LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 21: Dwarf village
Since I had dismantled this monster called Dalokos by myself before, I didn’t really need any help. Still, since they wanted to help, I told them to remove the head if they insisted.
There was a core full of magic power. In fact, it was the only valuable thing in this creature. If it were a female, I would have at least eaten the eggs.
After cutting open the belly and throwing away the intestines and flesh, I took out the things that were still usable. When I rummaged through the insides like this, sometimes I would find a purple stone like I did now.
Unlike the core, this was a stone seemingly formed by stagnant magic. The deeper the color, the more dense it was with magic, and this one was almost blackish purple.
Good. I put it aside and continued to rummage through the insides of the monster that emitted a foul odor.
Then suddenly, Myungho collapsed onto the monster. It happened so unexpectedly that I just stared blankly, then stopped what I was doing, helped him up, and checked his condition.
“Hey, hey! Are you okay?!”
I couldn’t see any major problems at first glance. However, the magic power I felt from him was very faint.
“Ah, he collapsed. Well, he has been using it a lot lately.”
“I’ll carry him. Do you have any mana potions left? No? This isn’t good. We couldn’t buy potions in Goldsmett either…”
Even though their leader had collapsed, the others were just talking calmly. Hey, I said he collapsed! If only we could communicate…!
I don’t know if he can recover magic like me. But if his magic is this depleted… Ugh. I was saving this for emergencies.
I rummaged through my bag and took out the blue medicine I had put in it. Even after removing the stopper, I hesitated whether I should really use it.
Really use it? But this guy was my only way to communicate with the world right now, so I had no other choice.
I opened his mouth and poured about a quarter into it. I didn’t know the correct amount, but this much should make him wake up. However, even after waiting, he didn’t get up.
In the end, I had to pour in half of it. Only then did Myungho wake up, making a face as if he had eaten something inedible.
“Ugh… This taste… Mana potion…? You had that… No. Uh, thanks for using it anyway.”
It must taste so terrible even to humans that he started retching as soon as he got up, then thanked me. Why did he suddenly collapse?
“What were you doing that made you collapse?”
“Ah… I didn’t tell you. So… uh. If I use the holy sword too often, this happens. Normally, I would have been fine, but I’ve been using it a lot on high-ranking beings lately… Haha.”
In short, he had overused his ability and it took a toll on him. Well, that’s… not something I can criticize. When the subjugation team came, I would almost always go berserk and then collapse the next day.
I advised him to calculate better next time so he wouldn’t collapse, and then I decided to finish the dismantling. Even if he was physically fine, he had just collapsed.
Unlike the belly, the head was all carapace, so it took some effort to tear it off.
Still, with my strength, it didn’t take long to extract the white core swirling with magic power.
“It’s a shame we can’t take the carapace. It would make good quality armor…”
Myungho looked at it with regret, but it was heavy and we didn’t have a suitable way to transport it, so we decided to leave it behind.
Despite having just collapsed, Myungho walked ahead briskly and guided the way. As we walked, threatening the small fries, we could feel a rumbling from the ground beneath us.
“…Wait a minute. There’s something unusual down there.”
I had seen monsters that roamed underground before, so I told Myungho to stop. However, he said something completely opposite to what I was thinking.
“Really? Great! Then lead us to the source of that vibration! Is it a vibration that repeats like… boom boom?”
“…Yes. Do you know what it is?”
This level of vibration was like that of large wild animals mating. What could be underground to create such vibrations?
The answer came quickly. Myungho said it was definitely the sound of the dwarves’ forge and urged us to hurry. Wait.
Dwarves? What was that? I was familiar with elves since they were often part of the subjugation team, but I had never seen a dwarf. They make forges underground?
“Ah, right. You might not know. It’s faster to see it yourself than to explain. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
What do they look like? Are they short like in the books I read to kill time in my past life?
Since he said to go, I approached the source of the vibration. I put my ear to the ground to find the source, and it wasn’t far away.
“There it is. Found it. Let’s go. Hey, not that way, this way!”
Still lying down, I pointed in the direction of the vibration. However, Myungho was looking elsewhere.
“…Um, Altera. Could you, how should I say this… lie down a bit more normally?”
What is that guy saying now? Ignoring his nonsense, I got up and approached the source of the vibration. As I got closer, it was clear that something unusual was happening, as if they had built a village underground.
And. Two vibrations running away in a hurry as I approached. I roughly predicted where they would be and made the ground sink there.
