The Dwarven Crafter

by Kugane Maruyama

  The party advanced with Aura in the lead.

  Perhaps because of the proximity of the dwarf capital, the cave was easy to walk through despite being naturally occurring. The stalagmites must have been cleared away to make the terrain open. They walked along, appreciating the work of dwarves from long ago.

  Aura paused. Cupping her hands below her long ears, she seemed to be listening for the enemy.

  Ainz stood very still so as not to make any sound and waited for Aura to speak.

  “Lord Ainz…I hear multiple creatures up ahead. They probably number in the hundreds. I don’t have a good estimate of how far away they are, but I imagine we can make contact in a few minutes.”

  “Ohhh…? Did we catch up?”

  “No, it wasn’t walking sounds. I think they set up a camp.”

  “I see. Did they realize we were following them? Is it a unit sent to intercept us?”

  If that was the case, their opponents must have been using some intelligence magic to track their location.

  Ainz smiled faintly.

  They hadn’t shown their hand yet, so the enemy probably wanted to hit them with this unit to see what they were capable of.

  Sensing a bit of desperation in their willingness to make sacrifices, Ainz felt like he had won this contest of wits.

  “Lord Ainz, shall we capture them?”

  “Hmm. We shouldn’t have revealed any info about us yet, so before we swoop in on their camp to trample them, let’s do something intelligence gathering.”

  “Yes, my lord!”

  Even if they managed to collect info, it wouldn’t be easy to formulate a plan.

  Yggdrasil characters came in two main types: those narrowly specialized in one thing and well-rounded builds.

  If their opponents were the former, unless the intelligence they acquired pertained to that specific thing, it would be hard to know how to counter. If they were the latter, there were plenty of options available, but it would be less effective than a hard counter.

  There were also characters like Ainz, who could deal with a diverse array of opponents thanks to the variety of spells he knew and the items his friends had left him, as well as unusually strong all-rounder characters like Touch Me, but those were outliers. For that reason, there was something he needed to be wary of.

  Specifically—it’s important to be aware of the number of powerful enemies. It scares me a bit that we still don’t have any idea. We should keep the option of falling back in mind and— Hrm. Well, either way, we have to attack to see what kind of cards they have in their hand. Ooh, the spirit of Yamaiko has come to me.

  “…Shalltear, no rampages this time.”

  “Of course not, my lord!”

  She took out her Pipette Lance.

  “Good. Really, I’d rather avoid revealing that we have god-tier items, but we’d need some awfully powerful investigation magic if we wanted to find out much. All right. Begin.”

  “My lord!”

  •

  Built during the golden age of dwarf culture, the one-time dwarf capital, Fehu Berkana, was both magnificent and gorgeous. Its largest building besides the palace was the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Its size was due to the multiple conference rooms and vaults that had been used for temporary storage.

  Many dwarves had made use of the place, and it was more spacious than any building in any of the other cities. Currently, it was the palace of the king of all the kuagoa clans, Pe Riyuro.

  When Yoozu returned, Riyuro was seated deep in a huge, soft cushion. Even though word of Yoozu’s defeat had already arrived, the commander seemed his usual self, neither irritated nor harried.

  Yoozu bowed his head and explained what had happened.

  He knew the messengers had brought the important news, so he filled in the details. He wanted to emphasize the dwarves’ new black-armored last resorts, having seen them with his own eyes.

  As Riyuro listened in silence, his hand slowly moved, reaching into a basket his attendant carried. It pulled out a squealing lizard—a plump one, fit for the chief clan king to eat.

  Riyuro gestured to Yoozu with the hand holding the lizard. “Want some?”

  “No thank you.”

  “Ah, okay,” the king murmured and bit the lizard’s head off. The faint odor of blood and guts reached Yoozu’s nose.

  All eight inches were in Riyuro’s mouth within three bites.

  He used a nearby towel to wipe the blood off his hands and mouth.

  “…So that’s why you withdrew. Did they follow you?”

