Chapter 380: When Amongst Dwarves, do what the Dwarves do.

Chapter 380: When Amongst Dwarves, do what the Dwarves do.

Bladdarg! Lashrunda boyo!

An ear-throbbing sound echoed inside this stone room as metal struck metal. In the next moment, a heavy-sounding thud replaced it, accompanied by loud groaning and pleading, only for it to be muffled up by another loud metallic bang.

Inside this room, only two dwarves were around. Nobody else could hear or see the altercation happening outside of a single eavesdropper. Hiding inside a small shadow created by the light of a manatech lamp, the shadow beast stared at what was happening. He did nothing else, as that was his orders from his master. Although he had learned morals, he did not think it was necessary to intervene no matter what was to become of it.

Fels-guk pal drahi tazong gazon oyti? Bladdarg! Bladdarg! BLADDARG! The elder-looking dwarf with a single large eye kept kicking the younger man on the floor, targeting his head, stomach, and even his groin. His armor brimmed with mana and runes, strengthening his attacks against the young man in a blacksmiths garb.

The young man, persisting through the pain, grabbed the mans sabatons, pushing it back for him to speak, Valto! Grak! Ugrrruk! Valto, plearsik, meshto! Grruk!

Unfortunately, the older dwarf didnt let up, rambling with a reddened face similar to the wild fire of a forge, and most likely insulting and demeaning the young man. Sadly, the beast couldnt understand what they were saying. He had not learned the dwarven tongue. Still, he knew who the people in front of him were, as he had been observing them the moment they left the Obsidian Orchestra of his beautiful master.

Rajah really doesnt like that old man. Maybe I should attack? Hestias virigress kit wondered what they should do in this situation, feeling slightly uncomfortable as Maagneil kept kicking his second son, Darlion. The old mans unhinged voice and the constant failed pleas and grunts from the young man made this stalker of the Belzac forest feel like he had to do something.

However, once again, he followed the teachings of his mother. Although he had evolved, he was still a virigress, an ambush hunter. The shadows attached to his body were his only defense, so he decided to stay low; quiet as the dead.

After however so long, Maagneil finally stopped, watching his youngest son lying on the ground in his own pool of spit, tears, and blood. Without a beard, it was easy to see his broken teeth, large purple bulges covering up his eyes, and bloody, dislocated nose.

Zuekluk. He spat on his unconscious son before turning around, walking towards a door. Broggart jou shatala finidi.

Broggart, you wouldnt have failed, a rather tragic mumble of this crazed man. His first son had died, his beloved first son, but he still could not find the affection in his heart he needed to show his younger one. Darlion only seeked his fathers approval, the attention he was due during all those years of simply being his older brothers shadowan afterthought, even to his parents. Whether that made both pitiable was reserved for the future to decide.

Maagneil opened the door.

Move.

And so, Rajah accompanied him, instead of his son. Left forgotten and broken on the floor, even by the intruder.

***

Ahhhhhhhh, my beloved carriage. Ahahaha! I have come back for you, my little one! Watching Grimnir hug the walls of our carriage was a pretty surreal thing to see, but then again, when it came to his creations and craft, he could be as eccentric as any other dwarf.

Then again, not like I couldnt sympathize with him. How long had it been since I touched the hardy wooden walls of our carriage, the one we had started out with since Grimnir joined us? Well, I guess nearly two months, but it seems that being stuck inside this hold after being confiscated by the Luedbrumdar clan had a pretty drastic impact on its appearance.

There was some mold here and there, and I could even see some fungus growing on the wheels. Not to mention the shoddy treatment it received from its captureres. The Luedbrumdar clan did not treat our baby well at all, to the point you could see points of impact from axes and hammers.This wasnt even mentioning the inside!

Tasianna? I snapped my head as I spotted her exiting the carriage with Haruka. Please, tell me they didnt ruin the RV too much.

