The matter of explaining to the king about Der'asa Mountain was left to Rye who asked for Ash's assistance. Both of them managed to convince the king to put limitations on the dwarves' monthly mining.

The king also agreed to use Vintrigal's sterilization procedure and perfectly developed air filters to control the pollution produced by the city. In exchange, Ash asked for a list of magical materials that could only be found in the dwarven territory to be supplied once every 3 months to Vintrigal.

As for Der'asa mountain, only professionally licensed miners would be allowed to mine the ore in its cave periodically under official supervision.

They understood that this would make dwarven weapons increase in price, but their crafts were regarded as treasures anyway. Everyone wouldn't mind paying an extra coin for guaranteed goods. The reason behind it was also understandable, so unless they were a difficult person, they would gradually accept it.

This could teach the others to not take dwarven weapons for granted while the country could get more income while preserving more materials.

After conveying all that to the king, he easily agreed to the plan.

Vintrigal's king also agreed when he saw the list of promised materials. He sent a group of workers to help with the installation of air purifiers.

"Will this be enough to stop the dwarves from disappearing?" Ash asked.

"I don't know, but it's an effort," Rye answered.

If it was strictly about quota, it wouldn't stop until the number of dwarves was within the world's limitation. But if it was about the damage they caused because of their number, the world might gave a little leniency if the dwarves stopped or at least reduced their damage.

"It's up to the world I guess," Rye muttered.

"You are indeed fascinating, my dear Rye." Ash suddenly said.

"?"

"I have a daily urge to cut your head open and extract every knowledge you possess."

"??" Rye looked at Ash strangely, "you're far smarter than me, Ash. I can lend you all the books I brought with me if you're that curious."

"It is not a matter of intelligence. I simply want to know all the knowledge you own that makes you who you are."

"You mean my memory?"

Ash smiled in appreciation. Seeing Rye was about to smile, he looked away.

Rye chuckled, "That's a new way to say 'I want to know about you'. As expected of Ash."

"When I was little, I wished to be the mightiest pirate of the sea. Regardless of my heritage, I wanted to conquer the vast ocean," Ash lightly laughed, "but in the process of designing my lovely ship, I discovered my passion for science and engineering instead. I sometimes suspected that it was planted by our ever-unfathomable god to prevent his piece from straying from his fate."

"Is that why you designed the airship like a whale?"

Ash nodded, "Childish is it not?"

"No, not at all. When I first saw it, I was amazed by how beautiful it was. After all, both the sky and sea are blue. It seemed as if a real whale was swimming in the sky," Rye genuinely praised, "the sky is vaster than the ocean. Although you didn't conquer the water below, you conquered the sky above. And you do know that the sea is blue because of the sky, right? Doesn't that mean you successfully conquered the sea through the sky?

"I personally think you're very, very cool, you know?" Rye smiled at Ash.

Ash silently covered his blinded eyes, figuratively and literally, "…You are truly a dangerous man."

"Huh?"

"What about you?"

"Me?" Rye recalled his childhood and shook his head, "I didn't have any aspiring dreams like yours. My only dream as a child was to be independent as quickly as possible and leave the house."

"That is admirable. No wonder you have so much confidence in yourself. I am saying this in a good way."

"I know. Thank you."

Ash was silent for a short while before he spoke again, "I like grapes the most. I hate strong spices."

Rye raised his eyebrows and laughed in amusement, "I like seafood the most, but I can eat anything. I don't have any food I particularly dislike."

The two of them lightly chatted with Ash tumbling from one topic to another awkwardly once the previous topic ended. He didn't actually ask anything, but Rye answered each topic following his sentence structure.

And so, they exchanged information about themselves along their walk to the others waiting for them.

After all of them had a brief discussion, they decided to leave the next morning. Rye left the room first, saying he needed to rest.

Rock and Marissa wanted to retreat back to their room as well but saw that Ash was still on the couch. He was invested in writing something in his notebook.

"Boss, are you designing a new device?" Rock peered in to look.

He was confused to see a group of random words written on both the left and right sides of the page. Some were circled and some were marked with a star.

"What is this boss?"

"A list of things Rye fancied and preferred."

Ludric who was heading to the door and Aerindel who was on the couch across instantly got their ears perked. They silently waited for Ash to continue.

"Boss, if you want to befriend someone, you must be more attentive about the things they dislike," Marissa advised, "there's finally someone who's compatible with you, so don't ruin it."

"Rye does not have anything he particularly dislikes."

"…Is he a saint?" Rock asked in disbelief.

"Unfortunately, his birthday has passed. That is why I am storing this information to be used in a later date," Ash closed his notebook and put it back into his storage pack.

"His birthday?" Aerindel couldn't hold back anymore and ask.

Ludric thought for a while and realized something.

Wait a minute, Rye's birthday was…

Ash told them the date. Both Ludric and Aerindel stiffened.

Isn't that the day after they arrived at Torihigen!?

Meanwhile, the subject of interest was hurrying to exit the castle grounds when he remembered something.

Dwarves didn't have any chapels, temples, or anything like that.

He calmed down and stopped on his track. He promised himself to only call Octavian if he was in a chapel.

He was thinking about whether to fly to the nearest human town when he looked outside the window. His eyes slightly widened in surprise seeing the familiar sunflower path.

At the same time, he saw his reflection in the window.

"…"

Let's take a bath first.

The guest suite they were staying in has a bathroom attached inside, so he went back to his room. On his way, he bumped into Ludric and the others. Ash's group and the elf siblings weren't with them though.

"Rye? I thought you went back to our room?" Ludric asked.

"…I got lost."

Ludric didn't expect Rye can also get lost.

That's…pretty cute.

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head and his eye twitched.

He can't even think his own brother is cute!?

As an answer, the pain intensified. He didn't show any changes on his face and offered to bring Rye back. He was planning to look around the city with the others, so he told them to wait outside first.

"What's wrong with you? You're sweating," Rye asked in concern.

Why is Ludric keep getting sick on this journey?

"I'm fine. The armor is stuffier than the previous one," Ludric quickly found a reason, "Rye, why didn't you tell me it was your birthday when we arrived at Torihigen?"

"There's nothing worth celebrating about it."

Though there is now. His birth date is also his wedding date.

To be honest, he also wouldn't remember if it wasn't for Octavian coming.

Once they arrived at the room, Ludric asked, "What do you want for a present?"

"Huh?" Rye was stunned, "No, no need. I already have everything I need. Thanks for showing me the way."

He promptly closed the door.

Ludric, "…"

He should have a nice chat with Ash.

Inside, Rye shook his head helplessly. Ludric was trying too hard. Did Ludric still think he hated him? Was there a time he accidentally glared at Ludric?

He put the thought to the back of his head and prepared the bath. Right now, his priority was to quickly take a bath and not make Octavian wait too long.

He stripped himself and entered the tub. As he scrubbed himself, he couldn't help but give his body a once over.

Since they were married, would there be a time he need to do marital duty? But Octavian was a god. Did Octavian have such a desire?

Not to mention, his body was unpleasant to look at even for humans. He would be glad to serve Octavian, but if Octavian also found his body unpleasant…

Just thinking about the scenario swelled his chest.

As he wallowed in his thought, the sky outside gradually darkened and soon rained.