After receiving Ian's permission, Nameita informed the members of the group who would be accompanying him.

True, a rather frightening warning had been attached to that permission...

"You did it, Nameita!"

"I knew you could!"

"It's nothing special. Ian simply chose to trust us."

"The weight of Ian's expectations rests upon our shoulders...!"

"I suddenly feel a sense of duty. I should go offer a prayer for our safety before we depart."

One person, however, remained silent.

Assistant Head Priest Yurian.

He raised a hand, calming everyone down.

"Creating a new alliance is important, but before you leave, wouldn't it be wise to witness the arrival of our current allies? It may help when persuading the sea dwarves."

"A reasonable suggestion."

Nameita nodded.

In truth, he had already been thinking along similar lines, though for somewhat different reasons than Yurian.

To think I'll be able to witness every race of the Middle Realm gathering with my own eyes.

If he missed an opportunity like this, he could hardly call himself either a scholar or a dwarf.

Yurian suddenly confessed,

"Actually, Ian entrusted me with an important responsibility."

"What kind of responsibility?"

"The crucial duty of welcoming our allies and guiding them to Ian's office."

"Me! I'll help!"

Nameita immediately volunteered himself.

Yurian's face brightened.

"Oh, would you truly take over?"

"Of course! Wait... take over?"

Didn't he just call it an important duty?

Nameita could hardly believe there existed someone capable of handing off a task personally assigned by Ian.

Of course, Ian was a benevolent ruler, but still.

Yurian sighed.

"Ian attached a rather difficult condition."

"What condition?"

"He told me not to serve any celebratory drinks to the new allies..."

"What? Then how are we supposed to welcome allies without celebratory drinks?"

"Isn't sharing a light drink the traditional way to loosen the armor around one's heart? Wine is sacred liquor. Good for the body and good for the spirit."

The priests immediately erupted into complaints.

"That would be true if you drank lightly. But aren't all of you weak drinkers who nevertheless love alcohol far too much?"

Nameita replied absentmindedly.

The priests looked at him as though he had personally betrayed them.

"...Of course, it is unfortunate to lose the welcoming drinks. But why would Ian impose such a cruel restriction?"

He quickly changed his tune.

Yurian looked deeply wounded.

"I think Ian misunderstands me. He seems to believe I keep throwing all our allies into wine barrels."

"I don't think that's a misunderstanding..."

"Hm?"

Nameita had personally witnessed elves—who supposedly survived on dew alone—and spirits, who were practically nature itself and did not even require dew, staggering around drunk.

Still, dwarves were in no position to criticize anyone regarding alcohol.

So he kept his mouth shut.

Not that he was a beer fanatic.

Having a drink with every meal doesn't make someone a beer fanatic.

As a scholar, Nameita considered this perfectly logical.

In the end, Yurian voluntarily stepped down from his role because there was a risk he might absentmindedly offer alcohol to the allies.

Thus, the title of Official Alliance Welcoming Representative fell to Nameita.

The first allies to arrive were naturally the elves.

"Waaaaah!"

The dungeon residents welcomed them by hanging flower garlands around their necks and scattering petals into the air.

The elves were already a familiar race to them.

Almost like neighbors.

The thought that neighbors they had lived alongside and interacted with regularly had willingly risked danger to help them filled the dungeon's people with excitement.

For this day, the day their allies would arrive, they had voluntarily taken time off work and flooded into the streets.

Only the street vendors remained at their posts.

Even they grilled skewers only until the elves arrived before announcing, "This is the last one!" and closing up shop.

Then they joined the crowd themselves.

The number of people only continued to grow.

"W-What is all this...?"

Moiken stopped in place, carrying an elder on his back.

He had visited the dungeon before.

Granted, he had been thrown into prison immediately upon arrival.

Still, he knew roughly what kind of place the dungeon was.

The people here worked diligently.

They cultivated the World Tree that stretched all the way to the cave ceiling.

They raised mamool.

They brewed wine.

Seeing every one of those people gathered in the plaza to welcome them was so overwhelming it felt unreal.

