The God of Jesters
Chapter 205 - 3.16.2 Epilogue 2

Chapter 205: 3.16.2 Epilogue 2

The river of Labes was also known as the River of Gold in Pulgasari.

A lava river that flowed under the mountains of Bothal, it was the source of all the special ores and minerals that had made Bothal one of the richest countries in the world.

Its heat was used to light up the hearths of a smithy, while the volcanic rocks from it were used to fertilize the lands above, resulting in abundant harvest each time.

It was the life of the dwarves.

It provided them with sustainability when the world had ignored them.

It was the vein of earth that directly brought the gift from the earth’s core, into the hands of the dwarves.

All of which became the reason why the dwarves had chosen to seal up all the access points to the river. It was impossible to get in or get out.

With only a select few having access to it, they used their modern methods to harvest the wonders on the edge of this river, and most of it was under the control of the Bothal’s rulers.

Of course, in a place filled with abandoned mines and even expanding mining operations, there will always be certain accidents where people open a path to the river.

Most of which would either disappear or become rich overnight.

But this was for people that were caught, for those that weren’t?

Bothal can do nothing about them.

"The boy is not back yet?" Vegal wondered while taking a toke from his pipe.

No matter how much tobacco he put in it, he would never experience the high he used to once as a dwarf. The most he could do was imagine himself, put himself into the illusion of the old days when he was still normal. Someone capable of tasting, feeling, and seeing the world in much simpler terms.

A past that was becoming blurrier as time went by, making him almost forget what being drunk was like. A body that danced with each step in a rhythm of his elevated emotions, while his companions sang songs of their ancestors.

Great days they were, which have turned into memories.

"You are here?" It was hard to hide from Vegal, a dwarf without any exceptional bloodline.

It was one of the most common lineages of Iron Skin, the same one Gaityonde had. But what made him different from Gaityonde was his unusual senses.

His senses matched that of a Mage... no, I would even call them even stronger. If he had abandoned his bloodline and focused on a mystical path, the current he wouldn’t have been suffering so much.

This country’s overt hate for mages had made it harder for people like Vegal to even achieve their true potential and be forced to walk the path of mediocrity due to lack of options.

It’s not like this stopped Vegal at all.

Using his unusual senses and mind, Vegal had turned into the premier weapons specialist for Bothal and was responsible for most of the progress that set up the foundations for the current Bothal.

One can even call him the bringer of good fortune.

But all of it was for naught, that great man had been reduced to hide as a normal mechanic in the very city he helped. Which did not matter in truth.

Knowing that I was there, he just got up from his seat and went deeper into his mechanic shop. And with a few presses of buttons on a wall, a small compartment opened. Just big enough for a single dwarf of his size to enter.

It was an elevator, which slowly descended deeper and deeper into the ground.

Was it an hour? Or a couple of hours?

The darkness of the cave was all so confusing to me, that it was harder to speak of the time.

Not to mention the smell or oxygen, as there was none.

Causing the little rats that hid in the elevator to die one by one due to suffocation.

Vegal probably knew it, but he didn’t bother to warn me this time, for he knew that I would never stop doing this.

******

As the elevator doors opened, the big workshop appeared in the cave, all of it illuminated by the lava river that flowed not too far from the workshop along with a strong smell of sulfur. Making it almost impossible for anyone to survive in his place.

But it didn’t mean there was no one here.

"Master Lugren, glad you came." This was a young man, a human with a clean face and a bright smile on his face.

"No need for honorifics, Baldar. Just tell me, did you succeed?"

"The raid was a success, but due to most of the info being encrypted, none of us can confirm if what we got is the right materials."

It’s been a week since Field Team Two arrived in the church. And five days since Vegal met with this weird inhuman man named Baldar.

And yes, this man called Baldar was anything but human. He was something ancient, someone that Baldar had only heard about in legends.

It was for this reason that Baldar was able to survive the harsh temperature as well as the lack of oxygen around the River.

No, it would be more appropriate to say, he relished in this environment. Which at first had disturbed Vegal a bit, but it was like a giant seeing an eye dragging its body using its nerves.

An ugly scene that might disturb people. But all the giant needs to do is step on that eye to destroy it.

"Hmm, this seems to be his writing... I am to assume Ivan didn’t survive?" Vegal asked and Baldar gave a small nod.

"Master personally took charge of him. He died by suicide and left his notes in his pockets..."

"Your master made one foolish mistake, knowing Ivan. Most of this is incomplete information, the most important pieces of information should be in his head."

"Master Lugren shouldn’t worry, I cut open his body to make sure he hadn’t hidden some other information inside his body," Baldar said with a shy smile, knowing full well what he did. But Vegal just shook his head.

"You bunch really are crazy?" Vegal smiled. A very big smile.

He hated Ivan.

Although Vegal was once Ivan’s senior and then friend. The fact that Ivan played a big part in his fall had always filled Vegal with poison toward his old understudy.

So learning of his fate, Vegal felt reprieved. "I will add a bonus, the blueprints for my penetrative shell design... "

"Thanks for this, I believe my master will be very happy with this."

The payment was done in blueprints, this was the transaction that Vegal made with that enigmatic Jester.

At least one of them at the moment.

Vegal’s revenge was not over yet, nor Jester’s goal was achieved as of yet.

His goal was the same as Vegal, the very notes that hide the secrets to immortality for some, or the perfect soldier in the mind of others.

In Vegal’s mind, this was the key to obtaining a new body, a body that could feel like his current one. And in truth, Vegal already has someone in his mind.

"I will directly give the blueprints to your master in the dreams... you should leave for now." Vegal said as he took out the notes and started to decrypt them on the same spot. But Baldar didn’t move. He just looked at Vegal’s interesting expression before knowing him to wake him up from his stupor.

"What?..." Vegal asked, wondering why this man hadn’t left as of yet.

"There is something you should know before..." Before his words could end, the whole cave shook.

And it was not just the cave, but the whole city was shaking at the moment.

It was an earthquake, a big one. Which, although not that uncommon, was obviously unnatural, as the source was not the deep crevices of the earth.

"The river.... "A horrific realization came into the mind of Vegal, as he stared at Baldar’s face who was making a surprised face himself. But it was more in line with. "I was looking forward to this."

"You... what did you do?" Vegal asked with a horrific expression on his face.

"Nothing on my side, we did as it was expected of us, the other side on the other hand, they were weak... so they relented to using cheap tricks."

"What sort of tricks?" Vegal was a citizen of Bothal and an old one at that.

His true age was 120 years and he had gone through the dark days of Pulgasiri before it was considered a true country. And had seen that legendary existence with his very own eyes.

An existence that rode the dragon and at a time had destroyed an entire mountaintop due to his rage.

The blown top has turned into the very center of Bothal. The legendary Area Zero, which only a few among the top brass knew about.

"A Void event, calamity level. A whole hill had been corrupted due to the weakness of one of the toys... a broken toy at this point."

"...."

"Madmen... do you know what you have done?"

"Nothing much... planning is not my forte, nor is this the result of my mistakes. My master just told me to warn you about it... leave at once or he will find you."

"Fools... you people... you have ruined so much." Vegal knew that he had to leave at this point. Staying would lead to death. As no one can hide from the eyes of a Legend.

They are beings at the cusp of divinity, closest to obtaining immortality and possessing godlike abilities.