The Mountain City of Varkuntol
Ten days and another three had passed since then.
"Is there really no way to get inside?"
At the nameless knight's question, Rombel bowed and scraped as he answered.
"Indeed. There truly seems to be no method at all. The knight who came from Count Hugen's domain waited a full month before leaving just the day before yesterday."
"Ugh. Understood."
With that, Rombel had now turned away the fifth group of reinforcements to visit the Red Mountains.
Rombel's acting was truly on another level.
Not a single person among the five groups of reinforcements they had encountered so far had doubted his words.
When Rombel approached with a triumphant air, Marcus spoke up.
"By the way, not a single one of the dwarves sent out to request aid has returned."
"They would have carefully selected only those dwarves whose days were numbered. Every dwarf sent to ask for help must have carried the devil's brand. They were sent to die without coming back."
The devil's brand was the mark discovered on the upper body of the dwarf who had died in the Holy City of Soleneon.
As far as Elbridge knew, every demon placed a brand on its victims.
There were many ways to do it.
Some branded the soul after killing the victim and kept it as a trophy. Others branded first and killed afterward.
The most common method was to brand the living, then grant death and claim the soul if the brand could not be removed within a set time.
When every soul in Viscount Dickens's domain had vanished without a trace, the reason Elbridge had thought of demons was precisely this.
That demon must have branded every single resident the moment it appeared.
Marcus asked again.
"Are you saying the God of the Iron Anvil wanted the dwarves who left to never return? Why on earth?"
"That bastard only ever sent warriors out to fight demons with the greatest reluctance. How annoying would it be if dwarves who'd tasted the outside world came back and started spreading stories about other gods? Better to nip it in the bud."
It was a truly vicious method.
Elbridge asked Rombel.
"Now that I think about it, it's strange that the dwarves believe in and follow the God of the Iron Anvil. Dwarves may be natural-born blacksmiths, but not all of them are smiths, are they?"
"They don't follow him because he's a blacksmith. He's the only god who originated from the dwarves, so the atmosphere is that they 'naturally' have to follow him. Calling himself a god when he's worse than a dog."
Rombel criticized the God of the Iron Anvil at every opportunity.
And every single time, Marcus would flinch in shock.
"Mister Rombel. The God of the Iron Anvil isn't actually listening to this, right?"
"I told you he can't hear. The God of the Iron Anvil abandoned me, and I turned my back on him too."
"You never mentioned turning your back on him. So which god do you follow now, Mister Rombel?"
"I'm an unbeliever. I haven't followed any god from two hundred years ago until now. You think I joined the Magic Tower for no reason?"
When Elbridge had first met Rombel in the Magic Tower, Rombel had spoken as if he still followed the God of the Iron Anvil.
Now that they were in the same boat, he had revealed everything, but back then he must have found it awkward to admit he had been excommunicated from his order.
Elbridge crossed his arms.
"Still, no matter how I look at it, the God of the Iron Anvil seems strange. The Heavenly Assembly forbids retaliation against believers who change their faith, doesn't it? Preventing you from entering would count as retaliation, wouldn't it?"
"He'll probably make up some excuse. It's not retaliation; the Red Mountains have always been a space only his believers may enter... Something like that."
"Will that kind of excuse even work?"
"I don't know exactly what's happening up in heaven either. But he probably hasn't crossed the line too obviously. The more underhanded someone is, the better they are at reading the room, right?"
As they chatted among themselves, Elbridge sensed a new presence.
But this presence was different from the ones before. It wasn't approaching the valley from far away. It was coming from inside the valley itself.
When he turned around, he saw a female dwarf standing there with a bewildered expression.
Her short, stubby limbs were unmistakably those of a dwarf, but unlike the males, she had no bushy beard, which gave her a strangely cute appearance.
"Um...?"
The female dwarf crept closer and asked cautiously.
"Who are all of you? Perhaps..."
The answer was for her fellow dwarf, Rombel, to give.
"My name is Rombel. I heard that our kin in the Red Mountains were facing great hardship, so I came from Soleneon with my companions."
