I JUST WANT A PEACEFUL LIFE

"Nope. I am not his disciple." said Angus.

"Not cousin's disciple?" asked Horton confusedly.

"Yes." replied Angus shortly.

"Cousin?" asked Horton to Balrug.

"Ehem.. Angus can you just give this old dwarf some face." said Balrug.

"Hmm?? Oiii… Balrug, up till now I could tolerate your shamelessness because of our long friendship. Are you sure you want to push my button? I am sure you are not stupid enough to the point of that." asked Angus solemnly.

"Tch… Fine. But I am still your teacher regarding your physical strength." retorted Balrug.

"Sure. However, I will never acknowledge you as my teacher." argued Angus.

Angus and Balrug's relationship is more like a friendship than a teacher and disciple. The two of them learn from each other rather than in a one-way teaching relationship.

Balrug teaches Angus how to increase his strength efficiently. In return, Angus explains some of the modern knowledge to Balrug. For a crafter and inventor like Balrug, modern knowledge is a priceless treasure.

It is also why Balrug gave Angus Gate of Life despite being a secret technique of the dwarf race. Without the Gate of Life, Angus' physical strength will never reach the current level. At most, he will be only twice stronger than average human strength.

"Yay! Fight! Fight!" cheered Anna while riding mini Porky.

"Err… Cousin?" asked Horton.

However, neither Angus nor Balrug want to explain their situation. When they made a deal long ago, they also decided not to let others know about their deal. Even Jayna didn't know everything about their agreement until her [Allegiance] reached the first threshold.

"Alright, enough of this. Let's go now. We are already wasting a lot of time." said Balrug.

"Ehh… No fight." commented Anna sadly.

"This… Ehem… I am afraid I can't do that, cousin. Although you could vouch for their identity, I still need to judge if they are worthy of coming to the Undermine Council." said Horton solemnly.

"Tch… What a troublesome procedure. Brat, just show him what you created some time ago." said Balrug.

"Sure." replied Angus.

"I am sorry about this. But, these are the rules since you are coming not just as a visitor and your identity is quite special." said Horton.

"I don't mind. I already heard some of your rules." said Angus before approaching Anna.

"Anna, can you take out Absolute Red?" asked Angus.

"Ehh.. Burning Warm Warm? Why?" asked Anna reluctantly.

"*Sigh* We need it to enter the Undermine Council." said Angus.

"Ehh… But, it is Anna's." replied Anna with more reluctance.

"Anna, they are just going to see it. No one will take it from you. You didn't eat it, right?" said Angus.

"Of course not. What does Angus think of Anna?" retorted Anna.

"A gluttony. Then, just take it out for a moment." said Angus.

"*Pout* Alright, but just look. No touching!! Anna means it." warned Anna sternly.

However, her adorable face and riding mini Porky only make her cuter.

Then, Anna turns around as if she is trying to pick something.

Just as everyone is getting curious, "No Peeking!!" warned Anna before turning back again.

After a moment, Anna takes out her beloved fluffy ball.

"Here." said Anna while showing her fluffy ball.

"Err… Anna, what I mean is Absolute Red. The burning ball that I gave you last time." said Angus.

"Gezz… This is why Angus is Dumb Dumb. Burning Warm Warm is inside. Stupid Angus, " complained Anna, revealing a part of the fluffy balls inside.

"Hmm… Forget about the fluffy ball. That's quite an unusual red marble." said Horton.

Before he could look further, Anna closed the Fluffy Ball and hid it behind her.

"No, touching!!" warned Anna.

"Urghh… This…" said Horton while looking at Balrug.

"Hahaha… She got you good, Horton. Just leave this matter to the elders. You just need to report unidentified material or something. Alright, let's go. We have wasted too much time now." said Balrug before entering the golden tunnel.

"Er… I guess. We just have to do that. Just to be clear, only you three will come, right?" asked Horton.

"Yup." said Angus.

"No, Mini Porky also will come." retorted Anna.

"Alright, three humans and one pig." corrected Horton.

"Anna is Anna. Not human." retorted Anna again.

"*Sigh* Fine. Two humans, one Anna, and one pig. Is that all?" asked Horton.

"No. That's all. I am sorry about her. She is too mischievous at a time like this." said Angus.

