Things Are Tough Here Too

“It’s a bigger town than I imagined.”

I looked around the dwarf town while keeping myself from glancing about too much.

After arriving within Gigil-Po’s territory, we came to the town said to be the center of Gigil-Po under Cougar’s guidance.

Since it was a town in the mountains, I had imagined a more cluttered and cramped place, but the roads were surprisingly wide, and the buildings looked neat… if anything, it felt more refined than a humanfolk town… or rather, elegant.

However, the dwarves were just as I had expected… short in height, with sturdy, big-boned physiques.

Even the tall ones were probably just under one hundred forty centimeters, I suppose?

Among the men, many had beards, but it did not seem as if every single one of them had one.

Incidentally, the dwarf women were… not the little-girl type… but barrel-shaped women who looked like slightly plumper versions of the men.

Well, I could see how they might look like little girls… but if anything, “small aunties” felt more fitting.

There were quite a few young girls too, but… somehow, their physiques made them look like they had strong arms.

Overall, both the men and women were short, but they looked very tough.

Still, even though we humanfolk were walking around like this, it didn’t feel like we were being stared at… did that mean humanfolk were not rare, or were dwarves simply indifferent to others…?

“The building sizes are surprisingly normal.”

When I said that while shifting my gaze from the dwarves passing by to the buildings, Cougar, who was walking beside me, nodded with a wry smile.

“That’s true. But the doors are a little small. As for Bangagonga… getting inside might be pretty tough.”

“Indeed… the buildings seem fine, but those doors… are quite severe.”

The doors were probably less than one hundred seventy centimeters tall.

Lynferia and the others aside, I would have to stoop a little to pass through the doors.

As for Bangagonga, it felt like he would finally be able to enter by bending forward at the waist. Just passing through a mere door would be quite a hardship.

And right now, he was carrying large luggage too… It seemed impossible for him to pass through a door while wearing that bag.

“It’s lucky the ceilings are high. Well, it seems they’re preparing a guest house for us, so that one is probably humanfolk-sized.”

“I certainly hope so.”

Bangagonga said that with deep feeling.

I felt like Bangagonga had been going through hardship after hardship before negotiations with the dwarves had even begun.

No, more than half of it was our fault, though…

“I feel like I want to inspect the town, but the dwarves might contact us, so I suppose we can’t leave the inn.”

Rather, I was technically a king… so perhaps I shouldn’t wander around too freely on my own…

“Fels-sama, I will sleep at the inn… and watch the place.”

Renge told me that with sleepy eyes… but wouldn’t sleeping be no good?

Actually, you’re a guard, remember?

“No, there’s no need for that. At this stage, it would be better not to move freely yet. Let’s have them officially allow us to inspect the town after we speak with this council. However, we need information. You should know this town well, so Cougar, can I leave information gathering to you?”

“Got it! Once I guide Fels-sama to the inn, I’ll head out right away! If someone comes to receive you and you move to the guest house, feel free to leave me behind. I know where it is, so I’ll join up with you later.”

“Understood. Find out the details of this council’s situation.”

After nodding at Cougar’s words, I gave him an order in a low voice.

“Understood! Ah, I’ll warn you in advance! When you get to the inn, they’ll probably serve alcohol as part of the service, but it’s extremely strong, so you should be careful. It’s sweet, so if you let your guard down and drink it, you’ll collapse.”

“Oh?”

As expected, dwarves liked alcohol… or rather, crushing guests with a welcome drink… dwarves were far too vicious.

Fels’s body seemed to have a decent resistance to alcohol, but of course, I could not collapse from an Overlord standpoint… I was curious, but I would stop myself.

I was zero years old, after all.

…Actually, not just me, all of our children were zero years old.

Almost everyone except for the originally tiny Eisha and the others drank alcohol, though… well, physically, it probably wasn’t a problem?

“The fact that you know that means you drank it, Cougar?”

“It was for the sake of investigation.”

Cougar answered Renge’s question with an extremely serious expression… but in his case, it was strange how he looked less serious when he had a serious expression.

“It’s precisely because I carried out such a bodily investigation that I can warn you in advance like this. Well, if you’re interested, you can try drinking it, but if you don’t want to collapse, you should only lick it.”

“When you say that much, it actually makes me curious, but since Cougar went so far as to risk himself and investigate it for us, I’ll obediently refrain. Ah, the rest of you may do as you like based on your own judgment.”

