The Dwarven Crafter

by Kugane Maruyama

“Until about five years ago, there were dwarves who lived here, right? So what’s with all this? Did something happen? And come on, I think it’s about time to show yourself already.”

  The dwarf inched away, but Aura’s eyes followed his movements.

  “Hmm. It seems like you can see me.”

  The dwarf returned his cloak to the way it was before. That must have canceled the effects of the magic. Ainz found it amusing because from his perspective, absolutely nothing had changed.

  “Okay, so I’ll start at the beginning. Nice to meet you. I’m Aura Bella Fiora from the Nation of Darkness, Ainz Ooal Gown.”

  “Nation of Darkness? Sorry. I’m afraid I haven’t heard of it. Is that the dark elf country? Whereabouts is it? Oh, oops. I’m Gondo Firebeard of the Dwarf Kingdom. Pleased to meet you.”

  Aura held out a hand. Gondo recognized the gesture for what it was, so he wiped the dirt off his own, and they shook.

  That seemed good. Ainz nodded emphatically as he watched, unknowable.

  “Do you mind if I just speak casually instead of being all formal?”

  “Sure! I was about to ask the same thing. I’m just an ordinary person, you know? If you were someone very important, I would only be able to hold my tongue.”

  Gondo smiled and Aura grinned in turn.

  “Then, back to my questions. Where did all the dwarves who used to live here go?”

  “Right. Three years ago, we moved to a new city. Was there something you needed?”

  “Yeah—well, sort of. I have a lizardman with me who lived here for a short time, so I want to tell him.”

  “A lizardman? From five years ago?” Gondo thought for a moment and then pounded his palm. “Oh yeah! I didn’t meet him, but I heard about him. He was the first lizardman to ever visit us, so everyone talked about him. One of his arms was extra big or something.”

  “Yes! Him!”

  Gondo kept saying, “I see, I see.” It was clear that his guard was dropping.

  “So it seems like the dwarves who knew the lizardman moved. Could you tell me where they went?”

  “Well, I don’t mind telling you, but… As far as I know, dark elves don’t live beneath the surface. Are you sure you can get there on your own if I just tell you the underground route?”

  “I think so, but if possible, I’d prefer a route on the surface.”

  Gondo’s hairy face frowned. “Mmmph. Sorry, but I rarely go to the surface. I’m not sure I could tell you how to get to Fehu Jura—the new city—that way. It would be more of a vague explanation, like however many miles to the north.”

  “That would be fine, too. Really, I wish you could guide us there… Is that too much to ask? We can pay you.”

  “That’s a tempting offer. But you said it’s you and a lizardman—you came here on your own? You’re not an adult yet, right? How many people are with you?”

  “It’s a fair number. We didn’t want to bother you with so many, so they’re waiting at the entrance to the tunnel.”

  “At the entrance…? Hmm?” Gondo sank into thought, as if something was bothering him. But it was only for a moment. Then he nodded and continued. “I see. That’s a relief. But it wasn’t a very smart idea to traverse this tunnel alone. You’re not a race of the earth, so you might not know, but there are monsters who can swim through the dirt. This isn’t the kind of place you can pass through safely on your own. Well, if you have certain items like I do, it’s a different story, but…” He flicked his eyes over Aura, probably to check if she had a magic item on her. “Now then, I need to tell your companions that they should be ashamed of sending a child into the tunnel alone.” Gondo turned his back to her and tossed his ore into a sack along with his tools.

  The leather sack didn’t seem to fill up despite the new contents. It had to be a magic item. Then the dwarf picked up the lantern and raised its shutter.

  A strange blue—and magic—light illuminated the tunnel. The two had been chatting right up until this very moment in pitch-black darkness.

  “Okay, shall we? You seem to be able to see in the dark, but it’s probably better to have light, right? …Although this makes it easier for monsters to spot us, so I can’t really recommend it. Do you have a way to escape if a monster shows up? We don’t get them often in these parts, but that doesn’t mean it never happens.”

