Reincarnated as a Genius Prodigy of a Prestigious Family - Chapter 234

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Reincarnated as a Legendary Talent Genius of a Noble Family Episode 234

158. The Forgotten Underground City (2)

While the dwarven underground city is more famous than expected, there are several reasons why its true nature remains unrevealed and stays at the level of merely interesting legends.

First.

The perpetual snow of Eliyad Mountains.

Despite not being a particularly cold region, the snow that has settled from the peak down to the mountainside doesn’t melt easily, causing temperatures to drop sharply as you climb higher.

Moreover, this problem makes mountain exploration itself quite difficult.

Second.

The unfindable entrance.

Many adventurers have tried hard to find this entrance over the years, but they’ve failed every time.

Unless you’re a dwarf, it’s hard to even guess, and even among dwarves, only a very few know about it.

Also, dwarves live in hiding unless they’re special cases like Bulbark. Because the Empire drove them out.

The final third reason.

“Once you go in, that’s the end of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t come back out the way you entered. It was designed that way from the beginning. The entrance and exit are completely separated. You can’t exit through the entrance, and you can’t enter through the exit. Being thoroughly hidden is just a bonus.”

This was the explanation from the quick-footed dwarf Darbado, who had joined us after exactly three days.

“So once you go in, you must be prepared to find the exit no matter what. Do you understand what I’m saying, youngsters?”

It was quite a sight to see a dwarf who had to be looked up to by everyone calling others youngsters.

Well, when it comes to knowledge about the underground city, we really are youngsters.

“What were you thinking when you suggested going to such a place?”

At Priscilla’s scolding, Ernest scratched the back of his head and spoke as if it were obvious.

“Because adventure calls to me?”

“It wasn’t calling to us though.”

Don’t all adventures come with variables?

In that sense, Ernest was reckless but provided an opportunity for adventure in his own way.

Well, we might have found the exit somehow… anyway, we definitely learned that the entrance and exit are clearly different places.

“So do you know the entrance?”

“I know it. But not knowing the exit is practically the same as not knowing anything. The adults collapsed it when they escaped.”

“…”

Altur expressed a reasonable opinion.

“Then shouldn’t we not go in?”

“Hmph. Hey there, mage youngster. What do you take us dwarves for? Do you think we would have built only one exit in such a massive underground city?”

“…”

While Altur was dazed from being suddenly scolded, Darbado continued.

“As I remember, there are a total of five exits from the underground city. They collapsed at least two while escaping, so three should remain.”

“Will those three places be intact now?”

“Who knows. They might have been naturally blocked, or the mechanisms to open the exits might have broken down.”

Darbado crossed his arms.

“That’s why those were the first words I said when I saw you guys.”

Ah.

By the way, as soon as Darbado came out to meet us, he said this:

‘There’s more than one or two crazy youngsters here.’

But what can we do?

We’re not the type to get scared by such stories, considering that what we’ve done so far would look like crazy acts to others.

“You might not be able to get out once you go in. It might take years to escape. Or maybe you’ll starve to death within a few months. That’s a dead city. A vanished city, a forgotten city. Any food and grain they couldn’t take with them would have all rotted. Teleport? Don’t even dream of it. Mana won’t be able to pass through the ground.”

Darbado added.

“There might be undead too. There were corpses they couldn’t retrieve when they left.”

After saying all that, Darbado looked at us and snickered.

“Will you still go?”

Our response was quite a sight.

“Undead? I was getting restless anyway, this works out well. I haven’t had a situation to test my divine power. Just watch. I’ll completely smash their heads…”

“If we can’t get out, then not getting out would be fun in its own way? Adventures are most fun when you’re looking for the exit anyway.”

“This is my first adventure so I’m excited about everything! Right, Altur?”

“Excited… well, I hope there’s at least one magic item there. I heard dwarves are incredible at that stuff too.”

I quietly watched those reactions and shrugged my shoulders at Darbado.

“These are the kind of kids they are.”

“…”

Darbado had a truly dumbfounded expression.

“You guys… are you really students? How can you be so carefree?”

The person who answered that was Dorian.

“Well, because everything will always work out fine if we’re with Teacher Dane.”

And I’m the person who has to live up to this trust.

“You heard them? Let’s hurry and go.”

“… What kind of students are these.”

Darbado spoke as if bewildered, yet started walking as if enchanted.

It doesn’t take very long to reach Eliyad Mountains.

Alteon has many mountains, and there are also many mountains near the capital.

Exactly three days would be enough.

“So this is perpetual snow. It’s incredible.”

We were overwhelmed by the scenery of perpetual snow we encountered near Eliyad Mountains.

Incredible.

The mystery of nature – no matter how many times you encounter it, you never get used to it.

“So the entrance is somewhere in that snow-covered area.”

Darbado answered.

“Something like that.”

Then a question arose.

“Then that’s not an ‘underground city’? Shouldn’t it be called a ‘midmountain city’?”

At Leila’s words, Darbado answered as if he’d been waiting for this.

“There’s a reason it has to be that way. You’ll probably be surprised.”

We learned the reason a day later.

“Whooooa! Really, phew. It’s a good thing the rangers aren’t here!”

“Why is this place so steep!”

“Good thing we brought plenty of anchors. Is everyone alive? Dead people answer!”

We fought through mountain terrain as treacherous as the Habarosk Mountain Range and finally reached the entrance area beyond the mountainside.