  “I don’t know. That is to say—”

  With the bridge down, he didn’t think such a thing was possible. Moreover, they had gotten awfully close to dealing the dwarves a fatal loss. He expected them to fortify their defenses, seal off any routes around the Great Chasm, and only then mount a counterattack.

  Unless they were the sort of fools who had no issue with committing troops in a piecemeal fashion, the reason the dwarves had sent out two of those black suits of armor when the fort fell was because that was all they had.

  Yoozu explained those thoughts of his to Riyuro.

  After a period of silence, Riyuro quietly responded. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they had another one or two of those things.”

  A questioning look appeared on Yoozu’s face without him meaning it to. Perhaps the king noticed? He offered a lazy explanation while poking around in the basket of lizards with his claws.

  The dwarves had been confident in their defenses. If those defenses were badly pressed, that meant their fear that the entire city might fall was heightened. They would probably send most of the black armors out to intercept.

  But they most likely didn’t realize exactly how the fort had fallen. In that case, it was too great a risk to commit all their strongest troops to one front—because if there had been more than one invasion route, that would be a grave error.

  It wasn’t the sort of situation the dwarves could resolve with a trivial amount of force, but neither did they have enough information to fully commit to a counterattack there.

  That’s what led Riyuro to conclude that there was probably one more, maybe two more suits of black armor.

  Wow, he’s exactly right, thought Yoozu, impressed by his king’s intellect.

  “Tell me, who do you think can win against these golems?”

  “I’m sure you could!”

  Riyuro reigned at the top of all eight clans. And he did have outstanding combat ability—great enough that he might have even been able to make enemies of all the other kuagoa and still win. He was the strongest in all of kuagoa history.

  What came to Yoozu’s mind was a time Riyuro had fought off monsters in a difficult battle. The strength he had exhibited there was enough to beat the golems. Yoozu was sure of that.

  “…That’s what you really think? No flattery?”

  “Yes, I have no doubt!”

  Riyuro’s voice had a tinge of wryness to it, but Yoozu answered honestly. What other answer could he give?

  “…What clan are you from?”

  That was a strange question. When Yoozu told him, Riyuro thought some more.

  “I see… Then, you really must believe that I could win.”

  “Wh-what do you mean by that?”

  “I just wondered if maybe you thought this was a good opportunity to kill me. I’m stronger than all the kuagoa, but you could report to me the golems were weaker than they actually are and convince me to fight them. Then the golems could kill me for you. Well, in that case there would be no one left to defeat the golems, but I imagine I’d at least be able to wound them, so maybe numbers would be enough to beat them after that point.”

  Though his ruler had just doubted his loyalty, Yoozu felt only respect.

  If it was him, he never would have thought that far ahead.

  Convinced that Riyuro was fit to rule the kuagoa, Yoozu’s devotion to him only grew.

  Then Riyuro asked him suspiciously, “Why aren
’t you immediately saying, ‘I wasn’t thinking that at all’?”

  “Oh! M-my apologies! I was just so fascinated listening to your thought process! As you say, I wasn’t thinking that at all!”

  Riyuro burst out laughing. “You’re a funny one… I have to punish you for losing so many of the troops I gave you without putting up much of a fight, but I’ll make sure it’s not the kind of penalty that will affect you in the future. You did discover the golems and make it back here with important information, after all. And it was also quick of you to have part of the army guard the city in case anyone was in pursuit.”

  “Thank you!” Yoozu bowed deeply.

  “I have a question for you, since you’re such an excellent commander. What should we do if we want to collect more details about those golems?”

  “Attack the runts’ country.”

  “That’s definitely one way. We could learn about whether they still have golems or not at the same time.”

  “Yes! And if there don’t seem to be any, we’ll need to take the city as fast as possible, no matter how many losses we suffer!”

  “Indeed.” Riyuro nodded.

  Living creatures took time to grow up, but golems were simply created. Time was the kuagoa’s enemy and their opponent’s ally.

