Chapter 208: Let's Gather Materials

“And then, please become the King of us Dwarves!!”

” ” ” ” ” “Kiiiiiiing!?” ” ” ” ” ” “

Suddenly, the Dwarf chief asked me to become their King.

“No, no, no, how did it come to that!?”

“That’s right, Boss, you’re jumping the gun too much. First, we need to ask this boy about the Dwarf who taught him the Art of the King.”

The other Dwarves also hurriedly chided the chief.

Thank goodness. There were sensible people here.

“R-Right, that’s true. I just got too eager.”

You were seriously too eager.

“Please tell us. About the Dwarf who passed that art onto you!”

For now, I was relieved that the talk about becoming King was swept away.

That being said, the Dwarf who taught me blacksmithing techniques is a person from my previous life.

“I met him when I was really young, so I don’t know where he is now.”

I’ll just gloss over it by implying he was traveling or something like that.

“I-Is that so… Then, as I thought, we want you to become our King!”

” ” ” ” “We humbly ask this of you!!” ” ” ” “

“Why ‘as I thought’!?”

Wait a minute! Isn’t this where you search for the traveling Dwarf and have him become King!?

And the other Dwarves are joining in too!?

“To us Dwarves, what’s important is blacksmithing skill. Race isn’t particularly an issue!”

“They have way too little hesitation…”

“It’s a wonder Dwarves were able to build a country with this kind of thinking.”

“It’s simply because for thousands of years, a blacksmith who could surpass us Dwarves wasn’t born.”

“Ah, I see.”

Behind me, Liliera-san and the others were being explained those circumstances by the Dwarves and seemed convinced, but I don’t have time for that right now!?

“The only reason I’m the chief is that I just happened to have the best blacksmithing skills in the village. If someone with skills surpassing mine appears, it stands to reason that person becomes the new chief. And you appeared before us possessing the lost Art of the King. Therefore, we want you to become the King who guides us Dwarves!!”

Th-This has turned into something ridiculous!

Wh-What should I do about this!

“Amazing! As expected of Bro! To think you’d end up becoming the King of the Dwarves!”

I haven’t become it yet, Jairo-kun!

“I’m amazed you can be impressed in this situation.”

Mina-san was exasperated at the innocently excited Jairo-kun, but if possible, I want them to support me over here!

“Please guide us Dwarves, and bestow the art of our great ancestors upon us, O King!”

” ” ” ” “O King!!” ” ” ” “

“No, like I said, I’m not a King!”

Umm, at times like this… I know!

“Then, I will teach everyone the blacksmithing techniques I learned from my master, and how about the one with the best skill among you becomes the King?”

An acquaintance from my previous life said changing the subject is the best move at times like this.

In this case, I’m suited to be King because I possess the lost Art of the Dwarf King, so if I spread that technique, the qualifications for King will spread to people other than me, and I should be able to remove myself from the center of this commotion!

“Oh, how merciful… Then we shall revere you as the great Honorary King who revived the ancient art.”

” ” ” ” “Thank you very much, His Majesty the Honorary King!!” ” ” ” “

Hnn!? Did this solve the problem!?

At any rate, the obligation to guide them as the Dwarf King is gone for now, so I’ll consider it good… is it okay to consider it good?

“Then, shall we start by comparing your techniques with the techniques I was taught?”

” ” ” ” ” “Yes! His Majesty the Honorary King!” ” ” ” ” “

“I’ve heard of honorary nobles, but honorary king is a first.”

…As I thought, I want them to stop.

---

“Well then, today I’ll explain about gathering World Tree materials.”

” ” ” ” ” “Yes, His Majesty Honorary King Rex!!” ” ” ” ” “

Having ended up teaching the Dwarves blacksmithing techniques, I thought about explaining the methods immediately, but I noticed a certain problem and hastily decided to start with material gathering training.

The problem is that the Dwarves can only process the young bark of the World Tree.

When Jairo-kun asked how they gathered materials, the Dwarf chief answered that they used the young bark of the World Tree. But that didn’t mean they also used young bark, it meant they could only use young bark.

Furthermore, they said they couldn’t even harvest the hard bark itself.

The Dwarves of this village hadn’t just lost blacksmithing techniques, but gathering techniques as well.

“Peeling the hard bark is simple. You find the weakest line within the material, run the blade along it, and do it all at once… like this! See, it’s easy, right?”

” ” ” ” ” “His Majesty Honorary King Rex! We don’t understand at all!” ” ” ” ” “

“Eh!?”

That’s strange. If they’re Dwarves, they should be able to understand how to do it just by seeing this process.

According to the Dwarf who taught me this technique, Dwarves instinctively understand the structure of things, so he said they’d understand it immediately if an adult demonstrated it for them.

Umm, what else did he say… ah, right.

“This is like an application of physical enhancement magic. If you look closely at the material, the magic power gathered in your eyes enhances your vision, allowing you to grasp the structure of the substance.”

It seems Dwarves excel at those kinds of appraisal-type abilities.

