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“Oooh, look, Rajah! Mother! A boat restaurant! Quite a few of their guests look pretty wealthy, too.” I pointed at a medium-sized boat floating in the waterway of Gleisvale, looking like a restaurant from all the food being served to guests. Looking closer, practically all the diners wore clothing fitting for nobles or wealthy merchants.

However, while I was enthusiastic at seeing something new, well, new to Peolynca, Mother and Rajah didn’t share my enthusiasm.

“It is simply a boat, Hestia. You see them all the time in Caedhul. If you are already excited with a small one like this, once we visit the levianewt’s capital, Lecullius, you will be amazed at the aquatic culture of the aquapolis.”

[“Master. All this water. Dangerous.”]

…

“Jeez, come on! At least act amazed!” I complained about Mother’s and Rajah’s indifference. “Argh, whatever. Rajah, I’ll have Varya help me teach you how to swim. You can’t always be scared of the water since you’ll grow into a strong and large virigress one day.”

[“… Rajah doesn’t like swimming.”]

Complaints and complaints, just like a spoiled child. Then again, maybe it was my fault too since I was spoiling him too much. Regardless, this was all part of the joy of sightseeing, right?

Rajah wasn’t originally part of the train-watching squad since I thought he would join his mother and brothers with helping Saori, Tasianna, and Gael with the black market search as a member of the Shadow Pack. However, before they headed off, he jumped out of Saori’s shadow and joined me.

His mother, Varya, was about to drag him back into their shadow, but Saori stopped her. Instead, she used this chance to slip a [Shadow Snake] into one of Rajah’s black foggy legs and Ellaine’s right gauntlet. This way, she would be able to keep watch of where we were, in case one of us got into trouble.

We separated and departed at that point to our respective destinations. Grimnir led us to a nearby water boat dock, walking through the streets instead of driving inside the RV. On the way, I noticed that there were quite a few foxians around, about the same amount as humans actually.

Grimnir explained this was due to Estralia’s worship of Mercurias, the only foxian god in the six pantheons. While you wouldn’t find such a concentration of them in the other cities or towns, since Gleisvale was the center of commerce for the republic, foxians should be the second most populous race in this country. Similar to Lecartiglio and arvisians, foxians were treated far better than other beastmen races in this place.

I wonder if Zeather and Quini would like it here? I wondered, thinking of the two foxian merchants I met in Firwood. They worked for the Sarlenzia company and were indebted to its president, Amelia’s grandfather, so I didn’t think they would leave the company, but I couldn’t help but imagine it.

“Honored guests, would a ride on our humble canal boat interest you?”

Speaking of foxians, the dock manager and boat drivers were all foxians. They even spoke in the same manner Zeather did, in that humble second-person point-of-view way. Maybe it was due to their religious teachings or something. Or maybe it was just how foxian merchants behaved in general, I didn’t know. It was irrelevant.

In any case, what was important was that we got onto a boat and were now on our way to the train station with it. Surprisingly, while I thought it was just a pure sightseeing ride, I really should have anticipated the number of merchants wanting to sell you stuff. Yes, even while we were on this boat.

“Papribulbs! Papribulbs! Papricha stuffed with meat! Crunchy vegetable skin with soft and juicy meat! Grilled right above the water and handed it to you immediately!”

“Fried noodles! Made by dwarven artisans with quality tazlokwheat! Got some fresh vegetables and pork included in it, too! Good food just for you!”

“Orslagges! Orslagges! I got the best orslagges in the country! Everybody needs some orslagges in their life! Energy comes from a meal made with orslagges!”

… Are you kidding me, there is a guy selling cabbages on a boat? Can’t believe there is an orslagges-exclusive seller around.

“Hey, hey, Kyouya! Come and buy some! These papribulbs are freaking amazing! Damn, mhmm!” Tatsuya made a satisfied face after buying a few grilled paprikas stuffed with meat and other stuff.

“Bladdarg, are you kidding me?! These ain’t tazongn-made noodles! What the hell is this form and its length?! We tazongs enjoy our noodles long and firm! You dare disrespect our workmanship with your cheap imitation! By Crustacia’s twin-tails, I bet these aren’t even made using tazlokwheat!” Grimnir got into a fight with the noodle vendor.

Daichi joined in, about to throw a fireball at the poor man and his boat. “Oooooh?! How dare you serve these cheap, unskilled copies of dwarven wheat! You snake-oil seller, I should burn you into a crisp!”

