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-The demonic beast ran wild for just a few moments, but…
Dozens of houses burned down, leaving dozens of severely injured people. Davey hadn’t heard about the details of the damage, but it was a miracle that there were no casualties.
“Oh, wise teacher! You’re here!” Elder Golgouda and Goulda greeted Davey. The incident with the demonic beast had caused them a lot of trouble, on top of the headache-inducing restoration of the sacred sword.
“Wise teacher, I am ashamed to have shown you this ugly sight,” Golgouda said regretfully.
“That’s alright. Are you hurt anywhere?” Davey asked.
“Thankfully, I’m fine. The beast’s attacks were less severe than I thought. Although, dozens of houses burned down and some dwarves were injured.”
“Do you usually have demonic beast attacks here?”
At Davey’s question, Golgouda bitterly smiled and shook his head. Then, he opened his cupboard and brought out a huge bottle as if he had been waiting to do this. He simply said, “I think there’s something you want to say, wise teacher. Let’s have a drink.”
* * *
“I cherished this liquor for a long time, but I can bring it out for you!”
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
Lightly swirling the aromatic liquor in his cup, Davey quietly closed his eyes. “Next time, I’ll show you what the liquor of other continents tastes like.”
“Other continents? Is it liquor from the eastern or southern continents?”
“It’s similar.” Davey was talking about the hard liquor from the World of Martial Arts, to be exact. He thought it would be perfect for these dwarves since it was as potent as the notorious dwarf-made liquor. Then, he said, “Actually, I came here to give you this.”
“And this is?” Golgouda asked.
“It’s a notebook with the information you need to restore the sacred item. It’ll take you a while to finish it, and I have to start heading back.”
“Oh…”
The dwarves looked disappointed, but they still held onto the notebook dearly. Golgouda spoke up, “I really don’t know how we’ll ever repay this debt…”
“I don’t expect anything. Actually, I should be the one thanking you.” Davey had obtained the bones of the ancient dragon, orichalcum, adamantium, and many other valuable materials, so it actually seemed like he should be the one repaying them. It was true that the dwarves had greatly contributed to the creation of the twin swords, which were currently half-dormant.
“That’s a different matter. We did that because we wanted to,” Golgouda said.
“So did I; I had my own reasons as well.” Davey felt a little thankful to these dwarves who had taken care of his teacher’s work and had held onto it however they could. Although, this was different from what Davey had to do.
“Anyway, the dwarf guards were quite busy.”
“That is…”
“Goulda.”
“Ahem!” Goulda coughed awkwardly when Golgouda stopped him from talking.
“What is it?” Davey asked.
“Brother, is the wise teacher an outsider? How are you going to gain any trust when you hide something like this?” Goulda criticized.
“Ahem!” Golgouda cleared his throat as if he was in thought, then he slowly opened his mouth. “It’s nothing. They say that a child has gone missing from the orphanage. We are trying to get the guards to find evidence of the child, but…”
Demonic beasts were evil. There seemed to be nothing left behind, even though some kind of evidence should have been left if a child was involved in an incident where the demonic beast had run that wild.
“We have a problem now, because nothing is being confirmed and there’s huge confusion… I think that it might be dangerous for you to keep staying here, wise teacher.”
“Speaking of, I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“I think I’m going to head back.” As the two dwarves stayed silent, Davey added, “I think that the demonic beast hid here not because it was after the village, but me. The problem should go away if I leave.”
“What…”
“I apologize for not telling you.”
“N—Nonsense! How is that your fault?”
It all depended on perception; any person who was hostile toward Davey would have gladly pointed their fingers at him.
Afterwards, Davey just made an excuse that his stigmata had stimulated the demonic beast, leading to the beast attacking the village. After all, it was true that he was the target. He was only apprehensive that the vampires might take their anger out on this village after he left, but he didn’t have the power to care about that right now.
At last, the two elders said nothing. Perhaps they also thought it would be safer if Davey went back.
* * *
There was something about Davey that had inspired the dwarves to focus on more than just their business. There were probably a multitude of reasons behind the sudden change, but there was no need to bring that up.
“S-Stop! Show your identification!”
The first thing Davey did as soon as he sold the moon flower leaves was to buy equipment from the merchant companies to resupply the militia, which had now become the royal guards. He believed that the guards who protected the territory’s palace were the face of the territory itself.
The royal guards wore leather armor and used worn spears or swords. Perhaps it was because of the several dwarves who had followed Davey in, but the royal guards watching them from the run-down watchtower came down and stopped them. They were terrified.
“Your seigneur,” Davey said. As both he and his party were pretty tired from the long journey, Davey had gone straight to the point and skipped the complicated, formal process.
“S—Saint, sir!”
“I’m not a saint. Was everything okay while I was gone?”
“Yes, yes!!” As if he was a private meeting the division commander, the royal guard gave a stiff answer with a voice as loud as a foghorn. His response amused the dwarves.
