## Chapter 1182 – The Dwarf Kingdom of Magnagrad

After finalizing the contract, I returned to the inn and shared the news.

“How meticulous! You even bothered to draw up a contract for something like this.”
“A race that values trust so much that they insist on a contract in this day and age? These dwarves might be better than I thought.”

The reaction was generally positive. Winia and Karin, as well as Liztina, who is meticulous in these matters, were all quite pleased.

“Hehe, finally encountering a situation that makes sense. Really. It’s been nothing but absurdities lately. Now we can move a little more comfortably.”
“Is it really that good that things make sense?”
“Of course. I don’t particularly like unnecessary violence either.”

Me neither.

“I, too, am pleased. Though the incident with the bandit’s head seemed to throw things off, being able to gather information peacefully is most welcome.”
“That’s right! It’s all thanks to Katt-nim’s virtue!”

Encountering a sensible situation for the first time in a while brought peace to our household. Feeling strangely heartened, I stroked my philtrum, feeling a surge of goodwill toward the dwarves.

“Hehe, well, that’s obvious.”

Well, yeah. Even if this world is barbaric, as long as there’s a normal society, common sense and reason exist.

That’s what contracts are for.

I’m in a very good mood.

“Katt. Are you really that happy?”
“Of course!”

Claudie also gave me a bright smile and stroked my cheek.

“Mama is happy to see Katt so happy. So, Katt, shall we leave right away? Or rest for a day?”
“It’s quite a distance, so I think it’d be better to leave tomorrow morning. What do you think?”

We have to keep to the schedule.

“Hmm… I think it would be good to rest for a day, Father.”
“Ari votes for resting then. What about everyone else?”

Everyone agreed with Ari’s opinion.

Then let’s rest for a day and leave.

* * *

We woke up before sunrise the next day, got ready, and headed for the mine that the village chief had told us about. We arrived a little before noon, and it turned out to be a rather lively mine.

“Whoa.”

Humans and dwarves alike, all covered in soot, were enduring hard labor, pulling genuine mine carts. Before hard labor, there’s no difference between races. I found it strangely beautiful.

This was the mine, the home of the mine cart.

“Ah… the air isn’t good, Father.”
“I’ll wrap a cloth around you. But can’t an Alraune purify the air?”
“I can, but I don’t want to sully Father’s body, so I don’t want to.”
“Th, that!!!”

I immediately wrapped a cloth around Ari’s face.

Then I took a good look at the mine.

“Oh my. There are even children working?”
“Hehe, they’re quite cute, aren’t they?”

They made those comments with pleased expressions.

Looking around, I saw a bunch of kids, completely covered in soot, working… Surprisingly, there were plenty of dwarf kids besides human kids, and the dwarf kids, who looked no older than 10, seemed to have already gone through a fierce and violent secondary sexual development, looking like balls of fur.

Crazy furry race.

Among the curses used among dwarves is, “A guy whose pubes haven’t even fallen out of his mother’s womb.” It’s a phrase used to look down on someone as being so young that the hair they left in their mother’s womb at birth hasn’t even fallen out yet.

I came up with that curse on the spot after seeing that dwarf kid.

“Hehe, the kids are working hard.”

Anyway, seeing even the kids working so hard makes me think I need to work even harder than I do now. Confucius said that if three people are walking down the road, there must be one you can learn from.

Anyway, while looking at that gray landscape, I headed for the office.

“Oh! A letter from Chief Jizamo!”

I showed the letter I received yesterday to the office manager, and he recognized it and began to read it.

“Indeed! They sent someone about that matter!”
“Monster?”
“That’s right. If you look at mine number 4 over there, you’ll see that it’s blocked off. A monster went inside, and hasn’t come out yet. It’s hiding inside. The workers who were already inside at first became victims.”
“How many died?”
“Fifteen people haven’t come out.”

One monster completely massacred them.

I won’t forgive you!

“It took advantage of the darkness to nimbly traverse the mine and go inside… They probably met a terrible death.”
“It’s quite a terrible incident, but is it okay to keep operating the other mines?”

It’s still ongoing, but even kids were working in the mines.

“Well, the dead are dead. We have to do what we have to do.”