“Daichi!” Elrick rushed over to him, barely stopping Daichi from doing something stupid. Still, that was enough to scare the noodle vendor away.

“Swooo… Mhmm. This ain’t bad.” On the other hand, Asaka brought some of the noodles and was enjoying it. “You three want some? I bought some for Haru-chan, but the portion sizes are pretty large despite how cheap they were. Probably evident enough that it wasn’t made by a dwarf.”

“Hiehie, yeah,” I giggled at what she said. “Well-made noodles cost quite a bit, if we take Japan as an example. Mother, Rajah. Let’s eat.”

“How generous. Thank you.”

[“Rajah wants meat pieces.”]

Gleisvale wasn’t a maritime city but they still were dependent on the river flowing from the mountain and through the city of Gleislain. It was the reason why Estralia’s capital was the center of commerce and was so wealthy. It was ‘cause the river's length spanned over multiple countries and into the Empire, such that their cargo and merchant ships could trade with so many different people. It was the same with any other country with access to the ocean.

Still, the canals were pretty large and spacious enough to accommodate multiple boats and gondolas. There was a culture developed around this river you didn’t need to go to the port to see. For a city where money was everything, people had to be creative to survive within it.

If I could hazard a guess, it was ‘cause of this culture and its lack of a caste system that even affluent people would mingle and traverse even into the middle district. In Artorias, nobles would go no further than the merchant district in most cases, but here, the rich went from and out with their carriages or personal boats. Money and entertainment could be found even in the less opulent areas.

Mhmm, these noodles aren’t too bad.

After meeting a few more boat merchants, we eventually made it to the artisan district, or, as Grimnir liked to call it, the dwarven district.

“There is history in this city for us tazongs. We made it for the humans and, since they didn’t know how to maintain it properly, quite a few of us stayed here. You gotta remember, this city was made before the train was established. Travel was hard and long with those Centipedeclaws, so staying around was better.”

During the War for the Faefolk, Estralia officially stayed neutral with respects to either side, wishing not to completely sever their ties to humans and dwarves. Still, problems crept up as the republic’s populace were divided. The dwarves wanted Estralia to fight on the side of the northern alliance due to them “owing” the dwarves for their city, while the humans were less than enthused about fighting their own race.

Nowadays, you would rarely find dwarves outside their districts outside of work. They were stubborn and considered the city their home. Even if the Ankoran King ordered them to return or the human populace of Estralia wanted them out, they would not leave. This was their home and they would defend it as if it was any other dwarven hold.

And to prove this point, the artisan district was entirely different aesthetically from the rest of the city.

“Jeez, there is so much smoke around. Are those factories?” Tatsuya pointed at the numerous chimneys letting out black smoke.

“Hey, look, everybody.” Kyouya, too, pointed at something. What he was drawing our attention to was a bridge with rails built above the buildings, allowing minecarts to transport items around with dwarves manning them.

“Mhmm. That’s our minecart system. Mobilized with runes, we had to invent this system once we realized that getting from the mines to the surface took too long with our short legs. It was eventually extended to being a part of our daily lives,” Grimnir explained. “The rider is protected with runes if they were to fall, but our design of it is perfect, so accidents barely ever happen. As such, you can expect ores, monster materials, or food to move around a tazongn hold or city through this system. However, it’s a bit outdated nowadays.”

Grimnir told us that after the train was created by the Revolution Queen, the dwarves have been hard at work on implementing this technology into their minecart transportation system. This area of Gleisvale was very dwarven, but it was still behind technologically compared to any of the dwarven holds, especially their capital and the seat of the Ankoran King — Inkoran-Tazul.

Still, if you compared this place with Griffonpeak, you could see that the dwarves relied on artificers and runesmiths for their architecture far more than humans did. The dwarves I saw all had party bracelets on their wrists, and when it came to labor and work they had tools around to make it easier on them. Being around Grimnir has taught me that runes could create fire, water, wind, and so on, assuming you made the rune correctly. I could only imagine what dwarven cities could use them for.

We really have to visit the dwarves one day! Not only to learn more about the Revolution Queen, but just look at all of this. It isn’t even that medieval anymore.

We docked at the artisan district since we had to walk the rest of the way to the train station. With Grimnir leading us, we began making our way to the mountain Gleisvale was built upon, and boy was it a hike. The streets were slanted upwards.

