Chapter 630 – The Little Horn and the Unexpected Misfortune

000

[Kwadangkyu!]

A loud sound resounded, and the huge body was helplessly scattered on the ground.

Thud! After the ground vibrates, dust rises and covers the surroundings, but after the light of magic shines with the sound of coughing, the wind blows through the space and blows away all the dust.

“Okay, now I’m calmer…”

Bourbon, wiping the sweat off his chin, muttered that with his shoulders drooping, looking up at the gargoyle with the best durability, flipped over as if to declare surrender.

And Cleon, who was standing next to Bourbon, also sighed as he looked down at the clothes he was wearing, torn apart by sharp fragments, and his top tattered.

“You should have come wearing armor.”

When Bourbon glanced back at Cleon’s words, he could see that his side and the lower part of his chest were damaged.

And, Cleon, who had been hidden underneath, had been training for ten years, and his rock-like muscles were visible.

“Oh, oh… I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt.”

When Bourbon saw that, he blushed in amazement, turned his head, and muttered that.

The adamantite pickaxe she was holding in her hand had one of the two blades extending on both sides broken in half, and even the tip of the spiral spear attached as an additional part was blunt, but she herself was not to hurt her body.

If that’s the reason, it’s probably because of the thick work clothes she’s wearing.

Like Cleon’s clothes, her overalls were torn from flying debris or a direct blow, and her top was in tatters.

However, the black inner suit made of a tight-fitting material that she wore inside was intact, and she was not injured enough to bleed, so she must be better off than Cleon.

Still, the parts where her arms were inserted were torn here and there, making it look like a rag or rag mat was put on top of black clothes.

“I won’t be able to use that overalls anymore.”

As Cleon speaks by her side, wiping off her blood, Bourbon responds with an ‘Huh?’, She turns to Cleon and nods her head.

“Ah. I need to take it off right now I feel like I can’t wear it because it gets caught everywhere. Well, there are several more of these work clothes, so it doesn’t matter that much.”

After she said that, she grabbed the weakened overalls with her hands, ripped them apart to untangle them, and threw off her top completely.

Then, perhaps thanks to her quick run around in her work clothes that were full of thick hair, her black underwear was soaked with sweat.

“Whoa…”

As she let out a sigh, Bourbon trembled as she felt the cold air of the mine directly on her skin.

Then, after taking off all of her tops and stretching herself, a pair of huge peaks of hers, which had been hidden inside her overalls, were revealed.

There were two things a little taller than her head that didn’t suit her small body, only a little above Cleon’s waist.

“…”

I don’t know if it’s because it’s been pressed in tightly when she’s wearing her overalls, or if it’s because there’s less padding in her chest…

Thinking it was a dwarf’s technical skill, Cleon shook his head.

“Ok?”

Seeing Cleon’s reaction, Bourbon tilts his head, but as if his shoulder is stiff, he grabs his right shoulder with his left hand and spins it around to talk to Cleon.

“Hyung, are you okay where you were injured? There’s blood coming out.”

“Ah. No problem. This is a level that can be cured quickly with recovery magic.”

While Cleon said that, if he put his hand on his wound and used the lowest level of healing magic, the torn skin would quickly regenerate and the blood would stop.

“Hey. I also have a lot of talent. Oh, yes. Thank you earlier. When that guy flew up and dived, didn’t he lift me up and jump up? If it wasn’t for the older brother, I would have been beaten and stretched out while the ground was shaking.”

“No. Thanks to you destroying the adamantite barrier that the gargoyles had built with your pickaxe, I was able to put an end to it. Not only was he a good miner, he was a good fighter.”

Hehe. Well, that’s about it. Did you say I wanted to give that snobbish guy a shot.”

Bourbon, who rubbed the bridge of his nose as if he was embarrassed, held out his fist while laughing, as if he was happy at Cleon’s praise.

And, when Cleon brought his fist there and bumped into it, a meaningful friendship that was born through a tough fight between the two was revealed.

[Excuse me…? Now I want you to take care of me a little bit…]

Durability, who had to watch the friendship play between the two, secretly raises his head and calls the two.

