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Chapter 67 Tailbal Kingdom
🕑 Added 2023-03-01 05:59:44 +0000 UTCChapter 67 Tailbal Kingdom
The mountain was beautiful in the morning. Our exhaustion was gone, and we braved the new morning with much energy.
"Do you think we could reach the capital today?"
"It depends on how fast you walked. Either we arrived at dawn tomorrow or at dusk today." Jona replied indifferently while cleaning up the rest station.
"Let's go!"
"Sometimes it is nice to have a lord that doesn't mind camping outside without a tent or luxuries," Sarielle muttered.
"Well, we aren't like those elven nobles who needed to take their private pillows or pajamas," Sana said proudly. Hey, you guys. Did you guys know you were mocking Lord Edelweiss just now? Please watch your tongue.
"I can see that serving Lord Lily has made your tongue loose. Please work up your etiquette. You would not want to embarrass or cause a scandal to Lord Lily." Sarielle spoke out of my mind.
"Ah, sorry."
The group was eager and walked the entire day on the mountain pass. The pace was good, and Jona was an expert navigator. Any Monster that barred our way was expertly decapitated by Lily. We arrived at the proclaimed dwarven kingdom just before dusk. It was not like what we expected.
"Welcome to the dwarf kingdom! While I am a merc and have already abandoned my hometown, please note that we dwarves take quite a great pride in our home. Please don't mock our homes or any stones that lie at its foundation!" Jona said while puffing her nonexistent loli chest.
As it was located at the side of the mountain, there were barely 4 simple wooden houses inside, and at the center of it was a cave. These houses were not even qualified as villages by our standards and were more like a passing rest stop for travelers. It reminded me of how we first started when we were bandits by looking at it.
"This is the capital of the dwarves?" Nora asked. "I am not entirely sure if we can even call it a village."
"Huh? Of course not. It is inside the caves. What are you talking about?" Jona was puzzled.
"While dwarves might be uncultured and dirty, their lands are filled with materials we need. And since elves are a fair race, we also gave them a fair offer." Sarielle arrogantly puffed his chest. Jona could only look at him with cold eyes. He tried to disguise his mockery by praising elven culture, but it was totally backfiring now. Jona understood elven proud behavior, so she let it slide.
"Let us spread the flag now." Lhorne tried to melt the icy atmosphere by diverting the discussion to our jobs.
The village was not guarded except for the caves, which were inside the villages, and we could go in without any issue. Several lolis and Shotas were lurking around carrying baskets. Now that I think about it, I have no idea what this village's purpose is. Is it just an entrance to the kingdom? It really feels like a fantasy to see these lolis and shotas walking around without adults.
"My name is Sarielle. We are official diplomats serving King Garme, The Elven king. We came from Edenthal Region under the direct order of the king to meet the dwarven king Sigliendurne. Please grant us audience." Sarielle spoke out loud to the guards that were inside the cave. They both had an ax, helmet, and armor. They looked like children cosplaying as knights.
"They are already here? So soon, aren't they usually arrived in a month or so?" the dwarves spoke among themselves. The cave made their voice echo, and as a result, we could hear them clearly.
"Ugh. What bad timing. We should ask them to meet the king immediately!" The guard groaned. His word was met with confusion from us, but his teammates shut him up and asked us to follow him.
"Please follow us. Lord Sariel. We will welcome you right now."
"So this is the city of dwarves. It is majestic but gloomy." I muttered. Lily nodded.
The cave was vast. It felt like we were walking forever to reach the throne room. The stone we stepped on was polished with cement and easy to walk to. However, due to the fact that it was inside the cave, it was dimly lit, and the air was stuffy. I could not tell if this cave was a city or the entire building because I could not see any buildings inside, just some doors which presumably led to their bedrooms. Were they all living together in these spaces?
"Jona, I could not see buildings…."
"Ah, we don't need buildings inside a mountain. Why would we have it? There is no rain or storms. And no sunlight either." Jona answered." But it is gloomier than when I was here a year ago. I wonder what happened? Maybe they ran out of feystones for light?"
"How about cooking? Every family needed to cook, right?'
"There is a public space for cooking! We could not let anyone cook inside the cave. The smoke would cause choking."
"Why would you live here… that sounds extremely cramped and uncomfortable," Mattheus muttered.
"Because we love it! Look at these stones! The safe haven of the mountains. You see, these stones are said to be a blessing. They are durable and can be molded just by putting water." Jona started to ramble on about how they constructed this underground city
"Moreover, we like to live next to each other! The outside is scary. We could be eaten by eagles or goats! It is a must that wherever you live, you must be able to lock your doors to prevent intruders." Jona continued to ramble. I prodded that she would need to live in the open for camping since she was a mercenary.
"But, you are a merc, right? Don't you need to camp?"
"That's the hard part of merc's life! I don't feel safe at all! But I trusted you guys to do a watch duty!" she replied. She admitted that she would never camp outside alone. It was suicidal to camp outside alone when this world was infested with monsters, so nobody did that.
"You are before our king. Please kneel," The guards muttered. There stood a young child with a golden crown embedded with rubies and sapphires all over it.
"We kneel before King Sigliendurne. My name is Sarielle, and this is Lord Lily of Edenthal. May we have an audience?" Sarielle whispered. But due to the sounds echoing in the cave, even small sounds were heard clearly by all.
The meeting began.
Comments
laulau20
i didn't know what happened. this was supposed to be released yesterday. i guess i didn't checked the schedule properly
