Forbidden Constellation's Blade-Chapter 156: Cleared For Entry

The dwarf’s mouth opened for a second, but no sound came out.

Ryn didn’t interrupt him, just letting the silence stretch.

"You—you can’t just come in here and—" the dwarf finally said, voice cracking as he turned halfway, looking for support.

"Tell him. Tell him this isn’t—!"

He stopped.

No one met his eyes.

The guild hall had gone quiet instantly. Men and women stood frozen in place, hands clenched around whatever they were holding.

Not a single person spoke up.

The dwarf swallowed hard.

Ryn tilted his head slightly. "Try again."

"I didn’t—" the dwarf said quickly. "I didn’t decide anything on my own. I was told where to mine. I just followed orders."

"By who?" Ryn asked.

The dwarf hesitated.

Ryn stepped closer, doing nothing, yet his eyes carried all the intention.

"You’ve already been abandoned," Ryn said calmly. "This is the part where you decide whether you’re alone or alive."

That did it.

The words spilled out in a rush. He started pointing frantically at the others in the room.

"Look man! It’s not just me!" the dwarf yelled out. "Martha, Lewis, Dagon, Humps, they did it too!"

Other dwarves stiffened as they were called out, faces draining of color. Someone cursed under their breath. Another slumped into a chair as if their legs had finally given out.

One of them tried to make a run for it.

Ryn turned his head. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

With a flick of his hand, cold mist formed around the door before turning into a wall of ice spikes, sealing the exit off.

The runner slumped, hope drained out of his eyes.

Gordon, the leader, watched in horror at the scene.

"That’s—no," the guildmaster said, shaking his head. "That can’t be right. You’re saying half of you guys..."

"More," the dwarf said hoarsely. "We worked in shifts so no one noticed how big the operation was going. We were told to do so."

"Now, could you please let me go!" the pinned dwarf yelped. "I’ve told you everything I know!"

Ryn contemplated for a while, before letting go of his hand.

He looked around at the other dwarves, insinuating the same thing to them. Their mouths pried open instantly.

"Look man, we needed the money," someone said suddenly. "You think we didn’t know it was wrong?"

"My daughter’s sick," another snapped. "The mines dried up. The city’s starving. What were we supposed to do?"

Ryn watched Gordon carefully.

The betrayal was on an unprecedented scale, one that Gordon definitely never noticed.

Though it wasn’t his problem to solve anyway.

Ryn turned back to the first dwarf.

"Where did you mine?"

"The abandoned ones," he said immediately. "The ones taken by beasts."

Gordon stiffened. "That’s impossible. Patrols reported—"

"They don’t attack us," the dwarf said. "They never did."

Ryn had suspected as much, but still let the dwarf continue.

"Why?" he asked.

"I don’t know. We were told the Queen ordered it," the dwarf shook his head. "She said it would be an easy job, and safe too."

"And the yield?" Ryn pressed.

The dwarf licked his lips. "Reported straight to the palace. Every time. No exceptions."

Ryn’s gaze hardened. "Do you know why they want it?"

"No," the dwarf said quickly. "I swear. This is the first time they’ve asked for this much. Before, we were doing it as well, but smaller, quieter."

Hmmm...

Ryn’s thought drew inward.

Things were connected after all. There was no chance the Cult would know the correct methods to extract manalite.

And from the look of things...Ryn looked back at the royal palace.

It seemed the big fishes up top are eating good.

But there was still a lingering question in Ryn’s mind.

Were the Cult truly using all this manalite just to replicate Evernight Beasts?

Or was he still missing something—something larger?

After a while, Ryn finally spoke.

"Take me there."

Gordon hesitated, but said just the same.

"I’m coming as well."

"This is my guild," he said. "My people. I can’t let our livelihoods die because of such a problem."

His eyes flicked to the dwarves still standing in the hall.

"And if it leads somewhere I don’t like," he added, "then I’ll answer for it myself."

Ryn studied him for a moment.

Then he nodded once.

Both of them turned back to the first dwarf at the same time.

The man shrank under their gaze.

"I—I’ll take you," he said quickly. "I know the route. They won’t stop us."

"Good," Gordon said.

The dwarf swallowed and gestured toward the door with a shaking hand.

"This way."

Ryn consciously melted the ice, water pooling underneath their feet as they stepped out.

No one followed as Ryn left.

***

They didn’t take the main roads.

The dwarf led them through narrower streets, into an abandoned shop that led downwards into the sewage system.

