WOSE Chapter 25

A girl who appeared to be in her teens screamed, her face drained of color.

"Eila's gone missing!"

Eila—the young girl they'd met in the square on their first day in Smidrhame.

"I think she went to the mine again to look for her sister...! Wh-what should we do?"

"Calm down first. How long has Eila been missing?"

"She hasn't been seen since after lunch! What if something happens to her this time!"

"Where is the mine?"

The one who stepped forward in front of the girl—who was stomping her feet, unable to even catch her breath—was Odynne, who had been following Iyu around silently like a shadow.

The man, his already cold face hardening further, continued calmly.

"Please tell me the location of the mine. I will go find the child."

"You plan to go to the mine right now?"

Ulrik, who had been silently observing the situation, asked somewhat sharply.

When Odynne wordlessly affirmed, he shook his head firmly.

"That's not possible. It's too dangerous to send an outsider there recklessly without any preparation. Moreover, since the darkness appeared, Lady Kelgrida herself has restricted access, so I cannot agree to such a reckless choice."

"..."

"Unless you can eliminate the darkness right now..."

The man trailed off, staring intently at Iyu.

Odynne moved one step to the side, shielding her behind him, and responded coldly.

"If my words sounded like a request, I regret that, but your agreement is not important."

He'd peacefully told them it was an order, so shut up and guide them. However, the atmosphere rapidly chilled to match his frigid tone.

The sharp confrontation—as if they might draw weapons at any moment—ended with one person's intervention.

"Then I'll guide you."

Darun stepped in as mediator, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I've been up to that mine often following Mother, so if I go with you it'll be less dangerous. Instead, I won't let you enter inside the mine where the darkness is. That works, right?"

Only when the next clan leader stepped forward did Ulrik press his lips tightly shut. His gaze remained displeased, but he seemed unwilling to disregard Darun's opinion as well, stepping back.

Darun, having resolved the problem quite peacefully, turned toward the group with a grin.

"Then unfortunately, we'll have to postpone the pie and quickly go find the child, shall we?"

There was a bit more argument about the Savior's lodging, but ultimately, Ulrik went to the village to report this situation to Kelgrida, while Iyu decided to follow Odynne and Darun to the mine.

Ulrik demanded that she return to Kelgrida's mansion with him, but Iyu herself didn't want to, and Odynne also supported her opinion.

It seemed he'd judged that even if it meant accompanying her to a dangerous place, keeping her by his side was better than entrusting her well-being to a suspicious dwarf.

And so, Iyu, who ended up climbing to the mine, was currently on the verge of running out of breath.

'I knew the path to the mine was quite rough, but it's even worse than I remember?'

Though the dwarves had cleared a path for work, the mountain itself was close to a pile of rocks, making the slope as dizzying as a cliff.

She possessed the stamina of an extremely ordinary human woman, so her breath became ragged, her lungs began to ache, and her leg muscles started to grow stiff.

She desperately needed rest, but the child still hadn't shown even a strand of hair.

Moreover, when even young Tamia was hopping along without seeming tired, she couldn't whine about weakness at a position not even halfway up.

The moment she gritted her teeth and sped up to avoid falling behind, her foot—unable to gauge the height—swept through empty air and twisted sharply.

She lost her balance in an instant and swayed. Fortunately, however, there was no tumbling down the mountain.

Something solid wrapped around her waist, her feet briefly lifted into the air, then safely touched the ground again.

"Be careful."

Odynne, whom she'd thought had gone ahead, was somehow right beside her.

"Th-thank you."

Instead of answering, he nodded slightly and began walking ahead of her again.

Instead, Darun, who likewise showed no signs of difficulty, matched his pace beside her.

"Are you all right? Should we rest a bit?"

She desperately wanted to say yes right now, but she shook her head, forcibly suppressing the desire.

"No, we need to hurry."

Time was of the essence if they wanted to find the child and get down before nightfall.

Nevertheless, Darun matched his speed for her, seemingly uneasy about her still-precarious steps.

