The meeting remained quiet for several moments after Charles closed the Journal of Kings.
Most of the younger children still glanced nervously toward one another, while the older children simply lowered their heads in thought.
Charles rested both hands on the table.
"I've been thinking about this for a while."
Everyone looked toward him.
"The previous kings all recorded the sounds."
"They searched."
"They found nothing."
He paused.
"But..."
"They didn't have as many people as we do now."
A few children straightened in their seats.
"They also didn't have this many tunnels."
Charles stood from his wooden throne and walked toward the large hand-drawn map hanging on the wall.
The map had changed considerably over the past few months. New passages had been added in charcoal, abandoned storage rooms had been marked, and several sections now carried small notes written by different children.
He pointed toward the eastern side.
"The night watch always reports the sounds from this direction."
His finger slowly traced several branching tunnels.
"But nobody knows exactly where they come from."
He turned back toward the room.
"So..."
"We're going to find out."
The room erupted into whispers.
"The guard division."
Several children wearing wooden helmets immediately stood.
"I want every tunnel within the fortress searched."
"Every storage room."
"Every abandoned workshop."
"Every collapsed hallway."
"If something looks strange..."
"Report it."
One of the older guards raised his hand.
"What about the deeper tunnels?"
Charles nodded.
"Take the older children only."
"If anything looks dangerous..."
"Turn around."
"We're looking for clues."
"Not trouble."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The children immediately rushed from the hall.
---
Several hours later.
The meeting had long since ended.
Most of the children had already returned to their usual duties when hurried footsteps echoed through the fortress.
"Your Majesty!"
A young guard burst through the entrance, breathing heavily.
Charles immediately stood.
"What happened?"
"We found something!"
The room instantly became quiet.
"Where?"
"The eastern tunnels."
"The collapsed section."
"We found a dead end."
Charles frowned.
"A dead end?"
The guard nodded repeatedly.
"It looks natural..."
"...but there was a cart."
"A cart?"
"An old mining cart."
"It was broken."
"Half buried beneath the rocks."
Several children exchanged surprised looks.
Charles stepped forward.
"What was inside?"
The guard swallowed.
"...Ingots."
Silence.
"Lots of them."
"They don't look like iron."
"They don't look like steel either."
"I've never seen metal like that before."
Charles immediately turned.
"Ash."
Every eye followed.
I blinked.
"...Me?"
Charles nodded.
"You know the most about metal."
"Can you tell us what they are?"
I looked around the room before slowly standing.
"...I can try."
---
The report spread through the valley faster than any of us expected.
By the time Charles, the night watch, and several of the older children reached the eastern tunnels, nearly half the kingdom had gathered behind them.
"Stay back," Charles ordered. "Only the guards and the older children go any farther."
The younger children reluctantly remained behind as the rest of us continued deeper into the mountain.
The familiar tunnels gradually changed.
The neat stone pathways surrounding the valley slowly disappeared, replaced by rough passages that looked as though they had not been touched for centuries.
Every so often, another tunnel branched away into the darkness.
None of them remained open.
Some had collapsed naturally beneath piles of rock.
Others had been deliberately sealed with stacked stones and heavy wooden beams that had long since begun to rot.
It was almost as if someone had gone through the mountain one tunnel at a time...
...making sure nothing could pass.
I quietly counted them as we walked.
One.
Three.
Seven.
More than a dozen blocked passages.
Each leading somewhere deeper beneath the mountain.
Nobody spoke.
Even the usually energetic children had fallen silent.
Eventually, the passage narrowed before opening into a small cavern.
"There."
One of the guards pointed ahead.
Against the far wall rested an old wooden cart.
Or at least...
What remained of one.
One wheel had completely broken away, leaving the cart tilted against the stone. The wood had rotted in several places, and rust covered every exposed piece of iron. Judging by its condition, it had likely been sitting there for hundreds of years.
"So this is what you found."
Charles slowly approached.
