The Dwarf Mine
“But...”
Although the three women had agreed to let me sleep in the same room, the biggest problem of all still remained.
“So... who gets to sleep next to the Hero?”
At Lucia’s innocent question, a heavy silence fell between Clara and Irene.
“Since my brother was the one who made the mistake, it’s only right that I, as his flesh and blood, take responsibility,” Clara said.
“An unmarried princess sleeping next to an unrelated man?” Irene countered.
“Then are you planning to sleep next to him, Lady Irene?”
“I... well, I don’t particularly... mind...”
Just as a full-blown argument seemed about to erupt between Clara and Irene...
“Since you two are royalty and nobility, wouldn’t it be better for a mere commoner and half-elf like me to sleep next to him?” Lucia chimed in.
The moment the words left Lucia’s mouth, both women glared at her as if they wanted to eat her alive.
Caught between two formidable women, Lucia quickly backed down and clung tightly to my side.
“Princess, I really don’t mind sleeping on the floor...” I offered.
“Absolutely not! How could we let the Hero sleep on the floor? I don’t mind, so you can sleep right next to me. The bed looks quite large, so it won’t be too uncomfortable.”
Clara gestured to measure the bed’s size with her hands, insisting it was fine.
But to my eyes, while it might be fine if we slept back-to-back, one wrong turn would inevitably lead to physical contact.
“I can sleep next to him and erect an ice wall, so why don’t you stop making a fool of yourself, Princess?” Irene said.
“And how can I trust you not to melt the wall and snuggle up to him once everyone else is asleep?” Clara shot back.
Leaving the two bickering women behind, Lucia approached me.
“Hero, let’s go downstairs to eat.”
“Shall we?”
She took my hand and pulled me out the door. Even in the hallway, the voices of the two arguing women echoed loudly, their pitch rising by the second.
When we reached the first floor, the tavern’s dining hall was slightly less crowded than when we first arrived, but it was still bustling.
“Are you here for dinner?” the innkeeper asked.
“Yes. I heard the mutton steak here is famous.”
“Of course! Our village grazes sheep directly on that mountain. We slaughter them fresh daily, so it’s bound to be good.”
“Then I’ll have the mutton steak... and for her...”
Since I was a meat lover, ordering the mutton steak was an easy choice. However, I looked at Lucia with concern, knowing she wasn’t particularly fond of meat.
“I’ll have the mutton steak too,” she said.
Fortunately, she decided to order the same thing.
“Coming right up! I’ll make it extra delicious for you, so please wait just a moment.”
The innkeeper, who apparently did the cooking himself, gave a warm smile and headed into the kitchen.
“Lucia, are you sure you’re okay with meat?”
“Yes, I’m fine. It’s not like I’m a strict vegetarian. Since we’re at a place famous for it, I should at least try it.”
While Lucia was eating the soup and bread the innkeeper had brought out before the main course, the two women came downstairs.
Irene’s face was as unreadable as ever, but Clara walked down with a look of utter betrayal directed straight at Lucia.
“What’s this, Lucia? Are you really doing this to me?” Clara huffed.
“Pardon?”
“If you were coming down to eat, you should have called us. That’s so unfair...”
“Well... I was just so hungry... and it seemed like you two would be talking for a while, so I only brought the Hero down...”
Lucia immediately shrank back under Clara’s scolding.
“I... I was the one who suggested we come down. I was hungry too.”
“Oh! You should have said so earlier, then! Hohoho.”
Clara, who had been frowning at Lucia, instantly beamed with a bright smile the moment I spoke.
“Two more orders of mutton steak, please!” Clara called out toward the kitchen.
She shouted the order toward the kitchen and took a seat.
“By the way... did you visit restaurants like this often back in the capital?” I asked.
“Yes! I went out with my brother a few times, and I even went by myself to find good places so I could take you when you returned.”
“...”
Seeing Clara, whom I assumed only ate meals brought to her by maids in the royal palace, order so naturally, it was clear this wasn’t her first time dining out.
“Hey, did you hear that rumor?”
“What rumor?”
Just then, at the table behind us, men who looked like carriage drivers were talking among themselves.
“About why the Dwarf Mine was shut down!”
“Is there a specific reason? I thought the dwarves just closed it on a whim.”
“Whim, my foot... Word is, a dragon has appeared in the mountain range!”
“Wh-What?! A dragon?”
“Yes, I’m telling you! A peddler I know who trades with the dwarves at the mine saw it with his own two eyes.”
“Good heavens... A dragon, of all times...”
The conversation from the table behind us instantly brought a heavy silence to our own.
Whether it was true or not, if a dragon had indeed appeared at the Dwarf Mine, it was an incredibly grave matter.
If the Demon King’s army or monsters had taken it over, we could have simply fought them off and reclaimed it.
