the heavens.

How could a prince know about mithril, which even the Dwarves—masters of ore—couldn’t find!

He was unbelievably audacious for someone so young.

“Move, human!”

“O-okay…”

Even as he was dragged away, Demico was racking his brains for a way to escape unnoticed.

---

The land of the Dwarves, their city—‘Roktercia.’

“Wow.”

Three humans set foot there for the first time.

Martin and Demico couldn’t close their mouths at the magnificent sight unfolding before them.

Rohan, too, looked at the city with new interest.

Unfamiliar architecture built around a towering central tower.

The sweltering heat that could be felt on their faces.

Roktercia was located right beneath a volcano.

‘It’s as spectacular as I remembered.’

Even though it wasn’t his first time, it was a sight that was hard to get used to.

It was as if the city was straight out of the fanciful imaginings of dreamers.

“If that volcano erupts, everyone here would die, wouldn’t they?”

Rohan shrugged at Martin’s remark.

“Worrying about things like that is un-Dwarven.”

They were a race that risked danger and settled right by the volcano for maximum efficiency.

That’s why they often said, ‘Let’s drink and die!’

They drank every day so they would have no regrets, no matter when they died.

“Wow, wow.”

Demico drooled as he looked at the forges lining the streets.

“That’s magnetite! No—titanite and lapis lazuli too? Ha, this beautiful scent of iron!”

For an ore expert—no, an ore fanatic—like him, this place was nothing short of heaven.

“Human! Disgusting! Why do you keep drooling?”

The Dwarves dragging him along glared and scolded him.

“Your Highness, even the coal here is top quality.”

Stung by the scolding, Demico slipped over to Rohan and whispered.

“So it seems.”

Even Rohan, who knew little about ores, could tell the coal here had a unique sheen.

Indeed, even the stones lying around in Roktercia, the home of Dwarves, seemed different.

“All right, here! Don’t move a muscle while you’re in here! That… Apostle of the God, you too…!”

The Dwarves brought them into a spacious house and tied the three to pillars.

“Ahem! Don’t even think about escaping!”

And then, they marched off somewhere on their own.

“Hey, wait!”

They disappeared without saying when they’d return.

Demico reached out belatedly, but the Dwarves’ short steps were surprisingly quick, and they were already out of sight.

“Whew, well, we really did make it inside, just like Your Highness said.”

Demico slid down against the wall and slumped to the ground.

“But now what are we really going to do? We might be safe for now thanks to mithril, but…”

“So you don’t believe me either?”

“Well…”

Just then—

“Oh my, humans?”

Someone came walking toward them from inside the house.

“Wow, crazy.”

Demico clutched his head.

“Are we even meeting a Blood Elpirian here?”

A tall woman with a striking figure and long pointed ears approached, her brilliant red hair dazzling as she smiled.

“What a feast I’ve stumbled upon.”

Between her parted lips, long fangs gleamed.