It was the person responsible for trying to get me killed at the meeting earlier. So how dare he show himself here?
I thought about kicking him out before observing Umbach's body language and expression. He seemed to be somewhat apologetic.
That means that he is aware of his sin. He also knows that I will have a lot of negative things to say to him. Nonetheless, he still came to see me.
What would that mean? Wouldn't that mean there was something extremely important?
If I could use that to my advantage, it could end up bringing me a lot of benefits.
It wasn't like I could really do much by getting angry at him. Can I slap him or cuss him out?
Rather than doing that, I should turn this in a way that will benefit me in the future.
I softened the frown on my face and asked in a calm voice.
"What do you need?"
"Ahem. I am a Jewel Alchemist as well."
I didn't know that at all.
Now it kind of makes sense why Umbach acted the way he did in the meeting area.
Jewel Alchemy is a rare occupation even amongst the dwarves. I presume there are less than 100 of them in the entire Dwarf race.
So naturally, it is an unrivaled occupation in this village as well. He probably has quite a bit of pride as a Jewel Alchemist.
But having to share that limelight with a human? It is no wonder he was much angrier than the other dwarves.
I'm sure his skill level is significantly lower than mine as well.
"I see. Nice to see a fellow Jewel Alchemist."
I had a sincere smile on my face as I said that. That was the only way to get Umbach to open up to me and for me to find a way to use Umbach to assist me.
"Ahem. I was wondering if you could teach me how to raise my Jewel Alchemy level. Based on what I heard, you only have the last quest for Expert Blacksmith left."
I knew that would be his goal.
I felt my head clearing up. If I play my cards right, I could use Umbach and the other dwarves that follow him while getting revenge for what happened earlier at the same time.
I put on an even brighter smile.
"It is not that difficult. I was planning on raising my skill level. Do you want to try it with me?"
"You'll let me do it with you?"
Of course I will.
I was lacking someone with a strong attack strength, but I feel like I don't need to worry now.
"Sit over here."
Umbach quickly approached me and sat down.
***
Next morning.
The Peria Desert is somewhere even us dwarves cannot enter. It is that dangerous. Are you really going to go there?"
Goonto came over early in the morning to try to stop me.
Of course, it did not change my decision. I was very aware of how dangerous it was. I also knew that the danger in the desert was not dangerous for me at all.
"I told you I am being protected by Lord Volcanus. Would I have come to the Dwarf Village without anything to keep me confident about my safety?"
"Please reconsider it."
Goonto continued to try to stop me. Of course, I didn't even pretend to listen.
I then heard an unexpected voice from the side.
"You are going to the Peria Desert?"
It was Umbach this time.
Goonto put on a fierce expression. He then stepped over in front of me, as if he was saying he was going to protect me from Umbach.
He was showing his back to me to protect me.
Surprisingly, that back felt really reliable.
But it was Goonto's misunderstanding. Umbach's hatred of me disappeared completely after last night. In fact, Umbach probably trusted me more than Goonto right now.
"The Peria Desert is very far. If you walk, just getting there will take a full two months."
"Do you have another method?"
I lightly pushed Goonto to the side and asked.
"I have prepared a horse. I heard that most humans are good at riding horses. If you take the horse, you should get there in less than a month."
"Oh, a horse? I thought the Dwarf Village did not have many horses?"
Dwarves had short lower bodies in comparison to their upper bodies, so they are weak at riding. Their personalities don't mesh well with horses either, so they barely use horses.
Because of that, not many dwarves raised horses.
"Dwarves farm as well. That is why we raise a couple of them."
Either way, this was unexpected. I didn't know he would give a rare horse to me like this. Especially since it was Umbach.
Goonto was even more surprised. He had a surprised expression that seemed to be asking what was going on, as he looked back and forth between me and Umbach.
However, the events of last night are a secret between Umbach and me. We cannot share it with anybody else.
That was the promise we made with each other as well.
"Thank you."
I thanked Umbach before getting on the horse and heading out of the village. For being a horse of the Dwarf Village, it was pretty well domesticated.
***
"That is the Peria Desert."
I arrived there pretty quickly because of the horse Umbach gave me.
Even then, it took almost the whole month. I had to ride the horse for about 20 days, and then walk through a rough mountain terrain that the horse could not go through for another 10 days.
However, I still had quite a distance to go. Probably about half the distance is left since my destination is in the center of the Peria Desert. This second half is probably the more difficult part.
I immediately headed into the Peria Desert.
As Goonto had warned me, the Desert Ants started to cause an issue as soon as I entered. These bean sized ants rushed toward me and started to stick to my body.
There were probably at least a couple thousand ants.
Any normal person or dwarf would have already been killed. You lose a couple thousand HP every time one of these bastards bite you.
That is why it is called the Deserted Land.
But this issue did not pertain to me at all. My reinforced toughness easily took care of that level of damage.
I brushed away the Desert Ants that were sticking to me and continued to move forward.
But I was still worried about the Sand Soldiers. Well, Sand Soldiers have low attack strength and are easy to handle, but the problem was that you did not know where they will pop out from until they surprised you.
Sometimes, they would even grab your ankle while you are walking.
They were the reason I could not let my guard down. This pressure made me use more energy compared to if I was just leisurely walking.
That was why I gave myself some breaks every so often. Since I needed to use the stars to find the direction, I just slept during the day and only walked during the night.
After walking like that for another month, I finally arrived at my destination.
It was a forest and oasis in the middle of the desert.
It had to be the Peria Oasis. This is because all of the oases in the Peria Desert were the Peria Oasis.
