525 Tunnels Of Culture

We entered the meeting hall building that Balin had pointed out to us earlier.

If you were expecting some kind of grand hall or something, you'd be disappointed because it had a really simple interior.

When we entered, there was just a simple entryway with a clerk at one of the tables and another room with a large table and several chairs arranged around it.

The tunnel entrance was a straight path down from the entrance and there was just a single guard seated beside it.

The decorations and materials used for the interior was also just simple stone, almost all of them being made with practicality in mind instead of being decorative.

Only thing that stood out to be was the fact that there was a lot of space, like the pathways were especially big and wide, making it look like it was made for something bigger to move through them.

The clerk, another male Rejmar whose face was half covered with a scraggly brown beard, raised an eyebrow at our entry.

"Balin? What are you bringing them here for? If you're looking for the chief, he's outside talking to the new Adventurers."

"Oh, nah. They want to see our tunnels."

"Haaa? Really? Do they want some new expansions or something?"

"Nah, they're just curious about them."

The clerk gave us a weird look, like we had just asked to see some boring old tunnels.

… On hindsight… They really could just be some boring old tunnels…

I don't know, alright? He made it sound like there's some kind of cultural or historical significance to them that I just got curious about it! And it doesn't hurt to just take a look at it, right?

Balin continued leading us towards the tunnels and the guard standing at the entrance simply raised an eyebrow at us but said nothing as we passed by. He simply checked a metallic card that Balin showed him before letting us through.

I guess it must be some sort of identification pass or something?

Regardless, we stepped into the tunnels and…

Err… Well… I'm not sure how to say this but… I was honestly expecting just some kind of cave system with jagged walls that were mined out of the stone to form the tunnels.

Instead, what we saw was a giant passageway lit up with Mana Crystals infused with light at set intervals down the tunnel. The floor and walls of the tunnel were even and flat instead of jagged and I realised that the walls were also decorated with various carvings on their surface.

In some parts, there were carvings of figures and scenery while other parts showed words chiselled in neat rows on the wall.

"What do you think? Anything that catches your eye?" Balin grinned.

"What do these mean?" I asked, feeling a sense of wonder.

He raised an eyebrow at me, "Oh? I guess I should have expected the possibility that you don't know about this. We have a culture here where we would decorate the walls of our tunnels with art like this. Each of the carvings you see here is done by a Rejmar who took part in the construction of this tunnel."

"I see… Is there any cultural or historical significance to these carvings?"

"Well, that would depend on the subject of these carvings. But most of the time, these carvings are simply artistic. When a Rejmar creates a work of art that is recognised by everyone, the tunnel will be named after them. It's considered quite an honour too."

"Oh~ That's cool~"

I went up to the walls and started inspecting one of the carvings, this one seem to be portraying a Rejmar standing over some kind of slain monster.

"Ah, that's made by me by the way, I killed that monster while we were building this tunnel. What do you think?" Balin boasted, striking a pose.

"It's nice," I complimented honestly.

My companions also gathered around the carving to inspect it alongside me.

Odeta scoffed, "Your muscles are too big"

"That monster is supposed to be a Cavern Spider isn't it? You gave it one eye too many," Lisa commented.

'I think it's nice?' Delmare wrote shyly.

Katsuki remained silent, not because she had no comment but because she didn't even bother to go and look and stayed by my side.

Balin sank to his knees after hearing their words in despair, "Uggh… You girls don't have to be that ruthless…"

I patted him on the back, "I still think it looks nice though…"

He recovered just as quickly as he had collapsed, "Bwahahaha! That's enough for me! Do you want to take a look at the other carvings?"

I nodded, going down the passageway to look at the next piece of art.

Then I stopped and my eyes widened at what I saw.

It was a carving that showed several boxes with each box containing a scene or character within them. If you looked at them from right to left, you would realise that it told a story.

Someone carved a manga here… Waddafak.

"Who made this?" I asked, pointing at the manga carving.

Balin took a moment to look at it before scratching his head, "Ehh… I'm not sure about this one but I will say that these kinds of carvings have been trending lately. I think they're called 'oneshots' or something? They basically tell a short story through these pictures."

I looked down the passageway and sure enough, I found several more of these of various different stories decorating the walls.

"Oh, who started it?"

He shrugged, "I don't really know, but I heard it's supposedly someone who learned this from outside and brought it back here. I never really cared much for it though."

Ah… So this means that the people carving these might not be an Off-Worlder but simply influenced by one. Though I have a feeling that some of them might also be Off-Worlders too given the art style of these carvings.

Well, it's not like I'm specifically looking for them anyway so I don't really care unless they come and cause trouble with me.

I noticed Delmare was looking at the carving quite intensely as though she was trying to uncover some hidden meaning behind it. She must be thinking that this could be something new that could try drawing in her free time.

I already figured that the story is simply about a Rejmar finding some treasure in a Dungeon and going back home as a rich man so I moved to the next piece carved on the wall.

This one seemed to be a diary or something as it was a recount of the author's experience in excavating the tunnel. It was still interesting since I suspect this acted like a record of how the tunnel came to be told from the perspective of one of the miners.

For this one in particular, it was recorded that this place was first planned to be made with the expectation of trading with the nearby Magridars. That was later expanded when our Family came along and took over the leadership of one of the villages.

The author of this recorded that they were sceptical about us at first but he 'came to learn the beauty of maids' and that he is 'now a believer of maid supremacy'.

…

I'm not gonna comment on that… Because it's already obvious that maids are supreme of course! Just to prove that point…

"Katsuki~"

My Inugami maid perked up, her ears and tails twitching at being called, "Yes, Mistress?"

I beckoned for her to come closer and she somehow already knew what I wanted, getting to within arms length of me before turning around to show me her tail that she had to force to stop wagging.

I went ahead to start fluffing it, even burying my face in it and enjoying the absolute softness of it.

She tried to stiffen her voice but I could tell from the slight twitches of her tail that she was enjoying it.

As for me… I also thoroughly enjoyed the softness of her tail before finally letting go.

Katsuki straightened herself before turning back to bow to me, "Thank you very much, Mistress."

No, no~ Thank you, Katsuki~

I then realised that Lisa had also been unusually quiet all this while. I was actually half expecting her to come up to me and request the same treatment after I started my mofu mofu with Katsuki.

I found the Infrid staring intently at another carving of the wall, this one also the same style as a manga.

Curious why she was so focused on it, I went to her side to look at what this particular one was about.

When I approached her though, Lisa immediately slipped her fingers to entwine with mine while leaning her head on my shoulder.

"Hey Aster… Do you think we can do that?"

I looked at the carving and found out that it was a story of a girl getting her toes sucked by her lover.

… Err… I'm definitely guessing that this was carved by some Off-Worlder with a foot fetish… Definitely… Yep… No way a local would do that… I think?

I was about to say something until I realised Lisa was looking at me with anticipation clear in her eyes. She really wanted to do that huh…

"Later… Ok?" I promised her.

She let out a yelp of joy before hugging me tightly.

Seriously… They could have made any kind of art they wanted and they just had to settle for such things to carve on the walls… I'm not even going to be surprised if I find some hentai later…