The Author's POV

"Wow."

Standing on top of a hill, my mouth opened in amazement. The scenery I've only seen in movies and paintings was currently presented before me.

It was a lot more mesmerizing than I had ever imagined.

I could barely take my eyes away from the sight.

The mountain range revealed nature clearer than anywhere I had ever seen before.

The slight chill in the air was enough to give me a gentle shiver but not enough to find the need to cover up.

Staring into the distance, the gentle breeze coming down from the mountains tickled the trees, making their leaves shake and sway as though they were laughing.

"Is that where we're supposed to go."

Leopold asked as he pointed at the mountain range in the distance.

"It is indeed the place."

Giving a small nod, I replied.

"That over there is Henolur, the dwarven capital, and our destination."

Traversing a thousand kilometres over these past few months, we were finally close to reaching our destination.

Just like usual, we encountered a few beasts during our journey, but in general, nothing out of the norm that would result in our trip being delayed occurred.

The only noticeable delay in our journey was the Monolith incident, but it was now over.

"Huaam, I guess we can finally have a proper night sleep."

Leopold yawned and packed up the camping equipment beside him.

Turning my head, I wryly smiled.

"...not so sure about that."

"What?"

"It'll depend on our luck."

Although Henolur was generally safe and did not block humans from entering the place, that didn't mean that it was completely safe.

It was best to stay alert at all times.

"...seriously? And here I wanted to finally rest."

"Tell me about it."

Constantly watching our backs due to the threat of beasts, apart from Ryan, almost everyone here was running low on sleep.

"Ren!"

"Yes?"

Holding onto a small tablet, Ryan suddenly ran up to me.

"I've found it. I've found the entrance of the place."

"That fast?"

Because the mountain range was massive, finding the exact location of Henolur was a lot harder than originally anticipated.

Fortunately, I had Ryan with me, who could use his drones and equipment to look for the place.

Shoving the tablet in front of my face, Ryan excitedly pinched the screen and pointed towards a specific area in the mountains.

"Yes, check over here. Doesn't this look like a statue?"

"It sure does."

Because the drone was so high up in the sky, to avoid the dwarves detection, I wasn't able to see too much.

However, from what I could make out, by the side of one of the mountain ranges in the distance, there seemed to be some sort of artificial monument.

Sort of like a statue.

from the tablet, I

"Good job."

"Hehehe."

pridefully laughed at my compliment, prompting

guess he's a

a genius and acted mature at times, he was still

a simple praise and

pack up;

had arrived at

***

At the same time.

far from where

past the thick canopy of branches,

features, with fair skin, pointy ears, and stunning faces. However, there was a

Their hair.

being pure gold, though faint, had a mix

aura spread from

do?

the golden-haired

can't

of

"Correct."

starting

usual skirmishes that occurred between each bordered lengthened and the general rank

sign that the demons were preparing for

on the humans for the past week could no longer continue

...at least for now.

what should we do now? Should we let

"Mhm."

turned around

leave sooner or later. We might

***

the city that were attached to the side of the rocky

were at least several statues depicting dwarves holding onto

made me, who standing below

when I was looking at the scenery from the drone, it was only now that I was close

It was massive.

earthy and sulfur-like scent invaded my nostrils, prompting my brows to momentarily

"Uek!"

seems like I wasn't the only that didn't like the smell as Ryan grimaced and pinched his

used

the capital of the

the only city that existed in the human

that lived on

all boiled down to the fact

dwarves

smell probably originated from the natural gasses found in

front is the

asked as he tapped on my right

Turning around I reassured.

"Yup, don't worry."

before, the three races prejudice against

to their places wasn't out of the question, plus, we weren't particularly

now back in her ring form, there was no real

mean, I was pretty much the strongest of the group, and even then, I was

like we're

as he

so that's why you spent

"That's right."

ores that I had repurchased in the

I bought them was so that I

amount of metal that they went through each day to craft an artifact, ores were definitely a valuable and scarce

trade with them, we wouldn't

I looked back and warned

behind me. Let

"Okay."

nodded their heads in unison, prompting me to smile in

"Great."

below the massive gate, I spotted a group of small burly creatures holding onto large metallic barrels standing

'Are those guns?'

as I stared at

looked like