Muriel’s wings still wrapped tightly around Lilith’s shoulders, remained steady as Muriel walked happily, clutching her newly acquired gold bar. It wasn’t long before she guided Lilith out of the narrow, dark passageway, revealing Listerok at the heart of the mountain. Lilith was awestruck by the improbable beauty of the dwarven city hidden within the mountain. For Muriel, however, this place looked exactly as it had the last time she visited.
“Wow, the dwarven city is so beautiful, Lady Muriel!” Lilith’s gaze was fixed on the breathtaking view of the city, where each structure had been crafted with meticulous care.
“Dwarven cities… they’re not bad, I suppose,” Muriel said, her voice tinged with indifference as her eyes scanned Listerok from the city’s scenic viewpoint. “But honestly, I prefer more open cities like Lumina. Probably because I’m not a fan of living in caves like other dragons.” With that, she gently guided Lilith onward with her wing still resting over her shoulder.
“Oh, come on, Lady Muriel! Let me admire it a little longer!” Lilith protested, her tone resembling a child reluctantly being pulled away by her mother.
“Get what needs to be done finished first, little goat. The quicker you drain my blood, the sooner we can get to what you want to do,” Muriel replied with a growing air of impatience. Her tolerance for the little goat-girl was thinning, though she found herself unable to be truly angry at Lilith. She wondered, Is this how Papa felt about me back then? The same way I feel now?
“I understand, Lady Muriel…” Lilith dragged her words, her tone defeated, but she knew Muriel was right. The sooner they completed the two dragonblood steel weapons using Muriel’s blood, the more time they would have left for the rest of the week. Perhaps, if they had enough time, Muriel might even help Lilith free the slaves she desperately wanted to save. With that hope, Lilith chose to press on beside Muriel.
Eventually, the two arrived at the entrance to a massive forge. The enormous doors were wide open, with carts constantly moving in and out. From where Muriel and Lilith stood, they could see Beldar waiting for them. He wasn’t merely standing idly—he was atop a small wooden box, conversing with a group of dwarves, healers, and blacksmiths, numbering well over a dozen. It didn’t take long before the group noticed Muriel approaching, and Beldar promptly instructed everyone to prepare inside the forge.
“Well, Beldar, your preparations seem swift. Are you all ready?” Muriel’s sharp hearing caught Bellar’s words to the dwarves with ease. She withdrew her wing from Lilith and made it disappear entirely.
“We’ve gathered the healers and blacksmiths as requested, Lady Muriel. Now we’re only waiting on you,” Beldar replied with a nod. His stout legs, thick as tree stumps, stepped off the small wooden box as he led the way into the colossal forge.
“Lilith, I hope your magic proves useful,” Muriel remarked, a faint smile gracing her face, though she didn’t turn to look at Lilith. She then followed Beldar into the forge.
As Muriel and Lilith entered the forge, they were greeted by the sight of dwarven blacksmiths bustling in and out of various rooms. Steam pipes lining the walls and the high cavern ceiling hissed periodically, releasing bursts of vapor. The clanging of metal reverberated throughout the space. However, what caught Lilith’s eye the most wasn’t the workers or the machinery, but a group of small mechanical constructs. These machines, shaped like oversized mouths with two short legs and a compact body, stood no taller than her waist. They trailed behind a dwarf, each carrying a bundle of coal in its "mouth." Though their method seemed inefficient for moving large quantities of coal, Lilith couldn’t help but find them adorable, watching them shuffle by until she nearly tripped over her own feet.
Eventually, both she and Muriel arrived at the forging chamber, where the dragonblood extraction altar was located. To Lilith, it appeared as a massive slab of stone with channels designed to direct the flow of blood. Nearby stood a colossal cauldron meant to collect the blood that would soon be drained. Muriel, upon seeing the stone altar again, felt a wave of nausea. She climbed onto the stone, and the chill of its surface against her hand only deepened her disgust. Part of her wanted to abandon the task then and there, but as a dragon, her word was her bond, and papa didn’t raise a quitter.
“I’m starting to regret asking for two weapons… but what’s done is done,” Muriel muttered as black liquid began to seep from her body, enveloping her frame. Her form expanded as the liquid solidified into her massive dragon shape atop the stone. Once her transformation was complete, she turned her gaze to the dwarven healers and used her skill, [Dragon Lord’s Promise] doubling their magical reserves in an instant.
“Aaaaaahhh!!”
Immediately after, Muriel plunged her tail into her thigh, slicing through her scales to create a deep gash without any form of pain relief. Scalding crimson blood, steaming like boiling water, gushed from the wound in a torrential flow. The dwarven healers, seeing the process begin, cast minor healing spells on her continuously to stabilize her while she drained her blood.
Lilith’s eyes were fixated on the boiling, bubbling blood. It was strangely mesmerizing—the dark red hue shimmered like molten metal, and the sharp, metallic tang of the blood filled the air. Entranced, she reached a hand toward it, only to recoil when the heat became unbearable, stinging her skin as though she had touched boiling water. Though uninjured, she winced from the sensation.
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“Are you all right, Lady Lilith?” Beldar, noticing her sudden reaction, rushed over to check on her.
“No… I’m fine, Lord Beldar,” Lilith replied, shaking her head. “It’s just that seeing Lady Muriel’s blood flowing in her dragon form… I couldn’t resist taking a closer look.” She glanced up at Beldar for a moment before her eyes were drawn back to the unrelenting flow of Muriel’s blood.
