Misa didn’t have much knowledge of these gems with unique magic.
He only knew that in any world ruled by gods, crystals were extremely rare treasures.
These crystals contained powerful magic, but using ordinary methods, it was extremely difficult to draw out this magic.
When Misa was still in the Divine Realm, he had tried to guide the magic within a dark crystal. He spent a lot of time, even asking their Demon Lord’s senior tutor, Alisa, for help. In the end, they declared failure. Even Alisa was helpless against this dark crystal.
She only told Misa that dark crystals needed ancient magic to guide them, but unfortunately, most of these ancient magics were lost. Even the gods, who ruled this world, couldn’t easily restore these ancient magics.
The earth vein magic that Orstone mentioned was a type of ancient magic.
But the problem was—
They didn’t have enough Ice Crystals.
Or rather, they couldn’t possibly have enough Ice Crystals.
This thing was so rare; it took the dwarves generations to finally obtain one. How could a hero possibly gather enough—
Misa: “…”
Misa suddenly remembered something.
Wait, the End-of-Days War?
Isn’t that his decisive battle with the hero?
Misa felt complicated emotions.
The End-of-Days War would destroy Sky City and take countless lives. After the hero became king, these people wouldn’t be resurrected by the gods.
As the Demon Lord defeated by the hero, he would eventually return to the Divine Realm. The lives of the monsters would be restored one by one, and then they would lurk in the darkness again, waiting for the next divine summons. Only the dead humans were the most innocent.
The sacred texts said that their souls would return to the Realm of Bliss, but where the Realm of Bliss was, Misa didn’t know. He asked his teacher, Alisa, and Alisa didn’t know either.
Damn it.
Misa gasped.
He didn’t want to harm anyone!
Misa frantically scratched his head.
“You don’t have Ice Crystals,” Misa asked anxiously. “Where are there Ice Crystals?”
Orstone: “Ah?”
Lance propped his chin and watched them.
“Quickly tell me, I’ll—” Misa suddenly stopped, hastily retracting the second half of his sentence and forcibly changing his words. “We’ll find a way to gather them.”
Lance nodded: “Do you know how to obtain Ice Crystals?”
Orstone: “Uh…this one seems to have been a gift from the Dragon Clan’s city lord.”
Misa: “Seems to have been?”
Orstone: “My father said so.”
This happened generations ago. Many details were difficult to ascertain after being passed down. The Dragon Clan always liked shiny gold coins and gems; it wasn’t unusual for them to keep a few magic stones.
Misa nodded, indicating he understood.
Good, it’s just the Dragon Clan’s city lord.
He knows him!
The leader of their four great demons is the Black Dragon King, several levels higher than the city lord. That guy loves collecting; a few Ice Crystals are nothing. Once his wings are healed, he’ll immediately force that guy to cough up a few Ice Crystals.
He absolutely must return to the Divine Realm!
Nothing that happens next can stop him!
Lance had also finished devising his plans.
“The dwarves aren’t numerous,” Lance asked seriously. “If you have to go so far to mine ore, it’ll be inconvenient, right?”
Orstone’s heart pounded excitedly just thinking about the extremely abundant ore veins near Sky City. In his eyes, there were almost no difficulties left in the world.
He answered without hesitation: “It’s fine, we have plenty of time!”
If one generation can’t do it, there’s always the next generation, and the next.
This was their lifelong beloved cause; they were willing to sacrifice everything for it.
Lance nodded slightly and asked, “What do you usually do with the ore?”
Orstone: “Make weapons! Make armor!”
Lance: “Anything else?”
Orstone confidently stated: “No!”
Lance: “…Haven’t you considered making other things?”
Orstone proudly shook his head.
“Forging is the romance of dwarves!” Orstone said loudly. “Among all dwarf clans, the equipment we make is the best!”
Lance: “…”
Misa: “…”
After a moment, Lance lowered his head.
Lance: “The efficiency is too low.”
He pulled out a small notebook from somewhere and a pen from his sword belt. Misa cautiously leaned forward, and saw him drawing a bunch of strange things, looking like numbers, but Misa didn’t recognize them.
He finally reached a conclusion he was satisfied with, closed the booklet, looked up at Orstone, and showed a slightly shy smile that Misa had seen many times.
Lance: “There’s one more thing…”
Misa: “…”
No! Orstone! Absolutely don’t agree to him!
Orstone was still immersed in the joy of soon having countless ore veins: “Okay!”
Lance smiled: “Can I be your middleman?”
Misa: “…”
Orstone: “Ah?”
Misa felt that Lance was going to do something big.
Orstone didn’t understand what he meant. Orstone only cared about ore. As long as there was ore, they could agree to anything.
Lance asked about the dwarves’ storage method for the crafted armor and weapons, and learned that this glittering crystal palace was where they stored their perfect equipment inventory.
They loved researching all kinds of strange equipment. Beyond satisfying their own needs, they had even made various designs based on different body sizes. The equipment in the warehouse ranged from dwarf to giant sizes, all flawless and perfect. People came to maintain and organize them daily. The number of equipment—Misa thought it could arm his monster army three times over.
