WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 85: Saessak Kibami's Heartwarming Gift

──────

Dwarf craftsmen.

Among them were those whose abilities were so exceptional that they had earned the title of Meister.

Not only blacksmiths and builders could become Meisters.

Some devoted their entire lives to mining and became Meisters as miners.

According to them, once one's mining reached its peak, they could see the grain of the rock.

They said that if you struck that grain just right, even a massive boulder would split with ease.

In a way, it sounded similar to what sword masters said.

The sort who claimed they could hide their body behind a single sword or cut off someone's head with a tree branch.

There wasn't a dwarf miner here who had reached that level.

Still, Dunkel's pickaxe work looked exactly like that of a Meister.

Tap, crunch.

Though the force behind his pickaxe wasn't particularly great, he was tearing through the wall at an extraordinary pace.

"Huff, huff."

Dunkel let out rough breaths.

The ground around him was covered in dirt and fragments of rock.

The expressions of the dwarves who had been watching with mocking looks changed as well.

Most had gone beyond simple surprise and were outright astonished.

The supervisor, who had clearly disliked Dunkel, was no exception.

"...Give it to me."

"Pardon?"

"Give me that pickaxe!"

The supervisor practically snatched the pickaxe from Dunkel, who was catching his breath.

Did the supervisor think the pickaxe had some kind of secret?

"Did you make this pickaxe?"

"No..."

"Then who did?"

"Elder Helmut did."

So that one-armed older dwarf's name was Helmut. He seemed tough.

"I knew it!"

The supervisor's reaction was intense.

It seemed that the older dwarf had been quite capable in his younger days.

"Looks like you were trying to get by on your equipment. You're awfully full of yourself."

This stupid dwarf.

It wasn't the pickaxe. It was this body's doing.

He gripped the pickaxe and began swinging it at the wall.

Thud! Thud!

He definitely looked better doing it than Dunkel did.

But I didn't just sit by and watch.

「You use Elementary Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 6.」

Instead, I firmly packed the dirt into the wall.

Thud, thud.

"W-What's wrong with this thing?!"

No matter how much he swung, he only left shallow marks. It was clearly different from before.

「The proficiency of Elementary Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 6 increases.」

「Elementary Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 6 becomes Elementary Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 7.」

Oh, magical training.

Using it in different ways had increased my magic proficiency.

As expected, the path of magic was deep and broad.

As the supervisor continued to make a fool of himself, the surrounding dwarves burst into laughter.

They were a race that appreciated humor.

In the end, the supervisor threw the pickaxe down with a bright red face.

What a rude bastard.

When Dunkel picked up the pickaxe, the supervisor approached and jabbed a finger into Dunkel's chest.

"I don't know what trick you pulled, but I don't trust you!"

I thought all dwarves were hearty.

His pettiness was on the same level as an elf's.

"I've been watching you for a long time..."

He was talking right in Dunkel's face, spraying spit everywhere.

His breath was terrible too. He probably had stomach problems.

"You little..."

Smack!

Gasp!

Without thinking, I slapped the supervisor's cheek with my tail.

The supervisor looked blankly back and forth between Dunkel and me.

Dunkel carefully tried to push me inside his hood.

The supervisor's face twisted in rage.

"What kind of nonsense is this!"

An aged voice rang out like thunder.

It belonged to an old dwarf wearing the same clothes as the supervisor.

The fuller a dwarf's beard was, the older they were, and this elder's beard had even turned white.

"Senior, you've come at the right time. This Dunkel brought a snake here and started causing trouble..."

"You're the one causing trouble!"

"Y-Yes?"

The supervisor darted his eyes around in panic.

The red tail mark on his face made him look ridiculous.

"From what I saw, he was doing perfectly well. Why are you picking a fight?"

"..."

"Tsk, tsk. Brat."

The old dwarf held a letter of introduction in his hand.

It was the letter Dunkel's fellow dwarf, Helmut, had written for him.

"From what I can see..."

"Are you dismissing both Helmut's judgment and mine?"

"...No."

The supervisor, who had been so arrogant before, lowered his head.

Dwarves seemed to be a race that respected their elders.

"Tell him to do as he likes."

"Understood."

The old dwarf said that, then stood silently in place.

The supervisor spoke with clear reluctance.

"Still, he can't enter the mine alone. We need to assign him to a crew."

Dunkel's expression, which had brightened, soon darkened again.

"Any of you willing to take Dunkel with you?"

The supervisor spoke to the gathered dwarves.

Not one of the many dwarves raised a hand.

"Raise your hands before I shove him in somewhere. Some of you must have room in your crews."

Miners worked in crews.

Naturally, if Dunkel was going to become a miner, he had to join another miner's crew.

Yet nobody offered to take him.

Some avoided their gaze as if they disliked him, while others quietly slipped away.