"Our neighbors! Our friends! The elves have arrived!"

"Welcome, warriors of the forest!"

Flower petals rained down over the elves.

People leaned from windows, waving enthusiastically.

Moiken felt his heart pounding.

"This way. This way, please."

A short dwarf stepped forward to greet the elves.

"I am Nameita the Scholar. I serve Ian. Allow me to show you where you will be staying."

For some reason, the dwarf's cheeks were soaked, and his eyes were red and swollen.

Moiken thought the dwarf seemed rather strange.

"Are you all right? You don't look well."

"No. I'm wonderful. Better than wonderful. Ahhh, to think I would live to witness a sight like this!"

The dwarf trembled.

Definitely one of Ian's subordinates.

Ian had a great many strange followers.

Moiken accepted it immediately.

Then again, wasn't Ian himself a strange man?

After guiding the elves to rooms designed to resemble a forest environment, Nameita returned to the plaza.

"The gate is opening."

"Who's coming?"

"I can't see anything..."

If humans two heads taller than him couldn't see anything, there was little chance a dwarf could.

Yet tears immediately welled in Nameita's eyes.

If nothing was visible, then only one ally could be arriving next.

"Make way! Please make way!"

Shouting loudly, he pushed through the crowd.

And there, exactly as he expected, stood the next race.

Fairies wearing tall hats lined up on both sides, forming a ceremonial path.

Then they produced trumpets almost as large as themselves and began to play.

Bwooooo!

"Her Majesty the Queen approaches!"

Down the center of the trumpet-lined avenue flew the Fairy Queen.

She floated gracefully through the air, her enormous rolled hairstyle bouncing slightly with every beat of her wings.

"F-Fairies!"

"It's the fairies!"

The dungeon residents immediately erupted into cheers.

Fairies were not strangers to them.

But neither were they especially familiar.

Fairies went wherever they pleased.

And associated only with those they wished to associate with.

Even so, everyone loved fairies.

It was difficult not to.

They occasionally played mischievous pranks, but they were fundamentally incapable of malice.

More importantly, they were adorable.

And wonderful with children.

"My goodness, there are so many people..."

The Fairy Queen blushed.

"They came to welcome us?"

The fairies accompanying her became visibly more excited, their wings beating faster.

The Fairy Queen clasped her cheeks in delight before quickly regaining her composure and dignity.

"We have come to honor our promise. Where is Ian?"

"I-Ian is currently occupied... Hic—"

Nameita sniffled.

"I'll show you to your accommodations first."

"A-Are you all right?"

"Never better!"

Still crying openly, Nameita guided the fairy race toward a magnificent flower garden in full bloom.

The fairies who had arrived earlier immediately knelt before their queen.

"Waaaaah!"

The crowd that had followed them to the garden erupted into cheers.

Nameita never witnessed the end of the spectacle.

He left immediately for the Deep Sea.

The Deep Sea was a chamber Ian had recently expanded.

At first glance it resembled Rabbit Lake.

There was, however, one critical difference.

It had no bottom.

Anything thrown into the water simply continued falling forever.

Silently.

Into darkness.

What lies at the end of that abyss? 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Recently, that had become one of the dungeon residents' greatest questions.

When Ian constructed strange new rooms, it was usually for the purpose of raising some kind of mamool.

Yet now Nameita the Scholar, one of Ian's closest aides, had come here to receive guests.

The people who followed him stared into the Deep Sea with curiosity.

What kind of guest would emerge from here?

Splash!

Suddenly a shadow passed beneath the water.

Then a breathtaking race burst upward like dolphins.

Women above the waist.

Fish below.

"M-Mermaids!"

"Mermaids?!"

"Ian became friends with mermaids too?!"

"Wait... could this be Ian's new lover—"

"Aaaah! Absolutely not! Certainly not!"

The Mermaid Queen declared with overwhelming dignity.

Splash! Splash!

Behind her appeared a bizarre race with fish upper bodies and human lower bodies, flipping through the air in acrobatic leaps.

"...??"

"U-Um... and who exactly are you people?"