Rebirth in the Magic Continent

18. The Night Before

The field inside the Dwarven Underground Trade Centre has been fully contracted out to foreigners, and the Dwarves have not set up any symbolic temporary bases there.

The official Trading Halls in the field will be determined by reviewing a number of applications submitted by each race prior to the start of the Annual Fair.

The buildings in the chosen race's field will be used by the dwarves to display their wares for that year.

The race that wins the bid to become the dwarves' expropriated site will have priority in trading any goods offered by the dwarves during that year's fair, provided an equivalent exchange value is offered.

*

The underground trading floor will open to exclusive space access for foreigners three days before the official start of trading.

The intention of the three days in advance is to allow these foreigners to prepare and set up the Infield buildings they have purchased early.

As the caretakers of Elvira Forest, the dwarves will enter the underground marketplace one week in advance. As well as maintaining the entrances to the trading floor, they will also complete the early placement of goods in the requisitioned buildings.

--

This year, the dwarves have set up a place to sell their wares in the Elven Tree House.

It is very convenient for Gude,' Kaya said.

Kaya led Inari and Gude to the most prominent tree in the square.

*

The Elf Tree House stands at the centre of the entire underground space.

The branches of the Elf Tree, which gives birth to life, are the source of the natural landscape created for the entire underground space. The clouds and mists that fill the entire subterranean space, and even the scenes of blue skies and white clouds, are all masterpieces created by the natural magic provided by the elves and superimposed on the Elf Tree.

The elves are undoubtedly the biggest financial backers of the dwarven underground market.

Since Gude's destination was the Elf Tree House, Inari deliberately opened her own channel to the Sea of Knowledge for the mute Gude, just to hear if he needed any help.

As they got closer and closer to the Elf Tree, Inari could hear Gude's thoughts ringing in her head, becoming more and more intense.

Suddenly, her head was filled with a continuous broadcast of the distance, repeated by Gude's tiny voice. Inari felt her brain buzzing and she could no longer concentrate on listening to Kaya's science.

Kaya, is the Elf Tree House like this when the underground market is closed? Inari felt that she needed to get more information about this Elf Tree House.

After asking the question, Inari received an incredulous, idiotic look from Kaya,

Nari, what are you thinking? When the Underground Exchange is closed, the magic stones that provide magic will also be recycled, and the Underground will just be a dark place, and the Elf Tree House will just be a dead tree.

After hearing Kaya's answer, Inari unconsciously looked at Gude, who was walking intently towards the Elf Tree.

What attraction could the Elf Tree, which is only a dead tree, hide during the time when the underground market is closed?

Inari listened carefully to Gude's thoughts. He seemed to be completely unaware of the conversation between himself and Kaya, but his thoughts still revealed an obsession with entering the Elf Tree.

Inari had no choice but to simply silently block Gude's spiritual body, deciding to maintain smooth communication if necessary.

Inari's mental world was finally quiet.

...

*

On the streets where the different buildings meet, only dwarves could be seen. Inari looked out of the windows of the buildings she passed, but she wasn't lucky enough to see the shadows of any rare races.

Although these strange buildings are very interesting to look at, Inari really wants to see living creatures.

This desire to see living creatures reached a c****x when she saw a long lost, magnificent palace-like building that was clearly a favourite of humans.

It was a smaller palace, and just by looking at it, Inari vaguely felt that she was looking at the palace she had visited when she was five years old.

Unfortunately, Inari hadn't seen a single window, even though she had looked at the completely closed, smaller palace many times.

But whatever she had seen would probably only have brought back unpleasant memories. Inari could only console herself in this way.

...

It is a human settlement built in complete imitation of the main hall of the palace of the human kingdom of Esten. The construction of the palace of the Human Empire was originally entrusted to our dwarven ancestors, and the plans have been handed down completely. What you see is a fivefold reduction of the palace of the Esten Empire.

Although Inali did not ask, Kaya, always concerned about her sister's situation, quickly caught the focus of Inali's gaze and gave her an explanation.

*

Kaya is one of the only two dwarves who knows Inali's true human identity. She knows full well that Inali will eventually leave the dwarven-owned Abila Forest and return to the human kingdom.

In Kaya's mind, Inali is a human orphan who has lost her parents. Kaya, who has seen a lot, combined with what she has heard about the cruel class system in the human kingdom of Esd, decided that Inali is a poor little thing who has never seen the palace, has suffered the hardships of the world, and has finally been adopted by Mora.

The Human Palace is just like that, and it is the least distinctive of the buildings that dwarves have helped to build. As long as we dwarves have the materials, we can build anything we want. In the future, if Inali wants to live in a certain kind of house, I will build it for her.

Kaya watched Inali's micro-expressions carefully and noticed that she seemed a little distracted and had momentarily revealed an unhappy emotion. Kaya, who had always aspired to be a caring sister, immediately began to brag and coax.

Inali was soon amused and looked away from the palace, where she had lingered too long.

After that, I'll rely on you, Sister Kaya.

...

Kaya watched Inali's expression carefully again. She was relieved that there was nothing unusual about it,

She said, 'This year, the Human Empire has sent a group of outstanding freshmen, selected by their highest academy, to participate in the fair. This is the first time in many years that the Human Empire has used academy students to transport goods. After the fair begins, Inali, you will be able to meet humans...'