  Ainz nodded in satisfaction. This dwarf didn’t know Aura’s strength and was acting with an attitude just right for someone a bit older than her. Personally, though, Ainz didn’t think he was worried enough. He should have been asking questions about a lot of other things, too.

  “I’m okay. If I was alone, I could run away no problem. But I’m not actually alone.”

  Aura glanced in Ainz’s direction but a little bit off to the side of where he actually stood.

  “Hmm? Oh, I see. Well, I have my cloak, so you can run off without me, if need be. But some monsters who live inside the soil can track using vibrations. If we encounter one of them, I’ll tell you, so don’t move.” He hoisted his bag up onto his shoulder with a heave-ho. “Ready to go, then?”

  Gondo took point, leading Aura and unknowable Ainz along.

  “I heard you said this place isn’t safe, but didn’t it used to be a dwarf city? Did you run away because of something dangerous?”

  “Not this city, but up in the northeast—that’s where capital Fehu Jura is—we’ve been seeing kuagoa around. It would have been horrible if all our cities got taken out one by one, so we abandoned this one, Fehu Raido, temporarily.”

  “Kuagoa? Is that a race?”

  “Yes, like us, they’re creatures of the earth, but…they’re a bother. We get along so poorly with them that whenever we meet, it turns into a fight to the death.”

  As they walked through the tunnel, Gondo explained at length about what kind of race the kuagoa were—probably in part as a warning to Aura.

  First, in terms of appearance, they were a subhuman race that resembled moles walking upright on two feet. Their average height was four and a half feet, and their average weight was a bit over a hundred and fifty pounds, giving them a short and stout physique.

  Many of them had dark-brown fur, with the next most common being black and then plain brown. Any with blue or red, some special color, were apparently extra strong.

  Though they dwelled underground and almost never ventured anywhere there was light, they had better vision than humans.

  Their civilization was not particularly developed, either the same or lower than that of the lizardmen. They didn’t make weapons or armor. The reason for that was apparently that their natural bodies—equipped with claws and fur—were more effective than shabbily made gear.

  For starters, their body hair boasted the toughness of metal armor, and it could withstand attacks from metal weapons. Apparently, the resistance was determined by the amount of precious metals eaten during their youth. It could also be ascertained from the color of the fur.

  In Yggdrasil terms, these kuagoa probably had a racial skill that protected them from metal weapons. Perhaps it was called something like Metal Weapon Resistance. The question was how resistant. Ainz hardly guessed they could have balance-breaking levels of resistance, but it would be foolish not to confirm.

  They had long claws like armadillos or anteaters, and it was said they could pierce steel.

  “I think I might’ve found footprints earlier that they could’ve made.”

  Gondo stopped in his tracks and turned around. “What?! Are they trying to make this place their lair, too? Like the other spot?”

  “The other spot…? In any case, they don’t seem to be calling this place home yet. It was more like they were passing through or simply investigating. But if you were going to abandon this city, wouldn’t it have been better to demolish it?”

  “That’s true, but we didn’t intend to leave forever. Once our military was a bit more established, the plan was to come back. I mean, there’s still ore left, like where I was digging earlie
r.”

  “Hmm.”

  The two walked on in silence. It was probably a natural lull in the conversation, but they had run out of things that needed to be discussed immediately. Since he had already heard what he wanted to know, Ainz decided to show himself. He felt it might be important to share some information about their party before they exited the tunnel and Gondo suddenly found himself surrounded by undead.

  “Okay, I guess it’s about time to introduce myself,” Ainz said, but of course, he still had Perfect Unknowable activated. His voice didn’t reach the other two. He felt mildly embarrassed and then canceled the spell.

  Perhaps sensing Ainz’s newly unveiled presence behind Aura, Gondo turned around and his eyes grew huge. His expression changed a surprising number of times in the span of a single moment: bewilderment, shock, fear, confusion, and then—

  “Gehhhhhhhgh!”

  Letting out such a wild scream that Ainz flinched, Gondo clamped onto Aura’s hand.

  “A m-monster! R-run away! Go!”

  But there was no way Aura would run. She knew who was there.

