As he'd assured a day earlier, Rigaurd had everything we needed that afternoon. He had even chosen the team members of the expedition into the Dwarven Kingdom already.
He assigned Rigur to be the expedition leader, and a tempest wolf for me to ride on the journey.
Once everyone finishes preparing thier luggage, we rode the wolves, with rimuru securing himself on Ranga''s back with sticky threads, he had been practicing manipulating the threads for battle using them like a fast whip strike although, he needs more practice if he ever wanted it to be a useful skill.
The luggage primarily consisted of money and food, three days' worth. If we took longer than that, we'd have to forage a bit. We could've brought along some hardier rations that'd keep over longer periods of time, but we wanted to travel light.
Me and rimuru don't need food anyway, as for money, we had seven silver pieces a d twenty-four bronze ones, That doesn't sound like much not that I was expecting more from a goblin village.
For a goblin on foot, it would apparently take around two months to walk to the Dwarven Kingdom. We would be largely following the Great Ameld River, which flowed through the forest, up to its source in a mountain range that held the settlement we sought.
These were the Canaat Mountains, which neatly separated the Empire to the east and the small litter of nations here and there around the Forest of Jura. There were, by and large, three trade routes that ran between the two pockets of civilization. One put you right through the forest; another was a more treacherous route through the mountains; the third was by sea. The Jura route would normally be the shortest and safest, but for some reason, it was only rarely taken advantage of—most travelers challenged the mountains instead, what with the travel costs and potential sea-monster interference a ship route presented.
In addition to these three routes, there were a handful of other ways to reach the Dwarven Kingdom, but they all charged tolls. This was mandatory, supposedly to keep people from transporting dangerous goods along the paths. It was a decent enough option for small bands, but the larger caravans avoided them for the costs and time involved. They were safe, no doubt, and we'd have to consider one of them later, depending on how our finances held out.
We had no business with the Empire, so there was no point traveling east to leave the woods. It was straight north to the Canaats. We wouldn't have to go up to any peaks, at least—the kingdom was situated at the base of the mountains, in the upper reaches of the Great Ameld. A beautiful hub of civilization, by the sound of it, built into a gigantic natural cavern.
That was the Dwarven Kingdom.
So we followed the plan, Tracing the Great Ameld River's route northward. It certainly kept us from being lost and just in case we have a guide with us—Gobta, who apparently ran a trip of his own to the kingdom once—so we followed his lead.
These black wolves are fast! And they have good stamina. We had been going for about three hours without a single break, and we had to be averaging nearly fifty miles per hour the whole way. We had a few rocky outcroppings to navigate now and then, but they sure didn't care. And this was all while making sure we stayed balanced on their backs! It made the trip easy for us.
At this pace, we might not even need a week for the whole trip, although rimuru was concerned about the wolves.
On the way the whole group was chatting which was normally impossible in these conditions, but not with the Thought Communication skill I Learned to do from veldora and it is usable by everyone. Since I have nothing to do, I chat with the group while I took the journey.
During the conversation with the goblins, We heard about the demon horde which is like an army for the leader of demons, The usual Hero vs Demon lord trope, why am I not surprised! Apparently the named goblin who died defending the village before we arrived was name by a demon called Gelmund, gotta keep that name in mind.
We chatted a bit more as the road wore on. All of us were moving far, far ahead of schedule.
"Hey, you guys aren't going too fast for your own good, are you?" rimuru asked.
"Not a problem, Sir Rimuru!" Rigur shot back. "Thanks to our evolution, perhaps! We are not terribly fatigued at all!"
"Do not worry, my master!" added Ranga. "We are not wholly freed from the bonds of sleep as you are, but we do not require an extended period of rest! Nor do we need frequent stops for food. It will be no obstacle, even if we fast for several days!"
They certainly don't look tired, we continued on the same pace for around half a day, talk about endurance.
As the group took their evening meal at the end of the second day, rimuru asked Gobta about the Dwarven Kingdom we were headed toward.
"Y-yes, sir! Umm, it is officially known as the Armed Nation of Dwargon! Their leader is known as the Heroic King, and—"
Something about his shouty reply indicated that rimuru speaking to him made him terribly nervous. I thought,he'd bite his tongue in his panic.
According to Gobta's account, the current king was Gazel Dwargo, third in his line from the original. A great hero, one whose might and presence made the elder dwarves recall his grandfather in his younger years, but also an intelligent one who ruled his realm with a steady, even hand. A living hero, in a way.
It had been a thousand years since Guran Dwargo, the first Heroic King of the dwarves, established this kingdom. Since then, his descendants had carried on his will, preserving and developing his people's history, culture, and technical skill.
In a nutshell, that was Dwargon. Given how long its kings apparently lived, it must have been a hell of a place. Hearing about it got me anticipating.
"In that case," I asked, "how much longer will it take, Gobta?"
"If I had to guess, we should arrive by the morrow, sir! The mountains are starting to loom high!"
He was right The peaks weren't even visible until yesterday. We are advancing at a good speed, as it turned out gobta came here before, to sell magic tools picked up by the village as the dwarves pay a higher price for them and buying good quality weapons made by them.
"Such an arrangement," Rigur explained, "is made possible by the Armed Nation's astonishing military might. As far as the kobold merchants told me, the dwarven armies have not tasted defeat in a full millennium…"
The kingdom enjoyed the defenses of a massive, powerful, magic-driven army corps and a wall of heavily armed infantry. Any would-be attackers would find themselves first blocked by the infantry, then turned into dust by a rain of offensive magic.
The equipment that backed up such an offensive juggernaut must have been very high-tech indeed, for this world. As Rigur put it, it was overwhelmingly superior to any human-made weapons or armor. I doubted anyone had the guts to mess with them at this point. It'd be the obvious thing for a nearby nation to try to stay on their friendly side. No wonder none of their visitors were stupid enough to squabble with any other monsters within their territory.
Still, dealing with any species, regardless of what they look like? The dwarves must be reasonable people. Maybe I could find what I am looking for there.