The Dwarven Crafter

by Kugane Maruyama

  People in E-Rantel were scared of him, but not like this. It was also possible that it was rude for dwarves to shake the hand of a superior.

  Finally, he got impatient and grabbed their hands and pulled them up.

  If they have time to waste on nonsense like this, the kuagoa must not have attacked yet. If they were under attack right now, I would’ve had a chance to make them seriously indebted to me, but maybe I should limit myself to simply warning them about the approaching danger instead. Ahhh, that’s too bad. But anyhow, which one of these guys is the superior?

  “Now then, I am Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness. Are you in charge of welcoming me?”

  It was unclear which one of the two officer-looking dwarves was higher ranking, so he directed his question to the space between them. Then one of them shook his head so hard, it seemed like parts of his face might come flying off before saying, “Kgh! I—I lead the military.”

  “The military… I see.”

  This is the supreme commander? Ainz was surprised. He hadn’t expected the highest-ranking person to come directly. Could it be that the executives of this country have heard about the Nation of Darkness somehow? Or maybe I just came at a good time?

  “I take it the kuagoa aren’t posing too much of a problem at the moment? I’m sorry to disturb you at what must be such a busy time.”

  The supreme commander’s eyes gaped.

  “I see… So you were able to discern that much from the simple fact that I came to this meeting?”

  What is this guy talking about? thought Ainz, but he couldn’t very well say that. “Of course, yes.” He nodded benevolently in the kingly fashion he had rehearsed.

  “I see… As you know, we’re currently holding off the kuagoa attack, err, Your Majesty.”

  “Oh-ho. And…?”

  Ainz wanted to know what this as you know was about, but having already pretended to understand, he couldn’t ask.

  “First, we heard that you got information out of kuagoa you captured in Fehu Raido. Do you have any evidence to back that up?”

  “I believe your countryman Gondo will—”

  “Physical evidence.”

  “Hmm. Will a kuagoa suffice? I’ll summon a few so you can hear it straight from them.”

  “That was fast… Should I just come out and say everything? At this rate, it looks like we won’t be able to evacuate to Fehu Raido.”

  “Commander…!” the soldier standing next to him shouted sharply.

  As far as Ainz could gather, the outburst was to censure the commander for discussing military secrets in front of him.

  But the commander didn’t seem concerned at all. “His Majesty the King of Darkness already knows everything. He essentially said as much a moment ago. If someone who should be leading the troops comes here instead, it must mean the fight is in a deadlock. And once you know that much, it’s not hard to imagine how our army will move when we can’t expect any reinforcements.”

  Nah, I asked because I was curious if it was okay for you to be here during a time like this, Ainz thought but couldn’t say, and he simply nodded the way he had rehearsed.

  The supreme commander shared details about their dire situation.

  The fort guarding the Great Chasm had fallen, and the invasion was already at their final line of defense. That was a single set of doors, and if they were broken, the city would be attacked and many dwarves would die. The dwarves were considering an evacuation of the city and taking shelter in Fehu Raido while the military bought them time, but doing so involved changing their plans completely, leaving them in a crisis of survival.

  Hearing what a horrible spot they were in made Ainz sneer inwardly. Everything was playing out to his advantage.

  “Then, how about this? I’ll lend you my soldiers, and we can repel the kuagoa for now.”

  The supreme commander narrowed his eyes—to hide what he was feeling.

  “You can do that? But…”

  Normally, Ainz would set up a conference and ensure he would get something out of it before lifting a finger. That would benefit him more. But if he lent the dwarves his strength for free this time, he was sure to earn their gratitude. Sometimes a debt could result in returns that wouldn’t be possible through a normal deal. That’s what Ainz was after.

  Between tangible and intangible, intangible was certainly the messier of the two. It was like going to a restaurant and being told to pay whatever feels appropriate and then paying far more than necessary.

  How does that saying go? Grasp all, lose all? I think Squishy Moe was the one who said it.

  “I would hate to have the country I’m trying to establish friendly relations with get destroyed. Won’t you accept my help?”

  “…I need to ask the higher-ups.”

  “If you have time for it, I don’t mind. I only promised to assist. You guys decide. I heard it’s the regency council who makes the calls, but…you know how it goes. The congress dances but doesn’t move forward and whatnot. I don’t want my trip here to have been in vain, but do what you must.”

  “…Your Majesty is confident the kuagoa can be driven off?”

  “If they’re like the ones we met in Fehu Raido, it’ll be easy.”

  Gondo nodded next to him.

  “But only if they haven’t invaded the city yet. In the middle of a huge brawl, it would be too hard to target only the enemies. I’m sure you’re not about to tacitly approve of the city ending up as collateral damage, right? If you’re just managing to hold them off with one set of doors, then I’m sure this is your last chance.”

  The supreme commander made a sober face—

  “How much time do you have? Will the gate hold for a few more days?” Ainz’s confirming questions seemed to push the supreme commander into making up his mind.

  “…I understand. Your Majesty, King of Darkness, we humbly request that you lend us your strength.”

  “Commander!”

