Chapter 69#
His Holiness, the Pope Who Scatters the Holy Light#
Seeing the dwarf before him practically shaking his prized dark-red beard out by the roots, Lu Heng figured the best way to deal with a dwarf was to speak plainly: “Dear dwarven friend, we have accepted the guidance of the God of Forging and come with sincerity to seek out our green-skinned friends.”
“The God’s guidance?” Brian finally calmed down somewhat.
“Yes. The God of Forging bestowed upon us a divine oracle. This is His token.” Lu Heng produced the Wrath of Thunder.
“Gods above! The Wrath of Thunder!” Brian’s eyes went wide in disbelief. Although half his face was buried beneath his beard, Lu Heng could still read the dwarf’s excitement from the trembling mustache at the corner of his mouth.
“The Wrath of Thunder—the sacred artifact of the dwarves. Countless ancestral spirits have guided you back to the dwarven people…” Brian’s hands trembled as he received the Wrath of Thunder, so agitated he could barely form coherent sentences. He dropped to one knee and held the Wrath of Thunder above his head with both hands, beginning to chant a long litany of ancestral names in the dwarven tongue.
Lu Heng and Aionas stood quietly to the side, letting the overjoyed Bronzebeard dwarf vent his emotions.
“My most loyal friend, I wish to propose calling a council session and awarding you the honorary councilor badge of the dwarven people. From this day forward, the dwarves will be your eternal and faithful companions.”
The dwarven people were currently governed by the Dwarven Council, whose members were the leaders of each branch clan. Every member had the right to propose convening the council to discuss matters of great importance. The return of the Wrath of Thunder to the dwarves naturally required reporting to the council.
“That would be my honor.” Lu Heng gave a slight bow. The honorary councilor badge of the dwarves represented the recognition of the entire dwarven race toward its bearer. The dwarves were simple and straightforward in their thinking—present them with the honorary badge, and every dwarf would treat the bearer as a companion, doing everything in their power to help that friend of the dwarves.
Since Brian had already acknowledged Lu Heng and his companion as his most loyal friends, he saw no reason to keep certain things secret any longer: “I am willing to introduce you to our green-skinned goblin friends, but I trust you are aware of the goblins’ current situation. I hope you can keep this matter confidential for the time being.”
Lu Heng nodded, placing his right hand over his heart: “In the name of the Holy Light, I swear to keep this secret.”
Brian nodded, then led the two of them into his private forging chamber. Brian had never allowed anyone to enter this chamber—not even his own son.
Now, in this forging chamber that no one besides Brian had ever set foot in, two new guests had arrived. Brian asked the two guests to wait nearby, then pulled down the lever beside the forge. The flames inside slowly died out. He then brought a basin of water and splashed it over the forge to cool it rapidly. Having done this, Brian parted his thick beard, pulled out a copper key from around his neck, stuck his rear end out, and crawled into the forge to tinker around.
After Brian backed out, the clicking of gears echoed through the forging chamber. A door had opened in the floor at the base of the forge.
“Follow me, my friends.” Having said that, he plunged headfirst into the doorway.
“…” Lu Heng looked at the ash-covered body of the forge, then down at his pristine white priest’s robe. He gathered up the long outer robe and tucked it into his belt, ducking his head to crawl into the forge.
“Wait.”
Lu Heng felt his belt being tugged by Aionas. He looked back in confusion: “What is it?”
“This forge is far too filthy. How could I let you crawl into something so covered in dust?” Aionas frowned, clearly disgusted by the dark, enormous forge.
“There’s no other way.” Lu Heng smiled and patted the hand gripping his belt.
But then Aionas released Lu Heng’s belt and walked over to the massive forge. With one hand, he gripped the edge of the forge—and the heavy black iron forge simply changed position.
“…” Seeing Aionas gazing at him with bright, sparkling eyes, Lu Heng said, “Thank you so much. I was just worrying about getting my robe dirty from all that dust.”
Aionas smiled with satisfaction and stepped into the passage first, placing his right hand behind his back, palm facing up: “It’s far too dark in this passage. Only a dragon’s eyes can see the road clearly.”
Lu Heng laughed softly and placed his hand on his. As for the displaced forge—well, they’d just put it back when they came out. He was confident their loyal dwarven friend wouldn’t mind such a small matter.
Following the long passage downward, it was indeed dimly lit inside. Lu Heng had originally wanted to conjure a small ball of Holy Light at his fingertips for illumination, but Aionas flatly vetoed the idea: “Just focus on walking with me. Better save that precious Holy Light power.”
At the end of the passage was a narrow cast-iron door, with Brian standing before it waiting.
