152 Memories of a former life

As she was allowed to have a small glimpse of the daily lives inside the underground city, Leilade did not waste this opportunity. She could see the relative happiness of the faces of the innocent families that were working, eating or chatting. Like nothing could happen to them, that they were completely safe. Of course, the moment they spotted her, that carefree attitude rapidly disappeared.

However, instead of some expressions of disgust, fear or terror, all she could see was surprise, curiosity and a hint of worry. Clearly, the dwarves did not have a grudge with the undead, something that could only be described as strange. The only frontier the Republic of Avenio had with the Iron Kingdom was through the lone mountain that heavily guarded. However, for all she knew from many different memories including the one of a dwarf, the fallen Kingdom of Pankow had hundreds of kilometers of ground next to the mountains. Even if it was vastly exaggerated, it could only be as low as 100, which was still a lot.

Therefore, it was virtually impossible for them to not have any interactions with the living dead from that former human nation. Remembering that even if the commandant of that outpost discriminated her because of the other undead, he did not seem to be anything else but bothered. Even the little dwarven kids only stopped after seeing her but did not run away crying. Instead of being a symbol of terror, she was more like an anomaly worthy to be inspected.

The second thing she did not expect was to see from here was far away, a ratman haggling with a merchant. Apparently, she had missed quite a few things in the mind of that dwarf. But if she had pushed things too hard, she couldn't have affirmed he would have survived. Recognizing the familiar stutter that the vermin had, she did not see anyone reacting differently. At the same time, it also explained why she could not have found any traces of ratmen inside the human nations. Because they were living peacefully amongst the dwarves.

Extending a tentacle in front of the ranger, she heard him almost having a heart attack. But she couldn't pat his shoulder either, to ask him about this. Drawing even more stares, she saw him stop and gather his breath. "Do-Don't do that. Don't do that again. Pfuuii. Hmmmmmf. Pfffui." At this point, she couldn't help but be baffled by this dwarf. She also wanted to have someone explain to her how can this terrified little mouse could be part of any army, with such a temperament.

"The ratmen. Why one is here?" Hearing this, the messenger that was guiding both intervened as Glini was still having a hard time organizing his thoughts. "Because they are more trustworthy than the current humans. After forgetting their horrible faces, their evil eyes and their putrid maws of course. But they were born like that, that was not their choice to be so bad looking."

A bit surprised to hear that, especially on a planet that hadn't even discovered space travel. Xenophobia was running rampant on such worlds, as she was certain that just the slight difference in the skin between the Synnada Empire and the Massalia Kingdom could be enough to be the origin of the war between the two. Discriminating a race because of their looks was something normal. Well, some races deserved it, like the ratmen.

"How could they be more trustworthy than all the humans?"

"I didn't say all the humans. I only talked about the remaining humans. Besides a few from Genablum. But everything will be explained to you after the king will decide what to do." Even as he was talking, his face could clearly show the disgust he felt toward the human nations.That was not something caused by just a small issue, but by something much bigger. However, since he had resumed his walk, she couldn't question him any longer. As she was now particularly interested to learn every secret they had.

Looking around her as she floated she was satisfied by the advanced technologies she was seeing. Compared to what the humans had, it was like day and night. Besides the black powder that was clearly kept secret by the dwarves, they had managed to divert an underground river and used its power to create an elevator crossing every level of the city. Of course, it was still slightly dangerous, as they never stopped and the dwarves had to jump in and out of it. Also, many slopes had been created to ease the transports of goods.

All in all, the capital had reached a satisfying state. It was not inside a cavern with a lot of open space but directly dug inside the mountain. Visibly, they were not scared of being attacked by the tunnels, but by looking attentively, one could see a few strange pillars here and there. And with the mountain used as a natural ceiling and ground, the entire city could be sealed in multiple parts in a matter of seconds.

The only thing they would have to worry is the lack of fresh air, but since she saw no one having trouble breathing, she guessed they had also fixed that. it was just a bit of a shame to not be able to see the entire city from one place, as she could hardly see anything beyond a few hundred meters in the best case. Even with the help of those lights, as her vision always ended on a stone wall.

As her sightseeing tour had finally come to an end, she was stopped right before entering an extremely impressive building. Right next to it, a small house had an iron tube directly on top of its roof, going upward and probably downward. It was obviously the emergency elevator that she had seen in the room where she had arrived. However, as her presence was not urgent, the messenger decided to walk instead of using it. Not that she complained, after all, she had learned a few things on her way.

Right in front of her, twelve dwarves were wearing mithril armors and had massive axes in her hand, made of the same metal. The shining silver color of the mithril made it easily noticeable, even compared to the purest iron. Of course, it could be another metal, but only a few were similar and she had not heard of them on this planet. From head to toe, even their beards were protected by the rare metal, but right now they did not seem to be particularly threatening.

