Reverse Dungeon

Louise had never been able to trust anyone from the moment he was born.

No one had ever trusted him, so he had never had the chance.

The wandering tribe had a long history of being discriminated against, denied land of their own, but according to the village chief, they had once lived among the kingdom’s citizens in the city—until Louise’s parents ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) committed that terrible deed.

“It’s because of what your parents did that we ended up like this! You’re no different from a demon. You should have died. You should have died in the womb. How dare you survive and chase wealth and glory...”

Whenever the chief flew into a rage, he beat Louise with whatever happened to be within reach.

And his “discipline” always ended the same way.

With reminders of how merciful the chief had been to take Louise in and feed him, and how sincerely Louise ought to serve him in return.

But Louise had never once felt that the chief was his guardian.

Now, however, he felt as though he was truly standing beside one.

Ever since Ian saved him, Louise had thought he was the one protecting Ian.

But perhaps it had been the other way around all along.

Perhaps he was the one standing under Ian’s protection.

“I’m not mistaken, am I? You are from the wandering tribe, aren’t you? You have no idea how desperately I’ve searched for your people!”

“...You were searching for my tribe? Why?”

Louise’s expression sharpened at once.

He put distance between himself and the dwarf, his hand moving toward his weapon. The dwarf cried out in panic.

“No, no! I mean you no harm!”

“......?”

“I know your tribe was framed!”

“......!?”

They followed the dwarf scholar Nameita back to his home.

He was so excited that even his dusky dwarven complexion had flushed red as he led the way.

The other dwarves tried to stop him, hoping to discuss the aftermath of Gorea’s surviving followers and the search of White Rock Village, but he brushed them all aside with ease.

No one could stop the old scholar as he charged forward like a bull.

“This way! This way, over here!”

Unable to contain his excitement, Nameita stomped into his study. Only after he planted both trembling hands on his desk did he seem to realize that he had rushed ahead too quickly.

His lifelong subject of research had been peace.

Could all races truly coexist in harmony?

That question had defined his entire life.

Where had this terrible discrimination and conflict begun? Was it an inherent flaw within the races themselves?

Nameita did not believe so.

—It is because of humans.

—It is because of elves.

Such hatred, distrust, and exclusion toward other races had never produced anything good.

Humans had once been the dominant race of the Middle Realm.

Now, demons had taken their place.

And the one thing those two ruling races had in common was that they drove other races from their homelands and slaughtered them.

A world sustained by oppressing others, creating enemies, and making slaves could never function properly.

It could only rot further.

If the root of the problem was always placed on “the other races,” then nothing would ever change.

The world would remain exactly as it was.

Even as a young dwarf, Nameita had resolved to understand other races first.

Only then could he ask them to understand dwarves in return.

A long time had passed since then.

The world had changed drastically, yet some things remained unchanged.

Misunderstanding.

Hatred.

The refusal to see one another clearly.

But because Nameita had tried to understand other races first, he had learned something he never would have discovered otherwise.

He forced strength into his trembling hands.

Between a book on human cultural history and an encyclopedia of elementals, he drew out a hidden key and opened one of the desk drawers.

Even during the desperate invasion by Gorea’s gang, he had not forgotten to conceal these vital documents.

Two letters.

“This is it.”

Nameita took the letters out and laid them on the desk.

Human hero Ian and his companions stood near the door.

Why were they standing there?

Only then did Nameita remember that he had practically dragged them here, saying there was something he needed to show them. He realized he had acted impulsively.

It was only natural for humans to remain wary of an unfamiliar dwarf.

No matter how hard Nameita had tried to bridge the divide between races, he understood better than most how deep that divide truly was.

Ian, the human hero, was of royal blood. Though his kingdom no longer existed, his status was still noble.

The mere fact that he had followed Nameita this far was enough to convince the dwarf scholar of Ian’s goodwill.

“I must not have explained myself properly. I apologize. What this is—”

“May I read it?”

Ian stepped forward and naturally reached out.

Nameita handed him the letter without thinking.

Ian skimmed through it, then raised his head as if confirming something and smiled faintly. freёwebnovel.com

‘Is that... something to smile about?’

Nameita was confused.

The contents of that letter were earth-shattering. This human hero was nothing like what he had imagined.

Still, Nameita swallowed dryly and spoke.

“Hero. This may be difficult to believe, but please hear me out. Do you know who this letter was addressed to?”

“It’s addressed to Frederick.”

“That’s right.”

