Chapter 30: Pablo, IV

Gulp.

Pablo swallowed nervously as Louis’s calm voice rang out beside him.

“You’re not going to like this.”

“…Excuse me?” Pablo thought he misheard and tried to suppress his growing anxiety with forced composure. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“That thing.”

“What thing…?”

“Yes, that thing. Exactly what you’re thinking.” Louis pointed with his chin.

The direction of his gaze was squarely on Pablo’s crotch.

Pablo immediately crossed his legs.

“…Y-you don’t mean…?!” Fear made Pablo tremble.

Louis nodded cheerfully.

“Yes, that’s right. Break your promise, and you’re toast.”

“T-toast? Y-you mean me?! Toast?!”

“In other words, I’ll snap your neck.”

“What do y-you mean?!” Pablo was shaken by this unexpected revelation.

Louis tried to comfort him as he looked distraught. “Don’t worry too much. You should be fine as long as you stick with us. And if you keep your word, everything will work out eventually… Trust me on that.”

Louis’s kind reassurance brought Pablo back down from his panic attack. With tears welling up in his eyes, Pablo asked Louis:

“Really…you swear?”

“So believe me already! If you don’t trust me, ask another dwarf later, but just promise to keep your word!”

“…Fine.”

Seeing Pablo relent, Louis clapped his hands together excitedly.

Clap.

“Great. Our loyal sucker—no, our temporary guardian. When can we depart?”

It was a long journey ahead of them, and time was running out, so it would be best to leave as soon as possible.

Pablo turned Louis’s question back on him. “By any chance, do you need more henchmen? Although they may not have much combat experience, they’re quite handy with odd jobs.”

“Oh really? How many are there?”

“A little over three hundred.”

“Hmm…” Louis stroked his chin thoughtfully.

That’s way too many…

A group of three hundred would certainly draw attention wherever they went.

Louis made up his mind and shook his head. “It’s too much. Having that many people with us will cause chaos no matter where we go. For now, select ten elite members only.”

“…Understood.”

“Oh, one more thing. Do you have any money I can borrow for this trip? If so, please lend me some. I’ll repay it later with interest.”

“U-um… We’ve been struggling financially lately, so whatever funds remain from when the stealth unit disbanded is barely enough to get by.”

“Tsk. Gotcha.” Louis clicked his tongue, disappointed but not surprised at Pablo’s response.

Pablo sheepishly scratched the back of his head. “Then I’ll…go inform everyone about our disbandment…”

Just as Pablo was about to leave, the twins, who had woken up from their nap, approached him and circled around gleefully. Their sniffing made Pablo stand frozen, unsure what to do with them. The twins looked at him curiously.

“Wow! You’re such a tall dwarf!”

“He’s huge! This is my first time seeing a dwarf this big!”

The twins were fascinated by Pablo, having never seen anyone other than themselves until now.

Their awe piqued Louis’s curiosity. “By the way, Pablo.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How did you grow so tall? As a half-dwarf, human hybrid, shouldn’t your dwarf genes dominate and keep you short?”

“Uh… Dominant genes? Sir, I’m not sure what you mean.”

“I meant that you’re short because you take after your father.”

“Oh! Yes, exactly. I used to be small before suddenly growing this tall one day.”

“Suddenly?”

Louis gazed at Pablo with slight envy. Being shorter than most his age was Louis’s only complex.

“Yes, it happened when I was around twenty… After eating some strange fruit, I suffered for about ten days and nights. But when I woke up from my slumber, I’d grown significantly taller. And ever since then, I’ve become much stronger too.”

“A fruit?”

“It looked quite peculiar—long and white… Almost like a bone…”

“…What?!” Louis’s eyes widened at Pablo’s description as something dawned on him.

Could it be?!

He hastily retrieved a field guide from his pocket dimension.

Fliiiiip.

His fingers quickly flipped through the pages until he stopped abruptly and held out the book toward Pablo.

Louis stretched out his short arm and showed Pablo the book. “I-is this it?”

Pablo scrutinized the pages Louis held up and nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes! That’s exactly what it was!”

“D-did you see any other fruit nearby when you ate that one?”

“There were some, but they looked like mouse droppings, so I left them alone.”

“W-where? Do you remember where they were?”

“Yes, not far from here. They had such peculiar shapes, so I couldn’t forget them.”

“Well done!” Louis beamed widely at Pablo.

“What is it, Louis? What do you got there?”

“I want to see too!”

The twins rushed over to Louis, eager to take a look at the book he held open.

Inside were detailed illustrations accompanied by several lines of text.

Name: Grow Fruit

Attribute: Water

Rarity: Medium-High

Effectiveness: Promotes growth without side effects

Characteristics:

—A water attribute elixir that thrives on cold temperatures as nutrients.

-The flowerless plant typically bears three to four fruits per season.

-Fruits harvested after 200 to 300 years of growth yield optimal results.

Click.

