Iris and I have reached the entrance to the Kokkoro mine, and I make sure to check the measuring instrument.
There are no irregularities in its values. Both the pressure and temperature are fine, and the values of the magic energy in the cave are about a hundred or so.
It doesn’t look like there’s any trouble in the mine.
“Let’s just go in then. ♪”
We do just that, and by using the light magic spell Shine, visibility here is good.
I’ve been here a few times at this point, so I know my way around, and I get to have a good look around while walking.
As we continue walking through the passage, three kobolds appear from the front. This passage is wide, so they come at us at the same time.
But just as I’m raising my staff to deal with them, Iris silently stops me with her hand.
“Mister Loyd, can you leave this to me? I want to get used to fighting in the mine.”
She says after I turn my head towards her.
She’s serious. I can really tell she wants to match people’s expectations and wants to help.
And since I have to reason to say no, I leave the kobolds to her.
She uses the high rank spell Ice Spears, and pulverizes the kobolds.
Not bad. She immediately broke the rules of the mine.
“Iris, if you use high rank magic or above, you could cause the mine to collapse, so you can’t use it.”
“Is that so? I’m sorry.”
“It’s not that dangerous since we’re still near the entrance, but be careful next time.”
“Yes!”
Iris responds loudly.
She has her air-head moments, so it could be dangerous if I don’t keep an eye on her at the start.
We keep going, and pass by a floor where bloody melons are growing.
Bloody melons are plants that are like cacti with a purple exterior. People hesitate to approach them because they look sinister, but the fruit is sweet and tasty.
As the name implies, they taste like melon. They’re pretty much just melons that can be harvested in a dark cave.
The dwarves are mining somewhere else, so we were planning to come here after the negotiations, but since it just happens to be harvest time, I wanted to check them out.
If we have time after the negotiations, I want to pass by here again.
We keep walking until we reach the mining area, which is a wide open floor with a seemingly endless spiral hole. It feels like it would suck me in just by looking at it.
The sense of time can get fuzzy inside the mine, so people work like normal even when it’s dark outside.
I can see about fifty dwarves. The sun would go down before I was finished if I tried talking to them one at a time, so I want to negotiate with all of them at once.
Dwarves don’t really have a vertically structured society to the same degree as humans, but they still have a tendency to listen to their boss.
Now the issue is what this boss thinks of humans. From what I’ve seen of the dwarves after the sandworm incident, they don’t appear to hate humans or anything, so I can hope it goes well.
“Let’s look for their boss first.”
“Yes. Do you know what the boss looks like?”
“Unfortunately, I’ve never met him.”
“Oh dear. Then we just have to ask one at a time.”
And we do just that.
“You’re the man from that time. Hi again. You’re not with that strong lady today?”
“Are you the dwarf that guided us to the third floor?”
“Gahaha, you got that right.”
I’ve just noticed this is the dwarf from my promotion test. His face is completely black from the sand on the rock wall, and he’s laughing heartily while putting the pickax that’s about as big as him on his shoulder.
“What’s your business here today?”
I tell him about the Luminous farm.
“I’ll talk to the elder then.”
“Eh? Are you sure?”
“You helped us out last time. We dwarves never forget a favor.”
The dwarf in front of me is immediately willing to help.
They’re famous for having a strong sense of duty, so he might be feeling deep gratitude from last time.
“Thank you very much.”
Iris and I thank the dwarf for his cooperation.
“I’ll take you there right away. Follow me.”
The dwarf takes us to a tunnel in the mining area. It looks like this is where they sleep.
There we see an elderly dwarf. He’s a little smaller than the rest, and he has a bushy white beard.
“Are you the boss of the dwarves?”
Asks Iris.
“Yes, I am the elder. What is it you want with me, young humans?”
He says with a voice dripping with solemnity.
The dwarf that brought us here steps forward and explains.
“What!? You want not just one or two, but all the dwarves working in the mine!? What a bold thing to ask, human!”
The elder is surprised, but quickly laughs and accepts.
I was a bit surprised when the dwarf asked if I could borrow all the dwarves too, but apparently this is the perfect way to explain things to the elder. Now he’s treating us as ‘hearty humans’ that dwarves like.
“That’s good, Mister Loyd. We have the cooperation of the elder.”
“Yes. I’m glad he’s nice.”
Iris and I are both full of smiles.
Then the elder calls everyone, and talks about the Luminous farm.
“Elder, I object!”
Most dwarves are on board, but some not so much. Needless to say, much like humans, not all dwarves have the same character.
“Tell me why.”
The elder says with a stern tone.
