Ch.210Chapter 210 – The Scent of Kin (2)

# The Scent of Kin

The atmosphere changed with the girl’s sudden outcry.

“What? Kin, you say?”

“Looking at the height, they’re clearly human, no matter how you look at it!”

The dwarves sprawled on the ground seemed to have regained their senses and began chattering one after another. Soon, the dwarves who hadn’t yet been subdued by us started shouting.

“Wait, I need to go smell them too!”

“Just wait there a moment! I’ll just take a quick sniff and be right back!”

“I’m going too!”

Obviously, we weren’t in a position to allow or disallow such things, but the dwarves didn’t seem to care as they instantly began swarming around Sera. And soon, Sera started screaming.

“K-Key! Help me!”

I immediately came to my senses and tried to approach Sera, but it was already too late as the dwarves had moved away from her. By the time I barely reached Sera’s vicinity and felt her clinging to my back, the dwarves had started chattering again.

“It’s true!”

“Huh? I thought they were just humans? Bandits, you said?”

“Well, the scent is faint, so it’s understandable. Looking at it, by human standards, it would be her grandmother or even further back where our kin’s blood mixed in.”

“Hmm, judging by this young lady’s physical features and scent, it seems to be from the maternal line. So probably her maternal grandmother?”

I glanced gently at Sera, but she shook her head as if she didn’t know.

“Come to think of it, that hair color seems familiar somehow. Or maybe not.”

“Ah, back in Ferarius…”

“Wait, is that what’s important right now? Isn’t it more significant that someone with our kin’s blood has arrived!”

“That’s what matters! Call the chief! Lara, you go!”

“Why me, you men!”

The girl who had lunged at Sera earlier protested, but unfortunately, it seemed she was chosen to go.

“Ugh, I’ll be right back, so don’t do anything weird, okay? Got it, you men!”

The girl disappeared, squawking loudly. Then, one of the dwarves near Sera began speaking to us.

“Well, I apologize for this. We thought human bandits had invaded again.”

“Well, if the misunderstanding is cleared up, that’s fine, but…”

I answered somewhat dazedly.

Although we shouldn’t forgive them easily since they even shot crossbows at us and could have seriously injured us, I felt my thinking was paralyzed by the sudden disappearance of hostility from the other side.

Fortunately, the other side seemed to notice this and soon began apologizing to Asam.

“I’m sorry for almost hitting you with the crossbow. We were taught that if there’s a mage, we should deal with the mage first, so…”

“Don’t I look like a mage?”

Beatrice’s slightly disgruntled voice could be heard.

Some dwarves looked at her briefly, then turned back to Asam.

“I’m really sorry, miss mage.”

“Hey?”

Beatrice called out again, but the dwarves no longer even looked at her.

Asam’s expression was still not good, but soon she spoke quietly.

“I’ll make sure to get proper compensation.”

“Understood.”

The dwarves quietly retreated at Asam’s words.

“Excuse me, we are…”

“Ah, it’s fine. It’s all our fault. Um, Lara spoke too hastily.”

The dwarf smiled and spoke without even listening to Chris’s full statement. It seemed he was now firmly convinced that we wouldn’t cause any harm.

Chris gently asked, curious about this.

“…Aren’t you concerned that we might be friendly on the surface but plotting something behind your backs?”

“No, no.”

The dwarf laughed heartily and said.

“We have someone with our kin’s blood! They can’t be bad people!”

“That’s right!”

“Those who inherit dwarf blood are not bad!”

Even those who had been knocked down by us earlier began to get up one by one and started saying such things. By the way, these dwarves did indeed seem to be dwarves.

“What kind of race are we dwarves?”

“Good and strong!”

“Good at drinking!”

“Could there be bad people among such folk?”

“Of course not! Hahaha!”

The dwarves began laughing with “hahaha” while spouting strange words.

I quietly nodded beside them.

‘They’re a race with strange minds.’

Just as I was thinking that, Sera, who was clinging to my back, gently spoke to me.

“Key, please don’t put me in the same category as them…”

“…Okay.”

But come to think of it, Sera is also good, strong, and good at drinking, right? It feels like the secret behind her terrifying strength has finally been revealed.

“Key?”

I heard Sera’s slightly angry voice. Just as she was about to say something, the voice of the girl who had disappeared earlier began to be heard.

“Hey! I brought the chief!”

Behind the girl called Lara, I could see a dwarf larger than the other dwarves running over. In the meantime, she must have already gone and returned.

“Hey! Chief! Here’s a descendant of our kin!”

“I heard it all, you rascals! Get back to work quickly!”

“Hahaha!”

At the giant dwarf’s words, the dwarves laughed and began to return with the weapons they had brought. And before they left, they looked at us and said.

