Chapter 177 : Chapter 177
Chapter 177. The East Wind (3)
As I've said several times, a dwarven hold is an impregnable fortress.
This premise does not change even though the Everlasting Mountains Hold once fell to the Orc Great Chieftain with surprising ease.
The reason for the hold's fall at that time was because the high priest of the Ratmen Technopriest Council had personally occupied the Steamforge, and the Orc Great Chieftain Uluk had invaded with tens of thousands of orcs.
Although it was unintentional, it was as if two legendary heroes from two different factions had joined forces to attack.
‘Come to think of it, I can't even be sure if it was an unintentional joint attack.’
The Orc Great Chieftain Uluk had the church's secret art implanted in him.
The high priest of the Technopriest Council was a guardian of the church's sacred relic.
Well, since they were all dead, it would be difficult to ever know what kind of connection there was between the two.
Anyway, the process by which the hold, which had held out for a long time even against such an unprecedented joint attack and had only given up its surface, collapsed was necessary information to prepare for the coming invasion.
If I reflected on the traces I had witnessed firsthand in the ruins of paradise, cross-verification would also be possible.
The King of Kings Ungol's answer was unexpected.
“It was an emissary.”
“An emissary? You mean a messenger?”
“Yes. A messenger. He said he was a messenger who served the will of the Eastern Emperor.”
Ungol slowly took a breath.
His shaggy beard swayed like weeds with his breath.
“In reality, he was a suicide bomber.”
“Was it a gunpowder weapon?”
“Ah, don't misunderstand. How could a mere gunpowder weapon even scratch a hold? I admit that the Eastern Empire's cannon technology is excellent, but it's an absurd story. Yes, absurd. Because our walls are made of black iron alloy…”
I cut him off before he could begin a lengthy speech mixed with pride in gunpowder and alloys, and their technology.
“I can't imagine it. What kind of suicide bombing could bring down a hold? Was it a plague or a spell?”
“It was an Outer God.”
This was also an unexpected answer.
The dwarf clenched his fist.
“An Outer God. Have you heard of them? The emperor of your empire would know. No, perhaps you might know too.”
“I have heard of them. Aren't they the beings the church reveres?”
“Ancient legends are passed down to the King of Kings of the dwarves. Among them is this saying.”
Ungol paused for a moment.
His dry gaze turned to the window.
Gazing at the scenery of the sky where sleet was scattering, a sight rarely seen in the south unless it was a city adjacent to the wasteland, he said.
“Be wary of the beings that float outside the sky. And be even more wary if they are on the side of mortals.”
The king's voice did not tremble.
His calm tone revealed a hardness.
That emotion was not fear.
It was fighting spirit.
“They will not be able to escape my hammer. My ancestors from two thousand years ago would also understand the sorrow of losing one's homeland.”
There is a prejudice against the dwarven race.
They are usually old-fashioned, unresponsive, and obsessed with useless traditions, but that is only in normal times.
The moment a certain line is crossed, they turn into avengers.
I understood one thing.
‘Tick-tock?’
‘Omnyomnyom?’
It seems I will have to be thorough with the security regarding the sacred relics.
***
After calming down the King of Kings of the dwarves with beer brewed from freshly harvested wheat, bread made from Wolfskrig's rice, and Karen's cookies, I heard his additional testimony.
The details of the suicide bomber were as follows.
“At first, he approached disguised as an emissary. No, I heard that for a while, he actually acted like an emissary.”
The emissary had claimed from the beginning that he was a representative of the Eastern Emperor.
It was difficult to suspect him of being a fake when he presented a certificate stamped with the emperor's national seal, which was impossible to forge through magical means.
Even during the dwarves' characteristically reclusive verification process, the emissary was said to have focused only on topics that a diplomatic envoy would typically discuss.
The main content was that trade with the dwarves had been cut off for several years due to the chaos in the Eastern Empire, but since the internal turmoil had subsided, they proposed to resume the interrupted trade.
“According to the survivor's testimony, he even set specific trade periods and clauses with diplomatic rhetoric.”
“He met the king of the hold when the negotiations were concluded.”
“That's right. No matter how wary my sons of the earth are, what can they do? To send back an ambassador without even showing the monarch's face is no different from being a coward, isn't it?”
The self-proclaimed ‘emissary’ had thus reached the deepest part of the hold where the king was, without any resistance.
It was then that he had revealed his true colors.
“The first sacrifice was the Burning Anvil Hold.”
To summarize the testimony of the few remaining survivors, it was as follows.
The king and his retainers greeting the emissary.
A tight security behind the friendly atmosphere.
A few diplomatic exchanges.
The emissary's incomprehensible mumbling.
The moment they felt something was wrong, the emissary's body exploded.
A black, round, unknown space that swallowed the king, his retainers, and the guards in the blink of an eye.
A desperate escape driven by instinct.
After running for a long time, they looked back to see the palace explode, and a giant monster revealing itself above the half-destroyed palace.
“What did that monster look like?”
“Well. It differed depending on who was talking. Some talked about slithering tentacles, others about floating eyeballs or a maw that swallowed buildings. In any case, it wasn't a creature of this world.”
“Did that monster bring down the hold?”
“They say it ate the Steamforge first. The king's palace is usually connected to the path to the Steamforge.”
At this point, I had to offer a cookie to the enraged King of Kings.
