How to survive as a beggar count

Chapter 21

“Huff…! Huff…!”

The sudden mountain hike had me gasping for breath. It wasn’t even like I was rock climbing.

“What kind of mountain… is this…!”

Thanks to consistent rank-ups, I had reached a level where I could function like a normal person.

But even with that condition, Clannig Mountain was utterly overwhelming.

Mountain paths naturally form where people or wild animals pass through.

Clannig Mountain, however, was an immense stone mountain where not a single blade of grass grew.

It was a mountain so barren that not even a single wild animal roamed there.

As a result, there were no paths, and not even anything resembling one.

By the way…

Where exactly was this place?

Was there some clue I had missed? I repeated my conversation with Bronze Beard in my head.

“Hey, idiot! Who just goes and lives on someone else’s land?”

“Haha! You can’t expect me to go easy on that!”

“And! Do you think the whole mountain is yours? Come to Clannig Mountain?”

“Heh heh! You’ll know when you come! That dwarf lives here, you’ll see!”

“Ugh.”

As expected, it wasn’t much of a help. The fact that I could remember even this much while half-drunk was impressive in itself.

What else could I do? A thirsty person has to dig their own well. If I looked around from the mountain peak, something would surely come up.

“…Gah!”

Finally, after stepping onto a large rock, I arrived at the summit of Clannig Mountain.

“Hoo! Finally made it!”

From the peak, the territory of the Count came into view like a painting.

It wasn’t anything grand; it had a rustic, rural atmosphere.

In the center was a tall mansion. That’s the mansion of the Count of Impera.

It was a mansion of impressive size, probably because the family had been prosperous back in the day.

But what good was it? The Count had nothing of real value.

Around it were dense rows of houses with chimneys puffing out white smoke.

While the quiet atmosphere might be appealing, up close, everything looked like a tragedy.

In reality, the territory was on the brink of collapse.

“To stop that, what I need is a dwarf.”

Dwarven artisans were in high demand, even in the most prosperous territories. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that many were desperate to bring them in.

Artifacts created with their skill were on a whole different level, far beyond anything humans could replicate.

From golems powered by magical energy to magic swords that could even overcome slight rank differences.

They could practically make anything.

Of course, if I were to suddenly say, “Do this for me!” they’d probably laugh and walk away.

But compared to that, I’m better off.

After all, we’ve at least shared a drink. We’re practically friends, unlike a complete stranger.

I had to find a way to keep him around.

That was my job.

“Hm.”

By the way, where the heck is this dwarf?

I looked around from the mountain peak.

The barren, grassless mountain looked a little lonely.

“…Huh? That’s gotta be a cave, right?”

Then, from halfway up the mountain, I noticed a small cave.

It was nestled between rocks, looking like just a pile of stones at first glance. But there was definitely a small cave-like opening.

Other than that, there didn’t seem to be any suitable places to take shelter from the rain.

“So that’s what he meant by, ‘you’ll know when you come.’”

If I had known this earlier, I wouldn’t have come all the way up to the summit. What a waste of effort.

Muttering a string of curses, I made my way toward the cave through the narrow gap between the rocks.

The area around the cave was neat. There were no signs of a fire or abandoned junk.

After all, it had been a year since I met Ian.

A year is more than enough time for signs of human habitation to disappear.

“Hmm.”

Feeling a bit disappointed, I stepped into the cave. Even though a year had passed, I might still find some trace if I looked hard enough.

It was dark inside, but there was no unpleasant musty smell typical of caves.

In fact, it felt quite fresh.

A faint, pleasant scent wafted from deeper inside the cave.

“Looks like someone’s been living here.”

I took out the torch I had prepared in advance.

‘Fireball.’

Whoosh!

As the torch, soaked in oil, caught fire, the surrounding area lit up.

With a torch in one hand and a sword in the other just in case, I proceeded deeper into the cave.

‘It’s quite deep.’

After walking for about ten minutes, I reached the end of the narrow passage.

“Nothing here.”

At the end of the cave, there was nothing.

But…

“Hmm?”

I noticed smoke from the end of the torch flickering and being sucked into somewhere.

That was coming from the wall of the cave.

When I touched the area where the smoke was drawn in, I could feel a thin groove.

I hadn’t expected this to be so well hidden. A normal wanderer wouldn’t set up such a mechanism.

The thought that something important was hidden here grew stronger.

‘Explosion.’

I cast a Rank 3 spell toward the crack in the wall.

The higher the rank, the more devastating the destruction, but for now, the best I could manage was a small fire explosion.

Boom!

With a small explosion, the gap in the wall widened.

It revealed a narrow passage just big enough for a person to pass through.

I swallowed a dry gulp and stepped inside.

“Whoa…”

The hidden space was surprisingly spacious.

It was about the size of a room in the Count’s mansion, filled with various odds and ends.

Among them, there was a furnace powered by magical energy.

“Ah, so that’s why there were no traces of a fire.”

What was important was that everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, indicating no one had been here for a long time.

This was starting to mess up my plans.

Now, should I sell something that looks valuable? A magic furnace like this could easily fetch at least 10 gold.

Clunk.

I tripped on a small stone pile nearby. The little stones that made up the pile were engraved with runes.

“This is definitely…”

A magical golem.

Most golems move only when mana is injected into them.

But a magic-powered golem was different.

The dwarves’ unique technique allowed the golem to move on its own, powered by magical energy.

Because of that, it was twice as expensive as regular golems. Naturally, this was also quite valuable.