Sadly, both girls shook their heads, prompting me to clench my fist up. I wanted to punch that bastard Maagneils face so much, but I kept my cool, asking the two what the damages were.

The garden is completely ruined. Was all Tasianna said before sighing, looking crestfallen. The garden was Tasiannas baby, after all; her most important location inside our RV and subspace, where she could grow her tea leaves, produce, and alchemical ingredients.

Haruka patted her back, before producing a sheet of parchment. Ive documented all the damages. We can sue the Luedbrumdar clan to repay everything, not to mention compensation for the stuff they took from us.

Haaaa, well, lets hope Queen Tragaya can uncover everything to turn this case in our favor. At the very least, there are some reparations I can force through since Kargryx is allied with the dwarves. One of the moments when this princess stuff isnt just a drag.

A day had passed since the Obsidian Trap had gone off, successfully humiliating Maagneil for what he had done to Aurora in addition to showing off Grimnirs skills. Naturally, watching him being chosen the winner by Ankoran King Fugnarus caused him to jump up the popularity poll for the Artorian, Estralian, and Yeosian blacksmiths and craftsmen. Some even were gutsy enough to ask him to become his apprentice after watching Ellaine and Daichi work. Naturally, they were rejected.

Furthermore, King Drangleic even wanted to commission some equipment from Grimnir, and since I owed him a debt for even bringing the Ankoran King and Queen here, we couldnt really reject him. Indeed, the fact Grimnirs reputation increased was actually a great boon I hadnt thought about when I proposed this plan. Grimnir could make money through crafting requests although, that would still put us at odds with the blacksmiths guild, since Bleidla took his [Blacksmiths Eyes] away.

In any case, after everything was done, instead of going to confront Maagneil, we instead took this time to finally take a break. Dude, eight days of preparations for all of this was tough work. No time to rest, so much paperwork and marketing, not to mention all the training. Preparing for a concert was always tough, but since this also involved Grimnirs problem, there were even more things I had to account for. For example, my big fat debt and bankruptcy.

Meaning, my role as Auroras leader wasnt finished yet. I still needed to plan out how to earn more money soon. The debt had no time limit, but if I had more favors to ask in the future, I better start cleaning my current ones up. Well, R.I.P. my training. I still needed to finish my new custom spells and finally get through the next stage of my [Battle Frenzy]. The moderate stage was so close.

Hey, Grimnir, you dont mind me finessing money from your clan, right?

Grimnir, while not stopping hugging his RV, answered, Not one bit, lass. Fathers been dead for a while. Mother lives with her maiden clan. Siblings been working freelance in other holds, so they wont care. Take as much as you want, ahaha!

His father is dead? Oh probably shouldnt have said that, but whats done is done. Isnt bothering him, so lets just drop it.

In any case, where were we? Outside the main building of the Luedbrumdar clan, evidently as I could see numerous Luedbrumdar members glaring at us, instead of the few guards Queen Tragaya brought with her. Yup, we werent using the city guards for this, as we couldnt trust them.

We were here to get back what was ours and to make sure the clan lived up to their end of the bargaingiving us Broggarts tools and key. It was just strange how we got here in the first place. Not Grimnirs partys whole ordeal, but what happened after Grimnir won.

I wanted to use yesterday night to rest from the competition and my performance, plus I was thinking of opening Saoris portal up and going to visit her. I couldnt believe it when Yorshka and Priscilla told me she and Asaka came to update us on their end. Even more crazy was the fact Saori, the madwoman, had infiltrated and attacked the grimgarian armys base. Didnt she need help? She didnt even try to ask for assistance when she came over, she was more worried about updating us, at least according to the mother and daughter duo.

Considering we had nothing to do right now, helping her wouldnt really be a bother. We still had over a month left until the summit, after all. Then again I really didnt know how to deal with the situation. I wanted them to stop working with the demonkins, so a peaceful option would be nice, but if they couldnt be reasoned with, then another massacre with [Dragon Fire]? After experiencing Mothers memories and launching that [Dragon Fire] on the grimgarians navy, the idea of war just felt bad. Well, not to mention, the entirety of the Elyonda siege.

