As I stepped down from the roof of the Crafting Guild headquarters and onto the street, a man with long indigo hair, characteristic of Bronze Elves, tied back with a leather strap, bade me a quick hello.

“Guuarugau, uoau… gaou kuaruauuoru gaaaou?” (Silver fur… are you perhaps the Sage Gavi that I’ve been hearing about?)

“… Guruu, woa.” [… Who’s that?]

The Bronze Elf tilted his head slightly and we stared at each other for a while. Lenaide broke the silence through a deliberate cough.

“Sir Sheyard, this is Mr. Archer from Easteria forest. He can understand the continental language, so you don’t need to force yourself to speak in Kobo language.”

“Oh, pardon me. I thought he was the Elder Kobold Gavi who lived around here… So you’re from a different forest.” 

Hmm, so the Ancient forest has more Kobold varieties than the Easteria forest.

“I am the Assistant Chief of the Bronze Elf Clan and the Crafting Guild Master, Sheyard. It would be better if we did not talk outside, so if you could please step inside…”

The man who had just introduced himself did not lose any time and opened the door of the building he had rushed out from.

“Sheyard, we are in a bit of a hurry…”

“My Queen, we’ll reach the castle quicker than what you are planning.”

“What do you mean?/”

“Well, let’s just say that… We have prepared something just for this kind of situation,” he added with a grin.

“The other day, the Chief finally gave me permission to lend a hand to the “moderates” of both the conservatives and reformists, and it’s only by chance that I saw you standing here in front of the guild, so let me help you.”

But of course, the help offered was not just out of good intentions.

He is extending help to the moderate conservative faction to free his brethren who have been imprisoned by Prime Minister Theodore for selling gunpowder and weapons to the reform extremists.

Moreover, the stability of the situation is essential for him to be able to devote himself to his craft and technological development without worry.

“Everyone, this way please.”

Sheyard led us to a storage room on the first floor of the guild and stood in front of a door in the room. He then unlocked the two different types of locks on it, revealing a hidden staircase to the basement.

“And this is…?”

“It’s the entrance to the underground tunnels leading to the Royal Castle, your Majesty.”

Aristia’s eyes narrowed at the man’s answer to her questions and stared quizically at the pale-skinned, male Elf with an aloof demeanor. 

“W-wait a minute, why is such a thing inside the guild headquarters!?”

“Why, it’s because it was built by the Elves of the Bronze Elf Clan, Miss Lenaide.”

Ax’s nose twitches from behind a surprised Lenaide.

“Wafi, woaruoa waoau.” (Huh? Doesn’t it smell like water?)

“Wuonn woa…” [Yes, that’s definitely water…]

“Yes! In the history of the Royal City of Elfast, we have developed a large underground waterway! You can go to any major place in the capital with water!!”

The pale-skinned, long-haired Elf’s bamboo-shaped ears twitched as he drove his point, but… From a politician’s point of view, their creation poses a threat to the government. 

With a slightly stiff expression, the Elf Queen lets out a sigh.

“*sigh* We may have left the management of the Royal Capital’s water and sewage facilities to the Bronze Elves, but I did not know that this kind of thing also existed underground…”

“Even from a security standpoint, this is unbelievable.”

What would have happened if the Bronze Elf Clan had sided with the reform extremists instead…?

Ignoring the two speechless girls, Sheyard claps his hands together and begins to activate his magic.

“Zaido, elfa… Gil radou celes.” (Gather and glow… Illuminate the pathway to the unknown.)

A pale light gathers between Sheyard’s palms which he held at chest-height, creating a light source.

“The underground tunnels are a bit complicated, so I’ll lead the way.”

With a ball of light floating above his palm, Sheyard went down the stairs and led the way.

“Wau~ Aou.” (Au~ It’s narrow.)

“Guruooou… Auh.” (It’s hard to move around… Ow!)

The Crafting Guild Headquarters’ building was large, and the stairway leading down was not that narrow, but. The two Kobolds, Ax and Buster, who possessed large, muscular physiques, had cramped expressions as they kept their heads low. 

“N, woruau kuru~n.” (Hnn, so it’s spacious from here, huh~)

Fortunately, just as my sister had said, once we got down the stairs, the underground tunnels were reasonably wide, with an 80-90cm corridor flanked by 100cm wide waterways that were less than two meters wide.

It was somehow high enough to keep Axe’s head from hitting the ceiling, and, looking ahead, there were places where light from the ground shone through, so it seemed that not everything was covered by the ceiling.

(This is a marvelous waterway that fully utilizes both earth and water magic… I think I understand why Sheyard was so proud of it.)

So this is the converted magic power used by the Elves through the Blessings of the Earth, which is the stored Life Force of the World Tree combined with the sunlight from the heavens.

“… Gauo.” [… Amazing.]

“Well, it doesn’t let people pass through other routes except for the main locations, though.”

As we proceeded through the underground tunnels toward the Royal Castle in silence for a while, Aristia unexpectedly opened her mouth,

“… Sheyard,  I will have to ask you to submit the data on these underground tunnels later. I’m not sure what to make of this, but it’s something I should be aware of as a political head.”

“Understood. (… Should we cover up some underground tunnels to avoid being found out?)”

Sheyard seemed to be thinking for a moment, but… since he was leading the way, his expression went unnoticed, and soon, a ladder attached to the wall of the passage came into view.

“We have arrived. Please stand back a little.”

After waving goodbye to the others, he climbed up the ladder and slowly opened the wooden panels attached to the ceiling.

Creeeeeeaaaakkk

Since the door above seemed to be hidden by soil, some earth and sand slid over the tilted wooden panels and fell into the underground tunnels, letting in light from above.

(It’s a bit like going out to the courtyard, isn’t it?)

When the soil and sand stopped flowing from the doors, the Bronze Elf led us to the surface, where we found ourselves in a small garden. If one looked closely, then they would be able to see the large trunk in between the numerous trees.

“… So the passage goes as far as the forest of the World Tree.”

“Isn’t this area the central part of the castle?”

It seems the scope of the underground tunnels of the Bronze Elves has already reached the heart of the Royal City of Elfast as well…