  “Y-you’re not going to run?!”

  Gondo’s feet couldn’t move. It was like he was chained to a boulder.

  “Y-you’re so heavy! What’s wrong? Did it do something to you?”

  “Don’t panic… Gondo.”

  When Ainz spoke to him, Gondo stared at him in astonishment, trembling. “H-how do you know my name?! Did you read my mind?! Or is it magic?!”

  Maybe I should have worn the mask, thought Ainz. He spoke quietly so as not to agitate the dwarf any further. “Calm down. I was listening to your conversation. My name is Ainz Ooal Gown, and I am the King of Darkness—sovereign of the Nation of Darkness.”

  Gondo’s expression changed several times again, and he looked back and forth between Aura and Ainz. “The N-Nation of Darkness? I thought that was the country of the dark elves.”

  “No. It’s a country I rule that’s home to a variety of different races.”

  “…Eh? That can’t be true.” Gondo braced himself as he said it, but his eyes were guarded and doubtful. “You’re an undead, right…? And that’s not a mask, yeah? That makes you an undead…the ones who hate the living and hunt them down, no?”

  “Ummm, actually it’s just as Lord Ainz said. We haven’t lied at all. I’m a dark elf, and it’s true that the lizardman we talked about is with us. And Lord Ainz has been with me ever since you and I met. I even told you I wasn’t alone.”

  “What? So I didn’t mishear you? But…” Gondo gulped and took a few deep breaths before continuing with a determined look on his face. “Could it be, Your Majesty—it’s ‘Your Majesty,’ right? Uh, were you once a dark elf, King of Darkness?”

  It was a question Ainz had never considered. Was he an undead human? Ainz thought for a moment and then explained his best guess. “No, I was born…although I’m not sure this is the right way to put it…as an undead. Well, don’t be frightened. There are good and bad humans, dwarves, and elves, right? In the same way, some undead hate the living and some are friendly with them. It goes without saying that I’m the latter type.”

  “B-but a friendly undead makes about as much sense as a good-natured demon.”

  Hey, this guy is pretty sharp, thought Ainz as he shrugged. “Hmm. I know both an angel who fell into darkness and a demon who yearns for the light.”

  The demon who yearned for the light was an NPC in Yggdrasil. His name was Mephistopheles. He was famous for his constantly self-contradictory comments about good-natured beings and for being friendly and intelligent despite his horrifying appearance. Offering every sort of quest, from the low-hanging to the high-level, Mephistopheles was a game fixture who was second in popularity only to the dark young.

  “Demons like that exist?”

  Gondo was shocked, but Ainz merely shrugged. “I understand why you’re wary. But I hope you’ll understand this if nothing else: I mean you no harm. All right, Aura, let him go.”

  “Yes, Lord Ainz.”

  At some point it wasn’t Gondo holding Aura’s hand but Aura holding his—of course, their purposes for doing so were different.

  When she released him, he backed up only a little; he no longer seemed liable to bolt at full speed.

  How reasonable of him, Ainz marveled. He had figured there was a chance the dwarf would allow his instincts to get the better of him and run away. If that came to pass, the outcome wouldn’t have been very good for Gondo, but given how things were at the moment, it was possible to negotiate.

  “Now then, I’m going to say it again. I understand why you’re wary, but I—we have no intention of doing you any harm. On the contrary, we’d like to get along.”

  Gondo didn’t reply. He was still peering at them with suspicion.

  “What I mean is, I’d like my country and the dwarf country to sign a treaty of friendship. That’s another reason I don’t want to harm anyone who lives in the dwarf country.”

  “What’s a treaty of friendship?”

  “…Sorry, but I probably shouldn’t have a national politics discussion with someone who doesn’t represent the government… What do you think?”

  “Hrmm. That makes— Err, it’s as Your Majesty—”

  “Don’t worry. I don’t mind how you talk. Just don’t clam up,” said Ainz gently, and Gondo smiled for the first time since the king had revealed himself.

  “Thank you—Your Majesty. Then, if what this gi—young lady…says is true, then is the reason you want to go to the city the same as hers?”

