Rebirth in the Magic Continent

14. Kaia

The annual underground fair of the pygmy race is open to nearly every intelligent race on the magical continent.

However, the orcs and the wood elves are the most active foreigners in the outer area of the fair.

--

Of the races created by the gods, the elves are on average the most similar in appearance to the gods, and the wood elves are a special branch of the elven race.

Although the wood and grass elves have inherited the exquisite appearance of the gods, they are the only elven race with wings and a miniature body. They are good at wood and water magic and its derivatives, and are the most famous pharmacy race in the entire magical continent.

*

Orcs are the most casual of the races created by the gods.

After the gods created the common animals, almost a third of them received another gift, and were given the appearance of some of the gods, becoming a half-human, half-animal form.

The orcs received no further special favours; they simply inherited the physical characteristics that were to be present in their respective animal forms. However, because they received more favours than the animals in their true animal forms (which resembled the gods), the orcs became the only f*******n magical race in the Magic Continent, according to the usual principle of fairness.

--

This was the first time Inali had seen all these new species with her own eyes, and she couldn't help but want to stop.

Even as Kaya dragged her along, Inali kept asking questions, like what the orc prototypes passing by were in their true form, and what colour the wings of the grass sprites were when they flew by.

Kaya hadn't expected Inari to be so ignorant.

The basic visitors in the outer field are only the grass and tree elves and the orcs that you can see every year, so don't be so surprised, Inari. Besides, you can come back next year. What's really interesting are the visitors in the inner field, who change every year. This year, apart from the visiting team from the Human Empire, I heard that the Light Elves, the rarest of all elven species, will also be visiting...'

Kaya pulled Inari forward, who kept looking back, and while she was annoyed by Inari's lack of knowledge, she patiently filled her in on the details.

Inari had a basic understanding of all the species on this magical continent on a book level, but this was the first time she had seen them in person.

Even though Kaya had said that the orcs and wood elves that appeared in the field were the races that traded most often with the dwarves and could be seen every year, for her, who had been trapped in the house smithy all year, this was really the first time she had seen them.

Inali said yes, but her eyes couldn't help but keep staring at these creatures that had only appeared in pictures in the past...

Now all the language lessons Fuchsia had given her in the past, and all the foreign languages she had taught herself over the years, finally had a practical application.

With the ever-reliable Kaya holding her hand, Inali was able to walk safely distracted, listening with pricked ears to the conversations of the little elves who flitted by, and assessing her own level of learning.

...

After realising that nothing could shake Inali's slow pace, Kaya also gave up trying to persuade her. After all, there was still some time to go before the official opening of the inner field of this underground market.

While Kaya was still consoling herself, a group of dwarves in full silver armour broke through the crowd and came to Kaya and Inari's side.

A dwarf with a long beard, who looked particularly strong and who seemed to be the same age as Mora, waved his hand and immediately walked over to the two young dwarves, taking Kaya's hands on both sides and suppressing her instinctive struggles in a position of arresting a criminal.

Kaya, if you don't enrol in the Dwarven Academy of Architecture, you will continue to cause trouble for our academy. This time you even had the nerve to do Eckert's annual evaluation for him! The older dwarf began to lecture, so quickly that he choked a little. After a moment's pause, he continued,

Eck's entry has been selected for the fair in the courtyard tonight. He didn't dare claim it as his own, and he was telling the truth. Since it is your work that has been selected, you must enrol in our School of Architecture today and remain a student there until the end of the fair.

...

Confused and shocked, Inari watched as Kaya was escorted away by the president of the Dwarf College, Centur, and forced to apply for a student card for the Dwarf College of Architecture after she had defended herself in vain.

Inari was only able to get a hasty explanation from Kaya: "You go and explore the outer grounds on your own, I'll be right back after this unexpected situation is dealt with!

----

The dwarf Mora, who adopted Inari, was indeed a dwarf of exceptional talent and natural gifts.

Mora had three children.

Because Mora was restless in the Elberia Forest in his early years and liked to go out and take risks, Mora's dwarf wife decided to separate from Mora and took their youngest daughter with her. She remarried Centu, the Dean of the Dwarf Academy, who had been widowed for many years, leaving Mora with his eldest son Kasi and daughter Kaya.

At the age of thirteen, Mora's eldest son, Kasi, finished his apprenticeship in the iron-casting trade he had inherited from his father, Mora, and enrolled at the Dwarven Academy of Architecture. A year after enrolling, he came first in the annual assessment and was given the opportunity to go on an exchange to the Imperial College of Astor.

Returning home after a year and a half, he fell out with Mora and ran away from home.

Kaya was involved in the storm caused by her brother Kasai and was f*******n by Mora to enter the School of Architecture. So, having learned all there is to know about cast iron at the age of ten, Kaya had to rely on finding dwarf masters to learn a new trade.

However, Kaya's talent for creating things was immeasurable, and she was always able to learn the craft from the masters within three months.

Thanks to her mother's connections, Kaya also spent two months studying with Centur, the dean of the dwarven academy, who was good at making magical props.