Because of Cleon and Bourbon’s pass, his chest was punched and his durability was great, but he was an inanimate object anyway.

Since it is a mass of stone that moves with magical energy, its power may have weakened a little, but it will not die to the extent that that part has disappeared.

“Were you alive?”

[He’s alive! What, did you really intend to kill me?]

If Cleon answered that calmly, he would raise his body and raise his voice with the highest durability.

When Bourbon looked at the gargoyle with cold eyes, the gargoyle sat down on its seat, raised his finger and pointed at his hole while talking.

[…Anyway. It’s true that my body can’t move properly because this place is pierced, and I can’t use magic anymore. My defeat, the dark horse clan. No, Gaios-sama and the true responders of the five elemental dragons.]

Then he opened his big mouth and, as before, pointed at his fangs.

[Take it. This is yours.]

“Okay. Then, I will accept it without hesitation.”

While Cleon said that, he approached the gargoyle, and if he put his hand on its fangs, his mouth would suddenly close as before, but he was a little excited…

Click click… Oops! Watching him close his eyes tightly without reacting until the sound of his fangs being pulled out so lightly that he could hear a pop sounded, he looked like a child waiting for an injection at the hospital.

[Pooh, did you pick it?]

And, after hearing the frightened voice, Cleon bursts out laughing and talks to the gargoyle.

“Okay. I pulled it out, so you can open your eyes now.”

Then, Cleon looked at the sharp metal teeth in his hand, the thickness of which was the size of his index and middle fingers combined.

When he brought the dragon ring he had been wearing close to it, the adamantite on the outside fell off, and at the same time, a small piece of horn hidden inside it appeared.

It glowed in the ocher color of the fertile land, and in a way, it seemed to have a slight golden aura.

“Ohh~ Is that the dragon’s horn? It is one of the materials that are really, really hard to find.”

And, when he said that while looking into the horns of a Bourbondo dragon that had come close by, the gargoyles would startle and talk.

[Go, transponder! Surely you won’t give the horns to that half-blood dwarf?!]

“Huh? Are you afraid I’ll covet my friend’s stuff? It’s okay, I have that level of discernment.”

Bourbon dismissed the gargoyle’s doubts towards him, and then he looked back at Cleon.

His hand holding a dragon’s horn, and an adamantite sword hanging from his waist.

Hertiwa’s wedding ring on her finger- Finally, black eyes like onyx.

“…What’s the matter?”

When Cleon asks her if Bourbon’s gaze that looks at her like that is a little burdensome, Bourbon smiles a little bit bitterly and answers Cleon’s question.

“Huh…? It seems like our Herti is trying to mate with an unusual guy.”

“Haha…”

Seeing her evaluation of herself as ‘an unusual guy’, Cleon involuntarily burst into a wry smile.

Because Bourbon was genuinely worried about Herty, I could at least know what she was talking about.

“… The swordsmanship you use resembles that of one of the warriors who were active during the Great War.”

“Do you know Talcheck? That person seems to have been quite active here and there in this Eastern country.”

Even Daza at the forge knew about Talcheck.

“Uncheck… That’s right. I guess that was the name. Because that was already 30 years ago. I, too, was still a child.”

As if she was longing for the past, it was as if those days were directly in her mind right in front of her eyes.

[I’m still a kid just by looking at my height…]

“Even if you look at it like this, you are 10 cm taller than back then, you damn stone child! You can’t even grow up!”

[…! Come to think of it, I did…!]

Cleon questioned her, leaving the dragon behind her durability, saying such stupid things.

“Seeing that you’ve even seen Talchek’s swordsmanship, it doesn’t seem like it was a very peaceful atmosphere.”

“That’s right. At that time… I was being chased by a guy. He… Was a man who would not forgive mixed blood with Ain.”

As Bourbon spoke, he recalled the memories of the war – even before Hertie was born.

001

Dwarves do not age as much as elves, but they are considerably slower than humans.

