Chapter 95: Welcoming Party, Is It?

- Dwarven Settlement, Calidus - 6 Hours Later - Rose's POV -

[Woah...] - Rose

[Agreed, woah...] - Karen

The view before us was amazing, nearly impossible to describe and definitely cemented that we were truly in a fantasy world. Previously it had only felt like a late renaissance world with non-humans and a bit of technology thrown in but what I was seeing now would have been completely impossible in my old world regardless of the technology used.

It had taken us nearly half a day after departing from the train to reach our destination. Calidus, Legal Loli Sensei's hometown, was our destination and to get there we had to go through several miles worth of well-worn tunnels and caves. Along the way we saw sights that baffled both my own modern sensibilities and even shocked some of the people familiar with this world. Our group, sitting within a long train of what looked like a mix between an old west wagon and a modern-ish vehicle except powered by steam from the looks of it, oohed and aahed at every new turn, everything being an experience that we'd never seen before. One cave was a tangle of crystal-like stalagmites and stalactites that reflected our light a million times turning our trip through it into something that looked like a field of stars, another, a forest of mushroom trees and glowing grasses that hugged the well-maintained road we travelled along. And even another that looked like something out of Lorde of the Bracelets with magma flowing down rivers of rock and what looked like a waterfall in the distance, the rumbling sound of millions of tons of molten rock tumbling into the abyss drowning out all sounds as our convoy puttered along over a bridge that spanned the lava river . We even passed through the outskirts of another city situated in an old caldera, the blasted out top of which was only a small glimmer of sunlight nearly a mile up.

And the monsters. Our group, safely nestled in the middle of the large convoy of what I was told were called Mechanical Wagons by one of the regulars, was too far from either side to truly witness any of the action but despite that we still heard and saw some of them. While it seemed most of the monsters and beasts knew enough to leave us well enough alone, on top of this route being extremely safe, some others apparently had no qualms about attacking our heavily armed convoy, much to their regret. Giant rust-red spiders, smaller praying mantis-like insects and even a few surface animals that seemed to be completely covered in glowing fungi, all of them attacking us at various points during the journey and none of them getting even close to doing any significant damage. Although one attack had come close to us- out of all of them it was the only time I actually thought we might have to defend ourselves.

We'd been about halfway through our journey at that point, our road taking us along a massive underground lake with water that vanished into the darkness. On one side was this span of water too great to fathom and on the other was more of those strange glowing mushroom trees that seemed to populate much of the cave systems. It was while we were taking a small break for lunch that they attacked. Small child-sized creatures, shaped vaguely like a humanoid that seemed more reptile than human with ugly fish-like faces filled with razor-sharp teeth. Cave Sahagin was what one of the convoy guards called them and they swarmed out of the water in the hundreds wielding primitive weapons made from jagged rocks and metal fastened to glowing mushroom tree branches.

Overwhelming our first line of defense, the swarming creatures continued towards our group, seemingly nothing stopping them from slaughtering all of us. It was at this point that our class, responding to the apparent threat, stood to take on the approaching horde only for that help to become unneeded a second later as a massive wave of ice encased the milling crowd of monsters. Hundreds died in minutes after that as I saw the formerly engulfed mercenaries that I thought dead surrounded by piles of death and gore. While they were at it the source of the ice wave, a boyish-looking dwarf that introduced himself as the captain of the mercenaries guarding us, joined his surrounded comrades in absolutely massacring the rest of the army, the remaining ones turning to run after witnessing the fate of their brethren.

And so we passed the rest of the trip in much the same way, only being attacked by smaller groups as the caves we passed through became more and more overgrown with a variety of mushroom-like plants. And finally, we arrived.

Coming out from a narrower cave tunnel we gasped when we saw what awaited us. Located on a large outcrop of rock, the road we followed had a view of the entire city spread out below us, our path forward filled with branching roads and various rivers as well as those same mushroom trees. However, what really drew our eyes was the city itself. Situated in the middle of a forest of those mushroom trees the city was actually nestled up against the far wall of the cave, only visible because of the light from the city itself. Seemingly made of what looked like wood the buildings glowed slightly in the distance which, along with the plentiful fires, illuminated the true majesty of the location. A massive waterfall fell from the roof, its origin obfuscated by the darkness. Falling into a massive lake that the city was spread out around I noticed that the water itself seemed to let off steam, the haze from its vapours ramping up the humidity even at this distance- I noted that my clothing was sticking to me from the heat. The city, seemingly capitalizing on the existence of what could only be massive hot springs, huddled close to the water's edge. The architecture, taking advantage of the warm fresh water, had channels carved out of the rock spread out like a spiderweb, the water running through it letting off steam as well. Even the people, small at the distance we were from them, were taking advantage of the natural hot springs. Many of them, naked as the day they were born, were bathing openly in the many channels and even the lake itself. The sight of dozens of loli-like naked bodies bringing a blush to my face, I immediately turned away from my open gawking only to have a familiar form, the boyish dwarf captain, come up beside our group. Riding some sort of furred bovine with a long lizard-like face and a smattering of scales I had found myself fascinated with the creature when I first saw it and even now it still baffled me with the mixture of reptilian and mammalian traits that was so unfamiliar to me.

