Chapter 255: Dwarven History

“Ohhh! This power…! I feel like I can work the Tilt Hammer without relying on the waterwheel now!”

“Amazing… This is what we get from drinking a potion?!”

“S-Strength is welling up within me…!”

Shortly after, Helios gathered his best and most trusted men, allowing them to take Axel’s potions. Six of the best dwarves then gained stats that would definitely put them in the top, even in the long history of dwarven smiths in the entire world.

Some were unable to believe their power and tried to lift an entire anvil with both hands—only to end up throwing it toward the sky, failing to adjust their strength properly.

They lifted it, thinking they’d be hefting a heavy item, and ended up throwing it about fifty meters up in the air instead!

With such a grand display, none of them doubted the potion’s effect anymore.

“Good,” Axel smiled, nodding. “So now, here are the materials I want you to use for the armors and weapons. Try to check them out first, and tell me what else you might need.”

Without waiting for them to settle down, Axel moved to a nearby storage and withdrew a few portions of metals in his inventory.

Of course, most of the metal was in its raw form, while some was—

“T-This is… a golem! No, wait… Mithril?!”

—in a golem form, surprising the dwarves.

Fenrir, of course, remembered those metals. After all, she was there when Axel collected those. It was what made up the dungeon that Mimir managed—Hrimvaldr’s Labyrinth!

These materials had been stuck in his inventory for a long while. After all, the human smiths from the refugees were completely unable to process it. They lacked the knowledge and skill for it.

“Sorry, Boss Man…”

“Huh?”

But Helios’s reply shocked Axel.

“Even with the forge you have now, it’d be impossible for us to handle Mithril.” He revealed.

Axel raised a brow, confused. “…Can you tell me why?”

“It’s the flames.” He clarified. “Normal flames aren’t able to melt mithril ore. Even with the coke that Boss Man provided us, it’s still lacking in temperature… greatly.”

The frown on his face deepened.

This information was critical to their plans, after all.

However, there’s one thing that bugged him greatly too.

“Wait, but since you know of Mithril, that means you have worked on it before, right?”

Right. If they knew that normal flames can’t handle mithril, then that meant they had worked on mithril and “knew” the right temperature to work with it too!

Helios nodded, patting his thick beard as he replied, as if reminiscing. “Yes, we did. In the past. However, now, we can no longer…”

“Did something happen?”

A hint of fear and sadness crossed the dwarf’s face before he let out a thin sigh. As if giving up. Slowly, he explained.

“We dwarves actually all came from a single kingdom. An ancient one. Nidavellir.” He started. “There, we worked nonstop, honing our forging skills using the flames of the earth itself.”

“However…”

At that moment, the story took a dark turn.

Helios continued to explain how roughly 300 years ago, coveting the flames that allowed the dwarves to thrive, their place was raided by a dragon.

“A dragon?!” Axel gasped. “So those really existed?!”

He did see wyverns when the Empire’s Wyvern Knights raided them.

But Wyverns are technically a different breed than dragons. If he were to clarify, the difference was like comparing a domesticated cat to a wild, proud, prairie lion!

“Yes, a dragon.” Helios nodded. “A… no, it was a wicked, greedy black dragon. A giant at thirty meters tall and fifty meters long, including the tail. A monster that none of our weapons back then could even injure.”

That dragon then wiped out most of the dwarven population. It was a bloody fight, putting their lives and pride on the line.

But still, they lost way too much before their king decided to take a drastic measure. To detonate their kingdom and bury the dragon together with everything they’ve worked hard to build.

“Along with the debris of Nidavellir, the Hearthfire of Nidavellir, the flame that was sourced from a fraction of the core of the world itself, was lost.”

“Hearthfire of Nidavellir…” Axel parroted, before frowning. “So this is the flame that your race used to forge weapons out of mithril and other powerful metals?”

“No.”

But once again, Helios shook his head.

“It’s not just a flame that we used to forge. It is the culmination of our culture, our knowledge, and skills.” He continued. “It was said that working with the flames alone shall grant any dwarves the knowledge to create a new world in and of itself.”

“I see…”

Axel nodded, finally understanding the issue. “So, if I retrieve that Hearthfire, you can work on our requested gears and weapons, correct?”

“…Huh?”

Helios’s mouth went agape.

“Boss Man… did you not hear what I said?” He asked, feeling as if Axel misunderstood his words. “I just told you, we lost the fire in the ruins of our kingdom! Right now, it is sealed deep underground, inaccessible… sealing the wicked dragon along with it!”

“No, I heard you loud and clear.” Axel smiled, nodding along. “But it’s not like we’ll be going there to defeat the dragon. We’re just going to retrieve the Hearthfire of Nidavellir.”

Of course, Axel wasn’t sure if they could defeat a dragon or not. However, with their stats, it wouldn’t be hard to escape from it, at least.

The dwarves managed to survive its raid, after all.

“Anyway, ignoring safety, will you be able to complete our request with that flame?” Axel asked with a confident smile.

Helios faltered. He wondered if Axel was sane or overconfident. After all, fighting a dragon is synonymous with suicide. There’s absolutely no way to win… at least, that’s how they view it.

“…Yes.” Still, he responded as asked, nodding. “As long as we have the Hearthfire of Nidavellir, then there’s nothing that we can’t process. Nothing we can’t make!”

“Good.”

Axel turned around, walking away.

“That’s all I needed to hear.”

Just as he was about to leave… he stopped, turning around with an unreadable expression. He raised his hand and scratched the back of his head, smiling awkwardly.

“Ah, sorry… Before I leave, can you tell me where Nidavellir is?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep