The cotyledons budded, and pop, the leaves burst open.
Even in between, magic continued to be absorbed.
Finally, after all the magic from the stone was absorbed, it started to drain my magic as well.
“Get a grip! Unless you want to die of dehydration.”
‘You, you witch!’
Even the magic in my body is being absorbed into the Chimera Snake’s seed.
I held on tight with my tail.
The growth of the sprout, which had been greedily craving magic like a hungry child suckling, slowed down.
And at some point, it stopped absorbing.
Only then could I detach my tail.
“Huh.”
“Wow.”
Pelerian and Dunkel exclaimed in admiration at the same time.
And for good reason, the newly sprouted seedling.
It was moving slowly as if dancing.
The two cotyledons were unbearably cute.
I slowly raised my tail to stroke the cotyledons.
Then.
“It’s following!”
“Sark!”
Rather, the cotyledons moved towards my tail on their own.
It was the same even when I changed the position of my tail.
“It seems to know you’re its owner.”
Dunkel said so.
Somehow, my heart felt warm.
Chimera Snake…
──────────────
[Chimera Seedling lv1]
──────────────
Should I call it New Seedling now instead of Chimera Snake?
New Seedling…
“It seems to follow you after receiving your magic and being born.”
It seemed to be as Pelerian said.
Or maybe the Chimera Snake’s heart remains.
After savoring the lingering emotion for a moment.
I continued the unfinished conversation with Dunkel.
“Right, you said you wanted to meet the Mine Lord.”
It was about meeting Bluebeard.
“For now, the Mine Lord is in the deep level.”
The deep level referred to the deepest part of this mine.
It could be called the forefront of excavation where they’re digging deeper into the ground.
He’s said to be like a king, but is he working directly?
‘Can you take me there?’
I asked Dunkel.
He seemed quite flustered.
“Umm, um. Uh…”
Then he shook his head and said.
“I have work I’m doing right now. It’s a two-person job. I’m not sure if I can leave alone. I think I should ask first.”
‘Then let’s go ask together. Say you’re taking a short vacation.’
“Uh…”
Dunkel looked troubled.
“Isn’t that a roundabout way of refusing?”
Gasp, was that what it was!
I didn’t notice at all.
Dunkel reluctantly nodded.
“Yes, it probably won’t work, but let’s go ask.”
==
Most of the dwarves in the Red Anvil Mine are miners, followed by blacksmiths.
But Dunkel was neither a miner nor a blacksmith.
Someone has to produce food.
And that was a terribly boring and dirty job in the eyes of dwarves.
Growing potatoes and cabbages that can grow underground.
And raising Steel Hogs that eat iron ore.
Dunkel and his colleague were raising one hundred Steel Hogs.
The farm where no grass grows was very spacious, and large red pigs were crawling around.
On one side, there was a mountain of iron ore, their food.
When fed this, the Steel Hogs produce smelly dung.
They collect that dung, ferment it into compost, and use it to grow potatoes and cabbages.
It’s a very arduous job.
Especially, the Steel Hogs are the problem.
Even though they’re said to be docile, they’re still clearly magical beasts.
Sometimes they fight among themselves and bare their tusks at their owners.
It’s not an easy job for just two dwarves to handle.
That’s why Dunkel couldn’t easily tell his colleague that he wanted to leave his post.
Clang- Clang!
Dunkel’s colleague was an old man.
But dwarf elders are not frail like human elders.
Though his beard was white and his head was bald, the muscles on his exposed upper body were robust.
“It might be a bit difficult? After all, we’re busy these days and the pigs aren’t behaving…”
When Dunkel and I arrived, he was repairing the fence in front of the farm.
He was banging the fence with a large hammer, and it was incredibly tough.
Moreover, that dwarf was missing one arm.
From the left elbow down, instead of flesh, there was a metal hook prosthetic.
“Then let’s quickly load up the pig food…”
“Go!”
The old man said.
He looked at Dunkel with piercing eyes.
“I said go.”
“…Pardon?”
“How long are you going to live shoveling pig shit, Dunkel.”
The old man’s eyes were deeply set, showing only pitch-black pupils.
He’s an impressive craftsman.
“I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”
Pelerian muttered.
Since that dwarf looks old too, he might have met Pelerian before.
“No, I’m quite satisfied with my current job…”
“That snake wants to meet Blue Beard, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Good timing. It’s about time Blue Beard came to his senses. Or die quickly and pass on the succession.”
I heard he was like a king.
There was no sense of respect for Blue Beard at all.
When I asked Pelerian if all dwarves were like this, he just shrugged.
“So, go. And if possible, don’t come back here.”
“…”
Dunkel seemed to have never imagined the old man would say such things.
He bowed his head for a moment, then nodded.
“I’ll feed the pigs before I go.”
“…”
With an attitude that suggested he didn’t care either way, the dwarf elder continued hammering the fence without answering.
His attitude is cold.
Are they not on good terms?
When I asked while perched on Dunkel’s shoulder, Dunkel gave a bitter smile.
“He’s the one who raised me since I was young. I’m an orphan.”
It wasn’t that they weren’t on good terms.
Yet he speaks so bluntly.
“He wanted me to become a miner. Saying that’s what a dwarf should be.”
‘I see.’
“Well, it might be good to go down to the lower levels this time.”
Dunkel, trying to sound cheerful, loaded iron ore into a cart.
This was the feed given to those magical beasts called Steel Hogs.
Steel Hogs, interesting animals.
──────────────
[Steel Hog lv9]
[Traits]
[Pig], [Delicious], [Coward]
──────────────
Many of them have ‘Coward’ written in their traits.
But for cowards, they weren’t docile at all.
“Squeeeeeal!”
“Queeek!”
Pigs as big as buffaloes roared and snorted.
As if they might charge at us at any moment.
Dunkel, looking scared, quickly dumped the iron ore from the cart.
Then the Steel Hogs rushed over and began to devour the iron ore greedily.
“Phew, this is the problem.”
There was a reason Dunkel hesitated to leave.
“The Steel Hogs are violent. You could easily get hurt. It won’t be easy for grandfather to handle these guys alone…”
That seems to be his worry.
How kind-hearted.
I was the one who pushed Dunkel to leave.
If so, it would be right to give some help before leaving.
Thud.
I got down from Dunkel’s shoulder.
‘Step back for a moment.’
Dunkel was surprised to see the writing appearing automatically in the notebook.
“What are you doing, it’s dangerous…!”
But I ignored Dunkel’s protests and approached the Steel Hogs.
The ones who were mindlessly devouring the iron ore raised their heads and became wary at my appearance.
“Grrrr…”
I guess they don’t only eat iron ore. Judging by the drool.
“Snake!”
“Saaaaak!”
Quiet!
I was once the one who led the beasts of the zoo in the great forest.
The temporary Hegemon-like skill I had obtained was gone.
But that didn’t matter.
The achievements I had made remained.
──────────────
[Monster Leader]
You have tamed over 100 magical beasts.
Your dominance over magical beasts is strengthened.
A natural dignity flows from you.
──────────────
How could these domesticated pigs raised on feed.
Dare to bare their teeth at me.
Step, step.
The Steel Hogs retreated a little each time I approached.
Dunkel’s mouth fell open in surprise.