  The other soldier raised his voice, but the commander shot him a sharp look.

  Then he said “Excuse us” to Ainz and took the other dwarf a little ways away, probably so they wouldn’t be overheard.

  Then came a flood of attempts to persuade.

  Ainz could hear bits and pieces like insane, un—, the kuagoa, we still, the immediate cri—, and if we have to choose.

  The commander must have been trying to argue the case that they should jump at the chance for Ainz’s help, since it would be difficult to handle the kuagoa invasion on their own.

  Now was a good time to press a little. Ainz put a little force into his voice and asked, “Have you decided what to do yet?”

  3

  There was a total of eight kuagoa clans in the Azerlisia Mountains.

  Pu-Limidol, Pu-Landel, Pu-Srix, Po-Ram, Po-Shunem, Po-Guzua, Zu-Aigeno, and Zu-Ryushuk.

  Three clans were descended from the ancient hero Pu, and the other clans were the children of Po and Zu, his rivals. There were slight differences in the number of kuagoa per clan, but they were all fairly close to ten thousand. Thus, eighty thousand kuagoa lived scattered around the Azerlisia Mountains.

  Were they strong? The answer was not really.

  These kuagoa, even with ten thousand in each clan, only had a primitive civilization and were considered an inferior species best counted in terms of how far up they ranked from the bottom. They were merely food for the strong.

  So who were the kuagoa’s natural enemies? That would be the other kuagoa clans. No, not only the ones from other clans. Sometimes even members of the same clan became enemies. Other monsters only preyed on the kuagoa—it wasn’t as if they hated them or thought of them as rivals. But members of the same race were different.

  The issue stemmed from kuagoa patterns of growth and development.

  Adult kuagoa’s abilities depended on the types of ore they ate when they were children. In other words, the way to strengthen one’s family was to steal rare metals from kuagoa. Other clans were also opponents in thi
s, but naturally the nearest rivals were the most problematic.

  And since the dwarves were also competing for ore, the dwarves were opponents, too, but since they wielded lightning weapons, kuagoa attacks on them were usually driven off.

  But then there came a time when a legendary hero who surpassed even the ancient hero Pu was born.

  That was the chief clan king, Pe Riyuro.

  His abilities went far beyond those of the blue and red kuagoa, and with his overpowering strength, he unified all the clans.

  But Riyuro’s achievements didn’t stop there.

  He discovered an abandoned dwarf city, gathered all the clans there, created an organization to combat monsters, and used dwarf hostages to gain knowledge of agriculture and raising livestock.

  And there was more. Traditionally, kuagoa regime changes involved eradicating the descendants of the previous boss. But Riyuro didn’t do that, and instead he had the existing bosses govern their own clans. He did, however, order that all ore be brought to him. Anyone who did good work for him was given ore, regardless of their social standing.

  For example, in a monster attack, the clan that shed the most blood was most appreciated, and when he had them collect gold and gemstones, the clan who brought him the most was treated the best. He distributed ore accordingly.

  Any enmity the kuagoa would have directed toward the king was instead channeled into competing with the other tribes, and Riyuro’s position was secure.

  Having accomplished something no other kuagoa had even thought to do, he began to work on expanding his influence.

  He attacked the dwarves.

  Obeying his orders, each clan contributed two thousand of their hardiest members, which combined to make a military force sixteen thousand strong.

  This was an army on an unprecedented scale. But no matter how many warriors they had, if they tried to charge over the bridge, serious casualties were unavoidable. That defeated the purpose of assembling a large army and meant a real possibility of being beaten back before they captured the fort.

  That was why Riyuro commanded that they discover a detour.

  A few of the expeditions he sent out never returned, but eventually they found a way around the Great Chasm. From that moment on, the army split into groups with specialized roles.

  One was the unit that spotted and captured runaway dwarves. It was made up of several smaller squads.

  Another was the main forces. They were the ones who would loot the dwarf city once it had fallen, and they were also available to assist the elite team attacking the fortress if it seemed like it would take too long.

  The last was the team of elite kuagoa who would attack the fort. This unit was sent in ahead of the main forces with orders to take the fort and the city itself if possible.

  The leader of this vanguard unit was Yoozu.

  He was a red kuagoa, and either the most valuable or second most valuable of all Riyuro’s subordinates. With his clear head and high personal combat skill, he was the favorite to become the future boss of his original clan.

  The unit he had put together was a rough bunch to lead because of the deep-rooted clan rivalries that remained latent in the diverse group of elite kuagoa. But Yoozu was able to take advantage of that.

  By cultivating a competitive spirit among members of different clans, he managed to capture the fort.

  Taking the flanking route around and coming up the stairs on the side of the fort meant victory was practically a given, but there was no doubt his leadership was exceptional. Probably not a single other kuagoa in any of the clans possessed comparable command abilities.

  And now, he had the dwarves in check.

  The elite of the elite in the strike team that was first to reach the fort now clawed at the irritating doors barring their way. But they couldn’t even leave a scratch.

  Just one more step. With just one more step, they could get past the doors, trample the dwarves, and take this land for their own. That was an extraordinary exploit, so if they could pull it off, the amount of ore they would be rewarded with was sure to be incredible.

