It’s already been two weeks since Kyle Byron returned to the Byron family estate.
Originally, he had said he would only stay briefly before heading back to Arkhé Magic Tower, but he ended up staying at his family home longer than expected.
Of course, William didn’t care how long Kyle stayed. After all, this was Kyle’s home.
Except for Roderick.
“KYYYYYYLE!!!”
……He was practically screaming as he chased his younger brother around.
However, this behavior was unfamiliar to the Byron family servants, retainers, and even William.
The Roderick Byron they knew was always calm and composed.
Of course, no one was seriously worried about it. The sight of Roderick angrily chasing Kyle, who awkwardly laughed while running away, reminded everyone—whether they liked it or not—of the dynamic of “brothers.”
No one knew what had triggered it, but Roderick and Kyle, who had once treated each other like strangers, were gradually becoming more like brothers.
However, the family’s main focus was elsewhere.
“If we build it like this here, and like that there, it’ll be much more convenient.”
“W-what is this……?!”
“This is the great technique of the dwarves, human.”
Yes, the dwarves.
A race that was thought to exist only during the war-torn era nearly a thousand years ago, now rumored to only live in small villages.
These beings, who were practically considered fairy tale creatures, suddenly showed up at the Byron estate with Kyle. All five of them.
Though William, the servants, and the retainers were all flustered by their appearance—neither disguised by magic nor pretending to be something else.
“Then what about this part……?”
“Huh? This is a bit…….”
“Even the legendary architectural skills of the dwarves……this might be too much, right?”
“What are you talking about? Move aside! There’s nothing impossible for a dwarf!”
Gradually, they were figuring out how to handle these dwarves.
After all, the Byron family was more of a commercial noble family than a pure aristocratic one.
They were skilled at managing people, given their experience with toll fees and various trade operations, and this skill applied to the dwarves as well.
“What’s this?”
“Your payment for this job. Since you’re exceptional, Charlie, we added an extra 30% to the standard rate.”
“Kuhaha! For a human, you’ve got a good eye!!”
A bonus accompanied by flattery.
“Ah, I’m getting tired…….”
“We’re almost done………I guess there’s no choice………we’ll take responsibility for any unfinished work, so you dwarves can clock out…….”
“……Tsk, let’s push a little harder.”
“Thank you!”
If they seemed tired, they’d appeal to their emotions.
“Hey, your dark circles have been getting worse lately.”
“Yeah……I’ve adjusted to the time difference and sunlight, but……why do I still feel so tired?”
“Who knows? Anyway, it’s about time to head out. Just a light 14-hour workday ahead.”
“Ah, take care……yawn.”
They even took advantage of the dwarves’ jet-lagged biological clocks to maximize their working hours.
There was a whip, but the carrot was just as effective.
Thanks to this, over the past two weeks, the people of the Byron estate had grown closer to the dwarves.
And the dwarves too.
“I’ve brought a map of the continent. It looks like a round island. The size is ridiculously huge.”
“Y-you mean this entire land belongs to the Empire……?”
“To be precise, except for a few islands and the northern mountain range, yes. It’s no wonder other races are believed to have gone extinct. The entire continent is practically the Empire’s property.”
“……This is insane.”
If I had stayed in the sea, I wouldn’t have known. I wouldn’t have looked at maps, and what about humans?”
“…I just vaguely thought all humans were evil and wicked beings.”
“There are many good ones too.”
I was gradually getting to know humans, and the Empire.
I don’t know how long it will take, but this knowledge will surely become the stepping stone for the dwarves to gain independence from the Empire.
Time passes. Time that’s useful for both humans and dwarves.
But among them, there was one who felt like time wasn’t moving at all.
“Ugh… if I do it like this…?”
“Then?”
“…It’s a failure. Another failure.”
“That makes 132 attempts.”
It was Walter, the dwarf who loved tinkering with mechanical devices.
