Stomp

“It’s huge…”

Magros Volcano was completely different from the sort of volcano I had originally imagined.

In my mind, a volcano was something with smoke billowing from the summit, with rugged bare rock all over the mountainside… but Magros Volcano had nothing coming out of its peak at all, and its slopes were covered with countless trees.

And above all else, it was enormous.

From here at the foot of the mountain, it was so large that I could not even see the summit.

This might have been the first time in my life I had ever seen a mountain this big.

“But where do the dwarves live? Looking at it, I can’t sense any sign of people living here…”

I looked around and tilted my head.

There was not even cooking smoke, much less any traces of daily life at all.

Did that mean they lived inside the mountain?

But the forest was so thick and overgrown that I could not tell where the entrance was.

If we carelessly entered from some random spot, it felt like we would just get lost.

I decided to follow behind Miria-san, who looked completely confident and told us to leave it to her.

“Basically, they usually live inside caves. Apparently it is to cut down on the trouble of mining and carrying out the metals they extract.”

“That said, because of that, it seems people get injured every year when the ground collapses.”

“It is hard to decide whether that is rational or irrational…”

Following Miria-san’s lead, we circled around the volcano.

Then, at a certain point, she came to a sudden stop.

“Look, Woody-sama, please take a look. You can see several holes over there, can’t you? Those lead to the underground dwellings where the dwarves live.”

“Huh!? …Ah, you’re right, there really is something there.”

They were hidden and camouflaged by the trees, but looking closely, there really were several holes opening up in the ground.

“Incidentally, that is not camouflage or anything like that. I think the trees have simply overtaken them because they have not come outside for so long.”

“You know, dwarves are really shut-in types~”

The dwarves here probably had almost no contact with outsiders because they were seemingly self-sufficient in things like iron.

If that was the case, then rather than waiting for them to come out, did we have to actively go in and speak to them ourselves?

“Should we go into those holes and talk to the dwarves?”

“If we do that, they might get stubborn and refuse to listen at all.”

“Dwarves are a very stubborn people, after all~”

Waiting did not work, and going inside did not work either?

Then what in the world were we supposed to do?

“No, it is simple.”

As she said that, Miria-san walked over to Nadja and whispered something into her ear.

“That will really work?”

“Yes, please.”

“Understood.”

Nadja told us to stand back, so we all retreated.

She lowered her hips smoothly, shut her eyes, and focused her mind.

Then, just like that, she leaped forward all at once and raised one leg high in front of one of the holes.

“—Stomp!!”

Then the axe kick she unleashed slammed into the ground in front of the cave—and a vibration strong enough to shake the air rocked the volcano.

Rumble rumble rumble!

Startled by the tremor that reached even us standing quite far back, I found myself thinking, This won’t make the volcano become active again and erupt, right…?, when—

“Run, run! It might be a volcanic earthquake!”

“Was it the monsters below?”

“No, today should still be during the inactive period!”

With heavy pounding footsteps, a group of squat, stocky men hurriedly came rushing out from the holes—.