Free Web NovelThe dwarf scholar Nameita slowly lifted his eye from the microscope.
“I found it.”
He wasn’t examining bacteria or microscopic organisms.
This microscope observed magic itself.
Any spell woven into an object could be analyzed and translated into formulas through its lens.
The magical microscope was one of Nameita’s own inventions. And what he had been studying was the enchantment embedded within a single letter.
Addressed to the dwarf warrior Gorea.
The contents of the letter were simple enough.
The senders wished to settle near the dwarf settlement and requested permission to remain there. They had prepared ample compensation and hoped the dwarves would accept their proposal.
That was all.
At the time, White Rock Village had not yet split apart.
Nameita had not yet been exiled from the homeland he loved. free𝑤ebnovel.com
The dwarves had not yet descended into the vile business of slave hunting.
Back then, the letter had seemed entirely ordinary.
And yet—
This insignificant letter had become the origin of everything.
Before his exile from White Rock Village, Nameita had learned that the newly appointed chief, Gorea, had established ties with mysterious outsiders.
Suspicious, wasn’t it?
“Gorea was a simple fool, but never a cruel one. Yet one day he suddenly became consumed with fury and began advocating slave hunts. The young dwarves who sided with him changed the same way. Strange... far too strange.”
After contact with those outsiders, Gorea’s personality had transformed.
So had the others’.
Nameita had eventually noticed that the dwarves who refused to side with Gorea—the ones who later helped found Black Rock Village—all shared one thing in common.
They were loners.
“...No. Independent dwarves.”
Nameita corrected himself quietly.
Dwarves who understood that life was something one ultimately carried alone.
That had once been the nature of dwarvenkind to begin with—craftsmen wholly absorbed in their own work.
Nameita himself was no different.
Though his field differed from smithing, he too had devoted his entire life to a single discipline. In that sense, he was every bit as much an artisan as the others.
Most dwarves probably considered him eccentric.
After all, he had willingly thrown himself onto battlefields solely for the sake of research.
And there, he had uncovered a terrifying secret capable of overturning a dwarf’s entire life.
“These two letters carry the same enchantment.”
Nameita reached into his pocket and carefully withdrew another envelope, protected beneath several layers.
The faded letterhead read:
To the Chieftain of the Nomadic Tribe, Frederick.
A letter addressed to the humans now reviled as the ‘traitor tribe.’
One letter had been delivered to Gorea by demon-worshiping outsiders.
The other had likely been sent to the traitor tribe by the same organization.
“So the traitor tribe didn’t simply lose their minds and open the Demon Realm... They were caught in a massive conspiracy...”
As always, whenever his thoughts deepened, the old dwarf muttered to himself.
Hands clasped behind his back, Nameita paced the room to untangle the chaos in his mind.
Then—
BANG! BANG BANG!
The frantic pounding on the door brought him to a halt.
“Nameita-nim! We’re under attack!”
“...So it’s finally begun? Has Gorea decided to wipe us out completely?”
“It appears so! We’ve already evacuated the elderly. Please, Nameita-nim, hurry to the rear!”
The messenger dwarf was terrified.
So was Nameita.
Even so, both forced themselves to stand firm.
“Don’t be ridiculous. How could I run after all those people entrusted themselves to me?”
“Nameita-nim... I think you misunderstand. We didn’t follow you.”
‘...True enough.’
They hadn’t gathered because they believed in Nameita.
They had merely fled Gorea’s oppression.
Still—
Nameita was this village’s chief.
Even if the position had fallen to him simply because he was the oldest.
The old dwarf strode into the square and raised his voice.
“Everyone, quiet down! Take your assigned positions and wait! You already know what to do!”
No one answered.
But they moved without hesitation, each dwarf calmly taking position.
That alone was enough.
The dwarves of White Rock Village had once been hopelessly disorganized, acting as though cooperation itself were a foreign concept.
But these dwarves—
These were the dwarves gathered to defend Black Rock Village.
The invaders ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) crossed the boundary marker visible only to dwarven eyes.
“Fire.”
At Nameita’s command, the inventions he had developed were hurled forward in unison.
FWOOOOOSH—!
Black smoke exploded outward, swallowing the battlefield whole.
