novel
| ← Ch.040 | Ch.042 → |
Six days had passed since the founding of my city.
In the next day, we planned to start earnestly recruiting humans.
Unusual as it was, I was alone as I patrolled the city since my subordinates were busy in each of their final preparations.
The water ways were already laid out in the city while the wells were also in place. Finally, we had also prepared the about 50 private houses and plenty of well-ploughed farmlands. The materials used to build these houses were the trees grown with Ancient Elf's abilities along with the stones and metals gathered from the mine in the second room.
"Yup, the view looks good."
I was surveying the farmlands from a small hill where the field we were growing our prized apples. The wheat grown in a section of the farmlands were ready to be harvested. It was ready so quickly because Ancient Elf once again employed her abilities to accelerate their growth. I hoped that this could convince the human immigrant candidates that our city had fertile farmlands.
Also, the unnaturally intimidating Golems were posted throughout the city. Acting as this city's guards and keepers of the peace, about twenty of them were deployed. But by no means was that their total number as the rest of the Golems were still digging in the mines even at this moment.
Just as predicted, a good amount of silver and iron could be gathered from the mine. In, contrast, gold could only be gotten once in a while and mithril was even scarcer. As for rarer metals, they simply couldn't be mined at all. These predictions about the maximum output of the mines were given by the dwarves based on the fact that the quality of the ores gathered from a mine are relative to the Demon Lord's strength which I apparently lacked and must make up for.
"All that said, a silver mine in itself is already good enough, isn't it?"
Silver coins were the main form of currency circulating at the human city so in short, just by mining, we were gaining their form of money. The [Mine] was a dungeon's mine so there was no fear of it ever drying up either. I just needed to be careful to not get carried away and crash the market for silver but other than that, I was certain it was going to be one of this town's essential industries. The town also had five special buildings. The first of which was the city leader's home. Other than the transfer arrays laid out in there, it also featured a considerably large conference room. Of course, it was mine but the ones to also live there included Kuina, Elder Dwarf, and Ancient Elf. In order for us to be able live most comfortably, I used [Creation] and made the finest furnishings.
My other monsters were given a house according to their race. That was except for the undead monsters which included Wight. They lived in the residential area in the second room of the second floor. This room was set to function as a part of the dungeon proper. It was a room that made full use of the undead army's strength and that was also filled with nothing but traps and other things that would serve to help them.
It was a quite a brutal room because it was made under the assumption that the enemy would get past the Mithril Golems + heavy machineguns combo of the room before it.
"Well then, I better get going."
I mumbled to myself as I headed towards the second special building.
◇
"You're hard at work as ever, Elder Dwarf."
"I want to complete the improvement of the weapons I wasn't able to attend to recently."
Her fingers flew across the keyboard on her PC as it ran a drafting software. As far as I could see from the opened draft, it seemed she was thinking of how to improve the anti-materiel rifle being used by Ancient Elf.
"I am of the opinion that the Pallet ML82A1 being used by Ancient Elf could not be improved any further but just how do you intend to do so?"
"It certainly is an exceedingly good rifle. It's almost a form of art. You may be right, master, but that is only if it wasn't Elf-chan using it."
"Care to elaborate?"
"Mhm. In order for her gun's bullets to follow a straight trajectory, its barrel is made awfully long but with a barrel made of wind Elf-chan imagined into being, the bullet would go straight and therefore making it alright to completely remove the barrel."
It was an extremely bold idea.
For her gun to provide better accuracy and flatter bullet trajectory, its gun barrel was lengthened at the cost of it becoming considerably heavier and more cumbersome. Also, due to the centrifugal force produced, it was harder to swing left and right. It wasn't a gun originally designed to be carried around so those things weren't too much of a flaw, really.
"Also, although the mechanism to reduce the recoil is excellent, it is also complex which results to the decrease of the recoil's intensity but also to the increase of the gun's weight and the chances of it breaking down. Simplifying it would resolve those issues and have it still working as intended as Ancient Elf she could simply employ an air cushion to dampen the recoil. I see no alternatives other than that; increasing the output firepower with the old complex mechanism is impossible. It is a difficult choice but one that must be done in order to use the more powerful mithril bullets."
"That would certainly be a downgrade for anyone other than Ancient Elf. After all, it would have severe recoil and horrible bullet trajectory."
"Precisely. But for Ancient Elf, the loss of the long, heavy gun barrel would result to it being more balanced, stable, and not as easily affected by centrifugal force, therefore making it easier to aim with. It would also result in an increase to her mobility. As for the part about simplifying the recoil, it would increase the recoil but also reduce the chances of the mechanism breaking down and give it better reliability. I intend to replace the materials it is made of to mithril to make it stronger while also making it lighter. Also, I'll increase its magazine capacity."
