Chapter 10. Stubbornness and Arrogance (16)

But surprisingly, I wasn’t trembling with fear or anything.

“Come to think of it, it’s not really strange,”

I said while eating the breakfast Ria had prepared.

“Because holy power isn’t my power, but the power of the being above. It’s absurd to think there would be no risk in summoning power from a completely different dimension, especially a dimension that has a very strong influence on this world?”

“…”

“It’s the same with collapsing after using holy power. Generally, holy power is the power to heal the injured, but the person using it, well, like that…”

“…”

Hmm.

Let’s just eat bread quietly.

Ria was glaring at me as if she wanted to kill me, so I obediently ate the toast with plenty of jam that Ria had spread. Quite a lot of breadcrumbs fell onto the small table placed on the bed, and onto the blanket, but Ria didn’t scold me much.

Yeah, well, it’s true that the people who manage this place should clean it up, but…

Scary.

“Uh, Ria.”

“Why.”

Crunch, crunch.

The bread baked with the toaster placed right next to me was perfectly crispy on the outside. …More than that, a toaster. Dwarves think the same way as us. Bread made from wheat cultivated outside the caves must have been expensive for dwarves, but seeing them offer it like this, it seems they are treating me very well.

Moreover, this bread is not just ordinary factory-made bread that I know. It was made thin from the start-

…….

Well, let’s stop the escapism here.

“…Are you angry?”

When I asked that, Ria’s hand movements stopped. Ria, who was spreading jam, which was definitely not strawberry jam but a delicious jam, remained silent for a while without saying anything, and then moved her hand again.

“No.”

She seems angry. Her attitude can only be described as very angry.

Moreover, looking at the amount of bread being piled up in front of me now, I feel even more so. As if she were organizing her thoughts, Ria baked an excessive amount of bread and was piling it up in front of me.

“…”

Let’s just eat bread quietly.

Fortunately, I was quite hungry, so I was able to eat all that bread.

It’s a secret I can’t tell anyone that I worried whether Ria had eaten breakfast after I finished eating it all.

*

Ria, still lost in deep thought, was much quieter than usual after that. I’m not so foolish as to tease Ria senselessly here.

After finishing the meal, I followed Ria out of the room.

Dwarves also have the concept of buildings and open spaces. But ultimately, all those places are also inside caves. My lodging was quite decent, but at the same time, because of that, the distinction between whether I was going out into a corridor or a street was vague.

People were passing through a rather large space, and when they saw me, they quickly made way. The atmosphere was similar to what I saw just before losing consciousness.

Some people seemed to be afraid of me, and some looked up at me with a bit of awe. Of course, it’s natural to look up due to the height difference, but their eyes seemed to shine a little too much.

And Ria didn’t say a word to me about how that situation came about.

Still, I can guess. Probably a very intense light shone down.

A very intense light that removed all that mana.

Before long, heavily armed dwarves and knights surrounded us. The way they escorted and protected us as we went to see the princess was different from when I first came here.

Perhaps it was the king’s order.

Thanks to that, I was led not to the princess’s room, but to the king’s audience chamber. It wasn’t that I went there willingly; the troops surrounding us naturally led us there.

The Dwarf King sitting on the throne, and the princess sitting in a lower position than him.

Both of them stood up from their chairs to greet me. My stomach felt like it was going to have a hole in it.

“Thank you so, so much.”

The first words the king opened his mouth with were those words.

“Uh, yes.”

And that was the only reaction I could show upon hearing such sudden words.

“I apologize for not being able to speak with you directly at first. As king, there were too many sensitive topics to discuss.”

“Uh, no, but thanks to the princess, I learned various things.”

Although it was very uncomfortable because I learned too much.

“The compensation for this matter-“

“…Please discuss that with the church authorities.”

After saying that, I hesitated for a moment, and then,

“Ah, but may I ask one favor of the princess?”

“Yes, please tell me.”

The princess, who was nearby, said with a gentle smile.

