About What Comes Next

“According to the information Cougar gathered for us, each of the twelve dwarf towns has its own mining site. Or rather, it seems more accurate to say that the mining sites came first, and the towns were built around them.”

After returning from the conference hall to the guest house, we discussed today’s meeting in the parlor.

That said, the contents were not a review of the meeting, but about the matter I had proposed at the very end.

“That’s right. The dwarves’ bodies are just ridiculously sturdy, and it feels like they don’t care whether poison forms in a tunnel, they hit a gas pocket, or the place gets flooded. They’re an unbelievable race who just keep digging without caring, because they want to mine more than anything.”

If I remembered correctly, when Bangagonga talked about dwarves before, he had said there were stories that dwarves were fine whether it was water, lava, or poison, but that had actually been true…

They also recovered fairly quickly even after being hit by Lynferia and Renge… Dwarves were scary.

The strongest bodies among the fairy-folk, and hearts that went straight toward their own desires… If the dwarves had been an ambitious race, Gigil-Po might have unified the continent by now.

“Why are such dwarves unable to deal with the monsters that entered the tunnels by themselves? It is not as though they have no military strength, correct?”

After listening to Cougar’s explanation, Lynferia asked, looking as if she did not understand.

“The dwarves’ fighting style is basically base defense… driving off foreign enemies who attack Gigil-Po. They’re not very good at fighting with small numbers in narrow places like tunnels. Of course, if the opponent is humanfolk, they can make use of a dwarf’s toughness and fight, but… their opponents are monsters with physical abilities no worse than dwarves.”

Apparently, since the dwarves could not use their specialty of group combat or defensive weapons in the tunnels, and their opponents were individually powerful, it was difficult for them to handle.

“Even so, with the dwarves’ strength, I would think they could eventually sweep them out. Even if they cannot fight as a group, dwarves who know the mining sites inside and out should be able to fight using terrain advantageous to themselves. If they took their time, could they not reclaim them eventually?”

“That’s true, but it seems the matter isn’t that simple. There are two problems… The first is frenzy. Apparently, when dwarves enter the mining sites that monsters have entered, there’s a high chance they’ll go berserk. Of course, they don’t go berserk as soon as they enter, but it seems they can’t use tactics that take too much time.”

“So that means it is impossible to take time attacking in order to reclaim the mining sites…”

That must mean the Demon King’s magic power was dense in the mining sites… Could we manage somehow by placing simplified magic-power collection devices there?

No, those only worked in places where people lived or in dungeons, did they not?

But considering that berserk monsters stopped appearing in Einheria, if we installed magic-power collection devices in the towns, would they also be able to absorb magic power from the mining sites?

“Right. Apparently, they found out when quite a few people went berserk during a previous operation to reclaim one of the mining sites… It seems it was pretty tragic.”

Soldiers engaged in an operation going berserk during that operation… And from what he said, it had not just been one or two people, so it must have become quite awful.

Leaving monsters aside, I had never seen a fully berserk person, so I did not know exactly what state they entered… but they probably rampaged indiscriminately, like berserk monsters.

Bangagonga and the others had apparently killed them before they reached that point completely… but frenzy really was nothing good.

“And as for the other problem, it seems the monsters are increasing inside the mining sites.”

As I was thinking about frenzy, Cougar continued. And what he said was something rather hard to ignore.

“The number of monsters is increasing…? Do you mean they are breeding?”

“The pace is too fast for that. Even monsters need a certain amount of time to grow big enough to fight to some extent. What I can think of is either that ordinary animals are going berserk and attacking like monsters, or that monsters are being generated.”

“…”

In a game, monsters would pop up in dungeons one after another, but… could something like that really happen in reality?

Even if it was the Demon King’s magic power, creating life was… no, now that I thought about it carefully, we were completely that kind of existence.

Even if it had been through five thousand years’ worth of the Demon King’s magic power and Fio’s ritual, the fact remained that life had been born from magic power… Perhaps it would not be strange if, due to some factor, monsters were being born from the current Demon King’s magic power.

