Ch.140Arrival

After parting with Ophelia, I returned to the special quarters, gathered my equipment, and mounted my horse.

Sensing that it would get to run freely after a long time, the reddish-brown stallion happily pawed at the ground with its front hooves.

I left the academy and headed toward the workshop Asha had told me about before.

Asha’s workshop already looked like a proper forge.

It was a three-story building.

The first floor had no entrance at all, and the structure was such that climbing the stairs outside the building led directly to the second floor.

The reception room, exhibition room, and personal living space were all concentrated on the second floor.

Metal products were made on the first floor, and leather products on the third floor.

Well, it would have been difficult to place heavy furnaces on the upper floors.

I was greeted at the second-floor entrance by an ordinary middle-aged person, perhaps one of several employees hired.

At first, they welcomed me thinking I was a customer, but as soon as I said I was there to see Yasha, they showed a troubled expression and tried to refuse.

Well, it makes sense… a dwarf setting up a workshop in the middle of the imperial territory would attract plenty of troublemakers.

However, when I revealed my name, they changed their attitude and immediately guided me to the reception room.

The fact that Asha and I were close friends was common knowledge among those who needed to know.

Just as another cigarette butt was added to the ashtray on the table, Asha finally appeared.

She was wearing thick work clothes that reeked of chemicals, suggesting she had been in the middle of work.

“I thought it might be you, and it really is Haschal. What brings you all the way here?”

“I have a favor to ask. Do you have a moment?”

Judging by her oil-stained face and disheveled hair… she seems to be so busy these days that she doesn’t even have time to rest properly.

I wonder if she’ll have the leisure to fix my armor.

Still, I can’t go to a battlefield with broken armor.

—-

“You want me to fix this? In one day?”

Asha frowned upon hearing my request.

It was certainly an unreasonable ask.

I wasn’t asking her to do it for free, but Asha clearly had plenty of her own work to do.

Still, Asha was the only one I could ask.

Ordinary blacksmiths would struggle to repair black iron armor made by a dwarf.

“Is it too difficult? It’s kind of urgent.”

“It’s not that difficult, but… what’s going on that has you looking so anxious?”

I summarized the situation in Ainfeld that Ophelia had told me about.

Asha seemed to understand the severity when I mentioned there were over a thousand undead creatures.

“Hmm… that is certainly urgent. Hmm, hmmm…”

Asha lowered her eyes and nodded repeatedly while making groaning sounds.

I was hoping for an affirmative answer from her.

If she refused, I would have to make do with patching the damaged parts with ordinary steel.

“Alright. But I’m coming with you!”

What is she saying?

It’s an acceptance, technically, but she wants to follow me to the battlefield?

I shouldn’t complain since I’m the one adding to her workload, but isn’t she extremely busy with work right now?

“Are you serious? What about your workshop? And Ainfeld is going to be incredibly dangerous right now.”

“I’ve been working non-stop lately and my body feels stiff. I’ve finished all the urgent orders anyway. Besides, I was planning to test some new weapons soon, so this works out perfectly.”

Asha grinned as she answered.

…She has the expression of a writer postponing deadlines to go play.

Still, there’s no particular reason to refuse.

And if Asha comes properly armed, she could be quite helpful.

In the end, I nodded and spent the night at the workshop while Asha repaired my armor.

Though I had to sleep on the sofa in the reception room since there was only one bed, and it was dwarf-sized.

—-

The next day, the armor was as clean as new.

No, it actually looked better than before.

The once pitch-black armor now had a dark gray luster, and the edges of the inner lining had turned white.

“Something’s different?”

“I mixed in some titanium, half-metal, and other things. Had to stay up all night because of it.”

Asha, with dark circles under her eyes, let out a long yawn.

“Titanium? Half-metal?”

I would have been grateful just for the repair, but it seems she upgraded it completely.

I’ve heard of titanium, but what’s half-metal?

“Both are alloy materials we dwarves use. Lighter than the original black iron, and more durable too. Plus, if the metal parts get dented, they can be somewhat restored just by applying heat. Normally, these are materials that shouldn’t be shared with other races.”

“Is it okay to give this to me?”

Wouldn’t it cause problems if other dwarves found out?

And just from the sound of it, the production cost must be enormous.

“Think of it as compensation for someone who has contributed to our clan. My father was quite interested in your previous proposal. Of course, I’ll still charge you for the production costs.”

The estimate Asha handed me clearly stated 600 gold.

Wait, I just asked for a repair, and she arbitrarily upgraded it to a new product level, and now she’s dumping the price on me…?

Is this how dwarves treat their benefactors?

“600 gold? I don’t have that kind of money.”

“Don’t worry. This is just a formality to make it a legitimate transaction.”

Asha shook her head with a reassuring smile.

That’s a relief.

I was worried I’d have to pester Ludwig, who’s particularly stingy about my living expenses.