When her legs finally began trembling, a relatively level section appeared at last.

She'd just straightened her back and was catching her breath when Darun, who had been staring somewhere along the ridge for a while, suddenly spoke.

"We've climbed this far and the child isn't visible, so... I don't want to think it, but she might have gone inside the mine..."

The corners of his eyes creased unusually as he voiced the unwelcome hypothesis. Darun, who had been lost in thought, called to her in a voice closer to complexity than composure.

"Savior."

"Yes?"

"There's one thing I'd like to ask you—did you come all the way to our village following Mother in order to eliminate the darkness that appeared in this mine after all?"

Iyu looked up at him, having stopped wiping the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.

"...That's right."

Why bring up something so obvious when he couldn't possibly not know the Savior's purpose? When she showed a puzzled expression, he continued hesitatingly.

"This is just my personal opinion, but if you don't want to, Savior, you don't have to eliminate the darkness in the mine. No matter what happens to us in the future."

It was something she hadn't expected to hear on the way to find a child, especially from Darun, Kelgrida's own son. He went on to express an even more surprising opinion.

"I'm accompanying you to End Village because of Mother's orders, and to the mine now, but actually my opinion differs a bit from Mother's. This mine is of course very important to us. And if the darkness disappears, there will be no more tragic accidents. But you, Savior, are not the only solution to all these problems."

"..."

"I heard that eliminating the darkness places a great burden on your body."

That the Savior could eliminate darkness was something even a newborn baby knew, but the pain and aftereffects the Savior had to endure in the process weren't well known.

Such dark underbellies only provoked unnecessary guilt and discomfort.

Had Darun heard it from Kelgrida? But it was a truth that wouldn't change or improve just because her son knew.

Besides, Kelgrida was extremely tight-lipped. How else would even the Savior herself only learn about it after absorbing the darkness?

'Ah, because he's the next clan leader?'

It seemed leaders were taught information in advance to make the Savior easier to use.

While she was making such assumptions, Darun sighed, apparently taking her silence to mean something else.

"Ah, did Mother perhaps not explain it yet?"

"..."

Last night's dream surfaced. That helplessness, thrown into terrible pain without knowing anything. That foolishness, unable to let go of false warmth even then.

Iyu barely moved her tightly clenched jaw to answer.

"Yes, nothing at all."

Because it was true that she hadn't heard anything from Kelgrida yet.

Darun's eyes widened, then he smiled bitterly.

"It seems Mother made such a selfish mistake because she's responsible for our entire race. I'll apologize on her behalf. I'm sorry."

The man who apologized with a bow deep enough to show the crown of his head went on to speak about the difficulties the dwarf race had faced, as if making excuses.

A territory far from prosperous. Excellent weapons that became their main source of income. The mine necessary for that. Materials rapidly running out since the darkness appeared. Even the weight of being a leader who had to take responsibility for people's expectations and anxieties.

The conclusion of the story he'd told should rightfully have led to the necessity of eliminating the darkness.

"And yet you say it's all right not to eliminate the darkness?"

"Yes. It might be optimistic thinking, but the world isn't going to end tomorrow. At least I think it's better to collapse the mine than force sacrifice on others. There will certainly be difficulties, but we're the ones who should find the answers ourselves."

Darun scratched the back of his head and added in a much lighter voice.

"So... it was presumptuous of me, but I wanted you not to feel burdened."

"..."

"It seemed like if not now, I wouldn't have another chance to tell you this, Savior, so I rambled about something inappropriate for the situation. N-now should we move quickly?"

Iyu stared at the affable man as if encountering a strange life form.

It felt alien.

In her previous life, she'd stuck to Kelgrida's side like glue and had little opportunity to converse with him. But she'd never dared imagine that that Kelgrida's blood relative would say something Tamia or Odynne might say.

Her lips only moved slightly when she hadn't even decided what answer would be good, unable to form words.

Odynne, who had been striding up the mountain ahead of them, suddenly stopped short. And stared piercingly beyond the forest.