Chapter 172: A Flower Blooming in Winter (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 172: A Flower Blooming in Winter (3)
The frozen ground collapsed.
The dwarves standing on the surface began to plummet like spilling popcorn.
Along with the indigo luminous stones that filled Doomheim’s ceiling.
Waiting for them below were the square houses they had lived in their entire lives.
But there was no trace of familiarity. The dwarves, who had always lived underground, had never once looked down from above.
Dwarves are afraid of heights.
They have never climbed up.
Therefore, they have never fallen.
All that remained was boundless terror.
“Aaaaaah!”
“We’re falling!”
“Heeik!”
Countless screams echoed through the cavern.
Many of the dwarves had already fainted.
At this rate, it was clear that Doomheim was about to become a bloody mess.
Azyeth’s head snapped around.
Her pair of blue pupils darted left, right, up, and down, locking onto her targets.
Her tiara shone with a pale blue light.
Fwoosh.
A blue mist spread rapidly outward from Azyeth.
The moment the mist had enveloped all of Doomheim, Azyeth swept her right hand through the air.
The mist took the form of massive hands.
To reduce the impact, she had lowered the hardness of the ice to its absolute minimum.
The giant hands snatched the falling dwarves from the air.
There were hundreds of them.
To catch them all, she had to control hundreds of hands.
Simultaneously manipulating that much mana was a feat even an Archmage would struggle with. It was a reckless act that could have overloaded her brain.
But Azyeth made no mistakes. She controlled the magical hands perfectly. It was thanks to the ice element resonating with her will.
As if they were her own limbs, they carried out her wishes without needing a separate command.
And so, Azyeth caught every last falling dwarf and set them down safely on the ground.
After confirming they were unharmed, Azyeth lifted her head.
A gaping hole in the ceiling.
With the dwarves who had been holding the chains gone, Skadia flew freely through the air above.
She hadn't expected restraining the dragon to be easy. From the start, the purpose of the plan had been to drain its strength.
But Skadia looked so vigorous it was hard to believe it had lost any strength at all.
The hovering dragon slowly descended, landing in Doomheim before Azyeth.
“Princess. It seems you intended to escape my embrace. But to get tangled up with cowards of all things. What a cruel twist of fate.”
“…”
“I will give you one last chance, Princess. I do not wish to harm you. Come to me now.”
A cool, low voice echoed through the cavern.
But Azyeth’s stance was firm.
“No.”
Skadia let out a frosty sigh.
“…If that is your answer, then I have no choice. I must personally eliminate those who dared to desire your beauty.”
Skadia prepared to attack again, to destroy Doomheim.
It was then.
A massive number of weapons flew in formation, twisting through the air to strike Skadia. The dragon swatted them away with its wings and tail, but they would only fall back for a moment before doggedly swarming it again.
“What is this swarm of bees!”
Then, the weapons turned and flew back in a line toward a single point. Wolfram was there. The retrieved weapons coiled around him in a spiral.
“Wol…fram?”
“It is Wolfram, Princess.”
Floating around Wolfram were the weapons forged by the dwarves.
When dwarven blacksmiths forge a weapon, they pour their soul into it. Wolfram’s ability was to freely command those soul-infused weapons.
Doomheim, littered with weapons, was the perfect stage for Wolfram, the ruler of the battlefield.
Kwoooong…!
There was another massive movement.
The two colossal golems that had been installed by the ember of the Heart began to move. They weren't mere decorations, but combat golems.
Doomheim’s secret weapons.
The immortal blacksmith Hergen and his assistant were inside, piloting the golems directly, while smaller golems, just a bit larger than humans, followed behind them.
“We’ll help too, Princess.”
“Just make sure you’re thinking about what to make with the dragon scales!”
Halgran, saved by Azyeth’s magic, also rejoined them.
Azyeth glanced at the dwarves who had gathered by her side.
Gripping her sword tightly, she charged toward the dragon.
*
Thump! Thump!
The clamor from outside, the visceral feeling of the fierce battle, traveled through the ground and into the underground bunker.
People huddled together, and the young dwarves gripped their parents’ hands tightly to ease their fear.
There was only one person who was completely relaxed, and it was, needless to say, Karami. Far from being scared, he was thinking it was a shame he had to be in here.
Fuck, I should’ve seen the Gundam move with my own eyes.
Not every moving weapon was a Gundam. Anyone else would have been appalled to hear that, but to Karami, they were all the same.
He wanted to run out and watch right away, but in a large-scale battle like that, a moment of carelessness could get you killed. The best he could do was press his ear to the wall and try to grasp the situation by sound.
“Oh, that heavy whooshing sound. It seems the golem has grabbed Skadia’s tail and is swinging it around.”
Seeing his complete lack of tension, Perka sighed as if he were pathetic.
“The kingdom’s fate is on the line, and you think this is the time for a show? The moment we lose, you die too, Mr. Karami. For sure.”
“Well, I suppose so.”
“Do you think we’ll win?”
