Chapter 146 - Meeting The King!

After watching the scene, Zion ended up concluding that the dwarfs were good at building things. It was clear after seeing the buildings at the corner of the street on either side of them. The architectural quality of the buildings was so good that a normal person would keep staring at the structures for the entire day, and not get tired!

Even a small shop proved to be good-looking because of all the carved designs. They all had either flower carved on the surface, and some even had dancing humans, animals, and even scenes depicted on the walls. Zion almost felt like he had stepped into some ancient place where things were filled with different interesting carvings.

He was pleasantly surprised by the many beautiful buildings around here. It reminded him of those ancient historical sites that had beautiful carvings. Dwarves had been similarly good at all of it, and he could tell that they were excellent architects just by looking at their work.

Martin's voice echoed in the background. "The dwarves weren't always the architects. They were commoners when the war hadn't happened yet."

Zion raised his brows when he suddenly realized that this man was talking about the time when the war hadn't happened between the people of different races.

The dhampir soldier continued. "They didn't have any distinct quality that could separate them from others, but during the war, the first king of the dwarves showed immense talent at building things. Whether it was an aircraft for the elves to fly while channeling energy, or something else, the dwarves excelled at everything. So after the war, the dwarves signed a peace treaty, but at the same time, they also secretly decided to sell their services to survive in this world. Typically, they made architecture their brand."

Zion nodded at this new information and didn't say anything else. After this, neither of them conversed, and Martin led them in a carriage that was driven by the horses. Even though the dwarves looked like they were small humans, the horses were of the bigger size. So it was difficult for the dwarves to walk around riding a horse. Unless it were a smaller-sized thing, the dwarves liked to travel inside the carriage.

At this moment, Martin and Zion found a carriage, and the two of them sat behind it after asking permission of the owner. Then, they traveled from the border city toward the main city of this kingdom. On the way, they were able to witness many things, and one of the prominent aspects that attracted the detective's attention was the theatre show all across the kingdom.

Every city had a theatre group of their own, and they would perform some historical events. Sometimes, he would even see some little dwarves dressing up as elves and other beings he hadn't met yet for the sake of the storyline. Since they were still traveling, Zion couldn't see the drama that was performed at the latest theatre group they witnessed at the corner of the street.

After what felt like hours, they finally reached the main city. It had been half a day since they traveled with the help of the carriage at medium speed. After reaching the main city, both of them got off the carriage and headed straight toward the office. Both Martin and Zion knew why they had come to this city in the first place: To get as much help as they could to rescue the dhampir princess.

Of course, Zion's motive was a bit different, but superficially, he still looked like he wanted to rescue Lia who was still sleeping in that secret room back then. He did want to save her in a way, but his first priority was to solve the cases and think of his survival.

After a long time of walking, waiting, more walking, more waiting, they finally ended up meeting the official in the courtroom that was in charge of seeing the cases Martin and Zion were travelers, the officials gave them the first priority this time. So that was how they ended up meeting the officials within just forty-eight hours.

After that, Zion managed to stand in the background while letting the dhampir soldier do all the work. At this time, he just wanted to let Martin move around in this city until he could figure out what would be the next case. The system still hadn't initiated any notification to him, which means he hadn't stepped into the scene of the crime yet.

But Zion still couldn't lower his guard just yet. His glance darted toward the dwarf that had just entered the scene. At this moment, they were sitting inside a room with paintings on the wall. This room had a table at the center while they were both sitting down on the ground. Even the clothes that the dwarf official wore seemed similar to that of an ancient Chinese man who looked small.

The man sat in front of Martin and bowed before saying, "Have you had refreshments yet?"

Martin smiled and nodded before returning that bow respectfully. "Yes, thank you for your hospitality."

"My pleasure." The dwarf smiled and said, "What brings you here, gentleman?"

"Actually, we need to have an audience with the king. This is an urgent issue."

After hearing those words, the man's expressions changed multiple times before he forced a smile and said, "The king is busy. If you have anything else, please do tell us."

Martin shook his head and said, "No, I only wanted to see the king for an urgent issue. There's nothing anyone can do except for him."

The dwarf looked like he was in a dilemma. His lips pursed as if he were thinking about something then he sighed softly and said, "To be honest, the king isn't available right now. He's kind of busy with….official things."

Zion noticed this unusual pause that the man-made and narrowed his eyes. It seemed that this official dwarf was almost embarrassed after mentioning how the king was busy. But why would someone be embarrassed while mentioning their king unless….

Before Zion could finish his thoughts, Marti stood up and said, "Then, we will come back again."

The official's shoulders that had relaxed tensed again at Martin's words. Then he waved his hand and said hurriedly, "No need. You can enjoy our best hotel for free for an entire week! Just don't ask about his majesty. We will inform you once he's available!"

Then, the dwarf literally escaped the scene with an awkward expression on his face.

Interesting. It seemed that the king of dwarfs wasn't a good person, and often seemed to be doing time pass in the name of official work. And it also seemed that this official knew all about the things the king was busy with, and that was what made him embarrassed. Zion ended up concluding with this theory behind the dwarf official's behavior. Otherwise, why would he become embarrassed once Martin mentioned a word about meeting the king? It couldn't be that the king had died all of a sudden and this dwarf was trying to cover up the traces of the murder, could it?

It would be too absurd if this were the criminal case, but Zion didn't think so. He merely thought that the king of dwarfs was just a lazy person who didn't want to do anything useful all day long.

When the two of them walked out, Martin sighed and said, "I just knew this would happen. We shouldn't have come here to see the king of dwarfs. That guy has a foul image spread across the kingdoms of the world."

Zion raised his brows. So it looked like his hypothesis was correct. Still, he pretended to be surprised and asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice, "What do you mean by that?"

"Zion, you see, not all the kings are like the late his majesty. And not everyone is as diligent as her highness, Lia Vanne." Martin sighed again and said, "The king of dwarfs is famous for being notorious. On one hand, he would use the powers at his hand for wrongdoings, and on the other hand, he would play with girls of all races. If the officer says that the king is busy, I can almost imagine him spending his time watching a bunch of girls from foreign kingdoms dancing in front of him."

"Then, what should we do?" Zion asked tentatively. He didn't want to leave just yet, not without knowing what his first case was!

Martin's lips pursed as he thought for a while then he sighed again for the third time. "We'll spend a few days here. I'll look for the king again. If he still hasn't come to his senses, we will leave." He paused and looked at the sky. To be honest, I came here to this kingdom because the king of dwarfs was easier to manage as compared to others. But we don't have all the time in the world. So if the king doesn't see us on an urgent basis within a week, we will have to leave this place."