After making some quick preparations in the city, Gauss's party headed out of Falrim.
The spot where the dwarf Torga had gone missing was out west, some distance into the wilderness.
Based on Bruno's account, they'd traveled south from the Dwarf Kingdom, stayed in Wineheart City for a time, then set off again—planning to head farther south to take a look at the Jade Forest—only for the accident to happen along the way.
Gauss sympathized, but the mention of Wineheart City stirred a memory.
Last year, he'd briefly worked with another team—first exploring an ancient dwarven workshop ruin, later purging the corruption of the evil god Durag inside it. Coincidentally, that team's leader had also been a dwarf named Solin Shancopper.
Before parting ways, Solin had told Gauss his main activity area was around Wineheart City—and even gave him an address there, saying Gauss could look him up if he ever passed through.
Gauss had never gone to Wineheart City, but he had taken the time to learn a little about it.
Wineheart City sat in the northwest of Coldemerald Province, and it was unusual even by provincial standards.
Because Wineheart was famously diverse.
The city was full of dwarves, halflings, half-orcs, half-elves, gnomes, tieflings—non-human or mixed-heritage peoples who were minorities in most human cities, yet lived in Wineheart as ordinary residents rather than wandering adventurers.
They said history had shaped it that way.
It began with halflings settling that comparatively remote land, clearing fields and building burrow-homes.
Later, war broke out, and other peoples came to help—some fighting at the front, others supporting logistics. When the war ended, a portion of those outsiders chose to remain in Coldemerald.
And the place they stayed became Wineheart City.
Over many years, it evolved into the multi-ethnic city it was today.
Most humans, out of instinctive wariness, didn't choose to relocate there unless they had specific trade reasons. Meanwhile, when other races wanted to try their luck near the border province, Wineheart was often their first pick. That push and pull only reinforced the city's character.
In fact, there were plenty of Wineheart-like places across the kingdom.
"Do you know a dwarf in Wineheart named Solin Shancopper?" Gauss asked as they traveled.
Bruno shook his head. "I know the Shancopper clan, but I probably don't know your Solin. There are too many dwarves in Wineheart."
Gauss wasn't surprised.
To his eyes, these dwarves did resemble Solin a bit—almost like relatives—but that didn't mean anything. Bruno's group were travelers; Solin was a long-term Wineheart resident. It made sense they wouldn't know each other.
Gauss rode a good distance outside Falrim before swinging down from his mount.
"What is it?" Bruno and the others hopped down from their dwarf-ponies, confused.
"Aren't you in a hurry to find her? Going like this is too slow. We need a better ride."
Gauss motioned for them to stand back a little.
Then, under the dwarves' baffled stares, he raised a hand and summoned something huge.
When Hephaestus appeared, the dwarves' eyes widened visibly.
"Is that… a dragon?" Bruno swallowed and took two steps back.
"Hephaestus is a drake," Gauss explained plainly. He never exaggerated.
Even so, the dwarves were stunned.
Dragon—or drake—as a mount, it was absurdly rare.
"That's… unbelievable," Bruno said, reacting even more strongly than when he'd heard Gauss had saved a town.
For a moment, he didn't even know what to say.
Gauss began fitting the saddle harness onto Hephaestus.
The red drake, meanwhile, turned its head to stare at the unfamiliar dwarves.
"Rrrr…"
It didn't like them.
Its hot breath accidentally caught a few thick beards, sending the dwarves slapping frantically at sparks to put them out.
"You rude overgrown lizard—dwarves aren't afraid of you!" Bruno snapped, eyes like copper bells, palm resting on his axe.
"Heh?" Hephaestus tilted its head, pale-gold slit pupils flashing with a smug sort of amusement—like it was saying, That all you've got?
Then it leaned forward again and exhaled something even hotter.
"Alright, Hephaestus. Calm down." Gauss patted the drake's neck.
He'd heard that dragons and dwarves tended to clash by nature. Looks like it wasn't just a rumor.
He'd barely glanced away and they'd already sparked trouble.
"Dwarf friends—Hephaestus is a bit mischievous, but it isn't malicious," Gauss said. "And we need it if we want to reach your destination quickly."
"Are we… riding the dragon?" Bruno's younger companion, Teb—his beard braided into neat cords—stammered, a thrill sneaking into his voice.
The others looked tempted too.
They might hate dragons, but being able to say they'd ridden one? That was bragging rights for life.
"ROOOAR!"
Hephaestus was smart enough to read their expressions. It immediately looked violently opposed, turning its head away and stamping a claw.
A clear message: You are not getting on my back.
Gauss hadn't expected his first obstacle to come before they even left.
Ever since he gained the Rider talent, his bond with Hephaestus had been deepening. He could practically feel Hephaestus's disgust secondhand.
Sure, he could order Hephaestus like a strict "head of household," but it didn't sit right.
