Chapter 38
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: The Inheritor from the Pass
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Didn’t he say he melted it?
In Roberta’s memory, Ulrich had said this:
“I melted the imperial crown given to me by the Pantheon and forged the crown of Osnover.”
Pretending to wipe the rainwater from her eyes, Roberta studied Ulrich’s expression. He raised his eyebrows, his mouth slightly agape. At a glance, he looked surprised.
An act, she was sure of it. Others might not notice, but he was not one to show his expressions so clearly. He was likely feigning surprise because he was disguised as Armin.
“Did you say there’s a problem with the crown?”
As if to support her conviction, Ulrich’s tone was calm.
“I heard about it from a man who attended the coronation. He described the crown’s appearance to me. But it was far too different from the one I forged.”
*Of course it’s different,* the words nearly escaped her lips. Roberta forced herself to swallow them.
“That crown is quite special. If it were any other object, I wouldn't be so concerned, but that one thing must not have any problems.”
That was why he had come to find out the reason, he explained.
“So, I have a favor to ask. You’re all going to Eislesburg, aren’t you?”
Ulrich nodded.
“There’s no reason not to travel together when we’re on the same path.”
“Thank you. I will repay you separately.”
Replying that it wasn't necessary, Ulrich spurred his horse. The dwarf walked alongside him on the left. Despite his short stature and stride, the dwarf’s pace was fast, and he didn't fall behind.
#
The three humans and one dwarf soon entered a building. On a rise a short distance from the river stood a single shrine. It was a house dedicated to Nenus, the god of the sea.
Though a house, it was, of course, uninhabited. It was a structure built by an individual or a local community in the hope that the river would not flood. A small room housed a statue of Nenus, making it a suitable place for the four of them to take shelter from the rain.
By the time they found the shrine, the rain was pouring down in sheets. Though tomorrow would be the fifth day, the rain, far from weakening, grew fiercer with every step. The wind had also picked up, blowing head-on, making it impossible to lift their faces.
The horses kept turning their bodies, unwilling to move against the wind. The occasional clap of thunder added to the clamor, so when the shrine appeared atop the hill, no one said a word as they ascended.
“The river isn’t going to overflow, is it?”
Fritz asked as he tied his horse to the shrine’s entrance.
“Who knows, it might. We’ll have to be careful during the night.”
Toruhel grumbled as he stood at the entrance, looking out at the river. The hill they were on was not particularly high. If the river flooded, they were in danger of being submerged.
The four of them stood in silence for a long while. Listening to the *shwaaa* of the downpour, no one spoke. Only Roberta moved, breaking the stillness.
She had been looking outside with them, but then she moved to the statue of Nenus in the center of the room, clasped her hands, and offered a prayer. Since they were staying within Nenus’s domain, she performed a simple ritual of apology and gratitude.
When she returned, Toruhel muttered.
“It’s dreary. Why don’t we talk?”
Fritz glanced at Roberta and Ulrich.
“Well, in that case…”
“Yes, yes, ask whatever you want.”
“Sir Toruhel, you said you came from a place called Peira Pass, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“Where is Peira?”
The dwarf, who had been yawning as if bored to death, paused.
“Peira? I didn’t expect you to ask that.”
“Ah… did I ask something wrong?”
Saying that wasn’t the case, Toruhel shook his head.
“I thought you would know since that young human friend, Armin, does.”
He scratched his neck.
“Well, it’s actually more natural that you don’t. You humans aren’t interested in us, are you?”
Toruhel sat before the statue of Nenus and took a pipe from his pack, placing it in his mouth. After he exhaled long plumes of smoke from his nose and mouth a few times, the inside of the shrine grew hazy as if filled with fog.
“Peira is a mountain pass very far to the southeast from here. So far that it would take me a full year of walking to reach it.”
“A year? You came from incredibly far away.”
“It’s practically at the end of the world, though not as much as this Osnover place.”
Muttering the words “end of the world,” Fritz’s eyes shone. The spirit of adventure in the boy’s heart seemed to have been stirred, and he sat down in front of the dwarf.
“What kind of place is it there?”
“It’s just a place where people live, same as anywhere else. The area around Peira Pass is all mountains. It’s just one of countless passes between innumerable mountains. And the range these mountains form is called Esta-Mauneto.”
It was a name combining the Esta and Mauneto mountain ranges, he added. Listening from the side, Roberta silently nodded a few times.
Esta-Mauneto, as Toruhel had said, was a mountain range near the end of the world. If the Ice Peninsula was the northern end, one could, with some exaggeration, call it the southern end.
It wasn't a demonic realm, but it was a land where humans did not live. It was a place so close to the sky that even humans who could wield mana would clutch their chests.
“It’s not a great place to live. It’s a harsh land, not just for you humans but for us dwarves as well. Though it’s a paradise compared to the Ice Peninsula just above Dithmarschen.”
“Is there really a place worse than that?”
“I doubt it.”
Toruhel chuckled and puffed on his pipe repeatedly.
“Your next question is why we live in such a place, isn’t it?”
Fritz gave an awkward smile.
“There are many reasons. First, because it’s the kind of place humans don’t come to. Second, because the mineral veins are extremely rich. And third, because Selim led us there.”
Selim?
At the sudden name, Roberta blinked.
That name was one of Ulrich’s old names. He had told her that he had bought a group of enslaved elves and relocated them to a faraway desert in the east.
Now, that name came from a dwarf’s mouth. And just like with the elves, Toruhel said Selim had relocated them to a faraway mountain range in the south. She turned her head to look at Ulrich.
Ulrich was standing with her at the shrine’s entrance. But unlike her, he was looking outside, not in. He must have heard the name Selim and noticed Roberta’s gaze, yet he didn't react.
“Selim…”
“Judging by your reaction, you’ve heard of him.”
The boy nodded. He looked slightly surprised, just as she had.
Count Willem had been the first to mention the name Selim to her. The boy, Willem’s fourth son, must have also heard the story involving the elf Yudebora and the Kuiania Jungle.
“Yes, I’ve heard of him. That he relocated the elves to Kuiania.”
For a moment, the boy’s eyes trembled. He seemed to be suppressing an instinct to glance at Ulrich. Roberta noticed, but Toruhel did not and continued.
“The dwarves were one of the groups he saved.”
“Are you saying… he saved other races?”
“Not entire races. Just some. Groups that had been enslaved.”
The dwarf said. During the era of the second human empire, the Isturia Dynasty, there was a time of great social turmoil, and a man named Selim had purchased them then.
“You humans say you’ve ushered in three eras so far. During the second of those, there was a time when non-human races were severely ostracized. It’s probably in the scriptures of the Ecumenical Church.”
Roberta nodded as she met Toruhel’s gaze.
It was an event referred to in the scriptures as the Hunt of the Other Races.
Unlike the first human empire, which achieved integration without discriminating between races, the second empire was plagued by discord until the moment of its collapse.
It was the result of failing to bridge the gap between humans, who lived for less than a hundred years, and other races, whose lifespans ranged from hundreds to thousands of years. The scriptures called it a ‘hunt,’ but the text that followed described a civil war. Until that point, no power existed outside the empire.
“According to the records, Selim was a man of that time.”
It was an era when the other races had been defeated, and only those who had sworn fealty before the civil war remained. The rest of the other races were enslaved, and the markets were so flooded with slaves that their prices plummeted to the point where selling ten slaves couldn’t buy a single horse.
“He’s a strange man. No matter how much you search, there are no records of him prior to his appearance in the slave markets. It's so strange that some groups even claim he was a fabrication.”
It was as if he had dropped from the sky, he added.
One day, a man named Selim visited a slave market in a large city. He was, of course, human, and said to be a very wealthy merchant.
“He said he wanted to buy the slaves at the auction house. When the merchant asked how many slaves he intended to buy, he replied, ‘all of them.’ The records state that he bought every single slave available in that city that day.”
Although the slave trade still existed, it was much more common back then, so the number of slaves was immense. But wherever Selim went to buy slaves, the supply in various regions ran dry.
“He didn’t discriminate by race, age, or gender. He bought dwarves, elves, races treated as monsters, and even humans. He bought the old and the disabled who were about to be disposed of. He took in every being that was a ‘slave.’ It’s said that wherever he went, only nobles and freemen remained, as if an emancipation proclamation had been issued.”
Roberta and Fritz remained silent.
And then Selim acquired carriages, loaded the slaves onto them, and even procured food for them before leading them away. He headed for lands where the Isturia Empire’s influence was weak, lands abandoned by humans. In the current era, those places were the Kuiania Jungle and the Esta-Mauneto Mountains.
“It’s the same reason we dwarves settled in those mountains and those long-ears settled in the jungle. As he freed us, he said this: as long as you protect this home, you will never be slaves again.”
Their people did as he said and did not leave their new homes. Though rugged and barren, they protected them.
As a result, one human’s act led to the dwarves he freed in the south developing the mountains and building cities, while the elves he freed in the east cultivated the desert into a jungle. The nameless races and humans settled in the land between the two and formed a nation.
“It’s a story from a very long time ago. Two thousand years have passed. Considering that human lifespans are less than half of ours, Selim’s promise must be seen as having long since expired. It’s old enough to be considered history.”
Repeating the word ‘history’ to herself, Roberta asked.
“To you, Sir Toruhel, is Selim a figure from history?”
“Why wouldn’t he be? When I was young, there were a few clans who revered him more than the goddess Keme, but since they died out, most of us see him that way. We simply accept the records and honor a man who once showed noble mercy.”
Toruhel took a deep drag from his pipe.
“Though those long-ears live for so long, they seem to consider that era more recent.”
As he finished speaking, the sound of the rain outside the shrine seemed to grow louder. The downpour hadn't intensified, but Fritz and Roberta felt the great void left by the dwarf’s silence.
Both of their gazes naturally turned to Ulrich.
He still stood with his back to the three of them, looking outside.