Looking at the path we climbed up makes me want to stick my tongue out in amazement.

It’s steep and covered with snow, so you’d easily slip if you’re not careful.

“Really, without The Two’s magic and Karnas, we would have been in big trouble.”

Of course, we had quite a few ways to melt the snow, so we could reach the mountainside without major problems.

And finally, following Darbado’s guidance, we found the entrance.

“This is the entrance?”

Everyone seemed unable to hide their bewilderment.

And for good reason, since the place Darbado pointed to was some tree stump.

And not an old, large tree either, but one thick enough for two adults to wrap their arms around.

“Let me show you how skilled dwarven craftsmanship is.”

Tap, tap, tap.

Darbado knocked somewhere around the base of the tree stump three times, then brought his hand to the bark.

And then, I twisted it.

Click.

Surprisingly, the bark didn’t peel away, but the surface rotated.

“It’s not tree bark?”

As if it wasn’t bark at all, but something made with a bark pattern.

“Right, this is….”

Rumble!

And it began to open.

The bottom of the tree split apart.

“It’s not a tree, but a dwarven sculpture.”

Below the finally revealed entrance, pitch-black darkness spread out.

Everyone was too amazed to speak.

What everyone had believed without doubt to be a tree was actually a precisely crafted sculpture?

“How’s that? The ultimate camouflage, isn’t it?”

“Impressive.”

At my plain admiration, Darbado grumbled.

“I was hoping for a more definitive reaction. Humans could never make something like this!”

“That’s why. It’s impressive.”

I ran my finger across the surface of the ‘tree’.

The rough surface and texture of tree bark, and when I brought my nose close, even the scent of wood rose up.

Everything was identical to a real tree, yet this was a sculpture.

Without Darbado, finding this entrance would have been impossible.

“Wow… I was supposed to find an entrance like this?”

Ernest also clicked his tongue.

If it hadn’t been for Darbado, even Ernest would have taken an enormous amount of time to find it.

Who could have imagined it?

There was a high probability he never would have found it at all.

“That’s why I reacted so ridiculously when you said you were going to explore the underground city.”

Darbado shook his head as if it was still absurd to think about.

“What crazy bastards in the world would explore an underground city….”

“We’re doing it now. Thanks to you.”

“…Maybe I shouldn’t have told you the code back then.”

“I have a personality that collects on debts.”

“Hah, right. Thanks to you guys, I’m entering a place I knew how to get into but never dared to try.”

I suddenly became curious and asked.

“So did you really come here just because of my debt?”

“…It’s not entirely because of that.”

There seemed to be a strange emotion in Darbado’s eyes as he looked at the entrance.

“This place… was our race’s dream. It was our future, our history. I wanted to see those traces with my current eyes, not a child’s memories.”

Then Darbado didn’t forget to add one more thing.

“And I need to retrieve the things we left there. For our people.”

Anyway, an adventure where everyone had their purpose.

“Well then, let’s go in.”

So we each took a magic lantern and stepped toward the entrance, witnessing dwarven technology once again.

“It’s working properly. Well, it probably hasn’t been used much since the Great Escape.”

Click!

When Darbado fumbled in the darkness and grabbed something to turn, lights on the ceiling came on, and a familiar object appeared before our eyes.

Rumble, whirrrr!

An entrance on the mountainside.

And the way to go underground from this entrance was….

“Can something be made on this scale?”

“Really… this is unbelievable. Compared to the one at Danter Hall, there’s not even any vibration.”

“Wow… really….”

It was an elevator.

Not just the scale, but the stability was incomparable.

Perhaps because it had been activated after a long time, there were some creaking sounds, but it moved very well.

“At this level, it wouldn’t fall behind Drenik’s technology.”

“Didn’t you know? Drenik’s mechanical engineering started with the dwarves.”

“Really?”

It was a fact I had no idea about.

Yet it was also a fact that made sense.

“It’s understandable you wouldn’t know. Drenik are the same kind of bastards. They sweet-talked us, extracted only our technology, then abandoned us. Anyway, those Empire folks.”

Darbado spoke as if spitting and sighed.

“Perhaps our race’s history is just made up of being used for our entire lives.”

Rather bitter words.

Though I didn’t need to feel guilty about it.

Whirrrr….

Meanwhile, the elevator carrying all of us finally stopped.

Quite a long journey.

It felt like we moved for over 5 minutes.

“Let’s get off, youngsters.”

Everyone seemed reluctant to get off, but we came here for adventure and exploration.

Of course, getting off the dwarven elevator didn’t immediately reveal the underground city.

“It’s double security. It’s unlikely, but just in case some unwelcome fellow discovers this entrance and comes down. Though they wouldn’t be able to operate the elevator anyway… but you never know.”

I wondered if having dwarven-level technology led to paranoid symptoms, but considering what the underground city meant to the dwarves, it seemed understandable.

Anyway, what was in front of us now was a massive and heavy iron door like the entrance to Bulbark’s forge.

I wondered where I’d seen it before, and they copied this design.

He said he directly designed and built the forge.

However, the opening method was different.

Click, click, creak.

I memorized the sequence and direction of Darbado operating the mechanisms on the door.

Perhaps there might be a reason to come back again.

And after operating it about ten times.

Rumble!

Finally the door opened, and a massive panorama spread before us.

A huge city of a scale absolutely unbelievable to be underground.

“Welcome to the dwarven underground city ‘Acrium’.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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