  “What else?”

  “My apologies. I can’t think of anything else at the moment.”

  Riyuro reached for the basket of lizards and pulled another out.

  “…You sure you don’t want any?”

  Do I look that envious?

  Certainly, since he had hurried back, Yoozu hadn’t had proper food or rest yet. But he wasn’t so hungry that he would covet his king’s food.

  “I’m fine, thank you.”

  “Suit yourself,” said Riyuro, biting the head off the squealing lizard just like he had the last one.

  He was finishing it off in the same manner when Yoozu asked, “My king, is there another way you thought of?”

  “Yeah, there is. We could ask someone who knows far more than we do… Of course, it’s annoying that the price they’ll ask in return is so high.”

  “Price…? You don’t mean—!” Yoozu understood from the phrasing.

  “Yes, the d—”

  Just as Riyuro was answering, there was a commotion outside. After a clamorous knock, the door was thrown open. “My king!”

  It was one of the guards.

  “Seems like an emergency. What happened?”

  “Something is coming toward the city.”

  “From what direction?”

  The guards said it was the side where Yoozu had stationed his unit. In other words, the direction of the dwarf country.

  “They sent a unit after us…? I guess we underestimated those runts.” Having said that, Riyuro stood.

  Yoozu asked with his eyes where his king was going, and Riyuro seemed to pick up on it.

  “They saved us a lot of brooding. I’m going to visit the dragons right now.”

  “To learn about the golems?”

  “No. To convince them to clash with the approaching forces. If they’ve come this far, they must have golems with them. If we have the dragons fight them, we can weaken both our enemies at once… Hmph. We’ll need them to do a proper job.”

  The king’s ill will toward the dragons who occupied the city’s prime location, the royal palace, was intense. Only a few of his closest aides knew that—along with the fact that he skillfully hid those emotions and bowed his head whenever he interacted with the dragons.

  There was a huge power gap between dragons and kuagoa.

  Until they could whittle away the dragons’ power, the kuagoa had to be humble. But there were few in these mountains who could fight the dragons—maybe the frost giants, if anyone.

  Riyuro was saying that now was their chance.

  “Yoozu. I can’t imagine it’s necessary, but just in case, start moving into the abandoned district. I don’t want anyone getting caught up in a fight with the dragons.”

  There was one district in the city that had been completely destroyed before the kuagoa took control. They hadn’t done anything to rebuild it but instead made preparations that would allow a large army to take up position there.

  Apparently, this was the time to use it.

  “Understood.”

  “And…since I’m going to meet the dragons, I’m counting on you to ready the gifts. Find some jewels they’ll like. I think you know this, but they’re greedy. They probably won’t agree to the first price we set. They always try to get more, so with that in mind, choose less valuable items to start.”

  Yoozu bowed to acknowledge the directions and got to work.

  •

  In this world, the most powerful race was the dragons. Even in harsh lands humans could never hope to reach, there was almost always a type of dragon that was fully adapted for that environment. The Azerlisia Mountains were no exception. The ruling class was dragons—the type known as frost dragons.

  Dragons normally had slim trunks. They were less lizard-shaped and more catlike. And frost dragons were even slimmer, bearing a striking resemblance to snakes.

  Their scales were a pale blue at birth, but as these particular dragons aged, they gradually turned white as if frost were settling over them. Appropriate for their environment, they had perfect resistance to the chill, but that came with a weakness to fire attacks.

  Their version of a dragon’s ace move, their fearsome breath, was imbued with chill.

  The king of those frost dragons, Olasird’arc Haylilyal, coiled around his throne, looking coldly down at the kuagoa who had come for an audience.

  “Welcome. What can I do for you?”

  “Oh, Great White Dragonlord Olasird’arc—”

  “Skip the brownnosing. Get to the point.” That’s what he said, but he smiled faintly.

  Dragonlords occupied a special place among the various dragons. Generally speaking, they were the most ancient, or very powerful, or could use unique spells—in other words, it was a prestigious title given to those who were superior to other dragons in some way.

