The dwarf led the group to the gates of Agartha. The guards who had been aiming their bows at me the entire time hesitantly opened the gates and we entered.
My appearance caused a lot of people on the streets to stop in their tracks and stare. I tried to ignore it, but it still felt weird to be stared at for so long. even after the time I travelled with the villagers, I still wasn't quite used to that feeling.
Eventually we reached something that resembled an inn. Here would the humans live until they had gained stable jobs and their own homes.
When they were here, they would get just enough money to live in order to motivate them to become a productive member of this society while preventing them from starving.
When everyone had a temporary home me and the five broken humans followed the dwarf to an isolated building. It was positioned near the wall and there were no other buildings in at least a hundred-meter radius. Noah found the scenery amazing while Rik would only describe it as one of the most boring things that he had ever seen. Nevertheless, he naturally followed without a single complaint.
The building was quite large. The walls were at least fifty centimeters thick and the door was made out of a metal like material, but I could tell from a single glance that this wasn't the case. While the colour resembled that of metal, the texture was more like that of wood.
The dwarf took a shining blue crystal from one of his pockets and held it in front of the door. To my surprise, the door emitted a faint glow and opened.
I was dumbfounded. How could something like that even work?!
"You seem to use crystals for a lot of stuff."
The dwarf chuckled. It was the same as when an adult chuckled when a kid asked something stupid an obvious.
"During the great war most of the original inhabitants of Agartha died. Those deaths were… mysterious. Their technology was far more advanced than that of the people from the surface. Their great dream was to invite everyone from the surface and crate a true paradise along with them. But despite their great advantages due to tier technology, they still died before they could make their dream reality. Luckily for us, they recorded how to use their crystal-based technology. So, in a way that dream that they wanted to achieve isn't completely unachievable, even after their deaths."
I nodded. ("How could an entire civilisation be wiped out? What treat did they face during the great war?")
The dwarf stepped inside, and the broken humans followed since I wanted to have a last look at the door.
But when I tried to step inside, I suddenly did not want to enter. It was weird, I just couldn't get myself to pass through the door.
The dwarf smiled with that same mischievous smile as before.
"Sorry for that. Since you got past the komainu I wanted to test if this also couldn't stop you. But as it turns out, this formation of salt keeps you out like any other demon. He walked over and kicked the salt that was sprinkled if front of his door. The formation roughly in the shape of a semicircle was destroyed and I was able to enter.
I knew that for demon standards, I was quite weak. But not being able to enter because of some salt… just felt silly.
"I will have a talk with these people first, I want to hear their story before yours. The walls here are filled with a mixture of salt, silver and holy water, you will probably not be hindered by it because of the thick outer layer of wood and steel, but you can't spread your consciousness through the walls. In that way you won't be able to manipulate these people when I ask the questions."
I nodded and felt no need to check. Instinctively I didn't want to come to close to the walls, but I also didn't feel any burning yet, so I would probably be fine.
"You can wait in that room until we are done."
The dwarf was pointing at the room on the opposite side of the one where he would ask the humans questions. Without saying a word, I entered the room.
It really surprised me that the dwarf was in possession of such a large amount of salt. Salt was hard to obtain and was considered a luxury since it could be used for many things. Like preserving food, giving more flavour to things and ward of against evil spirits and demons.
The room I resided in could be compared to a high-class living room. Only, the room was filled with those weird crystals. Some of the changed colour when I got close to them. I figured that these were probably used to sense demons. There also was a bureau stacked with carefully organised paper in the corner close to the window. a bookshelf stood close by. However, it was only half filled with books. The other half was completely stacked with soft glowing blue crystals that resembled icicles.
Although I couldn't interfere, I could hear every word that was spoken in the other room.
Most of the time the dwarf would ask questions about me and the other demon. The humans didn't have an answer to most of them. But if they had an answer, then it was mostly the younger sister, Quinte that blurted them out. The other were really annoyed by this, Noah in particular. But still they continued to answer those questions.
Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, he was done questioning the humans. When he came through the door I immediately sprung up.
"And? Can you help them?"
"I will tell you soon enough, but I would also want to have a word with you. That's why I let you in after all."
He looked around with a deep frown.
"It surprises me that you didn't completely destroy this room out of boredom."
"Why does that surprise you?"
He smirked.
"Because that is what I would do, and demons like you are known for having even less patience than I have… well, there are some exceptions who can wait for centuries. but those are usually a lot older than you!"
He spoke in a tone as if it was completely logical what he just said. however, there was one thing that didn't add up.
"Why would you destroy your own room?!"
"When you are as old as I am things will quickly get boring. So, I often completely wreck my room and then reorder everything in order to pass the time."
I stared at the dwarf for a moment. ("Is he crazy?")
"Now come with me! This is the most exciting thing that happened here for over ten years. There is a lot that I want to talk about with you!"
Now the small group of humans took my place in the room and I followed the dwarf.