Chapter 15

Chapter 15

IN ORDER TO GET TO AXEHOLM from Castle Getaeus, we would have to travel north. The route demanded we take the Lawful Way to Yulei Village, then use the main trade route for the rest of the way. Yulei Village was a two-day journey, and it took another four days to get to Axeholm. Axeholm was in a more southerly location than the castle, so going north first made for a fairly roundabout path.

If the highway was completed according to Ild and Valbo’s plan, it would only take four days to get to Axeholm. That would definitely make trade easier.

Ted barked out orders to his new underlings. “Sakko! Pull on that.”

“You got it!”

“I got us some firewood, boss!”

A journey that took multiple days swung between two extremes: boredom and fighting.

Of course, that was only the case for someone like me, who was almost completely useless when it came to setting up the camp tents and preparing food.

***

I decided to study a bit. If I had spare time sitting around waiting for camp to be set up, I might as well make use of it.

“Ild, can you spare a moment?” I asked.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Is Axeholm facing some sort of problem right now? Valbo implied as much.”

Back when we were discussing the expansion plan, Valbo had said something to the effect that Axeholm was not in a place to do construction work. I should have pushed harder for details at the time, but it was too late for that now.

If I were to use tabletop campaigns as a rubric, one-off comments like that from non-player characters could be important hints in advancing the scenario. You needed to take notes, or you might wind up stuck… Failure from lack of information was a real possibility.

Ild pondered the question for a moment. “When I visited Axeholm with Sedam recently, there was something strange in the air. But you’ll have to forgive me—I’m afraid I don’t know many details.”

From what little Ild was able to tell me, there was curious activity in the dwarven settlement. Though groups of aggressive soldiers and technicians could be seen running around the place, it actually seemed like the laborers had plenty of free time. When he and Sedam had asked the dwarves about the reason, they wouldn’t say a word.

Their only response was, “It’s not something we’d share with humans.”

“Maybe daemons appeared?” I suggested.

Ild shook his head. “If that were the case, I think they would at least give us a warning.”

“What about a war?” Clara had been looking awfully bored, and seized on the chance to jump into our conversation. “It would make sense if the duke of Filsand wanted to take Axeholm.”

That was a new name on me. “Who’s the duke of Filsand?”

I wasn’t ashamed to show my ignorance to my friends. Normally, it was Sedam who was always trying to teach me things, but Ild and Clara explained everything in his stead.

The duke of Filsand was the ruler of the great city of Filsand, a metropolis located east of Axeholm. They said he was related to someone named Velde or something, and ever since occupying the diverse city of Filsand some decades ago, he’d become infamous as a ruthless and greedy ruler.

The story was actually a little familiar to me. “So, he’s the one they call the ‘Wicked Duke’…”

“Well, they’re just rumors,” Ild said. “If we were to believe all the rumors we heard, we might as well start calling you the ‘Dread Wizard.’”

“…Gafoon,” Clara muttered suddenly.

“Huh?”

I held up my hands uselessly for a moment when Clara blurted out that odd term. What in the world is a ‘Gafoon’?

“Anyway,” I said, trying to get things back on track. “What kind of city is Filsand?”

“Well, it’s a port city with a thriving trade industry. The kingdoms neighboring Velde—Land Barthes and Shrendal—are all connected by the sea.”

“That’s a huge advantage…”

“Perhaps so,” said Ild, “but in order to reach Land Barthes or Shrendal via the sea lanes, you have to pass through the southern seas ruled by the Dragon Empire, so the cost is often high.”

“The dragonkin again… Does Axeholm trade with Filsand as well?”

Clara nodded. “Yes, of course. The dwarves absolutely love getting their hands on rare ores and technologies from foreign countries. There’s never a shortage of merchants coming and going in their lands.”

Ild added, “But there are steep mountains between Filsand and Axeholm. Magical beasts frequently appear there. And taking a detour around them to the north means passing along the Twilight Wastelands where the undead are known to wander. Truth be told, all manner of trade is risky at the moment.”

Considering the current situation, and the character of the duke of Filsand, he might well consider sending out his army to loot and pillage a faster and more effective path to wealth than trading.

But I was extremely curious about this city of Filsand. What we needed most of all right now was trade. If the mountains were perilous and there was no safe route, all we had to do was use magic to support the construction of a new one.

The idea was already taking shape in my mind. “Maybe, just maybe…hear me out on this, Ild… What if there was a route straight through the center of the continent that connected Filsand to Axeholm and moved on to Castle Getaeus?”