Feels like Im worrying about everything at this point.

Just when I was contemplating on this matter, trapped in what I should be doing, Rajah appeared, bringing news of what happened as he spied on Maagneil and Darlion. What I heard was pretty shocking, to the point I had to go and inform the Ankoran King. Once morning came, we met with him and told him everything.

And so, while waiting, we decided to reclaim our RV wagon, and this was the result.

[Master.]

I turned around as I heard that voice, watching my shadow slowly grow larger and bulkier. A horse-sized tiger revealed himself, before shaking off black goo from his fur, revealing white glowing stripes. As the goo landed on the ground, it slowly returned to Rajah, only this time, they attached themselves on his black legs and tail.

Curiously, the goo hardened up and began exuding some sorta black mist, forming sharp razors and claws as weapons. My virigress began to stretch and yawn, revealing a set of disturbingly green-glowing teeth and fangs, probably laced with the usual virigress venom. To finish off his new appearance, Rajah now had two clear white eyes with the ability to light up like his fur. He was like a lamp now!

[They are done,] he told me.

I nodded in response and turned to the others, letting them know it was time to collect our prize. While Tasianna and Haruka would stay back to check on the RV, Grimnir, Rajah, and I went ahead. As the most influential clan in this hold, outside of the royal family, this place was huge like a traditional Japanese-styled mansion with the ponds, garden, bridges, and multiple wings and buildings attached to create this, rather, nice scenery despite it being underground. A bit nostalgic even, as it reminded me of my Japanese grandparents place.

Almost as if he had lived here for most of his life, Grimnir led me through the place with little problem, not even relying on the guards or servants to help him. In fact, I could hear some mumbles about Master Grimnir is back or Does Master Grimnir have a right to inherit the position now? Of course, some were insults, which I just ignored. Did they think I couldnt hear them?

We eventually ended up in front of the stone door in the furthest left of the place. Although it was decorated like a Japanese place, the building was still very dwarven in style with their stone buildings. This door, in particular, was quite interesting, as it had multiple holes and things removed from it. Sitting before it were broken metal planks and pieces of junk I didnt care to closely inspect.

Who would think he would hide everything here. Grimnir shook his head in exasperation, speaking of Maagneil. He didnt put anything in the main storage room, but in Broggis room? Hmm sometimes I wonder if sending his body back home was the right decision.

I think it was, I reassured him. Sure, Broggis dairy didnt show him in the best light, but you loved him as a cousin, right? People deserve to go home and his family, especially, deserved to know their relative perished. Just because Maagneil turned mad doesnt mean it's your fault.

Hmph. I wish I had your optimism, lass. Grimnir sighed before moving into the room.

The room was mostly empty outside of your usual bedroom furniture like a bed, cupboard, and so on. However, there, in one of the corners of the room, a part of the floor was taken out, revealing a red button. Two of Queen Tragayas handmaiden, kimono-wearing women with face masks, noticed us and bowed, before pressing the button to reveal a trap door opening underneath the floor next to it.

It would leave a bad taste, yeah, Kazumi argued with her friend, but didnt look too sincere.

Tatsuya isnt wrong. On the other hand, Nishio looked at it with a bleak outlook. I couldnt defend any of you. None of us could defend ourselves. What use is all this coddling and nice doing, when we cant even survive without Hestia-san? We need levels.

Nishio, youre just gonna make Tamae sadder with that

Artorias has that law, too. However, it rarely applies to nobles, that was why none of us were offered it after the Firwood and Griffonpeak problems, Ellaine gave her insight into it. I am, personally, impartial to it. I believe a true knight shouldnt execute others, that is the job of the executioner. Still, consider how the Edgesworn commanders were strong, not to mention the Luedbrumdar samurais.