Then, even though there was quite a distance, a loud scream, unpleasant to the ears, echoed through the forest.
What is this sound? It was a hoarse and turbid voice that made me frown as soon as I heard it. Hearing the sound, Myungho and the others hurriedly ran to where the scream came from.
It’s not a big deal. I just wanted to know what they were since they were running away, so I subdued them first. But they ran off without giving me a chance to explain, so I had no choice but to follow.
“We’ll get you out! Here, grab this! Yes, we know your language! It’s a long story, so first, let’s get out of the pit and then…!”
Why is he so eager to help others? I followed and took a look at the things I had trapped in the pit. And I really doubted my eyes.
I expected them to be short. But their body shape was similar to a squashed circle, as if they were enlarged walnuts.
And both of them were wearing masks. Large masks that covered their entire broad faces, leaving only their eyes exposed.
Overall, the first feeling I got was disgust. Their appearance naturally made me frown, and their voices were so unpleasant that it was hard to listen to them.
If I hadn’t been with these guys, I would have buried them right there. But… I’m not alone now. I channeled magic to my horn and lifted the sunken ground.
The sight of them staggering comically and trying to balance on their ridiculously short legs was… uh. And their arms were almost as long as their torsos, making them look like gibbons.
The difference from gibbons is that they are about 100 times uglier?
“…Altera. You didn’t happen to make these people fall, did you…?”
Myungho looked at me, but I didn’t answer. If they were normal humans, I would have apologized, but for some reason, seeing them, I didn’t feel like it.
“I don’t know anything about it. Tell them to be grateful that I saved them.”
Myungho, having nothing more to say, asked them if they were okay in a perfunctory manner and immediately got to the point.
“…I’m glad you’re okay. Just in case, could you tell us where your village is? You see, one of our companions needs to have a dwarven-made item repaired. Here, if you don’t believe us, we have the blueprints. Yuna?”
Saying so, Myungho received the blueprints from Yuna and handed them to the poop bags. The poop bags looked at them carefully and shouted in surprise.
“This is… undoubtedly the seal of a Forgemaster! The bow, fine, but you want us to fix the arm? Can it be detached?”
“No. It’s integrated. But dwarves from other villages have been able to maintain it without any problems. Are you saying… you can’t do it here?”
Myungho’s tone was genuinely regretful, but his words were a provocation, asking if they were scared.
The dwarves bristled and started chattering in their annoying voices.
“What?! You think we can’t do what those dwarves from the next mountain over can do?! Hah! Follow us! We’ll show you that we’re far superior to those brats from the next mountain!”
The dwarves’ footsteps were filled with anger and competitiveness. But their small stature meant that even though they were walking fast, we could easily keep up with a slow pace.
Should I consider this a success? I asked Myungho.
“So, are we going to their village now? What? Also, those poop bags. They were really angry. Did you say something wrong?”
“Yeah. We’re going to their village. And… well. I kind of stoked their competitive spirit. They’re a prideful bunch, so they can’t really refuse a challenge. So I compared them to another village.”
Prideful for poop bags. I like them even less now. My gaze towards them became even more filled with contempt.
“…Altera. Do you perhaps dislike those people?”
Dislike them?
“Yeah. I don’t know why, but as soon as I saw them, I suddenly… that’s right. I felt like stomping on them.”
“What. A lizard that hates dwarves? It’s not that strange. Dragons are the terrestrial agents of gods, and gods quite dislike dwarves. Their subordinates, dragons, would have no reason to like dwarves either. I don’t know about half-dragons… but seeing that, it seems hatred is also hereditary. This is interesting.”
The mage looked at me and said something to Myungho. Then Myungho nodded in understanding, quietly repeating the words, and silently followed the dwarves.
No matter how I think about it, I don’t like them.
But as we descended into the dark cave and arrived at their village, my mind might change a little.
I hate dwarves, but I quite like what they’ve created.
How they managed it with those short arms, I don’t know, but a vast space unfolded underground. If it weren’t for the lack of vertical space, it was about the size of the university’s auditorium.
And in the middle of it was a huge stone pillar that reached the ceiling. It seemed they had hollowed out the inside to make a forge, as I could see inside through the holes.
A large press, whose operating principle I couldn’t fathom, was continuously stamping a red-hot lump of metal with a loud clang.
Around it, several poop bags were gathered, hammering metal, cooling heated iron, and generally being busy.
“Well, this is our village. Kagrenum!”
“What?! Someone stole high-quality ore again?! Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I really hate dwarves.