  “That’s right. But, Gondo, why don’t we leave this tunnel first? You should probably hear from the lizardman we have with us. The one you heard rumors of. And we also have the kuagoa to worry about.”

  “Hrm…” Gondo glanced at Aura.

  Aura smiled at him as if to say, What’s up?

  “All right. The young lady seems to trust you. I know for sure now that you’re different from normal undead.”

  Gondo led the way, and Ainz and Aura followed.

  “Oh. There’s something I wanted to ask, if you don’t mind?”

  “What’s that?” Gondo peered over his shoulder as Ainz asked his question.

  “I’d like to learn about runes.”

  Gondo’s forehead crinkled, and his eyebrows slanted abruptly. “What do you want to know about them?”

  He was clearly upset.

  Earlier Ainz had detected confusion and fear while they were talking, but not anger. That had completely changed with this one question. Did he have some bad memories tied to runes? Or was it because Ainz brought up dwarven technology?

  Can I ask him about this or not? Ainz wasn’t sure.

  This was the first dwarf he had ever met. He didn’t want to be offensive right off the bat. And if he could figure out why Gondo was angry, it could work to his advantage in later negotiations with the country—as long as this wasn’t merely an expression of one dwarf’s personal feelings on the subject.

  Calmly considering that he could dispose of Gondo, Ainz spoke of all the runes he knew. Most of it he had learned from Tabula Smaragdina.

  That said, he didn’t know much. His knowledge consisted mostly of how many there were, what kinds existed, and other very general concepts.

  Since he hadn’t memorized the meaning of each character, he could describe them only in vague terms.

  But the reaction was dramatic.

  Gondo stopped in his tracks and turned around.

  His face was crinkled in a different way from before. Perhaps it was excitement?

  “Who…are you…? I mean…the King of Darkness… A long-lived undead… Our lost knowledge…”

  Ainz could hear him muttering to himself. It didn’t seem to be on purpose but something the dwarf did unconsciously.

  Aura was impatient and wanted to keep moving, but Ainz stopped her. He figured it would be worth letting Gondo think.

  Eventually he seemed to have arrived at some sort of answer
and fixed his eyes on Ainz. He was still on guard, but some other emotion had apparently taken over.

  “I know more than a few runes: fifty from the lower tier, twenty-five from the middle tier, ten from the upper tier, and five from the high tier—ninety in all. But some were lost, so it’s not that many. There’s also rumors about hidden letters and god-tier letters, but those are the stuff of legends.”

  “I see… Maybe we’re not talking about the same thing? I thought runes were like this. Does that look right to you?” Ainz drew one from memory on the ground.

  “Ooh! Yes, that’s the middle-tier letter laguz.”

  Ainz wasn’t sure why they had so many, but at least he found out that some of them overlapped.

  “I see. Then, allow me to ask you some more about this technology.”

  What Ainz really wanted to know was how dwarves learned about runes—stuff related to players—but he figured it would be better to talk to a historian about that, so he decided to confirm some peripheral matters first. “Up until a hundred years ago, magic weapons inscribed with runes flowed into a human country to the east of the mountains, the empire. Since then, however, that flow has stopped. Why?”

  Ainz’s true intention was to figure out whether a player died a hundred years ago or not, but if he asked about it too directly, he would be giving away information. At the same time, this was a question he had been thinking about for a while, and it didn’t reveal anything about him.

  Gondo’s expression darkened. Then he started to lead the way again.

  “That’s a long story. I’ll tell you while we walk.”

  “Mm-hmm…”

  For a time, three pairs of footsteps were the only sounds in the tunnel.

  Gondo was likely resolving some inner conflict in the silence.

  “First, I know someone who calls themselves a rune tech developer.”

  That must have simply meant that it was their claim.

  Gondo didn’t wait for Ainz to reply before continuing. “At one time, dwarven magic items were made with runes. But two hundred years ago, an evil spirit attacked the royal capital. And when the royal family left the country to fight back, a ton of outside technology flooded in and we learned that runes were old-fashioned.”