25. City of Steel
It has already been four days since I left Cologne.
During the day, driving at a moderately fast speed, setting up a tent and feeding the horses at night, we continued our journey. Four days after leaving Cologne, we reached the middle destination of Bellion, the fortress city we had marked on the map. Could
“This is… Bellion, City of Steel.”
I didn’t go straight from Metelheim to Meldern Forest, but after fighting on the frontlines for three years, I too had only heard about Bellion through rumors.
I heard that there is a mining town that produces an inexhaustible amount of iron in a distance of about 4 to 5 days southeast of Cologne.
I heard that about 20% of the steel production in the Kingdom of Maetel comes from Bellion.
I heard how much iron was left over, so the gates and the outside of the walls were all covered with steel.
An ancient fortress city built by Dwarves who commanded a vast area from the central continent to the Songgot Mountains in the distant past.
“Wow. There is only real admiration. How could such a huge city be built in such a distant past?”
As I spoke admiring the massive steel walls built between the majestic mountain ranges, Robin, who had been clinging to the driver’s side window with me, opened his mouth.
“Dwarves are like that. If you don’t have dexterity, you’re a corpse.”
“…If you say that even in the city, you might get your skull broken with a hammer while you sleep.”
“Perhaps because I was scammed by a Dwarf blacksmith in the past, I don’t have a good idea when I see only Dwarves.”
“Even if you say that, you can’t take your eyes off the castle wall.”
“…I don’t know about anything else, but I recognize that wall. My God, how did you build such a city?”
We stopped the wagons at the end of the long line of wagons in front of the gate, and we all couldn’t help but admire the city of steel, Bellion, sandwiched between the mountains.
The castle walls, covered with Bellion’s unique jade-colored steel, glistened in the morning sunlight rising over the ridge, showing off its majestic appearance.
“The reason why the steel from Bellion has a jade color is because the veins in Bellion contain mana, right?”
When I turned her head to look at Princess Alexis and asked, Princess Alexis, like Robin, couldn’t take her eyes off the city.
“I heard that the veins themselves naturally contain mana, so it is very easy to inject mana during refining because the mana sensitivity is high. I thought it was a lie too… But the rumors must have been true.”
It’s hard to trust the rumors circulating among the general public, but this time it seems to be true.
I slowly nodded my head at Princess Alexis’s words and turned my gaze to see Luna, who was also staring blankly at the city from her window.
“Are you that curious? Well, I’m curious too, but you’re going to do it.”
“How could such a human being have this level of technology? Even the Demon King’s army has that level of technology…”
“Uh… It’s precisely the technology of the ancient dwarves.”
“Ah… Anyway, amazing! I was thinking at least at the level of Cologne… But I want to go in!”
“That is…”
If you open the door slightly and stick your head out, you will see an endless line of wagons.
Only like this, I can only go in at lunch time.
“…That’s so f*cking blocked. Are you checking the wagon?”
Looking at the walls of Bellion shining brightly in the reflection of the slowly rising morning sun, we waited for our turn in the endless line of wagons.
* * *
It wasn’t until after lunchtime had passed that the sun was setting, and we were able to enter the gates of Bellion.
“No. We’re not criminals, what kind of carriage check takes more than 10 minutes?”
Bellion’s glowing figure at sunset was truly magnificent, but the time was much longer than expected.
As I grumbled, glancing at the poor garrison soldier, Robin turned to me with a slightly bored expression.
“…Senior. Because we’re criminals…”
“Hey. That’s what Count Albion allowed. After all, the problem is that the Count of Albion did not fulfill his duties as a lord. When the upper water is clear, the lower water is clear.”
“That kind of forced…”
“Oh, I don’t know. The Count of Albion is the main culprit. It’s something I don’t know.”
…For some reason, the gaze of the party looking at me seemed to stab me in the side of the head, but I tried to ignore their gaze and continued the conversation.
“Anyway, since I made such a mess and escaped from Cologne, I don’t know if the hero and the other party members did some dogged tricks to find me. On the way to Mettelheim, let’s not make any accidents and pass by quietly.”
It’s not okay to get caught here- I said and turned my head to Royman, who was sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Royman. The inn we’re staying at is fine as long as it’s not too cornered, so let’s go somewhere reasonably close to other shopping districts.”
“Okay.”
This was the first time Royman had come to Bellion either, so I slowly moved into a seat next to Royman driving the carriage, asked passers-by for directions, and turned my head to the most reputable inn. .
