Arrival to the Dwarven Kingdom 2

"So what was that wolf, then?" the soldier watching over me asked. What's he mean, "What is it?"

"Um, the species, you mean? It's a-"

"No, not the name. What I mean is, why did that kind of monster show up around here Where'd it come from, where'd it go.. I wanna hear everything you know!"

Mmm? I'd told him that was just mimicry. He didn't believe me? I thought I was pretty open with him. I knew it was standard procedure for a hero to hide his secret identity, but I wasn't exactly a hero anyway.

"Well, I told you... That was just me transformed!"

"Huh? Look, it's already rare for a slime to talk, and you want me to add shape-shifting to the package, too?"

"No, I mean... Look, would you like me to show you?"

"Hmph. Nah, it's fine. But if you can shape-shift, how is that possible? You're a just a human, aren't you?"

That... Wait. How should l answer that? I don't think he'd buy it if I just said "It's an intrinsic!" or whatever. That'd just put me on the same level as Gobta. Think, man. You gotta come up with a decent excuse, now!

"Well... I was actually cursed. My talents must have sparked some jealously, I guess... I'm capable of wielding illusionary magic."

"Oh, really? A curse, is it? Then what?"

"Then, um... Well, I know a few illusory spells, but I was still just a student at the time, so this evil mage turned me into a slime... I'm on a journey to find a way to undo the curse, and, um, that's pretty much it!"

"Why'd you run into an evil wizard, then Why'd he curse you instead of just killing you?"

Nnngh... This would go a lot easier if you'd just believe me, man. You don't have to be so obstinate about it. Though I guess ll'd be, too. If he actually bought my story, that'd make him more gullible than a goblin.

This little back-and-forth between me and the soldier went on for another two hours or so.

...

...

.....

By the end of our intensive debate, I had just about an entire novel's worth of backstory. A story about a forlorn young (and beautiful) girl, brutally transformed into a slime by an evil mage.

In the midst of our tit for tat, if you want to call it that, the soldier's questions helped me weave a grand story of heroic tragedy in my mind. I was a young prodigy, a girl inherently gifted in the arts of transformation and illusory magic. A cruel witch had cast a terrible spell on me, and I was traveling to rid myself of the curse.

"Look at my status screen!"

Name : Heiry Arga

Age : 25

Goals : Unknown

Physical Unique Ability : Martial Art

Magic Ultimate Ability : Imagination Materialization

Magic Ultimate Ability: Shapeshifting King Proteus Protean Form

Magic Ultimate Ability : Gifter

Magic Ultimate Ability : Ultimate Namer

Magic Ultimate Skill : Manna's Blessing Divine Restoration

Equipment : Blade of Jael

Power Value : 785,010

Physical Power : 100%

Magical Power :100%

HP : 100%

Inventory : Mythical Grade Sword, Normal Grade Spear, Full potion

"!Wh-what, how!? You're almost as strong a Magelord?, and you have many Magic Ultimate Ability, you're kidding me, I don't believe you!"

Why did this have to happen? And why did I turn myself into a magical girl along the way?! And the worst part of it was, whenever I said something that wandered off-script, the soldier's next question would help me fix the mistake. Oh, right! ľ'd say to myself as the tale meandered its merry way down the path.

And he really didn't believed my status screen who's saying the truth.

But how did I aquire the Magic Ultimate Ability Shapeshifting King Proteus Protean Form!?" I mumbled to my self.

I suddenly found out where I got this skill in my mind, I don't know how, but it's okay, at least my abilities have increased

By the end of it, both myself and the soldier were enthralled, hoping against hope that the girl would somehow succeed on her quest. Our eyes burned with passion-at least, his did. Truly, we had a connection that went beyond mere words.

"All right! That's it for the report. Thank you for your cooperation! But we're going to need to"

Slam!

Before the soldier could finish, the large door behind him opened. Another soldier rushed in.

"S-sir! An armorsaurus just showed up in the mines! It's already injured several miners at their posts!"

"What?! Well, did you defeat it?"

"We're good there! A suppression force is on its way. But some of the miners are fairly roughed up. I don't know if there's a war under way or something, but the city shops are out of medicine, and the castle won't let us access their stockpile."

"What about our healers?"

"That's the thing, sir... The injured were l deep inside, mining magic ore. The healers at the guardhouse are all out handling other calls, so all we have left is a single novice!"

"Ah, damn it all!"

Sounds rough. Not that I care. Just take some from the castle, if it's that important! I thought, but...

I do have a few potions on me, though. What should | do?

