VOLUME 14: CHAPTER 3

After leaving the explorers in the imperial capital, Lark's group continued toward the direction of the Dwarven Mountain Range.

Vulcan, Shahaneth, and Agnus flew with the Coalition Army in their polymorphed form. Since they no longer needed to intimidate another nation, they didn't bother reverting to their original form.

After flying for several hours, the Coalition Army finally arrived at the Fork Meadow – the massive grassland east of Golden Wheat City, a territory between the Youchester Duchy and the Dwarven Mountain Range.

"Fly down," said Lark to Blackie. "We'll drop off the elves first before entering the Dwarven Kingdom."

"Yes, God Evander!"

With a loud thud, Blackie, together with the other members of the Coalition Army, landed on the grass-covered ground.

The translucent butterflies carrying the elves started forming cracks, before breaking and turning into particles of light.

"Commander Khuumal," said Lark. "This is where we'll part ways. Thank you for accompanying us until now."

The elven commander cupped his hands together and nodded. "Understood. But may I ask – do you still plan on visiting the other countries in the continent to recruit them into the Coalition?"

"We do," said Lark. "After securing the adamantite deposits in the Bottomless Gorge, I plan on returning to the Kingdom of Lukas to oversee the administrative tasks I've left behind. After that, I'll proceed with recruiting the other nations in the continent, particularly those adjacent to the Empire."

"Then… should we wait here for your return?" said Commander Khuumal. "His Majesty, King Melandrach, ordered us to accompany the Coalition Army. We do not mind staying here in this meadow until your return."

For the elves, accompanying the Coalition Army during their travels and battle was the ideal situation for Aerith. The elven warriors here were more than willing to die on another nation's soil if it meant they would be able to divert danger from their kingdom.

For these elves, fighting in a faraway land was far better than fighting the enemies right at their doorstep. This way, the women and children of the Elven Kingdom would be safe.

"This is a meadow, Commander," said Lark.

"We do not mind, Your Majesty," said Commander Khuumal. "Although staying in a forest would be ideal, this place isn't so bad. This place feels pristine – I could sense the presence of spirits on this land."

And we can't afford for the war to occur in the Elven Kingdom. Now is a crucial time, especially since the women finally started becoming fertile after consuming bloodstone water. – the Commander didn't voice these thoughts out loud.

At the corner of his eyes, Lark saw the other elves nodding in affirmation. It seemed they also preferred staying here and rejoin the Coalition Army on its return.

After pondering over it, Lark agreed to their suggestion in the end.

Lark took out the intercity communication device. After infusing it with mana, he contacted the one located in the capital of the kingdom.

After some time, Lark felt the devices connect.

"Secretary Irene, it's me."

"Your Majesty?"

The voice of the secretary sounded a little annoyed after taking the call, as though she'd just finished reprimanding her assistants for the mistakes they'd caused.

But shortly after hearing Lark's voice, Secretary Irene's tone shifted. She said politely, "Is something the matter, Your Majesty?"

She must have been really busy, Lark thought. For a moment, he felt sorry for dumping all of the work on her while he was away. Without her, Lark probably wouldn't have enough time to go to another nation to negotiate. He was really grateful that she accepted his offer to become the royal secretary.

There were the Boris brothers, too. Without them, it would have been a struggle to rebuild the Kalavinka Port and the Kelvin Duchy. Those two territories had been so ravaged by the demons that no one would criticize Lark if he abandoned them.

Still, the port and the duchy were in a strategic location. They needed to rebuild it if they wished to protect the kingdom against the pirates and sea demons. Moreover, Lark promised Kalavinka that he would rebuild the Kelvin Duchy and grant amnesty to his brothers if the boy worked for him for at least five years.

Although the boy was still lacking in several aspects, Lark believed he would grow up to be someone great one day.

'I'm lucky to have so many capable subordinates.'

Lark was really grateful to all of the people who served as his arms and feet. Without them, it would be impossible for him to properly govern the kingdom, no matter how many powerful spells he had in his arsenal.