That was all I needed to say. Ild knew exactly what I was thinking. He glanced at me and then nodded. “It would be extremely useful. Even now, there are caravans and merchants traveling to Filsand on land routes from Relis. However, most are attacked by beasts or the undead of the Twilight Wastelands along the way, and suffer heavy damage. If there was a safe route that passed through Castle Getaeus…” The normally cool and collected Ild swallowed audibly. “The profits would be enormous.”

Was that so? If Ild approved, then I could proceed with confidence. Of course, I would have to ask the dwarf experts if it was technically feasible. There were also diplomatic issues to consider; we would need the consent and cooperation of both Axeholm and Filsand.

“With your unique magic, Margilus, such a plan would be possible, but…” Clara folded her arms, taking a moment to select her words. “I’m no expert, but it seems like the problem with Filsand would be its size. For one thing, the ruling duke doesn’t get along with King Velde. Moreover, I’ve heard rumors that the city is a frequent target of barbarian raids.”

“Hrmm…”

Clara added, “There’s also the question of whether the greedy duke of Filsand will trade fairly with us and the dwarves.”

The alliance I’d hoped to form with the world’s various countries was at its root designed to fight against the daemons, which differed from a normal military alliance. All member countries needed to be treated as equals for it to work. Likewise, I wanted to stay far away from civil wars, internal disputes, and power struggles.

We shouldn’t get involved in other nations’ business.

“Speaking of which, you’ve suddenly become very interested in business, haven’t you?” Clara smiled. “Are you worried about all the money flowing out of your very magical pockets?” Clara didn’t sound especially concerned. She actually seemed to be laughing a bit.

Business. I would freely admit that I simply enjoyed developing Castle Getaeus. But there were other good reasons, too.

“It’s not as if the daemons will only show up within the Ryuse Alliance. Whether it’s Axeholm or Filsand, the east or the south, everyone is at risk. Without more information, and without being more connected to those faraway places, we can’t actually lend them our aid.”

“That’s right…” Clara’s tone darkened subtly. “Nothing has changed.”

I thought I had said something rather profound in my persona as the great magic user, but there was Clara, frowning all the more. Hrmm. If only the Watcher had given me a spell to understand women.

“Everything all right, Clara?”

She threw up her hands. “Let’s just forget about all that for now.”

I hesitated. “Eh?”

“The first step is to form an alliance with the Axeholm dwarves and establish a trade deal,” Clara said. “Let’s not buy the saddle before the horse.”

Ild and I could only nod when Clara deployed that Sedian aphorism. The meaning was clear: Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched.

***

“But in the end,” I muttered, “that’s how it’ll be.”

“Like what, exactly?” Clara wondered.

I kept on muttering while eating the meal Ted had prepared for us. He’d become a pretty good cook. “Even if we can persuade the dwarves, I think it’ll just end up like…you know…”

“Oh, that,” Ild said, nodding.

Clara lifted her brows. “Oh, do come out with it, Margilus. Like what?”

Ild explained on my behalf. “In other words, if he shows the extent of his magical powers, the dwarves will feel threatened, just like the Calbanera Knights and the Adventurers’ Guild did.”

Blonde-haired Clara actually laughed, turning up her nose. “Oh, is that what you’re on about?”

After hearing about my secret worries, she gracefully crossed her legs and sipped deeply from her cup of tea. “Would it not be worse if your powers were underestimated? I could foresee that very quickly developing into a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. If you’re going to tie yourself into knots over something so petty as that…then I say just go wild. Pull out all the stops.”

It was so Clara. Such cheerful advice. Ild and Reyha were nodding their heads in agreement.

Under the circumstances, I was impressed that someone could think that way. Well, why not? I already had a negative reputation. It wasn’t a bad idea to give an intense impression.

***

We soon passed the village of Yulei and set out along the trade route that led to Axeholm. It was probably a familiar path for Ild, who’d originally traded primarily with the dwarves, and his directions were impeccable.

The problem was the trade route itself. The road was narrow, the path was unpaved, and the condition of everything around was very poor. The abandoned houses and rocky terrain made it hard to anticipate when thieves or monsters might appear.

I had concerns about the well-being of our three newest recruits, so I asked Reyha to go ahead of us and check for threats, just in case.

“As a matter of fact, when we passed by here the other day, Sedam discovered a magical beast,” Ild revealed. “Fortunately, we were able to hide and let it pass by.”

