Ch.249249. Airship

For humanity, the sky has always been a realm of awe and aspiration.

Unable to reach it due to physical limitations, humans revered the sky as the domain of gods, yet simultaneously, all humanoid races harbored a deep desire for flight.

Thus, they developed various methods to challenge this lofty realm, from riding flying creatures to developing flight magic, but…

“Flight…? How could we possibly tolerate such a groundless act?!”

“Indeed! Dwarf warriors must, by law, keep their feet on the ground! We already permitted those rootless goat-riders (goat cavalry) to run amok, and now what? Flying through the sky?!”

“Don’t just talk—banish them immediately! Lord Rune, I cannot tolerate those who have abandoned their roots setting foot in our kingdom!”

This spirit of challenging the skies was bound to be met with hostility by the stubborn, change-resistant dwarves.

It was already considered a once-in-a-lifetime miracle that dwarves accepted gunpowder, and the establishment of the goat cavalry was treated as an abomination that should never have happened.

For this stubborn race that clings almost obsessively to tradition and the past, the act of flying is considered an affront to their tradition of valuing the earth.

Even a thousand years after the introduction of gunpowder weapons, some dwarves—though even in conservative dwarf society, these are considered hopeless traditionalists—still treat gunpowder as contrary to tradition. Similarly, when they introduced goat cavalry for mountain reconnaissance, there was fierce opposition.

Had it not been for the demon invasion, goat cavalry would likely never have been introduced—that’s how deeply tradition transcends mere culture for dwarves, entering the realm of religion and faith.

Because of this, dwarves developed various flight technologies but couldn’t use them. The dwarf who invented the airship was exiled and had no choice but to head to the Dawn Empire…

Little did they know then that this exile would become the catalyst for dwarves eventually adopting airships.

At that time, the Dawn Empire and the Dwarf Kingdom maintained a strong alliance, so it was common for overly innovative or eccentric dwarves who were exiled to settle in the Empire.

Thus, he joined a dwarf community descended from the respected master blacksmith Grumhil, who had forged the armor of Bjorn Wolfson, the one and only Emperor of the Dawn Empire. Since he was already exiled, he decided to take a chance and submitted his airship design to the Imperial Patent Office.

Shortly after submission, he received a formal invitation from the Imperial Administration.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Dwarf Engineer.”

“Y-you are… the legendary Herald of the God?”

“Yes. I am the Herald, spokesperson for the God of Vengeance.”

At this meeting, he encountered the Herald of the God of Vengeance, who was quite renowned even among dwarves.

The Vengeance Cult had easily taken root in the Dwarf Kingdom, where revenge was deeply ingrained in the culture. By regularly hosting beer tastings and competitions, the cult had earned considerable respect among dwarves.

So even though he wasn’t a follower of the God of Vengeance, the engineer was well aware of her status and regarded her nervously. Instead of speaking, the Wolf Herald handed him a rolled piece of high-quality parchment from her pocket.

After the engineer unrolled it and read the elegantly written contents…

“…! Is this true…? Are you really offering this much support?”

For someone who had never expected investment in the rigid, closed-minded dwarf society, the proposal to invest an enormous sum to fully support the airship industry was utterly shocking.

“Yes, Engineer. My master, whose voice I carry, has declared that airships will be an innovation that leads the future.”

“*sniff* *sob* *hic*…”

At these words, delivered with an expression of trust comparable to a dwarf’s, the engineer finally broke down in tears, overwhelmed by the recognition after so much hardship.

“…So this is how I should proceed?”

“Yes, Dwarf Engineer. As a dwarf, you would know better than anyone.”

“Well, that’s true… Yes, I understand. Let’s give it a try.”

The next day, the dwarf engineer returned to the Dwarf Kingdom with a business proposal, now appointed as the official representative of a collaborative project with the Dawn Empire.

※ ※ ※

As the dwarf engineer boarded the train back to the Dwarf Kingdom, he couldn’t hide his anxiety about possibly being denied entry…

“An official project with the Dawn Empire? …Approved!!”

After brief consideration, the immigration officer trusted the Empire’s reputation and granted entry, allowing the engineer to attend the presentation to the Council of Elders.

“Hmph…”

“…Why did it have to be him.”

While some dwarves were uncomfortable with the return of someone they had exiled, dwarves as a race, though narrow-minded and stubborn, tended to be more good-natured than malicious.

So while many dwarf elders were grumbling, they maintained a “let’s hear him out” attitude.

“Your Majesty, ruler of all dwarves, and honorable dwarf elders. I stand before you today because the Dawn Empire has a proposal—a beer transport vessel!”

The dwarf engineer showed them a prototype of an airship with brewery equipment installed and began his explanation.

“This machine can quickly fly at high altitudes to transport beer produced only in other cities without any quality degradation! Elders, you all know what happens to beer quality when transported by train, don’t you?”

The dwarf elders, who loved beer more than any other race, were well aware of how steam engine fumes affected beer quality. They closed their mouths, which had been ready to shout objections, and maintained expressions of cautious interest.

“But with this beer transport vessel, there’s no quality degradation whatsoever! In fact, the beer is not only transported quickly, but its temperature drops as it travels through the high skies!”

While this was certainly an appealing proposal that changed some elders’ expressions to more positive ones, some conservative elders still maintained sullen looks.

Judging that he needed to decisively turn the atmosphere positive, the engineer played his trump card.

“Above all, this beer transport vessel can quickly supply cool beer—chilled by traveling at high altitudes—to dwarf warriors fighting on the battlefield!!”

“I approve!!”

“Me too! If it’s rejected, I’d like to proceed with the project in our city!”

“Tradition is important, but so is supplying our warriors with cool beer! Absolutely!”

This final argument won over the remaining dwarves, and the airships that began construction soon became established throughout the Dwarf Kingdom and Dawn Empire for various purposes.

The airships rise into the air using special buoyancy-generating balloons engraved with runes of levitation by dwarves, and navigate using rune engines that power steam engines with runic energy.

In the early development stages, they could only transport a few dozen people, but over time, they grew larger and—

In a world where all manner of magical beasts and wind spirits fly about, airships naturally evolved into flying weapons, equipped with crossbow cannons or magical artillery depending on the operating nation, with hulls made of lightweight metals or floating stones.

Thus, these completed sky vessels came to be used in various ways.

The most common are long-distance cargo or passenger transport airships, and various tourist airships offering sky travel experiences have sprung up like bamboo shoots after rain.

But ultimately, the primary use of these airships became military. Particularly in the Dawn Empire, they modified airships in various ways, using them as everything from aerial battleships to transport vessels.

Of course, the Dwarf Kingdom now uses airships for purposes beyond beer transport, but beer transport vessels still make up more than half of all their airships.

…Though it’s unclear why beer transport airships need bomb storage compartments.