It wasn't as if l expected the gesture to testify to my character and get me off the hook. We just need to make the world a better place is all. I know it sounds fishy coming from me, but... Compassion is its own best reward, and all that. I'll get karma back for it someday.

"Um, sir! Sir!"

"What? 'm busy. I'm done with you for now, but I can't let you go yet. Stay in this room until things calm down a little!"

"No, not that, um... I've got this."

I took a recovery potion out from my inventory. Well I use my Ability to heal them but decided not to and just give them the full potion.

"...Um, what's that?"

"A recovery potion. Drink it, rub it in-it's high quality!"

"Eh? What's a man like you doing with that?"

Oh, come on. What happened to my story? Why's he treating me like a monster again? He was egging me on during that entire interrogation, wasn't he? Not that I wasn't an eager participant, but...

That kind of doesn't matter right now, does it? Go ahead, try it. How many do you need?"

"We've got six men down...but are you sure?"

The soldier who'd just stormed in gave me a quizzical stare. If I were him, I probably wouldn't take a potion from a monster, either.

"Tch... Stay here, al right? Let's go!"

"Um? But, Captain, that's a monster...?"

"Enough from you! Just take me over to them!" The bushy-bearded captain snatched up the six recovery potions I provided and ran off. What with the grand fantasy tale we'd just woven, I supposed Thad gained his trust somewhat. Maybe he was a nice guy after all. Didn't expect him to be a full- fledged captain, though.

"Is it over?" Gobta asked after silently nodding at everything lľ'd said before now.

"No, but I guess we'll sit here and see what

happens."

"Got it, sir!"

Then we stared into space. The soldiers who peeked in on occasion would give us confused looks, but otherwise, not much happened for an hour. I was practicing my Ultimate physical ability Martial arts a bit when I heard the captain's heavy footsteps. The silken whip zipped back into my body as I waited for him to come in. Gobta was asleep, proving that maybe he was smarter than I was all along.

"Thank you, sir!" the bearded captain thundered as he stormed into the room, head bowed. The miners filed in behind him.

"Youre the one with the potions? Thanks a ton!"

"My arm was pretty torn up. I didn't think I'd ever work again, even if I survived... Thank you!"

"....."

The last guy didn't say anything before they all left, but I was fairly sure he was thankful, too. Glad to see the potions worked.

By this time, it was past sunset. It was almost fully dark outside when the captain started talking with me again seriously, this time.

It turned out the quintet who'd tried taking me on were members of this nation's Free Guild. They had talent, but they also had a prior reputation as rabble-rousers. "That oughta teach 'em a lesson!" the captain said with a roaring laugh.

The guard was already certain that we were guilty of nothing, but I was still being detained out of respect for the other "victims" I had inadvertently inconvenienced with my actions. Nobody was pressing charges, though-I suppose they figured asking restitution for crapping their pants wasn't the shrewdest of social moves.

So I told him the truth. I was helping rebuild a goblin village, and we needed arms and clothing, as well as someone who could provide a little on- site guidance. The captain listened intently, some of his men chiming in on occasion. They even asked Gobta a few questions, despite his darting eyes and bewildered expression.

The next day.....

We were still in the guardroom. Gobta had borrowed another cell to sleep in, which I assumed he was still using. Having nothing better to do, I was watching some dwarven personnel run through morning training in the field behind the guardhouse. Swinging heavy wooden swords around to work on their speed, sparringa bit in simulated combat, running a few laps, the usual.

I sat there, taking it all in and imagining how

they'd fare against the assorted creatures I had Predated by this point. It was a bit like a game to me...but would sage mind if I used it like this? Seems like kind of a waste of talent-but what the hell? It'll be fun.

Initially, Heiry's Sage appears to him after he gains the "Great Sage" skill when he first enter in this world, which grants him access to vast amounts of information and knowledge. The Sage acts as a sort of adviser, providing Heiry with guidance on a variety of topics and helping him to make strategic decisions. The sage was like an alter ego of Heiry. And yes he's the one explaining to Geiry about why he suddenly got so may Ultimate Abilities.

Turned out, the guards barely stood a chance. Even if I gave myself a handicap, there were only just a few of them who could beat the bat and the lizard.

In a one-on-one matchup, the scales tipped pretty heavily toward the monsters, but since the dwarves always seemed to operate in teams of four to six, a few of the combined parties could take on the spider fairly well. Even all twenty of them out in the field couldn't take on the centipede, though. I wasn't expecting these guys to be Special Forces types, of course, so the results made sense to me.

They were just about wrapped up by the time Gobta awoke. The captain checked in at around the same time.

"All right," he said, "you're free to go. Sorry I kept you in here for so long-I was beholden to keep you overnight, at least. Apologies!"