The female dwarf hesitated before speaking.
"I'm Bruni. But... why are you waiting out here? Why haven't you entered the valley?"
"We can't enter that valley."
"What? But you're a dwarf, Mister Rombel."
It seemed Bruni did not recognize him.
Rombel put on a sorrowful expression.
"The truth is... there are circumstances that prevent me from entering."
"What circumstances?"
"Two hundred years ago, I was excommunicated from the Iron Anvil Order."
"What? How can a dwarf be excommunicated from the order?"
"I committed a great sin in my youth. Let me show you the evidence."
Rombel approached the valley as if to enter, then once again demonstrated his personal skill of throwing himself back out beside the corpse.
Once more the valley slammed shut with a tremendous noise before reopening.
"Lately some people said they heard loud noises coming from the valley side. Was that because of you, Mister Rombel?"
"That's right. I've been looking for a way to enter the Red Mountains."
"This is the first time I've met someone who doesn't worship the God of the Iron Anvil, so I'm not sure what to do... Could you tell me why you were excommunicated?"
Rombel wore a bitter expression.
"Miss Bruni. Two hundred years ago, I was one of the warriors who left the Red Mountains to fight the demons."
"That war... I've heard about it from my mother."
"At the time I was young and foolish. After clashing with groups that worshipped all sorts of minor gods, the moment came when my faith wavered."
Immediately, bewilderment appeared on Bruni's face.
"So you turned your back on the order?"
"Not exactly. I made the mistake of keeping someone who had turned their back on the order at my side."
Rombel's expression looked calm on the surface. But Elbridge noticed that his jaw was clenched tight. He was clearly struggling to hide his true feelings.
"The God of the Iron Anvil gave me many chances. But foolish as I was, I failed to recognize them."
Of course, this was far from the truth. The God of the Iron Anvil had excommunicated Rombel without a single word.
But he could not tell Bruni the honest story.
"Late regret came flooding in. But it was already too late. My prayers no longer reached the God of the Iron Anvil."
"Don't tell me... you started believing in another god?"
"No. I wasn't foolish enough to repeat the same mistake. That's why I waited two hundred years, longing for the day the God of the Iron Anvil would answer my prayers."
"Wow..."
"Then about a month ago, I heard that our kin were in trouble. The moment I heard it, I realized—this was the God of the Iron Anvil giving me one last chance! I immediately took up my axe and left the Holy City of Soleneon. And I've been waiting here in front of the Red Mountains ever since."
On the surface it seemed Rombel was speaking to Bruni, but in reality this was a message aimed at the God of the Iron Anvil.
For a proud dwarf warrior, this was an unbearable humiliation.
But if you want to swing your axe and cut off the enemy's head, you first have to get close enough for the axe to reach.
Rombel was enduring this humiliation in order to cut down the faith of the Iron Anvil Order.
To show that he, an unbeliever, could solve the problem the God of the Iron Anvil could not.
To shake the dwarves' faith to its very foundations.
And to lead the God of the Iron Anvil to his destruction.
"Miss Bruni. Please guide me into the Red Mountains. I wish to wash away my sins this time and become a servant of the God of the Iron Anvil once more."
Bruni agonized for a long time.
She didn't seem certain whether letting Rombel into the mountains was the right choice.
"By any chance... how long have all of you been waiting here?"
"Roughly two weeks."
"Were there no other people besides you?"
Elbridge could guess what Bruni was thinking.
Instead of letting the uncomfortable Rombel into the Red Mountains, she was trying to find out if there were others.
'She's not an idiot, at least.'
But Rombel's acting easily brushed aside her suspicion.
"Other people? Did you request help from places other than the Holy City of Soleneon as well?"
"Um... I heard that we did."
Rombel's expression grew utterly serious.
"As one who once served the God of the Iron Anvil, I swear upon the faith I have rebuilt over these two hundred years. In the past two weeks, not a single person has approached this valley. You, Miss Bruni, are the first."
Rombel swore upon a faith he did not even possess.
