Chapter 103: Crazy Wizard Part 3

"You seem to be misunderstanding something."

Khalid said with his characteristic sneer. Misunderstanding? Misunderstanding, he says?

"I thought I made it clear back at the mansion."

"…"

"Climbing the Silver Mountains is the easiest part of our plan."

"That is…"

"Compared to waking a sleeping dragon, it's as easy as eating cold soup."

Khalid began to explain about the "dragon" slowly as if he were imparting his knowledge to idiots like us.

Tondra, fortunately, was a "Silver Dragon" who liked two-legged intelligent beings such as humans, elves, and dwarves. The main reason Tondra remained on this continent was because it was a Silver Dragon that enjoyed forming friendships with humans.

Most of the Silver Dragons had left the continent after the fall of Ansga, which they had protected. Other dragons had also relocated to the East or the land of barbarians, Altan, to escape the various calamities that followed Ansga's destruction.

So, Tondra remaining in the heart of the continent was a very special case. Khalid had said that Tondra stayed because of an "unresolved issue" but he admitted he didn't know exactly what the issue was.

"Still, it's certain that it is taking a 'nap.'"

"Anyway, the dragon is in the Silver Mountains."

"Yes, Tondra said it was coming to retrieve an item entrusted to me before leaving the Silver Mountains. Since Tondra hasn't collected it yet, it should still be in the Silver Mountains."

"What kind of item is it?"

"Why should I tell you that?"

Damn, he wasn't going to tell me. An item entrusted by a dragon to a crazy wizard like Khalid must be something truly extraordinary. I suppressed my curiosity and moved on to the next topic.

"It seems climbing the Silver Mountains is unavoidable."

The Silver Mountains… In the game, I moved around them comfortably, but thinking about actually "climbing" them made my mind reel. The only mountains I'd climbed were the local hills and Bukhan Mountain, which my boss loved so much.

"To climb the Silver Mountains, you'll need various magical tools."

"Of course…"

"It's a mountain range chosen by a dragon. You can't climb it with just ordinary equipment."

Khalid began listing the types of magical tools needed. An air ball that provides fresh air, a staff with adhesive magic, a small magical pot that boils without fire, a warming stone, and a dark lantern that can adjust the surrounding darkness levels.

The most difficult to obtain was the dark lantern. Unlike ordinary lanterns that simply emit light to brighten the surroundings, the dark lantern is a special magical tool that absorbs and emits darkness to adjust the black-and-white contrast, ensuring visibility. Since it doesn't emit light, it avoids detection by monsters or beasts, making it essential for climbing places like the Silver Mountains where monsters are rampant. Even the haughty dwarves would pay high prices to buy dark lanterns from Solen when they had to tunnel through monster-infested mines.

Creating a dark lantern was excessively difficult from the start. It required dark stones, which could only be found in the Dark Forest and were extremely rare minerals. Dark stones would crumble under sunlight, making them unusable, so they could only be mined on the night of the new moon. They were even rarer because they could only be found in the Dark Forest, and the elves who were not very good at gathering minerals only collected them sparingly.

"The dark lantern goes for 5 gold coins each."

Fortunately, Khalid had dark lanterns. I decided to take three dark lanterns.

"By the way, what about the other items?"

"Buy things like magical pots or warming stones from a shop. I don't make such trivial things."

Ugh, this cheap bastard. I glanced sideways at Khalid, and when he looked at me, I smiled brightly as if I had done nothing.

"I guess I should stop by the shopping district. There are many things we need besides magical items."

Other necessities included various food supplies, winter gear, and protective equipment. Ever since the northern part of the Silver Mountains turned into a cursed land, the already overwhelming snowfall has increased in both frequency and volume. Many people froze to death without even making it halfway up, so we had to prepare for the cold as much as for monster attacks.

"We will look around the shopping district tomorrow. Sir Khalid, you'll need to get your tools ready and…"

"Mhmm."

"And since you've visited Tondra's lair at least once before, it would be helpful if you could compare your memory of the location with the map."

"The entrance to the dragon's lair changes periodically…. but I'll try to recall it."

"Thank you."

With that, we each went our separate ways. Khalid returned to his mansion, El and Ayla went to their rooms, Lloyd left to check on the horses and carriage, and I remained in the inn's dining area, sipping wine.

