The Dwarven Crafter

by Kugane Maruyama

  “I’ll start in the fall and ask for you sometime around winter. There’s no issue with the start time, but depending on when they move, your part could shift slightly earlier or later, even if I guide them.”

  “Well, you’ll be in charge. I’ll operate with full faith in your plan.”

  “Thank you, Lord Ainz. Now, about the empire—”

  “—Let’s talk about that when I get back. First, can you send over the draft?”

  “Understood.”

  “Then, I’ll be looking forward to the event you’re ringleading…”

  Epilogue

  When Enri woke up, she got out of bed quietly so as not to disturb her sleeping husband. When the still-cold air hit her, she suppressed the urge to dive back under the covers where the warmth from two bodies had made it so cozy.

  The bed creaked, but perhaps her husband of some six months was tired—he remained fast asleep like a puppet with its strings cut.

  Enri was in charge of their routine, so he was keeping more regular hours than he ever had. Was this deep sleep just the way he usually slept, then?

  …He wasn’t always like this.

  She didn’t think he had slept so soundly when they first married.

  Maybe he was nervous? But that would mean now he’s used to it, so that’s a good thing.

  Enri stretched with a little mph.

  Her bare breasts swayed.

  She blushed slightly and looked around for the clothes she had stripped off.

  Even if it was only her and her husband in this house, she felt indecent.

  If her little sister, Nemu, had been there, she never could have walked around like this, but Nemu wasn’t currently staying here—at the Emmott family house—but at the Baleare family house.

  Enri’s grandmother-in-law, Lizzy, had said Nemu mustn’t disturb the newlyweds, and they had also decided that one or the other of the houses needed to be remodeled.

  Though it had been about two years since they lost their parents, Nemu still hated to leave her sister’s side at night. The fact that she agreed meant she must have inferred something on her own.

  Living on a farm, she would commonly see animals do that sort of thing. Maybe she had heard about what the young couples did deep in the bushes when they slipped out of the ring of the harvest festival dances. She probably had some vague idea that married couples did something at night.

  But Enri hadn’t explained the details—because she didn’t have any recollection of knowing them when she was Nemu’s age. Still, before long, she would have to teach her. Knowledge could be a poison or a medicine.

  Lupusregina would probably say something really weird…

  Most everyone in the village loved and respected the aide of this country’s ruler who sometimes came to visit. Enri was no exception. But she couldn’t approve of every aspect of her personality. Having known her for so long, she had realized that Lupusregina was the type who would commit a crime for fun— or rather, the type who would laugh if she saw someone get trapped in a pitfall.

  She got the sense that unless she explicitly asked Lupusregina to tell her something, she wouldn’t be informed until it was absolutely critical.

  Meanwhile, she felt like she had to head off Lupusregina before Nemu asked her anything. Enri hadn’t forgotten that Lupusregina told her she would teach her adult matters anytime.

  Having made up her mind to catch Lupusregina at the earliest opportunity, Enri scooped her clothes off the floor and threw them on.

  Then she went into the kitchen and turned on the faucet. She gathered in a small vessel the water that poured out. Timing it right with the water reaching the top, she turned the handle the other way, and the flow stopped.

  Her morning work used to begin with a visit to the well. But now she could get fresh water from this magic item—and the temperature was always the same no matter if the weather outside was hot or cold.

  She had heard that this item, a Faucet of Spring Water, could produce up to two hundred liters of water per day. Supposedly, a wise foreigner came up with the shape and everything.

  Apparently, these weren’t rare in big cities. She had even heard that in certain times and places, a huge version of it was used as the water supply for an entire town.

  Enri wiped herself down with a damp towel.

  “Ooh, brr.”

  Even if the water temperature remained stable, if the air was cold, the warmth that seeped from her wet skin was significant. But Enri simply put up with it as she ran the towel over her various body parts. She had washed up before bed, but she was doing it again.

  As long as she didn’t forget the time Lupusregina had come up to her sniffing loudly and grinning, she would never let her guard down.

  Magic items sure are great, though.

  She had thought the same thing any number of times.

  Currently, there were quite a large number of people living in the village of Carne.

  Over 90 percent of them were the goblins Enri had summoned, but at first, the village didn’t have the infrastructure to support them all.

  Problem one was housing.

  The goblins solved that issue by cutting down trees in the Tove Woodlands and building simple accommodations. But there was nothing they could do about food and water shortages.

  First, they thought the village could take advantage of the forest’s bounty, but they couldn’t gather enough food to support the goblins’ lifestyle. Eventually, they had asked Lupusregina for help and gotten food aid. It was only a loan, so in the future they would have to repay it—thankfully, not in blood.

  Then, there was the water issue. In the old days, there weren’t that many people, so the little well had been plenty, but the population increased so much that they had to put people on well duty and draw water all day long.

  That still wasn’t enough, though, so they were forced to dig another well a fair distance away. If they dug nearby, they would simply be drawing from the same source, and there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t run dry.

  That issue was solved by the dwarves who moved to the village.

