Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Golems in the Depths
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Creak-.
A thick copper tube pierced through the collapsed tunnel and descended.
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Well, that's..."
"Got it."
Finishing his response, Enri immediately pushed himself up and looked around. The mine had collapsed for some inexplicable reason, but the tunnel wasn't completely buried. There were sections that hadn't caved in.
Of course, that's how Enri had managed to survive without being buried under the mountain.
'The other dwarves...'
There were probably plenty of dwarves buried under the falling dirt, but surely a few had survived like him, unburied. Realizing this, Enri cautiously moved forward.
As he advanced through the intact sections of the tunnel, Enri stopped before a completely blocked passage. The way was sealed. It seemed impossible to go further.
At least the other dwarves had quickly made air holes for him, so he wouldn't suffocate from lack of oxygen. If he got thirsty, he could ask them to pour water through the copper tube. That should hold him for nearly three weeks.
-......ka.
-......ge-
-Ha......ji.
And then.
Enri's ears caught voices from beyond the collapsed tunnel. Dwarven voices. Hearing them, Enri frantically scanned the surroundings for something to dig with.
Luckily, pickaxes and shovels dropped by the miners were scattered about. Lucky, he muttered to himself as he began vigorously swinging the pickaxe toward the direction of the voices.
With the superhuman strength of a knight combined with Enri's athletic prowess, clearing the collapsed tunnel took only a moment.
Beyond the rubble.
Enri greeted the group of dwarves staring at him with blank expressions.
"Oh! You're all alive?"
"You... you're alive."
"Of course. No injuries, I hope?"
Grinning broadly as he approached them, Enri suddenly sensed something off and froze in place. The dwarves before him looked far too pristine for people trapped by a tunnel collapse.
Above all, the gear they wore didn't seem meant for safety in a mine... it looked designed to kill someone.
Full-body armor to protect against spears and swords, short-handled axes like daggers instead of pickaxes or shovels for mining.
And above all— the murderous glint in their eyes, glaring as if to kill.
"Aha."
Taking it all in, Enri realized one fact immediately.
A wind blew from behind them.
As if pushed by the wind at their backs, they gripped their weapons and charged swiftly.
"Just as I thought."
It made no sense for a mine untouched for centuries to suddenly collapse. Enri realized these were the culprits—or at least connected to whoever caused it.
Aiming his pickaxe at their squat, sturdy bodies, the dwarves smirked mockingly, but it didn't take long for those smirks to twist into grimaces.
The Alpenheim Great Mountain Range had collapsed.
The mountain housing the mines, the primary industry of Alpenheim Territory.
This news reached the Alpenheim lord immediately, and naturally, Eve, who was nearby, heard it as well.
"...The tunnel collapsed?"
"Yes, Lady."
"You mean—the tunnel where we sent Enri?"
"Yes, that's right, Lady."
"At this timing?"
It couldn't be. A mine that had never collapsed once in all this time, giving no warning signs before suddenly caving in? Statistically impossible. It was far more realistic to assume someone had deliberately caused the collapse.
Yes, someone had intentionally collapsed the mine.
Right at the moment when she was about to enter at the lord's request.
'Is the lord in on it too?'
After pondering briefly, Eve stood and headed straight for the lord's office. Brundal, frantically handling affairs amid this unprecedented crisis of the mine collapse, looked awkwardly at the sudden arrival of Eve.
"Ah, Lady Claudia. Sorry, but I'm quite busy right now—"
"—Just earlier. Someone came to see me. Said you had a request for me, Lord."
"...Me?"
"Yes. The request was to inspect the mine... but from your face, it seems you know nothing about it."
"Of course not. Asking a guest to inspect? What kind of uncouth lord would make such a request?"
The villainous lady, who often made troublesome requests to those she tormented, was at a loss for words and merely fanned herself. Watching her, Brundal cautiously spoke.
"Do you remember the man's face?"
"Of course I remem... remember, remember... no, I don't."
Only then, belatedly.
Eve realized she couldn't recall the man's face.
A recognition-lowering spell that goes unnoticed while watching, but reveals itself later.
Not a spell a dwarf would typically use.
Frowning at the realization, Brundal nodded as if he understood.
"It's them."
"Them... you mean?"
"Embarrassing to admit, but—not all dwarves are united in swearing loyalty to the kingdom."
Even nobles of the same kingdom divide into factions, some even pledging loyalty to the nobility itself over the royals. If humans do that despite sharing a king, what of dwarves, an entirely different race?
Among the old dwarves, some still clung to past glories. The glory of fairies living underground. The days when they served only their own kind as kings.
"Sorry to trouble you..."
"...It's fine, Duke Alpenheim."
"More importantly, if they asked you, why are you here?"
"Ah—well."
Eve explained that she'd sent Enri into the mine in her place, and then heard about the collapse. Hearing this, Brundal sighed regretfully.
"Sir Enri went in instead? Damn... I thought we'd never see that kind of physique again..."
"No need to worry too much."
"What do you mean?"
Enri, she said—
Eve replied with a light smile.
"That guy won't die."
Her overwhelming trust in her knight. The faith Eve placed in Enri was on par with the certainty that the sun would rise tomorrow.
"Urgh..."
"Wh-what nonsense..."
"A mere... pickaxe..."
The dwarves groaned as they rolled on the ground. Their full-body armor was shattered in places long ago, and at least one limb on each was broken.
Enri, who had achieved all this with a single pickaxe, casually tossed it aside and picked up their daggers one by one. Even for Enri, dual-wielding by jamming them into limb joints like in comics was impossible, but handling two swords at once was no big deal.
Gathering the weapons, Enri crushed the dwarves' limbs as they writhed on the floor and asked.
"Urghhh—!"
"Why did you do this?"
"Th-think I'll tell you...!"
"Fine. Don't then."
"Wh-what? Arghhh!"
Pushing them until they passed out from pain, Enri scratched the back of his head upon realizing no one was left to question. He should've held back more. Torturing dwarves was a first, so he'd messed up.
Torture was trickier than it seemed. Intellectually, he knew their pain thresholds and limits, but reality didn't play out that way.
Push to the limit, and they passed out before breaking. Naturally so—Enri's perceived limit was their breaking point, the line where exceeding meant instant death.
'...Wind.'
Enri gazed at where the wind had come from—behind the dwarves. Come to think of it, he'd felt it from this side. Wind in the mine meant a connection to the outside.
If that passage were widely known to other dwarves, they'd have come for him already. Meaning this path was unknown to others.
As he walked forward, Enri perked his ears to the growing sound of hammering. It was different from the familiar clanging of other dwarves—eerie, chilling hammer strikes echoing through.
Clang-! Claaang-!
The approaching hammering stopped as Enri's footsteps thudded loudly.
Soon after, Enri encountered a dwarf waiting for him.
"—A human?"
"And you're a dwarf?"
"...Survived? That collapse?"
The dwarf muttered incredulously. Ignoring whatever he said, Enri fluidly drew and hurled a dagger.
Surprisingly, the armor behind him moved on its own, deflecting the dagger.
Enri paused, eyeing the robot-like moving armor.
"Golem?"
"Don't compare it to such sorcery."
The dwarf rose, placing a hand on the animated armor.
"This is our lost, great technology."
Clank-.
Behind that armor.
Dozens more armors opened their eyes.