Ch.4040. Underground City

First, almost all those who still had a homeland to return to were able to go back with Lisa’s help.

“Thank you, thank you…”

“I am not the one who deserves your gratitude, sister.”

“Y-yes! Great God of Vengeance and Blood! We thank you for your grace!”

By utilizing some functions of the Blood Sanctuary, I processed one of the eight connected passages into a one-way portal to a desired location.

Then, using the vast divine power (MP) of Lisa, my apostle and saint, as the energy source for transportation.

Of course, movement is only possible in the direction going out from the Blood Sanctuary, and even if we reconnect from this side, return is impossible, so we’ve avoided the worst-case scenario of enemies invading.

Anyway, quite a number of people received holy symbols (cross and skull necklaces) from Lisa and returned to their homelands, but…

One critical problem remained.

Namely, most of the former slaves here had been war slaves.

Most of them had their homelands destroyed by the Rom Empire before being taken as slaves, so their homes had already been annihilated.

As I was contemplating their situation and thinking about establishing a base where they could live—

“Alright, then we’ll step up!”

“Only dishonorable pointy-ears would fail to repay a debt!”

To my surprise, the dwarves—who still had homelands they could return to anytime—volunteered to repay the favor.

As in common clichés, the dwarves here are also known for their clear sense of debt and gratitude, never forgetting either favors or grudges.

Some complain that playing as dwarves is frustrating because their society is rigid and conservative due to their stubbornness…

But this stubbornness, rigidity, and conservative nature are both weaknesses and strengths.

In the game, dwarf companions have a fixed 0% chance of betrayal unless you first do something to earn their enmity, and unlike those vile and petty pointy-ears, their quest rewards are generous.

And as a result of these traits being fully expressed…

These dwarf craftsmen, claiming it was payment for their lives after being rescued from slavery, volunteered to transform a rather large natural cave in the mountains near the sanctuary into an underground city.

True to their reputation for hollowing out entire mountain peaks to create their cities,

these 500 dwarves were able to create a massive urban center capable of housing nearly 10,000 people.

This city was built spacious enough to accommodate even the insectoids—the largest race among the former slaves with an average height of 2.2 meters—and contained all manner of facilities.

The administrative building, which would serve as the traditional senate-council and administrative center for the dwarves, was just the beginning.

There was a commercial district with buildings that had shops on the first floor and residences on the second, as well as residential areas with row houses.

These buildings weren’t actually structures but rather spaces carved into stone walls and decorated to look like buildings. The craftsmanship was so precise that anyone would mistake them for real buildings.

True to their nature as dwarves who domesticate mountain goats as livestock, they created a livestock district on one side of the city for raising goats and other animals.

On another side, they even created spaces for cultivation.

A dark room for growing dwarf mushrooms, a hydroponic chamber for simple vegetables,

and even an underground farm for growing barley—the most important crop for dwarves.

These facilities, created with the power of mysterious runes, weren’t limited to just cultivation spaces.

Air circulation and purification systems, street lamps placed at regular intervals, lighting and plumbing connected to each home, sewage and water systems, water purification tanks, and various other rune facilities were installed.

The result was essentially a modern city disguised as medieval, but the dwarves didn’t stop there.

The inevitable elevation differences in a city carved from natural caves were solved with elevator-like contraptions, and crane-like devices were built using the same technology.

Moreover, all these facilities could be maintained by ordinary people just by reading and understanding simple maintenance manuals.

Even I was amazed by the level of technology used, but their technological prowess didn’t end there.

The workshops and underground mines, designed to be at the core of the underground city, were where the most advanced technology was employed.

Water-powered spinning wheels utilizing the flow of groundwater from the city’s water system.

Enormous furnaces that clearly surpassed primitive ironworks by a vast margin.

Plus precision instruments that used various runes as power sources to assist with all kinds of crafting.

Even to me, who grew up in modern civilization, the technology used in these workshops seemed to be somewhere between the Industrial Revolution and the Cold War era, but the mines were even more advanced.

Railways were laid to transport minerals and miners, primitive steam locomotives were operated, and rune golems were used as heavy equipment to assist with mining.

Rune stones were embedded throughout to prevent mine collapses, and the dwarves wore something like helmets with headlights attached.

Dwarf technology, which is treated as practically cheat-level in the game, was already highly developed even in this ancient era.

…Conversely, this means that despite all this time passing, there hasn’t been much change between now and the main timeline.

※ ※ ※

Anyway, after the 500 dwarves and approximately 5,600 former slaves joined forces to complete the city.

“Well, I’ll be going now, old man.”

“Hey, you! Show some respect!”

Naturally, most of the dwarves who considered their debt repaid through the construction of this underground city—which was indeed a fair assessment—returned to their dwarf kingdoms.

During this process, Lisa, who could teleport on her own, was sent as a representative envoy to the dwarf capital.

“…An undead?”

“I am merely a humble servant of the Lord.”

“I apologize for my mistake.”

There was some initial wariness due to the vampiric aura emanating from Lisa, but she skillfully navigated this and established friendly relations as a sort of reward for returning the rescued dwarves.

While this alliance wouldn’t guarantee military aid against external invasions, it would at least offer refuge for evacuees…

I suppose I should be satisfied with gaining potential allies.

Anyway, while most dwarves returned home, surprisingly, some decided to stay in the city.

“May I ask why you’re not returning to your homeland?”

“Ah, Saint. It’s simple. I… no, we wish to serve the Great God of Blood and Vengeance.”

Led by Grumhil, about 100 dwarves decided to remain in this secret underground city to practice their faith in me.

“I-is that so?!”

Grumhil himself was the most skilled armor smith among the captured dwarves, and among those 100 were various specialists including runesmiths and architectural experts.

Moreover, as relatives and family members of these 100 dwarves who wanted to settle in this new land joined the city, the final number of dwarves remaining reached about 420.

Since even a dwarf who has never worked with metal can display metallurgical skills far surpassing those of skilled human craftsmen, it was essentially like having 420 master blacksmiths settle in the city.

In the end, the total population of the city slightly exceeded 6,000 people.

Of these, humans were the largest group at just under 1,200, making this truly a multi-racial city.

Grumhil was temporarily appointed as mayor, with an agreement that I would select a new mayor once the city stabilized.

Judging that this city would become something of a base for me in the future, I instructed Lisa to build a passage connecting to the entrance of the Blood Sanctuary.

I also developed plans for city expansion in anticipation of population growth.

“…What? Make the mining carts larger?”

“Yes. That is what the Lord has commanded.”

I had instructed them to create a steam locomotive using stones engraved with heating runes to boil water, with the aim of connecting the entire underground of the mountain range—essentially a subway system.