Vol 8 Chapter 12

The place she guided them to was in front of an iron door emitting tremendous heat.

'What's inside that makes it so hot even outside the door, like it could burn your face?'

"Open it and enter yourselves."

"Pardon?"

The dwarf made an unexpected demand while looking back at them with what seemed like a challenging expression, without opening the door.

"I said open it and enter yourselves. Everyone who comes here must do so. There are no exceptions, whether human or dragon's representative."

"...This is to test our abilities, right?"

Though Kion-hyung said this loudly enough to be heard while looking at the dwarf with a frown, her face remained cold and proud.

"If you can't even open this door, then you're not qualified to enter."

"What should we do, hyung?"

Lucrecian muttered while looking at the iron door with languid downcast eyes.

"I could melt it..."

Why does this guy only think about melting everything?

"Never mind. I'll do it."

After glancing at the dwarf who was watching them with provocative eyes, Kapros imagined swirling ice in his mind.

"Prison Strike."

Whoosh...!

As several ice chunks appeared behind his back, he could feel the hot air around them lowering from the cold they emitted. The dwarf's expression watching him also changed slightly.

"Magic...?"

'Just enough to open the door...!'

"Go."

Bang! Bang!! Bang!

As Kapros wanted, the ice chunks began hitting the iron door with just enough force to widen its gap. Though body-scorching heat poured out as the door opened, that too subsided to a bearable level when he called forth a few more Prison Strikes.

Bang!

As the final colliding ice chunk shattered, the solid iron door finally opened completely and revealed what was inside to them.

Kapros smiled inwardly with satisfaction looking at the undamaged iron door. It was always harder to achieve a goal without destroying than by destroying. This was a moment when the power control he had learned through training with Superior shone.

"You are... could it be."

Though the dwarf muttered while looking at him seriously from the side, Kapros stepped inside without paying attention.

"Hyung. I'm hot too, could you attach some more ice?"

"Kar, me too."

"Prison Strike."

Following Lucrecian's request, when Kapros called forth more ice and attached it to Kion-hyung and Lucrecian, both their expressions became comfortable.

Inside the iron door was truly a scene befitting the iron race's workshop.

In the very center was a furnace with hot molten iron boiling, and around it tools like hammers and giant tongs were scattered enough to trip over. Among mountains of iron chunks too complex to know their use, a middle-aged male dwarf wearing a mask covering his entire face raised his head while holding a hammer. Sweat poured down his bare upper body.

"...Visitors? Humans?"

Bronze eyes visible through the mask stared directly at Kapros.

"No, not just humans. You..."

"Father. These are humans who came as the Flame Dragon's representatives."

His daughter who had walked in from behind answered for them while looking at them with complex eyes.

"I tested whether they were qualified to make a request on your behalf."

"Midahan."

The man called his daughter's name with reproaching eyes.

"This was rude. It's just been so long since meeting humans. Yes, have you come to meet me as the Flame Dragon's representatives?"

"Are you the iron craftsman?"

At Kapros's question, he nodded while removing the mask on his face. The dwarf man with impressively firmly set lips that suggested extreme stubbornness looked the youngest among all the dwarves they had met so far, perhaps because he had almost no beard.

"Yes. I am the iron craftsman, Master Chemukin."

With each step taken, something inside his chest tingled as if screaming. Though he felt no pain, that made it feel even stranger. Would it feel this bizarrely if all the emotional lines extending from the heart were cut off before reaching the brain? He stopped walking briefly and pressed his chest, but again felt nothing.

At that moment, just as he heard hurried running from behind, someone roughly bumped his shoulder while passing.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The stranger quickly spat out words of apology while hurriedly moving away and disappearing, but Kapros had already staggered unsightly and fallen to the floor, having lost his support.

His cane made noisy sounds as it rolled directionlessly across the smooth marble floor. After biting his lips hard and struggling several times while supporting himself on the floor, he finally grabbed his cane and got up.

Looking around, people passing by turned their heads and quickened their steps before their eyes could meet. However, he could immediately notice the remnants of curious gazes he had always tiredly felt while walking.

"..."

His fingertips grew cold.

As he hurriedly limped across the lobby trying to escape as quickly as possible, he saw a group of people sitting and waiting in front of the pharmacy looking his way and chattering about something.

"He's limping. Something wrong with his leg."

"He looks so young, poor thing..."

The moment he heard the whispering murmurs, his dragging leg stopped abruptly.

"Look at that person."

"How pitiful."

"So pitiful."

No... that's not it. After shaking his head vigorously to shake off the voices ringing in his ears, when he looked back in that direction, he saw people focused on the drama playing on the hologram TV behind him.

They weren't looking at him. Moreover, in a lobby where dozens of people were walking around and talking noisily, there was no way he could clearly hear what a few people were saying.

Buzz buzz. Countless people he hadn't noticed until now brushed past him heading toward their own destinations.

'What foolishness...'

Only then did he realize what he had heard was an auditory hallucination from the past.

Even being generous, his face was no longer one that would be called young. He barely managed to breathe roughly while keeping his head deeply bowed. Self-loathing surged like a wave as cold sweat broke out on his forehead.