Kyouya noted that we could see dwarves riding on minecarts, moving on them towards the mountain. As he pointed this out to Grimnir and asked him if it would be possible to ride them, our blacksmith snapped at him and told him to not be such a “larrunda.” Mother told me he called him a “baby or whiner.” Good to know Mother could act as my translator without Tasianna around.

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From his demeanor and how he was being silent instead of proudly explaining everything about this city, I was starting to get the impression that he didn’t want to be here. In fact, I thought he wanted to hide himself away. If that was the case, then raising his voice to Kyouya was the wrong move.

“Hmm?” A trio of inko dwarves — surface dwarves without any horns or the ability to spew our fire like a taz dwarf like Grimnir — noticed us and turned around. Looking at their attire and the picks they carried around, they probably were miners. Comparing them to Grimnir, I also noticed that they were taller but less stocky than our resident blacksmith.

“Oi, look at that small beard.”

“Hmm? Ha! Burned it up without any crust’locks. Look at that zuekluk!”

“Hmmph. Heavy smell of blood and mana around him. Runesmith. Shamed and dishonored. Pitiful.”

“Mhmm…”

The three dwarves ran their mouths as they passed us, clearly affecting Grimnir as he grumbled in silence. Noticing this, Daichi and Tatsuya turned around, confronting the trio.

“Hey, what is the big idea, huh?! Do you go around insulting people on the streets, assholes?!”

“Yeah, take those words back! Nobody insults Shisho while I’m around!”

Both were rightfully outraged at the comments those dwarves threw at Grimnir and made it clear that they wouldn’t accept it. Honestly, I too was pretty peeved at the rubbish they said, especially since Grimnir was my friend here. Nobody insulted my friends while I’m around… but I also noticed that Grimnir didn’t want us to cause more of an uproar. His glare was not directed at the dwarves, but at Tatsuya and Daichi.

“Hmph! Get the hell out of our district, akong! Humans aren’t welcomed here if you aren’t working! We don’t need more damn sightseers. Bladdarg.”

“Learn how to make proper friends. Leave that damn zuekluk in the gutter.”

That last comment caused Daichi to burst a vein, already materializing a fire spell to throw at them, only for Asaka to punch him on the head and drag him back to our group.

“Shut up, idiot. Stop making such a mess. You’re embarrassing yourself and your master here. Move it!”

Asaka pushed Daichi closer to Grimnir, earning him a staredown by the angered dwarf. Daichi became flustered and bit his lips, looking down at the ground, now understanding what he did.

While I sympathized with his actions, learning when and how to confront someone is an important skill. Here, the victim of all those rude remarks wanted us to shut up and move towards the train station as soon as possible, so he could leave sooner than later.

“Jeez, what was their problem?!” Tatsuya stated irritated, but Grimnir didn’t answer him. Instead, Mother did.

“ ‘Zuekluk,’ or ‘dishonored dwarf’ in Common. In dwarven culture, there is a higher importance put in the honor of a clan compared to an individual’s, since if your clan thrives, so shall you. This also means if you slight them, you could incur the wrath of hundreds of dwarves at once. Bonds of friendship and family are as thick as metal to them.”

Mother’s explanation reminded me of how Grimnir became a member of Aurora in the first place. After I allowed him to protect his honor as a blacksmith by showing others that his skills were real, he kneeled down and swore his loyalty and skills to me. Not only ‘cause he owed his life to me after saving him from the slazzigula, but also ‘cause I trusted him to produce the best equipment for us.

I guess this was when our bond of friendship was created.

“As such, if an individual dishonors themselves so terribly that it could affect the clan, they are to be exiled. They are stripped of the ‘crust’locks’ — stone hair — from their beard as a sign of being dishonored. Male dwarves have them on their beards while females have them on their hair. It is hardy, strong, and protects your hair from being burned.”

“And Grimnir’s beard was burned away after he nearly plunged into magma,” I continued. “Grimnir broke a rule by creating his blasthammer, and he and his cousin were exiled from their clan and the blacksmith guild. Beards are a sign of age and experience, and the rock hair grows with them. When we first met him, his beard was long, like, it went to his stomach. It was also well-groomed and was braided.”

“Mhmm. Could you two stop talking about me? Let’s just go…” Grimnir asked before speeding up his dwarven legs. This was a sour topic for him, and I guess I now realized why he didn’t want to be here.

