“Now I get it,” Histori thought.
‘No wonder the chieftain refused to give Amir the slightest chance to take a look during the day. It was because of this.’
‘But still… that really startled me. Can a Sacred Artifact actually get damaged? If it’s already lost its power, I wonder if it can still be used to revive the Demon King…’
‘Not that I’m all that keen on helping that Demon King, who set so many traps for me, come back to life anyway!’
Just as Histori was doing her best to analyze the situation, a very real and fatal problem suddenly caught up to her.
Simply put, maybe it was because the cleaners weren’t allowed into the Sacred Chamber, and the Great Forging Assembly chieftain himself wasn’t particularly fond of cleanliness—this place had accumulated thick dust that hadn’t been cleaned in years.
The duct where Amir had hidden Histori and herself was positioned below several even older brass pipes.
The Dwarf chieftain’s hoarse roaring from earlier had, by sheer bad luck, shaken down some dust.
It floated through the air and, without warning, drifted right into Histori’s nostrils.
“…Ahh.”
Histori’s face turned pale in less than a second.
‘Oh no, I’m about to make a sound!!!’
Amir, crouching beside Histori, immediately sensed something was wrong.
She turned her head, glanced at Histori with an indifferent look, and raised a finger to her lips in a shushing gesture.
‘…I know, I know this is no time to make a sound, but…’
‘Forget it, I have to hold it in no matter what. Getting caught by the Dwarves is one thing, but earning Amir’s hatred would be a disaster!’
Histori opened her mouth and took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the sneeze that had been building up.
Then she gave Amir a small smile and flashed a thumbs-up.
Amir seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as well.
She nodded at Histori and raised her hand to return the thumbs-up.
At the same time, the rope with a hook that Amir had been gripping in her palm was released.
Naturally, it fell straight down.
“—swish!“
The sharp blade grazed Baron’s chin, shearing off a large clump of his reddish-brown beard before clattering to the floor with a bang.
“…”
“…”
For a moment, both Baron’s wailing and Yorike’s sobbing got caught in their throats.
They stiffly raised their heads and locked their gazes on the duct from which the sound had come.
“…A-an assassin!?”
“…sigh.”
Seeing this, Amir quietly rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingertips and let out a resigned sigh.
“I knew I shouldn’t have teamed up with anyone.”
“…W-what, am I the one to blame!? I held it in! It was you, you—um, it was the Hero herself who dropped the tool!”
Upon hearing the argument from above, Baron bristled with fury, raised his hammer, and roared toward the ceiling.
“Who’s there?! Who’s sneaking around up there?!”
“Chieftain, didn’t they just say one of them might be the Hero?”
“Shut up! Do you think I’m brain-dead?! Anyway, you lot up there—whoever you are—since you dared to break into the Sacred Chamber before the Great Forging Festival, today’s your day of death!!”
Baron shoved aside the Dwarf beside him and reached into his spatial ring, pulling out a giant axe that was even larger than his entire body, its entire surface blazing with crimson flames.
“Yorike! Seal all exits! Prepare for battle!”
“Yes!”
Inside this empty Sacred Chamber, the chieftain of the Great Forging Assembly, who usually just seemed like a grumpy old man, finally revealed the terrifying pressure befitting the highest combat power of the Dwarf race.
Scorching hot air burst outward from him, sending everything except the Sacred Artifact flying.
“Tough luck for you! Since you overheard the news about the Anvil of Thunder, you’re all staying here—forever shutting your mouths!!”
“BOOM—!“
With a thunderous roar, the entire Sacred Chamber began to shake.
Baron’s legs exploded with force, and his whole body turned into a blazing meteor, charging straight at the ceiling.
However, facing this ferocious attack, Amir, still crouching beside Histori, merely shook her head slightly.
There wasn’t a shred of guilt or self-awareness of being a thief on her face.
The Hero simply stood up calmly, grabbed Histori by the scruff of her neck, and lightly leaped backward to evade Baron’s attack range.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
But even under that immense momentum, the meteor still managed to forcibly change direction.
Baron swung his double-bladed axe, which dwarfed him, and slammed it down toward Amir’s head with crushing force.
A wave of heat rushed toward them, and even the air itself seemed to warp faintly under the high temperature.
“Crap…”
If Histori had been alone, she might have spread her wings and retreated.
But right now, she was being dangled in midair by Amir, helplessly watching as her freshly dyed golden hair began to curl slightly from the heat.
Yet, the disastrous scenario Histori had imagined didn’t come to pass.
Facing the oncoming axe blade, Amir didn’t even bother drawing her Greatsword.
She simply turned nimbly, raised her left leg, and timed it perfectly—kicking the edge of that massive axe.
“CLANG—!!!“
A crisp, metallic ring exploded inside the sealed chamber.
The old man glowing red shot sideways with just as much speed as he had come, crashing into the wall.
Thanks to Amir’s restraint…
Well, restraint of her foot—she had only redirected his force, so Baron himself didn’t suffer much recoil.
He simply ended up embedded in the wall, axe and all.
But the mental damage from that kick seemed harder for him to digest.
“…W-what?!”
As the most elite warrior of the Dwarf race, even the most defensively monstrous beasts would never dare to take that Lava Earth-Splitter straight on.
Yet this woman in a black cloak had neutralized his strike with just a kick?
‘…What kind of monster is this?!’
Before Baron could recover from his shock, Amir’s cool, clear voice already drifted softly into his ears.
“Your movements are a bit too slow.”
“…!?”
Baron’s body trembled.
He tried to turn and swing his axe, but a sharp pain suddenly shot through his knee, sending him crashing to the ground.
Ten seconds.
No, less than that.
From the moment Baron had launched his attack to the moment he was pinned down by Amir, the entire process took less than five seconds.
Histori hadn’t even had time to catch her breath.
After that, Amir pulled the axe from the wall, tossed it casually aside, and curled her lip at Baron.
“So, Lord Chieftain, now would you be willing to listen to our explanation?”