Dwarves

To ask Miria-san and the others about it, I first returned to Tree Village.

I made my way to the residential district of the Dark Elves led by Miria-san.

Many of the Dark Elves had been working as hunters, and by now quite a few of them had also joined Sandstorm.

Since the Dark Elves, all of whom were said to be warriors, had requested a place where they could train, we had them set up their homes close to Sandstorm’s barracks.

Because Miria-san and the others had brought every last Dark Elf from their settlement, the Dark Elf population in Tree Village was already close to fifty.

Since we had no food problems here, taking in this many was already easy for us.

Now, through Miria-san and Lulu-san, we were also calling in other Dark Elves, so I expected their numbers would probably increase a little more in the future.

Remembering the chaos from when we had needed to make a housing district exclusively for the Dark Elves, I wondered if it would turn out like that again, and as I approached Miria-san’s house, someone came out.

“W-Woody-sama, hello!”

The one who came out was a boy who looked stiff with nervousness.

He looked about the same age as me, but since he was a Dark Elf, he was probably older.

His ears were a little short, so maybe he was half Dark Elf.

The Dark Elves, much like the people of Sandstorm, had a tendency to over-deify me.

Personally, I would have appreciated it if they could treat me a little more casually.

“Is Miria-san here?”

“Miria is out at the moment, she has gone hunting! She is scheduled to return around five in the evening at sunset!”

The Dark Elf boy, rigid as a board, recited what was probably a line he had been made to memorize beforehand.

After hearing the somewhat wooden delivery, I checked the time.

It was still only three in the afternoon, so if I waited here, I would have a bit too much time on my hands.

“Then shall we just pass the time by inspecting Tree Village at random?”

“I shall accompany you.”

I said goodbye to the Dark Elf boy and decided to head once more toward the center of Tree Village.

Though the sunlight had already begun to weaken now that it was past three in the afternoon, the energy of the people of Tree Village had not faded in the slightest.

At present, as Tree Village’s population had increased, land readjustment had been moving forward.

The people who had originally lived here resided in the center of the village, while the newcomers lived around the outside, and the House Trees spread outward in a radial pattern.

That said, if you asked whether the center was the most prosperous area, it definitely was not.

Recently, Ran-san had started dealing in various saleable goods such as World Tree Fruit, Peach Salve, and Wenti-brand fruit, and had become capable of making a proper profit, so the area around the shop she had set up had become the most crowded place.

Around that area, shops selling sweets made with Wenti fruit and slightly stylish bakeries had also opened, so that whole district had probably become Tree Village’s main street.

At present, the number of Wenti residents was continuing to rise greatly.

For the sake of a decisive battle in case of emergency, I had been recklessly purchasing slaves and freeing them, and I had also been bringing in desert people who had still been reluctant to join Wenti in droves.

Thanks to that, the Smile Points I could now earn had already surpassed 3,000, and I had reached a point where I could use my power without worrying about running out of points, and even had enough leeway to provide some of the trees as lumber to the residents in addition to the selected branches and wood.

When people increased, problems increased along with them.

Lately, the villagers had not been bringing me many petitions, but that was probably because Maton had been streamlining the work behind the scenes where I could not see and slacking off efficiently.

And having more people was not all bad, either.

As I walked, I could hear the sharp clanging sound of metal being hammered.

When I peered in from outside, it looked like a metalworking shop, and all kinds of goods from pots to frying pans were lined up.

So the iron we mined was being used in people’s daily lives like this.

After passing through the main street, there were housewives chatting around a well.

When I went a little farther out, the freed slaves, now free citizens, were all diligently at work.

This village was growing bigger and bigger.

In terms of scale, it might soon be graduating from being a village and stepping into becoming a town.

And it had become so mixed together that I could not even imagine what it would look like in the future.

“Over here, for example, the alleys are getting a little too tangled up.”

“There are quite a lot of blind spots and places out of public view, so if bad elements start flowing in and public order worsens in the future, it could become a little dangerous.”

“We might have to do a bit more proper land readjustment.”

When I inspected things like this, I could see all sorts of things.

I did not really like forcing things through from above, so basically I had tried to gather as many opinions from below as possible and adopt them whenever I could.

But maybe because I had taken in too many different opinions, things had ended up becoming a bit too cluttered overall.

It looked like I would need to adjust the appearance and layout a little more in a way that would not provoke too much resentment.

I would have to tell Maton about that.

To get everyone to agree, I might also need to ask Shekuri-san to act as a coordinator.

“We must keep the afforestation progressing smoothly so that eventually everyone can live here even without Woody-sama using his power.”

“Yeah. If possible, I need to leave my son a territory that can be run successfully even without doing anything.”

“A son…?”

Whether the power of Tree Planting would be inherited by my child was completely unknown.

And unlike Father, I did not want to treat my children differently based on aptitude.

So before my child grew up, I intended to build a village that could somehow keep running even without the Tree Planting aptitude.

The ironworking industry was an indispensable step for self-sufficiency and for earning foreign currency.

I had to tackle it without letting my guard down.

While I was thinking about that, Miria-san and the others returned from hunting.

After apologizing for troubling them while they were tired, I asked them to tell me what they knew.

At that, Miria-san and Lulu-san gave a small nod.

“Yes, we had dealings with the dwarves, so we know where they live. Unless something has happened, the dwarves should be at a place called Magros Volcano, farther north than where we used to live.”

If they had dealings with them, then this would be quick.

To resolve the growing surplus of iron within our territory, we ended up rushing to prepare to make an appointment with the dwarves.

—Dwarves were one of the demi-human races, just like elves and Dark Elves.

Their defining traits were their squat, stocky builds, their strength, and their dexterity.

