Cthulhu Gonfalon

Hopes took a full ten days to manage to reach about one man’s height’s to the vein using the long climbing hooks. However, he was stumped here and was stuck. Somehow, the rock wall had become extremely strong, and even the intricately designed nails were unable to permeate them. He used the mini hammer to knock at the wall and at best only saw sparks shoot out. Eventually, even the nails’ tips became blunt. Yet, he had only managed to create a mini pit that was no deeper than one’s knuckle.

“Could it be that we are already at the Mithril deposit? Such a strong rock wall is rare, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it were indeed the Mithril deposit,” Sid remarked as he heard this story at dinner.

Hopes shook his head and said, “I managed to cut out a piece of rock and observed it when I returned. It’s not secret silver ore but simply stone. However, it is remarkably hard, which is strange.”

“How can normal stone be so hard? Usually, this only occurs deep underground, not here.”

“Who knows… In any case, I can’t think of a viable solution at the moment. All I can do is continue to scrape at the rock. Truth be told, we aren’t even sure if the vein is worth such trouble and time.”

“Do you have the rock sample? I’d like to take a look at it. After all, I am an expert on rocks!” Dudu exclaimed. He was being legitimate. The Kingdom of Dwarfs had excavations understand all year round and thus had the best understanding of rocks in general. As a prince of the Kingdom of Dwarfs, Dudu Hill was an expert regarding all rocks and ores. The truth was that he was the only one in the team who could distinguish between naturally-occurring and acquired Mithril—however, he was disinterested in this job. If not, they would not have needed to find a certified master…

Hopes had of course brought along the rock samples, and he took out a piece.

Dudu took a piece and frowned upon viewing it, a shocked expression coming over his face.

“Ah? Bedrock? Am I seeing things? This should not appear here…” Dudu muttered to himself as he continued to evaluate the sample, his eyebrows furrowing further and further.

“Bedrock? What’s that? Is it rare?” Hopes asked curiously.

Dudu shook his head. “It’s not exactly rare, but it shouldn’t exist here.”

“What exactly is it? If you’re interested in sharing, you could explain it to us,” Ruby added.

“Sure. When discussing bedrock, one must talk about the structure of the Main “Plane…. Normally, the ground beneath our feet has several layers. First, there’s the dirt layer followed by the rock layer below. Next, there will usually be red hot magma. In most cases, one would end any excavations at this layer as it is hard to go beyond magma. However, if you are lucky, you may find some areas that don’t possess magma. This is where you’ll see the next layer—bedrock. Bedrock is extremely strong and needs much strength to be extracted.” Dudu explained thoroughly and took a sip of wine before continuing, “Although I’ve never been to the bedrock layer, I’ve seen bedrock in museums that house rocks.”

Hopes nodded and asked curiously, “What’s the use of bedrock?”

Dudu thought for a while before turning the question back onto Hopes. “What do you think it’s used for?”

“Well, it’s strong and could possibly be useful for construction?”

Dudu laughed. “Haha! If anyone could actually extract enough bedrock for it to be ample for construction, they would have to be extremely strong. In this case, others would be at the mercy of him should he choose to pick a fight with anyone else!”

Hopes thought about it and agreed. Bedrock was bizarrely hard, and he himself had spent so much energy just to extract such a tiny piece. If anyone was able to harvest a big pile of bedrock for construction of a fortress, that person must possess power that was out of this world. Who would dare to challenge that powerful person? With such a realization, Hopes conveniently forgot about asking Dudu about the real use of bedrock.

After dinner, the team went their separate ways to rest, and Sid decided to pay a visit to Dudu’s tent.

“What exactly is the use of bedrock?” Sid asked immediately upon seeing Dudu.

Dudu did not speak.

“It’s something special, right?” Sid questioned further.

Dudu continued to remain silent.

“There must be something special about this… bedrock. In fact, it shouldn’t just be special, it should be important as well. That’s why you seemed a little glazed when you looked at it. For something to seem strange to you, it must have something interesting about it,” Sid said.

Dudu refused to open his mouth.

“If you don’t want to share, it’s alright. However, I advise you to think hard about this. There is such a huge piece of bedrock wall there, no one is going to think about touching it. If the team accidentally causes some trouble with it, there will be an issue.”

Dudu’s face finally softened, and he thought for a while before saying, “Bring Hopes and Ruby over as well. They need to know about this.”

After a while, Hopes and Ruby received Sid’s message and made their way over stealthily. Sid had instructed them to remain quiet about the matter and to not make any unnecessary noise.

The team gathered in Dudu’s tent where he took out a scroll of Attack Spell and activated it. A trail of blue light enveloped the tent, including the four.

“We can talk safely now and not fear that others will hear what we’re discussing.” Dudu seemed a little less tense now.

“That bedrock is really that important?” Sid asked.

“If you are all curious, you have to take an oath first. Swear to all the gods that you will keep this a secret. If you break this promise, you will be unable to enter God’s Kingdom when you die and instead will enter Hell.”

Sid, Hopes and Ruby exchanged glances. After a while, Ruby shook his head and said, “I will not make such an oath. I’m also not interested in this secret. The three of you can continue to discuss this matter, I’m returning to bed. I’ll pretend that tonight never happened, and if anyone asks, I’ll say that I spent the whole night sleeping.”

With that, Ruby walked out of the tent without looking back.

Sid and Hopes exchanged glances again and hesitated for a while before making their separate oaths. After they had sworn, Dudu, who had been tense previously, relaxed and smiled.

“Since you have all taken your oaths, I can share the secret with you. Towards the origins of the bedrock, I did not lie. However, towards the use of this bedrock… I didn’t mention it just now.”

“Yes, that’s why I came back to ask you about it,” Sid said.

“Actually, I really am hesitant to share this with you. For you… knowing this… may not really be a good thing…” Dudu hedged. His expression hinted at his remaining hesitation at spilling the secret. Hopes sighed.

“Dudu, can you stop beating around the bush? Do tell us quickly, we have to get enough rest to continue working tomorrow.”

Dudu smiled bitterly and said, “The Kingdom of Dwarfs is currently using bedrock in our experiments as a potential material for a new weapon.”

“What new weapon?” Sid asked.

“Bombs.”

Upon hearing Dudu’s words, Sid and Hopes remained a little confused. However, the jellyfish which had been eavesdropping silently in the corner, nearly fell over in shock.

Bombs!?