“We dwarves value strength! Like, my name is power!”
I don’t get it, but it sounds like I need to show strength to get them to cooperate.
“Hm, I believe he showed said power when the sandworm appeared. Is that not enough?”
Asks the elder while stroking his long beard.
“It’s not about beating a sandworm, it’s about beating the sun dwarf. I won’t know until we go head to head.”
Says a dwarf while removing his shirt and showing off his back muscles to me for some reason.
“Wah, that dwarf has nice back muscles!”
Iris gives a standard response. I guess she likes muscular guys too.
“I’ve been training them everyday through work. I’m not gonna lose to some human mage.”
The half naked dwarf changes his pose after being praised by Iris, who claps with a smile.
“Good grief. Loyd, correct? Can you just go along with him? This guy’s brain is made of muscle.”
The elder is exasperated by the half naked dwarf, and asks if I can fight him.
“I don’t mind, but how exactly do we settle this?”
“It has to be through dwarven wrestling.”
“Dwarven wrestling? What’s that?”
I’ve never heard of this. Sounds like a pretty obscure sport.
I ask Iris, but she’s never heard of it either.
“The rules are very simple. You clash in a circle, and whoever steps out of it loses.”
Says the elder. So I guess we have to push the opponent out.
“And by the way, I’m the dwarven wrestling world champion.”
Brags the half naked dwarf.
“But isn’t Loyd at a slight physical disadvantage like this?”
“Nevermind that, I’ve never even done this before.”
“You can use support magic as a handicap.”
Says the champ with confidence.
That’s fair then. I accept.
I immediately cast Grow and step into the circle, where the champ is already waiting.
“Hakkeyoi! Nokkota!”
Yells the referee, and the match is underway.
“Here I go! Dwarven hundred fist! Atatatatatatatatata!”
The champ yells while vigorously swinging his arms.
My kinetic vision is improved while Grow is active, so I can calmly block the attacks with my palms.
“W-wow! He’s blocking the champ!”
“And he looks really calm too.”
“Muscle characters really are terrible. Nowadays it’s best to have strengthening magic to buff yourself!”
I can hear the dwarves’ impressions.
Can you really abandon your character quirks for such a haphazard reason?
The champ sees his attacks are all being blocked, and breathes heavily, looking pretty tired.
“I was kinda looking down on you ’cause you’re human, but you’re pretty good. Then take my strongest technique! Dwarf tackle!”
The champ charges forward, so I dodge to the right.
“Whoa!?”
I actually got close to the edge without him noticing, so after being dodged, the champ completely loses his posture.
He manages not to fall, but he’s in a very precarious position. I push his back, he loses his balance, and falls out of the circle.
“Loyd wins!”
The mining area breaks out in cheers, and Iris claps with joy.
“That’s our Mister Loyd. Using the opponent’s power against him like that was brilliant.”
Iris gives me high praise.
Even the defeated champ looks moved, and gracefully accepts his loss.
“Kuh, I lost. I’ll do what you say. A strong guy like you could even have my daughter! Kuh, take her you thief!”
I have no intention of taking the champ’s daughter, but I guess that’s how much he values my power.
Now that I have the elder on my side and proof of my strength, we’re done convincing the dwarves for the time being.
Iris thanks the elder, and we leave.
On the way back, we check out the bloody melons.
Iris is curious, because she never saw them before today.
“Ou, they’re looking good.”
The plants are all purple and about a meter long, growing from the ground like cacti.
There are needles the size of my index finger on them, so I hesitate to touch them directly.
These bloody melons don’t attack, but people can get hurt big time if they touch them carelessly.
“Mister Loyd, what are these creepy plants?”
Iris isn’t trying to get close.
“Bloody melons. They’re rare, but really tasty.”
“Do they taste like melon?”
“Let’s taste them and find out.”
I cut the needles with wind magic, and harvest a bloody melon.
It has an elliptic shape, and it’s big enough that I have to carry it with both hands.
I put it on the ground and cut it with a knife, revealing the red flesh of the fruit inside.
“It’s such a vibrant red. Is that why it’s called bloody melon?”
“Yes. But it’s not blood, so don’t worry.”
“Got it.”
I cut it into eight pieces, and put it on plates.
Since there are needles on the surface, it’s common to eat them with a fork on plates like this.
“Try it, Iris.”
“Thank you.”
Iris takes a bite.
“I thought it was a frightening plant at first, but it does taste like melon.”
Sounds like she really likes it, so I take four more and put them in the item box.
Maybe I’ll try to cook something with them once we get back to the village, is what I think while we leave the Kokkoro mine.
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