Chapter 192: **Rael Row (5)**
—
The statement that dwarves were originally a race that lived under the sun elicited little reaction from Isra.
“Well, maybe they were.”
He simply shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t particularly care.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Then, stepping down from the crate, he began walking down the corridor.
Halfway down, he turned around and said,
“What are you doing? Not coming?”
The group continued touring Rael Row under Isra’s guidance.
The various places, similar yet distinct from those made by humans, were enough to stir and satisfy Ray’s curiosity and desire to explore.
Their diligent exploration soon brought them to midday.
“I don’t usually eat lunch. You go ahead and eat. I’ll come back to guide you again when the time comes.”
“If you skip meals, you won’t grow taller.”
“……”
Isra’s gaze turned sharp.
Ray didn’t back down and stared him down.
After a long, intense standoff, Isra sighed and disappeared beyond the dining hall, mumbling under his breath.
—Clearly still a kid. Guess I should be the bigger one here.
Ray tried to follow but was caught and seated by Veronica.
“So, once today’s schedule is over—”
“Did you check next week’s duty roster?”
The dining hall, packed with dwarves, was as bright and lively as it had been that morning.
The act of eating resembled inhaling more than consuming, and the clashing of utensils and dishes rang out like a battlefield.
Screech—! Scrape—!
The dwarves with their empty plates quickly disappeared, leaving only three people in the cafeteria.
“If they eat that fast, they’ll definitely get indigestion…”
“Maybe their stomachs are built differently from humans.”
Ray responded to Veronica’s concern.
After finishing their meal, they stayed and chatted at the table, but Isra never returned, even as lunchtime came to an end.
Ray got up and approached the workers cleaning up.
“Do you know where Isra went?”
The workers seemed a bit surprised that a human was speaking to them.
They looked at each other, then one by one spoke up.
“Isra was supposed to guide you, right?”
“Bet he ran off again to goof around.”
“Guy’s got no sense of responsibility. That’s why he dropped out of the leader candidacy.”
They spoke bluntly, revealing open resentment toward Isra.
“That slacker? He’s probably in his usual spot. Go upstairs.”
“Upstairs?”
“Go down the hall to the right of the dining hall. There’s a staircase leading to the watchtower.”
Ray exchanged glances with Veronica and Grine before leaving the hall.
At the end of the corridor to the right, as they had said, was a cylindrical space like a tower with a spiral staircase ascending upward.
Tap.
He set foot on the first step.
The surrounding walls were densely packed with pulleys, chains, and gears, likely operating specific functions of Rael Row.
Creak—Clunk!
Creak—Clunk!
The intricate machinery moved with perfect precision, repeating its motions without the slightest deviation.
Over and over, endlessly.
Suddenly, the boy thought—
If he had a normal emotional range, he might have found this place mentally overwhelming.
At the top of the spiral stairs, he reached a door. Grasping the handle, he turned it.
Creeeak—
As the door opened, a hazy light and strong wind rushed in.
He squinted.
Through his fluttering white hair, he saw a long steel platform stretching out and an expansive, endless wasteland beyond.
*‘It’s high up.’*
Above, there was only sky.
Below, he could see Rael Row’s massive fortress-like body atop the rocky mountains.
This was clearly the highest point of Rael Row.
But that wasn’t the only thing the boy noticed.
*‘It’s moving.’*
The scenery was slowly flowing backward.
There had been no noticeable sound or tremor at first, so he hadn’t realized, but upon careful observation, he could see Rael Row walking forward, its spider-like legs moving one after the other.
And finally—
At the precarious edge of the platform stood Isra, his back turned.
What was he looking at?
Though his slightly raised chin faced the sky, only gloomy gray clouds hung overhead.
Ray approached and asked,
“What are you looking at?”
“…!”
Startled, Isra turned and swung a punch.
The metal glove, accelerating instantly by drawing mana from the air, stopped just in front of Ray’s nose.
The gust stirred Ray’s hair before it settled again.
“……”
“……”
A moment of silence passed.
Isra lowered his fist with a disgruntled look and muttered,
“…If you sneak up like that, anyone would think you’re an enemy.”
Despite his gruff tone, there was a trace of guilt in his voice.
Ray didn’t mind—he could have dodged anyway.
And more importantly, right now—
“Has Rael Row ever been invaded by enemies?”
His curiosity shifted elsewhere.
“Enemies? Invasion?”
“I mean, with Rael Row’s wealth and technology, wouldn’t it be a target?”
Isra thought for a moment, then replied.
“Not as far as I know. Rael Row always runs a distortion field, so it’s hard to detect us in the first place.”
“But that field breaks down in mana storms.”
“That’s true. But attacking Rael Row during a storm is practically impossible. And even if someone did manage to infiltrate, they’d have to face our entire race—all trained warriors.”
‘Our race.’
But despite his words, there was no pride in Isra’s voice.
It was a clear contrast from the elders and other dwarves.
In fact, it seemed more like—
“Infiltration… doesn’t seem entirely impossible.”
“….”
Isra didn’t argue, seemingly agreeing with Ray’s sentiment.
And then, Ray suddenly realized.
This platform was the exact spot where the silhouette had vanished when he held the yellow gem high and stopped Rael Row.
*‘Was he standing guard?’*
Just in case an enemy tried to approach?
Ray, after a moment’s thought, decided to clear up a few questions first.
“So, where is Rael Row headed?”
