Vol 4: Chapter 17
My plan was to sneak into the underground human’s town by becoming their hostage. But–
I was left standing alone in front of the airship wreckage.
Even though I went through the trouble of binding my arms with【Flower Magic】, they just escaped and left me alone.
「Are you safe? …I guess that’s a pointless thing to ask, nu. I heard that you can use magic, but I didn’t expect it to be at that scale, nu.」
The reconnaissance team leader came back.
「The people just now, were they the underground humans?」I asked.
「Yes, nu. Though, I haven’t seen them in the last 10 years.」
「Then, I’ll go after them. You guys can return to Dragonewt City first.」
「I think that would be difficult. Underground humans are very good at hiding, and we don’t even know where their settlement is.」
「That’s no problem.」
「What do you mean by no problem?」
「I know the direction in which they escaped.」
I said in a serious tone, but the leader shot an unconvinced look.
「Then, will you be able to return to Dragonewt City all by yourself?」
「Yeap. No problem again.」
The way back to Dragonewt City was mapped quite accurately in my head. Well, thanks to【World Ruler】, I will never forget something I’ve seen once, either.
「Alright… Since the underground humans ambushed us in this place, I don’t think it’s safe to stay here any longer, nu. And you don’t overdo it, either.」
「Thank you for your advice. I won’t be long, so can you please tell Asha not to worry?」
「Sure. Originally, I would have dragged you back home with force if need be… but you’re not a dragonewt.」
After that, the reconnaissance team left for the city. The dragonewt who was caught did apologize by bowing repeatedly before leaving. …I didn’t notice the attack until the last minute either, so don’t blame yourself too much.
「Now, then…」
I started running using【Sprinting】.
**
「Is everyone here?」
「Yes, boss. No one is missing.」
「You guys were able to lose him, right? If that guy manages to tail us, I’ll beat the shit out of y’all!」
「W-We know that. I was surprised when that kid tied himself with a rope, but after that he just stood still without doing anything.」
「Alright, then. Let’s go!」
The sun was already going down. The flames of the bonfire illuminated the surroundings. I heard the chirping of birds which almost sounded like laughs, but none of the underground humans seemed to care.
There were a few rocks beside a river flowing through the forest which were just the right size to sit on. There were about 10 people there. Everyone stood up when the man who seemed to be the boss gave the order.
(It seems that they’re finally returning back to their town.)
I was observing them from atop a tree branch.
The underground humans left me and escaped–but you will always leave traces in a forest no matter how carefully you run. In addition, some were injured, so their escape route was easy to track. It is all thanks to【World Ruler】. By observing the ground through this skill orb, I can immediately tell which way those people were headed.
The underground humans headed upstream.
(This direction is approaching the exact location of the Holy City of Kruvan Holy Kingdom.)
If we cross one more mountain, the Holy City would be just a stone’s throw away.
The path became steeper as we went up the river, but the underground humans easily jumped from rock to rock. As the moon rose, it was easy to see the group of people moving across the white rocks. Well, I can’t miss them even if I wanted to since I have【Night Vision】, after all.
(Hmm… they’re moving away from the river?)
They split into the mountain slope with sparse trees. And came to a stop about 15 minutes later.
(It’s just a steep slope, though—)
When I was wondering about that, the boss thrust his hand into a pile of fallen leaves on the slope. The slope opened up by pushing aside the leaves—no, there was a door there.
They entered one by one. The boss entered last and closed the door behind him.
(Oh… it’s a pretty elaborate camouflage.)
Squinting my eyes, I saw thin threads woven within the fallen leaves. Opening and closing the door does not mess up the camouflage.
When I got down from the tree and tried to approach the door–
——MEEEEEEEEEEEE……….
A loud howl reverberated.
(Is it that gigantic goat? The one called “Forest Eater”?)
I hope I won’t have to fight it.
I approached the door on the slope. The part that looked like a doorknob was camouflaged under multiple layers, but I was able to open it without any problems. The group of underground humans were already gone. Only the smell of soil drifted from the inside.
A dark passage continued to the depths. The ground at my feet was faintly glowing. I think it is something like luminous moss…
I closed the door and set foot into the dark passage. It was narrow, but the air was in constant circulation. The dirt road eventually turned into a hollowed out bedrock. It continued into a gentle curve and got brighter and brighter. The length was about 100 meters.
I finally arrived at that place.
「wow……」
A small voice escaped my mouth despite myself.
Because what spread out before me was a vast space—you could probably fit the entire Tokyo Dome here with space to spare.
A number of huge lights were attached to the ceiling, which seemed to be operated by sorcery.
Water was pouring down from the ceiling. I don’t know if it was coming from the river or underground water from the hollowed out bedrock
Numerous pipes branched out from the vase that collected the water and was distributed to each household.
(Oi, this place is smaller than Dragonewt City, but the population is larger? I thought that the Dragonewts had the largest population…)
Perhaps because the land was limited, apartments made of stones and mortar-like materials stood in rows. The apartments were designed with unique shapes such as hexagons and so on. The passages were also three-dimensional. The sidewalk from the 3rd floor crosses through two apartment buildings to connect to the 5th floor.
Mushrooms were cultivated on the roofs as if unanimously agreed upon.
(Isn’t that mica mushroom? In the “Front World”, it was the staple food in the Lev Magic Empire, but here it is the staple food of the underground humans?)
Underground people walking down the aisle were characterized by white skin and red eyes. However, they had different hair colors. And their hairstyle was also rich in individuality such as long hair for men and afro for women.
The clothes they were wearing seemed to be processed from a special spider thread. And because the material couldn’t be dyed, they were all the same beige clothes, but they were sewn with colorful ore to make them fashionable.
(Speaking of which, I’m feeling hungry… Oh, what’s that?)
Fans mounted on the wall and ceiling of the dome started to rotate all at once. When the space was filled with the vibrating noise, cooking smoke rose out from the houses. It seems that they have a fixed time to use fire. The roles were divided between fans that sucks in the air inside the dome and fans that blow in outside air.
Although different in form of the Lev Magic Empire, this city had made its own specialized civilization.
(Trying to search for the Levs from here would be troublesome.)
I searched for a place to hide and decided to wait until late at night.
