Chapter 49: A Difficult Road Home 1

“No need to thank me, sir!”

With no other choice, Kent bent awkwardly at the waist and returned Hark’s father’s embrace.

The difference in height made the whole thing terribly uncomfortable, and Kent nearly twisted his back in the process.

“Kent, this is my father, Dex. This is my mother, Kris, and this is Hani’s mother, Nancy,” Hark introduced enthusiastically from the side. “Father, this is Kent. He’s a Level-One fire mage—and he’s also the man who saved my life.”

Only then did Kent take a proper look at Hark’s father.

Dex had an enormous fiery-red beard that almost reached his waist. Unlike Hark, he wore no armor at all. His head was completely bald and gleamed faintly in the candlelight. On his upper body he wore nothing more than a sleeveless shirt, while a pair of short leather trousers covered his lower half. His feet were clad in boots made from the hide of some unknown beast.

Every muscle exposed beyond his clothing had a bronze-like sheen beneath the candlelight.

To Kent, however, the dwarf looked rather like a solid block of muscle.

Appearances aside, Kent could clearly sense that Dex was far stronger than he was. An immense amount of energy seemed to be contained within that short, thickset body.

Before long, Dex enthusiastically dragged Kent over to the dining table.

The candles inside the house were apparently made from the fat of some kind of beast. They burned extraordinarily slowly, yet gave off an astonishing amount of light. In Kent’s eyes, each candle was nearly as bright as a forty-watt electric bulb.

The furnishings inside the house were surprisingly comfortable.

There was a heavy stone table surrounded by stone chairs, and the tableware was made of silver. Soft animal hides had been spread over the seats, making the otherwise hard stone chairs remarkably comfortable to sit on.

The floor itself was stone as well, but it had been polished until it was perfectly smooth.

The temperature underground was also unexpectedly pleasant—not too hot and not too cold.

By the time Kent sat down, the table was already covered with food.

There was freshly roasted meat, wine brewed from some unknown plant, a steaming bowl of mushroom soup, a whole grilled fish, and several unfamiliar brown fruits.

“Kent, you have to try our boneless fish,” Dex said enthusiastically as he ate in enormous mouthfuls.

“This kind of fish doesn’t have a single bone in its entire body. It only lives in the hot springs near the volcano, and it’s extremely difficult to catch.

“And try this fruit too. We call it the flowerless fruit. It grows on vines rooted in volcanic ash. You can see the fruit when it ripens, but no one ever sees the plant bloom...”

Dex continued introducing one dish after another while eating heartily.

Kent had already eaten some roasted meat earlier, so he was not particularly hungry anymore. Instead, he drank some wine, tasted the fish, and tried one of the fruits.

To his surprise, the food of the underground world had a distinctive flavor of its own.

The boneless fish was tender and delicate, its flesh almost melting in his mouth. The flowerless fruit had a pleasant balance of sweetness and tartness.

The wine was a little weak for Kent’s taste, but it carried a unique herbal fragrance that made it surprisingly enjoyable.

After the meal, Kent waited until he found a suitable opportunity.

Hark and his two brothers had gone off to help their mothers with some work, leaving only Daphne and Dex with him.

Kent lowered his voice and asked,

“Uncle Dex... is there really no way out of the Underdark?”

Dex froze for a moment when he heard Kent’s question.

He turned his gaze toward the buildings outside, their stone walls bathed in the reddish glow of distant firelight, and let out a long, weary sigh.

“Who among us doesn’t want to leave?”

His voice had grown unusually quiet.

“Returning to the surface is the lifelong dream of almost everyone in the Underdark. But the road our ancestors used to come down here was severed long ago. Unless someone reaches Level Ten—the Legendary rank—there may be no way to cross back to the surface at all.

“For generations, our fathers have told their children the same thing: if one day you ever see the sun, take our ashes with you and scatter them across a land covered in green grass.”

Dex stared into the distance as he spoke.

“We want to see the legendary twin stars. We want to see the sun with our own eyes, to look upon towering trees, and to watch cattle and sheep running across open fields.

“But we can’t get out.”

A trace of bitterness entered his voice.

“A few thousand years ago, there were still people willing to try. Now, no one even bothers anymore. Everyone knows that attempting it only means throwing away your life for nothing.

