The Dwarven Crafter

by Kugane Maruyama

  In response to the dwarf’s enthusiastic reply, Ainz nodded. “Great. Thanks. For now, I’d like a mail shirt. I’ll lend you the dagger, so if you need it for something, feel free to use it. Zenbel, you’re probably the one who knows the most about Zaryusu. If he has questions about the size of his body or something, answer them.”

  “Got it, Your Majesty.”

  “Well…that’s all I have for the moment. Unless you have something, I’ll take my leave.”

  “Where will you go, Your Majesty?”

  “Oh, Commander. You remember the dwarf I saved down south, right? I was invited to his house, so I’m planning to stay there tonight… We can save the welcome ceremony and whatnot for later.”

  Of course, he couldn’t very well say, Don’t hold one because I don’t want to make a fool of myself.

  The supreme commander looked a bit troubled. “What Your Majesty says is quite right; however, I can’t help but feel it would look bad for the savior of our country to arrange his own accommodations. We’ll prepare our finest room, so would you do us the honor of resting there?”

  Ainz thought. What the commander was saying made sense. There didn’t seem to be any reason to refuse the offer.

  “All right, let’s go with that. Later on, I’ll pay a visit to Gondo, the dwarf who guided me here, and let him know about the change of plans as well as apologize.” Ainz asked if that would be fine, and neither the supreme commander nor anyone else had any objections.

  3

  A dwarf opened the door again and came in. It was a rune crafter. There weren’t many in the city who still called themselves rune crafters, but this was one of them.

  Gondo had handed something from the King of Darkness out to all the rune crafters he knew, and the effect was massive. It wasn’t even time yet, but 90 percent of them had already shown up at his workshop-cum-laboratory. He was sure the others would be there by the appointed hour.

  “Over here!”

  “Oh! Hey, Gondo. I made it, kid!” The dwarf coming toward him with thumping footsteps had an expectant look on his face. “So can I have the thing you promised?”

  How many times had he repeated this exchange so far? It was a pain, but it was work, so he sucked it up and gave the same response he had given to all the others. “The King of Darkness has something to tell everyone. Then you can have it.”

  “What?”

  “I’m pretty sure I told you before I gave you the small bottle. There’s something the King of Darkness wants to tell you, and if you listen to everything he has to say, then you’ll get a big bottle.”

  “Oh yeah, now that you mention it, I do seem to remember something about that.”

  “If you understand, then please go take a seat and wait.”

  “Okay… But, kid, I, uh…”

  He didn’t need to hear the rest to know what it was about. It was the same thing all the other rune crafters had said.

  “Only His Majesty the King of Darkness has that tasty drink. I’m sure you know that. Did we ever have anything so delicious in our country?”

  “Y-yeah. You’re right. That mellow flavor… The heat in your stomach after it flows down your throat…”

  “Uh-huh, I know, so go sit down.”

  “Why so heartless? I’m sure you drank some, so you must know how I feel.”

  “I didn’t have any. I don’t like alcohol.”

  “What a waste! You’re missing out on eighty percent of life, kid!”

  “Sure, sure. Now go sit down. Look, all those guys drank it, so you can have more fun chatting with them.”

  “Ooh, okay!”

  The dwarf walked off cheerfully but then froze and turned back. Most of the other crafters had done the same.

  “Hey, but, kid…”

  “It’s fine. Don’t worry about me.”

  “Are you sure? It’s just that—”

  “I’m really all right, so… Okay?”

  “…I getcha. But remember this: You can count on me anytime.”

  With that, the crafter walked off again. He took a seat and began discussing the drink with the other crafters.

  Gondo sighed, feeling a twinge of pain in his heart.

  What he had received from the King of Darkness to distribute among the rune crafters was alcohol.

  Gondo didn’t drink, but dwarves were suckers for tasty spirits. He had assumed that if they handed out a small bottle of a rare drink and promised larger portions to any crafters who attended a meeting, probably half of them would show up. That had been his proposal, but…

  It was practically a full house.

  Gondo emitted another sigh. Personally, he would have liked to avoid this sort of trick and instead appeal to their pride as crafters.

  But maybe that was an issue of his own ego.

  The King of Darkness had managed to gather everyone using the quickest optimal method. Gondo was sure that if he had tried to assemble them all based on pride alone, it would have taken much longer.

  Half the crafters were desperate prisoners of the despair resulting from the horrible situation they were in, their gloomy future prospects, and the loss of the proof that they and their ancestors had been alive. There weren’t many who still called themselves rune crafters and did that sort of work. Most of them had taken their workshop signs down and now led dark, dreary lives that earned just enough for their daily bread.

  Would this light become a flame inside them once again?

  When it was time, Gondo counted heads. No one was missing.

  “Well? Lord Ainz is asking if he can start.”

  It was Aura, the dark elf who assisted the King of Darkness, who had jogged over to him.

  “Oh, can you tell him that everyone’s here, so he can go ahead?”

  “Sure thing.”

  The girl dashed away. As Gondo watched her go, he cocked his head.

  He didn’t really understand her. Why does such a terrible monster value her as an aide? Is she proof of his friendship with the dark elves?

