Volume 5, Chapter 28 – First Arrival at the Fortress

Fortress.

As the only faction in the Underground World that has long stood against Inferno, the Dwarves of Fortress were, in the eyes of the people, synonymous with bravery and prowess in battle.

Almost every time Inferno invaded, the Dwarves of Fortress were the ones who put in the most effort and suffered the most casualties.

Of course, when it came to describing the Dwarven temperament, people usually used words like straightforward and bold.

At the same time, while Dwarves were direct and forthright in personality, they were also a race of highly skilled craftsmen, adept at forging weapons and making armor.

Now, Tianyin had once again arrived in the Underground World, and this time she was in Fortress, the faction dominated by Dwarves.

『Mm, so this is a Dwarven city?』

After passing through a long passage, Tianyin emerged into the dark Underground World and saw a massive city that lit up the surrounding space as if it were day.

Even from far away, Tianyin could still feel waves of heat rolling out from the distant city.

「Mm… this part of the Underground World has always belonged to Fortress’ sphere of influence, and the city we are seeing should be a Fortress city.」

In response to Tianyin’s question, Samael gave a straightforward confirmation.

「Xiaoyin, let us enter the city first. There is probably a teleportation array in this Dwarven city that leads directly to Fortress’ royal city, and only when we reach the royal city can we meet Fortress’ leader, the Fortress Emperor.」

『Mm-mhm, I understand, Samael.』

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Tianyin nodded to show she understood.

Following Samael’s suggestion, after taking a moment to marvel at the style of the Dwarven city, Tianyin headed toward it.

As Tianyin walked into the Dwarven city, a sudden, inexplicable sense of warmth welled up inside her.

Of course, that inexplicable familiarity actually had a reason.

After Tianyin looked around at the Dwarves living in the city, she felt as if she had discovered a new world, and her big eyes could not help but gleam with excitement.

『Samael, look, look, the Dwarves are about the same height as me!』

「Mm… well, they are Dwarves after all… if they were taller than you, Xiaoyin, that really would not make sense…」

Hearing Tianyin’s excited words, Samael’s voice turned a bit helpless.

『Mm… I know, Samael… but I don’t know why, when I see these Dwarves who are about the same height as me… I just feel happy for no reason!』

Tianyin’s words left Samael at a loss for what to say for a moment.

Thinking it over, though, Tianyin was so rarely this cheerful that Samael did not want to dampen her mood with her comments, so in the end she silently gave up on the urge to complain.

Of course, it was not just Tianyin who showed deep interest in the Dwarves around her.

After seeing Tianyin, this outsider, the Dwarves all looked at her with great curiosity.

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When they saw Tianyin’s unbelievably adorable face, the Dwarves one after another stared wide-eyed at her.

“What an adorable girl…”

“Great Emperor, I actually saw a fairy in my lifetime…”

Although the Dwarves were each and every one of them “captured” by Tianyin’s charm, none of them had any bad thoughts.

As for Tianyin’s beauty and adorableness, the Dwarves were purely appreciating it.

Very soon, with the help of a few enthusiastic Dwarves, Tianyin found the teleportation array in this city that led to the royal city.

This time, unlike the previous few times when she had failed to step onto the teleportation array because of all kinds of accidents, Tianyin stepped into it very easily.

As the feeling of weightlessness rose up, the teleportation array activated before Tianyin’s eyes, and after a short moment, Tianyin appeared in an even more prosperous city.

『Mm… we are already here?』

Although she had arrived at Fortress’ royal city, to be honest Tianyin felt a bit unreal about it.

「Pfft, what do you mean already here? Xiaoyin, teleportation arrays are very convenient spatial magic arrays. Saying that kind of thing, are you doubting the efficiency of teleportation arrays?」

『No… no, Samael, it just does not feel quite real. Before this, clearly I just wanted to step onto a teleportation array a few times, but all kinds of things kept getting in the way. This time it went so unexpectedly smoothly… so it feels a bit unreal…』

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「Pfft, well, Dwarves are not some terrifying race. Most Dwarves are quite honest and simple. Xiaoyin, you are really overthinking it~」

『Mm mm, I got it~』

Nodding, Tianyin began curiously looking around Fortress’ royal city.

In Tianyin’s view, the royal city of Fortress was even more splendid than the Dwarven city she had seen earlier.

Just in what Tianyin could see at this moment, there were more than a dozen gigantic Dwarf statues of every shape and style.

Of course, rows upon rows of Dwarven houses stretched out as far as the eye could see.

『Mm… next we need to find the Fortress Emperor, right? Since the Fortress Emperor is Fortress’ leader and bears the title of Emperor, he should be living in somewhere like a royal palace, right?』

「He should be. Xiaoyin, let us go out onto the streets and ask a Dwarf.」

Driven by the goal of finding the Fortress Emperor, Tianyin left the teleportation array and walked into the streets of Fortress’ royal city.

On the street, after spotting a Dwarf who looked relatively kind, Tianyin politely asked him for directions to the royal palace.

She was only asking for its location because she could not see any massive building complex at all, so she had no choice but to ask where the royal palace was.

However, when Tianyin asked, that kind Dwarf looked at her with a puzzled face.

“The royal palace? Beautiful miss, there is no royal palace in our royal city. Are you sure you are not mistaken?”

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“Eh? There is no royal palace?”

“That is right. Beautiful miss, are you looking for someone in the royal city?”

“Mm… actually, actually I came to find the Emperor… your Fortress Emperor…”

“Here to see the Emperor? I see.”

Hearing Tianyin’s explanation, the Dwarf nodded with an expression of sudden understanding.

“Looks like you are a traveler who has come to Fortress for the first time, beautiful miss. It is actually easy to find the Emperor. Just follow this road straight ahead, and you will see a huge forge. Our mighty Fortress Emperor is there forging weapons.”

“Eh, eh? You are saying the Fortress Emperor is forging weapons right now?”

“You could put it that way. The Emperor has always lived there. He only goes out when there is a war. If there is no war, the Emperor stays in that forge all the time, forging weapons and armor and such.”

“Oh, oh… so that is… that is how it is…”

Inside, Tianyin was utterly confused.

So the Fortress Emperor really was just incredibly enthusiastic about hammering iron and forging gear?