“Of course, we dwarves don’t mind living underground as much as the others. We’ve always liked caves.”

Dex gave a faint, bitter smile.

“But even so... I’d still like to taste a mug of that legendary ale from the surface.”

By the time he finished speaking, tears were already streaming down the face of the dwarf who was more than a hundred years old.

Kent remained silent until Dex had gradually calmed himself.

Only then did he carefully ask, “Uncle Dex... what exactly happened? If people were able to come down here, why can’t anyone go back the same way?”

Dex lifted his cup and took a long drink before answering.

“There’s a canyon.”

His expression became serious.

“It’s so deep that no one knows where the bottom is, and it’s enormous—probably around five kilometers across.

“But the width isn’t even the real problem.

“The real problem is the wind.”

Kent frowned.

Dex continued, “Terrifying gales tear through the canyon constantly, and they carry enormous rocks with them. Those aren’t ordinary winds. They’re astral winds—powerful enough to cut through steel.”

He paused before going on.

“There used to be a magical teleportation array there. But our ancestors destroyed it themselves.

“During the escape into the Underdark, nearly all of the high-level alchemists who understood teleportation arrays were killed. After that, no one was able to rebuild it.

“And there are almost no flying magical beasts underground. The few that do exist are creatures like fire phoenixes and black dragons.

“But black dragons and fire phoenixes love magma more than anything. They have no reason to leave this place. And no warrior has ever managed to obtain one of their offspring, raise it, and use it to escape to the surface.”

“A spatial teleportation array...”

Kent gave a bitter smile.

“There aren’t many of those even on the surface.”

He understood just how serious the problem was.

A teleportation array required a high-level alchemist specializing in spatial magic to construct it. Even ordinary high-level spatial mages were so rare that they could practically be counted on one hand, let alone high-level spatial alchemists.

There might not even be one left in the entire world.

As for the astral winds Dex had mentioned, Kent had never personally seen them before, but he knew what they were.

They were not merely ordinary air currents, but a form of violent energy capable of slicing through steel with ease.

Crossing such a canyon would require protection against both the winds themselves and the enormous stones carried within them.

Only powerful high-level magical beasts were likely to possess the natural abilities needed to survive something like that.

Still, another question immediately occurred to Kent.

If escaping the Underdark was so difficult, then why had all these races come down here in the first place?

Dex drained another large mouthful of wine.

“It’s not exactly something we’re proud of,” he said.

“All of us are descendants of those who fled underground during the War of Gods and Demons ten thousand years ago.

“Before that war, the Underdark was actually an adventuring ground. Countless mercenaries, warriors, and mages came down here in search of treasure and opportunity.

“The Underdark is incredibly rich in mineral resources, and there are also many rare magical beasts here that simply don’t exist on the surface.

“Then the War of Gods and Demons began.

“More than half of the races on the surface were wiped out. So people who were afraid of dying fled underground. Others were defeated soldiers and survivors from shattered armies.

“In the end, even the teleportation arrays connecting the Underdark to the surface were destroyed.”

Kent’s expression changed slightly.

He had heard of the War of Gods and Demons long ago, but he had never truly understood what had happened.

Bards had countless stories about it—probably more than a hundred different versions—and hardly any two accounts agreed with each other.

Now that Dex had brought it up himself, Kent immediately seized the opportunity.

“Then what exactly happened during the War of Gods and Demons?”

Dex shook his head and sighed.

“I don’t really know either.

“It happened ten thousand years ago. How could records from that long ago possibly preserve every detail?”

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Dex looked at Kent with renewed curiosity.

“By the way... what is the surface world like now?”

Kent then gave Dex a detailed account of everything he knew about the surface world.

At some point, Daphne, Hark and his two brothers, as well as Hark’s two mothers, had all gathered around to listen. Every one of them paid close attention as Kent described the world above.

Looking at the hope shining in Hark’s and Daphne’s eyes, Kent could clearly sense just how deeply these people longed for the surface—a homeland they knew only through stories passed down from their ancestors.

“Dong... dong... dong...”

Several deep, muffled booms suddenly echoed through the city, breaking everyone out of their thoughts.

Kent turned toward the door in confusion.