At a construction site somewhere in Storm Bay, a worker who was transporting soil in dimensional bags suddenly started talking to his companion about some gossip he had heard from somewhere.
"Where did you hear this? I heard that they went to the core area to take risks. Besides, if you controlled Storm Bay and someone asked you to leave, would you leave?"
The person who started gossiping thought about it and felt that what the other person said made sense.
But his source was very reliable, so he continued:
"Who knows what those big shots are thinking? Maybe there is some exchange of interests. Khorvaire is definitely more comfortable than here, so maybe they are going back to enjoy their life."
Most Stormreach residents have not returned to Khorvaire for a long time or even generations, so they mistakenly apply the situation in Sharn described by some people to the entire Khorvaire.
But in fact, apart from the climate which is indeed more comfortable than here, everything else in Kovare is not much better than here.
At least in those areas that have not established friendly relations with Eruden, food is not as cheap as here, and starvation and freezing to death are common occurrences every winter.
"If you say so, it's possible. I heard that the master machinist is from Eruden. It's almost the end of the year now, so he might have returned to his hometown. But based on the current project, I feel he will have to come back."
"Hey! No matter what, we have to see what has become of the kingdom we conquered!"
After smiling at each other, the two big men staggered to the machine responsible for processing cement mortar and poured the materials in the dimensional bag into the designated entrance.
And next to them, more people are doing similar things.
Some of the gossip they had just shared was heard by others and began to spread among the many helpers.
But the most troublesome thing about leaving messages is that they are out of control.
The version that has just been circulated and the version that has been passed on three times may be completely different stories.
One day later, at the Korlan Fort station.
In the corridor, Kasha, who had just returned from outside, was running with an anxious look on her face.
After turning a corner, he pushed open the door and walked into the hall.
Today, the Kolan Castle headquarters has basically become the prototype of a city government. Joanna and her classmates, as well as people sent by the Dragon Mark Family to help, occupy the hall and work here.
Seeing Kasha come in, several classmates who were on good terms with him looked up at him.
These looks made Kasha lower his head a little embarrassed. Then he quickly walked to his cousin and whispered the rumors from the outside world.
"Okay, I understand. Don't worry about it. The second phase of the project will start soon. The people from Storm Bay have already entered the adventure zone to collect supplies. If you have nothing to do, you can take a team out to take a look."
Joanna didn't take the rumors seriously at all and just continued to handle her official business.
Kasha opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but in the end she could only sigh, turned and left.
"Brock? Help?"
Without even raising his head, he said this to the left, and a dwarf from the Dragon Mark family jumped down from his chair.
“It seems that the rumor was spread by the person from Throne Castle. Don’t worry, our Sivis family will help you deal with this matter.
Sigh~, to be honest, you should stay in Storm Bay or Korran Castle to develop. The nobles in Throne Castle have played political struggles and their brains have been damaged. In such a remote place, they actually want to drive the person in power out of office by throwing dirty water. I am really impressed."
Kolan Castle is located in the dwarf country of Zirago. The headquarters of the Sivis family, which holds the copied dragon mark, is also here, and the relationship between the two sides is quite good.
With this relationship and Carl's printer, Joanna quickly established a good relationship with the local Sivis dwarfs, and even hired a group of dwarfs to help handle government affairs.
On one side is the real power that has just been obtained, and on the other side are the airborne paratroopers who have some connections with their superiors. There is no doubt who the dwarfs will support.
Soon after the dwarf named Brock left, the various rumors that Joanna could become Carl's agent began to show loopholes.
Although some people still suspect the relationship between Joanna and Carl, those rumors are nothing more than drunken jokes.
Joanna had no idea how angry the person in charge of Kolan Castle was, but the day after the plan was exposed, the Sivis family told the top management of Kolan Castle about it, and the person in charge was directly recalled and never came back.
…
The situation in Storm Bay began to gradually stabilize, but Carl's exciting adventure had just begun.
After several days of surveillance, Carl and others have figured out the dragon beast's daily routine.
Eat between 9 and 11 in the morning, patrol the territory around 13:00, have another meal after 7:00 in the evening, and then go straight to bed.
This dragon beast's lifestyle is not healthy, but it is self-disciplined.
In the past few days, the dragon beast has basically acted according to this standard, with an error of no more than half an hour.
Carl thought that the reason for this was that the animals that strayed into this area were roughly concentrated during those two periods, and this dragon beast was unwilling to leave Lonely Mountain too far for unknown reasons.
Over time, this kind of routine was formed.
Now, Carl and others are going to explore this isolated mountain while the dragon beast finishes patrolling its territory.
