“It’s not a weapon, so stop fumbling around, for goodness’ sake!”

“What do you mean it’s not? There’s clearly something here!”

“Sir, this one seems to be hiding something on this side too. A secret weapon to assassinate the elder perhaps?”

“That’s enough.”

Matian removed the dwarf’s hands that were patting his body and nodded towards the dwarf’s waistband.

The dwarf looked up at Matian saying “No way.” then exclaimed in shock, “Really?”

Just then, the hot-tempered dwarf elder, Pui, flung open both doors and walked out of the room.

“I was notified of your arrival ages ago. Why haven’t you come in yet?”

Though similar in height to other dwarves, reaching only human waist level, his style was quite flashy with white faded hair and beard intricately braided with small beads.

Judging by the goggles pushed up on his forehead and the oil stains on his leather suit, he seemed to have been in the middle of inventing something again.

“So this is where you were, High Priest? I’ve been waiting for quite a while.”

“Hello, Elder Pui. I believe it hasn’t even been a minute since I contacted you, yet you seem quite weary already.”

Though clearly sarcastic, the elder nodded as if it were only natural, unabashedly.

“And who might this be? Surely you haven’t brought an elf?”

Elder Pui frowned deeply as he looked Matian up and down.

“No, Elder. This is the young lord Wiegratz I mentioned before.”

“That can’t be. The young lord Wiegratz I saw briefly before, though it was long ago, looked like a doll carved from sapphire.”

“That was over 10 years ago.”

“Humans don’t grow like asparagus shoots. How could he have gotten so tall? Moreover, look at that fake smile, that lanky height, and that unpleasant appearance. Isn’t he just like an elf?”

“You can check his ears, Elder. Look here. The tips are round, aren’t they? Haha.”

The High Priest took this opportunity to pull on the ear of the annoying fellow who had dared to interrogate him earlier.

If it were someone else, they would have yelped in pain, but Matian merely raised one eyebrow and stared intently at the High Priest.

“See that, tsk tsk. Expressing his displeasure like that is so typically elvish.”

As the elder continued to misunderstand Matian, he finally opened his tightly closed mouth.

“While our family estate is in the sacred forest and I have often seen elves, I assure you I am human, Elder.”

Then Matian quietly removed the High Priest’s hand that was holding his ear and extended his hand to the elder.

“I am Matian of the Wiegratz family.”

Faced with such perfect etiquette, the elder reluctantly shook hands while muttering to the end, “He still feels like an elf, which is unpleasant.”

“By the way, did you bring a gnome here too?”

“By gnome, do you mean the student council member, Aaron? He did visit for a taming test, but…”

Aaron was irrelevant to today’s matter, so Matian found it odd that the elder mentioned him.

The elder then nodded towards a student being dragged in by the guards in the corridor.

“Is that Aaron?”

At those words, Matian turned his head, thinking there was no way Aaron would have followed them here.

And there was Rukna, who had been desperately chasing after the High Priest only to be caught.

“Rukna?”

Despite Matian’s call, Rukna only glared at the High Priest, grinding her teeth.

“Hey, you bread thief, stay right there!”

With both arms restrained by the guards, Rukna glowered at the High Priest, calling him by an unfamiliar term.

‘Bread thief? Is that some kind of bread?’

It seems the High Priest had secretly eaten Rukna’s bread or something.

Meanwhile, the High Priest tried to hide behind Matian’s back, pleading to be protected from that beast.

‘Beast, huh.’

Rukna’s gaze, which had been following the High Priest, turned towards him.

Her green eyes, filled with strength, looked as if they were about to devour the High Priest hiding behind his back.

‘She really is a beast.’

A smile spread across Matian’s previously dry eyes. He was the only one smiling in this chaotic situation.

Rukna looked around.

The small room, surrounded on all sides by wooden panels, had wooden boxes stuffed with odds and ends placed here and there.

As the platinum filament inside the light bulb flickered, causing the room to alternate between darkness and light, deep shadows fell across Rukna’s crouched face.

This was a small storage room located next to the elder’s room, where Rukna was currently temporarily confined.

‘Bisbi, why am I locked up here?’

Although it wasn’t a small or sealed space, it still felt suffocating, so Rukna loosened her tie slightly and searched for the holy sword.

「Master was treated like an ill-tempered gnome.」

It was just as the holy sword said.

The dwarf elder had treated Rukna like a gnome with a grudge against the High Priest and locked her up here.

What angered her even more in this situation was the fact that no one had spoken up for her.

‘How could that bastard Matian just laugh when his classmate was captured?’