But a dragon—the strongest species on earth—was not something that could be easily slain.
“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt.”
I set down my bread, approached the neighboring table, and greeted the two men.
They stopped talking and looked up at me, a stranger, with wary eyes.
“I’m a merchant on my way to the Dwarf Mine. Did something happen there?”
“Haha... You’re a merchant and you haven’t heard?”
“Pardon?”
“The Dwarf Mine was shut down because a dragon showed up. Now, all the dwarves who lived in that massive mine have been kicked out. They have nowhere to go and are struggling just to feed themselves day by day.”
Those wealthy dwarves, worrying about their next meal...
Since ancient times, dwarves, who did not know how to farm, had traded high-quality equipment and goods with humans and elves in exchange for food.
But with the Dwarf Mine closed, they couldn’t produce anything. Combined with their fierce pride, they were left unable to secure food, reduced to worrying about their daily survival.
“So... they can't mine at all anymore?”
“Well, obviously. How can they mine anything until that dragon is driven away?”
Driving away a dragon...
It was easy to say, but it would likely require a life-or-death battle.
Even for me, victory was far from guaranteed.
Of course, my Holy Sword, Ascalon, was forged from the heart of a red dragon, so its power might match up.
But the question was how long I could hold a Holy Sword that drained mana at such an insane rate.
“If you’re thinking of going there, you’d better forget it.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“We’re carriage drivers who haul ore from the Dwarf Mine, and look at us—we’re completely out of work. If you’re merchants, you’ll only waste your time going there. I’m telling you this for your own good.”
“I see... Thank you for the advice.”
After finishing my conversation with the drivers, I returned to our table. I couldn’t even touch the mutton steak that had been served; I was lost in thought.
Was it because I felt a sliver of tension at the thought of fighting a dragon, a creature said to be as powerful as the Demon King?
Dragons possessed infinite mana, cast spells beyond the 10th circle that humans couldn’t even comprehend, and above all, possessed a devastating breath.
Dealing with one was bound to be incredibly troublesome.
“Hero, what are you thinking about so deeply?”
Seeing my grim expression as I left my steak untouched, Clara gently stroked my hand and called out to me.
“Things might get a bit complicated.”
“What? Why?”
“They say the reason the Dwarf Mine stopped production is because a dragon appeared.”
“A dragon?!”
Startled by the word 'dragon,' Clara cried out. I quickly covered her mouth and scanned our surroundings.
“Princess, your voice...”
“Ah... I’m sorry. But a dragon? So the mine stopped production because a dragon showed up?”
“Yes.”
Clara grew quite serious at the mention of a dragon, falling into deep thought.
She was likely debating whether we should give up on going to the Dwarf Mine.
“But don't worry too much. Dragons are intelligent creatures capable of communicating with humans. We should try talking to it first.”
“And if that doesn’t work?”
“Then... well...”
I didn’t finish the sentence, but Clara seemed to understand. She looked at me with a worried expression.
I simply offered a reassuring smile, doing my best to ease her anxiety.
Just as Clara had said, the mutton steak at this inn was superb.
It was easily one of the top three steaks I had ever eaten in my life.
But once we returned to our room on the second floor, their battle resumed.
The dispute over who would share the bed with me flared up once more.
All three presented their own seemingly logical reasons for why they should be the one to sleep next to me.
In the end...
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
Unable to convince one another with words, they resorted to the ultimate arbiter of fairness: rock-paper-scissors.
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
Clara threw her hand out with absolute confidence.
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
Lucia shyly threw rock.
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
Irene, whose expressionless face made it look like she was being forced to participate against her will, threw rock with surprising intensity.
“I won!!!”
The victory went to Clara, who had thrown paper. Before the other two could say a word, she quickly dashed over to the bed where I was sitting and lay down.
“Hero! Let’s sleep now!”
“Princess, if others find out I slept next to you... and more importantly, Edwin won’t let me off...”
“Hush, just sleep!”
Plagued by a thousand worries, I had no confidence to lie down next to Clara and tried to escape the bed.
However, she already had me in her grasp, forcing me down.
“Then I’ll take this side...”
While my right arm was pinned by Clara, preventing me from getting up, Lucia slipped onto my left side and pulled my other arm.
“Lucia, that’s cheating! You lost rock-paper-scissors,” Clara complained.
“Yes. And that’s why you got to lie down on the side you wanted first, Princess. Since this side was left over, I’ll take it...”
“No fair!”
With Lucia joining, the double bed was suddenly packed with three people. As they kept nudging inward from both sides, my space grew narrower by the second.
Their upper bodies pressed tightly against my arms.
Meanwhile, Irene sat alone on the other spacious bed, staring at us with an expression that was hard to read—either completely indifferent or deeply envious.