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#191. Lael Lowe (4)
Bam bam bam bam bam─
Ray’s eyes shot open as a trumpet sound blasted from the ceiling speakers.
He slowly raised his upper body, then froze for a moment and furrowed his eyebrows slightly.
“… … .”
I was definitely dreaming about something, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember it.
The content, the colors, the atmosphere.
I couldn’t remember a single thing, as if it had been bleached completely white.
That doesn’t mean I never dreamed.
If that were the case, I wouldn’t be feeling this emptiness and longing in my heart right now.
Unfamiliar emotions that will soon disappear, evaporating in the heat of everyday life.
But it was enough to make the boy’s actions and thoughts stop for a moment.
… A similar situation has been happening every morning recently.
The boy, who soon regained consciousness, looked around.
“… … .”
The ceiling lights that had been off all night, controlled by the system, were slowly coming back on.
‘Is it morning?’
I turned my head reflexively, but all I could see was a gray-white wall.
For some unknown reason, there seemed to be no windows in Lael Lowen.
Maybe that’s why I felt like I spent a night deep underground.
────.
Within seconds, the lights were blazing brightly.
As Ray came out of the bathroom after washing his face, someone knocked on the door.
dripping.
When I opened the door, it was Iss.
He was wearing the same thick coat as yesterday and had a characteristically cynical look on his face.
“You came really quickly.”
“Because it is my job to guide you.”
“That coat, the scratches on the sleeves are gone.”
“There are several sets of the same clothes.”
“How many sets?”
“7 sets. So you don’t have to worry about what to wear every day.”
Ray nodded.
It was indeed efficient.
If it weren’t for Veronica, who kept dressing him up in different things, he probably would have done the same thing.
dripping.
When I knocked on the door of the next room, a half-asleep Veronica appeared.
“Just wait 10 minutes… Mr. Greene is washing up. I… also need to wash up.”
widely!
The door closed and he didn’t appear for a long time.
Iss checked his watch and spoke in an anxious voice.
“Human, didn’t you clearly tell me to wait for 10 minutes? It’s already been 13 minutes? If you go to a restaurant late, you won’t be able to eat and you’ll have to starve.”
“Veronica said that women have more to prepare than men. And my name is Ray, not human.”
“What on earth are you preparing?”
“I wonder too. Isn’t that what dwarf women do?”
“No, that’s not true.”
Iss, who had been fidgeting, could no longer stand it anymore and knocked on the door again.
Veronica appeared with wet hair through the open door and said.
“Just 5 minutes! Just wait a minute!”
widely!
The door closed again.
Eternals of time have passed.
“You told me to wait 5 minutes, how many minutes have passed already?”
“6 minutes and 34 seconds.”
“Is the human time standard different from ours?”
“That’s not it.”
Knock knock knock!
The door opened and Veronica appeared, her hair fluffy and dry.
“Just 5 minutes! Almost done!”
widely!
The door closed again.
Eons of time have passed.
“… How many minutes have passed?”
“This time again 7 minutes and 3 seconds.”
“What on earth are you doing inside?”
“If you’re curious, come in.”
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“That’s a bit like that.”
Iss checked his watch repeatedly, his feet trembled, and he bit his fingernails.
Just before the young dwarf’s anxiety and impatience exploded.
Squeak─!
Finally the door opened and Greene and Veronica appeared, ready to go.
Iss guided the group to the restaurant at a speed that was almost like running.
In the large hall, nearly a hundred dwarves were sitting at tables, eating noisily.
“Okay, fortunately it’s not too late. This is restaurant number 3.”
Iss sighed in relief and led the group to the distribution center.
The people on duty for serving food glanced at Iss and then silently placed food on his plate.
And when they saw the group, they flinched and whispered among themselves.
“human being…?”
“Didn’t you hear? I heard there were visitors last night.”
“Ah… that was a human?”
There was a hint of caution in the dishes, but there was no problem in serving the meal.
As I walked to the empty seat, gazes poured in like arrows.
Most of them were looks of caution and curiosity directed at Ray and his group.
“Isn’t that lazy?”
“Thanks to the visitors, I finally have something to do? Tsk tsk.”
There were also quite a few displeased looks directed at Is.
Ray quietly examined Iss.
He didn’t seem to show any particular emotional agitation, as if he was used to this kind of situation.
Squeak─ bang.
The group and Is sat down in the empty seats and began eating.
The menu consisted of salads and simple meat dishes, and it didn’t look much different from human food.
“Reading Ray’s questioning gaze,” said Iss.
“You’re right. Almost all of the dishes here are made from human products.”
“I thought there might be some kind of special eating habit. Like elves can’t stand meat.”
Grinega put down his spoon and became serious.
“Ray, I have to say this many times, but that information is seriously wrong.”
“I didn’t know that. Elves like meat.”
“I said no.”
“I’m right. Elves can’t stand meat.”
There was a bit of an argument between Ray and Greene.
After that, Iss told a story about the dwarves’ stock.
“I don’t know the details either. I’ve been eating this kind of food since I was born. But I know that in the distant past, they caught plants that grew deep underground and animals that lived there to eat as their staple food.”
“Why don’t you do that now?”
Iss, who had been silent for a moment, answered.
“Because the black rain contaminated everything underground.”
Veronica’s fork paused as she poked at a piece of not-so-fresh carrot.
Iss’s voice continued.
