Chapter 13: Chapter 13 - Return
The attack on Coboro village was quite devastating. Being attacked by a hundred trained soldiers acting as bandits is never to be underestimated. Within the population of around 200 dwarves, elders and young ones included, around 30 were killed during the attack, which was not a low number for this small tribe of dwarves. It was not easy, but all they could do now is move on, and survive.
Now that the village is in horrible shape, and staying within the Wolfenstein Kingdom's vicinity is akin to courting death, they have decided to return to the old mining tunnels on the mountain range. Despite abandoning it a decade ago due to the depletion of minerals, they now had no choice but to return to the area where they feel the safest, even with the danger of them not being able to return to the livelihood they excel at.
In the middle of the village, the remaining people were gathered before they set off on their journey.
"I would like to escort the village in going back to your old home. The attack on the village could be said to be partially my fault, and for that, I deeply apologize to you all." Bowing deeply, with eyes full of determination and sincerity, Feihren asked for the town's forgiveness.
Everyone around had blank expressions on their faces. These looks seemed to say, 'Why are you blaming yourself for all this?'
With a pleasant smile, the injured but still lively village chief had a dismissive expression. It was as though he was saying that it was totally not Feihren's fault.
"Come on kid, you are not to be blamed in all this you know? When we found out that the attack was planned by the king all along, I was not surprised. Ever since he succeeded the throne we have had a rocky relationship. With all the harassment from the nobles intervening in our lands, I already expected that a day like this would eventually arrive."
The villagers all nodded in agreement.
"Come to think of it, the one on whom the blame should fall would be me. I have failed to protect the village. Even though I have been the chief for a long time, I am still no good…" A saddened expression of regret is on the old chief's face.
"Don't think like that chief! The one to be blamed is that bastard king!"
"Yeah! He's a shameless excuse for a king!"
"Old chief has always led us properly. We wouldn't have survived for this long if not for you chief!"
Tears welled up in the old man's face "Thank you, my brothers. [1]"
...
A long line of dwarves could be seen marching through the woodlands towards the foot of the mountain ranges. A huge fire could be seen on the horizon behind this trail of dwarves.
They had burnt everything left of the village, crop fields included, as if to leave no trace of their existence there.
As for Feihren's request to escort them, everyone naturally agreed.
The path to the mountain ranges from Wolfenstein kingdom isn't as perilous as some would think. In fact, according to Old Mendi himself, the area around the kingdom is safe because of knights patrolling most of the time.
Even though the eastern part of the kingdom is not as protected as the other sides, numerous adventurers venture forth and travel the eastern paths. It just so happens to be the quickest route to the Omod Continent, as well as a roundabout route going to the outer parts of Shodan Continent. The more the adventurers travel this way, the less likely that people will encounter random monster attacks, as the adventurers clear many of them out as the pass through. Bandits are another thing, but the dwarves, which are travelling in huge numbers, would not be an attractive target for these petty hoodlums.
It was eerily quiet on their first day of traveling. They had traveled a good distance at this point, and within around 4 more days they would reach the old mining area. If a small party or an individual were to travel from Wolfenstein to the mining area it would only take a day or two, but a group of more than a hundred would definitely take longer. Given that most of them are travelling on foot and the mules and carriages are carrying all the elderly, young, and injured dwarves, they would take even longer than usual.
Normally, peacefully traveling for such a long time brings a false sense of security, but for old and experienced people, such as the chief and Feihren (he's technically old, after all), all of this just heightened their alertness, thus preparing them for any trouble that would come.
The first two days of travel passed quite peacefully, not a single hint of danger could be seen along the path they have travelled. This was good in a sense, but life has always been unfair, and they knew it would balance everything out, sooner or later. So they were all prepared for when they would have to face tough consequences again.
On the third day just before sunset, the dwarves decided to camp in a conveniently open area. The plains in the vicinity provided a better view of the surroundings in comparison to the thick forest, were danger could lurk behind any of those gigantic trees. Soon enough, they have set up in a good place to camp.
But a short ways away from where they set up camp the chief saw some weird looking creatures. Upon closer inspection the old chief exclaimed in shock while revealing an excited and happy face.
"It's sentient ores!"
They were Shiny creatures standing at almost 3 meters tall. Golems with bodies made of different kinds of metals and minerals were roaming the plain in the distance.
With curiosity blooming within him, Feihren did not hesitate to ask about these odd creatures.
According to the old chief, sentient ores are non-living creatures that have absorbed pure life-force from the core of the planet. This gave the minerals the ability to move, feel, and perceive things, without them being necessarily 'alive'. These creatures are normally gentle giants, but some of them become unstable and absorb the impure life force from half of the fountain. These ones would not necessarily turn out to be so peaceful.
"You seem to be happy seeing these creatures old man. Why is that so?" Feihren asked.
"Young lad, seeing this creature here means that the mining area we had before is now alive again. It seems that the depletion we worried about back then was not permanent after all. Who wouldn't be excited about that? Being able to gather materials and ingredient for our magic equipment would mean that our village wouldn't have to suffer anymore. It would signify that we could move forward once more."
Listening to the explanation of the old man, Feihren instinctively heard a word that stood out to him the most… "Ingredient". He suddenly thought about the Demonic essence ingredient he got from the ape a while ago.
But he remembered something else as well. Back then he had also acquired some "general exp" which was granted every time he successfully killed something, including the wild boar, the Ranustin knights, and the intruders back then. Counting it all up, he has around 2,500 general exp now.
With a smiling face, Feihren inquired, "Old chief, I have a question."
"What is it young lad?"
"How do people in this world get stronger?"
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