  They had arrived in the middle of summer, and now it was nearly spring.

  I wonder if they’re working on a new magic item now.

  Up until two months ago, there had been bright flashes of light and explosions, but now it was peaceful. Sometimes they had outdoor drinking parties, which were noisy, but that was the extent of it.

  The dwarves now provided an indispensable contribution to the village’s livelihood.

  Originally, there were no blacksmiths in Enri’s village, so they either had to buy items in town or request the services of the rare traveling smithy.

  In the goblin army she summoned the second time around, there was one blacksmith, but he had a hard time doing all the necessary work on his own. Then the dwarves showed up and took on the brunt of the smithing jobs.

  More than anything, it was great that the humans of Carne felt some loyalty equivalent toward His Majesty the King of Darkness.

  The great caster, His Majesty the King of Darkness, had saved the village a number of times. That was why they felt they were indebted to him. If anyone in this village insulted the king, a person would no doubt punch their lights out.

  And the dwarves seemed indebted to him as well. Whenever they drank, they said things like, “That ceremony gave us back our self-respect,” “Did you see the jealous looks on their faces?” and “Yeah, when they drank that stuff!” and while Enri didn’t know what any of it meant, she could tell it was said with gratitude to His Majesty the King of Darkness. That was why the villagers accepted the dwarves so readily.

  Having finished up, Enri straightened out her clothes.

  There was still no sign of her husband waking up. I’ll finish the cleaning before then!

  Her husband had been working to develop potions with his grandmother, but since there were so many more people now, she had him focus on stockpiling medicines. Not only that, but
he helped out with Enri’s duties as headwoman. He was working very hard for the village. I have to do my best for him, too.

  When she went outside, the familiar scene of Carne—albeit more developed than before—came into view. It was actually bigger than what could technically be called a village because of all the summoned goblins’ houses.

  “Now, then.” Enri balled up her fists.

  To prepare food, first she had to go to the storehouse and gather ingredients.

  “Good morning, General.” A goblin dressed in black slipped out from the shadows.

  This was something Enri saw every morning, so she wasn’t startled at all. “Good morning. Nice weather today.”

  “You’re exactly right, General. According to the goblin weather forecaster, it’ll be clear skies all day.”

  “Is that so?”

  Enri didn’t even react to the nickname “General” anymore.

  She had told them countless times she was no general but couldn’t convince them, so she had accepted that head of the village and general were basically the same thing.

  Incidentally, there was a unit called the Goblin Rear Support Squad made up of goblins with rare classes. The goblin weather forecaster was one of those, but there were twelve classes in all, including goblin strategist and goblin blacksmith.

  “Oh, General, it looks like your escort has arrived. I’ll be taking my leave, then.” The goblin in all black faded back into the shadows and in his place, the usual redcap goblin appeared beside Enri.

  Personally, Enri didn’t like the redcap goblins much—because of their sinister faces. Frankly, they were quite scary.

  Jugemu used to go with her, but he was now a senior commander leading the huge goblin population, so he couldn’t stay with Enri anymore. Really, a silver-armored goblin was supposed to escort her in that case, but circumstances were such that she got a redcap goblin instead.

  Really, I don’t even need a bodyguard, though…

  She hardly thought anyone could sneak past all the goblins to the center of the village. But she couldn’t disregard their concern for her, either.

  Enri went, accompanied by the redcap, to the food storehouse adjacent to her place.

  She opened the door, and inside, barrels and pots were crowded on the floor, while the shelves were lined with bottles and jars. The back was a mountain of wheat sacks, and dried meat and herbs hung from the rafters like willow branches.

  The reason they had so much food was because the goblins put their all into cultivating the land.

  There were fields all around the village for miles. It would still be difficult to repay the food they borrowed, but this year they had harvested enough that they could feed everyone without borrowing more. They had also captured some chicken-like magical beasts and were trying to breed them. If everything went well, they would be able to repay their food debt in a few years.

  Having selected the ingredients she needed for the day’s meals, Enri went back outside.

  She could see a huge wall out of the corner of her eye.

  Despite it being inside the village, the dwarves’ workshop was protected by a wall made of something that wasn’t wood. And the death knights who had trampled the enemies that once attacked Carne stood guard around it.

  That wall had been built by the ruler of the country, the village’s savior, Ainz Ooal Gown, King of Darkness, himself. This is so that if one of the dwarves’ experiments happens to fail, the damage will be kept to a minimum, he had said.

  She wondered why they hadn’t built it outside the village, but there was no way she could ask something like that to someone so great who had helped them so much.

  “I wonder what kind of items the dwarves are making in their workshop.”

  “Shall I find out?”

  “No, I said this before—definitely do not.”

  She couldn’t get the dwarves to tell her what they were making, but it wasn’t anything that would harm the village, so she let it go.

  The goblins suggested collecting intelligence secretly, but she had rejected that idea in the same way she shut down this one.

  Ainz Ooal Gown had come in person to say he wanted them to accept the dwarves. He had told her then that their research was top secret.