“Who knows? Given their opponent, it won’t be easy. We might even lose.”
Perka’s face crumpled.
“Aren’t you the one who made this mess, Mr. Karami? So why are you talking like that?”
“Me, make this mess? I merely gave a little nudge. You were the ones who chose to fight. I clearly saw you all decide by a majority vote.”
“Trying to dodge responsibility now?”
“I’m merely stating the facts.”
As Karami smiled vacuously and got on her last nerve, Perka’s irritation flared. She gave up on talking to him.
Her anxious eyes drifted up to the shelter’s ceiling.
“Are you worried about the old man?”
“…Worried? I told him to come in. He’s the one being stubborn. He’s getting what he deserves.”
“How can you say something so heartless? The old man would be upset if he heard you.”
“Yeah, right.”
Perka scoffed as if it were the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard.
Seeing her attitude, Karami thought for a moment.
Honestly, I don’t have to do this.
Perka wasn’t a slave, so he didn’t need to completely liberate her. Her role was fulfilled just by playing along with Azyeth.
She was just another passing NPC. What happened to her afterward was none of his business.
Still, I did get something out of this.
He decided to be generous, just this once.
He gave Perka a little nudge.
“Thinking about it now, there’s something strange.”
“What is?”
“The old man leaves the house early in the morning and only comes back at night, doesn’t he?”
“That’s right. The Keeper of the Ember has to guard the Heart of Magmora. What’s so strange about that?”
Swallowing a laugh, Karami spoke with an innocent expression, as if he knew nothing.
“It was when we first came to Doomheim. It must have been the middle of the day, but the old man was at home, wasn’t he? Why do you think that was?”
“Huh? That was…”
At the time, Karami had forced her into that ridiculous dress, and her mind had been in such a daze that she hadn’t had the capacity to care about trivial things.
But hearing it now, it was indeed strange. Thorvar was a man who went to work even when Perka’s mother was on her deathbed. For him to be at home at that specific moment…
A coincidence?
If not that, then…
“He must have had a reason to be at home.”
As if reading her mind, Karami perfectly timed his words to slip into the crack that had formed in Perka’s train of thought.
“…What kind of reason?”
“Hmm, for example, how about ‘in case the missing Miss Perka returned’? It wouldn’t do for her to come back to an empty house, would it?”
“…That can’t be. It was a coincidence.”
Perka wavered.
Seeing her deny the possibility, Karami flashed a sly smile.
“No need to think so hard about it. We can just confirm it. You there, sir?”
Karami called out and approached a dwarf. It was a neighbor that Perka also knew. Karami intended to use his mouth to draw out the answer.
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing much, I just wanted to ask you something. Do you happen to remember the time when Miss Perka was gone?”
“Of course, I remember. I thought that little troublemaker had gone off to cause trouble again. I never dreamed she’d been captured as a slave.”
“What was Sir Thorvar doing back then?”
At Karami’s direct question, an anxious Perka glanced nervously at her neighbor.
As if it weren’t a difficult question, he answered quickly.
“Sir Thorvar? After Perka disappeared, he stopped going to work and just spent all day hammering away at his forge.”
“Do you know why?”
“Are you a fool? A parent waiting for their child is something you don’t need to ask about.”
“I see. Thank you.”
Pleased with the answer, Karami returned to Perka’s side. Confusion lingered on the face of Perka, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation.
“He called me a fool. Said you don’t need to ask why a parent waits for their child.”
“…”
“Wow~ It seems the old man really was worried about you, Perka. To think he put aside his duties as the Keeper of the Ember to stay home. Don’t you think?”
Perka couldn’t answer.
The fact that Thorvar had prioritized her over his duties as the Keeper of the Ember was simply a shock.
She still couldn’t believe it.
Is it really true?
Am I just reading too much into it?
She was unable to utter a word, letting her thoughts drift into silence, when…
KUNG…!
A vibration, stronger than before, shook the bunker.
Rubble fell from the ceiling.
Perka flinched and looked up.
“The fighting’s getting more intense. I wonder if the forge is going to collapse at this rate.”
“…”
“Haa~ If I’d known this would happen, I would have tried to get along better with the old man. We’re safe in here, but the old man is…”
Thwack!
Perka shoved people aside and bolted.
“Hey, Perka! You can’t go out now!”
“Out of my way!”
Shaking off the warriors who tried to stop her, Perka ran out of the bunker. Karami approached the bewildered warriors.
“Wait here. I’ll bring her back right away.”
“Y-You will?”
Karami nodded and started to leave the bunker. Contrary to his words about bringing Perka back, his steps were slow and deliberate.
A thin line formed on his lips.
See, if you’d just talked it out from the beginning, none of this would have happened.
He had given them so many hints.
Honestly, the stubborn father and daughter duo were just making things worse for themselves.
Perka’s condition for complete liberation.
Thorvar’s death.
And inheriting the will of fire.
Should I go watch?
The stage was set.
All that was left was to enjoy it.