Chapter 65

Was he about a meter tall?

His thick, curly beard reached down to his waist, making him look at first glance like a walking ball of fur.

His short limbs were covered in thick muscle, giving him a surprisingly fierce impression for his size. One eye was a deep coal-black, while the other had an unidentifiable piece of metal—looking like a bolt—embedded in it.

When the basket was removed, he shook off his clothes, stood up, and glared at me. Then, in a booming voice that sounded like he had boiled and eaten a train’s smokestack, he spoke.

“Heeey! Was it you?! The one who set such a vile and dastardly trap! I’ve no idea what your goal is, but to land a blow on a genius like me… you’re no ordinary fellow!”

There was still beer foam clinging to his beard. The mug he had emptied in an instant was already rolling across the floor.

“……”

“……”

It was a real Dwarf.

Seeing a real Dwarf right before my eyes—something I’d only ever seen in fantasy movies—was moving in its own way. At the same time, though, his shabby appearance and utter lack of manners made my body instinctively recoil.

Meanwhile, the villagers seemed flustered, likely because the Dwarf they had tried so hard to hide had revealed himself of his own accord.

“Mr. Dwarf! You were supposed to stay hidden!”

“What?! You’re saying I should hide? From what, exactly?”

“Those people are bad! You should run away while you still can!”

From the way they acted, it seemed the villagers cared deeply for this Dwarf despite being of a different race.

But contrary to their concern, the Dwarf met our eyes without a hint of fear.

“Hmmmm…”

After humming deeply while staring at us, he suddenly seemed to spot something, his eyes going wide. Then, walking over—though “toddling” was a better word than “striding”—he made his way toward Miyu.

“Hey! You there!”

“Y-Yes, m-me?!”

“What are you so startled for! Never mind, turn around!”

Although Miyu had come all the way to this backwater wanting to meet a Dwarf, it seemed the Dwarf himself was far more interested in her.

While Miyu shrank back from the strange little man’s attention, the Dwarf reached out with his muscular hand and grabbed her Mechanical Tail.

“Eeeeek!!”

The moment his hand touched her tail, Miyu let out a bizarre scream. But the Dwarf ignored her reaction and examined the tail with interest.

“Oh-ho. I see. Yes, yes.”

Was it in his blood as a blacksmith?

He nodded as if understanding something, then released her tail. Finally free, Miyu touched her own tail and muttered in confusion.

“H-How? I definitely cut off the neural connection, so why did I feel something…?!”

While Miyu stood there with figurative question marks over her head, the Dwarf began inspecting the drones guarding me one by one.

They should have been programmed to block any stranger from approaching, yet for some reason they all retracted their barrels as meekly as lambs.

‘Interesting. So this is a Dwarf.’

As I observed him with interest, the Dwarf dusted off his hands and nodded with an “Hm!” as if he had figured something out.

“From what I can tell, these aren’t bad guests! No need to worry—everyone go on home!”

“B-But Mr. Dwarf…”

“There’s no need to worry! Why, even if I end up with a hole in the back of my head, isn’t that a man’s life? Kahaha!”

I had no idea how that counted as “a man’s life,” but I supposed he had his own logic.

“Now, follow me!”

“And where to, exactly?”

“To my workshop, of course! The workshop of a genius! It may be too humble for guests such as yourselves, but I shall do my best to treat you well!”

With that, he took the lead and began walking—well, toddling—forward.

I already knew this was simply the kind of race Dwarves were, so I didn’t mind. But Miyu seemed to find this meeting quite different from what she had imagined.

“Why…?”

While Miyu muttered in incomprehension, I followed after the Dwarf.

“Puhahaha! Come on in! This is the workshop of this genius!”

How should I describe the Dwarf’s workshop?

The most fitting word was “avant-garde” itself.

A windmill of incomprehensible purpose was mounted on the wall and spinning, and a toilet was hung sideways as if lying down.

