After they finished talking, the group left Horn Castle with sowhat heavy hearts, heading toward the Dwarves’ sewers.
As they walked down the street, Orelia was the first to break the silence. "Things feel pretty awful."
"Many such disasters have happened throughout history. It’s only because of the efforts of those who ca before that we can walk down the street and chat like this now." Ale clenched her fist. "Now that it’s our era, it’s our turn to step up!"
"Hmph. Too bad setting up Ancestor Stones isn’t a human custom." Kase held his head high. "Otherwise, I’d definitely be in the spotlight."
Hearing them talk like this, Orelia, who had been a little uneasy, seed to relax a bit.
In this situation, Colin didn’t think it was appropriate to voice his own philosophy: ’when the sky falls, let the tall guys handle it’.
Besides, having spent so much ti with her, he had figured it out.
Although Ale usually wore a blank expression, the girl was actually quite impulsive and emotional.
Laden with bags of all sizes, the group continued toward the Dwarves’ sewers.
When they reached the sewer entrance, Dorn saw them from a distance and seed about to co over and say hello, but the mont he saw Ale, he imdiately turned his head and pretended not to see them.
Ale looked annoyed as well.
Seeing this, Colin didn’t press the matter and led the group to Donkexes’s herb shop.
For once, the old Dwarf was taking it easy.
The fellow was asleep on a small bed, his little eyes squinted shut, the slits blending in with the surrounding wrinkles.
Seeing the group enter, he squinted his eyes open and asked, "You’re back again? Bring anything good?"
"It’s hard to explain. You should co take a look."
After speaking, Colin opened the Dinsion Bag and, with Kase’s help, started hauling the items out one by one.
At first, when they dragged out the materials from the Ogre, Donkexes couldn’t be bothered to co over. But when they hauled out the hide of White Frost, his eyes shot wide open.
"Langgrin! Langgrin! Get out here! Brother Colin brought sothing good!" Donkexes shouted as he ran over to White Frost’s hide.
He gazed at the pelt on the ground, coated in Antiseptic Oil, and reached out to stroke it gently.
Colin could even see his fingers trembling.
"What the hell are you shouting for! If you’ve got nothing better to do, then shut your trap..." Langgrin grumbled as he walked out from the inner door, but he froze the mont he saw the materials on the floor.
Then, just like Donkexes, he slowly walked over to White Frost’s pelt and gently stroked it, his eyes vacant, looking completely srized.
"We can’t just give you all these materials for free," Colin said tentatively. "How about you help us craft a couple of pieces of equipnt? Just like when you handled the Winter Wolf materials. You can keep the leftover scraps after the equipnt is finished."
"Deal. Anything you say." "No problem."
’Honestly,’ Colin thought to himself, ’those poor saps bewitched by a Succubus probably don’t look much different from this.’
Just then, the Black-haired Dwarf, Durkin, also ca out from the inner door.
He asked calmly, "Did you hunt this? The quality is excellent."
"We got it on the edge of the Supre Forest. We were lucky to have a Bearman help us, otherwise we wouldn’t have made it out in one piece." Knowing Durkin was the Dwarves’ leader, Colin asked again, "So? Do we have a deal?"
"Of course."
Durkin nodded. "The claws, teeth, heart, hide... We can use the claws and teeth to reinforce the blade of that Big Axe from before. Besides that, we can also make a Cloak and a Magic Staff."
"That works too," Colin said.
’If the Dwarves say so, then with their craftsmanship, they should be able to make three pieces of Magic Equipnt. What a huge haul!’
Durkin said, "Let be clear up front. It might take us several months to process all these materials. You’ll have to be patient."
"As long as we’re getting Magic Equipnt, waiting a little longer is no problem," Colin said.
"What’s this thing? A bear gallbladder?" Donkexes asked, picking it out.
Colin said, "Yeah. That should be useful for sothing, right?"
"Nope. There’s nothing hard inside, so there’s no chance of an Antitoxic Stone," Langgrin said. "You should just keep it. This thing is pretty useless."
"Well, it’s not completely useless," Donkexes said reassuringly. "If you crush it and add so honey, it can treat cataracts. If you eat it, it can cure diarrhea and the like."
"Is that so?" Colin picked up the bear gallbladder and put it away.
In this world, the bile from many monsters could be made into Potions, and so gallstones were also good materials for crafting Magic Items.
He hadn’t expected a fresh bear gallbladder to be so useless. Colin thought he could get sothing good out of it.
He didn’t plan on making any eye drops, since he had no idea if he would ever need them.
"Oh, right. While you’re at it, can you help divide this gold?" Colin took out the gold bars he had acquired earlier.
Langgrin pursed his lips. "Trying to save on the processing fee, huh? You really are a cheapskate."
Despite his words, they still took out shears and a scale to help Colin divide the gold bars.
The group left the sewers.
Winter nights ca quickly. After their two trips, the sun had already set completely.
Colin divided the money among the others.
After this trip, his savings had once again surpassed two hundred Gold Coins, reaching around two hundred and ninety.
If he sold the hide collected from White Frost, he definitely could have earned more. But all things considered, it was certainly more worthwhile to have the Dwarves craft it directly into equipnt.
After dividing their loot, the group went to the Black Heart Tavern and had a hearty al.
After dinner, the group stood at the entrance.
While they had been out adventuring, a few more snowfalls had occurred around Thousand Masts City. The rooftops were covered in a layer of white, while the street corners were piled high with mounds of dark, dirty snow.
The white snow strangely made the surroundings feel a bit brighter, allowing one to see most things clearly even without streetlights in the slums.
"With this al, I’d say this trip is officially over," Kase said with a yawn.
"We probably won’t be able to go out again for over a month," Colin said. "Let’s just focus on reading and training during that ti. In any case, the money we have is more than enough to cover our living expenses."
Orelia lowered her head, let out a small yawn, and then gently rubbed her eyes.
"Well then, let’s head back and rest for now," Colin said.
With that, he started walking toward the city gate, with Ale and Orelia following behind him.
Then, the sound of crunching snow ca from behind them.
Kase called out, "Hey, I’ll walk you guys to the city gate."
"Brother Kase." Colin patted his shoulder and chuckled a few tis.
The Half-Orc snorted like a horse and shrugged off Colin’s hand from his shoulder.
They walked together in the dark to the city gate, arriving under the orange glow of a streetlight.
"I guess this is really goodbye for now, Brother Kase," Colin said with a smile. "Rember, in about a month, we might be heading south to deal with so Demons along the way. Be ready."
"See you then," Kase grumbled. "If you smile again, I’ll chop you with my Axe."
"Goodbye, Mr. Colin, Mr. Kase, and Ms. Ale."
Orelia yawned again and started walking down the main road.
Kase also headed back the way he ca, into the slums.
Watching their retreating figures under the orange glow of the streetlight, Colin suddenly felt an indescribable, empty feeling.
’Another adventure is over,’ he thought.
Ale tilted her head and asked, "What’s wrong?"
"Let’s head back to the apartnt."
With that, Colin turned and led Ale down the small path toward the Dock District.
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