In the case of men, they became bearded old men like massive balls of rock-hard muscle, while in the case of women, even after reaching adulthood, they looked like little girls.

Many among them excelled at blacksmithing, to the point that people said dwarves held a hammer even while sleeping.

Just having been made by a dwarf was enough to raise an item’s value, to the extent that it functioned as a kind of brand in itself.

If we could get them on our side, then they would surely solve the iron surplus problem.

Whether they were artisans or blacksmiths who made weapons and armor, they would still be specialists in processed goods that used iron.

If possible, I wanted to invite the dwarves into Wenti as well.

When we discussed it with Wenti’s influential figures, including Shekuri-san and the others…

“Would that not be fine? If we are thinking of Guinea’s development, then the iron processing industry ought to be advanced immediately.”

“That will increase my workload again… I will have to find some way to leave it to someone else!”

“There is no doubt that being able to use iron is a good thing!”

Including Shekuri-san, Maton-san, Jinga-san, and the others, everyone was in favor.

Unlike the elves and Dark Elves, who had built up long years within worlds of their own, dwarves were a race that had comparatively walked through history alongside humans.

In fact, even within the Kingdom of Aries, dwarves were not all that rare.

Dwarves basically never completely cut off contact with humans.

The reason was that dwarves by themselves did not actually possess such highly advanced ironworking technology.

To make products that met the standards they found acceptable, the human side’s technology—constantly striving to improve productivity and quality because of the high daily demand for processed iron goods—was indispensable.

“It would be nice if we could prepare something to lure the dwarves in…”

Nadja said that, worrying over it.

Could we somehow draw the dwarves into our domain?

That was the very problem every noble in the kingdom was wracking their brains over.

They were, if anything, the type of artisans who liked pursuing what they loved to the utmost.

Even more than the elves, they were stubborn and unable to compromise, and unless one offered extremely favorable conditions, they would basically never lend their aid.

Many of them were indifferent to money to begin with, seeming to think of it as little more than something to buy rare materials with.

What dwarves wanted was materials and an environment that would allow them to improve their own skills.

If there was any opening to attack, I believed that was it.

In fact, I had heard that within the kingdom there were already a fair number of weapon and armor shops run by dwarves, and that among them were even personal blacksmiths in noble service.

I believed that attracting dwarves was by no means impossible.

“Rather, I think if all we want to do is poach dwarves, it will be pretty easy.”

“What!? Could it be that you have some brilliant idea, Woody?”

“Yeah, well, it is not really brilliant or anything… basically, wouldn’t it be enough if we could offer them the best possible workplace?”

What dwarves wanted were all kinds of metals and furnaces capable of withstanding high-temperature processing.

As for the former, I could just ask Wheel-san.

I had been told that given enough time, he could produce whatever metal he wanted, so when it came to metal materials, we should be able to welcome blacksmiths with such favorable treatment that there would be no room to hope for more anywhere else.

I mean, being able to use as much of whatever material you wanted was not something you could get elsewhere.

And as for the latter problem of furnaces… I planned to solve that by using a secret technology called the blast furnace, which was used in Conrad territory where I used to live.

Simply put, it was a furnace that made higher-temperature work possible by using materials with greater heat resistance than before.

This blast furnace technology was used to produce high-purity iron and to melt magical metals such as mithril and orichalcum.

The key lay in the heat-resistant bricks used in the furnace, and while I did not really understand it, apparently they could be made by mixing heat-resistant brick into brick.

Every time I heard this explanation, I always thought the same thing: where had the very first heat-resistant brick come from?

Though, well, that was not important right now.

Father had already given permission for me to use it, and several of the heat-resistant bricks for that purpose had already been stored away.

I had been thinking about when to use them, since there was not enough to use for every furnace… but if it could let us poach dwarves, then I thought this was exactly the right moment.

“If it can be used by highly skilled dwarves, then the blast furnace itself would probably be happier with that too.”

“I think you are the only one who considers how the furnace feels, Woody…”

“But that is very like Woody-sama.”

And so, with these two cards in hand, we decided to march straight at the dwarves.

“Before that, we should confirm things with the elves.”

“Yeah, I already know Akabane-san and the others are here today, so let’s go right now.”

The greatest difficulty in inviting the dwarves was, after all, the elves.

That elves and dwarves were bitter enemies was such a famous story that even people who did not know much about demi-humans had heard of it.

Just to be safe, we decided to go make an appointment with Akabane-san and ask whether it would be all right.

Within the elf exchange group, he was effectively the leader, so it would make later discussions easier as well.

“Hm… well, if their residential districts are separated and no trouble is caused, then I think there will be no problem, de gozaru. Though it is also true that among the elves there are still those who call dwarves dirt-stompers…”

So that dirt-stomper Utena-san mentioned the other day… it referred to dwarves.

If Utena-san and a dwarf got close to each other, they would definitely end up fighting… hmm, maybe I really should suggest a personnel change.

“Do you think there would be no problem even if Utena-san and Mego-san met dwarves?”

“Yes, there would be no problem, de gozaru. The reason elves and dwarves do not get along is because of the difference in their national character—elves seek to protect trees, while dwarves cut them down and throw them into the fire. In a place like this where Woody-dono’s power exists, I think it will surely go no further than exchanging sharp words.”

I see… was that all it amounted to?

Having been told all my life that elves and dwarves were on bad terms, it was a little hard for me to imagine… but if Akabane-san said so, then it was probably fine.

“If it seems likely that the dwarves will try to pick a quarrel over the elves, then please call for this Akabane first. I believe matters will go more smoothly for the others if I speak with them first.”

“Thank you very much!”

And so, having safely secured the elves’ permission as well, we set out on foot for Magros Volcano to the north—