“I haven’t investigated yet, so I can’t say for sure, but the dwarves’ mining sites… currently, monsters are appearing in five of the twelve… might have become dungeons.”

“Dungeons, huh…”

Dungeons were a familiar thing in games, but… I had never heard any talk of dungeons existing in this world.

No, that was not it… It did not matter what they were called in this world.

What mattered was whether or not those places were dungeons to us.

“Otonoha. If we investigate whether the dwarves’ mining sites are dungeons… in other words, whether simplified magic-power collection devices can be installed there, we can find out quickly, correct?”

“Yes, no problem.”

“Good… Galgad and the others did not accept our proposal on the spot, but neither did they refuse it immediately. Judging from Cougar’s information, it will likely be almost impossible for the dwarves to solve the situation by themselves… Even so, they did not immediately leap at my proposal. That must mean the mining sites are that important to the dwarves, something they cannot so easily entrust to others.”

At my words, Renge tilted her head.

“If they are that important, then all the more reason they should reclaim them quickly. Why not accept immediately?”

“Renge, am I someone you can trust?”

“Of course. If you ordered me, I would do anything.”

Renge answered my question without a moment’s delay. I placed my hand lightly on her head and spoke.

“You all believe in me, and you know that I will not do anything strange at the dwarves’ mining sites. But the dwarves are different. They cannot casually entrust what is more important to them than anything else to someone else. Even if it is a helping hand offered out of goodwill.”

“…Even though everything would be solved if they left it to Fels-sama?”

…Her trust felt a little heavy.

I crushed that weak feeling with my Overlord power and continued speaking.

“To the dwarves, I am not yet someone they can trust that much. Let’s see… Renge, could you entrust my protection to the dwarves?”

“Impossible.”

“Exactly.”

When I removed my hand from her head and said that with a shrug, Renge looked dissatisfied.

“But before trust even comes into it, they are simply lacking in strength. But the dwarves also understand very well that Fels-sama is amazing.”

“That is precisely why they did not refuse immediately and said they wanted to discuss it privately. From our side, since we have gone to the trouble of securing the dwarves’ help, we want to resolve their problem… That is all there is to it.”

“The fewer debts there are, the easier it is to feel at ease.”

Whether it was goodwill or malice, there was no helping the fact that one could only guess at other people’s thoughts, but things did not get resolved quite as neatly as I would like.

Well, compared to humanfolk, the dwarves were far easier to deal with… but it would be helpful if they quickly reached the conclusion to borrow our strength.

From our side as well, we wanted to inspect the mining sites in question.

Viewpoint: Galgad=Ebo=Suyan, Chairman of the Gigil-Po Town Chiefs’ Council

Although it had been a very quiet meeting compared to our usual conferences, the impact had been tremendous.

A king who radiated overwhelming presence and guards who could suppress us in an instant… A heroic woman who displayed unbelievably advanced technology in various fields, and a goblin with a mountain-like body who had survived frenzy.

Despite scattering that much intimidation, once the talks began, the exchanges even felt amiable.

While occasionally revealing a transcendent atmosphere, he also made me feel consideration and sincerity toward us, and while we spoke, he gradually loosened our wariness.

He was different from the kings I had seen until now… In that short time, that king had struck me with enough to make me think so.

“To be honest, I thought that if it was that king, perhaps we could entrust him with the matter of the mining sites.”

In the conference hall after the king of Einheria and his group had left, I said this seriously while looking at the town chiefs.

Several nodded at those words, but as expected, since the matter concerned the mining sites, not everyone could share the same opinion so easily.

“You would entrust the mining sites to another country… and one we met for the first time today?”

Oran said quietly.

For Oran, who was quick to anger and usually began by denying the other party, this was an unusually restrained attitude, but that was only natural.

