Syl

Chapter 182: Saber-Rattling

A plan was being put together by the three dwarves, and I left them to continue their work. I really didn’t want to get involved with money and negotiations, so I felt like delegating the task to them was more than appropriate. Darmod was the merchant, after all, and I trusted Thern to keep his family from potentially scamming me.

Thern also reconfirmed that he would come out with me on some adventuring tomorrow. I saw no reason to refuse, but sadly, that meant I would need a slight pause on my [Nitro Slime] testing and [Metal Slime] training.

Well... If I get more silver cores from this trade deal, I guess the latter wouldn’t be so much of a downside. Plus, I get to see a Glyph Mage in action!

I already had Enchanting covered, so I could probably unlock it myself, and it would be added to my list of potential class considerations when I’d gotten everything I wanted out of Elementalist.

Since slime was unfortunately a no-go tomorrow, magic was back on the menu, so I spent the rest of my evening hashing out an [Earth Magic] debuff. It took surprisingly little effort, and in no time, I had accomplished it.

<Spell [Fracture] discovered.>

Hmm... I don’t know if I’m sold on that name. I’d almost say [Fracture] should be the armor debuff, and [Erode] should be the earth debuff. No? I don’t know if you’re listening, Mother, but that’s my feedback!

I wondered if [Soul Sight] would help further my spell tinkering when I got it. [Mana Manipulation] was undoubtedly the key player, but progressing in [Mana Conception] allowed me to identify a lot more spell concepts and Mana types.

I was wildly curious but restrained myself as I wanted to get more [Essence Sight] levels before the fusion into [Soul Sight]. And so, I called it a night with nothing immediately pressing.

"I swear you’ve woken up the beast in both of ’em; I’ve never seen Pa and Ma so excited before," Thern said as we headed towards the guild.

"No offense, but you also had quite the look in your eye," I pointed out teasingly.

"If you understood enchanting and saw the state of my tools compared to some of my peers, you’d understand my excitement," Thern defended himself. "Damn, Greg has been eating it up with his bloody unicorn horn tool. If only I had a Light or Holy affinity... And tools with dual Fire and Earth are also rare."

"Hmm... Would not normal obsidian also work? Or perhaps one from an obsidian golem or something?" I couldn’t help but ask.

"I could’ve, but I’d bankrupt myself with frequent tool replacements. I’m not the most delicate when using tools, as is common with most dwarves."

"Ah... That makes sense," I agreed.

The guild wasn’t too busy when we arrived, and soon enough, we were in discussion with a handler. I reported my successful ant princess extermination, and Thern requested to be assigned the same quests that were assigned to me already.

At some point during our conversation, the handler looked absolutely startled and wide-eyed but rapidly recovered, shaking his head. I barely caught it and wondered if I had imagined his composure breaking.

Maybe he’s just having a rough day. Probably recovering from reveling too much last night if the other dwarves are any indication. I swear they have at least one tavern on every street.

"Been a while since I got to stop kobolds; this should be fun," Thern grinned happily when he got his quest, and we left together.

Our trip to the gate was uneventful, and we mostly just made small talk with Thern leading the way. I was grateful to follow, as I felt I might still get lost with how this city was structured, even with [Mapping].

Once again, the city guards were ecstatic at our arrival and gave us a series of shouts and cheers at our departure. When we were out of sight of the gate, I turned to Thern with a questioning gaze as he had added his own contribution to getting the guards worked up.

"Us dwarves love a good fight, so adventuring is basically in our blood!" He began explaining. "For any good dwarf, defending the home and people is seen as honorable, and with how brutal it can be down here, it’s instilled in us from a very young age. Adventuring doubly so, as you protect the home from current threats, prevent potential future threats, and risk your life to do it! Right out there in the open, not behind a wall or nothin’! There can be no greater honor!"

Thern gave me a hefty pat on the back, and we chuckled as we continued down the familiar passageway.

***

"Badour, lad, what’s got you so worked up?" The dwarven guild master asked.

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The dwarf had come practically storming into his office early this morning with urgent news. As far as he knew, there were no dire emergencies or anything presently happening that could threaten the great city of Dhoggurum.

"Master Lukhek, I was handling a quest turn this morning and saw the most outrageous thing. I just had to tell you about it," Badour explained.

"Oh? Did we get a rare monster kill or something?" Lukhek asked, stroking his beard curiously. "I hope it was a big beastie! Always good for morale! Who’s the lucky dwarf?"

"Well... Actually, it was an elf," Badour admitted.

"An elf?" Lukhek questioned, then recalled what he had read about a recent accelerated promotion and approval for travel. "Ah... I think I read about her. I thought it was more a diplomatic position than anything else. Or at least that’s the rumor I heard since no elf has ever been interested in joining the guild."

"Bloody beards, sir. If she’s a mere diplomat, then I’m terrified of what the actual elf combatants can do," Badour admitted with a dry gulp.

"I see... What quest did she complete?" Lukhek further inquired.

"She eliminated a reported ant princess in the fungal cavern; it was of the Fire Ant variety."

"Bloody ants," Lukhek grunted. "While that’s an admirable first quest and decent accomplishment, it’s not that unusual. I’d expect any gold-ranker to do that. However, that proves that she wasn’t given her rank as a diplomatic gesture... I’ll have that rumor squashed; it’s disgraceful for someone who’s contributed to defending Dhoggurum’s future."