“So that’s settled, have a good talk with the chief!”

“See you again!”

“Yes, our dwarf descendant, if need be…”

“I said get back to work, you barley sacks!”

Only when the chief shouted again did the remaining dwarves start to move. In an instant, hammers, pickaxes, and shovels began to bounce away and disappear.

Then the giant dwarf stood before us.

“Well, well. Playing hooky… Ah, excuse me. I’m the one serving as the village chief. Call me Dodo.”

He spoke so abruptly that I stood there slightly dazed. Equally confused, Eve cleared her throat slightly and stepped forward.

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Dodo.”

Eve said with a smile. For a moment, Dodo’s eyes scanned Eve once, then he nodded slightly and said.

“What a pretty lass.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Eve replied, pretending to be calm. However, I noticed that he had scanned Eve once, and there’s no way Eve didn’t notice it.

So I quietly moved behind her, and Eve looked at me with a slight smile.

And seeing this, Dodo laughed.

“Oh my, I seem to have made you nervous unnecessarily. It’s just a habit of mine to scan and assess everything, as I always do.”

“Is that so?”

“Believe it or not, sorting ore is my job in the village. I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.”

Whether he thought he had done something wrong, or he was just naturally friendly, or he had judged that we were safe—

Dodo laughed heartily and said.

“Let me tell you in advance, there are no men in this village who would flirt with young ladies.”

“Is that so?”

“Indeed. If there were such men, I would personally split their heads open, so don’t worry.”

Dodo said with a smile.

“Instead of standing here talking, follow me to my house. There are matters we need to discuss in detail.”

“Thank you for your hospitality.”

As Eve replied with a smile, Dodo also smiled and led the way. We followed behind him as he walked with a bouncing gait, carrying a hammer larger than his own height on his shoulder.

Soon, we began to see more of the buildings we had earlier thought were houses, and outside them, dwarves and young girls started to appear.

While I was slightly questioning the identity of those children, Dodo pointed to one house and said.

“This is my house! Come in!”

Dodo immediately opened the door with a bang and shouted as he entered.

“Mimi! We have guests, so please bring out some light refreshments!”

“Ah, I told you to notify me first! This man!”

Complaining loudly at Dodo’s call, a young girl came running from inside. Thinking she might be his daughter, Dodo smiled and said.

“Let me introduce you, this is my wife, Mimi!”

“What?”

Wife? Not daughter?

“Ah, um, nice to meet you.”

I was flustered and hesitated slightly before finally greeting the young girl.

“Yes, nice to meet you. Please wait a moment?”

The young girl smiled and went back inside.

“Hmm?”

Dodo began to tilt his head slightly at my slightly confused attitude. And soon, as if he had noticed something, he grinned and said.

“Well, it seems you haven’t seen many dwarves before!”

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry. My knowledge is quite limited…”

“It’s alright. If that’s the case, it’s right to be cautious.”

Dodo laughed loudly, saying he didn’t mind.

“Our dwarf women look like that when they grow up. Many humans are surprised because they’re just a bit larger than human children.”

Honestly, even if she were a human girl, I wouldn’t be able to tell much difference in appearance.

“…But is this legally okay…”

“What do you mean? It’s just a racial characteristic, what’s the issue?”

At my words, Dodo shook his head and said.

“Anyway, before Mimi brings out some light refreshments, I’d like to properly hear why you came to this village.”

Dodo said lightly.

However, the moment I looked into his eyes, I could tell that he wasn’t speaking lightly at all.

Eyes that were a bit cold and heavy. Eyes that seemed to be testing and weighing me.

The kind, warm smile from earlier was nowhere to be seen; instead, eyes that purely placed the other person on a scale were looking at me.

“That’s…”

“Eve, just a moment.”

I stopped Eve, who was about to step forward as the negotiator, and stepped forward myself.

I did so because of an intuition I had when looking into his eyes.

If Eve had continued to negotiate, I had the intuition that we would have been driven out of this village.

‘He wants me to speak with my own mouth, I guess.’

He didn’t say it, but that’s what his eyes seemed to be saying.

After taking a slight deep breath, I quietly said.

“We came because we want to enter Ferarius.”

“To Ferarius? For what purpose?”

“There’s an important matter. It concerns me and my companions.”

“I see.”

Dodo nodded slightly. And he began to mutter quietly.

“…Fortunately, you have some sense.”

Perhaps because of his beard, his muttering voice was very quiet. I think only I, who was close by, heard that voice.

Dodo soon spoke quietly as if he had never said anything.

“I understand for now. That it’s an important matter.”

And soon he looked at me again and said.

“But you know I have no reason to listen, right?”

Dodo slowly pointed at me and said.

