WOSE Chapter 15

"Speak."

"Why did you accept my request to accompany me?"

"You said you needed me."

"You were going to refuse at first."

He opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to bring himself to lie, then pressed his lips firmly shut.

The man stared silently at the blazing red embers. After a very long silence, he answered like a murmur to himself.

"...Because I thought I might find an answer."

Unfortunately, the words came too quietly to reach her as drowsiness finally claimed her.

The desert night was colder than she remembered. Fortunate that Tamia's body temperature ran higher than a human's.

Iyu released the child from her embrace and struggled to sit up from beneath the blanket. Perhaps because she'd fallen asleep so late last night. She couldn't seem to clear her head at all.

But worse than that was her body, which felt like it had been beaten. After groaning for a while from the terrible muscle aches, she finally managed to step outside the carriage.

She washed her face roughly in water that had gone completely cold. When she returned, the tent had vanished as if by magic.

Iyu roughly stuffed the bread and jerky Tamia had prepared into her mouth and got ready to depart again.

Ready meant little more than putting on an extra layer of clothing and wrapping a scarf around her neck.

As she surveyed the surroundings being packed up quickly, Iyu soon began looking around for someone.

Finding a man who seemed a head taller than the others wasn't particularly difficult.

The Hundredth White Branch—that is, Odynne—was saddling a horse not far from the carriage.

"Odynne!"

She'd only called out to ask him to look after Tamia today, as usual.

A puzzled look flew her way at the changed form of address overnight.

"...Odynne?"

Kalix, who'd been leading his horse toward her, quietly echoed the name.

She'd thought calling him by his new name wasn't particularly special, given Freya's precedent. But judging by Kalix's wide eyes, apparently it was.

Had he reluctantly accepted an unwanted request? What if she was the only one who thought they'd grown more comfortable, and he'd actually become more uncomfortable?

She looked at Odynne with concern. His expression remained blank as usual, but unlike normal, he neither turned his head away nor avoided her gaze. If anything, he seemed to be waiting for her to speak.

'As long as the person in question is fine with it.'

Not wanting to widen the distance she'd worked to narrow, she pushed the hesitant Tamia in front of Odynne and offered an explanation that wasn't quite an explanation, as if it were nothing.

"The celestial title is too long."

Kalix, who'd been watching her and Odynne with an odd look, soon shrugged.

"Well, it's shorter and easier to say."

She hadn't exactly asked for his agreement. He swung up onto his horse after saying that.

The priests and knights who'd been sneaking glances this way seemed to judge it as just another odd habit of the outsider and scattered to their respective positions.

"Let's go."

Iyu watched Tamia take her place in front of Odynne, then grasped the hand Kalix extended.

The procession, grown shabby overnight, crossed the desert once more.

With their supplies limited, they minimized rest time and focused on travel, but still had to spend one more night at an abandoned village site.

When the third day came at last. They finally reached their destination.

Beyond the sandstorm, the dwarven land of Smidrhame revealed its magnificent form.

Smidrhame was a village made entirely of stone, as if carved whole from a stone mountain.

Past two massive stone pillars stood a stone gate packed with intricate clockwork. When Kelgrida inserted a palm-sized gear that served as a key, the components meshed without a single error and the gate opened smoothly without any power source.

The sight remained astonishing even on second viewing, but the interior surpassed it.

Dwellings carved into the gray cliff face glittered like jewels, and at the village's heart, a massive furnace several meters in diameter spewed red light and heat. Dozens of stepped stone paths branched out in all directions from the pulsing flames, with artisan workshops positioned at the end of each path.

The sight was so spectacular that the entire landscape seemed like one massive stone carving, or perhaps a work of art.

"Wow!"

Exclamations spilled from those visiting Nidavellir for the first time. Tamia included, of course.

Iyu led Tamia, who couldn't tear her eyes away like her past self, into the village.

News of the unusual visitors' arrival must have already spread—villagers gathered one by one.