‘Even Gorea won’t be able to rely on his eyesight or sense of smell inside that.’
Nameita narrowed his eyes, observing the effects of the tear gas weapon he had created.
From this point onward, anything emerging from the smoke would be beaten down without mercy.
“COUGH! HACK—! What the hell is this?!”
But the figures bursting through the smoke were not dwarves.
They were elves.
“...?!”
Regardless of the tension among the prisoners, time continued to pass in the slave trader’s village.
“Why the hell are those idiots taking so long?”
Gorea scowled darkly when the escorts he had sent failed to return.
All they had needed to do was lock up the prisoners, beat one of them around a little, and come back.
Why was it taking this long?
‘Those bastards... Don’t tell me they’re fooling around?’
Furious, Gorea rose to his feet.
“I told them several times that this sacrifice was important! If those idiots ruin this for me, I’ll kill every last one of them! If I fail to become a demon because of this—!”
A voice from outside interrupted him.
“Chief. A message has arrived from them.”
The errand dwarf stepped forward and handed over a letter.
Gorea tore the envelope open at once.
The moment he read its contents, his entire face lit up.
“Finally!”
“Good news, Chief?”
“Better than good. The day has come.”
“The day... You mean—!”
“Yes. Tonight, we conduct the ritual. At the moment the clouds cover the moon and the magi reaches its peak... the sacrifice will be carried out.”
“Ah! Congratulations, Chief! You’ll be reborn as one of the great races!”
The messenger rubbed his hands together eagerly, flattering him.
Gorea’s anger evaporated instantly, replaced by swelling excitement.
At last, his long-cherished dream was within reach.
“Is everything prepared? What about the sacrifice?”
“He’s still unconscious.”
“Did we use too much of the drug? He’s not dead, is he?”
“He’s breathing normally!”
“He hasn’t eaten in days.”
“That’s fine. He’s an elf, isn’t he? Those bastards can survive on nothing but sunlight and water.”
“...Right. Is there anything left to prepare?”
Anxiety crept back into Gorea’s expression. The wooden table cracked beneath the pressure of his grip.
The messenger swallowed nervously.
“Nothing remains. The final sacrifices arrived today, almost as if the heavens themselves are watching over you.”
“Heavens?”
Gorea snorted at the flattery.
“If anyone’s watching over me, it’s the Demon King. Who says this Gorea can’t become a Demon Archduke? Hahaha!”
“Haha... Hahaha...! O-of course!”
Laughter echoed through Gorea’s temporary headquarters.
And night descended.
Ian opened his eyes.
He hadn’t been sleeping deeply to begin with, so the sound of approaching footsteps woke him immediately. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
“Hey! Get up! Hurry the hell up and move!”
A dwarf holding a torch twisted his face into a vicious sneer.
“Where are we going?” Ian asked in the politest tone he could manage.
“What’s it to you? Mouth off again and I’ll whip you bloody.”
The dwarf spat out the threat.
The instant the words left his mouth, Keith naturally stepped in front of Ian.
Ian felt strangely conflicted about that.
The dwarf, meanwhile, noticed nothing. He bent down to unlock the cell.
‘...Huh?’
The lock was already open.
‘Don’t tell me—’
Maybe the darkness simply made it hard to see.
Or maybe one of the guards had made a catastrophic mistake. Even with chains on, escaped prisoners could easily get several dwarves killed.
The escort dwarf was sweating heavily.
‘He didn’t notice?’
Just in case, Ian had restrained the unconscious dwarves using Momisia’s restraint set. He had piled a few additional bodies into the corner of the prison, but thankfully the darkness concealed them well enough.
Good.
No need to deal with another escort.
The dwarf swaggered arrogantly.
“You want to know where you’re going? Fine, I’ll tell you. You’re about to participate in a sacred ritual! A glory far beyond what slaves deserve.”
‘Ah. So today’s the day.’
Ian’s face brightened instantly.
What was the point of a real-time game if not for moments like this?
Honestly, enduring the prison sequence in real time had nearly driven him insane.
Still, getting captured quietly had been worth it.
Now he could approach the event boss directly.
If the ritual had been delayed any longer, Ian might actually have regretted the entire plan.
