WOSE Chapter 16

"Darun. You're late to greet us."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't stop in the middle of my work."

The man called 'Darun' really did look like he'd rushed straight from work—soot-stained gloves and tools protruded from the pockets of the work apron tied at his waist, and small beads of sweat dotted his nose bridge and forehead.

"Really..."

Kelgrida clicked her tongue softly and belatedly introduced the man.

"Ah, this is my son."

"My name is Darun."

Not a particularly surprising revelation. Except that this was the second time she'd received this introduction, their red hair and the shape of their mouths were too similar.

"This is the savior. Serve her well."

"It's an honor to meet you, Savior."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Iyu."

Iyu lightly grasped his hand, as scarred as Kelgrida's.

Unlike the villagers who'd been wary of outsiders, Darun showed a very gentle smile and exchanged greetings with Kalix and Odynne as well.

"Shall we move along now?"

Kelgrida, aware they'd spent too much time in the square, hurried her steps.

But the party couldn't go far before stopping again.

"Chief!"

In the distance, several aides carrying stacks of documents half as tall as their torsos came rushing over.

"Here, please review the urgent documents first. I know you just arrived, but these are pressing matters."

"Wait, my agenda is more urgent!"

The bearded adults began raising their voices, faces flushing.

Kelgrida finally furrowed her brow deeply and scolded the aides.

"Enough! What kind of disgraceful display is this in front of guests?"

Covering her forehead and letting out a deep sigh, she turned back to the party with a troubled face.

"What should I do? I wanted to guide you through the village personally, but I was away too long and there's more backlogged work than I thought. Would it be alright if I leave the tour to my son?"

"Of course."

Iyu nodded immediately without hesitation.

In her previous life, she'd been intimidated by the dwarves' cold reception and hadn't toured the village at all, following Kelgrida straight to the mansion and staying holed up there. But...

'I can't pass up this good opportunity.'

When Iyu readily agreed, Kelgrida, who'd been hesitating briefly, soon withdrew like a receding tide with the aides.

Though it might be flustering to suddenly be left with unfamiliar guests, Darun spoke affably.

"The village is larger than it looks. It would be difficult to show you everything today—is there any place you're curious about or need to visit?"

Unexpectedly, Odynne was the first to respond.

"Where is the temple?"

"The temple? Ah, you're a holy knight."

Darun's gaze went to the area around Odynne's neck. A necklace with an emblem shaped like the World Tree hung there.

After confirming the priest's mark, different from the knights', Darun scratched the back of his head and spoke awkwardly.

"There is one in the back of the village, but it's not as well-maintained as the one in Asgard... Is that alright?"

"It doesn't matter."

Odynne answered sharply. Darun didn't drag out the conversation and immediately assigned a guard.

Odynne, his destination set, left a brief eye greeting with Iyu and departed for the temple with the priests.

She briefly considered whether she should follow—after all, they'd nominally visited on a 'pilgrimage'—but ultimately decided against it.

Since it wasn't a pilgrimage in the religious sense, even in her previous life she'd mostly been dragged around meeting people and visiting places with darkness, with hardly any memory of visiting temples.

After seeing off the small group that withdrew without fuss, Darun looked over those who remained.

"For the rest of you..."

"Is there a decent inn nearby?"

This time it was Kalix who stepped forward, having been watching the various events with interest.

He glanced at the drooping knights and continued.

"As you can see, we had a rough time on the way here. I'd like to let them rest first."

The moment Kalix finished speaking, the knights' faces brightened as if someone had lit a fire.

"Of course."

The knights and coachmen trailed after another guard. The spring in their steps was surely not just her imagination.

Iyu, who'd been blankly following their retreating figures with her eyes, suddenly remembered Tamia's presence.

"You can go rest first."

She whispered that, but the child firmly shook her head.

Thus, what remained were Tamia, Iyu, and Kalix, who'd stayed behind offering to guard them.

Darun began properly guiding the village with the streamlined group.

The first place they headed was the storage where manufactured weapons were kept.

Inside the boxes were armor and arrows, spears, swords, and even weapons made of orichalcum that only dwarven artisans could process.

With only slight exaggeration, it was enough scale to wage war immediately.

Darun, observing the visitors' reactions, spoke matter-of-factly.

"This is our main source of income."

"And we're mainly the customers."

Kalix added playfully.

Come to think of it, long ago there'd been a prolonged war between beastfolk and humans to claim Midgard.

Despite the overwhelming physical difference, the humans had surprisingly won.

Thanks to numerical superiority and dwarven weapons.

As a result, the beastfolk were driven to what was now Yotunheim, and Midgard became human land.

Perhaps because of that history, even now when there was some exchange with humans after a long time, beastfolk didn't particularly like the dwarves who'd been the decisive factor in their defeat.

Iyu recalled the beastfolk chief Tigrevald, who'd repeatedly bared his teeth at Kelgrida.

'So that's why their relationship was so bad.'

Considering his relationship with the human representative Kalix wasn't too bad, it was quite an ironic dynamic.

"That's all there is to show here... Shall we move on?"

After that, Darun showed them the warehouse storing raw materials including iron ore, and the personal workshops of artisans who ranked among the village's top ten.

And the last place introduced was the communal workshop where apprentice blacksmiths were trained.

Inside the workshop, the smells of iron and sweat clung thickly. Heat poured from furnaces like small volcanoes, and each time hammers struck red-hot metal, sharp metallic sounds rang out piercingly.

The dwarves absorbed in their work, forgetting even the heat, were mostly fresh-faced young people, with skilled artisans in their role as instructors showing off their veteran techniques among them.

"Skill sharing doesn't happen well among artisans. People from families without master craftsmen to teach them basics mostly learn the fundamentals here."

[So it's like a school?]

"That's right."

Tamia found the lively scene so fascinating that despite the environment making sweat pour, she wandered around cheerfully.

Then, as if something caught her eye about one artisan's work, she hovered around the workbench and lightly touched a failed piece that had been carelessly discarded.

The artisan who happened to witness that scene burst out shouting.

"Don't touch that carelessly! ...sir."

The artisan, recognizing the village heir and the savior standing behind the beastfolk child, awkwardly added the honorific.

The moment Iyu stepped forward to apologize in place of Tamia, whose ears and tail had shot up in surprise.

"I'm sorry. It was just so interesting."

For some reason, Kalix rubbed the back of his neck and offered an awkward apology.

Looking closer, a palm-sized dragon figurine was held in his hand.

He'd apparently mistaken the scolding directed at Tamia as meant for himself.

"Huh? No, I was talking to—"

Before the artisan could finish speaking, he returned the metal figurine to its original place.

Yet his gaze kept going to that toy.

Iyu, who'd been watching him carefully, approached and asked casually.

"It's well made. Do you like these things?"

"No."

The denial came disconcertingly fast.

Only after speaking did he seem to think it strange himself, hesitantly correcting.

"When I was young, maybe..."

"And now?"

"...Who knows."

The smile he manufactured after that vague answer was somehow hollow.

"There are people who shouldn't develop preferences for even such small objects."

In that moment, Iyu naturally recalled a conversation she'd had with him sometime in the past.

The night they'd finally arrived in Midgard. He'd asked about her world.

He'd been very interested in cities where lights never went out all night, small devices that could instantly know news from the opposite side of the world. But the most impressive reaction came when she brought up social systems.

"No status system, and they directly elect their leaders?"

To someone who'd lived his entire life born with the duty to protect a vast empire and tens of millions of people, it might sound like heaven and earth turning upside down, she'd thought.

But he'd shown a different reaction than expected.