episode_0155

“Oh…. Look at this. The interior view of the building is quite realistically implemented.”

“Where on earth does the water for this bathroom come from?”

The base created by the dwarves was quite comfortable.

It was naturally much more convenient than something like a travel tent. Perhaps due to the limitations of materials and time, there were some empty spaces among the interior elements of the room, but frankly, a base of this level in this situation was more than enough to be grateful for.

“So, where are the dwarves?”

“Miss Lucy dragged them away with her shadow.”

“She said she would make them talk, or something like that….”

I wondered where the dwarves who had accomplished this great feat had gone, but it seems they were dragged away by Lucy.

The shadow world….

I went in there out of curiosity once before, but it’s not a place for people to go.

A pitch-black place that seems to have amplified the element of shadow to the extreme.

That place where you can’t hear sounds or anything else, where you can’t even tell the passage of time, is enough to drive a person crazy.

And yet, Lucy’s voice seems to echo from all directions….

I can bet my wrist that an ordinary person would go insane if they went in there.

“…Hmm? But where is Leviyah?”

“She’s taking a bath.”

“The village we stopped by before coming here was the last place where she could comfortably wash her body. It makes sense that she would want to wash.”

“Hmm….”

I sat down roughly on a chair and let out a faint breath.

Perhaps the dwarves, like the orcs, came to the central continent to escape the corruption of the World Tree….

In other words, they may have come to the territory of the orcs.

If so, I can only hope that Lucy will find out if the World Tree is really corrupted or not, and if it is corrupted, what happened to the elves who were guarding the World Tree.

“I found out~”

“That was fast?”

And as soon as I thought that, Lucy suddenly popped out of the shadow.

Lucy, completely out of the shadow, simultaneously reached into her own shadow and pulled out six dwarves from within, as if throwing luggage.

“I still think communication is a good approach. When you share your sincere intentions through conversation, everyone becomes truthful~”

“….”

…Only those involved would know if she really only had a conversation, or if there was something else.

Well, it’s not that important right now.

“The dwarves said they would tell us everything themselves, so let’s listen to their story slowly~ Hero~”

“…Okay.”

I nodded and looked at the dwarves.

They were pale as a sheet, and somehow began to sit down.

“So, shall we hear your story? Starting with why you dwarves are in the orc’s territory…, and all the detailed situation about this Western Continent.”

“Ah, I understand. We’ll tell you everything we know, so please get that woman away from us.”

The dwarf who seemed to be the leader of the group pointed at Lucy as if he was scared.

I wondered how much they had suffered to ask to be gotten rid of, so I glanced at Lucy and then turned my gaze to the dwarf.

“It’s okay. She won’t ask.”

“….”

Lucy smiled and looked at the dwarves.

The dwarf trembled at Lucy’s gaze, and finally opened his mouth.

“First of all…, my name is Dain.”

“Dain…. My name is Leon. The nun over there is Lucy. And the black-haired one behind her is Baek-ryun, and the green-haired one is Seol-lin.”

“It’s rare to see so many humans gathered in the Western Continent.”

The dwarf Dain looked over our group and then continued speaking, seemingly surprised for a moment.

“So, what are you curious about? I’ll tell you in order.”

“Then…, this is the orc’s territory, right?”

“…Well, yes.”

“Why did you say this was the dwarf’s territory?”

At my question, Dain coughed and cleared his throat, then said while avoiding my gaze.

“Well, you know…. The orcs disappeared…. Isn’t it normal to take over land that has no owner?”

“…Well, yeah, it’s not weird. But it’s been quite a while since the orcs left this place, right? Why now? You didn’t realize it belatedly, did you?”

“Of course not. The orcs who periodically came to our village to cause trouble disappeared all of a sudden. We already knew that the orcs had moved to the central continent on a large scale.”

So they already noticed that the orcs had disappeared….

“Is it because of the World Tree’s corruption?”

“!”

Dain looked at me in surprise at my question.

“H, how did you know?!”

“The orcs said it. That the World Tree was corrupted. It seems the World Tree’s corruption itself is true.”

Just as the orcs noticed the World Tree’s corruption, the dwarves also noticed the World Tree’s corruption. So, just as the orcs moved to the central continent to survive, did the dwarves move to the orcs’ territory to avoid the World Tree’s corruption?