It was a truly shameless statement, but Bruni failed to notice the contradiction.
"Hmm. I see. If you say so..."
Bruni took one step into the valley.
Unlike when Rombel had tried, the valley remained quiet.
Yet Elbridge and Marcus tensed up slightly.
It's not going to close on us halfway through, is it...?
But Rombel followed Bruni without the slightest hesitation.
Elbridge didn't want to show any nervousness in front of Rombel, so he followed after him, and Marcus reluctantly followed Elbridge because of the oracle the God of the Sunshower had given him.
After they had taken a few steps, Rombel suddenly stopped.
Bruni turned back and asked.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. Let's keep going."
Bruni started walking again.
But Elbridge realized that Rombel was searching for something.
Rombel crouched down, picked up a small object from the ground.
It looked like a white pebble, or perhaps a fragment of bone.
Clenching his fist tightly around it, Rombel continued following Bruni.
*
Once they passed through the valley, the dwarf city revealed itself.
The dwarves' city lay a little lower than the entrance to the valley, so the group could look down upon the entire settlement at a glance.
Rombel took a deep breath and said,
"Welcome to the mountain city of Varkuntol."
Elbridge and Marcus gasped in open admiration.
"Whoa..."
"Incredible."
Ordinary cities form naturally as people gather and live together.
They tend to look like countless small pieces haphazardly stitched together.
But the city inside the Red Mountains was different.
Every building was crafted with the precision of a sculpture, radiating outward from a single central point. It looked like hundreds of concentric circles layered one after another.
Nor was only the shape precise. The scale was beyond imagination.
It was easy to understand how this single city could claim three seats in the Heavenly Assembly.
They had heard stories that a dwarf city existed in the Red Mountains, but only dwarves had ever actually visited it. How long had it been since a non-dwarf visitor had come to this city?
Marcus grinned and whispered to Elbridge.
"It's like a dream. I never thought I'd actually set foot in Varkuntol."
"Same here."
The dwarves' height barely reached Marcus and Elbridge's chests.
Naturally, the entire group drew every dwarf's gaze.
After walking a short distance, one of the dwarves called out to them.
"Well, well! If it isn't Rombel!"
"Gundrick. It's been a long time."
From the atmosphere, he seemed to be an old friend of Rombel's.
But Gundrick reached out for a handshake, then suddenly froze.
"... Rombel. I think I heard a rumor that you were excommunicated from the order. It must be nonsense, right?"
Rombel answered.
"It's not nonsense."
"Then you..."
"As I am now, I am an unbeliever. I have no god to serve."
The expressions of the dwarves surrounding them grew grave.
So did the one called Gundrick.
Gundrick said,
"Rombel. If you were human, maybe... but a dwarf who does not follow the God of the Iron Anvil setting foot in this mountain city is a terrible insult. Even now, declare that you will serve the God of the Iron Anvil."
Rombel shook his head.
"No. I cannot do that right now."
"This is not something you can put off. Rombel. Immediately..."
Then Rombel replied,
"I am one who committed a sin and was exiled. To wash away that sin, I need to achieve a merit equal to it."
Gundrick's eyes widened.
"You... don't tell me..."
"I have come to stop the threat facing the mountain city of Varkuntol. Only then can I wash away even a little of the disrespect I showed to the God of Iron and Anvil."
Perhaps because the statement itself sounded plausible, or perhaps because Rombel's acting was simply too perfect.
The hostile atmosphere melted away like snow.
Gundrick smiled with satisfaction and offered his hand again.
"Welcome home, Rombel."
"Thank you, my friend."
Rombel clasped Gundrick's hand, and several dwarves clapped as if moved.
But Elbridge watched the scene with a trace of fear in his eyes. He could understand holding a grudge, but wasn't the lie coming far too naturally?
At that moment, the Goddess's voice reached Elbridge's ear.
Elbridge. My mind has changed.
"What do you mean, Goddess?"
Your Goddess believes that paladins must be truthful. It seems one paladin is enough for our order...
Elbridge was deeply moved by his Goddess's wisdom.