“It is true that the technological power of this country called Einheria is considerable. There are probably arms and armor far more powerful than the items we saw today. However, as everyone knows, deploying an army in the mining sites is difficult. On the other hand, even if a small number of people were to attack, they would easily be swallowed up by the difference in numbers.”

Everyone listened quietly to Oran’s words.

“If it were us, who know the tunnels thoroughly, it might be possible to fight advantageously with a small number of soldiers… But we cannot enter the tunnels. Even if we gave them detailed maps, there is no way they could adapt flexibly inside those complicated tunnels. Am I wrong?”

“In that case, Oran. What do you think we should do?”

At my question, Oran showed an expression filled with anguish and opened his mouth heavily.

“I… think we should abandon the mining sites in question. We should collapse the entrances and prevent the monsters inside from coming out.”

Two town chiefs nodded at Oran’s words.

They were not saying that we should abandon the mining sites because they could not trust Einheria.

Rather, they were probably thinking that they did not want to expose humanfolk to danger for the sake of a dwarf problem.

To be more precise, they did not want to lose people from the country that had produced that wonderful technology… That was likely what they meant.

“I understand Oran’s opinion… But that is only if the problem is limited to those five mining sites. There is no guarantee the remaining mining sites will not become the same way in the future, you know? Even if we say we will create new mining sites, it will take more than ten years… And if the same thing happens at those new places…”

The number of mining sites that monsters had entered had initially been only one, but over these past few months, it had increased to five.

If it were simply that monsters had entered, that would be one thing, but when we enter mining sites where monsters have settled, there is a very high chance that we will go berserk.

Even if we abandon the mining sites, if we do not investigate the cause, the same thing could happen elsewhere.

However, even if we try to investigate, there is a high probability that members of the investigation team will go berserk.

This matter had been the greatest agenda item for this gathering, but…

“How about asking them to cooperate, rather than entrusting everything to them and having them solve it?”

Old Gain said this as he stood up.

“We should reveal without hiding anything the information we currently know and the situation we have been placed in, then ask for cooperation. Since this situation has suddenly developed over the past few months, there is no guarantee that the other mining sites can be used as they have been. No, rather, we should act under the assumption that the same thing will happen before long. They said that once Einheria’s magic-power collection devices were installed, berserk monsters stopped appearing over a wide area. If that range of influence reaches even our mining sites, then perhaps we can reclaim the mining sites with our own hands, can we not?”

There was no need to rely on them all the way to having them subjugate the monsters and liberate the mining sites.

Everyone, including Oran and the others, nodded at Old Gain’s words.

“If that is the case, perhaps we should also ask them to conduct a simple investigation. It is too risky for us to determine by ourselves whether we will go berserk or not, and it would be more certain to have Einheria investigate the function and operation of the magic-power collection devices.”

“…If that is how it will be, it is frustrating that we cannot accompany them.”

I smiled wryly at Old Gain’s final mutter. Well, if one was a dwarf, that was only natural.

“As expected, I think we should restrain ourselves in this matter… Then, we shall take a vote. Old Gain’s proposal: ask Einheria for cooperation, have them install magic-power collection devices, and have them investigate whether the mining sites fall under their influence. Those in favor of this proposal, raise your hands.”

Although they showed some signs of hesitation, all eleven raised their hands.

“Then, we shall proceed with asking Einheria for cooperation regarding the monsters in the mining sites. As for the contents of their cooperation, we will present Old Gain’s proposal from our side, but they may have separate demands, so everyone should keep that in mind. Now then, next is the meeting with Otonoha-dono regarding learning about Einheria’s technology…”

The heavy, gloomy atmosphere from moments before vanished in an instant, and the eyes of everyone present changed into a sharp gleam.

Of course, from the others’ perspective, I likely wore the same expression…

“First is the magic-power collection device… As expected, we cannot have everyone here participate, can we?”

At my words, the twelve town chiefs climbed onto the round table.

Now, the discussion, or rather, the fistfight, began.