Ch.567Second Lecture

Second lecture. I started talking while smoking cigarettes heavily, dressed exactly the same as the day before.

“Today we’ll be lecturing about Dwarves and Werebeasts.”

As soon as the word “Dwarf” came out, the audience began murmuring all at once.

“Quiet, please. Even without all that chatter, I know what you’re thinking. You might accept Werebeasts as enemies, but you’re wondering why we need to consider Dwarves as enemies too, right?”

On the first day of lectures, I clearly stated that Dwarves would also be treated as enemies in my lectures, but perhaps they didn’t believe I was serious.

Well, Dwarves had been humanity’s reliable allies for hundreds of years, so the very idea that they could be enemies might not have occurred to them.

“How naive.”

I smirked as I scanned the audience.

Every single one had eyes full of doubt. Every single one had innocent eyes. They were naive beyond belief. It was almost laughable.

“Dwarves aren’t enemies? What childish thinking. Remember this. There are no eternal alliances in this world. The Dwarves of Himmel maintain their alliance with the Empire because it benefits them as well.”

It was the unvarnished truth. They submit because they cannot win, and they cooperate because it benefits them. The alliance between humans and Dwarves was a relationship formed under strict profit calculations.

“If the opposite were true… Dwarves would oppose humanity without hesitation. That’s why you need to know how to fight against Dwarves. Do you understand?”

If the balance of power were reversed, and if opposing humanity became more beneficial than maintaining the alliance… the Dwarves’ guns would be aimed at humans. That’s the kind of beings they were.

—-

Looking with satisfaction at the now-quiet students, I began lecturing about Dwarves.

Dwarves.

Stubborn, dexterous little people who boasted a technological civilization so advanced it was bewildering.

Unlike other races who could enhance their individual capabilities by accumulating blessings or mana, Dwarves couldn’t handle mana and had clear physical limitations. As an alternative, they focused on improving the performance of their equipment.

The result was firearms using gunpowder and mechanical armor.

“Their average firepower isn’t much different from that of a Master-level knight or high-ranking mage… but it varies depending on the type of weapon. You might be able to handle personal firearms somehow, but if armored war machines appear, you’ll have no chance of winning except by surrounding and pushing them back like you would with medium to large magical beasts.”

I picked up a piece of chalk and drew simple diagrams on the blackboard.

Guns and drone weapons, powered armor and tanks. Even land battleships that moved by hovering. These were the Dwarven armored weapons I had heard about from Asha and Leopold.

Perhaps because I was drawing familiar shapes, they seemed to come out several times better than yesterday, which made me secretly proud.

I briefly summarized the appearance and purpose of each weapon, and especially what to watch out for. Unfortunately, I couldn’t explain in detail.

Just from my lecture on fairies, ridiculous rumors had spread that I bathed in fairy blood or that fairies lived in the east. If I knew the specifications and weaknesses of secret ancient weapons that the Dwarves kept hidden?

Anyone would see that was impossible, and I would inevitably be questioned about the source of my knowledge.

So I could only explain general information while staying within bounds that wouldn’t arouse suspicion.

—-

“Combat against Dwarves will be completely different from the battles you’ve learned about until now. First of all, approaching recklessly is suicidal. If you form a battle formation and advance, you’ll be annihilated at once, and even if you spread out and charge, the Dwarves will turn their guns toward you much faster than you can approach them.”

I’m sorry for the students who expected extraordinary solutions like yesterday, but facing a properly armed Dwarf at the knight or apprentice knight level was nearly impossible.

Since bullet trajectories are almost straight lines, you might be able to dodge by moving out of the line of fire before being hit, but only Master-level knights could perform such a feat in the short time between when the opponent pulls the trigger and when the bullet hits.

“However, firearms aren’t invincible either. While artillery shells are a different story, ordinary bullets are just metal pieces about as thick as a finger, albeit with high speed and penetration power.”

In my original world, that alone would make them the strongest weapons, but not here.

To be frank, in terms of power, a single spell from a mage was far more powerful than a dozen bullets in this world.

“You could melt the bullets with fire magic, throw rocks to absorb the impact, withstand them with armor several times thicker than standard full-body armor, or use corpses as shields… In one-on-one combat, you could respond like this while closing the distance.”

I turned toward the blackboard, took a deep breath, and drew a large X over the pictures I had drawn. As if to say that everything I had explained so far wasn’t worth remembering.

Some students tilted their heads in confusion but drew X’s in their notebooks as if imitating me.

…Well, there was no need to copy that exactly. I couldn’t tell if they were being stupid or diligent.

“But there’s no reason to fight like that. Advancing while withstanding attacks is honestly a poor strategy. If the opponent brings out stronger weapons, you’ll immediately collapse.”

Blocking bullets? Then they’d just bring out cannons and destroy your defenses altogether.

That’s how it was in the original world, and why would it be any different here?

“If you want to defeat Dwarves, it’s more reasonable to target their weaknesses rather than attempting a frontal assault.”

Their fundamental limitations.