“We’ll need a tremendous amount of her blood. You’ll have plenty more to see—several cauldrons full, in fact. But for now, it’s best we step outside. Staying here will only get in the way of the healers’ work,” Beldar advised, gesturing for Lilith to follow him out of the chamber.
He gestured towards the large doors of the chamber, signaling for Lilith to lead the way out. Lilith hesitated for a moment, glancing back at Muriel, who lay silently enduring her pain. Worry flickered in her eyes, but she nodded to Beldar and stepped out of the room.
Beldar then guided Lilith out of the forge entirely, leading the young half-goat girl on a tour around much of the dwarven city to pass the time. It was Lilith’s first time witnessing a culture different from her own, and everything was both surprising and thrilling to her. The wide main thoroughfare of the city, resembling a massive marketplace, stretched from the city’s entrance all the way to a giant fortress embedded in the cave wall.
Along this path, Lilith saw things she had never encountered before. Intricate clockwork mechanisms, magical tools, multipurpose toolboxes capable of performing over forty different functions, and a dazzling array of gemstones, each unique in its brilliance. There were colorful silks, exotic goods from the eastern and southern lands, and countless tomes of magical knowledge. Even the food and drinks were entirely new to her, such as a dessert made from chilled slime shaved into a bowl and topped with fruity cave jams, resembling shaved ice, or a sweet-smelling drink crafted from milk, butter, and sugar.
But what struck Lilith most was the diversity of the merchants in the market. Though this was a dwarven city, vendors of many different races had set up shop here, and adventurers from Alderia were also present, stopping in the city before journeying further northward across the mountain range that split the western continent.
After wandering through the lively market, Beldar and Lilith found a place to sit and rest on the stairs leading up to the fortress embedded in the mountainside. From there, they looked down at the bustling marketplace below, still full of life and activity. Lilith’s eyes sparkled with wonder as she reflected on everything she had seen. The journey along the market’s length had filled her with excitement about the wide world, its cultures, and the other races waiting to be discovered.
“This city is so amazing, Lord Beldar,” Lilith said, holding a skewer of roasted mountain buffalo meat that Beldar had bought for her. “I’ve never seen a city where so many different races live together like this.”
“Lady Lilith, this place is nothing compared to the grand capital of Alderia, Lumina, or the elven tree-city of Lofania,” Beldar replied. “This is just a gathering spot for merchants and adventurers. Those cities are on a completely different level.”
“Really? But for me, this is the first time I’ve ever seen so many different people and races in one place,” Lilith said, her excitement evident. “It’s so different from when I was growing up in Veridia.”
“Hm… Lady Lilith, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you meet Lady Muriel while growing up in Veridia?” Beldar hesitated slightly before posing the question. From what he had gathered of Muriel, he couldn’t quite imagine how she had come across this young girl, especially given Muriel’s usual presence in Alderia. Another thought crossed his mind as well, one he was reluctant to voice—the clear red marks around Lilith’s neck suggested she had been a slave in Veridia.
“Oh, well,” Lilith began, looking down. “To be honest, Lady Muriel just… appeared out of nowhere. At the time, I couldn’t believe it myself.”
“Haha! That sounds exactly like her,” Beldar laughed heartily, his voice booming. “Lady Muriel does have a habit of showing up unannounced in people’s lives. And, strangely enough, it often turns out to be for the better. Lucky for us, we’re on her side, eh?”
Startled by his sudden laughter, Lilith jumped slightly, unused to such an outburst from a dwarf. “Y-Yes, but still… when Lady Muriel freed me so suddenly, I felt like it was fate—like Syra herself guided us to meet.”
Lilith raised her free hand to touch her neck, where the slave collar had once been. The memory of its sudden destruction by Muriel was the most liberating moment of her life. With that thought, Lilith began to open up, sharing her story with Beldar.
"Yes... as you can see, Lord Beldar, I grew up as a slave," Lilith said softly. "Every day, I would wake up to a single meal, then spend the rest of the day working—both in the house and... taking care of the owner's children."
"I'm sorry, Lord Beldar," she added quickly, shaking her head as though trying to dispel the haunting memories that resurfaced. "I don't like talking about it much."
"I understand, Lady Lilith," Beldar replied, nodding gravely. Then his voice took on a sharp edge of anger. "It's barbaric that Veridia has revived the institution of slavery."
"Now that the Dragon of Freedom is with us," Lilith said with conviction, "Veridia will surely return to being a land without slaves, as it was before I was born. I’m certain of it."
Beldar's reaction made Lilith smile faintly. It was heartening to see that there were still people in the world who vehemently opposed slavery. Yet her small smile soon grew into one filled with determination so strong that Beldar could feel it radiating from her through her magic. It was a force of unyielding resolve for freedom, a deep belief in Muriel that seemed only to grow stronger with time. Lilith was confident Muriel would never let her down.
Time passed quickly as Beldar guided Lilith into the fortress embedded in the mountainside, giving her a chance to rest after the nerve-wracking flight with Muriel. While there, he introduced her to various magical circles and symbols depicted in the fortress's collection of spell tomes. Though Lilith couldn’t yet read the text, she somehow understood the meaning of the circles almost immediately. She had a particular affinity for alchemical formulas and transmutation spells—a rare and astonishing talent that amazed the scholars of the fortress. They remarked that if she were to train under a skilled mentor, her abilities could one day be remembered as legendary.
A full day passed, and the process of extracting Muriel's blood had finally been completed. The mage responsible for the ritual arrived at the fortress to deliver the news to Beldar.
"The extraction of Demon Lord Muriel's blood for both weapons is complete," the mage announced.
"We are ready to proceed with forging the dragonblood steel.”
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