“A formality, so that means I don’t have to pay the full amount?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Her answer was immediate.

“I’ll give you five years, so you can pay it slowly over that time. That shouldn’t be a problem, right? In return, if it gets damaged during those five years, just bring it to me and I’ll repair it.”

Five years means about 10 gold per month. That should be manageable.

And she’ll maintain it for free during that time… this really is benefactor treatment.

I nodded and took the armor, putting it on.

The weight wasn’t much different from before, but the scales of the armor had become much thicker.

It’s good armor.

The inner fur lining was too damaged in the exposed parts, so she had lined it with different leather.

I didn’t hear what kind of leather it was, but the snow-white fur looked quite stylish.

“By the way, how are you planning to follow me? I was thinking of riding horseback all day since a carriage would be too slow.”

Dwarves can’t ride horses.

Even if they could, most horses would struggle to keep up.

And even with a jetpack, you can’t fly around for days on end, right?

“Don’t worry about that! I have something I made for occasions like this!”

Asha scurried off to the workshop storage and soon returned riding something.

– Vrooom!

The sound was so familiar it was almost nostalgic, but the dissonance I felt upon this reunion was immense. Like running into an old superior who had become a prostitute.

Thick rubber wheels attached to the front and back of a metal frame.

A handlebar extending from the front wheel.

The heavy engine sound resonating and two exhaust pipes extending beyond the rear wheel.

A saddle on top of the frame, fitted to a dwarf’s physique.

…It’s a motorcycle.

It was a sight that left me speechless.

A dwarf riding a motorcycle? Good heavens, and with a medieval building as the backdrop…!

This seemed even more bizarre than the overtly high-tech jetpack, precisely because it was more realistically plausible.

I knew that sci-fi feels more jarring the closer it is to our timeline, but still…

“…What is that?”

“The Lightwagen MK III. A two-wheeled iron horse for long-distance travel! Think of it as a carriage that moves without a horse. Though it’s not suitable for combat due to low stability!”

From what she’s saying, it seems she tried lance charging on a motorcycle at some point.

Is this okay?

A piece of metal thundering horizontally across the land.

I wonder if people who see us might spread rumors about two monsters traveling together.

Still, at least I don’t have to worry about her keeping up.

Though the motorcycle was smaller, probably because it was dwarf-sized, a machine powered by an engine wouldn’t be slower than a horse.

If anything, I might be the one falling behind.

—-

After that, we rode for three days and nights, stopping only to sleep.

We made do with rations for meals and slept in sleeping bags around campfires.

The horse Lord Ludwig had gifted me truly was a magnificent steed, much faster than other horses and with great stamina too.

Even the horse I had brought from Ka’har would have collapsed long ago from such a forced march.

And as expected, Asha’s motorcycle caused quite a stir.

Travelers would occasionally wait for us with weapons drawn, startled by the noise coming from across the road.

Most of them fled in panic as soon as they saw us, though.

On the morning of the fourth day, we finally got close enough to see Ainfeld Fortress.

—-

“…Do we have to go in there?”

“…I suppose so?”

Asha’s voice trembled slightly, perhaps overwhelmed by the battlefield before us.

I couldn’t blame her. The sight made me hesitate as well.

A chorus of shouts, screams, and wails echoed all the way to where we stood.

It was clear that Leopold’s forces hadn’t been annihilated and were still fighting.

Though victory seemed unlikely.

Thousands of monsters had completely surrounded the castle.

Enduring the rain of arrows pouring from the top of the walls.

Most were rotting patients, but their numbers were at least three thousand, maybe more.

The count had multiplied several times from what I’d heard.

There were quite a few armored monsters too, perhaps soldiers who had turned after death.

The plain, blackened by dark mana, was in ruins, collapsed and excavated everywhere.

Fragments of “mixed remains” and “rotting patients” were scattered all over.

There was also a shattered skeleton snake corpse lying around.

Judging by that giant skull over there… was there a “grave eater” too?

It seems like every kind of undead creature had appeared.

“The gate is out of the question.”

“Indeed.”

Even to me, entering through the gate seemed impossible.

They had apparently decided to close it completely, blocking it with boulders.

“Then we need to somehow break through over there…”

Asha pointed to a section of the wall.

It was where the most monsters had gathered.

In other words, the place where the fiercest battle was taking place.

The remains of a wall section about ten meters long that had completely collapsed.

On top of the pile of rubble, people who were still alive were fighting desperately against the monsters.

I could see Leopold swinging a sword with his left arm, encouraging his soldiers.

He had bandages wrapped around his right shoulder, perhaps from an injury.

At least he’s not dead.

If he had died, it would have become a truly infuriating situation worthy of posthumous punishment.

“Can we do it?”

“…We have to try to break through somehow.”

I drew Durandal while still mounted.

Even a fine horse would collapse and die soon after charging into such a place, but it would be helpful until then.