"How long would it take you to send a message to Duke Youchester?" said Lark. "We're currently at the Fork Meadow. I need him to prepare accommodations for the elves again."

"The Youchester Duchy…," said Secretary Irene. "I'm afraid it would take at least six days to deliver a message, Your Majesty. We've yet to develop the communication artifacts in that territory."

"That long, huh?" said Lark.

He already expected this, but he decided to ask regardless.

"Reginald," said Lark.

"Yes, My King," said Reginald.

"You will stay here and personally coordinate with the Youchesters regarding this matter. I will leave two Blackstone Knights with you as your escorts. Use them as you see fit."

Reginald bowed his head. "Please leave it to me."

Hearing that exchange, Secretary Irene realized the reason why Lark asked those questions. She uttered words of apology for being unable to deliver the King's message immediately.

"It's not your fault, Secretary Irene," said Lark. "That aside, how's the Kingdom?"

"It is manageable, Your Majesty," said Secretary Irene, "but there are a lot of pending matters that need your approval. A week ago, we found traces of Black Midas. But catching the remnants proved to be difficult since they're scattered all throughout the Kingdom."

"Black Midas…."

That organization was now nothing but a shell of its former self. Without any nobles or merchants to back them up, it would only be a matter of time before they completely disbanded.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Ah, we've also received an… hmm… how should I say this? An unexpected proposal."

"A proposal?" said Lark.

"It's from Magaras, Your Majesty," said Secretary Irene. "The man who once served the now fallen Lurie Family."

Lark remembered him. He was the man with a half-stitched mouth who specialized in torture techniques. The same man who accompanied them during the war with the Empire.

Honestly, that man looked so sinister that he would make seasoned bandits look like cute little babies. Yet, despite his appearance, Lark had a favorable impression of him since he'd followed Lark's commands faithfully back then.

"What did he say?" said Lark.

"He's the one who captured the remnants of Black Midas. He suddenly came to the royal castle one day and presented the heads of the criminals to us. He also gave us the location where he locked up the other Black Midas members he'd captured," said Secretary Irene. "He said it should be possible to find the location of the remaining ones if we grant him authority over this task."

In short, he meant that he would torture the living shit out of the criminals he'd captured to find where the rest of their comrades were located. In exchange, he wanted authority over the matter, and of course, money.

"I will think over it," said Lark. "I will go back to the kingdom soon. For now, throw the members of Black Midas into the dungeons. Tell Magaras that if he wishes to conduct deals with me, remain in the capital and await my return. Guarantee him that he will receive an audience."

"I will relay your words," said Secretary Irene.

"And prepare the basement of the towers in the castle," said Lark.

"Understood. Should I also ask Big Mona to procure iron ingots?"

Lark smiled. He really liked how smart Irene Chase was. She immediately understood that Lark planned on filling up those basements with monster corpses soon.

Initially, Lark planned on creating a thirty-thousand-strong Blackstone Legion. But after repeatedly failing in the Essense Animation Spell, he'd managed to create a little less than two thousand so far.

A big factor in this failure was the strength of the monster corpses brought to him by the dwarves. Had they been weaker, he would have easily succeeded with the rituals.

Well, it's not like he was complaining about that.

Although the number of Blackstone Knights he'd managed to create was fewer than expected, their qualities far exceeded normal living suits of armor.

He could even say that those Blackstone Knights were elites produced by utilizing only the corpses of powerful monsters.

'There's also the Corrupted Dryad. What a waste.'

He'd also failed to create a living suit of armor using the essence of the Corrupted Dryad presented to him by Agnus when they first met.

It was a shame, really. The living suit of armor created using the Corrupted Dryad's essence was nearly as strong as the current Lord Knight. If only it hadn't been so hostile to him the moment it awoke, Lark could have deployed it to protect the capital while he was gone.

"The metal ores from the United Grakas Alliance must have arrived at the Valley of Witches by now," said Lark.