“The important matter you mentioned is important to you and your companions, not to me.”

Eyes that were weighing something, or rather, eyes that were trying to make a deal. I realized what he wanted to say.

“You’re saying I need to prove that it’s worth helping us.”

“Exactly.”

Dodo nodded heavily.

“Well, if you can prove that worth, I don’t mind helping.”

“I see.”

While there was nothing wrong with the logic…

It was a bit suspicious.

‘…Wouldn’t that be burdensome?’

What we want is the mark to enter Ferarius. Legally speaking, if we were to commit a crime after entering, there’s a penalty where even the clan that made the mark would be expelled from Ferarius.

If these dwarves had completely left Ferarius, it wouldn’t matter, but…

‘Those daily necessities from earlier.’

There are no large cities in this area. The daily necessities in the backpack that the dwarf called Lara was carrying were definitely not a small quantity. If they secured that much, they most likely got it from Ferarius.

In other words, if these dwarves were unable to enter and exit Ferarius, their livelihood would become incredibly difficult.

‘Something’s up.’

If we take on a task, they’ll create a mark for us. It could be a task worth that value, but it was a bit suspicious that they would so easily offer something that could potentially harm their entire clan as compensation.

‘…I guess I can’t help it for now.’

Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough information to make a judgment at the moment.

“Let’s hear your requirements first.”

At my words, Dodo nodded.

“Do you happen to know about centipedes?”

“I’ve dealt with them before in a mine.”

“I see. You must have some skill then.”

Dodo nodded and said.

“Actually, a centipede has made its nest in this mountain.”

Dodo began to quietly explain their situation. A few days ago, dwarves working in the mine were injured due to a suddenly appearing centipede, and some of them went missing and haven’t returned.

“Additionally, it sometimes launches surprise attacks from the mountain.”

“From the mountain?”

“The entire mountain has become that creature’s territory.”

Because of this, Dodo explained that even going outside the village to get daily necessities had become dangerous.

“That’s why Lara was carrying such a heavy load up the mountain. She was risking her life to go outside the village and bring back several days’ worth of daily necessities.”

“That’s brave.”

At my words, Dodo nodded.

“Thanks to that child, everyone in our village has survived. The child who went before barely survived and is still recovering from injuries.”

Dodo spoke as if it was a headache.

“Of course, if we wanted to subjugate it ourselves, we could. But I can’t ignore the fact that many in our village, our clan, would get hurt.”

Dodo said so, but the dwarves earlier didn’t seem very accustomed to fighting. If they were to fight such a large monster, it seemed unlikely that they would end up with just many injuries.

While I was thinking this, Dodo pointed at me and said.

“I could tell at a glance. That you all are veterans who have been through thick and thin.”

Dodo smiled gently and said.

“Lara thought you were bandits and was wary, but…”

“I’d like to apologize for startling you.”

“It’s fine. In any case, that child was able to bring you here.”

Dodo said with a smile.

“So, the deal you want to make is…”

“Eliminate the centipede threatening the village, and if there are any belongings of the missing dwarves, retrieve them.”

In return, Dodo said he would engrave a mark that would allow us to enter Ferarius.

‘…Still suspicious.’

While it’s true that a centipede is a dangerous monster…

To be frank, I didn’t think it was a task worth receiving a mark for.

I strongly felt that something was being plotted.

Perhaps my expression had turned a bit sour due to these thoughts, as Dodo smiled and said.

“Don’t like the calculation? However, from your position, you have no choice but to accept the deal. Other dwarf craftsmen avoid even discussing marks because they believe it could harm their clan.”

“From the way you speak, I assume there are other villages like this?”

“Yes. About a week’s journey, over the mountain.”

Dodo said with a smile.

“So, what will you do?”

I briefly turned my gaze to look at Eve and the other companions. Seeing them nodding one by one, I quietly nodded in response.

“Alright.”

“Deal it is.”

Dodo extended his hand. When I grasped it, I felt a strong grip.

“Dwarves consider it courteous for the leader to step forward and engage in important conversations. We believe it gives weight to each other’s words.”

Dodo said with a slightly stern expression.

“I will keep my promise. So you should keep yours too.”

“Yes.”

After saying that, Dodo casually mentioned.

“…The words of someone who has others speak for what they want are light and meaningless. Remember that.”

“I understand.”

So that was the reason for the hint earlier.

Soon the strong grip loosened, and Dodo smiled kindly again.

“…That’s enough lecturing. It would be difficult to start working today, so take a day to rest.”

“We’ll do that.”

As I smiled and replied, Dodo smiled as well. Meanwhile, his wife began bringing snacks, and everyone started looking in that direction.

“…I should send a message.”

And from between his beard, a very small voice was flowing out.