Slowing down as he approached them, the messenger was hesitating between speaking and just walking in. Because none of the guards seemed to react to the presence of the soul behind him, he attempted to just bypass them without a word. Almost going as fast a snail, he only sighed when he finally entered. Flanking him, ten other warriors appeared to escort them to the audience room. Feeling the familiarity of the situation, her guide started walking normally once more. This time, only Glini was still slightly behind, forced to nearly run to catch up.

The room she reached was just like the ones she saw numerous times. It could even be described as humble. Even if there was some traces of gold on the throne and its surrounding, most decorations were made of iron and silver. There was also a few tapestries on the walls, showing important events in their history. One caught her eyes, as it was showing one dwarf forging an armor she had seen being pummeled down by Kardel and another one aiming with an exquisite rifle.

Strangely, she was one of the two with a golden bordure. All the others were surrounded by red. Focusing on the golden one, she saw dwarves and ratmen fighting side by side against a horde of goblins, trolls, and orcs. On the center, the king of the dwarves at that time was beheading an orc in an impressive armor. As for why she said it was the king, she could see the similarity between what the one in the tapestry was wearing and what the one seated on the throne had.

A very old dwarf was looking at her with cold eyes. His beard was completely white and clean, with a few rings on it. His crown was fused with a helmet of the same metal as the armors of the guards she had seen. Even now, it did not seem that it was peaceful but that war was happening right next to them. The very axe she had seen on the tapestry was put right next to him, and his armor was not beneath the one the Hero Ferrod possessed. In fact, this one had runes still active on it, so it could even be considered as superior.

As they were approaching and the messenger was beginning to prepare to kneel, a warrior in an equally impressive set of equipment raised his hand and stopped the three newcomers. "You stay inside the circle!" Looking downward, the messenger saw that her feet were hanging in the air right above the end of the circle. Knowing more about it that the ones he was accompanying, he only hoped they wouldn't use it, as he and Glini were carefully stepping away from Leilade.

Click

CLANK

Lifting her head, she saw numerous dwarves carrying rifles aiming at her from the above. Even worst, right above the throne, a small window appeared, showing the mouth of a cannon. Apparently, they did not take her for a harmless spirit. A few seconds later, that cannon was joined by two others, making the two dwarves next to the circle shudder in fear. She did not think the two were used to be standing on the other end of so many weapons.

FUSH

The very air around her began to vibrate, as she could sense the mana that was already quite lacking disappear completely. Finally, a very thin membrane appeared above the mark on the ground, completely trapping her. Only then did the one that raised his hand began to step back. Funnily, that was the first time since she arrived her that she was not underestimated. Even the Archmage was foolish enough to show his face directly in front of her.

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"By what name are you referred to, human specter?" The mighty voice that left the body of the king did not betray his old age, as he seemed to be as vigorous as his earlier years. Because the dwarves already had very long lives, she couldn't know precisely how many years he still had before dying of old age. Her initial guess was 20 years, but now, she thought more about 50 years.

"Leilade Octavius, Empress of the Underworld, Demonic Commandant of the Hive Sector" Now that she was searching for answers, it was no longer useful to hide things from the natives of this world. Even as she was saying this, she managed to saw the glances that were exchanged between the armored dwarf and the king. The latter waved his hand, and a civilian appeared, carrying a huge book.

Grabbing it, the old king began to open it at a precise page and read something loudly. " ... year, our allies from the Kingdom of Pankow reported the appearance of strange beings, capable of miracles and disasters. When asked to identify themselves, they claimed to be part of the Demonic Empire. Do you belong to the same empire as them?"

"Yes, I can confirm that."

"We dwarves neither forget nor forgive ... after defeating the Dark God, his last words before unleashing the terrible curse were the followed: Zärtar Kûrlam ô Jyzref. They seemed to belong to their language.What di ..." The king could not finish as he saw the previously dark soul beginning to turn white. The entire magic sphere was now completely filled with shadows, that were repeatedly hitting it. It would only be a matter of seconds before she broke that defense.

"AIM!" The commandant of the Iron Beards did not expect such a violent reaction, as they only wanted to understand the past. Because they were quite far away, they only received information from Pankow, and by the time they learned about the Dark Gods, the massacres had already started. The Age of Darkness had costed the lives of so many dwarves and they could finally close this dark chapter once and for all. However, it seemed that the demons from the present were not any less evil than the ones from the past.

CRACK

Finally, the barrier broke, only to display fully the shadows that were spreading everywhere. The unfortunate ranger that was completely stunned by this sudden turn of event could only weakly raise his arms before darkness swallowed him. Or at least, that was what he thought. After a few seconds, he finally opened his eyes, only to see a tentacle mere centimeters away from him. Everyone was standing still, waiting to see what will happen. Only to hear a slightly sad infantile voice asked a question. "Can you repeat those words?"