*

Inari learned from the information revealed by Kaya that the annual underground fair of the dwarven race, and the time when humans entered the inner field, was only the fifth year, counting this year.

It was also five years ago that the humans established a temporary base underground in the Abila Forest and announced the establishment of diplomatic relations. At the same time, the Dwarven College of Architecture officially began an exchange programme with the Human Imperial College (although it was a one-way exchange).

Although the Humans actively participated in the Elberia Underground Fair, they also expressed their intention to establish friendly diplomatic relations with the Dwarves. However, during the first four years of diplomatic relations, the human empire always sent a combination of mages with very high titles and court knights. They stubbornly maintained a sense of mystery when attending the trade fair, wrapping themselves up tightly and insisting on a high profile during the trade process.

While the humans enjoyed the dividends of trade with other races, they were also on the defensive against them.

...

The arrogance shown by the humans during the previous four years of participation in the underground trade fair in Eblis not only accumulated discontent within the dwarven race, but also increased the workload of the dwarven school of architecture that hosted the fair each year - dealing with a steady stream of real-life complaints from other races.

As a result, after last year's fair, the Dwarven race began to impose various restrictions on the review of the Ester Empire's application to participate.

This is the fifth year that this has happened. To show the importance and respect they place on the fair, the Estel Empire has decided to send students from the Imperial Academy to the dwarven underground market of Ebira for the first time. This decision is also a response to the exchange of dwarven students that the dwarves have initiated in recent years.

*

I heard that this year, for the first time, the Estel Empire has sent students from the Imperial Academy to the Underground Trading Grounds of the Ebira Forest. Inali's heart skipped a beat.

The novels she had read had barely touched on the dwarven tribe. After being taken to the dwarven section, she had convinced herself not to pay any more attention to the plot of the novels about the great female protagonist she had read in her previous life.

However, Inali was not sure if the protagonist of the plot would appear in this event that emphasised the word 'first'.

[It was not to be. Inali's plot in the book ended in the church two years ago.

--

Today is the eve of the opening of the inner field of the underground fair in Abila. The fair will officially begin tomorrow during the day and will last one day and one night.

On the eve of the opening of the Inner Field, the Underground Fair will only allow dwarves to enter the Outer Field through underground passages from the Abila Forest, and outsiders with normal trade qualifications to enter through passages outside the Abila Forest barrier under the guidance of dwarves.

The only passage between the outer field, controlled by the dwarves, and the inner field will be opened on the eve of the event and again after the event. The passage is restricted to Dwarves only.

This is the reason why Kaya hastily pulled Inali away from the forge and went to the underground marketplace.

On the eve of the event, only dwarves with passes to the Inner Field are allowed on the streets.

As Kaya explained earlier, outsiders with access to the Inner Square don't bother hanging out in the Outer Square, and will stay quietly in their own building plots until the fair officially begins.

The only people Inari will see tonight are probably the nature elves in the elf tree house.

After entering the grounds on the eve of the event, dwarves with passes to the inner field will spend the night in the guest rooms of the Elf Tree House.

...

Nelly, stop looking around. You won't see any other races today. You'd better hurry up and check in at the Elf Tree House so you can have a good look tomorrow...'

Kaya gently advised Inari, who was about to go to the Elf Tree House, but stopped and walked around outside the tree house instead of joining the queue for the identity check, causing the other dwarves to look at her curiously.

But before her advice could be fully appreciated, she heard a clanging sound as the tin plate hit the ground.

Without even looking, she looked up to see a tin skeleton being pushed out of the queue and falling over at the entrance to the tree house.

Fortunately, the joints of the tin were strong enough, and the Gude sitting on the ground was not shattered into bones that needed to be reassembled.

Inali took a sharp breath and quickly opened the channel to her sea of knowledge that had just closed.

I want to go in! I want to go in! Inali's spiritual body repeated this sentence over and over again, the increasingly urgent tone revealing a sense of grievance.

... For Gud had always behaved well enough, it was just that his rambling in her head was a bit annoying. Inali closed the mental channel and paid no further attention to Gud's movements. And of course Kaya put Inali first in everything and didn't pay any attention to the whereabouts of the bones of unknown origin.

Inali used her sea of consciousness to calm Gud's emotions while she trotted up to him and grabbed his limp arm, as if it had lost all strength.

Inali tried to help him up, but after exerting a little effort, she heard a familiar 'click' sound and remembered that Goode had pointed out that his body was quite sensitive.

Inali let go of his hand and consulted the sea of consciousness to find out Gude's current situation. She received the answer that the lower half of his skeleton had already come loose and had to be reassembled, all supported by a layer of iron plates.

Although Gude's spiritual existence was unaffected, moving around at will would be fatal for his appearance.

Inali glanced at Kaiya, thinking that the only way to solve the tricky situation with Gude was to rely on Kaiya's ability to change the shape of iron objects with her bare hands.

Kaiya quickly read Inali's SOS signal, nodded to her and took a few steps forward to take over Inali's position and hold Goode's small arm.

Inali fixed her gaze on the beautiful young girl standing in front of the tree house with her arms around her, her face expressionless, "Why did you push my assistant?

The young girl before her was tall, with fair skin, a delicate face and two prominent pointed ears. She was a nature elf, nourished by the elf tree.

Undead creatures are not worthy to enter the Tree,' the elf looked down at Inali and spoke mercilessly.