Chapter 60

Chapter 60

“Kheh! How did you know Lord Ironhammer was coming?!”

Stepping through the city gates, a scene of splendid festival unfolded.

Grey elf children ran through the streets, and grey elf merchants hawked their wares from small stalls.

The city was alive with the energy of the festival.

“Oson! Stop being so shy and hurry over here… Besides, you’re supposed to be here… No.”

Osun spoke energetically in the middle of the street, prompting Sari to cover her face with both hands.

The two had become quite close over the past few days spent together.

“Sari, thanks to you, I got in easily.”

“Exactly. That elf girl—I thought she was just a frail elf, but I guess not?”

“Hmph! What did you take me for? I’m the village chief of Nightingale Forest! Some kingdom gatekeeper couldn’t possibly stop me! Huh!”

For reference, Osun is twenty-nine.

He’s younger than Dojae.

Yet, she casually uses informal speech with Sari, who is well over 200 years old.

Of course, Dojae does the same, but since Sari doesn’t mind, he just went along with it.

Besides, if a man with a thick beard used formal speech to a young girl, that would look strange in its own way, so using informal speech was better.

“What kind of festival is this that there are so many elves around?”

“I think the kingdom is holding a tournament right now? Our village warriors left to participate, so they’re not here.”

“A tournament…”

Dojae caught a whiff of something.

If Actria had deliberately blown leaves here, it was highly likely connected to the arena.

“Sari, take Oson and rest for a bit. I have somewhere I need to go.”

“Huh? Really? Woo-hoo! Got it, Dojae! Then meet me here at the central plaza around sunset!”

Sari happily pulled out her pouch and counted the gold coins.

Dojae added another 100 gold coins to her before sending her off.

Then, he pulled out a twig to check the direction and began searching for the location of the tournament.

***

He made his way through the throng of elves.

Normally, they might have found Dojae suspicious, cloaked in his robe, but fortunately, perhaps because it was festival season, no one paid him any mind.

After walking for a while, he arrived at a massive circular structure.

‘It feels like I’m really close now.’

The branches swayed so violently that Dojae had to stow it away in his pocket dimension.

There were definitely leaves in front of it.

Dojae entered the building.

“Alright, 10 minutes left! Warriors who haven’t registered yet, please hurry and sign up! Warriors who have completed registration, please enter quickly!”

Stepping into the lobby, the interior was a bustling chaos.

Warriors waiting to participate in the tournament, and their comrades or family members who came to cheer them on.

Dojae doubted he could find the leaves of Arctria in this chaotic place.

But surprisingly, the leaf was easy to spot.

‘On that man’s headdress!’

A single gray elf, so tall he stood out clearly even from a distance.

Not only was he tall, but his build seemed twice as large as everyone else’s.

And there, firmly embedded in that gray elf’s headdress, was none other than the leaf of Arctria.

“Hey, what the hell? You little brat?”

“Hey, did you just hit me?”

Dojae chased after the leaf-adorned gray elf, weaving through the crowd of gray elves.

But before Dojae could get close, the elf vanished through a door deeper inside the lobby.

Dojae was stopped by the gray elf soldiers guarding the entrance.

“Hey, if you want to enter the tournament, you need to apply first.”

“Are you a woman? It won’t be easy for a woman to participate. Heh heh, I’ll bet my entire fortune you’ll be eliminated in the preliminaries.”

Ignoring the taunting soldiers, Dojae headed to the counter to apply for the tournament.

“Applying? You have five minutes left. Fill out the form and give it to me.”

Dojae received the application form.

But here was the problem.

Dojae didn’t know a single letter of the Grey Elves’ script.

Just then, a Grey Elf whispered to Dojae.

“Are you from a rural village? You don’t even know how to write.”

Dojae looked at the Grey Elf who had spoken to him.

She was about his height, with a delicate voice.

Even with the helmet pulled low and a thick cloak wrapped around her, he could tell she was a female Grey Elf.

“I have a favor to ask.”

When Dojae spoke, the female Grey Elf was startled.

“A man? I thought you were a woman because you’re short. Well. What’s your name?”

“Lee Dojae.”

“Lee Dojae? Funny name. Or is it an alias?”

Instead of answering, Dojae nodded.

“Alright, if it’s a pseudonym, the rest doesn’t matter either. I’ll just fill it in roughly.”

She quickly filled out the application forms for Dojae and herself.

Then she went to the counter, submitted the forms, and came back with badges proving their participant status.

The badges had numbers on them.

“Here, you’re number 294. I’m number 295.”

“Thanks. You saved my life.”

“No problem. I like strong people. I can feel a powerful aura from you. See you in the finals!”

With that, the gray elf woman disappeared first through the inner door of the lobby.

As he thought about asking her name, a shout came from the end.

“Alright, alright! One minute left. Warriors who haven’t entered yet, hurry up and get in!”

Doja hurried toward the door.

***

At that moment, Sari and Osun.

The two were strolling through the shopping district.

“Ohson, I need to talk to you…”

“I know. That dwarves are enslaved in the east.”

“Huh? You knew?”

“Tsk, those elves. They’re a race that lives off their own self-importance. Ah, I’m not talking about you. You never looked at me that way from the start.”