Most had chocolate-colored skin and stood a head shorter than her. Also, as if they'd been in the middle of work, they wore leather aprons and gripped worn hammers or soot-stained iron tongs.

'Still rather hostile.'

Not just because of the tools—weapons, essentially—in their hands.

When the 'savior' arrived, one would expect pleased reactions or excitement, but they only watched the visitors with uniformly wary eyes.

The atmosphere was so unwelcoming that they might have been immediately driven out if not for Kelgrida leading them.

"That human woman is the savior?"

"What? That ordinary-looking human can eliminate the darkness?"

As they crossed the village square, skeptical criticism and doubt poured out more openly.

Kelgrida, whose hearing exceeded humans', whispered awkwardly to her.

"I'm sorry. They're not used to outsiders."

"It's fine."

When she'd first arrived at this village, she'd been so discouraged by the unexpected reaction that she couldn't even raise her head. But now that she roughly understood the circumstances, her feelings weren't particularly hurt.

But Kelgrida seemed to take it as empty courtesy. After reading the atmosphere, she hastily spoke.

"Let's go to my mansion first—"

"Chief!"

At that moment, a dwarf burst from among the onlookers. A young child with wheat-colored braided hair grabbed onto Kelgrida's pant leg.

"Please, please find my sister. Please?"

The pleading voice was so desperate that the entire party came to an abrupt stop.

When Kelgrida showed a troubled expression, another figure who appeared to be a middle-aged woman rushed out as if falling and grabbed the child with rough hands.

"This child! I'm sorry. No matter how many times I tell her it was an accident, she just won't accept it..."

"It wasn't an accident!"

"If going to the forbidden zone on her own two feet and getting caught up in the darkness isn't an accident, what is it!"

"My sister is so timid! There's no way she'd go to such a dangerous place on her own!"

The child's face flushed bright red with frustration at the repeated disbelief.

Not satisfied with that, she twisted her small body—as small as Tamia's—roughly, struggling to escape the woman's grip.

Iyu easily anticipated what would follow. Kelgrida would comfort the child with a very compassionate appearance, and the child would be led home by the hands of the patrol. Like before.

However, events unfolded differently than expected. Odynne, who'd been quiet throughout, broke his silence and stepped forward.

"There was an accident?"

At the somehow cool question, Kelgrida's face hardened as she answered.

"Well, the place where the darkness appeared happens to be inside an important mine... Even though we warn people not to go too deep, accidents happen occasionally. It's unfortunate."

"Occasionally means this isn't the first or second time."

"It's the eleventh time!"

The child, who'd finally shaken off the grip, now clung to Odynne.

"Sir Knight, please, please find my sister. I'll give you anything I have..."

The child, who'd collapsed onto the ground with a thud, finally let thick tears fall.

Odynne looked down at the child silently, then bent his knee to meet her eyes. With his gauntlet removed, he carefully grasped the child's shoulder with his bare hand.

"Your name?"

At the firm but not cold voice, the child's wet cheeks twitched, forgetting she'd been crying.

But before the name could spill from those small lips, someone else revealed the child's name.

"Eila. Crying again."

A young dwarf man wearing a strange metal ornament of overlapping circles over a green tunic approached the child.

The man had dark skin like other dwarves, but unusually, he was taller than average. Perhaps even eye level with Iyu.

The red-haired man extended an arm reinforced with soot-black leather guards and gently lifted the child to her feet. He skillfully soothed the child while brushing dirt from her clothes with light pats.

"Your sister was likely caught in an unfortunate accident. We haven't searched because we're worried about putting more people in danger... but if you find it hard to believe, I'll gladly help."

"...Really?"

"Yes. I promise."

The man didn't seem particularly unfamiliar to the child. Eila, blinking eyes still wet with tears, twisted her face into an expression somewhere between crying and smiling.

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

Eila bowed repeatedly until her head touched the ground. Then she withdrew obediently with the villager.

That would be a fairly peaceful conclusion. Yet somehow Kelgrida openly displayed her displeasure. Eyes narrowing, she approached the man.