"No problem. We have more unreasonable and ridiculous elders. This Council also happens because of their whim." replied Horton gloomily.

"Oii… What are you doing?! Hurry, get inside." called Balrug impatiently from inside the golden cave.

"Then, let's go now." said Horton.

"Alright. Headmaster Antonio, we will go first." said Angus.

"Yes. Don't worry about me." said the Headmaster.

As Angus and the others get escorted into the golden tunnel, a black-haired twin girl peeks through the tunnel from the outside.

"It's a golden cave." said one of the Twin Gem.

"No, It's a golden tunnel." replied the other one.

"No, It's a shiny cave." replied the other one.

"It's a shiny tunnel." replied the other one.

The twin Gem kept arguing the tunnel's name uselessly until a few minutes later. During this time, the golden tunnel suddenly slowly moved and got smaller.

"It's moving!!" exclaimed the twin Gem simultaneously.

Then, the mischievous twin girls looked at each other with their signature smiles.

"Come?" said one of the twin Gem.

"Go!!" replied the other one.

Just as they want to jump inside the dark gold tunnel, a pair of hands suddenly grab their clothes and hand them in the air.

"Ahhh… We got caught!!" said one of the twin Gem.

"Kidnapped." commented the other twin Gem.

In the meantime, Angus and the others are marveled at the golden tunnel. When inside the golden tunnel, their senses are immediately cut off from the outside. All they could perceive was the dimly lit golden tunnel.

"This is interesting. Is this also related to space-skill?" commented Jayna.

"I don't think so." replied Angus.

As one of the space-users and the contractor of Mundus, Angus knows the golden tunnel is not the product of space elemental like Nirvas dimension.

"This is something different." said Angus while touching the golden wall.

"It seems the rumor about your geniuses is true. However, I can't explain it further. Let's get going. The Undermine Council is still quite far." said Horton.

"Alright." said Angus.

As they walk, a naughty girl starts singing a weird song.

"Mini~ Mini~ Piggy~ Piggy~ Porky~ Porky~ Ham~" sang Anna.

Although Anna's voice is not bad, her singing is out of tune. It makes the journey completely unbearable, even for the strict dwarf soldiers. Despite this, Angus and Jayna are not stopping her from singing around since they aren't bothered by her voice.

Angus guesses she only wants to prank the disciplined dwarves' soldiers. Balrug also noticed this mischievous girl's prank and didn't say anything. Although quite stubborn, he still didn't like the rigid rules of his race.

In contrast, Horton has already heard about Anna, especially her relationship with Mira. He knows that outside Angus, Anna is one of the people he must treat carefully. The legend of Mira is also recorded as early as the appearance of their race.

No one was stupid enough to offend someone who could befriend her. One single mistake may cost the lives of the entire dwarf race. Therefore, Horton could only stay silent and be patient at the annoying weird porky song.

Fortunately, the journey is short. It only takes one hour before they finally reach a dead end. Horton approaches the golden wall before knocking it with his warhammer a few times. *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Suddenly, the whole golden cave shakes as Horton takes a step back. *GROOOARR* A giant golden worm appeared from the dead-end golden wall and devoured the whole dead end before retreating behind. Same as before, the golden worm leaves another tunnel behind.

However, Angus could feel the things behind the tunnels. He could feel a lot of life's presence behind the tunnel. They enter the tunnel under Horton's lead until they reach a massive open space area.

The area is so huge that Angus couldn't even cover the whole area. If Angus didn't feel the rocky ceiling a few kilometers above them, he would think they were outside rather than inside the underground.

As Angus and the others marvel at the vast open space, "Ahhh… It's been a while." commented Balrug.

"Welcome to the Undermine Council." said Horton from the side.

At this moment, Angus and the others also hear a familiar roaring sound. *GROOAR* *GROOAR* Various giant worms made a tunnel hole in the nearby wall before a group of people emerged.

'I see… So, the giant worm is actually a method of transportation. But I hear Elder Forgus come out from the tunnel without giant worms. Is it different?' thought Angus inwardly.

Then, Horton brings everyone to one of the nearby admission areas after he sends the other golden-armored dwarves away. Despite having a lot of admission areas nearby, they still need to wait in a long queue.

"I hope you don't mind waiting since today is the first day of the Undermine Council. We even lack personnel for this event." said Horton.