Novels2Search

Unfinished business.

The next day, early in the afternoon, by the Parnatau Gap…

Vrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmm!…

Straf races across the dirt road, with each bump sending the kubelwagen up and rotating sideways, before landing on the side wheels.

「Can you slow down!? I don't feel safe!-」

King Parnatau shouts, wide-eyed, staring at the landscape zoom past him in a blur. He clutches onto the door and the windshield, trying to brace himself with his legs.

「Early cars aren't supposed to be safe! Do you see a seat belt somewhere around your seat!?」

Straf cuts in, and shouts a question back.

「What!?…」

The fat man furrows his brows, then quickly looks around his seat for anything resembling a belt.

「…No!」

「Exactly! Does that give you an idea of how important safety was to this car's design!?」

Vrrrrooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmm!…

The king shakes his head, and Straf shrugs, then stomps on the formerly gas pedal again.

They pass the village in a blur. Moments later, they pass by the fortress held by Redwing Kingdom, and then another short moment later, Straf spots a checkpoint directly in the pass.

「Halt!… Halt!…」

The soldiers behind the checkpoint barricade hold their hands out towards the speeding car, shouting. Their faces turn nervous when they see it continue towards them at the exact same speed.

「…I said halt!」

The soldier shouts again, and the armored squad point their spears in the vehicle's way. They begin fidgeting nervously as it draws closer, and closer.

「H- Halt!-」

He shouts once more, and the fat man in the horseless, cart-like contraption is flung forward, barely clinging onto his seat. It stops just before the barricade, and the soldiers let out a large sigh of relief.

「…Who are you, and what do you want!? We are at war with your kingdom!」

The irate soldier asks, scowling at the two in the strange cart.

「Move the barricade, you idiots! I am your king! The war is over!」

King Parnatau shouts at the soldier staring at him, and points his fat finger at fence of spikes in the way ahead.

「What are you-!?…」

The soldier's scowl grows, but his voice quickly trails off when he realizes that the man is fat, and his robes luxurious. With a tight-lipped grimace, Straf stares at the soldier, unimpressed.

「Oh. Ahh… Move the barricade! Quick! The king is back!」

With his demeanor quickly shifting from an authoritative, angry frown to a nervous look of worry, the armored man runs for the barricade and waves his free arm towards the rest.

The group at the checkpoint grab onto the barricade, and turn it out of the way, lifting it with a quick jog to the side. When it's sufficiently displaced, they stand at attention.

Vrrrrrrooooooooommmm…

Straf shrugs, and rolls the car past them. One of them tentatively grabs onto the barricade, but another shakes his head. The barricade remains at the side, and the soldiers pace around, idling…

Late in the afternoon, deep within Parnatau Kingdom, nearby the capital…

Vrrrrrrrrrooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmm!…

Straf races towards the open city gate. Upon seeing the vehicle, the guards grip onto their spears.

「H- Halt!… Who are you, where do you come from!?」

The guards shout, warily watching the car roll to a stop a few paces away. King Parnatau wiggles his large form out of the seat, standing up.

「I am your king! Make way!」

He shouts, and waves them out of the way with his fat hand. When they see the king, the guards jump aside, wide-eyed. Straf remains unimpressed, and stomps on the formerly gas pedal.

Vrrrrrrrrooooooooooommmmmmm!…

「Wuoagh!」

Thump!

The king flies backwards over his seat, and lands in the back. When the starving, skeletal people see the kubelwagen, life sparks back into their listless eyes.

「Ugh!… Hmpf!… Slow down already!」

Struggling to maneuver himself, the fat king grunts and pants as he tries to sit down on the rear seat.

Straf ignores him, and navigates through the mostly empty streets leading to the palace with ease. The moment King Parnatau manages to finally set himself upright, Straf brakes.

「Ufffffff!…」

The king is pressed against the front seat, and air escapes him like a squeezed bagpipe.

「There you go. You can walk the rest of the way… And remember, you lost once, you can lose again.」

Straf puts the gear stick into neutral, and points his hand at the palace gate.

The palace guards look down from the battlements with nervous eyes, but then relax a little when they see the king squeeze himself out of the strange cart. The gates begin to swing open.

「Gah… Ahh… I should have taken the wagon…」

The fat king remarks while limping away towards the gate.

「…By the way, our army will pay the city a visit in a few hours! Let them in, or you'll have to explain yourself to me!」

Straf shifts the gear back into first. His head perks up, and he shouts the king's way. The fat man looks back at him, visibly cringing, then continues towards the palace with his head hanging low.

「Right… Unfinished business.」

Vrrrrrrrooooooooommmmmm…

Straf turns the steering wheel, and heads back towards the city gate…

Less than three hours later, before the evening, somewhere east of the capital…

Vrrrrroooommmmmmm… Vrrrrrrrrtrtrtttrtrttt…

Driving off-road, Straf stops in front of an unremarkable cave entrance in the mountain's foot, well hidden by nature, and easily missed.