I guess so.

“Let’s see… This is a map of that mine. I hope you can use this to take care of it.”
“You can count on us.”

I immediately took the map and went outside to find the blocked mine.

As I went as directed, I could indeed see a mine with its entrance blocked off in the distance. There were barricades and many guards in front of it.

It was when I was heading that way.

“Demon!”
“Hilde?”

Hilde shouted like that, gathered our heads together, and whispered.

“It’s a demon…! The energy of a demon! An evil being from Pandemonium is there!”
“What? It was a demon?”
“For a demon to infiltrate even a place like this.”

These bastards came far.

So even here isn’t safe.

“Hehe, well, if it’s a demon, that’s a relief. Thanks to Hilde, we can find it easily.”
“Just trust me!”

With Hilde, who suddenly became confident, I went up to the mine. We briefly explained to the guards that we came to catch the demon and showed them the village chief’s letter, and they immediately removed the things blocking the entrance.

And.

We went inside.

—Flash.

As soon as we entered, we turned on the lights and quickly moved inside, guided by Hilde. The smell of rotten blood was already thick inside the mine. It’s only natural since the workers were massacred in a closed space.

Then we found a corpse.

“Holy shit.”

Almost only bones remained of the corpse, and something like eggshells were scattered messily around the abdominal area.

“It looks like these guys lay eggs in corpses.”

Winia said, kicking the eggshells with her toes.

“Whatever it is, it’s terrible.”
“I’m getting chills…! Anyway, it’s not far, so hurry!”
“Okay!”

As we went deeper inside, we met red eyes.

—Buzz.

Eyes burning red in the darkness. But there was one big eye and several small eyes clustered together. It’s only natural since the demon hatched its young.

—Kseueueueut…!

Soon, a bizarre sound is heard.

When I shined the light, what was revealed was a bunch of shoddy demons that looked like the upper body of an ape and the lower body of a snake were forcibly combined.

“Its strength… No matter how I look at it, it’s only slightly stronger than a normal High Demon.”
“Is that so?”
“It doesn’t seem like a race that can communicate, so I think it’s better to just kill them quickly.”
“Okay. Rock, paper, scissors. Let’s do rock, paper, scissors.”

Risha and Ari were out, and we immediately played rock, paper, scissors.

“Yes!”

Karin won.

—Swish!

As soon as she won, Karin drew her sword, kicked off the ground, and shot out like a cannonball.

—Swaeeeeeeek!

As the blade containing the sword energy swept through the space once.

—Chwaaaaaak!!

With just one strike, the demon horde was cut apart.

“Well, there’s nothing to it. Can’t the dwarves even handle something like this?”

It was a real instant kill.

In the first place, they’re not even a match. If you want a real fight, you have to bring at least a Great Demon.

“Normally, it would be a difficult opponent. The people here are just excessively strong. If it’s stronger than a High Demon, it wouldn’t be a problem to destroy a village.”
“That’s true.”

Karin nodded at Hilde’s words, and we immediately took a few pieces of the corpse and went outside. Let’s go back quickly.

When I think about it, we’re really strong as hell.

Normal people would struggle against such a monster, but not us.

* * *

When we returned the way we came and reached the village, it was already dusk. I immediately sent them to the inn, then took the bag containing the demon’s corpse and headed to the village chief’s house.

“Oh! You’ve returned after defeating the monsters!”

Quite a few dwarves were gathered at the village chief’s house, and it looked like they were having dinner as a group. The smell of stew wafted from somewhere, and many dwarves were sitting at the table eating.

“It wasn’t a difficult opponent.”
“Show me the proof.”
“Is it okay to take it out while you’re eating?”
“It’s no problem, so please take it out right away.”

—Thud.

I immediately untied the bag and took out the severed head pieces of the demons inside. The acrid smell of blood wafted out, and the pile of flesh in a miserable state showed its presence.

“Hoo… indeed. It was a monster like this.”

Immediately, the village chief and other dwarves gathered and began to evaluate it.

“It looks weak.”
“If I had known it would be like this, I could have gone myself. If I hadn’t been afraid and had just brought my weapon properly…”
“I would have solved it quickly.”
“We’ve only lost out because we were afraid.”