He was awfully calm for someone who probably couldn’t fight at all. It surprised me. It was a fantasy. No, wait. That’s not what’s important right now.

“Does that mean the same beast could still be wandering around out here?” I asked.

Ild nodded gravely. “It certainly could.”

I don’t know if we jinxed it, or if I’d simply tempted fate. But just then, Reyha reappeared, moving like a shadow.

“My lord, I found creatures up ahead—and they’re coming this way.”

***

“Graaah!”

“Raaah!”

Almost immediately, the monsters appeared just ahead of us. There were three of them. They looked like long-haired dogs—if those dogs were two meters long and sported massive, crocodilian chompers.

They must have been wary of our group’s size and weapons, because they didn’t jump right in for the attack. They kept some distance and let out magnificent roars.

“They’re Fangwolves,” said Ted. “Normally, they’re not that bad…”

His three subordinates timidly clutched their spears.

“Aaagh!”

“Eeeek…!”

Fangwolves. The name was apt. Their large mouths were full of sharp fangs. Their bite looked like it would be a powerful attack.

When Ted said “normally,” he probably meant when he had everyone under Sedam’s command with him. His new recruits definitely weren’t at the level of a seasoned adventuring party.

“They might be calling for their pack,” said Clara.

“Hmph,” Ild grunted.

Clara stood calmly at my side, holding up her sorceress’s staff. Ild stood behind me, looking apologetic. To his credit, he didn’t look scared.

We really don’t need any more creatures showing up. The only reason I even had the ability to calmly think about that possibility was because of my experience fighting daemons.

If this had been a game, then we might have considered the option of letting the new recruits get some fighting in to build up their experience. They were standing there, holding their spears at the ready, but with ghost-white faces and sweat pouring from their brows.

“Hold on for just a minute,” I said. “I’ll prepare a spell…”

My go-to spell for this sort of thing is Create Ogre Platoon. That should work just fine. I started to concentrate.

“Gyaaah!”

Suddenly, a shadow burst out from the bushes to my right. This new Fangwolf aimed right for Clara’s throat, its bright red mouth wide open.

“Graaah!”

The three in front of us also chose that moment to pounce, every one of them lunging for Ted and his green recruits.

I was in the middle of invoking a spell, so there was nothing I could do to react. Just as I resolved to do at least something to protect Clara, I heard a sharp voice.

“Madam!”

The jaw of the Fangwolf going for Clara’s throat was kicked forcefully from directly below.

“Gruh?!”

Needless to say, it was Reyha behind that high kick. Just how strong are her legs, anyway? The beast looked like it weighed at least a hundred kilos, but the impact carried it flying up into the air. It spun end-over-end before crashing into the ground.

Clara raised her staff up high. “Logger’s Ford!”

“Huh?!” I whirled to glance her way.

Clara hadn’t aimed at the dog who’d attacked her, but at Ted and the others. Judging by her reaction, both Clara and Reyha must have sensed the surprise attack before it came. I realized anew that Clara, like Reyha, was a first-class adventurer.

Her magic words echoed out around us. Countless slender earthen pillars started to appear, protruding from the ground. The pillars were about three meters high, and they formed a circle, barricading Ted and the other recruits.

“Grawr!”

“Raaah!”

The sudden materialization of a wall of pillars seemed to have petrified one of the recruits, but Ted and the others realized that it was built for their protection.

“Now!” Ted shouted. “Weapons forward! Aim for their mouth or stomach… Now! Strike!”

“G-got it!”

“Piece of—! You bastard!”

It seemed the stone pillars weren’t too sturdy. When the Fangwolves struck against them, they swayed with the impact. But they were still a huge help for our fighters.

The recruits desperately plunged their spears through the gaps in the pillars. Ted quickly pierced one through the mouth and forced its body to the ground.

“We don’t have the time for combat lessons,” Clara shouted out, turning her attention to her left. “Reyha!”

“Yah!”

Reyha leaped into action, pursuing the Fangwolf she’d kicked. She jumped over the pillar barricade with light feet, and as she landed, her dagger stabbed deeply into the Fangwolf’s head. The twisted-edged blade, a weapon apparently passed down to her from her people’s foremost assassin, easily penetrated the skull of the beast.

“Yarf?!”

“Grrrr!!”

Reyha showed no mercy to the final wolf. As it tried to flee, she easily anticipated the animal’s each and every move. The blade of her dagger slipped into its throat and cut through cleanly.