“I am your guard, so I will refrain.”

“I’m… a little interested, so I think I’ll try drinking it.”

“I am heading straight to bed.”

“I’m interested too… since we’re here, I’ll try it.”

Like me, Lynferia and Renge would not drink. Otonoha and Bangagonga would drink… When someone drinks and gives their thoughts, it makes you want to drink too… My self-control would likely be tested.

“You two challengers should drink a panacea if things get bad. It’ll sober you up instantly.”

Oh… a panacea cured drunkenness… There was no drunken bad status in Sword and Legions, but it could cure things like that too… In that case, we should probably investigate the range of a panacea’s effects too.

“Ah, that’s the inn over there. It’s an inn I was introduced to, but it’s also the one I reserved beforehand. The reservation name is Potemkin.”

Was that Cougar’s false name…? Why Russian?

“I reserved one room for each person. Fels-sama, please use the room on the top floor. There’s a waiting room for guards and maids on the same floor, so Lynferia or Renge should stay there.”

“Understood. Renge, I will guard Fels-sama. I leave Otonoha and the others to you.”

“Understood. I will stand by on the bed.”

Renge nodded firmly at Lynferia’s words… but that was an extremely novel guard waiting location.

That was what I thought, but neither Lynferia nor Otonoha commented on it, so it must not be a problem.

Bangagonga did not usually cut in at times like this anyway.

“Well then, I’ll be going soon.”

“Yes, I’m counting on you. I don’t think there will be a problem, but I’ll contact you if anything happens.”

“Understood!”

Cougar gave me a thumbs-up at my words, then quickly disappeared into the crowd.

…That crowd was made up of dwarves… and there was a considerable difference in height, so he should have been completely visible… as expected, diplomats were full of mysteries.

Shifting my gaze away from the vanished Cougar, we headed toward the inn.

As expected of Cougar’s choice, the door size was normal… Bangagonga could pass through it by stooping only a little.

“Welcome.”

As soon as we entered the inn, a neatly dressed dwarf greeted us with a precise bow.

He had no beard, and his hair was neatly slicked back. I felt like he was slightly slimmer than the dwarves walking outside… perhaps because he gave off a sharp impression?

“Are there four of you?”

“No, we are the ones with a reservation under the name Potemkin.”

“My apologies, Potemkin-sama. We have been expecting you. I will show you to your rooms at once.”

When the neatly dressed dwarf said that, several male dwarves came near us from somewhere.

None of them had beards, and all of them had their hair slicked back, but they did not give the same smart impression as the sharp-looking dwarf who had welcomed us.

“We will take your luggage.”

“N-no…”

A dwarf who had approached tried to receive the luggage Bangagonga was carrying, but Bangagonga became flustered at the offer.

Well, the luggage Bangagonga was carrying was extremely large, and if he handed it to a small dwarf, I felt like it might crush him, so I understood how he felt.

Still, well, this was their job too. Things would go faster if he let them carry it.

“Bangagonga, it’s fine. Have them carry it.”

“Understood. There are fragile things inside, so handle it carefully.”

“Certainly.”

Bangagonga lowered the luggage and carefully handed it to the luggage-carrying dwarf, and the dwarf lifted it with a cautious air.

Seeing him calmly lift luggage about two sizes larger than his own body was quite a shock.

They were not called the strongest of the fairy-folk for nothing.

Looking at that sturdy dwarf, I suddenly realized something… did Bangagonga hesitate to hand over the luggage not because he was worried about the dwarf, but because he hesitated to hand over our luggage?

With Bangagonga’s serious personality, that seemed more likely.

“Now then, Potemkin-sama, this way, please.”

Since none of us except Bangagonga had luggage to entrust, the other dwarves moved a little away from us, and the neatly dressed dwarf began guiding us with an elegant smile.

However, after we only gave the name, there was no identity confirmation or check-in procedure at the reception. Was that really all right?

The one who came here when making the reservation had not been me, but Cougar, so I did not think they could confirm my identity… could it be that dwarves could not tell humanfolk apart?

No, if that were the case, they would have all the more reason to confirm identity… right?

But somehow, I couldn’t imagine this neatly dressed dwarf overlooking that sort of thing… how mysterious.

Still, well… it was not something I needed to worry about, and there was no doubt that we were the ones with a reservation under the name Potemkin, so was there no problem?

While feeling something vaguely unresolved, I followed behind the dwarf guiding us.