The children gathered around the cart, curiosity quickly replacing their earlier unease.
Most of its contents had long since been buried beneath dust and loose stones.
A few broken tools.
Several cracked crates.
Fragments of old leather sacks.
And...
Metal.
Lots of metal.
One of the guards carefully lifted the first ingot from the cart.
"I've never seen anything this color before."
He handed it to Charles.
The ingot carried a warm reddish-orange hue unlike the gray steel everyone was familiar with.
It wasn't rust.
The color seemed natural.
Another child reached into the cart and pulled out a second one.
"This one's different."
Unlike the first, this ingot was pale silver with only the faintest hint of yellow.
Smooth.
Dense.
Completely unfamiliar.
More hands reached into the cart.
One after another, strange ingots were laid across the stone floor.
Some resembled ordinary steel.
Others looked nothing like any metal the children had ever seen.
Then my eyes stopped on a familiar piece.
"...Wait."
I knelt beside the cart.
Half buried beneath a broken plank lay a dull silver ingot.
Its color...
Its texture...
Even the faint grain running across its surface...
It looked almost identical to the mysterious ingots recently discovered beneath the Ox Forge.
"...Impossible."
Before I could think further, something else caught my attention.
Near the bottom of the cart rested another reddish-orange ingot.
At first glance, it looked similar to the first one.
Then I noticed it.
Faint bluish crystals ran through the metal like delicate veins trapped beneath its surface.
They shimmered softly whenever the light struck them.
"..."
I carefully lifted it from the cart.
It was heavier than it looked.
Cool to the touch.
Unlike anything I had ever seen.
For a long moment...
Nobody spoke.
Even the children sensed that they were looking at something that did not belong to their time.
---
The children gathered around the old cart as I carefully examined each ingot one by one.
None of them spoke.
They simply watched as I turned the unfamiliar metals over in my hands.
I picked up the reddish-orange ingot first.
"This one..."
I paused for a moment.
"...I think it's copper."
Several children tilted their heads.
"Copper?"
I nodded.
"It's softer than iron, easier to shape, and naturally resists rust. It isn't very useful for making weapons, but it's an excellent material for making tools, containers, and... other things."
I stopped myself before saying too much.
The children simply nodded despite not fully understanding.
I reached for the pale silver ingot next.
"This one should be nickel."
Again, confused faces greeted me.
"It doesn't rust easily, and it's much harder than copper. If my guess is right, it can also be mixed with other metals to make them stronger."
Charles crossed his arms.
"So... these aren't ordinary metals?"
"They're ordinary."
I looked around at everyone.
"Just... not ordinary here."
My eyes shifted toward the dull silver ingot resting beside the others.
"This one..."
I picked it up carefully.
"...I've seen something almost identical before."
Several children immediately looked at me.
"Where?"
"The Ox Forge."
Charles blinked.
"The adults found ingots that looked almost exactly like this a few months ago."
"I don't know what it's made from."
"Neither do they."
"But they've been studying it ever since."
A murmur spread through the room.
If the adults didn't know...
Then whatever they had found had to be important.
My gaze slowly drifted toward the final ingot.
The reddish-orange one threaded with strange blue veins.
I remained silent.
"...Ash?"
Charles looked at me curiously.
"What about that one?"
I gently turned the ingot over in my hands.
The faint blue veins shimmered beneath the dusty surface.
"..."
"I don't know."
That wasn't entirely true.
I knew what the base metal probably was.
But those blue veins...
Those were unlike anything I had ever seen.
"I've never seen anything like this before."
Carefully, I placed the ingot back onto the cart.
Then something else crossed my mind.
"...Actually."
Everyone looked toward me.
"There might be another explanation."
Charles raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
I looked toward the blocked tunnels surrounding the cavern.
"Over the past few months, I've been reading every history book I could find in the village library."
"There was something that kept bothering me."
"The books all tell the same story."
"The village has around five hundred years of recorded history."