***

In the end, it was thanks to the swift action of Castle Getaeus’s two most beautiful women that we survived the attack. We didn’t want to deal with any more Fangwolves showing up, nor any other monsters, so we didn’t stick around.

Ted chastised one of his men. “Hey, soldier. Eyes up! Don’t look so afraid.”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

As I watched Ted and the recruits pick up the luggage they had dropped, Clara passed briskly in front of me. She was heading toward a man who had made himself practically invisible: Lade. “Hey, you!”

Lade remained silent.

“Why didn’t you do anything?!” Clara’s eyebrows lifted in anger as she screamed at Lade. It had been a while since I’d seen her this angry. “You could have defeated all of them by yourself! Am I wrong?!”

Lade’s silence continued a moment longer. And then he spoke.

“Don’t misunderstand. I don’t report to any of you. And I am not your friend.”

The massive warrior spoke to our blonde beauty with complete indifference. So that was his reasoning.

“What nonsense! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! To have such strength, and just stand by watch a battle against monsters without so much as lifting a finger?!”

“This…is a tool for killing daemons.” Lade grasped the hilt of his greatsword, turning his gaze to stare at me. “And perhaps for killing him.”

Reyha quickly interposed herself between us, but that’s when I stepped up. “Lade, don’t misunderstand. She’s talking about the obligation of people with power.”

Clara fumed. “That’s right!”

“But Clara,” I cautioned, “you should think about his circumstances, too. It’s not like he wants to follow us.”

There was silence.

Neither Clara nor Lade said anything. They both looked aggravated. Reyha was still glaring at Lade with a piercing glare, while Ted and the other recruits looked flustered.

There was nothing I could say in this sort of situation that would make everyone happy.

All I could do was lament that there were some times when even a great wizard was powerless. I instructed everyone to get ready to leave.

***

After the monster attack, we managed to travel smoothly, even if the road was a bumpy, stone-studded mess. We went several days without any big hiccups, until we were about half a day out from Axeholm.

Since there were rocks piled on either side of us and visibility was poor, I sent Reyha ahead to scout, as usual.

She hurried back, deeply alarmed. “My lord! There’s some sort of strange shadow up ahead…!”

I’d almost never seen her look so flustered.

“It looks like some sort of giant,” she told me. “Please be careful.”

“A giant?!” I blurted out.

Clara and I gripped our staves, while Ted and the soldiers clutched their weapons in panic. Even Lade looked nervous.

“It seemed like it hadn’t noticed us yet,” Reyha clarified. “And there was something strange about the way it moved…”

No one said anything, but we all looked puzzled.

“Well,” I said at last, “let’s go take a look.”

If it was just a giant monster, then it probably wasn’t a big threat. Monsters that showed up in large numbers and moved quickly frightened me far more.

As we proceeded carefully along, the first thing I could see were mountains spreading like a wall in the far distance. That was the Iron Fan mountain range. Then there was a single rocky mountain closer to us than the Iron Fans. It was still far away, so I couldn’t see clearly, but it looked like an awfully sturdy peak. If we continued on our current path, we would eventually reach its base. Perhaps this was Axeholm.

And then…

“What is that?” Clara wondered.

“A human?” Lade hesitated. “No, it’s too…”

“The proportions are all wrong,” I agreed.

Clara, Lade and I were all staring at something that resembled a human figure. The silhouette of its thick limbs and stout body was rugged but powerful.

It was standing about halfway between us and the rocky mountain, so we would have to pass by it if we planned to reach the mountain.

Compared to the road it stood on and the surrounding boulders…

“It’s huge.”

“It looks twice the size of the forest giants that serve you, my lord,” said Reyha, gravely serious.

I might have just told myself that bigger monsters weren’t scary, this was something else again. It was like a real-life Transformer.

I also couldn’t help but notice the odd circular formations that surrounded it. Those definitely didn’t look humanoid at all. The closest comparison I could come up with was an amusement park Ferris wheel. It looked like there were five or six of them rising up from the ground, all of them spinning.

“A-are they moving?”

“Hmmm…”

It wasn’t only the round shapes that were moving. The humanoid figure was moving, too. As I watched, it clumsily lifted one arm and bent at the knees. Is that a dance, an exercise, or what?

“Wow, boss,” said one recruit. “That sure looks dangerous.”

“Sh-shut up,” said Ted. “Margilus can take care of that in one shot!”

The troops were getting restless. Fortunately, it wasn’t facing this direction just yet.

“Do the dwarves keep such giants as pets?” I looked around for help. “Or perhaps Axeholm is under siege?”