In exchange for grains and spices, the United Grakas Alliance traded metal ores with the Kingdom of Lukas.

It was a beneficial trade for both sides.

The beastmen nation had a lot of iron deposits scattered throughout their territory. Even though the largest iron reserve – the Iron Mountains – had been flattened by Lark's spell, there were still a lot of deposits that remained untouched.

What the United Grakas Alliance lacked the most currently were grains and livestock to feed their citizens, and there were what the Kingdom of Lukas was abundant of right now.

"Tell Mona to expedite the transportation process," said Lark. "Do not charge any tariffs. Utilize the other merchant groups to transport the ores if necessary."

"I will relay your message to him, Your Majesty."

"Thank you. As reliable as always, Secretary Irene," Lark mischievously grinned. "So… how's the progress between you and my disciple, Anandra?"

"Y-Your Majesty!"

"Hahaha, is he there with you right now?"

"W-What? N-No! Not at all!"

Lark chuckled and teased Secretary Irene for a few minutes more after that.

After the call, Lark said farewells to the elves and Reginald Vont. He cast his flight spell again.

Their group resumed flying toward the Dwarven Mountain Range.

***

"So, this is the Heaven's Dominion of the Dwarven Mountains," uttered Lark as they flew closer to the barrier enclosing the Dwarven Kingdom.

Due to enclosing a large portion of the vast Dwarven Mountain Range, the pinnacle-grade barrier looked relatively thin compared to the one currently protecting Blackstone City.

Now that he was seeing it up close, Lark realized that despite looking flimsy, it remained stable, probably due to the earth elemental core that acted as its medium.

"My wife, Vesta, is the one maintaining the barrier," said Vulcan. "She's stronger than me, so I would be careful with my mouth if I were you, Scylla."

"Say that again?!"

"Haaahhh?! This fucking gecko!"

"What did you say, lizard—!"

"—Blackie," said Lark coldly. "Didn't we talk about this before we left Everfrost?"

The tail of the Scylla stiffened in terror.

Before leaving the Republic, the Scylla had a serious conversation with Lark regarding his unruly attitude recently. They promised not to cause any more problems, and that they would try their best to control their temper.

"W-We apologize, God Evander… b-but this lizard!"

"That's enough. Just consider this as part of your training," said Lark. "Do not cause any troubles from here on out."

The heads of the Scylla drooped down. "…Yes, God Evander."

Lark inwardly sighed.

This place was different from the Elven Kingdom. If Blackie caused problems here, it wouldn't end nicely for the seven-headed creature. No matter how powerful Blackie was, it would be hard for it to win against an entire tribe of Fire Dragons. Moreover, those Dragons would have the territorial advantage and assistance of the Dwarven Kingdom.

Hopefully, Blackie would be able to rein in its temper.

Vulcan mockingly grinned at the Scylla. Blackie, who saw this, wanted to shout in rage. It wanted to cuss at the Dragon, but reined in its anger at the last moment.

Vulcan, Agnus, and Shahaneth felt exhilarated when they saw the arrogant snake backing down.

Ah, how refreshing!

"King Lark," said Vulcan. "Although we've modified the barrier to allow the entry of humans, I will envelope our group with my mana just to be sure."

This was one of the loopholes of barrier magic. As long as someone from the allied race cooperated with the enemy, it should be possible even for those with restricted access to enter the barrier.

Vulcan seemed aware of this, too, and thus decided to coat the Coalition Army with his mana.

After being coated with the Dragon's mana, the entire Coalition Army successfully entered the barrier.

"I will lead the way to the Lair," said Vulcan.

Vulcan sped up and moved to the front of the Coalition Army. As they flew, they saw a massive walled city erected on top of an artificially-made plateau. It was apparent that the region where the city was built used to be a rugged mountain before being leveled by the dwarves. There were still traces of the original mountain here and there; Lark could see several buildings built on top of colossal rocks.

Although Lark couldn't see the end of the city even from above, he estimated that this place was probably nearly three times larger than the imperial capital.