Because of his fondness for mechanical devices—not weapons, armor, or artifacts—he had been an outcast in the Dwarf Village. He thought he could freely tinker with mechanical devices once he came to the surface, but…
He did think he wanted to spend his whole life tinkering with mechanical devices until he died, but…!!
“I can’t… do this anymore…”
*Thud.*
Seriously, no joke, he spent the whole day just tinkering with mechanical devices and was exhausted.
It wasn’t that he hated mechanical devices. Far from it.
He was just mentally drained.
“Walter, have you hit your limit already?”
“You evil… human…”
“We always prioritize your meals, let you sleep as much as you want, provide money whenever you need it, and there’s no set working time, right? Just an hour ago, you ate three plates of steak and took a nap before coming here.”
“…………”
“Last time, you demanded a midnight snack at 1 AM and even woke up the chef who was sleeping.”
“Ugh…”
Yeah, physically, he wasn’t tired. He couldn’t be.
Contrary to Kyle’s words about locking him up for 10 years, Walter was living a life so comfortable that other dwarfs would envy him.
Food, shelter, clothing—everything was perfect. He could tinker with mechanical devices to his heart’s content, so compared to village life, it was heaven itself. But still…
“…I can’t get a grip on it.”
“Hmm…”
That was the problem. The goal was too high.
A mechanical device that could store all the rules of board games as videos and play them whenever you wanted.
It sounded easy, but for Walter to achieve it alone, the goal was impossibly high.
“I need more hints…”
“I’ve told you everything I can think of.”
“That’s not enough, that’s the problem…”
Well, Kyle Byron had said it would take 10 years, so it wasn’t going to be easy.
But the real issue was that Walter didn’t even know where to start. His enthusiasm for mechanical devices was slowly waning, you could say.
After 100 failures in just two weeks, what would happen after a month, half a year, or a year?
Walter felt a chill run down his spine.
Could he really complete the mechanical device Kyle Byron had mentioned?
As he sighed and got up for his 133rd attempt…
“Chunsik? Are you here?”
“Madam?”
“Gasp!”
A cold sensation from behind.
Not just cold, but ruthless and chilling.
As if his neck had been frozen, Walter stiffened, unable to turn around, while Kyle casually looked back.
It wasn’t that Kyle had adapted to the cold.
It was intentional to make only Walter feel the chill.
It meant not to disturb the conversation with that human.
“The answer to what we talked about last time has come.”
“I’ll go right away. Ah, Walter. You……….”
“Leave that dwarf alone to do his thing, let’s go. Chunsik~”
“Huh, huh!?”
Thud.
Shisha Glesia grabs Kyle and shuts the door.
Only after she disappeared could Walter finally feel warmth again.
132 failures or whatever.
Walter was most afraid of that ice Archmage.
*
<Kyaaaah!!!>
“Ah, ah……!!”
It’s coming. That thing is coming.
Endlessly thick legs, a huge mouth drooling saliva and blood, and eyes all over its body, blinking.
A monstrous being, unlike any other life form in the world.
But that wasn’t what the despairing soldier was afraid of.
<Kyaaa……?>
Crunch.
[Grrrr.]
Munch. Munch.
A being that appeared behind the monster trying to swallow the soldier and chewed off its head.
Its entire body dyed black, with red eyes still gleaming.
A spirit.
“Ugh……!”
A spirit the size of a small building eating a monster.
It was clearly horrifying, but as far as the soldier knew, this was a very common situation in the northern mountain range.
The northern mountain range, teeming with monsters and wild spirits, was the Empire’s front line and the reason why the Empire maintained a massive army even though there were no more countries to conquer.
The soldier, too, would just be one of the dozens of names written on the death list in the northern mountain range every day.
The moment the soldier closed his eyes tightly and gave in to fear.
“Incinerate it.”
“””Incinerate!!”””
“………!!”
A voice coming from right behind.
The voice hardest to hear in the northern mountain range, yet the voice that was like salvation to all soldiers.