“The light in the passage may have been too dim, which is why you were delayed so long. I forgot that human eyes aren’t like ours—we’re accustomed to dark mine tunnels. I’m truly sorry, my friends.” Brian scratched at his hair, which had become a tangled mess from crawling in and out of the forge. Dwarves were always like this—their beards combed immaculately and meticulously braided, but their hair never groomed at all.
Seeing that Lu Heng indicated he didn’t mind, Brian then produced another key and opened the iron door.
“My dear goblin friends, I’ve brought two new guests!” Brian’s booming voice rang out simultaneously with the clang of the iron door slamming against the stone wall.
“Ah! Good heavens, it’s humans!”
“Brian, you idiot! Look at what you’ve done!”
Lu Heng watched as those thin, small green-skinned goblins nimbly leaped onto strange four-wheeled contraptions, did something he couldn’t see, and vanished into the depths of the passage in an instant.
Was that… a fantasy version of an automobile? Lu Heng could scarcely believe his eyes. Though it was nothing more than a simple, rough steel frame, Lu Heng could be certain—that thing was a car!
The scene descended into utter chaos. A few minutes later, what had been a bustling underground workshop contained only the three of them.
Brian felt somewhat awkward and scratched his messy hair again: “They’re quite vigilant, but no matter.”
The Bronzebeard dwarf walked over to another door nearby and knocked: “Kukuwi! Kukuwi!”
“Brian, I told you—don’t interrupt me while I’m working.” A high-pitched voice came from inside.
“No, Kukuwi, these two people—I’m certain you’ll want to meet them. They are the emissaries who brought the Wrath of Thunder.”
The moment Brian finished speaking, Lu Heng heard the faint sounds of something being tripped over from within.
After a moment, the door finally opened. Only then did Lu Heng get a clear look at the goblin’s appearance: small and thin in stature, with a head disproportionately large, long ears, and green skin. This goblin was also wearing a pair of goggles and holding a wrench. The room inside was extremely cluttered, parts and parchment scrolls piled up everywhere.
“Brian, these are the emissaries you mentioned?” The goblin spoke rapidly. After Brian confirmed, he turned his gaze to Lu Heng and Aionas: “Hello, humans. I am Kukuwi Cog, the most outstanding engineer among the goblins.”
“Hello, I’m Rose, and this is Aionas,” Lu Heng said.
“Time is precious—let’s get straight to business. Where is the Wrath of Thunder? Hurry and take it out so I can see it,” Kukuwi urged repeatedly.
Seeing that holding the Wrath of Thunder himself would drag it on the ground with his small stature, Kukuwi pointed to the workbench nearby: “Brian, put the Wrath of Thunder on that.”
Brian placed it down carefully: “You be careful with it, Kukuwi.”
Kukuwi impatiently waved him off with one hand: “Come now, they could smash you to pieces and this Wrath of Thunder wouldn’t have a single scratch on it.”
“Tsk, tsk. This perfect metal ratio—this is indeed the most flawless alloy our goblins ever developed. It possesses a hardness rivaling dragon teeth, and the weight issue has been solved as well.”
The green-skinned Kukuwi stood beside the workbench, his left hand constantly turning the dial on his goggles while his right hand scribbled furiously, recording everything.
Seeing that Kukuwi had completely fallen into a feverish state of research, Brian helplessly found an opening to interrupt him: “Kukuwi, I agreed to lend you the Wrath of Thunder for a few days to study. Our friends are still waiting for you.”
“What do you mean ’lend it to me’? This Wrath of Thunder is also the masterwork of our goblin ancestors—we have a share in it too,” Kukuwi retorted, though he did stop what he was doing.
“The two human friends—come this way.” Now that he had confirmed it was the genuine Wrath of Thunder, Kukuwi’s mode of address toward Lu Heng and Aionas had changed.
To one side was Kukuwi’s resting room. The group sat down on a sofa before a small fireplace.
“If you have something to say, just say it directly. Time is precious.”
“Time is precious” seemed to be Kukuwi’s catchphrase. Seeing that he was already itching to get back to studying the Wrath of Thunder, Lu Heng directly took out the small black box they had discovered in the ruins of the Dragon Island Temple.
“What’s this I’m seeing?! This is Master Lokk’s work!” The moment he saw the black box, Kukuwi’s already large eyes went impossibly wider. “C-can I see it?”
Kukuwi’s expression was even more excited than when he had seen the Wrath of Thunder. This black box, it seemed, held even greater significance for the goblin race. Lu Heng nodded: “Please, go ahead. This was your people’s to begin with.”
Kukuwi opened the box without a second’s hesitation. Upon seeing the strange iron automaton inside, he actually froze. It took a long while before Kukuwi carefully picked up the automaton: “What the records said was true… Master Lokk truly succeeded in his research…”