As I sent him a look telling him to continue explaining, Dain continued speaking.

“If you know about the World Tree’s corruption, it will be easy to explain. As the World Tree became corrupted, the magical beasts became stronger. But the change didn’t end there. It also affected the earth, and affected the minerals.”

“It affected the minerals too?”

“Yes.”

I looked at Lucy.

Lucy shook her head as if she didn’t know either.

Is it only the dwarves who can properly understand this?

‘…If so, maybe I could have gotten some additional information if I had brought Anne with me?’

The half-dwarf, Anne Ivaldi, who I could meet in the Magic Kingdom.

She might have immediately realized what it meant for minerals to be corrupted.

Well, what’s the point of regretting someone who isn’t here right now.

More than anything, there’s someone here to ask right now.

“What does it mean for minerals to be corrupted?”

“It means exactly what it says. Because of the corruption, they can’t be processed. They are surrounded by the evil energy, and they give extreme overload to those who touch them.”

“Do you know the cause of the corruption?”

“Well…. We’re not elves, so we don’t know that. But there’s a story that’s been passed down among the dwarves.”

A story?

I’m getting a familiar sense of déjà vu….

“It’s a story about .”

“You don’t have to.”

“Huh?….”

I never thought I would hear a story about from the dwarves too.

I never knew that the story about was being passed down not only to the orcs but also to the dwarves.

“Then you don’t know what happened to the elves, do you?”

“Of course, I don’t.”

As if it were obvious, Dain nodded.

Anyway, it seems almost certain that the World Tree was corrupted, and that it’s the fault of a being called .

“Is there a way to go straight to the World Tree….”

“Are you thinking of going to the World Tree? If you go there, you’ll run into the elves?”

“I have to defeat that guy.”

“?!….”

Dain, who was looking at me in surprise, eventually turned his gaze to the sword at my waist.

“T, that’s…. Could it be ?!

“Huh? You know the Holy Sword?”

“O, of course, I know it!! The, the Holy Sword !! P, please just once! Just let me touch it once!!”

Suddenly these guys’ eyes went crazy.

Of course, it’s common for dwarves to be a race of craftsmanship, and it’s normal for them to be interested in these things, but…. The reaction is hotter than I thought?

At Dain’s words, the other dwarves also turned their gaze to the Holy Sword I had, and they all started to rush in.

“That is one of the three that God himself forged!!….”

“Moreover, that is the that was made last!!”

“Just once! Just let me touch it once!!”

“Just let me swing the hammer once!!”

“Hey, you crazy bastards!! Will you stop?!”

It’s okay to rush in, but you have to do it moderately!!

[Hahaha! Master! Did you see that? This is me!!]

At this rate, there’s no way this is going to work out.

“Quiet.”

A technique that I haven’t used in a very long time.

I forced the dwarves’ rampage to stop by using the aura of the Sword King to intimidate them.

“You want to touch this sword?”

“Y, yes!….”

“Then tell me the fastest way to get to the World Tree. Then I’ll let you touch it.”

“T, the World Tree…. Ugh….”

At my words, Dain shut his mouth tightly.

The other dwarves were also groaning and thinking. The Western Continent is vast. It’s as vast as the Eastern and Central Continents.

And the World Tree is in the center of the Western Continent, and it takes a considerable amount of time to get there.

It’s already been a considerable amount of time since the day the orcs invaded the central continent.

In other words, since the day the World Tree’s corruption began.

I can’t waste any more time.

“…If you take the mine cart…, you might be able to get near there….”

“…Mine cart?”

At that moment, I tilted my head and asked, hearing Dain’s murmur.

Mine cart…, that thing, right? A means of transportation that allows you to move quickly inside a mine.

However, Lucy seemed to have realized something, and said, nodding her head, ‘Ah…’.

“Come to think of it…. If it’s an underground city, the dwarves’ greatest pride, there would be a mine cart.”

“Underground city?”

“Yes. I haven’t seen it myself, but…. I’ve heard stories about it. They say you can feel like you’re in a new world….”

…Then wasn’t making a base here a waste of time?

That thought suddenly crossed my mind, but it doesn’t matter since I didn’t make it anyway.

“Then let’s go. To the dwarves’ underground city.”