Ch.191191. Dwarf Alliance

# Dawn Empire

After destroying the Roman Empire with their own hands, the Revenge Order occupied the southern regions that had been reduced to ruins in the process.

This emerging nation, formed when they transformed from a religious group, was naturally treated like an army of demon lords descended upon the mortal realm by neighboring countries.

Let’s think about it.

The Revenge Order, which can be considered the predecessor of the Dawn Empire, was a dangerous group that interfered more deeply than anyone else in the final days of the Roman Empire.

Their leader, Bjorn Wolfson, slaughtered all the imperial deities and the emperor, and the Order defeated the Empire’s main force—an army of 500,000—with merely 50,000 troops.

Looking at the details, of course, various circumstances overlapped making it a rather complex situation, but what would an outsider who doesn’t know the background think?

Naturally, it would appear that followers of an evil and powerful dark god destroyed the strongest nation of the era and established an outpost for external activities—invasion.

By the standards of this era, a group possessing power but not using it was based on an unimaginable mindset.

Of course, unless they operated human farms like the former Roman Empire, it would be impossible to produce hundreds of thousands of quality troops….

Instead, they possess Bjorn Wolfson, the world’s only active transcendent being. Literally a strategic weapon.

Tactics aside, he’s the ultimate weapon capable of causing mutual assured destruction when deployed. He’s essentially a walking cheat key, as if possessing a skill with the effect of “winning battles.”

Because of this, while Bjorn Wolfson’s existence prevents neighboring countries from acting rashly, it simultaneously puts the empire in a diplomatically disadvantageous position.

To make this easier to understand, it’s like someone boarding a subway with a grenade that has its pin pulled.

Even if you know they won’t harm you, it’s frightening—especially in a situation where safety isn’t guaranteed.

Consequently, the Dawn Empire was inevitably diplomatically isolated, becoming a relative outcast from international politics, but….

This is only the surface-level view.

Delving a bit deeper, the Dawn Empire was surprisingly creating allies in secret.

First, among the dark god factions, “Conspiracy” and “Revenge” have established a cooperative relationship.

“Revenge,” which has risen to become the world’s strongest in terms of military power, and “Conspiracy,” which sacrificed direct military intervention capability in exchange for superior intelligence.

In preparation for the eventual eternal struggle between good and evil, the two have formed a secret alliance, cooperating appropriately with each other.

Meanwhile, unlike this cooperation centered on divine alliances, the Dawn Empire also has legitimate friendly nations at the state level.

They’ve maintained relationships since before the Order formally established its structure years ago, and maintained a quasi-alliance even during the construction of the underground city.

After the Dawn Empire was officially founded, they formed an alliance—a relationship best described as a blood pact—with the Dwarf Kingdom located beneath the northeastern mountains.

Dwarves.

This race, named after the dwarves of ancient Norse mythology, is one of the humanoid species closely related to humans.

With an average height of about 130-150cm, they’re quite small, but they possess sturdy and robust bodies that are inversely proportional to their small stature.

Strong resistance to various poisons, special anti-magical physical qualities, bones as strong as steel, and rock-like muscles all demonstrate how solid their bodies are.

Their lifespan is also long, with some living from a minimum of 200 years to a maximum of 300 years, and each individual is innately born with at least one master craftsman talent.

As a result, the technological prowess of the Dwarf Kingdom is truly in a league of its own—to the extent that they’ve already developed steam engines and are running locomotives.

Moreover, they’ve long succeeded in developing gunpowder and have entered mass production, now replacing crossbows with hand cannons.

Despite this technological gap that seems like something out of a regression fantasy novel, these dwarf craftsmen have serious racial disadvantages.

First, their population is critically low.

The total population of all their cities barely reaches 100,000, and due to their characteristic stubbornness, marriage rates are low while divorce rates are extremely high.

Additionally, female dwarves number less than half compared to male dwarves, meaning the gender ratio itself is broken for some reason—

Decisively, the difficulty of dwarf pregnancies is quite high. This is one reason why their population struggles to increase.

Meanwhile, dwarves are known for their stubbornness and inflexibility, which stems from their conservative tendencies as a race.

They fundamentally dislike change and highly value tradition; in dwarf society, refusing to uphold their traditions is tantamount to voluntary exile.

This inflexible nature prevents them from compromising, which is why dwarf society remains quite stagnant despite its advanced technology.

The fact that they have steam engines capable of powering locomotives but show no interest in mass production demonstrates their conservatism.

Additionally, the anti-magical qualities of dwarf bodies and souls give them excellent magic resistance but also prevent them from using magic.

Unless using the workaround of processed dwarf runes, magic and dwarves have always been quite distant from each other.

Therefore, the dwarves chose to form reliable alliances.

Finding allies who could compensate for their small numbers while being good markets and having a low possibility of betrayal would be ideal.

And the meeting between the dwarves and the Revenge Order was blessed by fate, resulting in an exceptionally friendly relationship.

From the very beginning, the circumstances were favorable.

It started when the Order rescued dwarf craftsmen who had been kidnapped and enslaved by the Roman Empire, their enemy for hundreds of years, and returned them home despite having the option to exploit them.

Although the presence of undead (vampires) nearly created a tense atmosphere, thanks to the Rune Lord—the monarch of the Dwarf Kingdom—seeing through their true nature, they were able to maintain their friendly relationship from the first meeting.

Furthermore, the Dwarf Kingdom and the Revenge Order continued to trade, which greatly benefited both sides.

The Order received dwarf technological assistance in constructing their underground city headquarters, and in return, sold high-quality barley and wheat at near-cost prices.

These grains were used to make dwarf beer—the elixir of life and staple food that dwarves so love and cherish.

Dwarves love alcohol, especially grain alcohol, perhaps more than any other race, and with grain supplies reduced due to frequent conflicts with the Empire, this trade was literally their lifeline.

Particularly since Dwarf Beer transcends being merely a preference and is deeply rooted in dwarf society as a kind of drinking water and meal substitute.

Most dwarves’ approval of the Order skyrocketed simply because beer prices decreased.

Additionally, the doctrines and cultural structure of the Revenge Order aligned well with dwarf society, which greatly contributed to their increased approval.

The most valued principles in dwarf society are tradition and order, and almost equally important is “repaying grudges”—in other words, revenge.

Typical dwarves would rage at even the slightest loss, and settling these grudges is more important than anything else to them.

So while they could be described positively as a race with excellent self-esteem and pride, they could also be viewed negatively as petty, mean-spirited hypocrites and stubborn old-timers.

But as much as dwarves emphasize settling grudges, they also “unconditionally” maintain gratitude and loyalty.

The Order, learning that relationships with dwarves depend on how you treat them and that treating them poorly could lead to terrible consequences, became deeply connected with them.

There’s already an underground railway between the underground city and the Dwarf Kingdom, and the influence of the Revenge Order has spread among the dwarves.

The Dawn Empire imports enormous quantities of goods from the dwarves and occasionally conducts joint military operations with them.

This demonstrates how solid a relationship can be between groups that would never betray their alliance first, no matter what happens.