The Silver Mountains…

Meeting a dragon was certainly an exciting prospect, but why did it feel so burdensome and heavy? I scratched my chin, stared blankly at the crackling fire, then finished my drink and went up to my room.

As I opened the old book, the pages fluttered, revealing the skills and various pieces of information I had acquired so far. I turned to the [??? Map] section and began comparing it with the map of the Silver Mountains that I had bought during the day. While there were some detailed differences, the overall flow of the mountains and major features were similar.

"…"

I traced my finger over the part marked with the fragment of Earte. It was located in the most rugged part of the Silver Mountains, on a cliff bordering the cursed lands. The fragment of Earte was there.

If I was lucky, I might get help from the dragon.

If I was unlucky, I'd become the dragon's breakfast.

I should think of another plan in advance.

A way to wake the dragon from its nap and still survive.

Come to think of it, that old lady made something like that…

I began jotting down "something" in the old book.

The next day.

We headed to Solen's shopping district to prepare for the climb up the Silver Mountains. We needed various magical items, climbing gear, and winter supplies. I spared no expense and invested the money I had earned from completing Madam Sylvanus's request in the highest-quality items. We bought so many things that by the time we left the third store, the owner had to call for a cart to carry all the items.

"Lloyd, could you go back to the inn with El and sort out our belongings?"

"And you?"

"I'm planning to buy some food and seeds."

"I see."

Lloyd nodded his head and headed towards the inn with El and the cart. I started leisurely walking through the shopping district with Ayla.

First, I stopped by the butcher shop and bought some meat to make jerky. Then, at the candy store known as the "Wizards' Restaurant" I purchased magic candies that help with magical power recovery. I also needed to make energy bars, but I could get the grains and fruits for those from the [Dimensional Garden], so I skipped that. Besides these, I bought a few items like small magic glass bottles that could store dozens of liters of water, then moved on to a shop selling crops and seeds.

The reason I sought out the shop despite already having an abundance of seeds and plants was simple.

Although I had a wide variety of seeds, I didn't have any that flourished in polar regions like the Silver Mountains. Of course, if I used my skills, any plant could sprout even in the cold but it was more practical to prepare plants that could naturally withstand and grow in such extreme conditions.

"Show me the ones that do well near the Silver Mountains."

"The Silver Mountains? Hmm, the Silver Mountains…"

Plants that survived in polar regions were usually not beautiful. All their stats were invested in an almost stubborn level of vitality. They also lacked effects that could be used in potions, so there weren't many customers looking for plants that lived in the Silver Mountains. Because of this, the shopkeeper rummaged through the drawers containing seeds for quite a while.

"Here they are. Sorry, this is all I have."

The seed pouches the shopkeeper handed over were few in number. Only six, no, five pouches.

The first pouch contained seeds of the Snow Blossom Tree. Despite its name, it wasn't as large as a tree. However, it was rare among polar plants to bloom pretty flowers which attracted animals that came to eat the flowers. This could be useful.

The second pouch held seeds of the Ice Moss Tree. The very light seeds grew into plants that produced soft and "delicious" moss, which had many uses besides being edible. Wherever it sprouted, the plants in the south would grow first, acting as a kind of compass. Since the magical power in the Silver Mountains could render a compass useless, this was also worth buying.

The third pouch contained seeds of the Snow Lotus. Like the regular lotus, the Snow Lotus had frighteningly tough and resilient stems. The only difference was that it never froze. Its strength made it a good substitute for ropes. Of course, I would take ropes with me… but just in case, I would buy this as well.

The fourth pouch contained seeds of the Silver Snow Plant. This plant bloomed flowers that resembled white rabbits, and its fruit could be used like a smoke bomb. When the fruit was struck, countless tiny fibers inside would burst out and obscure vision. Though it was always snowing in the Silver Mountains…. there might be a use for this. Purchased.

The last, fifth pouch contained seeds of the Snow field Pea.

"This is it."

Snow field peas had unusual habits. It had peas that were as hard as rocks to survive the cold, and the snow field pea's unique habit was to "shoot" these peas a long way. It must have evolved like this to find land to take root.

This could be very useful.

I took the five seed pouches and paid the shopkeeper.