Volume 5, Chapter 29 – Fortress Emperor

Honestly, among all the Throne-tier leaders Tianyin had seen, the Fortress Emperor was the most unexpected Throne-tier of all.

After all, as the Throne-tier leader of the Fortress Faction, the Fortress Emperor logically should be someone who possessed extraordinary ability whether in government affairs or in war, right?

However…

Yet now someone was telling Tianyin that Fortress Emperor was a Throne-tier who went out to fight when there was a war, and when there wasn’t, just holed up by a giant furnace hammering away nonstop?

‘Hold on, hey! You’re the Fortress Emperor, you know! Can you at least act a little like a Throne-tier, hey?!’

Although Tianyin found it hard to believe, facts spoke louder than words.

Following the direction the kind Dwarf from earlier had pointed out, after walking for about half an hour, a huge building that looked like a furnace finally appeared in Tianyin’s field of view, sitting on a stretch of open ground.

Why call it huge?

Because from Tianyin’s perspective, just the height of the chimney on this enormous furnace was astonishing; the chimney itself was already ridiculously big, let alone the furnace proper.

“Wuu, the Fortress Emperor should be here, right? Let’s go in and take a look…”

Tianyin also knew in her heart that this wasn’t what she ought to be focusing on, so she merely sighed a little inwardly at how huge the furnace was.

With the thought of finding Fortress Emperor, Tianyin walked toward the furnace, and as she drew near, she could feel waves of heat rolling out from inside the furnace.

Of course, Tianyin also heard the crisp “clang clang clang” of hammering metal.

But when Tianyin came to stand in front of the entrance to this enormous furnace building, the sounds of hammering inside abruptly stopped.

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“Who is it?”

A deep, low voice rang out from within the furnace building.

“Um… mm, I’m here to look for the Fortress Emperor…”

“Hmm?”

Hearing Tianyin’s voice, the voice inside paused slightly.

“A girl?”

“Wuu…”

While Tianyin was still a little confused as to why that voice had said the words “a girl”, the door of the furnace building before her suddenly swung open.

What entered her gaze was a Dwarf whose height wasn’t much different from Tianyin’s.

“Come in, guest.”

Unlike the other Dwarves, the one who opened the door didn’t show a look of amazement when he saw Tianyin, just gave her a very calm glance.

“Wuu… thanks.”

Tianyin could be certain that this plain-looking Dwarf before her should be the Fortress Emperor. Although in terms of appearance Fortress Emperor didn’t look much different from the other Dwarves, with the same thick beard and all, the faintly powerful aura emanating from his body was something only a Throne-tier could possess.

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After Tianyin stepped into the furnace building, the Dwarf… Fortress Emperor closed the door. Just as Tianyin was thinking about how she should open her mouth to discuss the matter of the power of Original Sin with him, Fortress Emperor suddenly spoke.

“If it were anyone else wanting to see me, I wouldn’t pay them any attention. But you, guest, are the first person I’ve ever let in.”

“Eh?”

Hearing Fortress Emperor’s words, Tianyin felt she might actually be a bit lucky.

“Please don’t overthink it, guest. It’s just that I sensed the power of Original Sin on you, and I already understand the purpose of your coming to find me… of course, taking away our Fortress’ 【property】 isn’t such an easy matter.”

“So… so that’s how it is…”

And just like that, Fortress Emperor’s words told Tianyin that she wasn’t lucky at all, it was simply that he had already noticed how special she was…

Well…

As expected of a Throne-tier.

Tianyin felt a bit depressed.

“Alright, guest, wait here while I finish forging this weapon. Once I’m done, I’ll come back and discuss the matter of our Fortress’ power of Sloth with you.”

Fortress Emperor seemed very courteous. After politely telling Tianyin to wait a bit, he turned and walked straight toward the depths of the furnace without looking back.

Only then did Tianyin feel just how astonishingly hot the inside of the entire furnace building was.

Of course, even such high temperatures weren’t anything unbearable for Tianyin, who possessed the power of Original Sin.

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With Fortress Emperor gone, Tianyin could only wait boredly where she was, and a few seconds later the “clang clang clang” of hammering started up again.

『Wuu… Samael, it looks like Fortress Emperor already figured out from the very start that I came to take the power of Sloth…』

「Well… I’m a little surprised too, but if you think about it carefully, Fortress Emperor has been in contact with the power of Sloth for a very long time, so he should understand the power of Original Sin and all that very well. In that situation, noticing the power of Original Sin on you, Xiaoyin, is pretty understandable…」

『Wuu… that’s true too… but Samael… from the tone of Fortress Emperor just now, it kind of sounded like he didn’t really react to my appearance at all?』

From the moment Fortress Emperor saw her until he left to hammer iron, his expression and demeanor had given Tianyin the feeling of being unusually calm.

So just thinking about Fortress Emperor’s lack of any real reaction made Tianyin feel inexplicably unsure of herself inside.

「Well… Xiaoyin, you don’t need to worry so much. Fortress Emperor looks like a really nice person, he shouldn’t do anything to make things hard for you, so you can relax about that.」

『Wuu… I know, I know, but Fortress Emperor said that taking away the power of Original Sin doesn’t seem like it’s going to be very easy… so what kind of thing counts as “not easy”?』

「Pfft… alright, alright, don’t overthink it. Once Fortress Emperor finishes forging the weapon, you’ll find out.」

In the end, under Samael’s persuasion, Tianyin could only quietly wait for Fortress Emperor to finish forging the weapon.

As time passed, the “clang clang clang” of hammering didn’t seem to stop at all.

Just when Tianyin was starting to complain in her heart that Fortress Emperor’s forging would never end, the hammering suddenly stopped.

『Finished?』

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The sudden end of the hammering made Tianyin a little pleasantly surprised, while Samael could only reply in a helpless tone, 「Who knows.」

After it stayed quiet for several dozen minutes, Fortress Emperor’s figure appeared again in Tianyin’s field of view, and as he emerged, Tianyin saw that he was holding a brand-new sharp sword that was clearly the one he’d just finished forging.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting, guest.”

Fortress Emperor walked over slowly, but after saying that one line, he turned and headed off in another direction.

“Come with me, little one of Dawn. We’ll sit and talk over there.”

『Eh… wait, Samael, did he just say “Dawn”?』

However, after hearing Fortress Emperor’s words, Tianyin felt a little dazed inside.

「Pfft, yep~ Xiaoyin, Fortress Emperor has obviously recognized you~」

『I… wuu… fine, if he’s recognized me then he’s recognized me… I just feel like someone as grand as Fortress Emperor recognizing me is kind of unexpected…』

「Unexpected? The Abyssal Lord recognized you before too, and you sure didn’t think that was unexpected, Xiaoyin~」

At Samael’s teasing, Tianyin’s little face flushed slightly red.

『That’s… that’s an issue between Factions, how can it be the same, Samael…』