Chapter 683: Volume Nineteen: Lost Horizon - Twelve: Dwarves
Piraeus? Komer seemed to have had the door to his memories flung open—a seaport city-state located on the southern side of the Cang Continent. He had passed through there during his exile; it was an important member of the Collins City-State Alliance. Did this mean he hadn’t fallen into the Abyss of a Different World but had been transferred to the distant southern region of the Blue Continent? Where was he? Why were the dwarfs subjected to such discrimination? It seemed that on the Blue Continent’s southern side, dwarfs were still a considerably large community—the Severo Duchy was a dwarf’s kingdom, wasn’t it?
Suddenly, the words of Hayreddin Babarossa leapt into his brain: Gozo Island? the Giganthia Temple? Was this place the Giganthia Temple? Yes, it must be!
Komer had an epiphany. This was indeed the grandest temple of dark worship in the entire Southern Region of the Cang Continent. No wonder even the servants of Hades, the god of darkness, had a place of worship here. And the collapsed temple was probably key to the enmity between Piraeus and the Severo Duchy. No wonder these people were so wary of dwarfs nearing Gozo Island—it was the dwarf ships from Severo Duchy docking at Gozo Island that led to the temple’s collapse, causing a sudden tension between the two sides, who had otherwise maintained a peaceful relationship. Now, he wondered what the current situation between the two countries was like. And if the navy of Piraeus discovered more dwarfs approaching Gozo Island, they would naturally associate it with the temple collapse, hence, they wouldn’t be courteous to this merchant ship. No wonder the captain ordered the immediate drowning of the dwarfs.
"Captain, it’s too late now. If we throw these dwarfs into the sea right away, it will only arouse greater suspicion from the Piraeus people—they’d see through the cover-up. Besides, these Dwarf Craftsmen are very important to us. Losing them would not only be a great loss for us, but if the dwarfs found out, we would also face their furious retaliation, and our family would not protect us in such matters."
The deep voice reminded the captain not to act rashly. Drowning the dwarfs would lead to equally grave consequences, and no one could guarantee that none of the crew would blurt out the incident someday after getting drunk in a bar. Should that happen, the family would undoubtedly hand over the few scapegoats responsible for the affair.
"What should we do then? The people of Piraeus now detest the dwarfs intensely—they won’t let us go! Damn the mirage, why did I lose my head and go up to take a look?!" While berating himself, the shrill voice urgently asked, "What are we to do?"
"We can only take it one step at a time. Our Sparta Barbarossa Family has never been in conflict with the people of Piraeus. If handled properly, the situation might not be as bad as imagined." After a heavy sigh, the deep voice continued, "Hide those Dwarf Craftsmen in the lowest level of the hold. Let’s hope the people of Piraeus won’t be unreasonable. Our ship belongs to mortals; the dwarfs are merely passengers we picked up along the way."
A clatter of footsteps came down the stairs. Komer sighed to himself—he had planned to blend in with the foul-smelling lower hold until they reached land, but had not expected to encounter such a situation so soon after setting sail. Blinding charm was merely a minor air magic spell with a very short duration. Now that the Dwarf Craftsmen had been driven down here, he had no more room to retreat and was on the verge of being discovered.