Several children nodded.
"I've heard that too."
"But..."
I pointed toward the abandoned cart.
"The Ox Forge is believed to be much older than that."
"Over a thousand years."
"Maybe even two thousand."
I looked around the cavern.
"So where did the rest of the history go?"
Silence.
"If the forge existed..."
"...then people lived here."
"If people lived here..."
"...they used metal."
I rested a hand on the cart.
"And yet..."
"...nobody remembers making these."
The children slowly looked at the unfamiliar ingots once more.
My voice grew quieter.
"I think..."
"...a large part of ancient dwarven civilization has simply been forgotten."
The words lingered in the air.
Nobody argued.
Because for the first time...
They were standing in front of proof.
An abandoned cart.
Filled with metals that no one living recognized.
---
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Every child stared at the collection of unfamiliar ingots resting inside the broken cart.
Charles was the first to break the silence.
"If these really came from deeper within the mountain..."
He slowly looked toward the blocked tunnels surrounding the cavern.
"...then there might be more."
The older children followed his gaze.
One of the guards hesitated.
"But... the passages are collapsed."
Charles nodded.
"They are."
He walked toward one of the blocked tunnels and rested his hand against the weathered stone.
"The question is..."
"Were they collapsed..."
"...or were they sealed?"
The room fell silent once more.
No one knew the answer.
Charles turned back toward everyone.
"We're not rushing this."
He pointed toward the blocked passages.
"From today onward, we're starting an excavation project."
Several children immediately exchanged excited looks.
"The younger children will stay in the valley."
"They'll continue their usual work."
He then looked toward the oldest boys and girls gathered in the cavern.
"The excavation team will only consist of those close to graduation."
Every child understood what he meant.
Children left Metal Veil once they reached ten years old.
They were the oldest.
The strongest.
And the ones best suited for heavy work.
Charles continued.
"The guards will secure the area."
"The builders will inspect the tunnel supports before anyone starts digging."
"The blacksmith apprentices will inspect every tool before and after each day's work."
His eyes eventually settled on me.
"Ash."
I looked up.
"I'd like you to examine every piece of metal we recover."
I nodded.
"I'll do my best."
Charles smiled before looking around the cavern one last time.
"We're not looking for treasure."
"We're looking for answers."
No one laughed.
The excitement that had filled the room only moments earlier slowly transformed into determination.
The children carefully loaded the unfamiliar ingots back onto the old cart, making sure none of them were damaged during the journey home. Even the strange reddish-orange ingot threaded with blue veins was wrapped in cloth before being placed at the very center of the pile.
The broken cart itself was beyond saving, so the usable ingots were transferred onto another cart brought from the valley.
As the group slowly made its way back through the tunnels, the atmosphere felt different.
It was no longer a simple patrol.
Nor was it another adventure imagined by children pretending to be explorers.
For the first time in the history of their little kingdom...
Metal Veil had begun its first official excavation.
---
By the time everyone returned from the eastern tunnels, the evening bell had already echoed throughout Metal Veil.
One by one, lanterns hanging along the stone streets were lit, filling the underground kingdom with a warm amber glow. The orange light danced across the carved stone walls while hundreds of tiny fireflies drifted lazily through the air, weaving between rooftops and wooden bridges as though they belonged there.
The kingdom felt even livelier than it had that morning.
The central square was already packed with children.
The monthly meeting had officially ended, and with it came everyone's favorite part of the month.
Market night.
Wooden stalls quickly filled the streets as children proudly displayed everything they had made over the past several weeks. Carved wooden toys, woven bracelets, polished stones, mushrooms, herbs, handmade clothes, cooking utensils, and countless little crafts covered nearly every table.
Laughter echoed throughout the tunnels.
Children ran from stall to stall, carefully counting the small wooden tokens they carried inside little cloth pouches tied around their waists.
Unlike the dwarven village above, Metal Veil had no use for coins.
