In the unexplored area of the Alvis Dungeon.
The Dwarf King has turned to stone, silent and motionless. We stood before the wall he had told us about. I exhaled a white puff of breath, then I gently placed both of my hands on the cold surface of the wall before me.
“Wake up!”
With my right hand, I released the seal on the passage to the right side and with my left, the one to the left. The stone wall crumbled away, revealing a fork in the path.
Like what the Dwarf King had said, one path likely led underground, the other above ground. The left side descended to the lowest floor, where Flamebone Surtr awaited and the right side leads outside.
We must make a choose.
“I…..”
I hesitated. Because this wasn’t just our problem— the fate of Alvis itself was at stake.
Something inside me was shouting. The fact that the Dwarf King had mentioned the “prison.” That there was an anti-Titan trap on the boss floor. That the guard golems had faced off against the titans.
Can dwarves really not be trusted?
Is that truly the right answer?
Was the country Safiy came from really such a terrible place?
All those thoughts were in my head.
“Let’s retreat.”
The words, spoken as if to cut something off, came in a firm voice. Felix-san’s sharp gaze passed over each of us in turn.
Me, Mia-san, the Raven Warriors, and finally to Safi.
After letting his eyes rest briefly on the dwarf blacksmith, Felix-san turned his gaze back to the passage.
“In this situation, it’s difficult to place complete trust in the dwarves. The dungeon is a den of monsters to begin with, and right now, we must also be wary of dwarven traps. We know that Flamebone Surtr is here. In that case, it would be far more rational for us to return to the surface, have the adventurers and guards prepare, and meet the attack from outside.”
Fighting in a place where traps might be waiting is sheer foolishness. That, perhaps, was what Felix was trying to say.
The gods—especially Thor—were probably thinking the same thing.
Nothing was coming from the gold coin. I know they are waiting for me.
“B-but…”
I raised my voice, about to argue back at Felix-san.
“What is it?”
Looking down at me, Felix-san’s gaze stopped me from talking. He was a veteran of the Raven Warriors, and his words were sound enough that even the gods had nothing to say in objection.
“No way…!”
Safi’s lips trembled. The dwarf blacksmith’s face had gone pale.
“I… I…”
“We’ve heard enough about the land of the dwarves.”
Felix-san dismissed her. Safi glared back at him.
Yet my heart was still screaming—
—Believe them!
But… believe in what?
Which side?
“……!”
I couldn’t find an answer to that question.
And in the end, I couldn’t turn my voice into my true voice. When we returned, the city of Alvis was in an uproar. The dungeon had been declared off-limits.
Along the old castle walls that lay between the mining dungeon and the city, adventurers and soldiers were already lining up, preparing for the possibility of monsters pouring out of the dungeon.
Having fled back from the depths, we made our way to the Temple of Odis and revealed our identity as the “Raven Warriors.” We spent the entire afternoon issuing orders to the Adventurers’ Guild and informing the lord of the dungeon’s abnormal state. All to prepare for a large-scale monster invasion, like the one that had struck the eastern side of the Royal Capital.
◆◆◆
Right now, we are in the Temple of Odis. Night has already grown late.
I stand and walk over to the window. The mine still looms like a massive wall. From the temple’s high ground, I can clearly see the gentle slope leading up to its entrance. From the dungeon’s gate which was once the main entrance of a royal palace—the slope suddenly steepens.
At the foot of the moonlit mountain, countless torch lights are moving.
『There is nothing for you to worry about. Not a single thing.』
The gold coin vibrated, and Solana’s voice reached me. I take up the coin case Lu made for me and gently run my fingers over the half-exposed gold coin.
『…That kindness of yours, the way you can’t just shut your feelings off—I like that about you.』
Solana’s encouragement usually warms my heart like sunlight. But this time was different. There was a hollow in my chest, and no matter what words were spoken, they just slipped away with the wind, leaving nothing behind.
『In that moment… Felix is right.』
“No.”
I clenched my teeth.
“When I… when we left the Dwarf King’s chamber and head to the surface, when I decided not to go down—to face Surtr and the others…!”
I was presented a choice. To trust them and fight in the deepest layer, or to trust the gods and return to the surface. In the end… I chose to trust the gods.
I didn’t trust Safi, or the dwarves. What I chose was “retreat.”
“…I kept wondering if that was really okay. Safi looked so sad, but I don’t know what the future holds, and I couldn’t bring myself to decide… so…”
From my lips, the weaker side of me slipped out.
“I… I actually felt a little relieved.”
Because—
“…the gods decided for me, instead of me deciding for myself.”
The night was quiet, and perhaps because it was still before spring, not even the sound of insects could be heard. The roars and tremors that had shaken the ground so fiercely before were gone now.