  As Gondo was thinking those things, Ainz Ooal Gown got up on the slightly raised dais. Another woman aide was beside him.

  “Whooooaaaa!”

  “It’s an undead!”

  “An enemy?”

  The dwarves made a clattering commotion. Of course they did. Undead were the natural enemies of all life.

  “Th—”

  “Quiet.”

  The woman, Shalltear Bloodfallen, raised a bottle she held in her hand.

  Everyone could see the amber liquid gleaming inside. The dwarves knew what was good for them, and they all shifted their gazes from the face of the undead to the bottle and fell silent.

  “Lord Ainz, did you say something?”

  “No, nothing. Thank you, Shalltear… Now then, I appreciate you all coming. We have enough of these bottles for everyone, so please take one as you leave. Until then, I’d like you to listen quietly to what I have to say. Of course, if you don’t think an undead could say anything worthwhile, you can leave right now. But in that case, we won’t be able to give you a bottle.”

  The King of Darkness surveyed the dwarves.

  His attitude and the pacing of his pauses conveyed an overpowering awesomeness befitting someone on a throne. His dramatic demeanor was especially magnificent. Power seemed to thrum in his very being, down to the tips of his fingers.

  “So…may I begin?”

  The dwarves nodded, maintaining their silence.

  “For starters, I am Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness. I am the ruler of a land south of these mountains, past the Tove Woodlands. I am truly happy to make the acquaintance of you rune crafters. Now, what I have to say is extremely simple, and it’s a request. I want you to come to my country and work on developing innovative enchantment technology using your runes.”

  Gondo felt like he had been stabbed through the heart with a thorn—a small thorn made up of emotions like despair and resignation.

  He shook his head slightly.

&
nbsp; Clearing his mind of the memories of his father and grandfather, Gondo surveyed the rune crafters and saw that they all wore grim expressions. It didn’t seem like they would respond favorably.

  “’Scuse me, I have a question.” The dwarf who put his hand up glanced at Gondo. “Why do you want our technology? Honestly, it’s on its way out even in this country.” He was one of the oldest of the rune crafters.

  “…That’s simple. I want to have you reproduce lost knowledge.”

  “Lost?”

  In response to the dwarf’s puzzled look, the King of Darkness drew a sword from thin air.

  Everyone yelped.

  They were astounded to see him pull a sword out of nowhere. Additionally, the sight of a skeleton king with a sinister aura wielding a sword was terrifying. Those were both certainly factors.

  But Gondo, like the others, shouted mainly in awe.

  It was such a beautiful sword with a black blade. The sharpest blade they had probably ever seen gleamed with the magic it harbored.

  “What…what a gorgeous sword…”

  “Amazing… I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire life…”

  “Ohhh! What a wondrous sight!”

  The King of Darkness held the sword up where the dwarves could see it. Gondo followed the sparkle without thinking.

  “Now, dwarves, I want you to focus on the blade.”

  When Gondo looked where the king’s bony finger was pointing, he yelped in spite of himself. “Ah!” All the other crafters reacted in the same way.

  There were twenty purple runes carved into the blade.

  But Gondo was the only one who knew that one of them was the rune the king had mentioned when they first met in the tunnel.

  Aha, so that’s why he knows so much about runes.

  He must have studied the sword and learned that way.

  “I want to ask the crafters here a question. This sword has twenty runes carved into it. Is that possible?”

  The answer was obvious. No, it can’t be done. No matter how much any of those present labored, it was impossible. But here was a sword that laughed at them for it.

  The crafters stood up with a clatter. Passionate flames burned in their eyes. Yet, it was a completely different emotion from when they were talking about the drink. They all pressed in on the King of Darkness like zombies swarming around a living thing.

  “Let me see!”

  “Please! Let me touch it!”

  “I might be able to learn something! I beg you!”

  “Stay back!” The silver-haired woman scowled at the approaching dwarves with a terrifying grimace. Just as the dwarves froze from the chill that went through them like an icy blade—

  “Quiet, all of you. What a racket.”

  There was a true ruler.

  He had a presence that only someone who was certain of his sovereignty could produce. Or perhaps it was because he was a being who ruled even death.

  Gondo realized that when they met in the cave, the king had merely been concealing that part of himself, acting so Gondo wouldn’t shrink away. It was only now that he laid eyes on his true form.

  I can’t read his expression, but he seems happy. Must be because everyone is reacting the way he wanted.

  “Wait, crafters. Listen to the end. When I’m finished, you can touch it. Until you’re seated once more, I’m not saying anything else, and I won’t give you the sword.”

  Reluctantly—withering beneath the energy of the king—the dwarves returned to their seats.

  “Thank you. Now I’ll continue. My question from before—is it possible to carve twenty runes into a single sword like this?”

  Everyone’s eyes gathered on the eldest veteran. His shook his head sadly. “No. As far as I know, the most that can be done is six.”

  The revelation caused a stir and shouting erupted.

  “What? Six? I’ve only ever seen five.”

  “…Oh, I suppose lots of people aren’t aware. It was two hundred years ago, but the king at the time had a hammer with six runes. It’s one of the dwarven treasures from the rune crafters’ golden age.”

