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.

the tablet, I

"Good job."

"Hehehe."

at my compliment, prompting a smile to appear

guess he's a child

though Ryan was a genius and acted mature at times, he was still a kid after

simple praise and he became so

pack up;

we had arrived

***

At the same time.

far from where they

canopy of branches, revealing the figures

ears, and stunning faces. However,

Their hair.

the elve's hair instead of being pure gold, though faint,

almost regal aura spread

we do? Should we

the golden-haired

we can't go any

it because of

"Correct."

were starting to make

that occurred between each bordered lengthened and the general rank of each

was a sign that the

such, the two elves that had been spying on the humans

...at least for now.

do now? Should

"Mhm."

elf turned

or later. We might meet them again

***

we neared Henolur, the massive stone gates of the city that were attached to the side of the rocky mountains soon appeared

least several statues depicting dwarves holding onto

imposing presence, made me, who standing below them, feel

scenery from the drone, it was only now

It was massive.

the gates of Henolur, an earthy and sulfur-like scent invaded my nostrils, prompting my

"Uek!"

like I wasn't the only that didn't like the smell as Ryan

get used

the capital of the dwarven

the only city

lived on the earth's surface,

end, it all boiled down to the fact that the temperature was the

from the earth's centre, the dwarves were

originated from the natural gasses found in the

the front

as he tapped

Turning around I reassured.

"Yup, don't worry."

I've said before, the three races prejudice against

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

ring form, there was no real need for

strongest of the

not like we're going

realization dawned on Smallsnake as he smacked the palm of

so that's why you spent so much money on

"That's right."

different ores that I

bought them was so that I could trade

that they went through each day to craft an artifact, ores were

came to trade with them, we wouldn't be

enormous gate, I looked back and warned

follow closely behind me.

"Okay."

in unison, prompting me to smile

"Great."

I spotted a group of small burly

'Are those guns?'

wondered as I stared at

sure looked