Dwarven Civilization and the Sky Vein Dragon

Early the next morning, Frieren was dragged out of bed by Shane.

According to the plan they discussed yesterday, they were heading to the nearby mountains today to try and find clues related to the dwarf helmet.

"Can't we just go in the afternoon?"

Frieren looked completely reluctant.

Shane ignored her entirely.

The air after the rain was chilly.

The two walked along a small path; because it had just rained, there were many small puddles on the road.

Shane carefully avoided them.

Frieren followed behind him in a daze, not looking at the road at all. She stepped into water every now and then, and throughout the journey, she stumbled repeatedly, her [Magic to Dry Clothes] never once stopping.

Well, having magic really makes one willful.

After carefully climbing up a giant rock, the two finally arrived at the spot the old man had mentioned—where he had picked up the helmet.

Just as Frieren had expected, there were many gullies carved by axes here.

Shane touched the marks left on the mountain rock nearby. The deepest were half a meter, and the shallowest were a finger deep. Even after decades of wind and sun, the sharp cut surfaces were still visible.

He couldn't help but marvel that dwarves were truly born with divine strength.

"These marks vary in depth. When making these strikes, that warrior must have been nearing exhaustion."

Frieren's tone carried a hint of sadness.

She had traveled with Ize for ten years and knew the strength of a dwarf warrior very well.

These marks, while seemingly incredible, were actually too "ordinary" compared to the average combat power of a dwarf warrior. It was highly likely they were left during that person's death throes; he must have fought the demons until the very end...

The two continued to search the surrounding area.

Unfortunately, because too much time had passed, they couldn't find anything else besides the marks on the rocks.

Patter, patter—

The rain began to fall again.

Frieren couldn't help but shrink her neck, "This kind of damp and chilly weather is really not suitable for going out."

Shane looked around, "There's an overhanging rock over there. Let's go underneath it to take shelter from the rain first."

Before he could finish his sentence, Frieren took off, darting over in the blink of an eye.

Shane: "..."

They sat huddled around a campfire.

The two watched the mountains in the curtain of rain, feeling bored.

Shane had a vague feeling that there was more to this helmet than met the eye.

Like the elves, dwarves were few in number, but their history was long and deep.

In countless fantasy stories, dwarves were always linked to "treasures" and "divine artifacts." He was very interested in this; if he could find a dungeon filled with Magic Tools or broken equipment, he could farm for more entries.

"Frieren, has Ize ever told you any history or stories about the dwarves?"

"Ize was a man of few words. He would occasionally mention his hometown, but he never told stories about his dwarf kin. I did hear Flamme talk about it once..."

Frieren hugged her legs and shuffled forward a little, moving closer to the fire.

As she felt the warmth of the flames, she recounted the history Flamme had once told her:

Before the Demon King ordered the extermination of the elf race, the first ones they actually wanted to wipe out were the dwarves.

Unlike elves, who had few desires and preferred to live in seclusion, the dwarf race was warm and hospitable. They loved interacting with humans, especially doing business with them.

Dwarves were skilled at finding iron ore, smelting, and forging, and they were also adept at invention and creation. The Demon King had once tried to win them over, but was rejected.

The reason was very much in line with the dwarf personality: because the demon race was not as clever as humans.

Before the era of the Unified Empire, the dwarves had created a glorious "Steel Civilization" and had even once attempted to build large-scale machinery, hoping to lead human society into a more convenient age.

But this move immediately alerted the Demon King.

Demon spies infiltrated the largest dwarf tribe and, using unknown methods, incited internal strife. The dwarves began to divide and fight among themselves, and their strength was greatly diminished.

The demon race seized the opportunity to launch a slaughter against the dwarves, and in less than a hundred years, the dwarves were divided and destroyed.

The surviving dwarves hid within human society, changing their names and living low-key lives.

It was precisely because they saw the fate of the dwarf race that the elves chose the human camp from the very beginning.

Unfortunately, even so, they could not escape the Demon King's massacre.

Frieren seemed to be recalling her childhood experiences; her mood became somewhat low, and she didn't continue.

Shane sighed.

Whether it was elves or dwarves, they were all victims of this "Human-Demon War" that had lasted for a thousand years.

Not long after, the rain stopped.

In this season of lingering drizzle, the weather was always like a person's mood—sometimes good, sometimes bad.

The two continued to wander aimlessly through the mountains.

From afar, Shane spotted a small mountain village with smoke rising from its chimneys.

The village was nestled within the mountain forest, consisting of only a dozen or so households.

Shane walked forward to inquire about the situation with an old grandmother at the village entrance; he wanted to know if there were any folk tales or legends about dwarves in the vicinity.

He hoped to find some useful clues from them.

"An outsider?"

The moment the old woman saw Shane, her attitude turned cold instantly. After giving him a once-over, she turned around and shut the door in his face.

Shane was left stunned.

He hadn't said anything wrong, had he?

He tried knocking on the door of another house, but to his surprise, the moment they opened the door and saw him, they didn't say a word and simply slammed it shut again.

This struck him as very strange. His face had always been his greatest asset; from eighty-year-olds down to eight-year-olds, he was generally loved by everyone. Why wasn't it working today?

"It probably isn't your fault."

"Perhaps these isolated mountain villages simply don't like outsiders intruding."

Shane nodded after hearing this, finding her words deeply convincing.

Just then, a door in a house ahead opened a tiny crack, and a chubby little girl poked her head out, looking left and right.

Then, she squeezed through the gap and skipped over to stand in front of Shane.

The little girl coughed in embarrassment before carefully extending a small, chubby hand, opening it in front of Shane.

"Big brother, you're so pretty. You're the best-looking person I've ever seen."

"I found this in the woods a while ago. It's as pretty as you are, and I want to give it to you!"

Resting quietly in the little girl's chubby palm was a strangely shaped hazelnut, which shimmered with a faint, blue luster.

Shane couldn't help but pick it up to examine it closely; it was the first time he had ever seen a hazelnut like this.

Just as he was about to say something, a woman rushed out from the house behind the little girl, grabbed her, and dragged her back inside.

"..."

Shane looked at the hazelnut, then at the tightly shut door, unsure if he should go over and return it.

Frieren, standing to the side, noticed the object in Shane's hand.

She became interested in an instant.

"To think there are blue hazelnuts here; it's been many years since I last saw one."

"Is it some kind of exotic magical material?"

"No, it's just an ordinary hazelnut."

Ordinary?

Shane scoffed inwardly. How was this ordinary? How could blue hazelnuts exist in this world, especially ones that looked this strange?

She had to be pulling his leg.

"It really is an ordinary hazelnut."

"It's just that it grows on the back of a Sky Vein Dragon. It seems a Sky Vein Dragon passed through here recently..."