That was.
“Master Agni……!!”
“Rescue the soldier and continue to incinerate that wild spirit. Spirits have long lifelines.”
“The Marquis is.”
“I’m going further ahead. If a wild spirit of that level has come this close………it must have been pushed out of a territorial dispute with a more powerful being.”
A being walking alone, flaunting a cloak and uniform dyed red like flames without any special decorations.
The Master of Agni’s Magic Tower, the lord of the northern duchy. One of the Empire’s eight Archmages.
Despite all those titles, he was called ‘Marquis.’
The man, the Marquis, walked forward with a cigarette in his mouth.
The tip of the cigarette glowed red, emitting a bit of smoke.
“Incinerate.”
As the Marquis flicked his fingers, fireballs larger than the wild spirit from moments ago appeared in the air.
[Kroooooo!!!]
“……A high-level spirit, huh. No wonder it lost the territorial dispute.”
A wild spirit in the form of a boar, sensing danger from the heat that dried up all moisture around it, revealed itself by breaking giant trees, but it was already too late.
Boom boom boom boom!!!!!
The explosion shook the heavens and earth, and the heat, so intense it dried up the skin, burst out in all directions.
The Marquis and his entourage.
A soldier, as if familiar with the magicians, cast a fire-resistant spell. A single flame was barely being held back by dozens of high magicians.
At the same time as dropping the lit cigarette on the ground, the boar spirit disappeared without a trace, turning into ashes.
After finishing his task, the Marquis turned his steps without much emotion.
“I’ll head back to the Magic Tower now. Messenger, how’s the other side?”
“Yes, yep! General Rikaon Leonhardt has taken care of everything!”
“As expected of a Grandmaster, truly the most brute-like soldier.”
“Uh, did I hear that wrong?”
“Let’s just say you heard wrong. It’s better for you that way.”
It’s not like there’s no Grandmaster in charge of the north, so why the general in charge of the east suddenly came to support the northern mountain range is beyond me.
From the Marquis’s perspective, the more soldiers, the better. Especially if it’s a Grandmaster, there’s no shortage of ways to make use of them.
However, unlike usual, even with the addition of an asymmetrical force like a Grandmaster, the battlefield remains unsettled.
And the Marquis had a rough idea of the reason.
‘…Beyond that mountain range.’
A place even the Empire hasn’t been able to conquer due to the swarming monsters and wild spirits.
A few years ago, four Archmages and two Grandmasters attempted to break through.
They managed to reach the summit of the mountain range but couldn’t go beyond.
…It had been quiet until now.
But recently, beyond the northern mountain range, right there───
“Marquis! Urgent news!”
“…What is it?”
“Sh-she’s arrived! That person has come!”
“Wait, that person…?”
“Lady Shisha Glesia has arrived at the Agni Magic Tower!”
“………!!!”
Whoosh.
As soon as he heard the urgent news, the Marquis was engulfed in flames and disappeared.
A half-baked teleportation, moving from flame to flame.
Teleportation magic was the exclusive domain of Stella Varnicion, the Master of the Astron Magic Tower. Rumor has it that the Beggar Archmage also uses a high-speed movement similar to teleportation, but that’s probably just cleaning magic.
Compared to Stella’s, it’s a limited movement that doesn’t even deserve to be called half-baked, but on the battlefield, it’s an overwhelmingly efficient magic.
In an instant, the Marquis arrived at the Agni Magic Tower from the battlefield, and what caught his eye was…
“Sh-Shisha…!”
“…Hmm?”
“L-long time no see. Uh, so… how have you… been…?”
The woman he had been eagerly waiting for after sending letters, Shisha Glesia, and…
“…Did I do something wrong?”
The figure of some guy she was hugging from behind.
And next to her, a water spirit, a high magician, and a maid glaring at Shisha.
The Marquis, the Master of the Agni Magic Tower, felt his heart crumble.