  Gondo remembered his grandfather—the face of the master rune crafter who had a hand in producing weapons two hundred years ago.

  “Ohhh! You mean the hammer that could cause massive earthquakes? I heard of it in a song…”

  “Yes. Even in the age where such crafters said to possess both genius minds and supernatural skills were working, there were no weapons carved with twenty runes…”

  “I see. Then, this must have been made with technology that has since been lost.”

  “What? Your Majesty doesn’t know?”

  “I don’t know how it was made. I merely acquired it. And…the ones who created it are no longer of this world.”

  “How awful… So another precious technology has been lost.”

  The crafters all wore pained expressions. Gondo was brimming with the same feeling.

  “That’s exactly why”—everyone looked up when the King of Darkness spoke—“I want to bring it back. That’s why I want your power. I want you to create something on the level of this sword.”

  Silence fell.

  It went without saying how practically impossible that would be.

  Even the most skilled rune crafter present could probably carve no more than four into a single piece. The king was telling them to accomplish something five times more difficult. But they couldn’t admit it was impossible. Having been shown the godly work of an artisan who must have lived in the past, their pride as crafters didn’t allow them to reply with a no.

  Gondo felt as though that sword was a challenge from past crafters to the crafters of today.

  “I want to make one,” a quiet voice said.

  Soon, it was more than one.

  “Me too.”

  “I’m up for the challenge as well.”

  “Heh. I want to drag it right out of the legends and into the present day.”

  “Nah, I’ll be known as a new legend!”

  “What are you talking about? That job’s too important—it’ll have to be mine!”

  Suddenly someone was clapping. It was the King of Darkness up on the dais. Gondo had no idea how he was making that sound with his boney hands, but a caster that great could probably do anything.

  “Wonderful. But do you think you fellows here are enough people to develop the technology? Can you rival the legends? You might be able to, but you might not. For that reason, I’d like you to take apprentices in my country and spend the rest of your lives working toward this goal.”

  Another silence.

  Gondo understood their feelings so much that it hurt.

  They had clung to this declining technology in the dwarf country, and now they were being given a last chance at glory—wasn’t it worth risking their lives for? “Okay, now I’ll give you the sword.”

  The King of Darkness stepped off the dais, held the sword by the blade, and offered the grip to one of the older dwarves—whether by coincidence or because he had looked into it ahead of time, it was unclear—who was second only to Gondo’s late father in terms of being considered a genius at rune crafting and one of the more articulate crafters present.

  The dwarf’s hand did not reach out.

  It was only natural to be nervous, getting handed such a splendid sword.

  “A-are you sure? You’re fine giving this sword, the likes of which is impossible to acquire again, to me?”

  “You are no longer dwarves lured by the promise of drink but rune crafters with the spirits of challengers. I can trust you. Plus, I’m going to be away from this city for a time, so I’m just lending it to you while I’m gone.”

  The dwarf straightened up. “…I see. Then, I shall humbly borrow it, Your Majesty.” He bowed low and reverently received the sword.

  “By the way, I don’t know much about this sort of crafting. Would it be possible to simply carve runes on the blades of tools or whatnot and then enchan
t them?”

  “No, that wouldn’t work, Your Majesty. Runes are letters imbued with mana. We draw that enchantment out when we carve them. If a powerful caster were to try to enchant them, the runes would warp.”

  “Hmm…”

  “By the way, you said you’re leaving Fehu Jura for a while. Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to your old capital.”

  A wave of groans passed through the dwarves.

  “To that ruined—?”

  “To that dangerous—?”

  “But the kuagoa still control—!”

  These were the voices Gondo heard.

  He had heard all those things before, but there was something else that he couldn’t simply let go in one ear and out the other.

  “If he’s going from here, there are three trials waiting for him. Will he be all right?”

  “You mean the Three Impasses? They say it’s impossible to get past them. Even if you can manage the first one, getting through the Maze of Death is impossible.”

  It was mainly older crafters talking about them. Sure enough, their experience as his elders meant they knew some things Gondo didn’t. He would have to get the details and report to the King of Darkness.

  One of the older rune crafters straightened up and warned the king. “Your Majesty, that place is a dragon lair now. The king of the frost dragons, the White Dragonlord, might be there, too. That’s the dragon who destroyed the city we once had in the west, Fehu Teiwaz. Your Majesty is powerful, but I humbly caution that the dragon is every bit as strong. Please be careful.”

  “…Dragons, huh? They make exceedingly intriguing opponents. I’ll be sure to keep my guard up.”

  After that, there were a few more simple questions and answers before the meeting ended. They probably didn’t want to take too much of the king’s time because he was on his way to recapture the capital.

  Or maybe they just wanted to start investigating the sword.

  Gondo didn’t know which, but given the fire in their eyes, he guessed it was the latter.

  •

  The urge to shout Yahoo! came over Ainz.

  He always felt that way after giving a presentation. That hadn’t changed from when he was Satoru Suzuki. Whether it succeeded or failed didn’t matter—deep down, he just wanted to bask in the sense of liberation.