Loren and Lapis went back inside, woke up the still-unconscious Gula, unloaded their luggage, then spent the night at the base. Unfortunately, Lapis didn’t really live at this base and didn’t keep any beddings and such here, so they had to use the sofa and chairs to make some simple beds. It was still much more pleasant than camping outside. The best thing was, they didn’t need to keep guards; they just closed the door, and everyone could sleep soundly until morning. Loren was worried that Lapis and Gula would do weird things during the night, but it seemed like mental fatigue also came after their bout of off-routine physical exercise; both of them slept without doing anything.
The next morning, they had a simple breakfast, then divided their luggage into three and put them into the backpacks Lapis kept at the base. They each carried a backpack and left the base.
The plan was to walk to the foot of the outer mountains, then Lapis would talk to her dwarf friends there.
“Please leave the negotiation to me. If you two come forward, they’ll become cautious.”
Lapis warned them beforehand, but neither Loren nor Gula felt like interrupting a talk between dwarves. She had brought some ores from the base to use in the negotiation, and was carrying them in a bag hanging from her waist.
Under Lapis’ guidance, they reached the dwarves’ base after two hours of walking. It was a group of cave-like dwellings situated near a section of hole-ridden mountain. It could be called a dwarf village, but compared to human villages with fields and water wells, it wasn’t very impressive. Rather dreary, to be honest.
A quick look over the village showed no signs of inhabitant, but as if to prove that there were indeed people – no, dwarves – living here, the sound of metal striking earth could be heard from the caves. They stepped into the village, but there was no sign of anyone coming out. While Loren was wondering if the dwarves were being too careless, Lapis called out someone’s name:
“Is Grandpa Dig here?”
The sounds of hammers and pickaxes they had been hearing immediately stopped at the same time and short, stout bearded men came out of the caves. They were holding huge hammers in both hands, and all looked rather unhappy.
“Who?! Who interrupted our work?!”
“It’s me. Is Grandpa Dig here?”
The dwarves turned to Loren’s party with such harsh gazes that it wouldn’t be incorrect to say they were seething with anger, but Lapis stepped between the other two and their line of sight. Dwarves were known for their sturdy bodies and physical strength, and thus were quite capable warriors. But against such powerful opponents like Loren with his white sword and the Evil God Gula, they were, without a doubt, not a match. If either Loren or Gula took offense at the dwarves’ glare, it would turn into a brawl, so Lapis had to hurriedly step in. Also, dwarves were known to be short-tempered; even if Loren and Gula didn’t take offense, the dwarves might just attack first depending on the answer they received.
“And who are you?”
“It’s Lapis, Lapis. Lapis the priest. Did you forget me?”
Lapis answered with an amiable smile. The dwarves surrounded and scrutinized her, then one of them dropped the hammers he was holding and pointed at her face:
“I remember you. The miss with the hangover medicine!”
“Ooh, that very good medicine!”
Once one had remembered, the others also did, one by one. They began drawing nearer with bright smiles.
Lapis responded with a smile that was almost bitter. Things wouldn’t be able to progress like this though, so she asked the dwarves in a louder voice:
“I’ve come to meet Grandpa Dig. Is he not here?”
“Is that the little miss demon? Long time no see.”
In response to Lapis’ question, a dwarf with an impressive white beard came forward as if breaking up the crowd of dwarves.
When that dwarf called Lapis a demon, Loren was worried about the other dwarves’ reaction, but their attitude didn’t change at all. They didn’t seem to despise Lapis.
“Long time no see, Grandpa Dig. I’ve come for a guide request.”
“Guide? To the demons’ place? You’ve finally come home?”
The dwarf called Grandpa Dig turned his eyes towards Loren and Gula.
“Human and… What’s that sexy one? Doesn’t seem to be human.”
“That sexy one is some being I don’t fully understand.”
Dwarves’ bodies were wholly covered themselves in leather and thick clothes, and their faces were covered with beards. They didn’t really expose skin. Therefore, to them, someone with bare shoulders, stomach, and exposed thighs and legs like Gula could only be described as ‘sexy’.
