Chapter 124 – An Underground City!?

“It’s huge.”

Melk said as she looked up at the giant gate at the foot of the mountain.

The gate was made of copper plates that were polished until they shone like gold.

It was wide enough for two carriages to pass through at the same time, and three times taller than a human.

This was where the dwarf cave had originally been.

Back then, it really had been just a natural cave.

“I would never have thought that something like this would be…”

I had always been impressed with the foundry skills of the dwarves, but I didn’t know that they were this good.

As someone who also handled metal, I understood just how difficult it would have been to create copper plates of that size.

At least I had magic workshop, but they had made these with their own tools.

“Never underestimate a dwarf.”

“Ah, it’s Joshua!!”

A girl with black hair appeared at the gate.

It was Ymir the dwarf.

“Ah, Ymir. We came at once.”

“We were waiting! Now, I shall guide you to your room.”

“Aye, thank you.”

And so we followed Ymir and entered the cave.

At the entrance, there were many dwarves carrying wooden boxes and barrels in and out.

I had seen some of it from outside, but there were dwarves who hunted, cut down trees, and gathered as well.

It seemed that after gathering these resources, they would store them in a great chamber near the entrance.

“Woah. It’s a big storage room.”

We stopped and looked inside.

It looked like the kind of huge storage rooms you would see in large port towns. And it was reinforced with metal pillars and arches.

“Huh. How interesting.”

“So even you are surprised by this place, Sir Joshua?”

“Aye. This place will not collapse very easily now. I should take notes.”

I couldn’t help but inspect the structure of the pillars and beams carefully.

And then after some time, Melk’s voice rang.

“Joshua. Joshua… You finally heard me.”

“Huh? Uh, ah…”

Apparently, I had been so focused that I couldn’t hear Melk’s voice.

I suppose I could take my time and inspect everything later…

“Sorry, Ymir. Could you continue to lead the way?”

“Of course. The room is not far, so you can look at everything afterward.”

So saying, Ymir started to walk through the cave.

The passage in the cave went downwards like a slope. It was narrower than the entrance, just wide enough for a carriage to pass through. And the height was about the same as well.

However, as we continued to descend, we suddenly came out into a wide open area.

“This place… What?”

I was at a loss for words at the sight in front of me.

It was a vertically long chamber. Like the ground had been carved out in the shape of a cylinder.

As for its size, you could fit a lake inside.

There was a stone staircase that spiraled down alongside the walls, and the center of it was all open air.

The lowest floor looked like it would be about twenty beters below us. However, I could also see that they were still digging.

“Ymir… Was this place like this before?”

“Of course, not. We dug all of it. With tools that you made, Joshua.”

“You dug all of this…”

Indeed, they had brought great quantities of ore and stone materials to us in Fendel village.

So it made sense that they had dug this far down.

“Oh, so you are surprised! That means we dwarves have done something quite impressive! Well, if you add all of the horizontal passages as well, we’ve dug twice as much as this! Ahahaha!”

Ymir said boastfully.

They had worked so hard, that it was only right for them to be proud. Humans would have taken years to accomplish the same thing.

“Well, it really is amazing. It’s like a city. Does it have a name?”

“A name?”

“Like Fendel, Varthburg or White Sand Island. All the other demihuman villages have names.”

“In that case…It shall be called Ymirdia!”

Ymir said immediately. And then Melk muttered.

“Are you allowed to make that decision?”

Ymir said with a laugh, and then she pointed to a hole in the wall.

“Now, here is the place that you will be staying.”

So the hole was the entrance to our room.

There was an even larger hole above the first one.

And since there was a railing, it was probably like a terrace.

When we followed Ymir inside, the first thing that appeared in front of us was a beautiful fountain.

It was made of marble and decorated with statues.

This was the entrance, and there were doors in the walls. And I also saw a staircase that led to the terrace on the second floor.

“This is where you will all be staying. Choose any room that you like! They are all furnished with beds and furniture.”

“This feels like a luxurious inn… Uh, thank you. Mette and the others are supposed to arrive in the evening, but they should have no trouble fitting in here.”

“After all, it’s big enough to house thirty people.”

“In that case, let us go and investigate the noise next. Ymir, will you take us there?”

“Leave it to me!”

And so we left the inn and descended the spiral staircase.