“All the flora and fauna underground died. The few that survived were so toxic that they were no longer fit for consumption. The only things that weren’t affected by the black rain were minerals, and we were able to survive by interacting with the human sector and obtaining food and necessities.”
Veronica looked somewhat shocked.
It was unexpected that the black rain affected not only the ground above, but also below.
Although Greene’s expression did not change, the bowl contained complicated emotions.
The surroundings were still noisy.
“How about a game of stickball after work today?”
“No, you’re not good at sports. You lost to me last time.”
The gaze toward the group was still the same.
However, the sense of caution contained within it had soon turned into curiosity.
“That’s amazing.”
“what?”
Iss asked Ray’s monologue.
“Everyone seems to be very curious about humans, but no one tries to talk to them or join them.”
Iss, who was staring blankly at Ray, came to a simple conclusion.
“Because dwarves don’t like change.”
“Is that also a matter of efficiency?”
“In a way, the moment a variable occurs, the probability of not being able to keep one’s work schedule increases, and that ultimately leads to a decrease in productivity.”
As if to support Iss’s words, the dwarves who had finished their meal returned their plates without a moment’s hesitation and left the place.
It was a scattering for work.
“The elders have also started their own work. So we can’t meet right away.”
“How long do I have to wait?”
“5 p.m. That’s the official end of work on Rael Lowe. The elders have asked you to show them around Rael Lowe until then.”
Yesterday the elders showed great pride in the skills possessed by the dwarves.
I thought maybe they were just trying to show off their castle that they had built using that technology.
“Follow me, I’ll guide you.”
After finishing their meal, the group followed Iss.
As I walked down the hallway and took the elevator up and down, a new space appeared, and I could see dwarves doing their work there.
There were also those who forged metal in the blacksmith shop.
There were also those in the tailor shop mending piles of clothes.
There were also those wearing metal gloves and fighting each other in the training hall.
“This is Rael Lowe’s control room.
It was a small room.
In the front, there were dozens of monitors tightly packed together, showing the interior and exterior of Lael Row.
Beneath it was a panel full of all sorts of switches and knobs.
“You can think of everything from the external charging turrets and mana traps to the security devices inside, all controlled from here.”
The dwarves in the control room glanced at Iss as he explained, then returned to their own tasks.
…a gaze that was never favorable.
‘It’s not just here.’
Cold stares poured out toward Is from every place he passed by.
Even without having to read the emotions on the bowl, I could tell the meaning in the eyes.
‘because.’
Me too.
Because I’ve encountered those kinds of looks countless times in the past.
That was the look in his eyes as he looked at a stranger.
A look of contempt, fear, and anxiety that comes when seeing someone who is different from themselves.
“… … .”
The impression Ray got from seeing the dwarves was that they were all cogs in a wheel that meshed together without a single error, each belonging to their own place.
But this one felt different.
It’s like a gear that can’t hold its own and is thrown out.
‘There is only one person wearing a thick coat inside.’
Was there something like an incident between Iss and the other dwarves?
Ray continued to follow the instructions, still wondering.
I’ve been to quite a few places this morning and still haven’t found a single window.
“Is.”
“why?”
“There were no windows in Lael Row originally?”
“I was curious too. You need sunlight to circulate energy in your body and stuff!”
Veronica chimed in with Ray’s question.
Iss, who had been staring blankly at the two people, turned around and manipulated the wall with his metal-gloved hands.
Wheein─
The gray-white wall split in half, and a new wall made of glass appeared in its place.
The height of the place I was currently in was quite high, so I could only see the sky outside.
“Look carefully.”
Iss pulled up his coat and stretched his bare arms out in front of the glass.
Dim sunlight filtered through the glass and fell on the dwarf boy’s cracked skin.
And then, within.
“ah…!”
“What kind of case is this?”
Moans escaped Veronica and Grinne’s mouths.
This was because the stone fragments protruding from his arm were falling off and the cracks in his skin were rapidly getting worse.
After checking the reaction of the group, Iss took back his arm and lowered the hem of his clothes as he spoke.
“As you can see, dwarves cannot survive in sunlight. Their bodies break down and fall apart.”
Veronica asked, her face in shock.
“Then… I have no choice but to live in Rael Row for the rest of my life?”
“It’s possible to go outside without any problems. If you wear a thick coat and a specially made helmet.”
“… … .”
Veronica was silent.
I couldn’t even imagine how stifling and suffocating such a limited life would be.
“Are the physical characteristics of dwarves originally like that?”
In response to Greene’s question, Iss shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, I don’t know. All dwarves are just born like this─.”
“It wasn’t like that originally.”
Ray, who had everyone’s attention, looked at Greene and said.
“Do you remember the murals you saw in the basement of the ruins?”
“Of course I remember.”
“In front of the mural was a painting of ancient races living together in peace. Among them were dwarves who were smaller than the other races.”
“It’s not small. You guys are just unnecessarily big.”
“It definitely existed. It was drawn as a short figure. Ah…!”
“Do you want to get wiped out? I told you it’s not small.”
Greene with an enlightened face.
Ray nodded.
“That’s right. The scenery in the mural was all above ground. There was nothing underground. In other words.”
“I don’t know about elves, but the average height difference between humans and dwarves is less than 15cm.”
Ray took a breath and continued.
“The dwarves were originally able to operate under the sun.”
Iss, who had been looking around, brought a small box and climbed onto it.
And he looked down at the group from his elevated vantage point.