'I will know once I verify it.'
Both the forest and the oasis was pretty small. However, the water in the oasis was very clear, and the forest was beautiful.
I presume somewhere in the distance is the Peria Mountain as well. The water in this oasis would be flowing down from that mountain.
I took out the Fairy's Tear from my bag.
It was like a crystal. If it was not circular and smooth, I might have even thought it was a Jewel of Creation with the fairy energy.
I had 32 of these.
I carefully lowered the Fairy's Tear into the Peria Oasis with a praying heart.
Once I did that, the Fairy's Tear started to sparkle as if it was full of sunlight, before turning into a small strand of light. It then became a Peria's Soul with beautiful wings like a butterfly or a bee, and flew up into the sky.
Flutter-
The Peria Souls were all the size of sparrows.
However, other than the size, they looked exactly like people, and all of them were women.
The Peria Souls that were confined in the Fairy's Tear had been released. They may be small, but when it comes to their abilities, they are even stronger than the Shapir race. However, unlike the Shapir, the Peria did not reveal their abilities to outsiders without good reason.
I started to smile seeing the Peria Souls that were happily revolving around me.
"I am glad."
"You must be the one who saved me. I give you a Kiss of Luck to show my gratitude."
The Peria Souls flew around me before lightly kissing my forehead or cheeks. I heard a message in my head every time one of them kissed me.
After receiving kisses from 32 Peria Souls, my magic had increased by 32 in an instant.
"Thank you."
"No, we thank you. Thanks to you, we were able to escape from the confines of the Demon Cave."
"And you even rescued a whole 32 Peria Souls. However, there are still many Peria Souls confined by the power of the Demon King."
"We need your help. Please save even more Peria Souls. If you do, you will receive a great reward."
Peria Quest.
The reward is a Guardian Spirit.
Of course I must say yes. That was the reason I came all the way out here.
You can earn a Fairy's Tear by hunting Midnight Black Alligators. Needing 68 more can feel like a lot, but it shouldn't take too long. Demon Caves higher than level 300 are full of Midnight Black Alligators.
Then my magic can rise even more.
Of course, it does not continue to rise without a limit. The maximum increase in magic you can get with the help of the Peria Souls is 100.
"I understand. I will make sure to do so."
"We will take you safely out of the Peria Desert. Where do you need to return to?"
"I came from the Dwarf Village in the East."
"Then we will escort you to the border of the Dwarf Village."
As soon as the Peria Souls finished speaking, I light flashed in front of my eyes, as if I was using a Magic Portal.
Paaaat!
When I could see once more, I was on top of a mountain. I could see the Peria Desert to the west, and a rough mountain terrain to the East.
I got back on the horse and rode for a while before I finally arrived back at the Dwarf Village.
The dwarves still had frowns on their faces when they saw me. I could feel the strong disgust in their eyes as they looked at me. This was especially the case for the dwarves who experienced the terror of the Dragon Fear the other day.
It was still much better than last time. At least there were no dwarves who tried to cause an issue for me.
It is probably thanks to Umbach. Once Umbach, the person who was the leader of the opposition, changed the way he treated me, a lot of the other dwarves changed their ways as well.
It still wasn't at a satisfactory level of course.
The Dwarf race is one that is much stronger than humans when it comes to attack strength. I need to gain a much higher level of friendliness in order to utilize their strength.
'I need to quickly finish the quest.'
Once I do that, all of the dwarves will accept me as a friend.
I headed toward Umbach's house to return the horse.
Once Umbach was alone with me, he quietly asked in a hurry.
"When can we proceed with it?"
"We will need to wait at least another year."
"That long?"
"Do you think it is easy to raise the level of Jewel Alchemy? I need to put my life on the line as well."
This was not a lie. The Church of the Sun was a large organization that had the strength to go to war against the entire continent.
If I don't fully prepare, even a dwarf brigade will fail. Failure will of course mean death.
"Just who are we fighting against?"
I cannot reveal that just yet. If the information is somehow leaked, both the Church of the Sun and the Ameri Kingdom will get in my way.
Of course there was a low chance of the information leaking because of the dwarves. They hate humans quite a bit. Only the few dwarf merchants interact with human merchants.
But it doesn't hurt to be careful.
"Did you already forget your promise with me?"
"Ah, alright. I will wait."
"Raise your skill as much as possible, and create a team of strong dwarves while you wait. That is the only way for us to succeed."
"I will do so."
"I will be on my way now."
I left Umbach's house and headed for Goonto's house.
Goonto treated me differently compared to last time as well.
Umbach's friendliness was a calculated friendliness because he wanted something from me, but Goonto showed me sincere friendliness like Avanguarde's dwarves Bachu and Pichu.
At least that's how it felt to me.
"You have returned safely."
"Thanks to you. Are the twin blades completed?"
"Humans really are always in a hurry."
Of course I am in a hurry. My heart was beating wildly during the entire trip because I was excited about how amazing the Twin Blades created by the current greatest blacksmith Goonto would be.
I also wanted to leave the Dwarf Village as fast as possible. There was no reason to stay here if I was not going to be welcomed.
"It took longer than I expected. But I did barely manage to finish the pair. I think they are pretty good."
Goonto handed over a wooden box.
My heart started to beat even more. I took a couple of breaths before I opened the lid of the wooden box.
The pair of cutlass that was glowing silver because of the high quality mithril were sitting inside of the box.
Once I lifted it up, the information showed up.
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Translator : Miraclerifle
Proofreader : Borderline Masochist