Lance was very satisfied.
He examined the quality of several pieces of equipment, then lowered his head and said to Orstone, who was leading the way, “Such perfect equipment shouldn’t be left here to gather dust.”
Orstone was extremely appreciative of the human hero’s discerning eye, proudly nodding and exclaiming, “Yes!”
Lance: “It’s a shame not to put it to good use.”
Orstone: “Right!”
Lance: “Have you considered selling them?”
Orstone: “Okay—ah?”
Lance: “So that’s decided then.”
Orstone: “Ah??”
Misa gasped again.
He finally understood Lance’s intentions.
Lance wanted to build a trade relationship between humans and dwarves, allowing both sides to get what they needed and make money together—
How is that possible?!
Dwarves are monsters, and humans hate monsters. Let alone getting what they needed and doing business together, the fact they live so close and haven’t fought yet is already considered a paragon of peaceful human-monster coexistence.
Misa was very pessimistic about Lance’s naive ideas.
They stayed in the crystal palace for a night. Misa tried to contact Arlo with magic, but his magic was too depleted; even ordinary communication magic was extremely difficult for him. Of course, he failed. He couldn’t find Arlo, nor could he contact anyone in Sky City.
He could only stay in the stuffy dwarf city, anxiously closing his eyes to sleep, hoping that by tomorrow morning, the hero would give up his unrealistic fantasy.
But this hero, he was really stubborn.
The next day, before Misa’s magic had fully recovered, Lance had already obtained a map of the dwarf clan from Orstone and planned to follow the tunnel the dwarves had dug to return directly to Sky City.
Misa felt complicated emotions.
He just wanted to follow the main storyline set by the gods. If he absolutely had to find Ice Crystals, he should do it himself. That way, they could be faster. At most…uh, at most half a year later, the hero should appear outside the Demon Lord’s castle.
But the hero didn’t want to follow the main storyline.
The hero had created a new main storyline.
Misa wanted to cry.
Following Lance, he couldn’t help but mutter, softly saying, “Sir Lance, humans won’t want to associate with dwarves.”
Lance nodded earnestly: “I know.”
Misa: “You’ll fail.”
He really hoped the hero would listen to his advice and stop doing these pointless things, but Lance just nodded casually, indicating that he had heard him.
Good.
Misa understood.
The hero didn’t want to change at all.
He sighed deeply, feeling for the first time that he couldn’t see the direction ahead.
The tunnel dug by the dwarves pierced through the mountain, a shortcut back to Sky City.
Soon they reached the end of the road. They climbed to the end of the narrow passage and saw the secret door Orstone had mentioned.
Orstone had told them how to open the secret door beforehand.
Misa easily opened the secret door and carefully slipped out with Lance. Before them was an empty sanctuary, behind them was a statue of the goddess almost as tall as the ceiling. No one had discovered them suddenly emerging from the ground; at least for now, they had avoided a troublesome explanation.
Misa breathed a sigh of relief and knelt down to close the secret door, but it was difficult to operate. Misa struggled for a long time before finally closing the secret door halfway. He caught his breath, about to continue—
A sound suddenly came from outside the closed sanctuary door. Someone was talking and walking towards them.
“Bishop, don’t wait any longer,” the person said. “The knight squad has brought back news; the hero is in trouble.”
“But he’s the messenger of the goddess,” the bishop’s voice was slightly uneasy but extremely firm. “He’ll be fine.”
Then the two paused their conversation; they seemed to have reached the sanctuary door.
“Alright,” the bishop took a deep breath. “The time for the gods’ oracle has come.”
Misa: “…”
Lance: “…”
Misa was terrified and looked up at Lance beside him.
The secret door wasn’t closed yet; damn it, how do you close this secret door!
But Lance was calm.
He took a step forward, standing in front of Misa, as if trying to block the secret door on the ground, but this blockage was useless. The secret door was too conspicuous; anyone who walked in would see it at a glance.
Misa lowered his voice and hurriedly said, “This won’t work!”
Lance: “Special effects.”
Misa was stunned: “What?”
Lance: “Goddess special effects.”
Misa: “…”
Misa understood.
He reached out and gradually condensed magic in his hand over the secret door. This was the simplest illumination magic, but it needed to be enhanced, strengthened to the maximum, to attract the attention of everyone who came in with its dazzling brilliance.
The sanctuary door slowly opened.
Misa quickly retracted his hand and stood beside Lance.
Dazzling brilliance gushed out from the secret door behind them, enveloping the two and the statue of the goddess behind them. The hero stood with his sword, his clothes billowing in the wind, slowly raising his head to look at the shocked bishop and sanctuary knights.
Bishop: “Lan… Sir Lance… You…”
“I am the messenger of the gods,” Lance whispered softly, slowly speaking. “The immortal messenger.”
The bishop’s eyes were filled with tears.
“I believed you wouldn’t be harmed!” The bishop took a step forward, almost approaching them. “The gods wouldn’t let you be harmed.”
Lance decided to follow his words.
“Thank the gods,” Lance said softly. “Goddess Gilasni brought me back.”
