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74. Dwarf

「The king will act out of the spirit of his subject who wants to help even if it means risking his own life. That’s the scenario, isn’t it, Asagi-dono? At best, you’re cunning, and at worst, a sly fox! As expected!」

Asagi probably felt that the king should not take action just because his subject asked him to. You could call it the political sense of someone who has ruled this village for a long time. It must have been an exchange with consideration of the distant future.

「Well, in Asagi’s case, if I had said I wouldn’t go, he probably would have gone on his own with a single spear.」

「That was my intention from the beginning.」

Bellman must also be a well-educated person if he was able to understand that. But what he said about Asagi being a sly fox was unneeded.

「By the way, Bellman, the waterway broke due to being frozen. Please fix it by today. Don’t forget.」

「Eh, Asagi-dono? Ehh?」

I mean, why didn’t you just say something nice, Bellman?

On a side note, according to the old customs of the werewolf tribe, it is customary to address elders, and even young people of high status, as “dono.”

That’s why Asagi calls me “Marge-dono” even though I am younger than him, and he doesn’t call Bellman “dono” because he is both lower in position and younger.

I felt bad for Bellman, but it was his own fault. I left it as is and got up from my seat to get ready to head to Vita Tama.

「Asagi, the dwarves must be skilled craftsmen if they can craft a sword like this.」

「Indeed.」

「That’s perfect. I was thinking of relying more on tools for rice cultivation next year. I’ll come back with a craftsman, so just hang tight.」

「Yes, be careful.」

◆◆◆

—About ten days after the preparation period.

When I was still in the Divine Silver Sword, the last city we were based in was called Berdera. Commonly known as the city of caves. It was a city that was formed by people who wanted to conquer the S-class dungeon “The Abyss Where Evil Comes From”, people who used it to start their business, people from guilds, government officials, and so on.

Here in Vita Tama, it seemed to be similar to Berdera, but it was also slightly different.

The backbone of the city is the mine. It was written in the books that it was once developed by the dwarves and is now managed jointly with humans. Howere, I thought that was just a pretext, and that the dwarves were actually slaves or captives.

「Marge, that is…」

「Yeah, the dwarves.」

「There are a lot of them.」

「Yeah, more than I thought.」

The dwarves were walking around the city. The ratio of humans to dwarves seemed to be 9 to 1, but their status did not seem lower at all. I saw the people enjoying tea, children learning at school, and even intellectuals discussing magic.

They led the same life as humans, or perhaps even better. They were very clean and with no beards, which were almost always mentioned in the books.

「Master, are they adults?」

「Yes. Their density of muscles is different from that of humans, so despite their appearance they are much heavier than me.」

Koe-san watched the short people walking around town with great interest. This was also my first time seeing them in person, but their characteristics were unmistakable.

Demi-human, Dwarf.

In terms of appearance, they were small. In terms of heights anyway. Among demi-humans, for example, werewolves are a race with a physique that is almost the same or slightly larger than humans. Overall, I would say they are about the top of the average size. Shizuku, who is 13 years old and not even as tall as my chest, is rather small for a werewolf.

The dwarves that walked around town, even adult males, were not much different from Shizuku. There were even rumors that they were blessed with the skill to shrink their bodies in order to survive in the mines, but the details are unknown. A more advanced theory supports the opposite theory: “Exactly because of their small size, they survived in the struggle for existence in the mines.”

At the very least, there is no doubt that they are a smart and dexterous race. If they aren’t oppressed as slaves, then it wouldn’t be strange to think that they could lead such a civilized life.

As I thought to myself that I was overthinking that they had become slaves or captives,

「No, that’s not a dwarf.」Shizuku muttered to herself.

「Shizuku, if you feel something is off, tell me.」

「There are many stories about dwarves that have been passed down in the village. I grew up listening to them since I was a child. Those are completely different from what I heard.」

「They look pretty normal to me, though…」

「There’s no way those guys are normal.」

「……Huh?」

Shizuku continued with a very serious look.

「Dwarves are a race of craftsmen whose men are miners and lumberjacks, and whose women are masters of blacksmithing and craftsmanship. Their technological strength is unmatched by the likes of humans. I have heard that they were respected for their skills even outside the forest.」

「That is indeed amazing.」

「And their behavior was so bad that even if you tripled their reputation it wouldn’t be enough to offset it.」