She was rationally and thoroughly considering her options for her plan to modify the anti-materiel rifle.
"The bullets will be more powerful too. After all, the power of the special bullets that uses mithril powder should be nearly twice as powerful as the normal ones. If the initial velocity of the bullet is increased, the range it could traverse should also increase. However, after doing away with the complex recoil mechanism, this monster of a gun would usable to no one except Elf-chan."
"It seems like that girl will be pleased."
There was no way Ancient Elf, the trigger-happy sniping idiot, wouldn't be happy after knowing that her gun became easier to use, has an increased magazine size and range.
"That's pretty much my plans on remodeling the gun. As a final note, I'll also try using Enchant magic this time around. My level wasn't high enough when I made Kuina's gun but as I am right now, I should be able to apply some to it."
"I'm looking forward to it. How about the other job I gave you?"
"Mm. I gave the recipe for that to my followers. It's going fine."
Elder Dwarf stood and led me to an inner room of the workshop. There, a furnace burned with crackling flames. In the middle of workshop designed by Elder Dwarf herself, the two Dwarf Smiths worked to forge a sword. Leaning on the wall behind them were dozens of swords.
"It certainly is going well."
"Mm. We are making swords with about the same materials as that shop in Eclaba, only ours are a rank better. The swords are mainly iron with only a little bit of mithril mixed in."
I wanted to conserve our current stock of mithril but on the other hand, adventurers didn't place much trust on iron swords. And so, this was the result of that compromise.
The concept might appear similar to the ones sold in the city but since these swords are made using the formula made by Elder Dwarf herself, there was no contest between them. The difference being it wasn't a downgraded sword just to save on mithril but a sword made of an actual quality alloy.
There was nothing to be done about its weight but the sharpness and durability was comparable to a true mithril sword.
"If we have this many, we will have no trouble in our stocks. You've helped us a lot."
"We can have another thirty done by tomorrow. These ones are of excellent quality."
A reliable reply.
As far as the weapons were concerned, I need not worry.
However, among the swords leaning on the wall, there was one that stood out.
"What's that?"
"It's the prototype I made using all of my skill. The alloy used in it is made from the orihalcum and mithril gathered from the [Beast] Demon Lord's Mine as its core. The alloy was that way not because I was being stingy on orihalcum but because it was necessary to make the finest alloy with the materials at hand. It is also endowed with Enchant magic to increase its durability and its slashing ability."
I picked it up and felt an extraordinarily dreadful feeling from its blade. It was a beautiful silver magic sword that specialized in slashing. Furthermore, it was unbelievably light. As to be expected of a work done by her, an S rank monster, when she gives it her all. Her skills were probably at a height no human could ever dream of reaching their entire lives. Not to mention, this sword alone would undoubtedly fetch a price most them won't ever attain even if they work for it their whole life.
"May we also sell this?"
"Fine by me; I can just make another. But is it really alright to sell it to the humans? Borrowing master's words, this sword is too strong."
I certainly mentioned before that selling a weapon that was too strong would be the cause of much conflicts but...
"We'll only use it attract customers. We'll put a price tag on it that no one could ever afford. Just by displaying the sword, it would increase the sales of the other swords."
All of the shop's items would increase in value if it seemed like our shop was the shop of an expert blacksmith who could forge such a sword.
"I understand but I have one request."
"What is it?"
"That sword yearns to be wielded by a swordsman. I wish to sell it only after a swordsman I approve of appears. This is my request even if the swordsman turns out to be a human."
"Alright, we would only sell it then."
With that, the list of things that we needed to talk about was finished.
I had ensured that the weapons made by the dwarves were complete and ready to act as one of my city's main products.
"Also, master, I finished the disguise. This disguise should do the trick."
"Thanks again, Elder Dwarf."
I received the special disguise Elder Dwarf made and decided to examine it later. It was an important item to allow my important staff officer to work freely even after the humans have come.
And so, I headed onto the next location, onto where Kuina was. Wight should also be there.
"Well then, I'm off to the next spot. Don't work yourselves too hard."
"Mm. Ahm, master, I mean, after the sword are completely ready, "
Elder Dwarf tried hard to say something but was hindered by her hesitation. I kind of knew what she was trying to say though.
"Yeah, I'll praise you a lot. So, do your best, Elder Dwarf."
"Yes, I will."
And so, I left the workshop.
| ← Ch. 040 | Ch. 042 → |