"Great, that dragon beast has returned to its lair! Let's go!"
In the shelter outside the cave, after Bain confirmed that the dragon beast had returned to its nest, he called on everyone to leave.
Carl and others filed out of the cave, and then Hope took out the platinum key from the dimensional bag and started to move forward in the direction of the light above.
The road on Lonely Mountain is not smooth, and many places require everyone's joint efforts to get through.
However, the further they moved forward, the heavier their hearts became.
There is no other reason, because they are now getting closer and closer to the dragon beast's lair.
"The reason why the dragon beast stayed here is probably because it accidentally opened the ruins and saw the treasure inside, right?"
"Then don't we have to fight that dragon beast head-on?"
Thinking of the dragon beast's fire breath, Scorpion was somewhat reluctant to move forward.
Even Hope showed his desire to leave here and return to Storm Bay.
But Carl didn't want to give up. After all... he was already here.
"Let's go a few more steps forward and see. If we really have to pass through the dragon beast's lair, we can think of another way."
After spending so much manpower and resources and getting involved in the political struggle in Storm Bay, Carl really couldn't accept leaving like this.
Patting Bane on the shoulder, Carl took the adamantine key from Hope and walked in front of the team.
To everyone's relief, when they were less than two kilometers away from the dragon's nest, the light on the key began to shift downward.
They descended into a mountain stream using a climbing rope. They followed the key's guidance and moved forward, only to find that the way ahead was blocked.
Bending down, Carl scooped up a handful of stream water from the mountain stream and brought it to his nose to smell it.
"The water has a slight smell of sulfur, and the temperature is obviously higher than the surrounding environment. If the rocks of this mountain do not contain the corresponding elements, then there may be magma inside the mountain."
Sometimes, it is not possible to identify a volcano simply by looking at it. Sometimes, there is not much difference between an active volcano that has entered a dormant period and a dormant volcano.
What are really easy to identify are those active volcanoes that are emitting magma all year round.
"That's normal. After all, the key was found in the hands of the remains of a fire giant."
After a pause, Hope wanted to persuade Carl not to be so reckless.
But Carl had already thrown a punch straight forward.
In an instant, the rocks collapsed and more streams burst out from the cracked rocks.
Let his companions leave the water flow, Carl released liquid nitrogen, freezing the surroundings tightly.
Seeing that the situation was almost right, he touched the frozen area again.
This time, more water flowed out of it.
But as the water flowed, it suddenly began to gradually decrease.
Carl didn't pay much attention to this abnormality. He just thought it was water that had been blocked by rocks before and was flowing out as he widened the opening.
Looking at the tunnel that was barely wide enough for a person to pass through, he took off his power armor and crawled in.
Ying and Hope followed closely behind, while the rest of Bane and others guarded the entrance of the cave to prevent any abnormal situation from occurring.
However, as Carl continued to climb forward, he found something wrong.
'Isn't this tunnel a little too smooth?'
It is said that water drops can wear away a stone, and pebbles are also formed by the impact of water flow. The power of water is obvious to all in nature.
But even if this is the case, the flowing water should not have washed out such a straight and smooth channel.
Suddenly, Karl felt that he had thought of something.
"Could this channel be a machine built by some giant to drain condensed water?"
A light bulb went off in his head and Carl caught the inspiration.
After casting a light spell, Carl took a deep breath and continued forward.
When he was in the dungeon, he had already experienced the power of the giant machine.
So he was extremely careful while climbing forward.
Sure enough, as he continued to climb forward, Carl faintly heard the sound of air flow.
The light of psychic energy shone from his eyes, and Carl's perception ability extended rapidly, and finally he discovered a running propeller.
"It's not that easy to get in, but..."
As soon as he thought about it, electric light began to emerge from the palm of Carl's hand.
However, the body that had been soaked in water became the best conductor, and the numb feeling spread throughout the body along with the leaping electric arc.
After gritting his teeth and holding on for a moment, Carl raised his hand and shot lightning towards the end of the tunnel.
The sound of the fan slowly stopped, and Carl took this opportunity to quickly crawl inside.
After a while, the propeller appeared in front.
With a flash of magic in his hand, a set of mini tools appeared in Carl's hand.
In a moment, Carl removed the propeller along with the transmission device behind it.
He continued to crawl a little further inside, and finally, the front became clear and Carl arrived inside something.
This is a spherical space with a pool of clear water gathered at the bottom of the spherical space. As Carl crawled out of the tunnel and stepped into the water, the water surface rippled gently and flowed down the tunnel.
(End of this chapter)