A sharp gasp came from behind Ian.

It was the boy from the wandering tribe.

Nameita nodded.

If he truly belonged to the wandering tribe, then of course he would know that name.

“The former chieftain of the wandering tribe.”

“If by the former chieftain of the betrayer tribe, you mean the one who opened the gate to the Demon Realm?”

The question came from the tall holy knight.

Even with a member of the wandering tribe present, he did not hesitate to call them betrayers.

His tone and expression did not change, but quiet killing intent pressed into the room like a blade laid bare.

Nameita felt fear.

Even so, the scholar’s need to speak the truth drove him on.

“No. That is wrong. Rick did not do that.”

“Rick?”

“I was his... friend. His comrade.”

“What does that mean?”

The holy knight stared coldly at Nameita.

“It means Rick and I also fought in the war against the demons.”

“That is impossible. The former chieftain of the betrayer tribe opened the gate to the Demon Realm and died there.”

His voice was absolute.

Nameita clenched his fists.

“That is a lie! Rick did not die there. He did not open the gate! He was framed after losing his wife and child. Even after that, he stood against the demons with a righteous heart. It was those vile demon followers who used his wife and child as sacrifices to open the gate to the Demon Realm!”

“What did you say?”

This time, the boy from the wandering tribe spoke.

His face, already pale, had turned ashen.

“That’s a lie.”

“There is evidence! My friend Rick gave me this letter before he died. I have spent my entire life searching for more evidence to clear his name. And this... this second letter was found among that bastard Gorea’s possessions!”

Nameita trembled uncontrollably.

The dwarf race had not participated in the war against the demons.

The forest dwarves, in particular, had always been isolated from the world. More importantly, they had shared a common belief.

Hadn’t humans opened the gate to the Demon Realm?

Why should dwarves sacrifice themselves to stop a disaster caused by humans?

Nameita had rebelled against that belief. He left the village and joined the war against the demons.

And during that time, on the outskirts of the Dark Forest, he found a dying human.

That human was Frederick.

When Nameita discovered him, Frederick’s entire body was covered in terrible burns.

The fact that he was still breathing at all was a miracle.

Driven by the simple desire to save a life, Nameita could not abandon the dying human, even though survival seemed impossible.

Nameita nursed him with desperate care.

Four days later, Frederick miraculously opened his eyes.

The moment he woke, he became frantic, searching for someone without the slightest regard for his own condition.

Only later did Nameita learn that the person Frederick had been searching for was his pregnant wife.

Ignoring all of Nameita’s attempts to stop him, Frederick staggered through the forest like a man possessed.

Nameita saw a human weep like an animal.

Without eating.

Without sleeping.

Frederick wandered and cried until, at last, he collapsed from exhaustion.

When he regained consciousness, he had become a man emptied of all emotion.

Nameita spoke to him endlessly.

If he did not keep talking, it felt as though the man might die.

In the process, Nameita even revealed the deepest wish he carried in his heart.

The man did not seem to be listening, so Nameita assumed he would not laugh.

But when Nameita finished speaking, the man slowly raised his head and met his eyes for the first time.

Then he said he would join the fight as well.

At the time, Nameita did not understand why.

Though worried about the state of the human he had saved, he was also secretly relieved that he would not have to enter that terrifying battlefield alone.

During their time on the battlefield, Nameita came to know Frederick well.

Frederick was the kindest and bravest human he had ever known.

The tragedy that had befallen him still tore at Nameita’s heart.

If only he could find the remains of Frederick’s wife and child and bury them beside him, he would have nothing more to wish for.

“It’s a lie. That can’t be true.”

The boy from the wandering tribe glared at Nameita.

Nameita felt sorry for him.

The man they had believed to be the cause of their tribe’s condemnation as “betrayers” had not been guilty after all.

The hatred and resentment they had suffered had been unjust.

How painful must that truth be?

Of course it would be difficult to believe.

Then the wandering tribe boy grimaced and said,

“His child was offered as a sacrifice? What are you talking about? I’m alive right here.”

“What do you mean, alive?”

Nameita’s eyes widened.

Ian reflexively grabbed Keith’s wrist.

Keith, who had been focused on the conversation, looked down at him.

Ian had feared that Keith might lunge at either Louise or Nameita, but the holy knight remained still, quietly taking deep breaths.

His hand trembled faintly.

No one in the room was untouched by the emotions surging through it.

Keith was simply enduring with superhuman patience, refusing to let any of it show.