Rukna sighed deeply and scribbled her name on the wooden floor with a stone rolling around.

「Dwarves have quick tempers, Master. You should be careful with your words and actions in front of them.」

‘I know. But how can I help getting angry when I see that face? He was the one who delivered you to me in the first place.’

While it might have been something to be grateful for, giving a new life to someone who was already dead, being abandoned in a new world alone was certainly not a pleasant experience.

〈Sister, do I have to live here from today?〉

Repeating something she had already experienced in her previous life was by no means enjoyable.

If it hadn’t been for the constant stream of incidents and accidents since her possession, she would have spent quite a few nights crying.

‘If he had come to find me, abandoned in a strange world, and given me a proper explanation, I wouldn’t be this angry.’

「He must have had his own circumstances. And you had me, Master.」

‘Why are you defending that bread delivery boy too?’

「Name: Nairon. Age: 29. Height: 179cm. Weight: 72kg. Favorite food: chicken eaten at night. Future aspiration: retired pensioner. Hobby: dieting. Special skill: fasting prayer. A constitution prone to yo-yo effect, good at hiding inner thoughts but not taste preferences. Occupation: High Priest.」

‘What’s this, why is the information so unnecessarily detailed?’

Rukna, listening to the holy sword’s explanation with a drained expression, suddenly recalled his occupation.

‘The bread delivery boy… was the High Priest?’

「Yes, he oversees the light ether.」

Light? Ether? Come on! Rukna snorted in disbelief.

How could someone as high-ranking as the High Priest act so irresponsibly after throwing an Earthling’s soul into this world?

Rukna, who had been crouching, suddenly stood up.

‘First, I need to talk to the High Priest. I’ll hear directly from his mouth why he brought me to this world and why he put me in this body.’

「How can you meet him when you’re locked up, Master?」

‘I have you, Bisbi.’

「The great holy sword’s shoulders are heavy from supporting such a reckless master.」

‘Fine. If you don’t want to help, I’ll do it alone.’

Such a petty holy sword! Rukna raised her fist and hit the wall hard.

Bang! With a loud noise, a large hole opened up right above where her fist had hit the wall, and pulverized material fell towards Rukna.

‘My strength… is this much?’

Rukna looked alternately at her fist and the hole in the wall with wide eyes.

“Now, now, High Priest. Take a look at this. I’ve implemented the idea you mentioned before!”

The dwarf elder, with an excited face, showed a large, flat stone tablet hanging on the wall.

When he placed his finger in the center, blue magic formulas sparkled around his finger, spreading out in all directions like a maze.

Then, on the previously black stone, an image of the underground city, Muspelheim, began to appear like a video.

The view of the enormous city, hard to believe was underground, appeared on the screen in low quality.

Minerals embedded in the ceiling shone like stars, softly illuminating the city, and transport vessels resembling carved boats floated between buildings that resembled stalactites.

“This is the video transmission device! One communication device can transmit to multiple locations. What do you think? Is it superior to what you’ve seen in other worlds?”

“Haha, of course.”

The High Priest glanced at Matian as he answered.

The reason he was playing along with the elder’s words now was because he had received the elder’s help in bringing Kim Ha Yoon’s soul here.

Since magic didn’t exist in the world Kim Ha Yoon lived in, the dwarves’ technological prowess was needed to accurately set the coordinates of the world to bring that soul here without error.

If he hadn’t received his assistance, there might have been a delivery accident.

Of course, it wasn’t just receiving help.

The High Priest had told the elder about new technologies he had seen in Ertha, and these unique machines visible on this airship were born from those stories.

“I really am a genius, High Priest!”

“Yes, yes.”

“Our dwarven science and technology continues to advance every day.”

“Rather than science, wouldn’t the term ‘magical engineering’ be more appropriate…?”

“What?”

“Nothing. Since time is short, shall we get to the main point?”

The High Priest held out the prophecy scripture he had received from Matian.

The elder, who had become indifferent at the mention of magical engineering, now widened his eyes in surprise.

“H-how do you have this in your possession!”

The unique arrangement of characters said to be used when deploying high-level black magic. Page 1 written below it.

This was undoubtedly the rumored prophecy of the Red Eagle.

“So this is why you urgently called me here.”

“That’s right. We need a device to decipher this code. And it must be kept absolutely secret.”

“Don’t worry. We’re already in the same boat, aren’t we? Ever since we brought that soul here… ahem.”

The elder belatedly looked at Matian and cut off his words.

Matian slightly tilted his head and smiled as if he hadn’t understood anything.

The elder then muttered, “Even that appearance is exactly like a black-hearted elf,” and changed the subject.