Louis swiftly closed the book and glanced at his twin brother standing nearby. Despite being identical twins, Louis was just slightly shorter than his brother, which had led to endless teasing between them over the years.

Louis’s eyes gleamed with mischief.

Unaware of this, Pablo made to leave.

“Well then, I’ll be off—”

“Hold it!”

“What?” Pablo stopped and turned back to look at Louis.

For the first time, he noticed how Louis’s eyes were shining like those of a predator zeroing in on its prey.

“…?!”

Pablo, despite being a tier-3 warrior, instinctively took a step back at Louis’s intense gaze.

Louis then announced their new objective with grandeur. “The dissolution ceremony is postponed. Our top priority from now on is… Growfort.”

“What’s that?”

“What do you mean what?”

Despite the twins’ incessant badgering, Louis refused to divulge any more information.

This one’s mine!

He never wanted to see someone else grow stronger than him ever again.

While Louis was burning with determination, Pablo hesitated before speaking up.

“Um…about that…”

“What?”

“I-Issue, sir.”

“What?!”

“There’s been a sizable orc village established near where the tree once stood…so it won’t be easy to approach.”

“So what? Who cares?” Louis snorted at Pablo’s concern. His eyes flared with anger as he spat out bitterly, “We just need to wipe them all out. How dare those hairy bastards set up camp where my sacred Grow Fruit once stood?”

The Grow Fruit, also known as the childhood growth supplement, was rumored to help children grow taller and came in sugar-free red jelly form. The mere thought of it made Louis grind his teeth.

“I’ll crush every last one of them!”

With visions of being deprived of future height dancing in his head, Louis couldn’t see anything else but clearing away any obstacles in their path!

Everyone, including the twins, shuddered at Louis’s intense determination.

Before long…

“There it is.”

“Yes, sir.”

Just as Pablo had said, the Grow Furth wasn’t far away. It was located right below where their stealth unit was stationed on the cliffside. However, there also happened to be a snow orc village situated there, with hundreds of orcs at least. The sheer size of this settlement despite the harsh environment spoke volumes about the reproductive capabilities of these creatures.

Louis squinted hard and scanned the orc village before asking, “So exactly where is it? Where’s that tree?”

“Well… If I remember correctly, what you’re looking for should be in the middle of the orc village.”

“What?! Then those bastards probably destroyed it already!”

“No need to worry about that. The tree used to grow over an underground cavern…which I discovered by accident. Those brainless orcs would never find it.”

“How did you even find it underground?”

“…Well, I’ve always enjoyed digging tunnels since I was young.”

“I guess…a dwarf’s mole-like nature never changes. Hence why you still live in burrows carved out of cliffs.”

“Heh-heh-heh!” Pablo laughed awkwardly at Louis’s quip.

Meanwhile, Louis continued to stare intently at the orc village.

“All right then, let’s get started. Twins, let’s go!”

“Yes!”

“Let’s play!”

Pablo panicked as he watched three kids recklessly charge ahead without any plan.

“What? No way! You’re just going like that? It’s too dangerous! At least have some kind of strategy!”

Despite being confident in his abilities, even Pablo had been unable to handle the snow orc village and could only observe from afar. Although their numbers were low due to the harsh environment, each snow orc was two to three times stronger than regular orcs.

Despite Pablo’s protests, Louis and the twins marched onward, leaving him feeling helpless. Fin flew over to Pablo and shook his head reassuringly.

“Don’t worry.”

“But—!”

“Oh boy, you’re such a dummy… Just because they look young doesn’t mean they actually are children.”

“That’s true, but—” As Pablo hesitated, Fin gestured toward the hatchlings already some distance away from them.

“Watch closely. You’ll see why dragons are both revered as the most powerful creatures on earth and feared by all who know of their existence.”

As soon as he finished speaking…

KRRRAAAHHH.

The murderous energy emanating from the three baby dragons reverberated through the air.

Rrrrumble…

The glass of water on the table began to shake violently.

“What’s going on?!” Confused by this sudden phenomenon, Bandit No. 1 scanned his surroundings with wide eyes. The water wasn’t the only thing trembling—everything inside the cave was shaking from the vibrations resonating through the air.

“It’s an e-earthquake!”

“Vice Chief!”

As cries for help rang out across the hideout, Bandit No. 1 yelled at the guild members who rushed into his room.

“Find out what’s happening immediately!”

“Yes, sir!”

“And locate our chief!”

“R-right away!”

But his orders were drowned out by an explosion.

BOOM!

An ear-piercing explosion shook their ears. The vice chief and his henchmen turned toward the source of the noise.

“What is that?!”

“I-is that…?!”

They knew all too well what could be found there.

“Th-that’s where the snow orc village is!”

“Dammit! What happened?!”

The stealth unit and the snow orcs were neighbors—close yet distant ones. Any unusual activity within the snow orc village directly affected the livelihood of the stealth unit, so they needed to assess the situation immediately.

“Follow me, now!”

“Yes, sir!”

With that, the bandits rushed out of the cave behind Bandit No. 1.