Immortal's Ascending Path - 38
Episode-38. A Transmitter from the Mountain Pass
Didn't you say you melted it?
In Roberta's memory, Ulrich said this:
"I melted the emperor's crown that the Pantheon gave me and made the crown of Osnover."
While pretending to wipe the raindrops from her eyes, Roberta studied Ulrich's expression. He raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth slightly. At first glance, he looked surprised.
'Acting,' she was sure. Unlike others, he was not a person who clearly revealed his expressions. He was pretending to be surprised because he was acting as Armin.
"Did you say there was a problem with the crown?"
As if to support her conviction, Ulrich's tone was calm.
"I heard the story from a human who attended the coronation. He told me the shape of the crown. But, it was too different from the shape of the crown I made."
'It has to be different,' the words came up to her throat. Roberta tried hard to swallow the words.
"That crown is quite special. I wouldn't care so much if it were another object, but that one must not have any problems."
That's why he came to find out the reason, he revealed.
"So, I have a favor to ask. Aren't you going to Icelandburg too?"
Ulrich nodded.
"There's no reason not to join you on the same path."
"Thank you. I will repay you separately."
While answering that there was no need, Ulrich drove the horse. The dwarf walked side by side on the left. Even though his height was short and his stride was short, the dwarf's pace was fast and he didn't fall behind.
#
Three humans and one dwarf soon entered a house. The land rose in a place a little away from the river, and there was a shrine on it. It was a house dedicated to Nenus, the god of the sea.
It was a house, but of course no one lived there. It was a building built by individuals or local communities in the hope that the river would not overflow. There was only a statue of Nenus in a small room, and it was suitable for four people to escape the rain.
When they found the shrine, the rain was pouring down like a waterfall. Even though it was five days until tomorrow, the rain did not weaken, but became stronger with each step. The wind also started to blow, and they couldn't lift their faces because it was blowing from the front.
The horses kept turning their bodies, trying not to go against the wind. From time to time, thunder even struck, doubling the commotion, so when the shrine was visible on the hill, no one said a word and climbed up.
"I hope the river doesn't overflow because of this?"
Fritz asked while tying the horse to the entrance of the shrine.
"Well, it might. We'll have to pay close attention to the night too."
Toruhal stood at the entrance of the shrine and grumbled, looking out at the river. It was because the hill they were on was not very high. If the river overflowed, there was a risk of it being submerged.
The four people stood still for a long time. No one spoke, listening to the sound of the pouring rain. Only Roberta moved her position in between.
She looked outside with them, then put her hands together and prayed to the statue of Nenus in the middle of the room. Since it was staying in Nenus' territory, she performed a simple ritual of apology and gratitude.
And when she came back, Toruhal muttered.
"It's lonely. Why don't we talk?"
Fritz glanced at Roberta and Ulrich.
"Then, um······."
"Yes, yes, ask me anything."
"Toruhal-nim said you came from a place called Peyra Mountain Pass, right?"
"That's right."
"Where is Peyra located?"
The dwarf, who was yawning as if he was bored to death, stopped.
"Peyra? I didn't expect you to ask that."
"Ah… Did I ask something wrong?"
Saying that it wasn't, Toruhal shook his head.
"I thought you guys would know since that young human friend named Armin knows."
He scratched his neck.
"Well, in fact, it's natural not to know. You humans are not interested in us, are you?"
Toruhal sat in front of the statue of Nenus, took out a pipe tobacco from his backpack, and lit it. When he blew out the smoke long and several times through his nose and mouth, the inside of the shrine became foggy as if it were foggy.
"Peyra is a very distant mountain pass to the southeast based on this place. How far is it? I have to walk for a year to reach it."
"A year? You came from a very far place."
"It's like the end of the world, though not as much as this Osnover."
While muttering the words 'end of the world,' Fritz's eyes lit up. The adventurous spirit in the boy's heart seemed to be stimulated, and he sat in front of the dwarf.
"What is it like there?"
"No matter what you say, people live there. The area around Peyra Mountain Pass is all mountains. It's just one of the countless mountain passes between countless mountains. And these mountain ranges intertwined are called Esta-Mauneto."
He added that it was a name that combined the Esta Mountains and the Mauneto Mountains. Roberta, who was listening from the side, nodded her head a few times without saying a word.
Esta-Mauneto was a mountain range near the end of the world, as Toruhal said. If the Ice Peninsula was the northern end, it could be exaggeratedly called the southern end.
It was not the Demon Realm, but it was a land where humans did not live. Because it was so close to the sky, even humans with mana would clutch their chests.
"It's not a very good place to live. It's a harsh land for you humans as well as for us dwarves. It's a paradise compared to the Ice Peninsula right above Ditmarsken."
"Is there a place worse than that?"
"I don't think so."
Toruhal chuckled and smoked his pipe tobacco repeatedly.
"The next question is why do you live in such a place, right?"
Fritz smiled awkwardly.
"There are many reasons. First, one is that humans don't come because it's such a place. And the second is that the ore veins are extremely rich, and the third is that Selim led us there."
Selim?
Roberta blinked at the suddenly appearing name.
That name was Ulrich's old name. He had bought a group of elves who had been sold as slaves and moved them to the desert far to the east, he had told her.
That name came out of the dwarf's mouth as well. Also, like the elves, Selim moved them to the mountains far to the south, Toruhal said. She turned her head to look at Ulrich.
Ulrich was standing at the entrance of the shrine with her. However, unlike her, he was looking outside, not inside. He heard the name Selim, and he would have noticed Roberta's gaze, but he did not react.
"Selim, if it's······."
"Judging by your reaction, it seems you've heard of him."
The boy nodded. Like her, he had a slightly surprised expression.
Selim, the first person to mention that name to her was Count Willem. The boy, Willem's fourth son, would have heard the story involving the elf Yudevora and the Milim Kuiania.
"Yes, I've heard of him. He moved the elves to Kuiania."
For a moment, his pupils trembled. He seemed to be suppressing the urge to turn his gaze to Ulrich without realizing it. Roberta noticed it, but Toruhal did not notice and took the words.
"Dwarves are also one of the groups he saved."
"Are you saying that he… saved other races?"
"Not to the extent of a race. Just a part. A group that became slaves."
The dwarf said. There was a time of great social chaos during the era of the second human empire, the Istrian dynasty, and at that time, a human named Selim bought them.
"You humans say that you have opened three eras so far. Among them, in the second era, there was a time when races other than humans were greatly discriminated against. It's probably in the scriptures of the Public Church as well."
Roberta nodded when she received Toruhal's gaze.
It was an incident that the scriptures referred to as the hunting of other races.
Unlike the first empire, which was a human empire but achieved integration without discriminating between races, the second empire suffered from discord until the moment it collapsed.
It was the result of not narrowing the gap between humans who could not live for more than a hundred years and races who lived for hundreds or thousands of years if short. The scriptures call it hunting, but the following content was a civil war. Until then, no forces existed outside the empire.
"According to the literature, Selim was a person from that time."
It was a time when other races were defeated, and only forces that had sworn allegiance before the civil war remained. Other races besides them became slaves, and the market was overflowing with slaves, so the price plummeted, and even if you sold ten slaves, you couldn't buy a horse.
"He's a strange person. No matter how much I search, there's nothing before the record of him appearing in the slave market. So much so that there are groups who claim that it's a fabrication using that as an excuse."
He added that he was like a person who fell from the sky.
One day. A man named Selim visited a slave market held in a large city. He was naturally human, and he was said to be a very wealthy merchant.
"He said he would buy the slaves in the auction house. When the merchant asked how many slaves a merchant would buy, he replied that he would buy them all. The literature says that he bought all the items in that city that day."
There is still slave trading now, but in those days, slave trading was more common than it is now, so the number of slaves was very large. But when Selim bought the slaves, supplies ran out in several regions.
"He didn't discriminate against the race, age, or gender of the slaves. He bought dwarves, elves, races treated as monsters, and humans, and he also bought slaves who were old or disabled and were about to be disposed of. He took in all the slaves. It is said that wherever he went, only nobles and free people remained as if a decree of slave liberation had been issued."
Roberta and Fritz remained silent.
And Selim got a carriage, loaded the slaves, and even got food for them to eat, and then led the slaves. He headed to a land with little influence from the Istrian Empire, a land abandoned by humans. That place was the Kuiania jungle and the Esta-Mauneto Mountains in this era.
"It's the same reason why our dwarves settled in those mountains and those long ears settled in the jungle. He liberated us and said. As long as you protect this foundation, you will never be slaves again."
Their group did not leave their base as he said. It was rugged and barren, but they protected their base.
As a result, one human, the dwarves liberated in the south, developed the mountains and built a city, and the elves liberated in the east cultivated the desert and turned it into a jungle. Nameless races and humans built a country between the two places.
"It's a really old story. It's a past that has flowed twice for a thousand years. Considering that human lifespan doesn't even reach half of ours, Selim's promise should be considered to have expired a long time ago. It's enough to consider it history."
Repeating the word 'history' in her mind, Roberta asked.
"Does Selim-nim mean a historical figure to Toruhal-nim?"
"Why not? When I was young, there were some clans who worshiped him more than the goddess Keme, but after they were cut off, most of them do. They simply accept the literature as it is and commemorate a person who once bestowed noble mercy."
Toruhal took a deep puff of his pipe tobacco.
"The long ears have lived for such a long time, so it seems like they consider that time close."
As he finished speaking, the sound of rain outside the shrine became even louder. Even though the rain was not getting heavier, Fritz and Roberta felt the emptiness caused by the dwarf's silence greatly.
The two people's gazes naturally turned to Ulrich.
He was still looking outside with his back turned to the three people.