[Beautiful isn't it? I'm sure you're aware of this but this place is actually quite famous as a resort town. Races come from far and wide just to experience its wonders.] - Captain Shouta

[Oh? So it's well-known even outside of Dwarves?] - Malaise

[Haha, that's quite right. It's actually pretty well-known for the health and beauty benefits of its many spas. Not that I'd know about that since even a day's stay in the city is expensive enough to drive most people into poverty.] - Captain Shouta

[Huh? But what about the people living here?] - Veronica

Yeah that's right, his name is Shouta Igni, a minor clan but one that he seemingly took care of as he'd told me he sent most of his earnings back to take his widowed mother and younger sister, who apparently adored him. And his name? A tradition, apparently. Yeah, the godsdamn shota captain is named Shouta. Either Dwarven culture really likes puns or some writer somewhere was a fan of dad jokes. 1It's the latter, dad jokes are the pinnacle of humor! Made me wonder if some reincarnator had a penchant for pranks and had somehow influenced the Dwarven naming sense since Legal Loli Sensei's name was along the same vein.

And his friendliness with us in particular despite the absolutely massive amount of other guests? Pretty obvious considering his frequent looks of enamored lovestruck foolishness at the most unexpected person in the group. Karen. I mean yeah Karen was gorgeous, her slimy body vaguely resembling the one that I'd so loved back in our previous world yet somehow pulling off even more beauty, but that wasn't the problem. No, it was the common mindset that most people had about slimes and monster races in general. There were many extremely enchanting hostile monster races out there yet all but the most manic of individuals wouldn't dare to actually view them as anything other than dangerous. Of course, it didn't help that for the most part those reactions were probably the correct decision as even the ones that were interested in men or women that weren't of their race would still kill you after they got what they wanted. Higher tier Harpies being one prime example, although one that was more complicated since they actually maintained their own small country despite being generally hostile to most non-Harpy races. Their relations with their surroundings are mostly relegated to a "leave us alone and we'll leave you alone" mentality. Luckily, unlike how I'd always read of them in my previous world, there WERE male Harpies. A good thing too ‘cause reportedly they were extremely violent lovers.

Regardless though, I didn't have the heart to tell the small Dwarven man that no matter how much he tried to impress the object of his affection she wouldn't be even the slightest interested in him. There was no reason to crush the poor man since we'd likely never meet again after we reached the city ahead. And so he continued to vie for her attention, drawing amused looks from Malaise and Veronica as they continued on the conversation that he'd attempted to start with the Slime that was currently doing her best to ignore him.

[All part of some famous clan or other. Immigrating here costs more than most clans have in their entire fortune. Although that price does come with a major boon so most that can afford it happily pay.] - Captain Shouta

[Boon? What do you mean?] - Rose

[Ah well, there's apparently a local legend. One that seems to be true as it's been confirmed by multiple clans over the years.] - Captain Shouta

[...] - Karen

[Ahem! Legend?] - Rose

[R-Right, well the hot springs that are the lifeblood of this city are supposedly protected by a water spirit by the name of Undine that brings prosperity to anyone that takes care of the lake and many rivers that branch off of it. According to the most affluent clans in the area they all benefit from that relationship. Although I don't believe I've ever heard of Undine making herself known personally though...] - Captain Shouta

It was sad, how much the little man attempted to get our Slimegirl's attention. Made me regret not just telling him that he had no chance instead of trying to protect his feelings. Regardless though his face slumped as Karen once more ignored his obvious bait before turning to respond to me. But Undine hmm...? Sounds like something from a game I used to play, wonder if that was influenced by Reincarnators as well?

[Ah! We've arrived!] - Lolianne Sensei

[FINALLY! The magnificent me is tired of sitting down and needs to rest!] - Argent

[Oh! Do you think any of the warriors here are strong?!? Maybe they'll let me fight them!] - Ogi

[...let's depart.] - Shade

[Ah right, well sorry about this. Good luck eh?] - Rose

[Oh?!? Wai-] - Captain Shouta

[Well let's go my love! I can't wait to spend even one more second with you Rose!] - Karen

Finally coming to a stop at what was obviously a city gate our convoy reached our destination. Legal Loli Sensei, who'd been watching over our group the entire time, cut into our conversation, her intentions made clear when she briefly sent our group a wink. The rest of the class, tired and sore from spending most of the day sitting down, immediately got up to leave the carriage blowing past the bewildered shota Dwarf on his mount. My own apology was overturned by the loud announcement from Karen as she sent a pointed look at the crestfallen young man.