“The territory feels exceptionally quiet today.”
“T-That is… The merchant companies and mercenaries already went by today, sir!”
“Alright. Keep up the hard work. I’ll hear the detailed report once I get in.”
Perhaps it was because Davey had just returned to the territory after a few weeks. Monmider, who was the captain of the royal guards, Royal Attendant Bernile, and the other servants greeted him in a straight line as soon as he entered the run-down palace. He had said before that he wanted to skip the formalities, but they were forced to do this because of Bernile’s strong opinion that Davey’s authority as the seigneur and the prince of this country would weaken if they didn’t do this.
“The people behind you…” Royal Attendant Bernile’s voice trailed off.
“They have come here from the Yellowstone Tribe to help repair the territory’s facilities. We should be grateful for them. Please bring them drinks and meat since they’re probably tired from traveling. What about lodgings?”
“I have prepared it in advance as you ordered, but it is not great due to the lack of time,” Royal Attendant Bernile said.
“That’s alright; I heard everything about the territory on the way here. That’s what we’re here for, is it not?” Eighth Elder Goulda, the only elder who followed Davey here, spoke confidently on behalf of all the dwarves.
“Yes… I am Royal Attendant Bernile. Please call me whatever you are comfortable with.”
“I am Goulda, the eighth elder of the Yellowstone Tribe.”
Dwarves rarely left their village, even if they were doing business with humans, so many humans had never actually seen dwarves in person despite having heard about them. As such, the servants of the palace couldn’t help but be fascinated by the dwarves.
“Wise teacher, you don’t have to do all this for us,” Goulda said.
“How could I not? You are all my precious guests,” Davey replied.
“Haha, dwarves are meant to live with fire and stone. And your problems are ours as well.”
Hearing Goulda’s comment, Captain Monmider’s gaze slightly changed. He seemed to wonder what he had done to make these dwarves, who seldom left their village, act like this.
‘Man, you really don’t trust anyone.’
“I think the captain is going to need to have some faith.”
“I—I’m sorry!”
“Right? It’s not like I constantly stab you in the back or something.”
“Of course not!”
“The Heins Territory was my mother’s territory; I’m from here as well.”
“Oh…” Now realizing his mistake, Monmider backed away while bowing his head apologetically.
“Let’s go inside; I’m tired.”
“I will get the bath running.”
“First, let’s do a quick briefing.”
Davey had heard most of the territory’s matters through the communication crystal. He knew that the preparation to harvest moon grass was going smoothly, but he hadn’t been in a good situation to receive reports on the little details.
“There are seventeen merchant companies in total that have currently bought land in the territory and are building.”
“The total number of people?”
“With the wizard towers, the schools of alchemy, the temple, the merchant companies, and the small number of guards, it’s about three thousand people.”
‘Wow.’
“There’s about three thousand people requesting to immigrate here, and our current number of residents is only about two hundred…”
“It is still increasing. The people who have predicted that this place will become profitable are thinking of making a commercial district here. Since this territory’s location made it quite good in terms of transportation, it seems they want to make a middle point between the Holy Empire and the Empire.”
“The estimated number of people?”
“It seems that about four thousand people will request to immigrate here after the second quarter.”
Davey was surprised by the numbers now that he was hearing them for himself. ‘Two hundred to four thousand… That’s about twenty times more.’
“Everything is going well.”
Any city needed a population to prosper. They would face many problems if the number of residents increased all of a sudden, but Davey wouldn’t be able to run this territory if he was afraid of that. Nothing really bothered him right now.
“Wise teacher, I see that the conditions of the territory are abysmal.”
“I am ashamed.”
“More than that, I am horrified by the condition of this palace you live in,” Goulda said sternly and tapped the tools on his belt. “This is a good chance for us to repay the debt. Although our skills are nothing compared to yours, we will make a new space for you to live in as the best craftsmen in the continent.”
Dwarf-made palaces and castles were famous continent-wide, because dwarves normally didn’t leave their villages a lot, and their skills, unique design, and finish were incomparable to anyone on the continent.
“Don’t say that you’re fine or something. No one follows a leader that does not take care of themselves, no matter how outstanding the leader is.”
“No, I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“Ahem!”
‘Was I too transparent?’
“However, I was wondering if I could ask you to add a few things I would like. It’s probably something that you will like, too.”
As Monmider quietly lowered his head, Goulda laughed heartily and said, “Great! Hey, you people! It’s time to show them what we’ve got! Is there anyone tired from walking for just a few days?!”
“Of course not! If we were tired, we wouldn’t live up to the name of ‘the best craftsmen in the continent’! Alright! Let’s get to it!”
As Davey vacantly stared at the eager dwarves who were rushing inside, Royal Attendant asked cautiously, “Pardon me, Your Highness, but…”
“Hm?”
“You…didn’t brainwash them or something, right?” Royal Attendant Bernile looked embarrassed as Davey stared at him with a flat expression.