Instead, the kingdom used its own system.
Credits.
Every child earned them by contributing to the kingdom.
The guards received credits after completing their patrols.
The builders earned theirs repairing homes and reinforcing tunnels.
The hunters and gatherers received theirs after bringing back food and supplies.
The cooks, cleaners, water carriers, healers, and blacksmith apprentices all received their share at the end of each month.
It wasn't about becoming rich.
It was simply Charles' way of making sure everyone felt that their work mattered.
"Ash!"
I turned just in time to see Borin waving at me from one of the food stalls.
"We're buying dinner!"
"Come on!"
Nearby, Durgan proudly showed off a new leather apron he had traded for only moments earlier, while Mira argued with a merchant over whether a polished crystal was really worth six credits.
"You call that polished?"
"It still has scratches!"
"They're decorative scratches!"
The surrounding children burst into laughter.
Not far away, several younger children chased glowing fireflies through the streets, their laughter echoing between the stone buildings.
For once...
Nobody was pretending to be guards.
Nobody was pretending to be builders.
Nobody was pretending to be blacksmiths.
They were simply children enjoying the kingdom they had built together.
I accepted a bowl of mushroom stew from Borin before sitting beside the others near the edge of the square.
The warm light from the lanterns reflected across the stone streets while the tiny fireflies continued drifting overhead like countless little stars trapped beneath the mountain.
I quietly looked around.
Children laughing.
Children trading.
Children celebrating another peaceful month.
It was hard to believe that this entire kingdom existed beneath the feet of the adults living above.
No one knew.
No one would have believed it even if they were told.
I smiled to myself.
Somewhere beyond the walls of Metal Veil, an ancient mystery waited beneath the mountain.
But tonight...
That mystery could wait.
Tonight was for the kingdom.
---
The rest of my overnight stay passed more peacefully than I expected.
After returning from the eastern tunnels, the excitement surrounding the discovery quickly spread throughout the kingdom. Every child wanted to hear the story of the ancient cart and the strange ingots we had found, while the older children were already discussing how they would begin clearing the collapsed passage. Even King Charles seemed unusually excited, spending most of the evening sketching plans with the builders and the guards.
As for me, I decided to leave tomorrow's work for tomorrow.
The rest of the evening was spent doing what I originally came here for.
Playing.
Together with Borin, Durgan, Mira, Toren, Nia, Grom, and the rest of the children, I wandered through the streets of Metal Veil, stopping by nearly every stall that had opened for the monthly market. Children proudly exchanged the credits they had earned throughout the month for handmade crafts, polished stones, small toys, carved wooden animals, and all sorts of little treasures that only children could truly appreciate. Others challenged each other to games of strength or races through the narrow streets, while several musicians somehow managed to gather enough children to start an impromptu celebration in the middle of the square.
Without realizing it, I spent the entire evening laughing alongside everyone else.
For a little while, I forgot about mysterious ingots, forgotten civilizations, and ancient tunnels.
I was simply another child enjoying the kingdom hidden beneath the mountain.
---
The following morning arrived far too quickly.
After breakfast with everyone in the square, I said my goodbyes and began making my way back toward the valley before noon, just as I had promised.
Ashtir was already waiting near the entrance when I arrived.
"There you are."
"I told you I'd make it back."
He crossed his arms and looked me over from head to toe, checking for bruises, cuts, or burn marks with the careful eyes of a father who had been worried all morning.
"Hahaha... looks like you kept your promise."
"I did."
"You even made it early."
"I didn't want Mama to worry."
Ashtir laughed loudly before placing a large hand on my head.
"Smart answer."
The walk back home felt unusually light.
Sera had already prepared lunch by the time we arrived, and before either of them could ask, I had already started talking about everything that happened during my stay. I told them about the market, the blacksmith apprentices, the repaired tools, and the excitement surrounding the excavation. Naturally, I left out the location of Metal Veil and anything that might reveal the children's secret kingdom.