Instead of killing him, Ellaine did hand in that Charlesylt when he turned out to be a demonkin conspirator. She could have killed him right then and there, but instead chose the more noble direction and had him interrogated for information to incriminate the Cardinal of Artoriass Church of Aurena.

The executioners must be at a very high level

Haruka would definitely decline, but I wasnt sure about Tasianna. Maybe she would choose that option. What about Grimnir? Or Daichi?

Grimnir shrugged. I would call dibs on the hold king and Maagneils loyalist. Bad blood, but I cant.

While Daichi just let out a sigh. I dont really care, Hestia-san. I dont know. After participating in that competition, I dont really feel that angry anymore. Just happy.

So, what should I do?

After thinking about it, I didnt know what was the correct answer here. However, if I was on the fence about it, maybe it would be better to leave it to the rest of the party.

I decline my right, I answered before turning around to the students and Ellaine. Not like I would have a problem with it. I killed enough people already, so whatever. However, I do agree with Tatsuya and Nishio here. They would be worth the levels, so, Ill give you guys the choice. Me killing them wouldnt benefit me as much, what would benefit me would be Aurora becoming stronger. So I can leave my back to you guys. We are a team, right?

Hestia-san All of the students just looked at me in surprise, almost as if they couldnt believe what I said.

Tamae was the first to say anything. Right we should talk about this seriously. Our morals havent gotten us very far, right?

Yes, lets do that, Nishio agreed.

Despite the lacking responses, the Queen smiled. Take some time, but dont dally, dears. I know this world is different from Earth. The Great Goddess had spoken much about her home, so we wisewomen know a certain extent about it. If you have your answers, speak with us in the capital. Due process has to happen there, anyways.

As she was about to leave, I had asked her about Darlion, but she told me he didnt commit any crimes. In fact, Maagneil had left his son in the dark so much, he barely knew anything. He didnt know his fathers businesses, he didnt know where his father escaped to, he didnt know anything. For the heir, Darlion had been left far too much in the dark.

This, alongside the beating he got from his father, just drove the point further how much of an asshole Maagneil was. Deluded and crazy; what a terrible combination. The situation was so weird, I didnt want to believe Darlion didnt know anything. I mean, with the way Maagneil treated his own son, shouldnt Darlion shout? Complain? Scream? However, he did nothing of the sort.

Hestia-san, just leave it. But before I could let it out again, Daichi stopped me. It isnt our problem. Sometimes, kids just dont want to betray their parents no matter what. You know, they just want some love. Attention.

I sensed he knew more about it, but decided to not prod further. I couldnt deal with every problem. As such, we moved into the room where we found Darlion. There, behind the stains of blood, a single door was left open, and when we moved through it, we saw how it led into an underground cavern-like labyrinth.

The artificers on site told us how baffled they were about the door, mentioning how it would have taken them a whole day to figure out if they hadnt noticed it was made with Broggarts techniques. After some reverse engineering, they managed to open it. However, after that, they couldnt tell where Maagneil fled to.

The guards there told us they wouldnt pursue him, since they didnt have a map of the place. Even the dwarves were scared of venturing somewhere without a clear goal, given the mana levels underground. If they wanted to continue, they needed an expedition team kitted for it. It will be done in the future.

So, we left it to them and decided to gather the stuff Maagneil had stored hereBroggarts tools. Unexpectedly, all of it was stored inside what looked like his workshop. Interestingly, a lot of it was machinery, which Grimnir told me was to make crafting easier and quicker.

For example, this machine here is for smelting ores quickly and easily. Grimnir patted something like a furnace, pointing at two cabinets on the back of the thing. It didnt look shoddy or homemade. A normal smithy has a large one, but Broggi made a smaller one for his personal use. Supposedly faster and more efficient. It can extract the minerals better, separating it from the rocks and impurities.

I shrugged. It wasnt like I fully understood his excitement or Ellaines and Daichis.

Master! Look, your cousins artificer tools! By the Goddess, look at this wand.