After completing her studies, Kayla followed the family rules set by Mora and ruthlessly refused Centur's request that she be admitted to the School of Architecture...

This caused the already hostile relationship between Centur and Mora to deepen.

In the past, Centur would spend his free time trying to get Kayla into the School of Architecture.

This was partly due to a personal grudge against Mora, and partly because he could not give up Kaya's magical talent for making magical props.

Although Kaya, like all dwarves, can only use earth and metal magic, she seems to have other special talents outside the mysterious system of Natural Law.

This is reflected in the fact that the items Kaya makes always seem to have some unknown additional attribute.

This previously overlooked and difficult to detect attribute is visually displayed in the magical items made by Kaya.

Sento hopes that Kaya will enrol in the Academy to systematically study her unknown talent, and even better, that she will take the opportunity to go to the Human Empire for an exchange so as not to waste her rare talent.

...

As Mora's only remaining relative, Kaya would never go against her wishes.

No matter how Sentou tried to persuade her, she flatly refused his invitation for special admission to the Academy. However, Kaya would occasionally go to the Academy in her spare time to attend lectures as an auditor, and then... earn extra money by doing her friends' Academy creation assignments for them.

*

The three places for outstanding students with exchange qualifications selected by the Dwarf Architecture Academy each year are linked to the trading conditions in the inner field of the Underground Exchange.

Each year, the Academy will collect creative work on a random theme from its students in the form of end-of-year exams.

After a preliminary selection by the Academy, special works with potential will be selected and transported to the Underground Exchange, which opens once a year, and placed anonymously in the Exchange.

After the venue opens, these anonymous works will be ranked according to the price paid by outside guests, and the top three works with the highest selling prices will be selected. The creators of these works will be the annual outstanding student representatives of the School of Architecture.

Kaya never took her unstable charming qualities seriously.

Over the past three years, she has accepted many commissions for annual creative works from her friends, who are also slackers she knows from the School of Architecture.

Kaya will randomly select a few mediocre works of her own and sell them to the client to pass the test. In the past, she has been able to ensure that her work is just good enough to pass the preliminary assessment without being too outstanding, and not so mediocre that it loses points in the year-end assessment.

This side business is booming and has never gone bust.

This year is Kaya's third year of taking orders.

Kaya made a prototype of a wand made of fine iron and wood, according to Eckhart's wishes, who had ordered it at a high price. It was a one-stick structure, with space left at the top for inlaying a magic stone, but it was just an unexceptional piece with no sincerity...

Unexpectedly, this uncharacteristic piece actually passed the preliminary examination of the School of Architecture. When Eckhart received the notice from the school, he had no choice but to reveal the true owner of the work, Kaya.

...

----

Inali had been friends with Kaya for two years and had a vague idea of the things she did to earn extra money.

Since she was registered as a student at the Morra School, the dwarf dean, Centur, also knew Inali.

After instructing his subordinates to take Kaya away, and seeing her escorted away to be forced to apply for a student ID, Centur was in no hurry to leave. He put on a serious expression and patiently explained the situation to Inali.

After the explanation, Sentou seemed to remember something. He gently invited Inali to enrol at the College of Dwarf Architecture. Inali, if I remember correctly, you will also turn twelve this year. Why don't you decide today to enrol in the College of Architecture together with your sister Kaya?

Sento, who was slightly taller than Inari, relaxed the tight muscles in his face and looked up and down at Inari with a friendly expression.

For a dwarf girl of her age, you look excessively malnourished. Has Mora not taken good care of you? Come to our Dwarven Academy of Architecture, where you will have a dormitory room, balanced meals and lots of new knowledge to learn...' ...

...

In the two years since Inari arrived among the dwarves, she has met only upright and kind dwarves.

After much persuasion, she politely declined Sent's offer and successfully persuaded him to look after Kaiya and apply for a temporary student card so that she could return early and take her to the underground trading market...

In the end, Inari was given the chance to wander freely on her own.

Inari went to a slightly deserted corner, pulled up the earth-coloured craftsman's clothes she was wearing, let some air in and tucked them into her waistband. After adjusting them up and down, she managed to look a little more robust.

After a short walk along the outer route of the underground trading market, Inari saw stalls selling small pieces of armour that boasted of 'instantly gaining a strong physique'.

After talking to Cento, Inari felt that she needed to change her appearance to look more powerful.

Luckily, she had the savings necklace Mora had given her, and some of the dwarven currency was still in it.

-

Following the route in her memory, Inali finally found a deserted stall with no visitors after browsing through many stalls. Inali quickened her pace and jogged over.

Now that she had a clear destination, Inali noticed the stall owner she had previously overlooked.

He looks strange," she said.

The stallholder was wrapped in black cloth from head to toe.

It looked as if he was sitting cross-legged on the ground, and the parts of his body that were visible under the black cloth looked exactly like the armour displayed on the stall...

Inali took a closer look and noticed that the stallholder was even wearing an exaggerated, faceless metal mask.

[Didn't Kaya just say not to hide one's identity?

...