He needed the dwarves' mithril reward. But they were strangers he'd just met. Hephaestus, on the other hand, was undeniably part of his team now. The closeness wasn't comparable.
"If that won't work," Gauss told the dwarves, "then we'll have to keep going by land."
The dwarves hesitated.
Before, they could accept riding the roads—because they didn't know any better option existed.
Now they did.
Bruno started to step forward, about to apologize and try to smooth things over—
—but Hephaestus raised a claw and made a grabbing motion.
"Rrrr…"
Gauss understood instantly.
Hephaestus didn't want them on its back… but it could tolerate carrying them in its claws while flying.
The dwarves slowly realized it too, faces conflicted.
Bruno, as the leader, made the call. "Fine. Let it carry us."
Finding Torga mattered more than pride.
Dwarves were tough enough to endure it.
"And I won't make this harder for you," Bruno added, glancing at Gauss. "Dragons are famously proud. Even dragon riders can't force them to do what they hate."
Gauss nodded. "Then that's how we'll do it."
"If you're worried, I'll cast Feather Fall on all of you. Even if something goes wrong, you won't splatter."
"Much appreciated."
Agreement reached.
Hephaestus beat its wings and lifted off.
Each claw grabbed two dwarves—like a hunting hawk hauling lambs.
Aside from refusing to let them ride its back, it didn't go out of its way to torment them.
The flight was steady.
With Bruno calling directions from below, two hours later they reached the spot.
Hephaestus landed.
The dwarves hit the ground and exhaled hard.
Even with Feather Fall, first-time flying still set nerves on edge. Luckily, nothing went wrong.
"This is it. This is the place," Bruno said after scanning the surroundings again.
They were beside a river.
On the ground, the cleaver-like sword marks Bruno described were still faintly visible.
The monster blood had dried long ago.
Gauss drew in a slow breath and studied the area.
The fight had happened two days earlier, but his instincts told him the "culprit" felt familiar.
"Goblins again?" Gauss raised an eyebrow.
Bruno's fiancée Torga was a Level 6 warrior.
Capturing a Level 6 dwarven fighter alive in a straight fight wasn't easy.
Gauss's team could do it—but most goblin tribes didn't have that kind of strength.
And the signs of struggle were… oddly minimal.
Gauss spotted a few half-burned sticks and some fish bones.
Torga had been roasting fish here?
He looked toward the river. The fish likely came from that water.
"So… poisoned? Cursed?"
Being drugged or hexed and dragged off was very different from being beaten and taken by force.
Based on the scattered monster blood, Gauss leaned toward the first.
"Goblins?" Bruno's face went from ruddy to greenish-gray.
Goblins were hated by dwarves just as much as by humans.
The thought of Torga in goblin hands made his eyes redden with rage.
"Don't panic—it may not be as bad as you think," Gauss said quickly.
Goblins were infamous for breeding and depravity, but that was mostly the low-tier ones.
From elite goblins upward, their intelligence rose. They could restrain base urges when it served a purpose.
A goblin leader clever enough to set an ambush on a dwarven warrior would definitely be able to keep its tribe in line.
And if they wanted Torga for smithing, they'd need her alive and functional. Skilled labor mattered.
Bruno forced himself to breathe and calm down, though his chest was still heaving.
"Please, Gauss," he said, voice tight. "Find Torga. Quickly."
"I will."
Gauss didn't immediately use Locate Creature at maximum. Instead, he let the mundane clues speak first.
"Probably that way," Shadow said.
She'd sent her shadow to sweep the area and found the direction the monsters had gone. There were faint traces in the dirt—tiny dark streaks where blood had seeped.
They were lucky they came fast. Another day or two, a light snowfall would've buried the trail.
"Move." Gauss signaled.
They followed the trail.
As they went, the land grew bleaker.
Then, broken stones started appearing in the weeds—brick fragments and collapsed masonry.
"Man-made," Gauss murmured.
Ahead wasn't a natural goblin cave.
It was a ruin.
Half-collapsed stone walls, toppled arches, cobblestone roads swallowed by moss and vines—what had once been a decently sized settlement.
It was probably destroyed one or two centuries ago.
Now it looked like goblins were using it.
At the edge of sight, Gauss spotted a few green figures on rooftops and broken towers.
"I'll scout first," Shadow said.
"Careful," Gauss replied.
Bruno and the dwarves were frantic, but they understood the need for caution and waited.
After some time, Shadow returned, re-forming from shadow into her body.
"There are a lot of goblins," she said. "They've dug out a small underground city under the ruins."
"I didn't see your dwarf companion yet. She's probably imprisoned."
Shadow hadn't pushed deeper—too much risk of getting detected.
"That's our target," Bruno said, jaw tight.
Gauss nodded. "Then we hold a quick plan—and we move."
The tracks, the location, the scale—everything lined up.
And besides…
They were already here.
A goblin tribe building up inside human ruins was a problem Gauss wasn't going to ignore.