Well, whatever the evaluation, it was time to fulfill the contract.

When I saw it, I thought that if these guys had gone to fight directly with weapons, they would have died like crazy. Since a normal High Demon has combat power equivalent to a trained knight, and if it’s a little stronger than that, you’d probably have to grind in about three platoons of regular infantry to be able to fight it.

And since it even had young, you’d need even more.

No… come to think of it, there are some guys here who feel mana. If there’s someone like that mixed in, the subjugation itself would be possible anyway.

“Ah. What about the victims… who were inside?”
“They were all skeletons.”
“Oh dear.”
“Then let’s fulfill the contract now.”
“Contract! Yes! It’s time to understand the contract!”

—Keuheuhe.

At those words, the dwarves who were gathered began to laugh.

What is with these guys?

—Cheoeok.

The village chief took out the contract, and the other dwarves gathered behind him like bees, as if they were very excited, trying to look at the contract together.

“The contract states that if you fulfill our request… to eliminate the monster that has taken root in the mine, we will verbally answer what you asked. Is that correct?”

That’s right.

I nodded.

“That’s correct.”

So hurry up and tell me what you know about the old temple.

“You even signed properly. Our contract is very legal, there are no problems, and there is no fraud. Isn’t that right? Human priest.”
“I don’t know why you’re emphasizing that, but I agree with that statement.”

What is this bastard planning?
Why is he acting like this?

“Okay. Then we must fulfill the contract. I will give you the answer. Ask.”
“What I asked was about old temples or shrines. Whether there are any such religious facilities nearby. Tell me what you know about that.”

It was the moment I said that.

“Well. If I am to tell you what I know according to the contract.”

He paused for a moment.

“I don’t know anything.”

He said such words.

“What?”

Huh?

What does that mean?

“What does that mean?”
“It means I don’t know.”
“Why?”

What is this situation?
Why doesn’t he know?

—…

Looking at it, the dwarves behind the village chief were holding back their laughter.

“The contract stated that ‘we will tell you what we know.’ So I told you what I know. An old temple… I don’t know anything about that.”

This is.

“We specified in the contract that we would tell you what we know, and we just told you the fact that we know nothing. The signature is perfect, and the contract is perfect. You agreed to everything from beginning to end. Nowhere does it say that we will give you accurate information. It only says that I will verbally answer what I know. That’s what it says.”

The village chief said that with a very calm expression.

As if it were natural.

“Hahaha! Your expression isn’t good! Didn’t I tell you! There’s nothing as important as a contract! If you want to travel through our Dwarf Kingdom in the future, you’ll have to properly understand this situation!”

Now I understand a little.

These bastards were doing a funny dwarven joke.

“Hehe. That was a funny joke.”

These bastards were a race full of humor. I’ve never heard of such a funny race. Maybe these bastards’ nickname was the laughter fairy? I know it roughly like that.

This is hilarious.

“So.”
“Hmm?”
“What about information about the old temple?”
“Didn’t I say I don’t know?”
“So.”

Ha.

“You’re not joking.”
“That’s right.”
“You used us while pretending to give us a lesson?”
“We simply fulfilled the contract properly…”
“Shut up, you fucking con artist!!!!”

—Paaang!!!

My palm, which was accidentally fired, struck the space.

“Myeoooooooong!!!”

A powerful slap was planted on the village chief’s cheek in that trajectory.

—Kwaaaaang!!!

The village chief, who was launched while rotating sideways at the same time as the impact, smashed through the wall of the house and flew outside. His bizarre scream disappeared, creating a Doppler effect.

So… you used me.

“Ugh, uaaaaaaak!! Chief!!!”
“Y, you crazy bastard! Kill him!!!”
“Waaaaaaak!!!!”

The dwarves who saw that scene fell into a frenzy and began to attack me.

“Oh yeah!!! You fucking swindler bastards!!! Today is your memorial day!!!!”

You fucking dwarf bastards!!!

The only good dwarf is a dead dwarf!!!

“You furry bastards whose pubes haven’t even fallen out of your mother’s womb dare to scam your big brother!!!”