'What kind of life did he live for everyone to hate him this much?'

I looked at Dunkel with that thought in mind.

But seeing his expression only softened my heart.

He looked so miserable that it was admirable he wasn't crying.

Ugh, my head...!

It reminded me of middle school.

That time during the school trip when nobody wanted to share a room with me, leaving me alone until the very end...

I couldn't let Dunkel keep launching mental attacks at me.

I hurriedly looked around.

It wasn't like I'd find a familiar face here...

There was one!

My eyes met those of a dwarf.

A muscular dwarf with a brown beard neatly braided into two tails.

How could I forget him?

"Saaak!"

I shouted happily and sprang down.

The dwarves blocking my way went, "Uwaaah," in surprise and hurriedly stepped aside.

Then I reached my friend.

'Hey! It's been a while!'

"Uh..."

The friend in front of me was named Manjin.

He was the dwarf I had shared drinks with and formed a friendship with that day.

'Why are you staring at me like that?'

For some reason, Manjin looked flustered.

It wasn't like he could fail to recognize me.

Had he drunk so much that night that he blacked out?

-Guess he doesn't remember you, hehe.

'That's impossible. We definitely agreed to be friends that day.'

Pelerian said that nastily.

Maybe he'd remember if I sang the song we sang together.

We clinked our glasses and went ho!

"Hiss-hiss-hiss-hiss, saaak!"

When I danced along to the song we had sung that day, the dwarves began whispering.

"Manjin, is that the snake?"

"They seem close! Haha."

Manjin smacked the backs of the laughing dwarves' heads.

"Q-Quit it, you bastards!"

Why was he acting like that?

Was he the type who got shy when people paid attention to him?

-Aren't you the one embarrassing him?

No way.

Could it be that I was the only one who thought we were friends?

What a shock.

I felt as though tears made of ice would start falling from my eyes.

As I blankly stared at Manjin, he squeezed his eyes shut.

"O-Oh, it's good to see you."

Only then did he cautiously hold out his fist.

Right, we were friends, weren't we?

I bumped his fist with my tail.

"Great, Manjin! You take Dunkel with you!"

The supervisor immediately said that.

I didn't know why, but Manjin let out a deep sigh.

Dunkel walked over.

Then he quietly greeted Manjin.

"Manjin."

"Dunkel."

An awkward atmosphere settled over them.

Standing between the two, I lightly tapped both their ankles.

'You two don't seem very close, but don't worry.'

They'd become friends soon enough.

* * *

The dwarves walked through the mine.

Manjin was naturally the leader of Manjin's crew, and with the young dwarves he led, there were four of them in total.

Now that Dunkel and one snake had joined them, there were six.

Five dwarves and a snake walked through the mine to excavate Bone Crystals.

After walking for quite a while, Manjin sighed.

"Haa... Dunkel."

Dunkel, who had been walking behind Manjin, raised his head.

"I know you like your hood, but wear this if you don't want to crack your head."

"Ah, thank you."

Dunkel accepted the spare safety helmet Manjin offered with an embarrassed expression.

When he removed his hood, his shiny bald head was revealed.

The other dwarves snickered at the sight.

Dunkel's appearance stood out that much among dwarves.

His face turned red.

"Have you ever been inside a Bone Crystal mine?"

"No."

"Have you encountered a Blood Mole?"

"About twice."

Blood Moles were monsters that often appeared in mines.

True to their name, they burrowed through the ground and hated light intensely.

One wasn't particularly dangerous, but a group of them could be deadly.

Accidentally disturbing a Blood Mole nest while mining was every miner's nightmare.

"They especially like Bone Crystals. If Blood Moles appear, take out your oil lantern and shine the light on them."

All the miners had oil lanterns hanging from their waists.

Dunkel nervously fidgeted with his lantern.

The young dwarves saw that and stifled laughs.

They whispered quietly behind Dunkel.

'What's the relationship between Manjin and Dunkel?'

'It seems like they already knew each other.'

It did seem that way.

Manjin was a cool man whom they deeply respected.

His brown beard, tied into two braided tails, looked cool, and though he was a little boastful, his straightforward personality was admirable.

Yet he seemed to know Dunkel, the one they called 'Flawless.'

Was there some reason he hardly spoke to Dunkel?

Dunkel currently wore an eager expression.

Still, once the real mining began, he would surely look miserable from work that was harder than expected.

'I wonder when that expression will fall apart.'

'I give him three hours.'

'Then I'll say two.'

All the young dwarves thought that.

Manjin stopped in place and inspected the wall, even tasting the dirt with his tongue.

"Let's dig this way. It looks like the vein runs downward."

Then the hardest task of all, excavating the mine shaft, began.

Everyone thought Dunkel would soon collapse.