Sera quietly smiled as she listened.
"It sounds like you had a wonderful time."
"I did."
I hesitated for a moment before looking at both of them.
"Can I stay there again next time?"
Ashtir and Sera exchanged the same familiar glance they always did whenever I asked for something unreasonable.
This time, however, neither of them refused.
"As long as you continue behaving yourself," Ashtir replied, "and you're standing in the valley before noon like you promised today, I don't mind letting you stay there every now and then."
Sera nodded in agreement.
"Your studies come first."
"And if your father ever has to come looking for you..."
She smiled gently.
"...the overnight trips will stop."
"I promise."
She reached over and straightened my messy hair before smiling.
"Then we'll trust you."
---
Several weeks passed.
The excavation beneath the mountain became the largest project Metal Veil had ever undertaken. Every weekend, more of the collapsed passage disappeared as the older children worked tirelessly alongside the builders, carefully clearing loose stone while reinforcing the tunnel behind them to prevent another collapse. It was slow work, but every visit revealed a little more of whatever had been hidden beyond the blockage.
By the time I returned once again, nearly all of the rubble had been removed.
Only a narrow wall of stone remained.
"We're through!"
The shout echoed throughout the tunnel, followed almost immediately by loud cheers from the excavation team.
King Charles arrived only moments later with several members of the guard, and after confirming that the tunnel was stable enough to enter, he looked toward me with an excited grin.
"Come on."
"I think we should all see this together."
The opening led into another ancient passage, noticeably wider than the tunnels surrounding Metal Veil. Dust covered every surface, and the air carried the stale scent of a place that had remained sealed for centuries. As we continued forward, more abandoned mining carts gradually appeared along both sides of the passage. Most had collapsed under their own weight, but several still contained neatly stacked ingots that looked almost untouched by time.
I immediately recognized some of them.
The reddish-orange ingots.
The pale silver ingots.
Several of the mysterious silver ingots identical to those recently discovered beneath the Ox Forge.
Whoever had worked here had transported an enormous amount of metal before the tunnels were sealed.
The passage eventually widened into a massive underground chamber.
Judging by its size, it should have been an important part of the ancient complex, yet the room was strangely empty. There were no furnaces, no workshops, and no signs that anyone had actually lived there. Aside from the abandoned carts scattered throughout the chamber, the only things left behind were broken equipment and a silence that had probably remained undisturbed for hundreds of years.
As we spread out to investigate, more remnants of the past slowly emerged from beneath the dust.
A broken sword rested near one of the carts, its blade snapped cleanly in half. Although centuries had passed, the strange markings engraved along the remaining steel were still clearly visible.
Not far away lay fragments of armor.
A cracked shoulder plate.
A shattered gauntlet.
Pieces of chainmail.
Each carried the same unfamiliar engravings.
The further we explored, the more unsettling the chamber became.
What I initially believed to be discarded armor was something else entirely.
Beneath nearly every damaged breastplate rested the skeletal remains of a dwarf. Some still clutched broken weapons, while others lay slumped against the walls as though they had made one final attempt to stand before collapsing where they remained to this day.
No one spoke.
The excitement from discovering the chamber had quietly disappeared.
This wasn't an abandoned warehouse.
It was a grave.
As my eyes wandered across the chamber one final time, something white caught my attention near the far wall.
Half buried beneath layers of dust and broken stone rested a cracked white mask.
Unlike the armor surrounding it, the mask had been carefully crafted. Its smooth surface was painted with strange symbols that I had never seen before. A teardrop, a star, a square, a sun, and several other unfamiliar shapes were arranged across its face in a pattern that almost looked ceremonial.
A deep crack ran across the center, splitting the mask nearly in half.
Even broken...
Even buried for what could have been hundreds of years...
Something about it felt disturbingly out of place.
It wasn't the kind of object that simply belonged to a fallen soldier.
It felt as though someone had deliberately left it behind.