When Sol heard about those ores wearing long-lost armor created by dwarves, he immediately realized the kind of opportunity he had chanced upon.
Dwarves were crazy and dastardly midgets who saw money as their only source of life. To them, life and money were deeply intertwined and it was almost indistinguishable. In the past, they had been the most oppressed race in a sense because of their talents and inability to protect themselves but now it was the exact opposite.
The dwarves were masters of crafting and inventions. Even angels respected them as their technological superiority was mostly based on the unlimited time they had for themselves rather than the unimaginable amount of unadulterated talent that the dwarves possessed.
For this very reason, they had a near absolute monopoly on the markets and knew how to leverage it to play to their advantage. Playing the death merchant every time there was a war. 'Theresa started working on some behind the scenes deals with the dwarves but it will take some time to get through.'
Just imagining his entire army clad in dwarven armor and runes made Sol almost salivate and his eyes blazed with even more greed than an old dwarf who was watching a mine of gold in front of him.
"You. What is your name?"
The dwarf straightened at the sudden call from Sol. He immediately realized that this was an opportunity that he could not afford to lose.
"I am Luteam Grimbreaker, Your Highness."
"Very well. Why don't you tell me more about this legend of yours? I am quite a bit intrigued, you see..."
Luteam nodded and spoke carefully, "As Your Highness may already know, we dwarves were enslaved by many races for our talents in handling metals before the Kingdom era. We still do, but that is a story for another time. This trend was the most prevalent in the era before the seven kingdoms were truly established. One of the Dwarven kings, a Blessed named Alexander The Great, also known as the Stormbreaker led us during our Exodus."
He momentarily stopped as four ominous women appeared one after another behind Sol before he was even able to sense them. Goosebumps arose throughout his body when he sensed the eerie aura emanating from the women, causing him to sweat profusely.
"Don't worry about them. They're with me."
Sol gave a nod to his companions. They were surprised to see that he was not hiding his face anymore but simply listened without making a noise.
"One of the dwarf encampments was somewhere inside the current territory of Lustburg. As we fled from the Elves, King Alexander and the dwarves created a powerful stronghold that served as a bastion. The fight lasted for days on end but the elves were not able to beat us. Ultimately, the Queen fought against our King as he assured our retreat."
His eyes became slightly bloodshot at the mention of the events after.
"The king was no match for the powerful Queen. But out of respect, for his outstanding courage, she allowed our escape from these lands."
Luteam coughed slightly to calm down his strained nerves and continued, "The exact description of the fortress is blurry in my memories, and it is a fact that it was destroyed during the fight between the two rulers. Many of our most powerful runes and blueprints were lost during this era."
Sol closed his eyes after hearing it all; deep in thought as he reviewed the information given to him by the dwarf named Luteam. He was not even surprised that the Dwarven King then had the name of some historical figure from his world. He was used to such a thing by now.
What interested him was the armor and the runes that Luteam mentioned of being lost in the annals of time in this very region, "Milia. Why are there no reports about such ores?"
Milia immediately put a knee on the ground and reported to him in a solemn tone, "I beg your forgiveness for this oversight, Your Highness. No such ore incident had ever appeared before. All the Ores subjugated to this date were mostly weaponless or used crude makeshift weapons."
'Hum....'
"You always overreact. I did not ask you to kneel in front of me."
He sighed and focused on the matter at hand. Even without opening his Eye of Akasha, he could draw a clear picture.
Some ores had found the so-called fortress and lived there. Someone or something had disturbed them, causing them to leave that place.
His eyes opened and the world changed around him as multiple threads connected him to the entire world and the illusory threads of fate that bound reality became visible to his eyes. He ignored the threat of Invidia, the goddess was inconsequential to his current situation. He started to search for a path, an answer to the current situation.
He was startled to realize that both Setsuna and... Lilin? Seemed to be tied down to this circumstance.
'What is going on?'
He focused on the feelings, the small instincts, and the answer the world was giving him through his powers. This was an occasion for growth. For both of his young lovers.
For the most idealized path, the most idealized outcome, the two of them needed to be included in this adventure.
His eyes shone. He could see a fight ahead. Something somewhat troublesome but at the same time of no threat to him.
"Your Highness?"
"I have decided our course of action. Enough with the playing around. It's time to explore a dungeon."
He smiled and gazed at Luteam, "Luteam. I will give you a mission now."
"I am at your command, Your Highness."
"Take your group and go back to Lustburg."
He condensed a ball of energy and gave it to him, "Show it to the Travers and ask for a meeting with someone named Theresa. They will understand once they see this ball of energy. I want you to show those armors to her and to prepare a plan. She will understand what to do next. Will you be able to do it?"
Luteam hesitated slightly as he looked at the fainted merchant girl, "Your Highness..."
Sol smiled at this. He liked seeing professionalism. How many people would hesitate in front of such a chance?
"You can leave one of your comrades to continue guiding her and go by yourself. We will also ensure her safety."
"Thank you."
He immediately bowed and stood to speak to his companion.
"Everyone, this is the chance of a lifetime. We need to seize it. Candy, you stay here. The two of you come with me."
"Hey!"
"Candy, stop. We don't have time. The client is a woman and you are the only one who can take care of her without causing her any embarrassment."
There was also the fact that the full party of the prince was composed of women. Luteam did not say this but he was obviously no fool. No matter how kind and approachable the prince seemed, he didn't think one should try their chances and cause problems here. Hot-headed as men were, he was not willing to leave anything to chance.
Candy, the bunny girl, grumbled but nodded in defeat. There was nothing she could say against such an argument. She was also as keen as Luteam and noticed the composition of the prince's party.
In adventure terms, such a party was not rare, because of the gender disparity in the population of Lustburg. But they were absolutely the worst party to work with. As they were full of infighting between the different female members.
She had even heard of a case where one of the women in such a group poisoned the full team while preparing the meal and kidnapped the man of the group. Those two had long since vanished, never to be seen again.
She shivered at the thought and decided not to eat anything that was given to her.
Once Luteam made sure that everything was okay, he went back to Sol to inform him of his decision.
"Very well. Also..."
He placed a finger on the head of the dwarf, "With this, no beasts will approach you. Now go."
The three men left, leaving Sol alone with his group, a fainted woman and a bunny girl looking at them as if they were monsters.
"There is a stream not far from here. You should take care of her."
Sol ordered impassively. He didn't know what that woman was thinking, but she was making a film in her head if she thought he was particularly interested in her.
There was no way he would ask Milia to clean some unknown woman who had nothing to do with them.
The only one she could clean was him.
Furthermore, he had no interest in the bunny girl herself. Most of his maids were of all different races and he obviously had seen a few bunny girls and they were obviously much more beautiful than her.
'Later I should go home and have fun with them.'
Since the life of an adventurer was now officially proven to be obviously not for him, it was better to live the life of a debauched prince.
This was also pretty chill. No blood, no gore, and only endless sex, love, and money.
He moved his hands and put the cargo in his dimension. This would make sure they would not spoil.
"Okay, guys. After the lady wakes up, we will go to Lilin. She will most likely arrive around the same time as we do and we will move towards the final location."
As always, plans did not match up against reality. But it was fun while it lasted.
Now he had to take his responsibility seriously and make sure they obtained those sweet, oh-so-sweet weapons that would drastically diminish the losses that his army may receive. "Persephone, did you know that Alexander?"
"Only by name."
"It's good enough. Tell me everything you know about him while we prepare."
He needed to end this fast.