  Who wouldn’t enjoy being addressed by an honorable title?

  “As you wish! First, please allow me to humbly thank you for this audience.”

  The kuagoa behind the clan king stepped forward bearing large shabby sacks. When they opened them, sure enough, the glimmer of gold spilled out.

  It wasn’t enough to satisfy Olasird’arc, but he decided to accept it, since it was probably all they could muster.

  “Very well. What is it you want?”

  “Thank you! Some rabble has come to attack our home, so we were wondering if it would be possible to request your assistance, Great White Dragonlord.”

  “Hmm…”

  To Olasird’arc, the kuagoa were an inferior race, creatures that served the immensely powerful dragons—in other words, they were mere property. It would be a bit irritating if someone else up and killed them. That said, the idea of lifting a finger for the sake of an inferior race was infuriating.

  Olasird’arc peered down at his gleaming throne, a mountain of gold and jewels.

  Dragons as a race had a penchant for amassing wealth such as precious metals, gems, magic items, and so on. Olasird’arc was no different.

  But although they could dig holes and acquire metals and gemstones, they had no way to process them. That wasn’t a job for the powerful anyhow. Dragons felt it was work fit for their slaves—in this case, the kuagoa—to do.

  This was a request from those slaves. The benevolent feeling that he would like to help them out a bit welled up inside him.

  “So who is it?”

  “We don’t know. We haven’t figured out who or what it is yet, although we suspect it’s the dwarves.”

  “The dwarves…? Hmm…”

  Olasird’arc glanced at the huge door behind him.

  That door led to what was the treasury when this city belonged to the dwarves.

  No matter
how hard he attacked it, the door wouldn’t open or break. The protective spell the rune crafters had given it defended the treasures against numerous attacks.

  At this point, his insistence on claiming the riches had faded, and he used the door only to sharpen his claws occasionally, but when he heard the word dwarves, the smoldering embers flared up.

  If there were dwarves coming all the way over here, perhaps they had a way to open the door.

  Is it time to abandon the kuagoa? The dwarves would be more useful in many ways.

  As Olasird’arc was making those calculations, coolly looking down at the kuagoa, the kuagoa king was wrapping up his plea.

  “I’m sure that you, White Dragonlord, could easily defeat the dwarves! I beg you, please lend us your strength! Of course, if you do, we’ll give you double—no, even more—in thanks.”

  The last bit piqued Olasird’arc’s desire, and he raised his head. “All right. I’ll think about it.”

  “Please wait, White Dragonlord! The enemy is already quite close! And if it’s the dwarves, I’m sure they’ll try to recapture the city!”

  “What? Are you saying you think the dwarves are capable of driving me from my lair?”

  “No, certainly not! But there’s no telling what they’ll do. They might know how to destroy the whole city!”

  “If so, wouldn’t they have done it sooner?”

  “It could be that the trigger is somewhere inside the city!”

  Hmm, thought Olasird’arc. That sounded awfully far-fetched, but neither could he completely deny the possibility.

  This location was crucial for building the dragon empire.

  He had seized the ruins of the dwarf palace and ordered his wives to lay their eggs and raise their young here.

  If they kept doing things as they had been—laying eggs in a random location and leaving them there or kicking their offspring out of the nest after about a year—the power of the dragons would never grow. Olasird’arc wanted to have more children, subjugate the frost giants, and take full control of the mountain range.

  The frost dragons and frost giants were both top-tier predators in these mountains, so they had been locked in a long power struggle to see who would come out on top.

  Frost giants had perfect resistance to chill, so the frost dragons’ ace move, Chill Breath, couldn’t hurt them. Meanwhile, the damage that frost giants could deliver when they swung their massive weapons was so great that even the dragons couldn’t take it lightly. If the giants showed up in large numbers, losing was a distinct possibility. There were even some frost dragons who had lost to the frost giants in the past and had been relegated to serving as watchdogs.