  But the cold portal before them blocked the way.

  As the kuagoa said, The worm hiding in its hole is always the biggest.

  One of the kuagoa bit a door out of rage that their chance was slipping away. Of course, that simply meant he tried to scrape at its surface using his sharp teeth like a plane.

  Some others who saw him do it followed suit.

  However, the average kuagoa’s teeth were no match for these doors. They could spend a hundred years trying the same thing and never break through.

  A lattice of the same kind of metal as the door covered the rock to either side, so they couldn’t even bore through the earth way.

  Normal kuagoa like them had no chance of opening the door. Blue and red kuagoa had been held in reserve as a last resort, so none of them was assigned to this strike team. In other words, their advance was temporarily halted.

  Everyone was annoyed that they had so nearly missed out on the glory, but they weren’t panicking, either. They had already reported the situation to the commander of the vanguard. Surely the outstanding Yoozu would soon produce some plan to deal with the situation that would have been impossible for them to think up.

  Still, they didn’t know how long it would take, so they rested in shifts according to clan.

  Lower-ranking soldiers might have wandered around recklessly to cope with their stress or start arguing with members of other clans, but these were the elite of the elite. When it was time to rest, they rested wholeheartedly, saving up their anger and energy for the next operation.

  So it was during their rest when suddenly, they all raised their heads.

  With a low rumble from deep below, the doors had slowly begun to open to either side.

  The strike team kuagoa exchanged glances.

  They couldn’t understand why the dwarves who had so frantically closed the doors were opening them now. Were they planning on surrendering? That’s what many of the kuagoa thought. They wore fangy grins.

  They would never accept a surrender.

  The plan from the beginning was to kill as many dwarves as possible. They wouldn’t even give them time to talk.

  They would surge through the gap in the doors, create a bloodbath on the other side, and proceed into the city to kill the rest of the dwarves.

  Before the murderous kuagoa, the gate cracked open. The gap wasn’t large enough to fit through yet. But one of them stuck his arm in. He meant to kill a dwarf on the other side with his sharp, pointy claws.

  But—

  “Gyaaaaaagh!”

  The kuagoa who tried to land the first kill shrieked and fell backward. The arm he had stuck through the crack was missing, and fresh blood spurted from the wound.

  That unexpected turn of events put a damper on the kuagoa’s bloodlust.

  It was easy to imagine what had happened.

  Someone with a weapon must have sliced off the arm, but was that possible?

  Kuagoa racial characteristics worked well against races like dwarves who relied on weapons. Case in point, when they had caught the fort by surprise, the dwarves had managed to injure some of them, but none of the attackers had died. As long as there weren’t any lightning attacks, that was how it usually went.

  So why was their fellow soldier’s arm severed?

  There could be only one reason—the existence of a swordsman who could cut through a kuagoa’s arm, with blade-turning fur, like nothing.

  The kuagoa took a few steps backward in response to an emotion they hadn’t experienced in any of their fights thus far: fear. And as they did, the crack between the doors grew gradually larger.

  “Why are you falling back?!” one of the stronger members of the strike team shouted from the rear.

  “There shouldn’t be any weaklings in the Pu-Limidol clan!”

  “Rrrragh!”

  The ones who answered must have been the members of the Pu-Limid
ol clan. The tough members of the other clans hurried to raise their own voices.

  “We don’t have any cowards in the Po-Guzua clan!”

  “The Zu-Aigeno clan isn’t about to lose out to any Pu or Po guys! You think we’re going to let our ancestors laugh at us from the Land of Dele?!”

  It was said that brave kuagoa went to the Land of Dele when they died to watch over the prosperity of their descendants. But if any descendants did something shameful, they would become the object of their ancestors’ ridicule.

  Those words seemed to finally incite the kuagoa to battle and spur them into action.

  They dragged the one who had lost his arm to the wall, and then the strike team got into a tight formation in preparation to slay the powerful swordsman.

  “We’re going to charge! No matter how strong our opponent is, they only have one sword! As long as we have greater numbers, we’ll be fine!” someone said.

  “Eh, once the door is open, all we have to do is charge and shove. Once the enemy falls, we trample them. Then it’s straight into the city to destroy it!”

  “I’ll take the lead!”

  Two stripes of ground-up Nuran ore paint were the sign the speaker was a brave kuagoa.

  Behind him, others pressed in close so they would be able to keep pushing forward even if the enemy’s blade cut him down.

  The gap between the doors was finally large enough for one kuagoa to pass through. It was still too small for a charge, but the kuagoa didn’t want to risk losing warriors to a quick lightning spell only for the doors to slam shut again right after the dwarves completed their harassment attack.

  “Go!”

  With a war cry, over fourteen kuagoa surged toward the gap.

  The courageous one at the head of the group went still. The ones jostling behind him knew instinctively that the swordsman had killed him. But they didn’t stop. Stopping would have made a mockery of his courage.

  And that was why the other kuagoa would push through without hesitation, trample the dwarf city, and— Their feet stopped.