Being good with a pickaxe and having stamina were entirely different matters.

Yet the result was unexpected.

'He's holding up better than I thought?'

Dunkel didn't show any sign of hardship.

Even as beads of sweat formed across his body, he continued shoveling.

After a long while, Manjin called for a break.

"Let's rest for a while, eat, then get back to it."

Only then did Dunkel put down his shovel.

His palms had split a little and were bleeding.

That made it clear he wasn't used to a miner's work.

Dunkel wrapped his hands tightly in bandages.

The young dwarves watching him changed their expressions a little as well.

'He's not as lazy as people said.'

Rumors had spread that Dunkel didn't work as a miner because he was lazy.

But the Dunkel they had actually met didn't look lazy at all.

Still, the young dwarves soon frowned again.

"Ugh."

"What are you eating?"

Dunkel was mixing leaves from an unfamiliar plant and something else in a wooden bowl.

"Ah, salad..."

"Salad?"

"Do you want some too?"

"No, thanks."

What did he mean, salad?

Did he think he was a fairy or something?

Dunkel smiled awkwardly, then crunched through the green monstrosity.

The companion who had come with Dunkel, on the other hand, was different.

The snake stayed glued to Manjin's side.

"Right, you need to eat too."

Dunkel had offered to share his salad, but the snake had fled in utter horror.

"Will ham do?"

"Saaak!"

The snake gulped down the ham Manjin offered in a single bite.

The snake swallowed the ham with incredible speed, as though they did not even chew.

There was a strange pleasure in feeding animals.

The other dwarves came over and each offered ham as well.

The snake accepted every bit of it without hesitation.

The snake was much smaller, yet they seemed to eat nearly as much food as a dwarf.

Though their rations had been consumed faster than expected, the dwarves were happy.

"Hahaha."

"This little guy is cute, isn't he?"

They had been wary because the snake was a monster, even if the little snake was Manjin's friend, but not anymore.

The dwarves thought that because this was a dangerous Bone Crystal mine, they needed to protect this little snake.

* * *

They looked rough because of their thick beards, but they were more innocent and kind than I expected.

Since I got some ham from them, I should protect them.

Before the break ended, I took Kibaemi's flowerpot out of Subspace.

The dwarves showed interest.

"A flowerpot?"

"It's a sprout. How did it sprout underground?"

Isn't our Kibaemi cute?

I had originally planned to leave Kibaemi in Dunkel's underground garden, but they had ended up going underground with us, so I brought them along.

I couldn't let bats come in and break the pot.

Oh no, the soil was already dry.

Seedling Kibaemi was very greedy.

They absorbed water quickly when I watered them, and they absorbed Magic Stones just as quickly.

Despite eating so well, they hadn't grown very fast. They still only had two cotyledons.

'Why are they dancing so much today?'

Kibaemi swayed gently, almost as if alive.

Well, Kibaemi was alive.

Anyway, they would sometimes sway as though dancing.

When I brought my tail close, they moved their cotyledons toward me as though asking for a hug, but today they were dancing even when I left them alone.

"Hmm... Left or right..."

Manjin, who had finished eating, was deciding which direction to go.

He was looking for a vein likely to contain plenty of Bone Crystals.

Even for an experienced miner, finding a vein depended half on luck.

They would dig through a suspicious wall first, then if they found no vein, go farther in and dig again.

"Oh my. What's this?"

"The sprout's dancing."

The young dwarves showed interest in Kibaemi's dance.

I grinned and was about to put Kibaemi away again.

"Is there something over there?"

One of the dwarves muttered that.

I looked at Kibaemi, wondering what the dwarf meant.

'Huh.'

Kibaemi was pointing at a section of wall.

When I brought Kibaemi closer to the wall, the signal became even clearer.

Their cotyledons were shaking wildly, as though something was hidden beyond the wall.

"Could there be a Bone Crystal vein over there?"

"Are they trying to tell us? Haha."

The dwarves laughed as they said that.

Could it really be?

These dwarves didn't know it, but Kibaemi was an incredible little thing that had come from the World Tree.

I raised my tail and pointed at the pickaxe, then the wall.

"What? You want us to dig?"

"What's going on?"

Even Manjin came over.

"The snake wants us to dig into the wall."

After hearing the young dwarves, Manjin made a strange expression.

"Try digging there."

"Yes, well, sure."

There was no harm in trying.

Who knew? Maybe dirt would crumble away and reveal a high-purity Bone Crystal vein.

The dwarf swung his pickaxe with a hint of expectation.

Thunk.

The sensation at the tip felt strange.

"Huh?"

Then blood spurted from where the pickaxe had struck.

"Kiiieeeek!"

A mole monster spraying blood leaped out of the hole.

"B-Blood Mole!"

A scream erupted.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried