Chapter 271: ???????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? (5)

Chapter 271: Below the Mine (5)

“I met and drove them away.”

“That was quite an accomplishment. It must have been possible because of the wizards.”

“. . .?”

The dwarven rescuers who were listening were confused.

“That wasn’t magic. Schweibeck-nim. His Excellency the Count defeated the spirits with an ancient weapon made by the dwarves.”

“Is that true?”

Schweibeck was surprised.

A weapon capable of harming the furious spirits.

It was an incredible weapon that the dwarves couldn’t easily make, even if they were an excellent captain. As a dwarf himself, he really wanted to see it.

“Your Excellency! Would it be too much to ask if I could see the weapon for a moment?! If you do, it will be an eternal honor!”

Asking to see the count’s weapon in this situation could be seen as rude, but dwarves tended to lose their patience in certain situations. Schweibeck was no different.

“There’s nothing difficult about that. Here.”

“. . .???”

Schweibeck was confused when he saw the weapon Johan handed him.

He didn’t feel anything special about it.

If it could harm the spirits, even Schweibeck, who didn’t know magic, should have been able to see something extraordinary, but this was just. . .

Wasn’t it just a crudely heavy and large war hammer?

It was extremely strong and sturdy, as expected from an ancient dwarven weapon, but that wasn’t anything extraordinary.

“????”

“Is it okay to put it away now?”

“Yes! Thank you!”

Schweibeck made up his mind. He would somehow get permission to take a closer look at the weapon again.

????????????????????????

After they barely escaped and ate some warm food, and drank some strong alcohol, the dwarves, who held positions of responsibility, were overwhelmed with a sense of despair.

“Is it a hangover?”

“What are you saying, you idiot!”

When another dwarf spoke without thinking, his voice became louder.

“Even so, where are there any idiots who would rely on the help of His Excellency to get down!”

“Guh. Do you think it was a sacred fire that saved you when you were about to die? If we hadn’t gotten the help of the wizards, what do you think would have happened!”

“You should have just left us to die!”

“Stop it. It’s not right to talk about the favor we received that way.”

Schweibeck calmed the commotion. He had calmed down to some extent.

“Prepare a letter. We need to honestly report what happened to the family.”

“However, Schweibeck-nim’s reputation. . .”

“There are times when things go well, and there are times when they fail. As I said earlier, let’s be satisfied that they saved our lives.”

The other dwarves in the family might have been surprised, wondering how things turned out like this, but there was nothing they could do.

The situation was too definite for them to stubbornly insist.

It wouldn’t have been strange if the count had demanded compensation, let alone the mine shares. The dwarves sighed and nodded.

“We succeeded in defeating the goblins and going inside!”

“You’re finally back.”

When the dwarven miners returned to the fiefdom late, the dwarves welcomed them happily.

Some of the young dwarven miners stayed behind with Johan’s subordinates to explore the rest of the mine and make an estimate while the exhausted expedition team returned first to rest.

“How was it? Did the goblins hide any useful veins of ore?”

“Schweibeck-nim. That. . . far exceeded our expectations.”

“. . .?”

????????????????????????

The three wizards and one count were having a very serious discussion.

The hardliners were Caenerna and Suetlg. The neutral party was Jyanina. The moderate was Johan.

“I thought this area was relatively okay, but we might have to reinforce the castle.”

“It might be better to imprison the dwarves. . .”

“I don’t think the dwarves will be that loose-lipped. I think they’re deeply touched by the count, so let’s trust them.”

Suetlg was more of a believer than Caenerna. Caenerna said as if she was displeased.

“I don’t know how we can trust those greedy people.”

“Caenerna-gong is also here, isn’t she?”

“. . . . . .”

Caenerna was speechless because she had been caught off guard. Jyanina had to suppress a laugh for the first time in a long time.

“Do you think it will be okay if we just reinforce the castle?”

“If we reinforce the castle and build a fortress near the mine, it won’t be easy to conquer with the terrain like this. Of course, it won’t be easy.”

When they said reinforcement, it basically took several years to reinforce the castle and build the fortress. The cost skyrocketed when you considered the labor and materials that went into it. Even the small feudal lords were careful about building wooden castles.

“With a generous silver mine and a count like you, there will be a line of merchants who want to lend you gold coins.”

“And you were also close to the orcs.”

“That’s right. It will be easy to get money since there were orcs.”

Johan nodded at the two wizards’ words. Labor was labor, but in the end, the most important thing was money.

“I’ve gotten pretty close to those dwarves, can’t I ask them to build the castle?”

“Don’t expect that.”

“I think it would be better to never expect that. . .”

The wizards straightened up before Johan could finish speaking.

The Empire’s dwarves were proud of their buildings. In particular, the castle was the pinnacle of their architectural skills, which they had honed over a long time. Even if a moderately large feudal lord asked them, they would never agree or would ask for an astronomical amount of money.

That was the dwarves’ pride.

“It’s not necessary for the castle to be built by dwarves, right?”

“That’s true.”

The two wizards emphasized again at Johan’s words.

“Never ask the dwarves to do something. It might be okay if you threaten them.”

“Threatening them is also dangerous. They might do something to the castle. If you’re going to do it, you should just cut their throats.”

‘I don’t know how much the dwarves have really pissed them off for both of them to be like this.’

????????????????????????

Schweibeck visited Johan early the next morning. Schweibeck asked in an extremely polite manner.

“Your Excellency. I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“I heard that you gave us mine shares.”

“Wasn’t that the original custom?”

“. . .We don’t dare accept that.”

“If you’re worried about being trapped because you went down and made a mistake, don’t.”

Schweibeck’s face turned red with shame at Johan’s very direct manner of speaking.

“Not just because of that. . .”

“Are you talking about making a mistake when drawing the blueprints? You might not be familiar with numbers. You can do better if you try harder.”

“. . . . . .”

The count was definitely speaking kindly and considerately, but the dwarf who was listening was so ashamed that he was in agony. To hear that a dwarven engineer was unfamiliar with numbers.

“Since I called the Rimpangel family because I trusted them, I am also somewhat responsible for the mistake. Don’t worry too much and focus on your work. It would be ridiculous if the work was delayed because of that.”

“. . .Your Excellency. Your Excellency is the most honorable person in the Empire. No steel from the Rimpangel family will go to Your Excellency’s enemies.”

“Is that a euphemism for the dwarven families just now?”

Johan asked as if he was interested. Instead of answering, Schweibeck spoke with a firm determination.

“I dare to ask you to build a castle up here. No castle will shine less than Your Excellency the Count’s honor, but the castle will remain for a long time even while the forest disappears and the bones weather, boasting Your Excellency’s honor.”

“Hmm. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to spend that much gold coins on a single castle.”

“. . .It was my fault for not speaking up, but I swear on my beard that I had no intention of taking your gold coins. Your Excellency.”