It seemed he had scavenged materials from the nearby junkyard to build this place, which served both as workshop and living quarters. One could commend him for making the most of scarce resources… but the appearance alone triggered immediate aversion.

‘Hold it in. Just hold it in…’

Suppressing my body’s strong desire not to go in, we stepped inside.

To my surprise, the interior genuinely looked like the kind of Dwarven forge you’d see in a fantasy setting.

The Dwarf poured drinks into chipped mugs and set them down, then sat with a hearty laugh.

“Sit there! It may be messy, but that’s the cleanest spot! I’m sure it won’t meet the Crown Prince’s standards, but aren’t you a man? You can endure a little of this, hahahaha!”

“…I’ll do that.”

As someone who had shown up uninvited, it would be wrong to start making demands, so I swallowed my rising irritation.

If I let Aaron’s ego do as it pleased, the village would end up with a mass funeral by nightfall. I had to keep my head and hold the leash tight.

At that moment, Miyu tilted her head, having noticed something odd about the Dwarf’s hearty words.

“Uh, Mr. Aaron…”

“Ask him directly, not me.”

“Ugh…”

I could already guess what she wanted to ask.

But it wouldn’t do to always speak on her behalf—she needed to work on that timid personality of hers.

Looking a little sullen, Miyu cautiously turned to the Dwarf.

“Uh, um… M-Mr. Dwarf…?”

“Hmm?! What’s that?!”

“Eek…”

Her soft, timid voice seemed to reach the loud Dwarf’s ears as nothing more than a breeze tickling them.

Come to think of it, wasn’t the idea of loud, boisterous Dwarves based on blacksmiths whose hearing was damaged from noisy forges?

I didn’t know if that was true, but to Miyu, he was clearly a natural enemy.

“Can’t hear you—speak louder!”

“Uh, well…”

“Louder!”

“What I want to ask is…”

“Louder!”

“Uh, uh…”

At last, Miyu yelled.

“W-Why did you call Mr. Aaron ‘Crown Prince’?! This is the first time you’ve met him today!”

Huff, huff.

Miyu let out a shout, then panted heavily for breath.

The Dwarf replied with a satisfied grin.

“Why, because the little ones told me!”

“L-Little ones…?”

“The military drones you came with, of course! Those little ones were on edge, saying they were serving the Crown Prince! I knew right then!”

“…Huh?”

A vacant sound slipped from Miyu’s mouth. Even she, who usually judged machines with an odd sentiment like “it’s pretty,” couldn’t seem to understand what the Dwarf was talking about.

The Dwarf tilted his head, then furrowed his brow slightly.

“Hm? You can’t hear the voice of the ‘Machine Spirit’? I thought you were an excellent technician, but you’re still a greenhorn!”

“M-Machine Spirit?”

“What? You mean you don’t even know that basic thing?!”

“S-Sorry…”

Her self-esteem was so low that she immediately bowed her head at his words.

I thought about speaking up for her, but decided it would be more entertaining to just watch.

“Well, never mind that. Most of the so-called technicians among humans aren’t worth a damn anyway! Compared to them, you seem to have potential, so you can afford to be confident!”

“T-Thank you…?”

“Mm!”

The Dwarf nodded firmly.

“So, why have you come looking for me today? Seeking to be taught, perhaps?”

“Ah, well, I…”

Miyu did her best to explain the reason for her visit in a stronger tone.

In short, she had become interested in the race called ‘Dwarves’ and wanted to know more.

“S-So, if you could cooperate just a little…”

“I see! So that’s it! To think my genius was recognized and sought out by a guest—how delightful! Puhahahaha!”

Slapping his belly with a loud laugh, the Dwarf asked,

“So! What is it you wish to ask me? You may ask anything you like!”

“T-Then, let’s start with your name…”

“My name? Ah, yes! We haven’t even introduced ourselves yet! My name is Hans! I have a separate Dwarven name, but I prefer this one!”

“…”

Wait.

Hans? Was that really his name?

A sudden unease crept in, but I wasn’t exactly a Barbarian transmigrator, so there was no need to overreact.

Anyway.

After introducing himself, the Dwarf—Hans—began talking in earnest with Miyu. Being a race of naturally skilled craftsmen and blacksmiths, he was bound to be someone Miyu admired.

But I knew her dream and hope wouldn’t last long. So I watched with great interest.

“M-Mr. Hans, you’re a technician too, right…?”

“That’s right!”

“I was wondering… have you ever made human combat modules or cyberware?”

“Of course! I’ve made a few as tests—would you like to see them?”

“I’d be honored if you would!”

Miyu replied with a bright smile, and Hans, wearing a smug expression, brought out several items from the corner of the workshop.

Amazingly, they were actual combat module chips and cyberware fit for Adaptees. Miyu used her mechanical tail to test the Dwarf-made products briefly, then reacted with surprise.

“This is a Lv.4 Arcane Module! I don’t know what type of [Arcane] you used, but it’s amazing! The materials are unique too! And there’s no ‘ERDE’ or dedicated computer in sight here!”

“Computer!? Ah, yes, I’ve heard humans use such things to make items! But why would you need some strange machine to make something like this?!”

“Huh? You mean you don’t need equipment?!”

“Of course not! All you need is this hammer and anvil! And a love for machines, that’s enough!”

“O-Oh… oh?”

Miyu started to praise him but faltered.

Surely he hadn’t really crafted those delicate devices just by pounding with a hammer—she must have thought he was speaking metaphorically.

But no, Miyu.

This race isn’t what you think it is. You’re about to see their true nature.

“T-That’s amazing. Then when you made this, how did you handle the error value from the ‘Deort Equation’ constant?”

“Hm? What?”

“T-The ‘Deort Equation.’ The basic formula for calculating a wearer’s neural stability…”

“Neural stability? What’s that?”

“…Huh?”

“Hm?”

“…??”

“…??”

They stared at each other, both full of question marks.

It seemed Miyu was starting to sense something was off.

“T-Then what about the integer repulsion formula?”

“What?”

“??”

“??”

Miyu glanced at me.

But why was she looking at me?

She should be looking at him.

Even as her confusion deepened, Miyu kept questioning him.

“When using carbon plastic and arcane alloy in the same product part, the so-called ‘Cloud Phenomenon’ that occurs is said to be caused by…”

“The structure of atoms and mana…”

“Arcane Module performance degradation due to Anti-rain…”

Miyu’s string of questions, mixing numerous technical terms, was so advanced even I could barely follow. The problem was, Hans’s reaction was exactly the same.

With nothing but “Hm?” “What?” “What’s that?” in reply, he soon began to grow irritated at the unfamiliar terms Miyu was throwing at him.

Finally, he snapped at her.

“Are you really a technician? You’re not trying to swindle me with strange terminology, are you?”

“!!!!”

I could practically hear Miyu’s blood pressure rising. But she managed to keep her cool enough to continue.

“Then why don’t you show me yourself, Mr. Hans! How you make human modules or cyberware! I want to see it with my own eyes!”

“Very well! Since you clearly don’t trust me, I’ll put in some effort and prove it!”

Hans then toddled off toward a deeper part of the workshop, leading Miyu with him. I didn’t bother following, since I already knew how this would end.

Clang! Clang! Bang! Bang!

About thirty minutes later.

After a long stretch of strange noises, I heard the Dwarf and Miyu shouting at each other.

Calling each other “fraud!” “fraud!” in raised voices, they eventually emerged—Miyu shuffling out with a drained look on her face.

“M-Mr. Aaron… I have a request…”

“What is it?”

The bright sparkle once in her eyes had turned into the dead stare of a rotting fish.

“The Dwarves. Please wipe this damned half-baked race from the face of the earth.”

“…”

She was dead serious.

It was all I could do not to burst out laughing.

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