While I was grateful that these expensive artifacts had been left behind, I was also curious about what kind of wanderer would leave such things behind.

“…Huh?”

Creeeak!

As I brushed the dust off the magical golem, I suddenly heard a strange sound.

At the same time, an unsettling energy began to overwhelm me.

…Kugugu!

Why does my bad feeling always seem to be spot on?

The golem, which had been motionless, started to move slightly the moment my hand touched it.

[Intruder detected.]

Two glowing lights appeared from a stone on top of the pile, looking like the eyes of a beast.

Starting from these two lights, the pile of stones began to take shape.

“Wait a second!”

I shoved my sword between the rocks, but the movement didn’t stop.

Crrr!

The golem took the shape of a scorpion made of stone.

It immediately began carrying out its task.

[Eliminating the intruder.]

“Ah, damn it.”

The golem’s tail swung toward my chest.

I threw the torch and quickly gripped my sword again.

Clang!

The sword was blunt from years of wear, so it wasn’t very threatening.

However, the heavy weight of the golem made my wrist ache.

I had hastily grabbed the sword—it was nothing more than a regular steel sword you’d find at a market.

The golem lowered its stance after its first attack missed, watching my every move.

I had to subdue it somehow, or I wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Whoooo!

Blue mana swirled around my sword.

It wasn’t nearly as strong as an aura sword, but I could easily crush a stone with it.

The golem scuttled across the ground like a scorpion.

I wanted to take it without destroying it, if possible. That way, I could sell it for a good price.

But now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

“First, one of its legs…!”

My target was its leg.

If I could take one of its legs, it would disrupt its movements.

I immediately swung my sword toward the leg.

…Clang!

“Ugh!”

But the hardness of the stone was greater than expected, and my sword bounced off.

Should I back off for a moment? Just as I was thinking this, something behind the golem began to make a loud noise and move.

A ring covered in runic symbols spun around, emitting a light.

A teleportation portal was activating.

That meant something was about to come through.

…Kraak!

“Ugh!”

While I was distracted by the portal, the golem charged at me.

It wasn’t attacking.

It simply clung to my body.

I swung my sword to try to shake it off, but the golem’s stone body blocked all my strikes.

“Ugh…!”

So this is how it was.

This wasn’t an attacking golem. It was a golem designed to capture intruders.

With its many legs, it constricted my entire body.

In that state, I could do nothing but be slammed to the ground.

Just as I couldn’t move a finger, something came through the teleportation portal.

Thud!

A short, stout figure.

It was covered in iron from head to toe.

“A robot…?”

The figure, resembling a robot, held a massive hammer in one hand.

It was clearly very dangerous.

“Wait, hold on…!”

“Whoa!”

The figure didn’t listen to my words and charged at me, raising the enormous hammer high.

…Kwang!

“Ugh!”

I barely twisted my head in time to avoid having my skull crushed.

The hammer slammed into the ground right next to my head.

My ears rang from the impact, but that was nothing compared to nearly having my head flattened.

“Hey! Bronze Beard!”

I shouted urgently toward him.

“Huh?”

Only then did he tilt his head, sensing something was wrong.

“It’s me! Ian Impera!”

“Ian…? Ian Impera…”

“Ugh! You don’t even remember the drinks we had last year? You told me to come over if I wanted a drink!”

“…Ah!”

The familiar voice reached me through the steel armor.

The one who had looked like a robot removed the iron helmet from his head.

And there, beneath it, a glint of copper-colored beard appeared.

“Yeah! That fresh-faced young lad! Ian!”

“That’s right!”

This guy’s beard was something else.

Half of his face was completely covered in his copper-colored beard.

“Haha! I almost killed my friend there!”

Bronze Beard casually said something that sounded like a threat.

“Sorry about that! Had some personal stuff going on! Hahaha!”

“….”

This guy was just trying to kill me moments ago, and now he’s acting all casual.

I glanced at his hammer.

The attack he had just made was clearly one with murderous intent.

If he hadn’t recognized me, I’d be dead by now.

‘I think he’s probably killed a few people in the past.’

In Ian’s memories, he was just a dwarf who liked to drink, but this guy seems more dangerous than I thought.

But what else could I do?

I was the one who needed help.

“So, my friend, what’s going on here?”

Bronze Beard asked again, adjusting his grip on his hammer.

His face was smiling, but his attitude was completely different.

It was as if he would kill me in an instant if things went wrong.

This guy was a psychopath, no doubt about it. What could have made him like this?

“…Don’t you remember? You told me to come over if I was bored?”

I pulled out a bottle of wine from my belt.

It was expensive wine I had bought with the money I earned from clearing a dungeon.

‘Damn, my money.’

But thanks to the magic core golem charging at me, it had been shattered into pieces.

Only then did Bronze Beard lower his hammer.

“Ah, my mind is all over the place! Why didn’t you come earlier? It’s been almost a year since I made that promise!”

He laughed heartily, his voice echoing in the cave.

“I thought you were just a wandering dwarf. But what is all this? Magic core golems, teleportation portals… What’s with all these expensive-looking things?”

“…Everyone has their own personal secrets, don’t they! Anyway, I do apologize for almost killing you! Hahaha!”

There were more than a few suspicious things about him.

This wasn’t just any dwarf. Was he hiding something?

But he wasn’t about to reveal his secrets easily.

So…

“So, are you not going to have a drink?”

“Heh heh! Have you ever seen a dwarf refuse a drink?”