Blue Beard and his close associates came up from the deepest part.
They were the elites of the Red Anvil, including four Meisters and five strong blacksmiths.
They unwrapped the white cloth covering their bodies.
Although it was sweltering even here in the deep layers, it felt cool coming out of the deepest part.
The cloth was soaked through.
They had created cooling water by adding cooling stone powder to cool underground water to maintain the temperature.
The method was to soak the white cloth in it and wrap it around their bodies.
It couldn’t have been good for their health, but without it, they couldn’t work in the deepest part.
The dwarves who entered the deepest part were the elites of the Red Anvil.
Warriors among warriors, whose heat resistance had risen as much as possible due to long exposure to hot heat, accompanied Blue Beard.
Even though they worked with such precautions, their faces and skin were reddened.
Blue Beard.
True to his name, the lord’s beard was a striking blue color.
Once, Rozena had liked it, saying his beard was the color of the sea.
It’s amusing to think that none of them had ever seen the sea directly.
But was it because of the passage of time?
Or because of prolonged exposure to such intense heat?
Now his beard was no longer the same blue as before.
Scorched and twisted, only a faint dark blue tinge remained.
“Whew…”
Blue Beard, taking a deep breath, finally noticed the commotion.
“What’s going on?”
“A snake… was looking for you, my lord.”
A young dwarf explained.
Snake? Blue Beard muttered, walking out, and indeed there was a snake.
Surprisingly, the snake could speak the common language.
It communicated by moving a pen over a notebook floating in the air.
Even Blue Beard, who had seen many wonders, had never seen such a feat.
And the snake’s words were even more surprising.
“Pelerian, you say?”
A name he hadn’t heard in a very long time.
Yes, he had made a contract with that fairy magician.
Even then, Pelerian was infamous, but at the time, he couldn’t refuse the price the magician offered.
“A breach of contract…”
Only the old dwarves knew the full details of that contract.
The young ones seemed not to understand what the snake was talking about.
The notebook in the air turned by itself, and a phrase was written.
‘Where is my celestium sword?’
“Ah, you mean the Celestium sword.”
The room of treasures.
When humans discovered Pelerian’s dungeon.
Blue Beard and the dwarves came forward and helped dismantle that dungeon.
Instead, they secretly pilfered the most precious things hidden in the treasure room during the process.
It was unavoidable.
Celestium.
That metal with incredibly high heat resistance was needed to mine the ‘heart of the mountain’.
“This…”
The item made from it was now hanging at Blue Beard’s waist.
“Is this what you’re looking for?”
A chain and a bucket.
Dirty objects covered in sticky black stains.
This was the current state of the once beautiful Celestium sword.
The snake’s scales turned pitch black.
“Hiss, hiss…”
The snake roared in anger.
“Hissssss!”
==
Hissssss!
May that crazy dwarf who turned the sword into a bucket be cursed.
I wondered what a dwarf’s heart would taste like.
The last strand of reason in me barely held me back.
Right, I just need to get it back.
I’ll demand it from that dwarf again.
To melt down that wretched bucket and chain and return it as a magnificent sword.
I made my demand as calmly and rationally as possible.
‘Give me back my celestium sword right now! You thieves!’
The dwarves were flustered.
But Blue Beard neither seemed surprised nor tried to avoid the situation.
“Could it be that Heaven Defier is still alive?”
‘That’s none of your business. I am the rightful proxy of Pelerian!’
I confidently pressed on as Pelerian had instructed.
‘You contract breaker. You dare to violate the contract and steal things? Weren’t you afraid of the consequences?’
“…It seems to be true.”
Yes, it is true.
“I apologize. I’m sorry. I know a single apology can’t make up for it, but I can’t return the celestium.”
‘Fine, then pay the price for breaking the contract.’
A death sentence for Blue Beard was pronounced.
I was about to say the keyword for contract violation.
One word that could instantly plunge Blue Beard into a state worse than death.
“Not right now, that is. Once the work is done, I can return it immediately. I’ll personally make the best sword with good materials.”
‘…?’
“You must be curious why I deliberately retrieved the celestium and broke the contract.”
No, I’m not curious at all?
Well then, die.
“When you learn the reason, even Heaven Defier will understand. It’s the real heart of the mountain!”
“Wait.”
Pelerian stopped me.
Oh, why?
“Once you say the keyword, it can’t be undone. Besides, I am curious. Whether that dwarf really found the heart of the mountain. Let’s listen for a bit.”
Unusually, Pelerian spoke as if trying to soothe me.
The magician’s curiosity.
There’s no doubt it had been stimulated.
“Do you want to see? What we’re doing with this celestium.”
Blue Beard made the offer in a dry tone.
I pondered for a moment.
And made a decision.
‘You’d better not try any tricks.’
“You’ll understand too when you see it. The reason why I took the celestium even while violating the contract.”
Blue Beard bought some time.
But he doesn’t look particularly happy about it.
He just shouts with an extremely tired face.
“We’re going back to the deepest part! Get ready.”
“My lord, it’s dangerous. How long has it been since we came out…”
“Prepare the cooling water and cloth.”
Other subordinates tried to dissuade him, but Blue Beard wouldn’t listen.
Finally, the dwarves who would enter the deepest part again with Blue Beard gathered.
“Bring Jeremiah.”
Jeremiah was the Meister I was supposed to meet instead of Rozena originally.
Was he in this deep layer?
And seeing the dwarf that appeared, I was startled.
‘He’s like a complete corpse.’
All the dwarves I had met so far looked sturdy.
Even Helmut, the old man who was tending pigs with Dunkel, looked old but sufficiently robust.
But this old man called a Meister was not.
He was skinny, and his hair and beard were sparse.
When he coughed, blood came out of his mouth.
Anyone could see he was in a state of living on borrowed time.
As I stepped back slightly, another dwarf approached me.
“Stay still.”
What?
Then he started wrapping me with a white cloth soaked in water.
I tried to avoid it in disgust, but it was so cool that I stayed still.
“It’ll be very hot in the deepest part, so you’ll need this.”
I see.
He said it was cloth soaked in cooling water.
I had entered a combat stance, but it deflated me a bit.
“Open the door-!”
Blue Beard shouted.
The dwarves pulled the chains of the pulley to open the iron door to the deepest part.
Soon, a tremendous heat wave swept in.
Woah.
「Your heat resistance is rapidly increasing.」
「Heat resistance lv12 has become heat resistance lv13.」
In the end, my heat resistance level went up by one more.
It would have been much harder without the cloth soaked in cooling water.
If it’s this hot for me, will that old man Jeremiah be okay?
But he went down the stairs to the deepest part, even while being supported.
“The heart of the mountain. Does it really exist?”
‘What exactly is that?’
“It’s like a legend of the dwarves.”
Kuung.
The iron door closed.
Along with Blue Beard, I had entered the deepest part of Mount Calea.
‘The situation is a bit interesting.’
“What do you mean?”
‘No, it just seems coincidental.’
I am the ‘Heart-eating Snake’ after all.