However, if elves grow at the same speed as humans up to a certain age and then aging stops thereafter, in the case of dwarves, that speed was about a quarter.

For example, if your real age is 40, your apparent age is about 10 years old.

And, if it was a mixed blood of a dwarf and a human like Bourbon, the aging speed would be about twice that of the original dwarf.

This was 30 years ago. This is the story of when Bourbon was still 10 years old.

As the war between the kingdom and the empire began to intensify, Bourbon’s father and grandfather moved to a mansion prepared for them in Asteris, rather than the usual adamantite mine.

Herti’s father, who was still alive at the time, decided to temporarily close the mine, on the grounds that irreversible damage would occur if adamantite ore was collected during the war and was discovered by the empire. .

Being able to spend every day in Asteris, which was all about coming once in a while, was something to Bourbon in his childhood, it felt like a long Sunday going on, so at first, life in Asteris was just fun every day.

Until I met ‘that man’.

“I can’t believe it… Oh my God, there is such a sinful existence.”

It was, as always, when I was playing with children my age in Asteris.

Asteris was a relatively safe place because it did not become a direct battlefield in the war with the Empire, but when the sun went down, in preparation for the surprise magic bombardment of the Empire, a bell that would ring at a certain time sent the children home. Had been

I mean, playing as much as possible until the bell rings was becoming a routine among the children.

Before parting- Before the last game before going back home, the children gathered together and were trying to decide on the next game.

A man’s incomprehensible list of words came in, and the children all turned around together.

Then—there, a full-body muscular giant was standing, looking at himself with his palms folded.

The face that was clear in my memory was that tears were flowing from his face.

“While I was away from Asteris for a while, such a sinful being settled here…”

Naturally, Bourbon, who sensed some danger from him, turned around and started running towards the house.

He was 5 years old, so of course the children he played with were around that age, but Bourbon was clearly 10 years old.

It was at an age where it was possible to see the other person and sense an instinctive crisis.

And, she was smart.

I ran away to a place where there were no children as much as possible, and made sure that the other children were safe.

As she ran through her alleys and sprinted here and there, her unfamiliar path of Asteris led her into her back alleys.

However, if he had escaped this far, that man would not be able to pursue him either.

As it is, he can hide here and run away.

It was Bourbon who thought so, but she soon heard a ‘Jerbeok’ from behind her. She felt the hairs all over her body stand up at the sound of her footsteps.

It was because the sound of those footsteps was more terrifying than any footsteps she had ever known.

“I’ll admit that it’s fast, but as expected, the existence of a mixed blood between a human and a subhuman is incomplete.”

And then, the man from before turns around the alley and appears.

The man who approached while muttering something while keeping his palms together with both hands seemed nothing but a monster in Bourbon’s eyes.

When he, who had burn-like wounds all over his body, clenched his fist, Bourbon could only think that he would die on the spot.

There was no way to escape, and the enemy was approaching him in a straight line.

With Bourbon closing her eyes, slumping in her seat and trying to scream out for help—

The man raised his arm wide, and for an instant he smashed her head with his rocky fist.

Caang-! Thinking that there was intense wind pressure, Bourbon gently opened her eyes in pain that never came and looked in front of her.

Then there-

“What are you doing with a bastard… Pervert bastard…!”

A giant with bloody eyes and an old, rusty red sword was confronting him while holding onto the fist of the monster that was trying to kill him.

“…Are you… Talcheck, a colleague of the hero Lesia?”

“Just because you know me means I’m not an ordinary resident…”

Two people clashing to live while talking as if they had forgotten Bourbon’s existence.

Bourbon stood back and crouched down, looking straight at the man who had helped him.

“Hey little boy. Don’t move there unless you want to die. Since the hawk is medicine for this madman, I will give him some medicine.”

“…Keuk, you’re too conceited, Talcheck.”

The moment when the two of them, who had a slightly similar impression (even though the unchecked hair was much thicker), stared at each other like that, one drew a fist and the other drew a sword and swung them at each other.

Bourbon was able to see a glimpse of the swordsmanship of a man who was said to be the strongest swordsman on the continent.