“That’s what Grandma taught me. It seems like they’re not paying much attention to it now since it’s festival season, but still…”

“I get it. I’m not that clueless, so don’t worry.”

Osun looked up at Sari with her lips pressed tightly together.

Osun had spoken for Sari’s sake, but Sari still worried.

‘I have to be extra careful not to cause any trouble.’

Sari clenched her fist and resolved.

“She said there’s an old friend of hers at the very end of that alley. It’s a general store that sells everything. The name is… Ah! Dewdrop of the Narcissus. Let’s go, to Dewdrop of the Narcissus.”

Sari led Osun deeper into the alley.

Clink-clank.

A sign painted with a daffodil.

Sari and Osun slowly entered the shop.

“Anyone home?”

Sari called out cautiously, and a gray-haired elf emerged from the back.

“Lady Akela!”

Sari saw her and immediately ran forward, throwing her arms around her.

Akela held Sari tightly in her arms.

“Who’s this? Isn’t this Sari?”

“It’s been since I was a child since I last saw you.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s been almost 200 years. But how about the kingdom?”

“Grandmother granted me permission to travel.”

“Salirna? That must have been a big decision. Sit down first, let’s have some tea. You too, dwarf. I’ll bring the tea.”

Sari and Akela slowly shared stories about the village.

Meanwhile, Osun, bored after gulping down his tea, got scolded by Akela for touching things in the shop.

“Right, Sariya. Is there something you need?”

“Akelah, do you happen to have any medicine that can change skin color or appearance?”

“There’s no such medicine. Why? To change that dwarf’s appearance? Even if you changed his skin color, he’s so short he wouldn’t look like us anyway.”

“Is that so? Yes… I see.”

“Instead, I have this.”

Akelah disappeared inside for a moment, then soon returned with a ring.

The ring itself looked ordinary, but it was densely inscribed with runes both inside and out, giving it a mysterious feel.

“It’s a magic ring made by humans 300 years ago. A ring that can transform you into an elf. But instead of looking like us, your ears will grow long like a high elf.”

“Huh? If that’s okay, could I buy it?”

“How could I take money from you? Since it’s your first journey, I’ll give it to you as a gift.”

“Thank you, Lord Akela!”

“If you need anything else, just ask. Or shall I bring out something that suits our Sari?”

“No need.”

“When I was young, I owed Salirna a great debt. Don’t worry about it, just take your pick.”

Sari rose from her seat and looked around the shop.

It was filled with bizarre items, from enormous forks whose purpose was unclear to decorations that radiated an eerie aura.

After pondering for a while, Sari stood transfixed before a shelf.

“Then this one…”

What she chose was a dagger adorned with beautiful jewels.

Akelah nodded toward Sari, who had picked up the dagger.

***

‘Where did she go?’

Dojae, who had entered through the entrance, looked around frantically for the man in the leaves.

It wasn’t easy to find the man again among the countless gray elves.

Dojae wandered among the gray elves trying to find the man, but each time he had to fend off the sharp-tongued remarks of the elves.

“You bastard? You wanna start a fight before we even begin?”

“You wanna die? Huh? If you don’t want to end up dead, get lost.”

It was the result of Dojae constantly pushing his way through while everyone was on edge, likely due to the tournament atmosphere.

Then, a Grey Elf’s voice boomed out from somewhere.

It came through loud and clear, as if someone had turned on a megaphone.

– Alright, the first preliminary round begins.

Immediately, a bright light appeared beneath Dojae’s feet.

A circular magic circle of sorts.

No, it was a magic circle.

And in that instant, Dojae fell somewhere.

‘Where am I?’

With no information at all, Dojae felt slightly flustered.

He had fallen alone into a square space about ten pyeong in size.

Tense from the sudden situation, he drew his sword.

He soon realized what the first preliminary round entailed.

“Kwooooh!”

“Grrrr!”

“Kwaaak!”

Just as when Dojae appeared, light burst forth from the magic circle and monsters leapt out.

The moment they saw Dojae, they let out bloodcurdling screams that seemed to tear the very fabric of space.

But Dojae’s excitement deflated instantly upon seeing their forms.

‘What the hell? They’re just cubs.’

That’s right.

Their true identity was ‘Black Wolves’.

They were the common monsters from the dungeon where he first met Young-jin, the same dungeon where ‘Cerberus’ had appeared and made Dojae a fortune.

‘How cute. Back then, even three of them had me scrambling.’

Dojae smiled as he looked at the black wolves.

Back then, even one Black Wolf would make him sweat buckets, but now three seemed like child’s play.

“Grrr!”

The black wolves began charging.

Dojae jabbed the tip of his black-scaled handle into the nose of the one charging first.

“Kraaag!”

One of them screamed and collapsed.

The others followed suit.

Clang!

Thwack!

He landed a punch on the nose of each charging guy.

‘I have gotten stronger, after all.’

Compared to just a few months ago, I could now overwhelmingly toy with the exact same monsters.

The black wolves charged repeatedly, baring their huge teeth, but I dodged them effortlessly and plunged my sword into their necks.

Thud.

The last one fell.

Once all the fighting ended, the ground beneath Dojae’s feet flashed again.

‘Without a message, it feels somehow empty.’

Dojae vanished from the space, scattering light dust.