"Oh, no, no. It saved me one night's hotel cost, at least."

"Glad you see it that way. Here, let me make it up to you. I can introduce you to a talented blacksmith I know!"

"That would be perfect. Thank you!"

Things were looking up, finally. We just got priority entry, one-inspection, schminspection—and we had some extra money to spend. I thought finding a weaponsmith who wouldn't rip me off at first sight would be a chore, too, but a military referral was about the best I could ask for! Maybe I can afford to be a bit optimistic afta all.

"In exchange for that..."

"If you have any of those recovery potions left, would you be interested in letting go of them?"

Aha. They must really be short on them, huh? That soldier mentioned that yesterday. Well, I've got a ton I could sell you guys...but I don't really know the going rate.

Now what?

.....Ah, why not? I had a manufacturing cost of exactly zero on those things anyway. If he wanted some, he could have some.

"All right," I replied. "it'll depend on how many, though. I need to keep a few for myself, too."

"Any extras you're willing to part with are fine by me. Even if it's just one." Mm? Rather odd way of putting it, isn't it? I thought he was trying to rebuild the guard's stockpile. One's not going to be enough in a pinch, is it? ....Well, whatever. Maybe times were just that tough.

"Okay, um, well, how about five, then?"

"Five! Ah, that'd be wonderful!"

"Sure. Oh, also, I'm pretty sure they'll still work even if you dilute them a little bit, all right? If it's just a regular slash wound, ten parts water to one part potion oughta do the trick."

The captain nodded eagerly, fully convinced. I spat out my five potions, and he responded by giving me a small pouch. Inside I could see a selection of gold coins. "I know it's not much," he explained, "but I hope you'll accept this. I'll give you five gold pieces for each one of these!"

Twenty-five gold, then? Fine by me. I don't know if I'm undercutting myself or not, but I'm not in a position to haggle. Better figure out how much that is, though, exactly.

"Uhmm, if I could.."

"Not enough? I'm doing my best here, sir..."

"No, no, the price is perfectly fine, but I needed to ask you.."

"Huh? It is? So... So what did you need?"

Ooh. Mmmm, that's not a good reaction. So l'm being ripped off after all? I knew I should've started higher. Oh well. The captain seems like a nice enough guy. I doubt he's fleecing me that badly.

"I'm sorry to admit it, but I'm not exactly sure what this money is worth, or what prices are even like around here... If you could give me some guidance, that would . really help! I'm just a new here, besides!"

Way to contradict yesterday's magical-girl saga, man. Good thing he apparently never bought it in the first place.

We wound up having a long conversation before Gobta and I set off. Soon, I was out in the fresh air of freedom again...but not before lunch. The captain insisted. I couldn't taste anything, but the appreciation was sweet, guess.

For the first time in a while, I enjoyed a meal.

Ugh... Why do I have to be so busy...? Kaijin the dwarf grumbled to himself. What do they mean, the Eastern Empire might be on the move? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!

He had reason to doubt it. Peace had reigned over the kingdom for three hundred years. The Empire had all the riches it could ever want-what motivation could it possibly have to stage an invasion? That was what he didn't understand.

Of course, Kaijin added to himself, I doubt the weaponsmiths of this city would mind a good war to fill their coffers. But...arrgh, why is my work so busy all of a sudden?!

And that wasn't his only problem.

He scowled. Curse that damned minister! He rubbed his forehead as he imagined himself taking a hammer to the man and sighed. A lot of sighing lately.

There wasn't much time left. A refusal would damage his reputation. "I can't do it" wouldn't be an excuse. He was waiting for some of his friends to get back to him, and depending on their reports, all could be lost.

He had built a decent name for himself as a weaponsmith, but he wasn't omnipotent. What kind of smith could craft weapons without any raw materials to work with?

Finally, he heard the news he had been waiting for.

"Sorry," one said as he came through the door. "We wanted to contact you yesterday, but we ran into one heck of a distraction..."

They were three men-dwarves, all brothers, the trio Kaijin had assigned mining duties to. The eldest was Garm, an armor crafter with long, muscular arms. The middle child was Dold, who was known around the kingdom for his intricate handiwork. The youngest, Mildo, rarely spoke but was skillful at almost anything he did- architecture, art, you name it. A sort of savant.

Any one of them could've been talented enough to run a successful business by himself-but they all had a critical disadvantage. Outside of their individual God-given talents, they were utterly hopeless, barely capable of dressing themselves without an instruction manual. None of them had a head for business or laying the groundwork for a successful career. They seemed to prefer letting other people use them instead.