Chapter 620: The Great City of the Dwarves

The stay at the dwarf inn was comfortable.

The room temperature remained pleasantly cool and consistent, and the food was delicious.

The cheese was made from the milk of farm goats, but surprisingly, it wasn’t smelly and had a mild flavor.

Apparently, the dwarves’ craftsman-like attention to detail extended even to cheese. They were particular not only about its delicate flavor, but even about the soil used to grow the feed eaten by their goats.

It seemed that they also practiced livestock farming and agriculture—something Tauro hadn’t associated with the typical image of dwarves.

With little flat land available, the dwarves had built terraced fields along the mountain slopes. The methods used to create and maintain them had been refined through generations of trial and error and passed down from their ancestors.

“So they’re able to sustain themselves properly,” Tauro remarked after speaking with the innkeeper.

Tauro had assumed that dwarves cared only about mining and craftsmanship and relied on imports for food.

“It’s not that simple. We still don’t have enough food. Especially in Cavern City, where the population is large. We import what we lack from neighboring regions. We manage somehow around here because there are farms nearby,” the innkeeper said with a sigh.

Then she added:

“You’re human envoys, right? I hope you can persuade the Dwarven Roundtable Council and restore relations. Life has definitely become harder since trade with humans stopped…”

“I want to get along with the dwarves too. I’ll do everything I can to make that happen,” Tauro replied firmly.

If their standard of living had declined, then there might be a way to persuade them.

Since relations had been severed because of the former lord’s atrocities, Tauro needed to show that he was different—and that reopening trade would benefit both sides.

If their interests aligned, they could restore the standard of living people had enjoyed before trade collapsed.

With that in mind, Tauro began considering the “cards” he held and how best to use them to persuade the council.

Tauro wanted to gather as much information as possible before arriving at Cavern City so that he could use it in the negotiations.

He spent some time gathering information from the innkeeper before going to bed.

The next morning, Tauro and Aeris followed the innkeeper through a side tunnel to the outside.

The morning sun illuminated the mountains of the Dwarven Autonomous Region, revealing the terraced fields the innkeeper had told them about the previous day.

The sight was breathtaking and even more varied than Tauro had imagined: irregular layers of farmland spread across the slopes, filled with countless crops.

“This is a spectacular sight…” Tauro said in awe.

“It’s, isn’t it? On clear mornings, I start my day by looking out at this view and the sky from here,” the innkeeper said proudly.

“Even with this much farmland, it’s not enough to support the entire region. We’re trying to expand the farmland, but building terraces is difficult…”

The dwarf innkeeper couldn’t help grumbling about the current situation.

Catching herself, she added, “Oops, I need to get breakfast ready. You’ll be leaving right after eating, right?”

After confirming, she headed back inside.

“The Dwarven Autonomous Region has lost its trading post, and they’re desperately trying to compensate by growing their own crops for what they can no longer obtain through trade… I can clearly see what I need to do now.”

After breakfast, they left the inn and resumed their journey to Cavern City.

Their guide, Boze, was quietly worried about Tauro, the human messenger who was about the same height as him.

Dwarves weren’t considered fully grown until they had grown a beard, so this smooth-faced boy, who looked far too young even by human standards, seemed like a mere child to Boze.

If anything, it would have been more convincing to say that the merchant Busasen, the owner of the carriage, was the messenger.

Although Tauro certainly had a dignified presence despite his appearance, he lacked the physical presence dwarves respected. So Boze thought that if anything happened, he would step in and mediate the situation.

Unaware of these concerns, Tauro’s group traveled swiftly along the “highway,” reaching their destination in just two days—a journey that would have taken far longer on surface roads.

Cavern City truly lived up to its name. Compared to the village they had stayed in, it existed within a vastly larger underground space.

At the center stood an enormous pillar—perhaps even inhabited, judging by the lights glowing from it—surrounded by many other massive columns reaching toward the high ceiling.

Perhaps these pillars had been intentionally left intact while carving out the space.

Otherwise, the space was so enormous that it seemed impossible to imagine recreating such supports afterward.

The city was a mixture of buildings: some dwellings were carved into the walls, while others looked much like human buildings packed into the vast open space.

Despite its size, it was well organized, with wide roads radiating outward from the central pillar.

“This is unbelievable… I can’t believe something on this scale is man-made…” Tauro said, overwhelmed.

“You’d expect something like this in a dungeon—but I never imagined an underground space of this scale would exist…” Ankh said, staring with his mouth agape in amazement.

“You’re right… I used to think it was an exaggeration when travel books said it was a must-see, but… I was wrong,” Aeris admitted.

She seemed to have some prior knowledge from books, but even so, the scenery apparently far exceeded her expectations.

“I wonder how many years it took to build a city like this…” Ragune murmured, just as surprised as everyone else.

“It’s been carved out for over five hundred years, and it’s still expanding,” Boze said proudly.

As if to prove his point, amid the bustle of the city, the distant sound of pickaxes striking rock echoed through the cavern.

“I had the same reaction the first time I came here,” Busasen chuckled to himself as he watched Tauro and the others’ reactions.

Then he added:

“A people capable of building something like this over centuries—there’s no downside to maintaining good relations with them.”

As both a merchant and a citizen of the newly acquired Giro Sugar territory, Busasen looked to Tauro—the envoy, and in truth the lord himself—with hope that the negotiations to restore trade would go smoothly.