“Write… Did you draw the map with your feet? This is too much.”
We tried to find our way by looking at the map handed to us by passers-by, but since the map handed over was drawn with a new brush, we started to wander on the road to the inn.
From noble mtl dot com
No, what the hell does this odd pattern mean? Bellion is the first road, so you must have an egg chin.
I stared at the map for a long time with Robin and her head to head, but in the end I gave up trying to decipher the map comparable to the demon lord’s cipher text.
“Hey! Dwarf man over there! Do you know where the Drunk Wolf Inn is?”
…Silence.
As I shouted, the dwarf stared at me for a moment with weary eyes rolling back, then started walking again as if he hadn’t heard anything.
Did you not hear me? No, he apparently heard me screaming and looked at me.
“Hey! Let’s ask for directions!”
Eventually, I got off the driver’s seat and lightly touched the shoulder of the dwarf who had ignored my words earlier, and then the dwarf turned his head toward me with his long beard.
“…What is it?”
By the way, this f*cker is saying that when did he see me?
“This ㅆ… No… Nothing else, do you know where the Drunk Wolf Inn is…”
At that moment, my fist almost stretched out along with the nutmeg, but I managed to hold it in thinking about my situation.
Returning to the warrior party is an absolute no-go. Never.
“…The Drunk Wolf Inn.”
“Yes yes. The Drunk Wolf Inn. I heard that the inn is so good? Alcohol is sold on the first floor, and the shopping street is also nearby.”
“…Why do I have to tell you?”
Be patient, Austin. Be patient
You are now, after all, a fugitive. If you do something that catches the eye, and it gets into the ears of heroes and thugs every once in a while, the situation becomes annoying.
I barely suppressed the feeling that the veins on my forehead were about to burst, and I forcibly lifted the corners of my mouth, proud of my own patience.
“Ahahahaha… That’s a funny joke. Please don’t do that, can you tell me?”
“It’s stupid… Did you just call it something like that? Plaguy.”
Somehow, it seemed that Robin’s prejudice against dwarves was slowly taking root in me.
Be patient, Austin. You put up with the skinny senior who bullied me when I was a Ranger.
“You are a little sensitive. hahahaha… Just tell me the location. Yes?”
“I don’t know. Don’t catch busy dwarves, ask stupid people like you who have free time.”
If you don’t know, just say you don’t know from the beginning. This dwarf is a baby.
… The words rose to my throat, but thanks to the effort of biting my lips until they bled, I managed to keep my smile from dropping.
The dwarf, who shot at me fiercely, shook off my touch and began to walk on his way, shaking his shoulder.
…Should I kill you?
Let’s kill.
As I took a step towards the dwarves, who were slowly moving away, Robin and Luna got off the carriage and stopped me by hugging me around the waist.
“Senior. Just put the knife away.”
“…Let go.”
“Be patient, Austin. Aren’t the dwarves originally nervous? If we make a fuss, we only lose.”
“Okay, let this go.”
Thanks to Luna and Robin’s ejaculation, I was able to return to the carriage while feeling my head getting cold little by little.
“I feel like a dog. Aren’t dwarves really that cheap?”
As I sat next to Royman and lost my temper, Princess Alexis, who was sitting in her carriage, poked her head out the window.
“…Austin. Even the Dwarven artisan at our academy’s smithy is a bit sensitive.”
“Originally, they are those kinds of people. Why are you teasing me like that?”
“Senior… He told me earlier not to have prejudice against me.”
“No, it was because I had never met a dwarf before.”
Although there were applicants from the Dwarven Kingdom when I was recruiting party members for the warriors in the Maetel Kingdom, I, who had no experience in facing each other in the bracket, saw Dwarves for the first time today.
The first impression of the dwarves was so damn good, the evaluation of the dwarves in my head was already on the floor.
“I stopped by to buy food or daily necessities anyway, so let’s rest for about three days before we go.”
Fortunately, the next person we asked for directions was kind enough to give us directions, so we were able to safely park the wagon behind the Drunk Wolf Inn.
Weary after a few days of carriage travel, we locked the wagon wheels, put the horses in the stables, and weakly pushed on the door of the inn.
I hope I don’t have to see the dwarves anymore.
The first floor of the boisterous inn was used as a bar, and among the tables scattered here and there in a mess, I could see short old men with shaggy beards sitting huddled together.
“…Ah. Please.”
At the sight of the dwarves looking back at us with the sound of the door opening, I barely endured the fact that my legs almost came loose.
Someone kill me.
f*ck.