Badour nodded in agreement; such rumors were utterly contemptible.

"It wasn’t just the ant princess... She also took a general ant extermination quest, and here is the recorded amount from the finalized quest payout," Badour explained and handed over a document.

Now, Lukhek was curious. He accepted the document and began perusing it. The number he saw was startling; he almost didn’t believe it, but it was impossible to fool the quest system as it was a reward designed by the gods themselves.

"That’s a lot of dead ants..." Lukhek muttered. "And two of them were royal guards if I’m estimating the payout amounts correctly."

"And unless she had secret helpers outside of a Party, she did it entirely solo," Badour further explained.

"Bloody beards... This is quite a show of force; what are those elves up to," Lukhek questioned. He began scratching his beard in thought. "Is this them saber-rattling?"

"Why would they do that, Master Lukhek?" Badour asked. "I thought we were on good terms with the elves."

"Well... Are you familiar with the Outeatus trade expansion?"

"Ah! My cousin mentioned something like that," Badour said excitedly. "Was it something about the Outeatus Kingdom finally opening up their coffers to buy foreign goods?"

"Aye. That’s the one. If your cousin is a merchant, then I’m sure you’re familiar with the fact that most dwarves will accept anyone’s coin, whether they be human, fairy, elf, or otherwise."

"Oh, trust me, I know. The bastard would probably sell his mother for the right price."

"Ha! Sounds about right," Lukhek barked out a laugh. "Well, the elves aren’t too happy about us potentially trading arms and armor to them. I’ve heard the diplomats here are kicking up a storm."

"Why do they care who we trade with? It’s none of their business," Badour scoffed.

"Come on, lad, I’m sure you’ve read at least one history book?" Lukhek asked with a frown.

Badour shrugged sheepishly.

Sighing and shaking his head, Lukhek answered. "The Outeatus Kingdom are the ones who instigated the second great war. Ordered by their God King to usurp the [Elven Legacy] emblem for the royal family."

"Oh... Right... That..." Badour pretended to recall. "But that was ages ago, right? Bygones and all that, especially if there’s coin to be made."

"Bloody beards, lad; if your work is as half bad as your talent in lying, I might need to hire some new staff," Lukhek joked, causing Badour to pale. "Some of the elves involved are still alive and kicking! Of course, it’s still relevant to them, even now!"

"Oh... So is this reminding us to choose them over the humans?"

"Maybe... It’s certainly convenient timing, but I could just be poking at shadows," Lukhek admitted. "I can’t say I’ve ever heard anything good about the Outeatus royals. And it’s hard to sympathize with a family all sired by a human supremacist who called himself a God King. I mean... Bloody beards, we know that the gods literally exist; that’s at least blasphemous or foolish. On the other hand, what about the ordinary people of the kingdom? Surely they aren’t guilty..."

"I... Uh? Sorry, Master Lukhek, but this is going over my head," Badour admitted.

"Sorry, lad. I’m rambling. A curse of old age. I’ll let you run off now. Thanks for bringing this to my attention," Lukhek said, giving him a friendly shoulder pat.

"Thanks, Master Lukhek!" Badour said with a quick salute. And you aren’t old, sir; you have plenty of years left to dedicate toward protecting Dhoggurum!"

Lukhek watched the lad run off and chuckled to himself.

Cheeky little brown-noser.

Still... He wasn’t sure what to make of this. It should at least be mentioned to the diplomats that the elves might be taking this exceptionally seriously.

Using his [Guild Master] emblem, Lukhek brought up a secondary menu that was not unlike one’s own personal profile. He quickly searched for any other recent quests this adventure had completed or undertaken.

Oh, it looks like she still has a quest for worms and kobolds in progress. I’d swear she was a dwarf looking for a promotion. He thought with a chuckle.

Then he noticed two payments had already been made on the worm quest. Most of these things were entirely automated, thanks to the glorious gift from the gods. In fact, some adventurers never even bothered to mention a completed quest; it was more of a friendly formality or for a bit of bragging.

Or someone trying to make a statement? Lukhek wondered.

Using his authority, he looked at the payments; one of the two seemed a bit too high, according to his memory of worm quest payouts.

That’s odd... What kind of worm would give so much gold?

Now that his intrigue was poked, he couldn’t help but start following the trail. He pulled up quest records and started looking for the ones related to worm extermination. When he found the list close to the payment amount, he couldn’t help but gasp.

These are all tier-five worms! Bloody beards!

He clutched at his table to steady himself; it was such a startling discovery.

I want to believe she had hidden helpers outside of a Party... But gods, if I’m wrong, this could be a grave warning to us dwarves! Screw the bloody God King’s seed and their bloody coin; it can’t be worth risking something like this!

Feeling slightly flustered, he rushed out of his office. He needed to tell one of the noble families about this and hoped they’d intercede in the diplomatic discussions.

Bloody beards! Our great ancestors’ teachings always mentioned that we should be wary of digging too deep—to control our greed!

***

Relaxing in his chair while rolling a small marble ball between his fingers, Gramps couldn’t help but smirk.

"I hope she can take the constructive criticism over her spell names... That’ll teach her to get upset over some placeholder traits," Gramps chuckled to himself.