SWNOVELXO Chapter 137 - The Rite of Fire (2)
Chapter 137. The Rite of Fire (2)
Belt, who received the Bebrodron’s sacred treasure, infused his mana and tamed the hammer.
Watching him, Jade asked,
“Is it okay to decide to pledge loyalty so easily?”
At Jade’s question, I grinned.
“Jade, a dwarf’s eyes pierce through the essence. A young dwarf might not know, but Belt is a master among masters with a six-stranded beard. Naturally, he must have seen my essence and judged that it was fine to pledge his loyalty.”
Actually, it was a bit of a gamble.
Even I thought I wasn’t such an upright person.
No matter how much I tempted him by dangling the Protector of the Nation as bait, I was prepared for rejection.
If he decided not to take me as his lord, I planned to trade with him as a valued customer.
It’s not that I didn’t know the whereabouts of other dwarves, it’s just troublesome to find them.
Still, it’s fine as long as he chose me as his lord.
I’m not really that bad of a person, after all!
I was thinking that to myself, but it was being proven like this.
While nodding my head in agreement in my mind, Belt shook his head.
“No, I didn’t pledge loyalty to my lord because I saw his essence. This is the first time in my life, but I couldn’t read anything from my lord. It’s as if there’s nothing there.”
At those words, I was flustered.
“Wait, then why did you decide to become my subordinate?”
“Obviously because the conditions my lord offered were tempting.”
At those words, I was dejected.
“T-That can’t be. It wasn’t because I was a good person?”
Well, of course, that was my intention! Although that was the case!
Just because a dwarf can see the essence doesn’t mean they lack greed.
If dwarves lacked greed, Belt’s brother Carter Bifleod wouldn’t have betrayed the clan, stolen the clan’s sacred treasure, and run away.
Rather, because they know the essence of things, they are straightforward and instinctive.
They just have a somewhat pure side.
“When I can’t see anything from my lord, how can I judge my lord’s good or evil?”
As I was shocked, Belt coughed dryly and made an excuse.
“Ahem! Still, the essence of those around my lord, except for my lord’s second great-uncle, was good and pure. And above all, they respected my lord. That also had an influence on my choice.”
Excluding Adgale was probably because he was a veteran who had experienced both good and bad over the long years.
If a monster who had spent his whole life on the battlefield maintained his purity, it would be terrifying.
“…How much influence?”
“…10 percent?”
90 percent was greed!
“Tsk! It’s fine. Rather than such intangible things, a relationship where we give and take what we need is more certain.”
At my words, Belt laughed merrily.
“Ahahaha! Are you sulking? When you were begging me to become your subordinate, you seemed like an experienced and cunning merchant. My lord also has quite an childish side.”
“Enough, what about the overall opinion of the Bifleod clan?”
Belt, who had been grinning like a mischievous child, changed his expression to a serious one and took a deep breath.
“The clan leader and the council of elders demanded that my lord prove his qualifications as an ally.”
“Qualifications?”
“They want my lord to go through the Rite of Fire.”
At Belt’s words, Silua gently tugged at my sleeve.
“What’s the Rite of Fire?”
At her question, I smiled and answered.
“The Rite of Fire is, so to speak, the coming-of-age ceremony of dwarves.”
“To be precise, it doesn’t only refer to the coming-of-age ceremony. But it is mainly used for the coming-of-age ceremony.”
The coming-of-age ceremony he mentioned referred to the ceremony where a dwarf leaves the clan and is recognized as an adult by all dwarves, so there was indeed nothing more certain to gain the recognition of dwarves than the Rite of Fire.
The problem was that in the novel, the Rite of Fire only appeared as the coming-of-age ceremony of dwarves.
So I didn’t know the details either.
The only description in the novel was that the moment one lay on the altar, their consciousness was drawn into the Rite of Fire.
“Can I send a proxy?”
“Of course not.”
“Companions?”