“……”
“And our bus?”
“……”
Isra didn’t respond, seemingly too bothered to talk further.
Ray pulled a transparent brown bottle from his coat.
“This is a growth supplement.”
“……”
“I bought it for a lot of money at a black market.”
“……”
“If you take it regularly, you can grow more than 30cm in a year.”
Isra kept twitching his shoulders, then finally turned to Ray.
“…Is that true?”
“You can tell by looking at me.”
You’re not that tall yourself.
Isra’s expression said as much as Ray held out the bottle.
“…?”
“A gift.”
“A gift?”
“It’s polite to bring something when visiting someone’s home.”
Isra looked back and forth between Ray’s face and the bottle, then read the label and tucked it carefully into his coat.
“…Two pills a day. Your bus came into the garage underneath Rael Row this morning, so don’t worry. The rest of your group should have been guided to the neighboring room by now.”
His voice had become much more cooperative.
“Rael Row is moving to find a settlement.”
“A settlement?”
“We have a policy to limit population growth. Space is limited inside Rael Row.”
So they were wandering, searching for underground areas untouched by the Black Rain.
Looking for new land where they could thrive without sunlight.
“It’s not easy. Every candidate site ends up being too deeply contaminated upon investigation—deemed irrecoverable land.”
“….”
Ray looked up in silence.
Dozens of black smoke trails were endlessly rising into the sky from Rael Row.
They were using not only electrostone but even mana in the atmosphere as power sources.
*‘Isn’t this what they call irony?’*
They marched on in search of unpolluted land, but in doing so, they were only polluting it further.
It was then that Isra spoke again.
“Honestly, I don’t really know. Maybe you noticed, but we know nothing about our origins. What kind of lives we once lived, why we’re trapped inside Rael Row wandering endlessly, or why sunlight kills us. We don’t know a single clear thing.”
The corners of Isra’s mouth twitched.
It could have been self-mockery—or contempt for the rest of the dwarves, excluding himself.
“That’s why I wonder. How can beings with no knowledge of their roots ever take root in a single place?”
Speaking cynically, Isra lifted his head and looked at the sky again.
A silence settled in before Ray asked,
“Is it that thing?”
“What thing?”
“That illness. There’s a condition every person supposedly goes through once in life. If it hits late, there’s no hope, so getting it at the right time is a blessing.”
“…What illness?”
“My friend Philip told me about it. I forgot the name. It’s when you get lost in your own thoughts and philosophy, become needlessly cynical, and start thinking you’re incredibly cool.”
“……”
Isra wasn’t sure whether he should be angry or not.
But the next question pulled his mind back into focus.
“I heard you were removed from the leadership candidate list.”
“Where did you… You sure seem curious about me.”
It wasn’t entirely wrong.
Ray felt there were parts of himself and Isra that were similar—not height, definitely not—but something else he wanted to confirm.
Isra didn’t treat it like a difficult subject.
“I was originally selected as a leadership candidate based on merit. I assisted the elders in important duties, eventually meant to inherit the position.”
The promising young dwarf had toured every corner of Rael Row:
Control rooms, forges, tailoring rooms, mines.
Sparring halls, training grounds, dining halls, development labs.
He learned every type of work, regardless of difficulty or kind.
Because, as the next leader responsible for the lives of residents, he was obligated to know everything about Rael Row.
But—
“Then one day, I just got scared.”
He began to feel suffocated by the hyper-efficient, overly rational life imposed on him.
The more he tried to overcome it, the worse it got.
“So I ran away. I felt like I’d die if I didn’t.”
He argued with the elders, refused to back down.
In the end, he lived without any assigned duties.
“In exchange for fingers pointed and scornful stares, I gained freedom.”
Time passed endlessly in that emotional limbo until Ray’s group arrived and he was appointed their guide, as someone well-versed in the facility.
Ray, who had been listening silently, asked,
“Leaving Rael Row—could you do it?”
“No permission. Not allowed. The elders think I’ll change my mind eventually.”
Ray found that strange.
Surely one’s own will should matter more than what others think.
“Do you want to leave?”
“I do.”
“To the human sector?”
“That place interests me, but it’s not my top choice.”
“Then where?”
Isra tilted his head upward.
Ray suddenly noticed how unfocused Isra’s gaze was as he stared at the sky.
Following his lead, Ray looked up—just in time to hear the next words.
“…Someday.”
“……”
“I’ll fly. High above. To a place where customs, rules, and roots can’t drag me down.”
Gray clouds blanketed the sky.
And Isra’s eyes were fixed on a faint fragment of land just barely visible beyond them.
Ray stood silently beside him, staring at the same point, lost in thought.
One thing was clear—Isra had definitely contracted the disease Philip had spoken of.
*
*
*
Three days later, late in the evening.
From atop the watchtower, the two boys’ eyes caught sight of a red dot cutting through the sandstorm, slowly approaching Rael Row from afar.
At some point, the red dot began to stretch in shape, taking on the form of a long, sharp, spear-like rod.
“Isra, go inside and alert the elders immediately.”
Understanding the situation, Isra promptly followed Ray’s command.
Left alone, the boy awakened all his senses and activated the mana within his gemstone and circles.
And before long—
*Bzzzt───!*
Hundreds of currents erupted from the boy’s hand, shooting toward the crimson figure that had leapt from the ground to the watchtower in an instant.
The sheer brilliance of the blast lit up the area in a flood of light.