「…It's in there, huh?」

Straf looks up at the sky, and asks as he jumps out of the kubelwagen.

《Yes. Deep in the treasury, just like the collar.》

Athea's voice replies, echoing in his head. Straf places his hands in his coat's pockets, and approaches the cave.

「It better not be BDSM gear just like the fucking collar…」

He grumbles, shaking his head with his mouth scrunched to the side.

《…Why did you take pity on those people?》

She asks with a soft, calm tone.

「Huh? I fed them, 'cause they'll see one side starving them, and one side feeding them. I think they'll have an easy time picking who they like more.」

Straf shrugs his shoulders as the cave ceiling takes over the gray sky. An orb of light abruptly appears over his head, and begins to orbit him.

《Even at the risk of your army running out of supplies?》

「I only needed one look at the palace to know that the asshole had more than enough to replenish them. The troops loved his food, too. Stolen stuff always tastes better.」

She asks another question, and Straf scoffs, delving deeper into the dark cave. Shadows stretch and dance on the walls, and water noisily drips somewhere.

《Why didn't you take the entire warehouse with you, then? You could have done that.》

Athea asks, her voice still as calm as a slow creek, and soothing as honey.

「I considered that… But then I thought that most of them wouldn't live to being the part of my plan that way. I'm pretty forward-thinking.」

Straf replies as he descends down a gentle rock slope towards a vast darkness, taking the only path available.

《…I don't know what to think of you…》

Athea says in a quiet, sighful voice.

「I didn't know you were capable of thinking.」

An amused huff escapes Straf's nose, and he briefly flashes his smug grin at the rock ceiling.

《…One day, you make me seethe with white-hot fury… But then another day, you show a surprising amount of care for others, to the point where I feel bad about thinking those things about you.》

She adds, and Straf remains silent. As he continues onward, the cave slowly transforms into an ornately chiseled stone mimicking bricks.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

《…It almost seems like the inherent part of you is eager to be kind to people, but when it's noticed, something then makes you put in immense effort to push everyone away.》

「…Is this one of those shitty fucking puzzle doors?」

Straf asks with his brows furrowed, ignoring Athea. He stands in front of a circular door of stone, with each segment seemingly intertwined between each other.

《Can you stop trying to change the subject? This is more important than a door-》

「The door is the subject. What's the puzzle here?」

Straf cuts Athea off, and looks at the odd runes on each segment.

《…You have to align the dwarven runes so that they state high king, mountain king, and no equal before him. If you just focus on the runes, you'll be able to read them.》

Athea explains with a fatigued voice, almost as if just after a sigh.

SMASH!

《What are you doing!?》

She shouts in his head, when Straf gives the door a rough kick, and sends the runic fragments flying deeper in.

「I have disdain for puzzle doors. I could have done it… But I refuse to.」

Straf shrugs, and enters through the shattered remnant of the dwarven puzzle door.

《That was!… You can't just destroy ages-old archaeological artifacts like that on a whim! This is the heritage meant for the future generations!》

「Was, you mean.」

《Thanks to you!… I'm done helping you! Figure out the rest yourself!》

She shouts while Straf grins at the chiseled ceiling, nonchalantly proceeding inward into the tunnel.

He walks through an empty doorway which, by the looks it, at least originally intended to hold a door. Perhaps it rotted away completely, or was dismantled, but now only hinges remain.

Fwump!…

「Gah! What the fuck?-」

Straf steps inside the ruins proper, and is briefly blinded by the bright lights that flash on. His eyes quickly recover, and he looks all around himself with a squint.

The stone hallway, beautifully chiseled, stretches on and on. The entire hall is remarkably clean and dust-free. Pairs of rectangular lights line the top of the walls, suspiciously resembling modern fluorescent lamps, but on a closer inspection, a magic gem can be seen inside. Straf picks a random direction of the three available, and continues deeper in.

Clackclackclacklaklaklaklak…

「Huh?…」

Metallic legs clatter on the wall, as a small spider-like creature nearly identical to the runic automata from the Academy of Magic speeds by. He tracks it with his brows furrowed, until it disappears behind a corner. Straf then shrugs, and continues onward.

「…Can the dwarves not afford a good lawyer? That's a copyright infringement right there.」

He remarks, grimacing slightly. He spots a stairwell leading down at another crossing, and decides to take it…

Approximately an hour later, in the maze-like dwarven ruins…

A few levels below, Straf continues wandering with no clear aim in mind. Simply exploring from room to room, he finds what might have been a kitchen, a dining hall, a long hallway of what was once bedrooms, and even a library, though completely devoid of any and all tomes. Most of the wooden furniture already rotted away into dust, with only a few pieces remaining. Straf then comes across a door that appears to be steel at a first glance, but then seems to reflect light very much unlike steel.