They could probably fit over a hundred Blackstone City inside the Dwarven Kingdom, and there would still be ample space left to build several castles.

"The city below us is Rugard, the Dwarven Kingdom," explained Shahaneth. "Instead of dividing their kingdom into several cities, the dwarves decided instead to expand a single, large city."

"There used to be three cities before," added Vulcan. "But the dwarves vacated the other two after our tribe's battle with the earth elemental."

Lark remembered Vulcan's story. If he wasn't mistaken, millions of dwarves died as collateral damage during that battle. The dwarves must have learned a lot from that 'mistake'.

"Strength in numbers, isn't that right, father?" said Agnus.

Vulcan nodded. "And it's easier for the dwarves to protect the kingdom if it's just a single, large city."

Lark understood the rationale behind this decision.

The Dwarven Mountain Range was not only vast, but steep, rugged, and teeming with dangerous monsters. The mere fact that there were five Forbidden Regions in the territory proved how dangerous the Dwarven Mountains were.

Living on such a terrain, this was definitely the best course of action.

"See that mountain peak over there?" said Vulcan. "That's where the Lair is located."

The mountain peak he was pointing at was so high up that it was covered by ice. The clouds didn't even reach the mountain's middle, and it was so wide it could be mistaken for a mountain range.

"The Celestial Mountain," uttered Lady Alice.

Although the Dwarven Kingdom had closed off its border centuries ago, records regarding the highest mountain the continent remained. And this was the same mountain the Dragons used to create their Lair.

"It's called the Dragon Mountain by the dwarves," said Vulcan. "A sacred territory where only Dragons and dragonewts are allowed to step in. Even Lerenon isn't allowed to enter that place unless he receives our permission."

Their group flew even higher. Below, they passed by the dragonewt village. The dragonewts outside, upon recognizing Vulcan, prostrated on the floor. They didn't dare look up until the entire Coalition Army had passed by the village.

"We're here."

Upon landing at the highest point of the mountain, they finally arrived at the Lair where the Ancient Fire Dragons resided.

This was the only place in the peak that wasn't covered in ice. Probably due to the presence of the Fire Dragons, the area surrounding the Lair didn't feel cold.

After disembarking from the top of Blackie's body, Lark looked around him. His gaze landed on the ninety-meter large entrance to the Lair. It reminded Lark of the temples in the Kingdom of Lukas – only, this one was plated in gold.

Lark noticed that numerous powerful traps had been installed at this place. If an intruder were to activate those traps, they would be immediately and mercilessly ripped into shreds.

"Do you remember the dwarf we sent to you, King Lark?" said Vulcan. "Ninirukiriri – he's the one who created the majority of those traps."

"I remember. They're made by Nini, huh? How impressive," said Lark, and he meant it.

The traps protecting the entrance to the Lair couldn't even be compared to the royal sanctum in Behemoth City. This one was more sophisticated and deadly.

Nini was currently tasked with creating the magic towers all throughout the Kingdom of Lukas. Seeing the traps he'd made in the Lair, Lark gained newfound confidence in the dwarven engineer. If it's him, he would definitely do an excellent job in creating those towers.

"Ah, my wife is here," said Vulcan.

The traps surrounding the Lair lost their glow – someone had deactivated them from the inside. After some time, the massive double doors of the Lair opened, revealing a middle-aged woman and a young man in his early twenties.

The middle-aged woman smiled, forming creases on her face. Her crimson hair flowed all the way to her ankles.

"Welcome, I am Vesta, wife of Vulcan and the protector of the Lair in the Dwarven Kingdom."

The young man next to her also introduced himself. Unlike Agnus, who looked fierce, this one resembled more of a scholar. "I've heard a lot about you from my father. I know we've met before through the illusion spell, but I am glad to finally meet you in person. I am Arcturus, son of Vulcan."

Shahaneth was the oldest among the siblings, Arcturus was the middle child, and Agnus was the youngest.

Finally, Lark met the entire Fire Dragon tribe.