Chapter 100

# Chapter 100: <The Inspiration Came>

Thud. Thud. Thud. One after another, the group was buried in the pile of cotton and then jumped up repeatedly. They all showed the same reaction when they stood up.

"Wow."

Meow!

"Amazing."

Exclamations of amazement involuntarily slipped from their mouths. The underground city. When they heard about it, it gave an impression of being dark and gloomy. But the city they actually faced was sparkling.

The communal ceiling, seemingly unreachable and very high, was adorned with twinkling lights that moved around. A stream flowed on one side, and fields and rice paddies were on both sides of the stream.

There were also trees that had grown tall, forming a forest.

"How can such a place exist."

The wizard Rosaline had an expression of disbelief. Although she didn't have any preconceived notions about dark elves, she easily accepted the idea when she first heard that a hidden city existed in the Land of Death.

She had heard that dark elves gained power from places where the dead existed. Rosaline, who used natural mana, inherently found the dead mana unsettling.

At that moment, Cage's voice reached her ears.

"Death is indeed part of nature."

She looked at Cage. Cage seemed to take this scene for granted. And it was also natural for Kale.

"Is it a spirit?"

Kale looked at Tasha.

"It's the power of nature."

She meant the power of the spirits.

Although they gained power from dead mana, the dark elves were beings of nature. They were a dark race and a race of elves. They could handle spirits and use dead mana.

Tasha opened her arms wide to the dark elves approaching from a distance.

"It's been a while!"

With a refreshing smile, she greeted them casually. The three approaching dark elves ran over.

"You brat!"

"Five years without a single letter, and you say it's been a while?"

Two of them scolded Tasha harshly. The other one politely greeted Kale.

"Welcome. I'll guide you to your accommodations first."

"Sean, it's been a while!"

"Please follow me."

Sean seemed to ignore Tasha's greeting.

"Hey, Sean, are you mad?"

"Do you have any luggage? If you do, we'll carry it for you."

No, it wasn't that he pretended not to hear; he was ignoring her. Kale chuckled and responded to Sean's question.

"We don't have any luggage. Please guide us."

Sean stared at Kale. He saw Kale smiling gently.

"...I heard you're a noble, but you can speak freely."

"Sure, I'll do that."

Kale was the kind of person who couldn't refuse.

Kale entered the dark elves' territory, the City of Death, along with his group and the three dark elves.

Once inside the city, they could see it more clearly. It was different from the giant underground cavern that amazed them with its natural setting.

"Isn't it more developed than most cities?"

Tasha asked Kale proudly.

The city was quite advanced, comparable to the major cities of the Rowen Kingdom.

However, Kale didn't respond to that. He noticed something else first.

"There are humans here too."

A gentle smile appeared on Tasha's lips.

'So that's it.'

Once inside the city, they could see the dark elves. But they could also see a few humans. One in ten was a human.

One of the Five Great Mysteries. The Land of Death.

No one who went there ever returned alive. It was a place known for the red sand grains that were said to be made from the blood of the dead. Perhaps it was a land where the necromancer's curse drove people to death.

Kale spoke.

"There was a reason why those who fled to the desert never returned."

The dark elves who were guiding and protecting them smiled at his words. Tasha shrugged and replied.

"We couldn't let them die. We are dark elves with a history of fleeing."

Because they had fled, they understood the desperate need to escape to this place called the Land of Death to survive. The dark elves knew this.

Kale was genuinely impressed.

"Remarkable."

It was a remarkable thing.

Even though they didn't particularly harm humans, the dark elves were a race that had been criticized and fled by humans because their living place was associated with death.

However, they knew how to embrace humans.

Indeed, the dark elves were different from the elves who didn't want to mix with humans.

Still, seeing this, they were elf-like. There was a reason why nature and spirits didn't abandon them.

"I understand why nature loves the dark elves."

Nature, in a different way from the nature-loving elves, had given the dark elves a place in its embrace.

Kale didn't miss the bright expressions of the humans he saw in the underground cavern.

"Well, it's all thanks to the characteristics of this land."

Kale looked at Sean, the dark elf. He adjusted his glasses slightly and continued. His gaze briefly met the wizard Rosaline's and then fell away.

"This is the Land of Death. We don't know why, but there is a presence of death here. And a small amount of dead mana rises from the desert sands once or twice a year."

Kale gestured to the mad priestess Cage. She nodded at Kale.

"This desert is full of the presence of death. But it's not evil. It's just the natural cycle of death that should depart but remains here."

"You must be a priestess of the God of Death."

"I was excommunicated."

Sean hesitated at his question, but Cage's cheerful answer made him pause.

In contrast, Kale nodded at her words and expressed his thoughts.

"Perhaps this is land given by the God of Death. Just because a dark race needs dead mana doesn't mean they are all evil."

Kale continued, looking at the dark elves who were staring at him.

"There are also many crazy and evil humans. Isn't it similar?"

"True, young master."

Ron agreed. Sean glanced at him and then drew an awkward smile at Ron's kind smile. Tasha looked at all of them and came to a beautiful conclusion.

"Anyway, it's a pleasant city to live in."

That was the right answer.

Kale arrived at the inn. It was quite a good one.

"This is the first time we've had guests here."

"Really?"

Sean nodded.

"We built this inn for guests, thinking we might find other dark elf villages, but we haven't. And the people who come here are usually in no condition to stay at an inn."