  He may have been a life-hating undead, but he was a caster who had saved the village more than once, so she trusted him more than anyone among the living.

  Then the redcap goblin slipped in front of Enri. There was only one reason he would do that.

  When Enri looked over, a familiar pretty lady was standing there surrounded by four redcaps.

  “Hiya, En. How ya doin’?”

  “Oh, good morning, Lupusregina.”

  Ever since Lupusregina and these goblins first met, things had been this way. There weren’t even that many redcap goblins, but there were always a few gathered around her. And they were equipped with weapons they didn’t usually carry.

  Enri heard there were others besides redcaps keeping watch, but she had never spotted any.

  Still, at that point, she realized that the redcaps—no, the goblins in general—were on guard against Lupusregina. But though she was a mystery, Lupusregina was subordinate to the one whose statue graced the center of the village, so Enri couldn’t imagine that she would harm them. She had even saved her and Nfirea’s lives before.

  Really, Enri was worried the goblins might upset her.

  Though she tried talking to the goblin strategist, he said only that they would try to be careful, and she hadn’t seen any noticeable change.

  The one saving grace was that when she had mentioned it to Lupusregina, she replied that it didn’t bother her…

  “They dash right over the moment I get here! It’s such a drag!”

  “Haven’t you realized that if you show up on that thing, we’ll be on guard?” It was one of the redcaps surrounding Lupusregina who answered.

  Even Enri could sense the caution in his low voice.

  “U-ummm!” Enri spoke up, realizing nothing good would come of things continuing as they were. “How did you come here anyway?”

  “Huh? Flat Vamp Air, flight Frodr 05.”

  “Huh? Flat Vamp…?”

  “Yeah, what I call the one who handles all external transport.”

  “Flat Vamp Air?”

  “Yep, that’s about right. If ya ever meet her, you can tell her that’s what I said. In fact, definitely tell her it was me. If ya don’t, there’s no tellin’ what’ll happen!”

  Enri looked perplexed in spite of herself, and Lupusregina responded with a smile. “This version of you is a good one, too. You’re really my fave…” Her eyes crinkled. “I mean it.” Her red tongue appeared between her parted lips to lick them.

  It wasn’t alluring. But Enri did get a chill up her spine.

  At that instant, the redcap goblin standing by leaped into action.

  He pulled her back while simultaneously filling the space between Lupusregina and her.

  In that extremely tense atmosphere, Lupusregina shrugged while wearing a rare serious expression. “…I’m not gonna do anything. Would you relax? But if ya can’t believe me and would rather fight, then you guys can start. That way I don’t have to hold back or nothing.”

  The redcap goblin lowered his eyes and went back to his original position.

  “Anyhow. Oh, by the way, Frodr is short for frost dragon.’”

  “Frost…dragon?! By dragon, do you mean like those legendary monsters?! Wow! Is that dragon one of Lord Gown’s subordinates, too?”

  “Yup. In the Nation of Darkness, dragons do all sorts of air transport.”

  “That’s amaaaazing!” Enri’s eyes sparkled.

  She knew about dragons from legends. It had to be impossible for any old caster to tame one of them.

  “Lord Gown really is fantastic.”

  “…That’s true.” Lupusregina seemed troubled. “A dragon like that… I or someone… Well, whatever.”

  Enri wanted to ask
more, but if Lupusregina was satisfied, it was fine. Probably.

  “So is there something you need today?”

  “Oh right, right. Mm, well, I might not be able to come for a while. I just came to tell y’all to be careful.”

  Enri had known Lupusregina for over a year, but this was the first time she had ever said anything like this.

  “What happened?”

  “Mm, well, maybe I can tell you, En. It appears that Lord Ainz lost a fight and died.”

  Enri mulled over what she had just been told and then finally comprehended.

  So she reacted in the obvious way.

  “What?!”

  Afterword

  Now then, Volume 11 had the highest page count so far. Did you enjoy it? When books are thick, holding them wears out your hands, so I’d rather avoid such length. How did it end up this long, then…? If I was going to make it shorter, where should I have cut it? By the way, this is quite a bit shorter than my first draft. Back then it was getting into the six hundreds… Right. So it’s not that different.

  Well, just count this as savings and forgive me, please. In the future, I’m sure there will be a three-hundred-page volume. When that time comes, instead of thinking, It’s so thin! pay out of these savings. I think on average, you’ll find that the books are quite thick.

  Okay, now we’re going to change moods completely… I’m writing this in the middle of a hot summer. In my room, the air-conditioning is working with all its might to protect me from this scorching hell.

  I really hate summer. There’s nothing I hate more than brushing against people on my way to work when I’m all sweaty. I won’t go near you, so stay away from me! is what I’m always screaming in my head. The only saving grace is that there are less students, so the trains aren’t as packed. In contrast, winter is the best! And I can sleep so well, I never want to leave my futon! People who live in Hokkaido, Tohoku, or other regions where it snows a ton may have a different view, but I’m still going to shout this from the rooftops: Winter rocks!