As the other dwarves also started saying ‘Sexy, sexy’, Gula clung to Loren’s arms and looked closed to tears:
“What, they give me such an awful assessment”
“It’s not like you don’t know why though.”
Loren did plan to shut them up if it was something unwarranted, but Loren did understand why the dwarves gave Gula this assessment; it was difficult to tell them to stop.
“Shouldn’t you just wear a robe?”
“Dun like it. It’s not cool.”
Gula flatly refused, and Loren patted her shoulders to suggest her just resign to it then. He listened closely to Lapis and Grandpa Dig’s conversation:
“How much does it cost for you to guide three people to the demons’ territory?”
Lapis said while bringing out the small cloth bag at her waist and lightly shook it as if to hint at what was inside.
Hearing the sound of the bag, the dwarves’ expressions immediately turned happy, but gloomy right after. They all looked away from Lapis and cast their eyes down. Grandpa Dig was the only one who was still looking at her, and he said in an incredibly regretful tone:
“About that, well, there’s been a problem lately. Guiding activities in the tunnels have been stopped.”
“What happened?”
There were pretty valuable ores inside Lapis’ bag. To Lapis, they were nothing more than some specimens left over at the ruin she used as her base; but to the dwarves, those ores were precious things that they desperately wanted. And yet, they didn’t accept this deal. That was enough to tell Lapis that it wasn’t some trivial matter.
“It seems like something has come out of the tunnel leading to the demons’ territory. Those who guided people through those tunnels and the young ones who dug there, they haven’t come back.”
“What has come out?”
It wasn’t that unusual for monsters to gather in tunnels and abandoned mines. Accidentally digging up and breaking monsters’ seals while expanding mines were also common unfortunate incidents that happened all over the world.
“No idea. Cause no one came back.”
If no one came back, they would have no way to know what happened. They probably had also dispatched search parties, but if even those search parties didn’t come back, then they had no other choice but to cease activities there.
“Because of that, the Great Tunnel is now closed.”
“What’s the Great Tunnel?”
Loren abruptly asked Lapis in a low voice, and she answered in a similarly-low voice while giving him a quick glance:
“It’s the largest tunnel the dwarves have. It’s very wide, easy to pass, and runs all the way to the demons’ territory. It has a great number of branches, and once you get lost in there, you probably won’t be able to come out even until you die.”
“Is there no other route?”
Wondering if it was alright for him to cut in, Loren asked Dig. Dig looked at him with suspicious eyes, then turned to ask Lapis without answering Loren’s question:
“What’s this guy to you?”
“Our party leader, and a very important person of mine?”
Lapis declared with no hesitation, and Loren could feel his cheeks heat up just a little. But Dig just snorted and looked at the two of them as if they were some boring thing. He answered Loren while glancing at him with sharp eyes:
“Little miss, you have bad taste in men. Men without beards are worthless.”
“Are beards that important?”
“Of course! Having a beard means you’re a man. Having no beard means…”
Dig shouted at a stunned Loren, but stopped midway. Wondering what happened, Loren looked at him to see Lapis’ slender fingers wrapping around his neck, her fingertips making light imprints on his flesh.
“What’s wrong with my taste in men, you say?”
She was smiling, but Loren could feel the air becoming chilly. He reflexively stepped away from Dig while the dwarf stretched out his arms towards him as if to ask for help. As if sensing something bad had happened, the other dwarves scattered away in all directions and disappeared as if escaping. Gula was still at the scene as she seemed unable to decide whether to run away or stay.
“Grandpa Dig, what did you say about my taste in men? Sorry, but could you please say it again, and louder?”
“W-wait, little miss! Let me explain! I just blurted it out without thinking! Calm down! I really don’t think that at all!”
Lapis’ fingertips slowly sank deeper into the old dwarf’s neck. Loren could only watch the frantically-apologizing dwarf’s face turning from red to blue as he was being pulled away by Gula.