"What kind of condition?"

Choi Han asked casually. Sean answered calmly.

"Most are in a state of malnutrition, dehydration, or shock from encountering dark elves and the Land of Death. So we move them directly to the infirmary."

Sean approached the innkeeper.

"The first guest has arrived."

"Oh, brother. We finally have a guest."

The innkeeper was a human. The white-haired old man, who looked to be in his seventies, welcomed Kale and his group with applause.

"Oh, welcome, guests. Even though I look like this, I'm the human who has lived the longest in this village. I know the geography as well as the dark elf brothers do!"

Tasha whispered to the group.

"By the way, Sean is the same age as me."

Kale shook hands with the innkeeper.

"Please take good care of us during our stay, innkeeper."

"Of course. Welcome to the City of Life."

"City of Life?"

The old man smiled brightly at the puzzled Kale.

"Yes. That's what we call it."

"This name suits it better."

Kale answered briefly and then asked Sean.

"Now that we know where we're staying, can we see the mayor right away?"

"He's been waiting for you."

***

The mayor's office was in a three-story building.

Only Tasha and Sean guided Kale and Choi Han there. The rest of the group decided to wait at the inn. Of course, Raon, who had become invisible, followed them.

"This is the building where the city's administrators work."

It was clearly different from the elves who lived like hermits in nature without officials or positions. The dark elves lived quite similarly to humans.

Among the administrators, a few humans were seen working alongside the dark elves. Most were young.

Tasha noticed where Kale's gaze landed.

"Most of the humans who came here couldn't read. Most wanted to learn farming or skills rather than reading. But the children born here go through the same educational process as young dark elves."

Kale had once thought about where in the Western Continent was most similar to Earth.

'Here.'

This underground city was the most similar to Earth.

Perhaps it was because those who had fled from the world of power had gathered here.

"This is the mayor's office."

An ordinary wooden door was visible. Sean pointed to it and spoke.

"Our city is usually governed by the eldest. The current mayor is 521 years old."

At that moment,

Click, click, click.

The sound of the doorknob being turned urgently was heard.

And soon,

Bam!

The mayor's office door opened hastily.

"Mr. Mayor?"

An old dark elf with black skin but white, neatly groomed beard and hair appeared.

However, despite his neat attire and well-groomed appearance, the dark elf's face was pale.

"This, this aura!"

Sean's face showed confusion. He glanced at Kale's group and then approached the mayor.

"Mr. Mayor, what's wrong?"

Tasha also approached the mayor. Her attitude was a bit different from Sean's.

"Grandpa, what's wrong?"

Grandpa? Kale paused for a moment at the word. Was she calling the mayor grandpa because they were close? Or was there a familial relationship?

If there was a familial relationship, it made sense why this dark elf city seemed to have a close relationship with the crown prince.

"It's been a while since my granddaughter came! Why do you look so surprised?"

Indeed, Tasha was the granddaughter.

'...As expected, someone of the crown prince's status wouldn't have a weak background.'

It turned out that Crown Prince Albert's background wasn't weak. No, it was incredible. Kale looked at Tasha and the mayor with a bewildered expression. At that moment, their gazes met.

The mayor had been staring at Kale all along.

"Um, um."

His voice was trembling.

This doesn't feel good.

The old dark elf wiped his forehead with a trembling hand and a handkerchief, swallowing repeatedly.

"Y-You said you have the mana of a dead dragon."

Strange.

No matter how noble he was, Kale wasn't in a position to be addressed formally by the city's leader.

"Could you be the young master who has the dragon-"

Sean and Tasha's movements suddenly stopped. Choi Han's pupils dilated.

"No."

Kale said firmly.

"I'm not a dragon."

The firmness in his tone, which included both calmness and absurdity, made Sean and Tasha nod in agreement. But the mayor was different.

"Clearly, I feel the aura of the dragon lord! I can sense the power of the dragon lord near you, the power that governs nature!"

Indeed, experience doesn't go to waste.

-That old dark elf has a good sense.

Raon, who was floating invisibly behind Kale, was intrigued. Regardless, Kale clearly stated the facts.

"I'm not a dragon."

"...That's strange."

The dark elf seemed to have calmed down a bit. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and muttered.

"I once met a dragon lord. The aura is the same. Even my spirit, who first saw the dragon lord, says it's similar."

Kale paused this time. What did he see? And his spirit saw it too? Spirits were the hardest beings to deceive.

-What? A dragon?

Raon suddenly showed great interest.

521 years old. It was an age where one could have seen a dragon at least once in their lifetime.

At that moment,

"Mr. Mayor, I'm here as you called."

Kale thought it was a navigation voice for a moment. A calm but strangely mechanical-sounding female voice came from behind him.

"Should I wait here?"

Kale turned around. A person, completely wrapped in a black robe from head to toe, stood there, invisible.

At that moment, Raon's voice was heard.

-Hmm? A human, but why does she have a darkness attribute? She's a complete human.

Indeed.

There were few ways for a 100% human to have a darkness attribute.

His intuition was right.

But there was something more pressing to address first.

"Are you really, really not a dragon lord?"

"Yes."

Kale sighed, seeing the mayor's face filled with disbelief and fear. Kale entered the mayor's office. The group hesitantly followed.

He looked at Choi Han, who closed the door upon receiving his gaze.

In the quiet mayor's office, Kale spoke.

"Raon."