As we moved up the streets, we started to attract quite a few eyes to us, followed by whispers and clear insults at Grimnir. It came to the point that I had I release my [Draconic Aura] just to scare the whispers off, while the more foolhardy ones simply shouted their insults and ran the fuck away. Damn rats!

“Mother, could you use your silver-dust to hide Grimnir, like how you hid yourself during my concert?” I asked Mother, remembering how she used her silver-dust to reflect the light away from her, turning her invisible. She told me she could, but Grimnir immediately told me off for doing.

“I don’t need your pity, lass. Let’s just get this over with. Can’t wait to get back home and bash some damn metal.”

Jeez, Grimnir…

Without much talking, we eventually made it all up to the train station area. Entering a cave that looked more like a mineshaft, what awaited us at the end of it was something I couldn’t believe I would ever see again.

An actual train station.

No, like, almost identical to Earth’s. Like the subway in New York, or the S- and U-Bahn in Germany, or the bullet trains in Tokyo. The aesthetic and design of the station were nostalgic with how heavily it resembled its Earthly counterpart.

I knew I should have expected something like this when I heard about it, but I still couldn’t believe how much my memory was jogged by this sight. Even the Misfit members were wowing over how close it looked.

Nevertheless, there were some major differences. For example, the atmosphere was less “rush hour” since there weren’t too many people here, nor was it comfy like a “daily ride on the train.” It had a heavy “still under construction” vibe with all the dwarves working and tinkering with objects.

You could hear the loud banging of metal, feel the warmth of a nearby smithy, and hear the loud crackling of artificers working. The sound of steam erupted every once in a while, drowning out the commanding shouts of some dwarf giving out orders. It was very industrial, but at the same time, it had something like a rhythm to the working. Loud, but undisturbed and focused.

Like every time I saw Grimnir and Ellaine work inside our smithy.

“The train isn’t around,” Kyouya stated, so we walked up to the platform.

Rails. There were rails placed before us, lighting up with a blue color from the mana flowing through it. Blocking our paths down to them was a gate that projected a barrier of mana like [Defensive Rune: Auracoil]. Grimnir explained that they would turn off and allow us to enter once the train was around. The Revolution Queen, Chihiro, noted that safety came first before everything else, something that was new to the inventive dwarves.

“Wow,” Tatsuya exclaimed, and all of us could agree. Well, outside of Mother and Grimnir, but both Rajah and Elrick were stunned by how huge this place was. It seemed Elrick had never been to a train station before.

“Oi!” But our amazement ended when somebody called us out. “By Crustacia, this ain’t a place for you akongs to hang around! If you got business, get to it and— Hmm? Dragonewts?”

If I had to be honest, I couldn’t tell the age difference between male dwarves. The females were easy since they didn’t have a beard covering their faces. However, since beards represented age and experience, from the looks of this dwarf’s beard, he was probably a young adult.

And this dwarf was sweaty and dirty, having soot covering his hands and face. From the looks of it, he was a blacksmith or an ironmonger.

“Rare sight so deep into akong territory, but still, what— A zuekluk?” The moment he saw Grimnir, the slightly annoyed dwarf quickly turned antagonistic. “Tsk, get the hell out of here you damn zuekluk! We don’t need a dishonored inside the holy place of Goddess Chihiro! Get the hell out of here!”

Not just antagonistic, he was bluntly hostile now, even taking out a hammer from his tool apron. He pointed it at us, shouting that we should leave, causing a commotion that drew in the sights of the other dwarves. Like flies, they came towards us, further fueling the anger of the rambunctious complainer.

“Hey, hey! Look at that damn zuekluk! He dares come into the railroad guild’s territory and taints Goddess Chihiro’s ground! This train station ain’t for damn traitors and dishonored!”

“Huh? A zuekluk?! Bladdarg, why the hell are you here?! Get the hell out, you scum!”

“Get the hell out! You akongs and krasulongs, too!”

It was a vortex of hate and rage, and we were in the middle of it all. Spit was shooting out like a minigun as the crowd didn’t show any signs of stopping, continuously flinging insults and rude remarks at Grimnir like it was normal.

Everybody was unnerved by this, all except for Grimnir, who simply shut his eyes and shook his head. Without saying anything back, our friend kept his head down and slowly moved towards the entrance, the only path the crowd left open for us. Seeing him not even fighting back, all of us clicked our tongues and followed him.

Fuck these people!

I glared at all of them, feeling absolutely disgusted by behavior, but in all their rage, none of them reacted to my [Draconic Aura]. There was no way to break a dwarf’s confidence when he was angered, I presumed.

Holding onto Rajah tighter, I gritted my teeth and simply moved faster. Responding to this sorta hate was something I’ve never experienced before. Sure, some ill stigma or racism, but this? It felt suffocating and unbearable. I despised them from the depths of my soul, and I honestly just wanted to let it out. Activate [Royal Presence] and [Draconic Aura] to their maximum output and cause them all to shit their pants!

Fucking hell!

As we all tried to rush towards the exit, I suddenly heard the sound of something flying towards us. [Foresight] didn’t activate if the attack was not a threat to me, but my senses were trained enough to pick up on them without my skills. And this one was a stone thrown at Grimnir.

Scheiße!

My legs moved and grabbed the thing before Grimnir reacted to it. He looked at me stunned, surprised that I did just that. His [Prediction] probably activated, but I was still faster than him

“Las—” Grimnir probably wanted to thank me, but before he could say anything, I felt a sudden chill coming from behind me.

“Kriassah!”

The very temperature dropped far below what you could call comfortable following a dignified roar, silencing all the loud dwarves. Ice formed in the area as I turned around, seeing Mother standing proudly before the shivering dwarves, all of whom having fallen either onto their butts or knees.

“Listen, dwarves. This is your last warning. When my daughter appears before you again, you shall show her the due respect you would to a dragon princess. If you displease her, if you dare threaten her, if you ever dare harm her! Prepare your clan for battle, otherwise you will witness the age of ice overwhelm everything you hold dear. It will be forfeited!”

Solid ice spread towards them, threatening the dwarves with spears of ice, as Mother turned around and told us to leave. We followed her, too occupied with how daunting she just was. Once we were outside the train station, I walked over to Mother and asked her why she did that.

“I thought you wanted me to fight my own battles?” I asked her with Rajah still shivering in my arms. He seemed to be scared of Mother now.

“Hestia, there is a difference between having your daughter handle her own problems and people disrespecting you. In the former, your goals and ambitions will create trials and tribulations which you must conquer and prove to me that you can survive. In the latter… I am your Mother, and I will not allow some ants to spit upon the pride of us dragons.”

In other words, Mother was being overprotective. Well, not like I could complain. I was about to spew fire at them and imprison them in an obsidian jail for what they were doing to Grimnir. Mother figuratively and literally cooled me down.

“Well, it was still satisfying seeing them shiver like that. It probably doesn’t solve any of Grimnir’s problems, though…”

I looked over to Grimnir. He had thanked Mother and me for standing up for him, even Daichi and Tatsuya for before, but he didn’t look any better. He still had that depressed look on him. Crestfallen with a face telling us he wanted to go home now.

I guess that is another thing we need to solve. Grimnir’s relationship with the other dwarves will be dicy…

“Haaaaa, I hope we don’t get into too much trouble.”

“Hestia, I have already made my point to them.”

I guess she did… under threat of freezing them all. Hmm?

“Now that I think about it, shouldn’t I have announced my arrival to the local leaders? I mean, I did the same with Duke Equevanna,” I wondered, but Mother simply shook her head.

“You had to make sure he had everything prepared for your concert, Hestia. You came to that Fillion to make sure he had your preparation finished. However, in this case, they should come and plead for you to grace them with your presence. You are a dragon princess, Hestia. Do not forget about that. Words go around this city, so you can assume they had spies notify the city’s leaders of our presence. Now, you wait.”

Mother was a proud dragon and she wanted me to act like her since I was her daughter. Mother really had an ice queen personality behind all of that loving mother act she had with Aurora. I liked it.

But, as if her words were premonition, it came true the moment we returned to the inn.

“Ahhh, Princess Hestia! I am a representative of the local merchant’s guild! We wish to invite you for some business!”

“Princess Hestia, I am the manager of the most illustrious tailor store in Gleisvale. Please, would you honor us with your visit and a chance for us to create something beautiful for you?”

“Princess Hestia, I am a messenger of one of Estralia’s senators. My master wishes to invite you to her humble abode.”

… Oh right, I was a princess now.