「This ought to be important…」

Straf presses down on the handle. He pulls and pushes, but the door refuses to even make a noise.

「…Well… In that case!…」

Thud!

「…Oof!?」

Straf gives the door a rough kick, and sends himself stumbling backward. A spattering of dust falls from the door's stone frame, but not much else happens.

「What the fuck?…」

He furrows his brows, and his eyes snap upward at the ceiling.

「…Hey, bimbo! How do I open this fucking door!?」

Straf shouts, spreading his arms

《Figure it out yourself!》

With a scornful voice, she replies.

「Okay, I'll just go through the wall from the side-」《Noooooooo!…》

Straf takes a turn towards the side room, but then stops in his tracks when Athea shouts in his head.

《…Fine. It's a magically-sealed door. You'll first have to dispel the seal, then open it like a normal human being. It's not locked in any other way.》

She relents, and explains. Straf turns back towards the sealed door, and grimaces slightly.

A wave of shimmering air washes over it, projecting from Straf, and the metal on the door appears to finally reflect the light as he expected it to. He walks up, and pushes down on the handle.

Cla-clack… Crrrrrrrrrreaaaaaaaaaaaaaak…

Straf swings the door open with a terrible screech of its rusty hinge. The path beyond the door is much narrower, and also dark. Straf re-casts his light spell, and the orb begins to orbit him again as he enters. While walking through the narrow corridor, he places his hands back in his pockets, and glances up at the ceiling.

「…What is this place, anyway? I'm mildly curious, so go ahead and give me some lore.」

He asks, and shrugs his coat-covered shoulders.

《Tsk… It's something of a waystation. It hosted a permanent population, but was carved out with the intent of hosting traveling bands of dwarves. They rested, traded, then moved on.》

「So, a dwarf hotel?」

《Not quite… But I don't want to explain the fine details just so your thought flow can bastardize them again, so let's just go with that.》

「This door is kind of a fucked up level of security measures for a dwarf hotel.」

Straf remarks, glancing over his shoulder at the door.

《It's only impressive to you, because the dwarves really fell from grace. Their magic, and what you call magitech was far in advance of anyone else's. Doors like that were commonplace.》

She explains with a sighful, fatigued voice.

「So, what happened? This ought to be the first time I couldn't just kick a door in… You'd think there would be a market for that.」

Straf asks, glancing up at the ceiling again.

《The demon lord. While he didn't target the dwarves, at least not specifically, he didn't need to. Paranoia and infighting quickly took place. They nearly destroyed themselves.》

Athea bluntly replies, and Straf enters a dark, vast, open room. There are many pedestals with plaques in dwarven, but the grand majority of them are empty.

Straf walks up to one, and reads it, focusing his gaze on it.

「…Vaugnir's portable vegetable and foodstuff slicer, huh?」

He reads the contents of the plaque out loud, and looks at the empty pedestal with a tight-lipped grimace.

「Too bad. I could have used a dwarven blender. What else is here? Where's the cursed thing?… Ah.」

Straf continues on ahead, lazily looking around as he walks amongst the pedestals. He spots one that has an item resting upon it.

「…Well, look at that!」

He grins as he looks at something resembling a sci-fi, space-age submachinegun. Straf's eyes quickly turn to the plaque. It reads,「Faulron's failed experimental chargewand」in bold dwarven.

「Failed?… What's so failed about this?」

Straf picks the chargewand up, and examines it in his hands. It bears all the hallmarks of a firearm, starting from a trigger, through what appears to be a slot for gems, and ending on iron sights.

Cla-clak…

The chargewand rattles softly as Straf brings its triangular iron sights up to his eye level. He then moves his finger to give the trigger a short squeeze.

FWIPFWIPFWIPFWIPFWIPFWIPFWIPFWIPFWIPFWIPFWIPFWIP!…

Unlike Straf's magic gun, the recoil sends orb-shaped green projectiles scattering everywhere around the room. Straf pulls his finger away, and the chargewand goes silent.

「…I see.」

He remarks, and throws the failed chargewand into his [Portable Storage]. The empty pillars lie shattered on the ground, and dust hangs in the air as dirt trickles through the holes in the ceiling.

「Ah… Is that the cursed armor piece!?」

Straf squints, and notices something black upon a pillar right by the edge of the room. He runs up, and picks it up into his hands to take a better look.

「…How the fuck is this not BDSM gear!? You fucking liar! You lying dyslexiac bimbo!」

His face quickly twists into a scowl, and he shouts at the ceiling in a voice full of indignation.

《It's just leather straps that go across your chest.》

Athea calmly explains.

「Yeah! And if I put this on, I'll look like I really like getting whipped! What the fuck is wrong with you!? Get down here so I can put this on you, you masochist freak!」

Straf points at the floor in front of him, shouting, and flapping the narrow bands of leather joined on a metal ring…