“Oh, erm, Margilus,” Ild called out. We looked at each other a moment, trying to make sense of this odd encounter, before the merchant continued. “Don’t you have some sort of magic that lets you see things from far away? Perhaps you could use that to take a closer look.”

He was right—I had my enchanted Telescope Lens. I pulled it out of my Infinity Bag immediately. “Now, what do we have here…?”

It was a gigantic dwarven statue, dancing in silence right in front of a watermill.

***

“It’s huge…” I muttered, staring upward.

Even Lade had to admit: “This thing’s amazing…”

It took a full hour before we finally reached the foot of the giant dwarf statue.

I thought Lade was huge at two meters, but standing there with his mouth agape, he looked positively miniscule.

I once saw the Great Buddha at Nara’s Todai-ji shrine, but this was even bigger. It really was as big as a Transformer. It made me want to go back to Tokyo and get an eyeful of the giant Gundam in Odaiba.

Up close, even though it was huge, the statue was still oddly unmistakable as a dwarf. It had a barrel-like body and a huge, round head. It sported thick, long arms and short, stubby legs. Every inch of it was worked from smooth, polished stone.

Our green recruits looked awfully nervous. I couldn’t blame them—they’d only been gone from their village for a short time, and they’d already seen both living giants and a titanic dwarf carved from stone.

“Oh. My. God…”

“Amazing…”

“How did they make this?”

Creeeaaaak!

As the statue moved, the sound of it resonated in our chests. The stone statue begin to slowly twist its upper body, the sound echoing powerfully enough to make the ground rumble.

“It’s moving again,” Clara murmured.

“Interesting,” I said. “It can even bend at the waist.”

The statue was not only huge, it could freely articulate. It could move its limbs as if it was exercising and twist its neck and body. What’s more, it definitely wasn’t a golem or any other kind of construct—Clara had made sure there was no mana or enchantment involved.

“It’s so spectacular, I could stare at it all day,” Ild spoke suddenly. “I’m glad you both like it.” There was a hint of pride in his voice. I realized he had been to Axeholm many times for trade, so it was natural that he already knew about this statue.

“I don’t know if I like it, but I’m certainly in awe,” Clara said.

“Did the dwarves build this?” I wondered aloud.

“Yes, that’s right,” Ild said. “I don’t know the story behind it, but apparently it’s called Kadrak. It took fifteen years to complete.”

“How does it move?” Lade asked. “Is it powered by those spinning things there?”

Ild nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Apparently, the power from the watermills turning is transmitted to the statue by some sort of contraption. I don’t really know the details…”

Lade still wasn’t satisfied. “But how can such small watermills make enough power to move a statue of that size?”

Behind the dwarf statue—or perhaps I should call it Kadrak—there were four watermills lined up, each one ten meters high. They caught the water falling from the aqueduct, gracefully rotating in unison. The aqueduct seemed to stretch as far off as the rocky mountains in the distance.

I understood that it was being powered by the watermill, but Lade was still eagerly asking Ild questions. It occurred to me that this was the most I’d ever heard him speak.

“A long time ago, I heard that they used gears and springs to build up power before transmitting it to the statue,” Ild went on.

“Wow… Dwarves really are awesome,” I said quietly, looking up as the statue started to lift both its arms. They moved awfully slowly. It seemed like it might take half an hour before they rose all the way up.

Clara had been silent, but now she asked a question of her own. “Why did the dwarves go to the trouble of making such a silly monument? Does it have some sort of significance?”

Ild smiled. “Ahh, I once asked the very same question…”

Apparently, the Dauron dwarf that Ild had spoken with gave a less than satisfactory reply: “It doesn’t mean anything. We just wanted to make something grand.”

“W-well,” Clara said, “it does seem to have some significance, as it denotes the entrance to Axeholm…”

Lade folded his thick arms. “Mmn. It reflects their romantic sensibility.”

“Hrrrm,” I murmured to myself, deeply moved. It all impressed me: not just the dwarves’ advanced technical skills, but the idea that they’d made something like this just because they wanted to. Perhaps they weren’t just engineers, but artists as well? There was a certain nobility to it all.

Lade looked to be feeling a similar sense of satisfaction.

However…

“How utterly absurd,” Clara griped. “These dwarves sound like strange, sad little creatures.”

“I could not agree more, madam.”

Clara and Reyha didn’t quite seem to appreciate it like we did. They leveled cold stares at both us and the statue alike.