Chapter 172: Job Explanation (2/2)

“A lot of tunnels are abandoned now, but there are still many dwarf clans residing there.”

Some of the clans seemed to lead adventurers towards demon territory for a fee. But it wasn’t a one-way trip.

“I also used their service when I came here.”

“Demons too?”

“If you pay properly, they’ll even be kind enough to help you with the luggage.”

Lapis said that when she left her parents’ home, she had secretly brought along numerous items to use as a reserve fund. (Loren itched to comment that it was stealing, but (with some effort) he resisted as he wanted to hear the story.) She had managed to make it half the way by dividing her luggage and made multiple round trips, but she finally got too tired of it. It would be meaningless if she couldn’t carry what she had gone through much trouble to take out, and Lapis had considered giving up. But just then, she met a group of dwarves. After listening to her story, they agreed to accompany her to human’s territory beyond the mines as her luggage carriers in exchange for some of the items she had brought along.

“It was extremely helpful. I wouldn’t be able to carry all of those by myself.”

“How many did you steal from your parents?”

Even though she seemed to hide it, Lapis, as a demon, was quite strong physically. It must have been a rather large amount to make her want to give up.

“Don’t use such a horrid word as ‘steal’. I’m not disowned, so it was just like getting some funds, wasn’t it?”

“Without your parents’ permission?”

“Those things belong to my family.”

Loren wasn’t satisfied with Lapis’ reasoning, but he didn’t delve deeper into this topic, as it might have been a common thing for demons.

Gula changed the topic at just the right time.

“So we’ll also use the dwarves’ tunnels this time?”

Lapis looked troubled:

“That’s an option, yet the fee will be very high.”

Going through the dwarves’ tunnels was practically the only way to reach the demons’ territory. The dwarves took advantage of that and to prevent many people from making such trips, they set their price as high as possible.

“I was charged quite a lot, and I was alone then. With the three of us, we’ll have to be prepared to pay a large sum.”

“Will it exceed our reward?”

“Unfortunately yes. That’s why adventurers normally used the abandoned mines that are not controlled by the dwarves. They’re dangerous though.”

Once they had mined all the ores from a tunnel, the dwarves abandoned it. They didn’t bury it but rather just left it as-is. There were quite a few of such tunnels in the mountains, and adventurers usually used them to go to the demon country. Of course, there was an increased risk of cave-ins due to deterioration over time, but very few had actually happened, probably due to the dwarves’ great handiwork. But due to the dwarves’ departure and lack of continuous human presence, monsters tended to gather in these tunnels, and make them into their nests. And that was the source of danger.

“The dwarves originally resided there, so they should be comfortable enough.”

“So this is what makes the trip dangerous.”

“Yes, it is. So we have two options: pay some money to use the dwarven tunnels, or do not pay anything and use the abandoned tunnels.”

Paying the dwarves would be quite harsh on Loren’s pathetic wallet. Lapis probably had paid for a one-way trip, and it was already expensive enough, so paying for a round trip for three people… A fifty-silver-coin-per-person job wasn’t worth it.

But Loren also wanted to avoid entering a place that was known to be dangerous because they were conscious of money. Losing your life just because you wanted to save some money was way too stupid. It probably wouldn’t happen since Lapis and Gula were with him, but Loren felt wrong to have to rely on them.

Lapis watched Loren wrestled with his worries for a while, and as she realized that he couldn’t make a decision, she said:

“Let’s decide which option to take once we’re near the place. If it feels good, we’ll take the abandoned tunnels route, if not – we can just ask for the dwarves’ service.”

“Can we even get in touch with them?”

“Just leave it to me.”

Lapis offered with a smile, and Loren decided to shelve the matter. As Lapis had said that they would decide when they were at the place, Loren decided that there was no need to worry about it now.

“Alright, let’s do as Lapis said and worry about going there first.”

“Well then, we’ll need to prepare a coach and necessary equipment.”

“Don’t forget the groceries.”

Gula stood up humming, probably thinking about what to buy. Lapis gave her a warning:

“We can only bring the bare minimum, ok?”

It was an instant kill of Gula’s enthusiasm. Loren and Lapis left their seats and started preparing for the trip to the demon country while trying their best to ignore Gula’s dejected expression.