From there, carts were already lined up one by one. They were clearly used regularly, to the point where they were just put there in a hurried mess.

"Get on," the dwarf muttered.

"Hey," Ryn stared daggers into the dwarf. "I’m still in charge here."

"So—sorry, sir," the dwarf replied hastily. "Since you two aren’t authorized, you might not be able to get in."

Ryn nodded and hopped on the cart.

Gordon followed a heartbeat later, his weight settling the frame with a low creak.

The cart was empty except for a large white tarp to cover the contents in case anyone were to ask.

After a few minutes of pushing, they finally emerged from the city’s backside.

Stone turned into packed dirt, then into an uneven path leading toward the old mining district. Abandoned scaffoled loomed in the distance, and the air grew colder the farther they went.

Too quiet.

They reached the mine entrance without incident.

That alone set Ryn on edge.

That was when he noticed it.

Dark shapes loomed ahead, low to the ground.

Ryn recognized them instantly.

Evernight Hounds.

They were wrong in every way, their fur coated a matte black as their pupils were completely dark. From a distance, they’d have looked normal.

But Ryn had seen countless of them, enough to ingrain it into his memory.

As the wagon approached, the dwarf’s hand started to tremble.

Quickly, Ryn pulled the white tarp over himself and Gordon, covering both of their presence.

One of the hounds stepped closer.

It sniffed at the wagon’s edge. Another followed, teeth bared. Ryn felt the putrid stench coming from them, but he had to contain it.

He spread Cold Essence outward, toward the tarp. Cold usually dulls the sense of smell, Ryn hoped it’d work on the hounds.

After a while, the lead hound pulled back, turning away without another sound. The others followed, more like puppets rather than actual living beings.

The dwarf exhaled shakily and pushed the wagon forward again.

Ryn kept his guard up, knowing this was only the first danger cleared of more to come.

The mine mouth swallowed them whole.

As soon as the wagon crossed the threshold, everything changed instantly. A faint metallic taste clung to the back of Ryn’s throat.

The dwarf pushed them deeper before finally stopping near a bend in the tunnel.

"You—you can get off here," he muttered. "Can I leave now?"

Just as he turned to walk away, Ryn grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him.

"Not yet," he said calmly. "You know the path, so guide us."

The dwarf sighed slowly before continuing deeper into the mines. Both Ryn and Gordon followed at haste.

The further they moved in, the more obvious a single sound became.

Clink! Clack! Clink! Clack!

The sound of pickaxes striking stone, of mining.

He adjusted his steps, knowing full well that there are others here.

Ryn’s eyes adjusted as they moved farther in.

Manalite lined the cavern walls in jagged, crystalline veins, refracting the light into thousands of beams bouncing all over. It grew from the rock like a living thing.

Some were dense clusters while others were exposed and gleaming openly.

It was everywhere.

Ryn had never set foot in a manalite cavern before, but he didn’t need experience to recognize abundance.

This was nowhere close to a dwindling mine, nothing close to what dwarven royalty had called "dried up".

This was untouched wealth.

He ran a hand lightly across the wall. The crystal hummed faintly beneath his fingers, Essence resonating in response.

Behind him, Gordon stopped short.

"...There was this much left?" he said quietly.

Ryn nodded slowly.

There was no way anyone could stand here and say the mines were empty.

Ryn took two steps forward.

Then he stopped.

At the edge of the cavern, just past the bend and into a huge clearing, a figure stood with their back turned.

White robes untouched by dust, along with a smooth black porcelain mask on their face.

Ryn moved instantly.

His hand shot back, fingers locking around Gordon’s sleeve as he yanked him hard into the shadow of the tunnel wall.

"What—" Gordon started.

Ryn clamped a hand over his mouth.

The figure spoke.

"Keep the pace," they said calmly. "The quota will be met before the next cycle."

"Just keep it up for another day or two," they added. "Then you’ll be free to go back to your miserable lives."

Cult Administrator, there was no mistaking it.

A sudden scrape echoed behind them.

Ryn’s head snapped back.

The stupid dwarf had bolted.

He stumbled out from the tunnel’s shadow, nearly tripping over the uneven stone as he ran toward the open cavern.

"Wait—!" Gordon hissed.

Too late.

The dwarf sucked in a breath and screamed.

"HELP!"

Pickaxes froze mid-swing.

The echo hadn’t even finished bouncing off the crystal walls when the figure in white stopped moving.

Slowly—

The Administrator turned.

"Shit," Ryn muttered under his breath.

"This is going to get messy."