I hesitated for a moment.

Although this is why I came here, I wondered if they would really do it if I asked them to do it so openly.

However, I couldn’t just let it pass without saying anything.

Although it’s a bit awkward to call it ‘compensation,’ there is something I would like them to cooperate with.

“We would like you to share your research on gates with us.”

The princess looked at the king. The king nodded.

As if he knew I would ask for that information.

“Saint-“

“…Saint candidate.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

The princess chuckled and corrected her words.

“Thanks to you, Sister, we have some breathing room after driving out that mana. At least the ceiling won’t suddenly collapse and overwhelm us with mana.”

Moreover, there was no longer a reason to kidnap the princess. In fact, the princess’s thoughts were probably more important than the mana from above.

Clues for gate research.

The princess’s body stored a very large amount of mana. Whether it was because she inherited the advantages of both dwarves and gnomes as a half-breed, or simply because she was the most talented individual among the royalty, I don’t know.

However, that mana was definitely ‘out of spec.’ In the novel, when the Dwarf Princess was discussed after the story ended, related settings appeared.

The research on gates came up during the process of investigating the remaining records. Although it all came up in passing- Gloria had requested and taken it, saying it would be a clue to return to the elves’ world, whose gates had been closed.

And now, we can skip some of the intermediate steps.

If the princess comes to our world and dedicates herself to research, she can conduct the research even more safely. Gloria can handle mana, and most importantly, we have an artifact that can prevent the need to store such a large amount of mana within a dwarf’s body.

It’s probably something the researchers would welcome with open arms.

“Yes, we will cooperate.”

“I will try my best to ensure that the results of your research do not harm the Dwarf Kingdom.”

“I believe you, Sister, will never do that. If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have risked your life to save our world.”

The princess bowed deeply to me and said.

“Thank you once again, truly.”

The sight of the king and princess showing their crowns side by side still looked awkward, no matter how many times I saw it.

*

I escaped from that burdensome situation.

There are still a few things left to do. It seems the dwarves are planning to hold a grand feast before we leave.

Probably, they will rush to greet me. Unlike the welcome party where they were hesitant to approach me because of my holy power.

“Anna.”

As soon as I returned to the room, Ria spoke to me, and I was startled.

Has she finally organized her thoughts?

What should I say if Ria tells me not to do anything like being a Saint?

No, of course, I wasn’t a real Saint, but still, there was a lot to do with this holy power. I didn’t intend to lose both hands, but since it’s become like this anyway, I want to try as much as I can.

I don’t have the arrogance to save the world, but I have the stubbornness to protect what I want to protect. Just like I would insist that there is no God even if I die.

That’s right.

I prayed, but I intended to apostatize immediately anyway. Once I saved them, that’s enough.

And didn’t the being above say it? You don’t have to. It’s official, right?

Light fell on my face, and both Ria and I waved our hands simultaneously to erase the light.

“…What happened?”

When I asked after organizing my thoughts a bit, Ria stared at me and opened her mouth.

“Let’s dance, you and I.”

“…What?”

“At the farewell party.”

Ria said, looking straight at me.

“Given your current situation, the dwarf nobles will surely line up to talk to you.”

“…That’s true.”

“So, let’s just dance.”

“The dwarves…”

Ah, they did dance. Although it was more of a dance battle than social dancing. And it was by burly, bearded men.

“I’ll make it so you can run around and escape.”

Ria said with great confidence.

“Then you won’t have to have complicated conversations, right?”

“…What is that?”

What kind of plan is that?

However, I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my lips.

Ria was also smiling like me.

…….

In the end, I followed Ria’s plan.

Throughout the farewell party, we diligently danced in circles, avoiding the dwarves who were subtly approaching us.

Gloria, and Han Yu-ri and Lee Si-yoon, looked at us with disbelief, but soon Lee Si-yoon was caught by the two of them and was dancing alternately.

We didn’t talk about the being above.

I was a little glad about that.

It felt like it was just a conversation between the two of us.