“Others can also receive the Rite of Fire if they want to, but the festival must be undergone alone. It’s a ceremony that is also used for the coming-of-age ceremony, so there’s no way you can receive help from others, right?”
There’s no choice.
“I’d like to hear an explanation of exactly what kind of ceremony it is.”
“Even if I want to explain, it’s different for each person. In my case, it was forging a single sword in a lava zone.”
The Rite of Fire had a special power, as it was a ceremony passed down from mythical times.
In other words, if you die during the ceremony, you actually die.
“But don’t worry. You can bring spirits with you. Without the power of spirits, I would have melted in the lava during my coming-of-age ceremony.”
“That’s really a comforting thing to say.”
“I’m glad it’s comforting.”
Do dwarves not have the concept of sarcasm?
“I’m not confident in making something like a dwarf.”
“Ah, according to the records, other races are given trials befitting them. Dwarves are mainly given the trial of creating something.”
“For example?”
“Elves are given trials related to the forest, and merfolk are given trials related to the sea. There are also stories that it depends on one’s main interests or characteristics, so my lord might be given a trial related to magic or spirits.”
Silua and Jade also showed interest in Belt’s explanation.
“A trial related to magic?”
“Are there any related records?”
“I don’t know the details because I wasn’t interested. The records should be in the village.”
He brushed off the questions and sighed.
“You don’t have to accept our clan’s proposal if you don’t want to, my lord.”
“From your clan’s perspective, wouldn’t it be better for me to go through the Rite of Fire?”
Mithril veins that wouldn’t be exhausted for a thousand years were not something that could be easily found.
Of course, in the novel, it was Belt who discovered the mithril veins in my territory.
So he would have discovered it someday, but unlike in the novel, I had already become the owner of that land.
It was unknown how long it would take to discover new magical metal veins in the future.
“I know. But regardless of the reason, I pledged my loyalty to my lord, didn’t I? I can’t advise someone I’ve pledged loyalty to to take risks.”
Oh my, I like this stubborn side of him.
In fact, just gaining him could be said to have already achieved my goal.
But…
“There’s no choice. Since faith is sometimes worth more than a thousand gold, I have no choice but to endure to buy faith.”
I don’t like just talking the talk. I have to respond to sincerity with sincerity.
“My lord…!”
“Ah, but I can come out unharmed if I give up halfway through, right?”
“…No, I was about to be moved, but isn’t that question too much? My lord.”
Too much?! My safety is the top priority!
*****
Yuan, who had achieved his original goal, said he would come back tomorrow and left.
Belt prepared for the Rite of Fire and reported to the clan leader and the council of elders.
“Is this a load off my mind?”
The depletion of veins containing magical metals was an important issue for dwarves.
Moreover, the depletion had been predicted not just a day or two ago, but for decades already.
The mines of the Bifleod clan were already in a state where even if they dug up dozens of tons of land, they would only find crumbs containing less than 1 gram of mana.
The depletion had long been confirmed, but the date of closing the mine had been continuously postponed simply due to a worthless attachment.
If they could melt magical metals again and give them to young dwarves, they would have melted even their cherished masterpieces long ago.
However, once a metal had communed with a dwarf, it couldn’t commune with a young dwarf.
To be precise, magical metals that had experienced a high level of refining rejected communion with the immature skills of young dwarves.
For dwarves, refining was a ritual in itself and an act of magic.
In that sense, Yuan’s proposal was like spring rain falling on the clan’s parched land.
Even if he had demanded them to become slaves instead of subordinates, they would have immediately knelt and gladly accepted it.
“Sigh…! I never want to do this kind of bargaining again. How do human merchants do this mind-consuming thing?”
But he was an elder and an adult of the clan.
As an individual, he would have willingly accepted any treatment.
However, the subject accepting that treatment shouldn’t be the clan.
That’s why Belt attempted the bargain of his life.
He persuaded the clan leader and the council of elders to propose the Rite of Fire.