“Dwarves have two main weaknesses: their reliance on projectile weapons limits their combat endurance, and Dwarves themselves aren’t particularly strong.”

Relying on firearms was both their strength and weakness.

Give them equipment, and even non-combatants could kill Masters, but conversely, even their strongest individuals couldn’t defeat an ordinary knight without proper equipment.

Moreover, since Dwarven weapons fired actual bullets, they became powerless as soon as they ran out of ammunition.

While ammunition depletion wouldn’t happen in large-scale battles with proper supply lines, it was common in small-scale engagements at the platoon or squad level.

“—So, the first method is to repeatedly take cover and defend while waiting for them to exhaust their ammunition, or to ambush them when they’re unarmed and not in combat status. Any questions?”

“Isn’t ambushing an unarmed opponent against the code of chivalry?”

“No, chivalry…”

What a nonsensical question.

“Haa… if you want to become a corpse full of holes, go ahead. What a noble piece of meat you’ll be.”

I exhaled cigarette smoke and gave a scathing reply. An obvious mockery. The freshman who had asked the question blushed and slowly lowered his hand that had been raised high.

He looked about fifteen… this is why people who haven’t experienced war are like this. Chivalry? Who actually adheres to such outdated nonsense?

Even Carlos the Great and his Twelve Knights, the epitome of knighthood, used any means necessary to achieve victory.

“If there are no other questions, let’s move on to the second method. The second method is to actively use mind control magic. As I mentioned earlier, unlike their weapons, Dwarves themselves are incredibly weak. They can’t even resist mental suppression magic at the graduate level.”

That was why Dwarves staked everything on long-range firepower. If they allowed approach within range of mental magic, they would be subdued without being able to properly resist.

“No matter how strong a shield they have, mental magic doesn’t even touch the shield, making it powerless. Just casting a simple frenzy spell will make them go berserk and shoot at their own kind.”

There was the problem of having to approach within range of mental magic while enduring a rain of bullets, but once you got close, it was the most effective way to subdue Dwarves.

The armor plating of tanks or powered armor was designed to defend against physical impacts. While they might block fireballs or ice spears, they couldn’t block mental magic that acted directly on the brain.

—-

Unlike yesterday’s lecture, my lecture on how to deal with Dwarves didn’t create much of a stir.

Well, even I thought it was a somewhat inadequate lecture compared to the one about fairies. It couldn’t be helped though.

To properly explain how to deal with Dwarves, I would have had to explain the concept of modern warfare from scratch.

And I would have needed to explain it at a level where people who fight with spears, swords, arrows, and magic could understand and adapt it to their own circumstances.

For such a lecture, they would need to bring in a professor with a military general background, not me.

So all I could teach were methods to block bullets or easily subdue individual Dwarves.

—-

After a ten-minute break, the second lecture continued immediately.

“In this session, I’ll lecture on the techniques for fighting Werebeasts. They can be considered humanity’s main enemy.”

Fairies maintained at least a pretense of peaceful relations, and Dwarves, though for their own benefit, submitted to the Empire’s order. Dragonborn also didn’t seek to create conflicts with humans.

Among the non-extinct heterogeneous races, only Werebeasts continuously opposed humanity. Without even considering advantages or disadvantages.

A fight that wouldn’t end until one side was extinct. That’s why they were called the main enemy.

“Not long ago, they led an army to attack the north and even destroyed the northern wall. It’s quiet now, but once they recover from the shock of defeat, they will undoubtedly form another large army and march south again.”

How to deal with Werebeasts. In a way, this could be considered my area of expertise. Because I experienced it firsthand.

Didn’t I even defeat their king, Rurik, and turn him into armor?

“Before starting the lecture, I’d like to introduce an assistant who will help with this lecture in every way.”

However, I didn’t intend to conduct this lecture with just my knowledge. There was an even more specialized Werebeast slaughterer right there.

“When discussing Werebeasts, it’s impossible to leave this person out.”

Instead of starting the main lecture, I pointed at Frider with my index finger and grinned. Perhaps she sensed what I was about to do. Anxiety and embarrassment were evident on Frider’s face.

I just smiled even more broadly. I had been looking forward to this moment since last evening.

“Let me introduce: the main figure in defending against the Great Invasion, the only princess of the Duchy of Faelrun, the Master of the North. ‘The Werebeast Skinner,’ Frider van Faelrun! Everyone, please welcome her with applause!”

Applause followed.

“W-what…?!”

Frider looked around with a face as red as a tomato. Her wide-open eyes were full of embarrassment.

Toward her, my prepared merciless verbal assault continued.

“For a lecture on Werebeasts, there’s no one more qualified than Princess Faelrun. She’s so interested in Werebeasts that her only hobby is dissecting and preserving their internal organs and decorating her room with their taxidermied skins. She literally knows Werebeasts inside and out!”

Frider’s reaction to having her secret hobby exposed gave me endless satisfaction.

The sight of her bowing her head deeply to hide her flushed face was quite enjoyable.