Strangely enough, Karen's cookies seemed to calm down both the dwarven king and the sacred relics of the Outer Gods.
Well, it wasn't like they were drugged.
Taking a bite, it was indeed delicious.
It was that very taste, full of the simple sugars I had eaten on Earth, that the taste buds loved to the point of addiction.
“We were not taken like the other holds. We understood the situation. Since three holds had been blown away, we activated all our defense facilities and went on alert. We also prepared a plan to lead the refugees and escape in case the defense failed.”
“Did the emissary come?”
“No. Perhaps the enemy had guessed, but they brought an army instead of an emissary. But nothing changed.”
It was said that there was an emissary role before the army of the Eastern Empire.
The person was different, but the process was the same.
A suicide bombing and a black spherical space.
The sacrifices prepared in advance by the Eastern Empire, sucked into it.
And the monster that hatched, breaking the black sphere like an egg.
“What I saw was a beast that looked like a giant dog. As the survivors testified, it was a creature with countless tentacles sprouting from its entire body, flailing around. That creature instantly dug into the ground, destroyed all the hold's underground defenses, and wrecked the Steamforge.”
Ungol said he knew at that moment.
That this battle could not be won.
He immediately supplied emergency power and executed the escape and evacuation plan as planned.
Thanks to the hold's defense facilities temporarily holding back the enemy, the refugees were able to escape safely.
However, there was a point of doubt.
“What happened to that beast?”
“That thing? After making a mess of the Steamforge, they say it disappeared after a short while. That was the testimony of the underground guards who joined later.”
“I see.”
“Ah, besides that, there was also a mage, though not an Outer God. A woman who dropped fireballs on the hold's walls.”
I think I at least know who that woman is.
Curse Spirit Grandmaster, Hwayoung.
She was a church figure affiliated with the Eastern Empire, and she would survive and remain active even after the Eastern Emperor's seal was broken, that is, after the Eastern Empire player had lost the game.
Well, since she was affiliated with the church in the first place, it would be strange if she didn't survive.
The release of the emperor's seal meant that the Eastern Empire had fallen into the hands of the church.
Anyway, although she couldn't be chosen as a main character, it was possible to have her under one's command, so I knew her specs in detail.
‘A level 9 shaman. She mainly uses fire and wind shamanism. She might have even reached level 10.’
There were about two other church-side heroes in a similar position.
Anyway, I knew everything I needed to know.
All that was left was to compile the information I had obtained here and the information Bart had organized from the ancient documents, and devise a solution for the coming enemy.
“Thank you for telling me in detail.”
“For what? You and William are the benefactors who saved the lives of twenty thousand of my kin.”
I got up from my seat.
There was a lot to do.
Among them was establishing systems to help the dwarves settle in the domain.
Their technological prowess would be an important cornerstone in preparing for the coming battle.
Although they had come here because they had nowhere else to go, they were a race with a high price tag to be treated carelessly.
They were not prisoners of war, and there was no justification to detain them by force.
It would be wise to treat them well in advance to prevent them from flowing into other territories.
“Then please rest comfortably, and if you need anything, please grab anyone in the lord's castle and tell them. I have told them to ensure that His Majesty and his people are not inconvenienced.”
“I don't particularly need anything… ah, there is one thing.”
I was about to leave, but turned back.
Ungol said, stroking his beard.
“That aerial battleship. The one William used to save us.”
“…….”
“That, it's Duke Meister's posthumous work, isn't it?”
Oh no.
***
Contrary to my worries, the dwarven king was not so difficult.
What he demanded was not the aerial battleship itself, but the design and research results.
In return, they offered to help with the research and additional production of the aerial battleship.
“Really? The King of Kings said he would help?”
This was an offer to be welcomed with open arms.
No matter how much the aerial battleship was the essence of overtechnology, what good was just one?
It was just that I had given up because it was physically impossible for William alone to research the parts and principles of that huge fuselage in a short time.
“We can start production soon. As you know, even if you know the design, you can't just run it in a factory. My uncle made each part by hand.”
“I see.”
“On top of that, the masters from the dwarven side will know the original technology. We might even be able to change the design a little and go into mass production!”
Seeing William jump for joy when I told him the news, it seemed to be a good deal.
The dwarves also agreed to help with various tasks in the viscounty, the new capital, and Wolfskrig.
From simple weapon production to factory facility optimization, gunpowder weapon improvement, and fortification of walls and defense facilities.
I was starting to worry about the labor costs, so before stamping the contract, I casually asked about the price.
“It's fine. We became wanderers after losing our hold, and you even saved our lives, so what can I ask for?”
“…….”
“Just promise me one thing. If those bastards invade this place, let us fight alongside you. So that we can smash their heads with our hammers and reclaim our homeland. Just tell this one thing to your emperor.”
As expected, the ‘emperor’ who received the report gladly agreed.
Furthermore, he also proclaimed an edict that the dwarven refugees would have the same rights as citizens of the empire while they stayed.
And he even made a promise to support them during the reconstruction if they reclaimed their holds.
The dwarves, united in their thirst for revenge, poured their passion and time into the development of the new capital and the viscounty.
However, as if to mock their efforts, news of the impregnable holds falling one by one continued to come in.
Dwarven refugees constantly flowed in from the eastern wasteland.
In the meantime, Wolfskrig entered a period of stability as the new capital.
It was the end of the first year after the capital transfer.