Master! His hammers and other stuff are here! We also got some blueprints on stuff he couldnt make.

Pack it all in, you two! Gahahaha, its time to expedite the process! No more hand smithing everything, were gonna push Auroras smithy into the next age!

Oooooh! Both apprentices cheered.

As long as they were happy.

Still, some of those blueprints did state how to make the material Grimnir used on Ellaines new armor. He told me we needed to visit a mine to gather the objects we needed, since we were now bankrupt. With the new machine and tools, he told me the idea of making armor for my dragon form wasnt far off.

He repeated this statement again once we also retrieved his tools and stuff, the ones he had in his old workshop before his exile. They were all stored inside the smithy of the Luedbrumdars industrial area. As you might expect, the people there werent too thrilled, but who cared? It wasnt like it was theirs to begin with.

Once we had gathered everything and placed them inside my [Storage Magic], we left to pick up the RV. On the way, Grimnir asked Rajah if Maagneil had taken anything, to which he confirmed it was something that looked like an ID. He couldnt [Identify] it in time, as he placed it in his pocket.

[It was a bit smaller than an ID, but it has the same shape! Yup!] Rajah answered.

Nothing we can do. As long as it isnt something that Broggi needed me to get. Grimnir then pulled out a key. All we needed was this.

After we had stored everything in the subspace, including the RV, everybody then followed Grimnir back to the mine and into the safehouse left behind by Broggi. Once there again, we went to the center, where a key-like hole could be seen. Grimnir then placed the key into the hole, unlocking whatever was locked by it.

Suddenly, the mechanical gears in the place began to rattle faster, clanking and danking as more mana streamed into the center. Since we didnt know what was going on, we all ran away to the entrance, where we saw the ground literally opening up. The stone floor broke open, prompting Grimnir to question how this was possible.

I had to concur, since this was a dungeon, not an ordinary mine. A dungeon master had to have known what happened here and allowed Broggart to do this. When I told him we should ask the dungeon master about this, he told me we probably couldnt, as the previous dungeon master had died after Grimnir had been exiled. The current one couldnt know. Meaning, all we could do was walk down.

As if we were walking down some ancient dwarven ruins in a video game, the stairs revealed by the moving platform led us deeper and deeper. Manatech lamps lit up, shining our path forward blue. Once at the bottom, most of us couldnt believe we ventured down like this, but instantly raised our guards when we saw two statues guarding a small gate.

Using [Mana Eyes], I confirmed they werent golems or anything, so we passed them, opening the shut gate. What was there, however, was far less impressive than the trip down.

Its an altar, Tasianna stated, pointing at the statue of a woman.

On the other hand, Kohaku scowled. No Its a creeps cave

She pointed at the many small figurine-like statues of a dwarven woman, looking similar to the larger one. Grimnir shook his head when he took a closer look, mentioning the portrayals of Chihiro, the Revolution Queen.

Dressed in a kimono with small tools on one hand, and a round orb in the other, Chihiro instantly came off as this technical Goddess. A craftswoman. However, not only did she have a kimono to represent her Japanese heritage, but she also had a sheathed katana attached to her sashthe obi. To finish off the outfit was the emblem of a dwarven mask, which looked quite familiar to the ones on the Ankoran Kings and Queens clothes.

At this point, it was clear this was Broggarts hidden altar for Chihiro, but the question was, why hide this? Not to mention, behind a pretty elaborate contraption he probably needed years to finish. The answer to this question was stored inside a chest placed in front of the statue.

When we opened it, we found a single piece of manatech plus some sheets of paper underneath it. Strangely, this object wasnt just something we could just ignore. In fact, while Tasianna, Ellaine, and Grimnir didnt think too much about it, we Earthlings could only widen our eyes. The object had a small rectangle body with a lens attached to the front, while there was a small hole just large enough for an eye to look through. In addition, there was something like a card attached to the side like a guns magazine.

Yup, it was

A video recorder! The students and I shouted in unison.