“There were so many things I wanted to say, so many things I wanted to ask, so many things I wanted us all to talk about and think through together… But… the words just wouldn’t come out…”
The outline of the mountain blurred.
…Tears?
Father once said that, back in the dungeon where Ymir appeared, he stood and fought alongside his companions. Now, I could finally grasp just how incredible that was. Even when the Raven Warriors had nearly chosen to retreat, he kept fighting.
—That meant Father had made a decision. He knew what was right, and what should not be done. He had something like an unshakable core as an adventurer… and that’s why he could hold his ground.
“…You are kind. But at the same time, Thor’s way of thinking—and Felix’s—are also correct.”
Facing Solana, I kept my gaze fixed on the cluster of torches moving along the city wall.
They were prepared—keeping watch through the night against a monster assault, and come morning, we’ll be surrounding the dungeon. It’s a two-layered strategy, leaving no room for carelessness.
“I know that, but…!”
I gripped the window frame.
The gauntlet still on my hand gleamed white under the moonlight. I am weak. At the most crucial moment, I hadn’t even been able to show my own will.
It wasn’t enough to just be kind. I had sworn an oath to the goddess because I wanted the strength to uphold that kindness. Swallowing down the lump of shame in my throat, I tore my thoughts away from the past.
I stepped back from the window and sat down on top of the clothing chest.
“…I wonder if Safi’s okay.”
Safi should have been resting where the Raven Warriors were staying.
I want to go check on her, but… right now, I didn’t really have the energy myself.
“I’m worried too, but…”
Solana’s voice brought back the words Safi had spoken when we returned to the surface. A sharp pain shot through my chest.
—And here I thought the black dwarves and white dwarves had changed.
—They’d started working at the forge together, cooperating with each other…
In the distant past, in Álfheim, the conflict between dwarves had been deeply rooted. So deep that they wouldn’t even work together. But in the frozen forge, both white dwarves and black dwarves had shared the same space.
Safi, a black dwarf, had even been granted the title of Top Ten Blacksmith.
The dwarven kingdom had been changing—or so we’d hoped. But that hope must have been shattered by the reality of their betrayal.
『I think it’s something that couldn’t be helped though.』
Loki’s voice came.
『…I may have said this before, but distrust and betrayal existed back then as well. In fact, I myself was once suspected of betrayal. Distrust existed even among the gods.』
I wiped away my tears, startled by his words.
“Y-you too, Loki…?”
『Heh. I once traveled far and wide to broaden my magical knowledge. I met with dwarves, and at times even with titans. Long, long before the war, there were still titans you could reason with…』
From the coin, I could feel Loki’s wry smile.
『Rion, just as you wrestle with your choices, the gods can be a little complicated too.』
He let the words hang with a sly air before falling silent.
Then the voice of Sigris, the god of medicine, followed.
『…Even when Loki was suspected, he continued to share the magical knowledge he had gained on his travels. You saw similar technology among the dwarves in the Western Dungeon, didn’t you?』
I see…
The magical rune letters in the Western Dungeon, and even the boss, the Iron Golem—those might well have been based on the knowledge Loki had acquired on those journeys.
『I may have been suspected, but the knowledge I’d gained was useful. Sure, I was down for a while, but they let me stick to my ways—stubbornly, flexibly, you know.』
To carry it through huh…
Father would’ve made that decision in an instant.
I’m still hesitating. Even after being swept along once, I’ve kept on wavering… over and over.
『Rion… Think it through, you have your own kind of strength.』
Solana said.
I touched the horn in my pouch— the Gjallarhorn, the horn I inherited from Father.
Calm down. Steady your breathing. Face forward.
One by one, I picture the words I couldn’t say aloud.
Yes… the dwarf king, he… the horn—
“…Ah.”
Just as I was about to speak, the ground shook.
The things all around me fell with clattering sounds. The clothing chest I was sitting on nearly tipped over, and I clung to the window frame for balance.
A deafening roar rolled across the sky. From behind the mine —from the exit we had used to escape the dungeon —rose a pillar of blazing red fire, like something out of a story about a volcanic eruption.
『Here it comes.』
Thor’s voice came from the gold coin. I tucked my chin, slipped the coin case into my pocket, and tucked the horn into my pouch. Rushing out of the room, I ran straight into a woman from the warrior group.
“Rion-san….”
After hearing what had happened, I must have gone pale. I raced back up the stairs I had just descended and threw open the door to a certain room.
No one was there. Night wind swept in through the open window, stirring the mess left behind by the earthquake.
“.…Safi-dono has run off.”
I was told by a member of the warrior group that she had most likely gone to the mine alone.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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