If Yuan had known, he would have burst into laughter, asking if that was also a bargain.
However, for him, who was a born dwarf, it was mentally burdensome to hide information and offer conditions.
He tried and tried again to calm his heart that was beating too hard.
The reason Belt proposed the Rite of Fire as a condition was simple.
Now, the Rite of Fire is used as a ceremony to help the coming-of-age or growth of dwarves.
However, the original purpose of the Rite of Fire was a ceremony to deceive dwarves and burn to death other races who had hostility towards them.
In the distant past, in mythical times, there were quite a few races that could deceive the eyes of dwarves that saw their essence.
If they survived, they gained the qualification to become comrades, and if they burned to death, they were considered enemies.
“I still don’t feel at ease. When the ceremony is over, I should tell the truth and ask for forgiveness.”
If he could see Yuan’s essence, there would have been no need for the Rite of Fire.
However, as Yuan escaped the fate of death, he became a being who escaped the eyes of dwarves.
Belt sighed as he stroked the hammer in his hand.
Could he really speak of good faith?
His worries only deepened.
****
“Wow, the island completely disappeared?”
The place where Precia and Adgale were sparring was an uninhabited island a short distance from the city.
They seemed to be holding back, but when two transcendents went all out, the map changed.
Now they were almost fighting on the sea.
“Are they fighting there?”
“I can definitely feel the fierce mana waves clashing there, but I can’t see it.”
Jade and Silua looked in the direction I was looking, but they couldn’t see what I was seeing.
“Really? It seems Eunha is hiding it well.”
Optical camouflage was being applied to a radius of 1 kilometer centered on the island where the two were fighting.
Of course, it was a camouflage that didn’t work on me, the contractor of the spirits.
“It’s amazing. With ordinary magic, it would be torn apart by such fierce mana waves, but there’s not even a slight tremor. Moreover, I’m trying to see through it with my magic, but it’s not easy to pierce.”
Ah, no wonder some mana was leaking out in a lump just now, it was because of Jade.
“It’s hiding well, so don’t interfere. You too, Silua, stop it, mana is leaking out.”
“Hehe!”
Silua, who had been interfering with my spirit magic following Jade, stuck out her tongue and smiled.
I let it slide because she’s cute.
I patted Silua’s head and took the lead.
“It seems like it will take a long time, so should we buy some snacks and return to the inn?”
I sent a note to Gilbert, who would be watching closely, to come to the inn when it was over.
Then, as we were heading from the outskirts of the city to the center, Jade carefully said,
“By the way, about the Rite of Fire. Won’t it be dangerous?”
At his question, I grinned.
“It will probably be dangerous.”
Belt seemed to think he was hiding it well, but he had been agitated since he mentioned the Rite of Fire.
His pupils, posture, pulse, breathing, and even the slightest movements were expressing with his whole body that he was hiding something.
I almost burst into a hollow laugh because it was so obvious.
It was natural for dwarves to be unfamiliar with lies.
When dwarves who couldn’t lie to each other lived together, the culture of lying naturally disappeared.
“Then…”
Before Jade could say anything, I put on Yard’s mask of disguise and headband to change my face and hair color.
“I have no intention of avoiding danger. But if the danger is obvious, I have to reduce the risk. Ah, keep it a secret from Precia that it might be dangerous.”
Then I entered the back door that connected to the Twilight Trading Company and presented a temporary VIP card.
We were immediately guided to the reception room. The branch manager, Zordic Defelohog, greeted us, or more precisely, me.
“Welcome, customer. What do you desire?”
Seeing the branch manager smiling brightly, I grinned.
“This time, I didn’t come to sell, I came to buy, so you can relax.”
“Ahaha! That’s a relief. What can I sell you?”
I handed catalogs to Jade and Silua and said,
“Delicious snacks, and all the information about the dwarves’ Rite of Fire. Within 2 hours.”