CH 142

Chapter 142 – Dwarf Vs. Dwarf

“I would like to ask the merchant there.”

Myrril, who had almost walked ahead, stopped and paused for a moment, turned around, and pointed to one of the hostages, a well-dressed older man. He was probably the head of either the largest merchant association in town, Peyblois, or the second largest, Beynan.

“M-me? Yes, whatever you want.”

“How many men were in the merchant group? Ah, not counting the guards.”

“Ten men, four of them were killed because they resisted, and two of them are missing. One of them…”

“Beynan.”

“…How did you know that?”

“What? I’m just guessing. It’s a two-for-one proposition anyway.”

“Eh?”

Leaving the hostages with dubious looks on their faces, Myrril leads me to the lowest level of the cave.

It was slightly wider than the other holes, and I could see a dim light shining from the side a few hundred meters ahead.

At the end of the L-shaped road, where the light source was placed, was probably the deepest part of the boss’s hideout. The sound of gunfire that had killed more than a dozen of her men should have reached her, but there was no sign that she was coming this way.

“What’s going on, Myr? And what about that question you just asked him?”

“…What? It’s a disgusting story, you know.”

After saying that, Myrril went into the side hole.

Nojaloli-sensei, you are going almost as fast as I can run at full speed, only bending down slightly in an almost straight line through the unshielded side hole. Although it is wider than the others, it is only a matter of comparison, and for me, it is so cramped that I would hit my head on the beam ledge if I didn’t stick my hand into it. There was no way I could keep up with the dwarf girl’s speed in such a place.

“No threat.”

Whenever she finds a side road along the way, Myrril checks and eliminates the threat and waits for me.

By the time I catch up with her, however, she’s ahead of me again for the next one, and I have no choice but to chase after her back.

When we reached the lighted corner about 15 meters ahead, Mirryl made me lie down on the wall to the left of her. There was a bit of exposed girder wood for reinforcing the tunnels, and it could be used as a shield…. in case an arrow was being shot from the front. I was in a defenseless position, but she didn’t seem to be afraid.

“Earlier, I wondered what happened to those who went missing from the trading company.”

“That’s… Either they ran away and got lost, or they were killed, or they were taken away to get the information…”

“Yoshua. You said you could sense other people’s ill will, but what about the surviving merchants?”

“They are all red. But I cannot tell if it is malice or caution. I can’t tell to whom it is directed.”

She nodded, indicating the way ahead.

“I have a hunch. The two who disappeared may have been in cahoots with the bandits.”

“Even if you say it’s a hunch, this is about Myrril. Do you have any basis for it?”

“I can’t say for sure. I heard a body hitting the beam girder several times from the back. It was not the kind of sound a dwarf accustomed to tunnels would make.”

Immediately after that, I heard what sounded like someone tripping over a barrel or a wooden box. It is possible, though, that there are more than just dwarves among the bandits.

“If they have humans and beastmen under their command, they should be placed in more open areas. If they are in a hole in the ground, they won’t function as a fighting force.”

Myrril, as usual, read my thoughts and answered, gesturing for me to go ahead and cover her.

“Ah, yes.”

I turned left into the enemy position, so Myrril went around the right side of the hole, and I moved to the left side to cross the line of fire.

“Wait.”

I was timing my entry into the deepest part of the hole, but Myrril stopped me with her hand. She gestured to the situation ahead.

“One of them is armed and waiting for us.”

“Oryaaaa!”

The figure suddenly jumped out and tried to thrust his sword at Myrril, but he was hit by the light of the surefire attached to the UZI.

“Kyaa, ubuhh.”

As he stood there holding his eyes, he was easily shot out with a .45 caliber bullet. It is really a disappointment.

Myrril, who had turned off the light, again gestured to the situation.

“Two in the back.”

Before storing the body, I checked to see that it was an obese human man who looked nothing like a dwarf. He was shot through the forehead with a surprised look on his face.

He was wearing a white fur winter coat. The weapon in his hand was a dagger, which looked good enough.

“He looked different from the other bandits.”

“If you spend half a day in the tunnels, these clothes should be stained with reddish brown soil. He was probably one of the merchants in the group.”

“Is this Beynan? I don’t think the chairman of the merchant company is supposed to be in charge of the room.”

“I agree with you. I think Beynan is one of the two in the back…”

Suddenly, she pushed me over her shoulder and fired the UZI she was holding at the far end of the tunnel.

“Myr!”

The .45-caliber rounds sucked into the darkness are bounced off something, and Myrril is sent bouncing off, hitting the onrushing mass. The leather belt separated from her shoulder, and the UZI tumbled to the ground.

“Damn you…”

A woman’s voice. A petite silhouette emerges in the darkness, carrying the light of a flickering torch in the back. She is about the same size as Myrril but bulging with rugged, heavy armor. She is clearly more heavily armored than the dwarves we had taken down.

Is this person the boss of the mole chivalrous thief?

“…I will certainly kill you.”

She may look small, but she is a strong dwarf. Moreover, if she is the leader of the bandits, there is no doubt that she is quite skilled.

I confirm that Myrril is out of the line of fire, and I fire my AKM at her with a fully automatic fire.

“Phew!”

The female boss jumped to the side with amazing physical strength and instantaneous power and escaped from the barrage of bullets. Some of the bullets seemed to have hit her, but they bounced off the steel plate and did not cause any damage.

In the meantime, the small body leaps up and kicks the wall over my head, and closes in on Myrril. In her outstretched hands are sharp weapons that resemble stick bayonets.

“Myr!”

Myrrille staggers to her feet and grunts in pain as she clutches her chest. She looked up in front of the rushing dwarf woman and gnashed her teeth with a grin.

That’s when I knew. The grunt she let out was an unintentional smile.

“Die…!”

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the air. It was not an M1911 copy.

The woman’s head turned around, and her cheeks were shredded. The slight angle of her head may have caused it to be bounced off the armor, but before she could recover from it, a follow-up shot pierced her chest.

A creaking sound was mixed with the sound of a bullet being fired and the thick breastplate of the armor being crushed by the bullet. Whether or not the warhead had been dislodged, I couldn’t see. But the energy carried on the warhead did a bit of damage to the female boss’s body.

“Uughhhh!”

The woman’s legs trembled as she staggered backward, her hips shattered, and she fell to her knees. Her head jolts as the sound of a gunshot echo through the air, and the armored dwarf is knocked flat on her back.

The woman’s face, white-eyed and twitching, was half-exposed through the distorted helmet and could be seen foaming with blood.

Bullet holes pierced the steel plates and dug deep into the helmet and chest armor. The perforation was of a level that could have caused the skull to cave in, but the fact that it has not been allowed to penetrate at this stage can be said to be the result of tremendous blacksmithing skill.

Myrril, holding a silver revolver, slowly approaches. Slamming her toe into the side of the woman’s head, she looks down at her with quiet, expressionless eyes.

“G-ggaahh!”

“Rat boss, do you know who I am?”

“..Jj, …Rrgghh.”

The woman’s hand, trembling as she struggled to get up, reached out and touched the bayonet-shaped weapon.

At the same time, the woman’s right hand was blown to smithereens along with her heavily armed bracer.

“A-aaaaahhh!”

“The daughter of Kazinair. Myrril of Casemaian.”

With her left hand, which was still unharmed, the woman gripped the dirt and swung it at her. The elbow was shattered by a 454 Casull bullet, and it flew off.

“Gyaaaaaaahhh!”

The torn left arm rolls away.

The female boss smiles with a tearful expression on her face as the gun’s muzzle looms in front of her eyes. Her breathing is ragged, and her face is bloodied and earthy.

“…Case… maian… you’re… the demon king’s…”.

“Yes, that is the man over there. We have taken back the subhuman country from the kingdom, and now Casemaian is returning to a population and prosperity that exceeds that of its prime.”

“…You… ruined… this… mole…”

Myrril laughed and waved the barrel of the Alaskan gun.

With her left arm torn off at the elbow and her right fist also lost, the female boss shows no more resistance. But her unfocused eyes still glowed with anger and hatred.

“You have seen firsthand what the weapons of the demon king who destroyed the kingdom’s armies and tilted the kingdom in his favor can do, haven’t you? The armors of the dwarves, with all their smithing skills and magic barriers, are just like that. In less than half a day, 30,000 men of the kingdom’s army, scattered in the wreckage, reduced to nothing more than mere mortals.”

“…..”

“You can think it’s all a pipe dream if you like. Because there is no place in paradise for filthy scum like you, is there?”

Probably the last one. Reloading was not an option. With the hammer cocked, Myrril points the gun’s muzzle back at the woman. Whether or not she understands, this will be the last shot.

“But there is one thing I cannot forgive you. It’s that you used my father’s name. The name of Kazinail, the Blacksmith King, is too much for a filthy bandit hiding in a hole in the ground.”

The female boss glared at the muzzle of the gun.

She jerked slightly, and a barb protruded from her instep.

“You… bastard…!”

She bared her teeth and cursed at Myrril, but the cursing voice was cut off with a roar, and the woman who had been hit in the exposed face by the bullet ended up splattering blood and brain fluid.

“…A 6 shot of “Casull” is too extravagant a gift for this woman.”

The daughter of the blacksmith king muttered in a whisper.