” ” ” ” ” “His Majesty Honorary King Rex, it stopped being easy at the ‘physical enhancement magic’ part!” ” ” ” ” “

Hnn? What do they mean? Dwarven physical enhancement magic is a kind of racial trait, and they should have been using it since birth…

“Chief, come over here for a second and take a good look at this material. Look at it while thinking about where to apply the blade to cut it.”

“Y-Yes…”

I called the Dwarf chief over and had him closely examine the piece of bark I cut out.

And then I observed the Dwarf chief looking at the bark.

Staaaaare…

I focused on the overall flow of magic power, especially the flow around his eyes.

As a result, I discovered a certain problem within the Dwarf chief.

“As I thought.”

“Yes? What is it?”

“I was looking at the flow of magic power inside you just now, Chief, and the magic power in your body was barely moving.”

“Magic power? What does that… We Dwarves cannot use magic, so we do not have magic power, you know?”

The chief and the other Dwarves tilted their heads, wondering what I was talking about.

As expected, it seems things are wrong starting from here.

“No, Dwarves can use magic too.”

” ” ” ” ” “Eeeh!? We can use magic too!?” ” ” ” ” “

“I-Is that really true!? His Majesty Honorary King Rex!?”

The Dwarf chief widened his eyes and asked me if it was true.

“…For now, could you stop with the ‘His Majesty the Honorary King’ thing? It’s long.”

“Th-Then, His Majesty Master Rex?”

The ‘His Majesty’ part isn’t going away, huh.

“If possible, without the ‘His Majesty’ as well, please.”

“Then how about Honorary Master Rex?”

“Well, if that’s it…”

Pulling myself together, I lectured the Dwarves on how to use physical enhancement magic.

“It’s true that Dwarves are bad at flashy magic that flies towards the enemy to attack them. But that lies in the racial traits of Dwarves.”

“Racial traits?”

“Yes. The magic Dwarves excel at is physical enhancement, magic that strengthens the body. You have a high aptitude for magic that interferes with your own bodies, and conversely, poor compatibility with emission-type magic that interferes with the outside.”

“Huh, so that’s how it was.”

Hearing about their own traits for the first time, the Dwarves were surprised with wide eyes, saying they didn’t know.

“You are suited for Earth and Fire-attribute physical enhancement related to blacksmithing, and conversely, not very suited for Water and Wind attributes. This is a matter of racial aptitude, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

Regarding this, it’s not just Dwarves; other races also have similar tendencies.

“When considering the human race as a whole, they have aptitude for all attributes, but other races have skewed attribute aptitudes as a whole species. Humans can use attributes they are bad at if they try hard, but for other races, many people are completely unsuited and cannot use them. But in exchange, many of them are stronger than humans in the attributes they do have an aptitude for.”

“It means that in exchange for not being able to use other attributes, they specialize in the attributes they can use, right.”

“That’s exactly it. And Dwarves can subconsciously perceive the weak points of materials by applying physical enhancement to their eyes. The reason they can efficiently mine ore in mountains or easily defeat hard monsters is not just because of physical strength, but because they can perceive the opponent’s weak points.”

“Is that so!?”

“We were seeing weak points without knowing it!?”

“However, as I mentioned earlier, it seems everyone here is not performing the physical enhancement that you normally should be able to use as a matter of course.”

This is my guess, but originally, Dwarf children must have subconsciously understood the flow of magic power by watching adults forge while using physical enhancement magic.

Just like learning how to walk or speak by watching one’s parents.

But when civilization collapsed, the Dwarves who escaped the White Calamity lost the adults who possessed the techniques.

And the surviving children probably had no choice but to hone their skills through mimicry.

However, ironically, because Dwarves are a natural-born blacksmith race, they were able to make decent things even without using physical enhancement.

So the Dwarves must have grown up without knowing the basics that were crucial to them.

Just like how there’s no way to learn language in a place where no one speaks.

“Therefore, I will have you all practice physical enhancement anew.”

“Honorary Master Rex, what kind of training specifically?”

“It’s simple. You will do an extension of what you always do.”

” ” ” ” ” “An extension of what we always do?” ” ” ” ” “

“Yes. Adjusting the furnace fire or processing metal during blacksmithing. I will have you light a fire or bend metal with magic while imagining the sensation from those times.”

Right, if I just made them do magic training from the start, it would be hard to understand, so I have to help them expand their image from things familiar to them as much as possible.

“Wh-What about incantations?”

“Since you won’t have the leeway to chant incantations while blacksmithing, I will have you do it incantationless.”

“I-Incantationless!?”

The Dwarves were bewildered, wondering if they could truly use magic incantationless.

To begin with, the Dwarves in my previous life used it through sensation, so I already know that incantations aren’t necessary.

“Ah, what a nostalgic sight. We were like that too, weren’t we.”

“Yeah. And then Jairo exploded, didn’t he.”

” ” ” ” ” “Exploded!?” ” ” ” ” “

Hearing Mina-san’s muttering, the Dwarves recoiled in shock.

“Mina-san, you shouldn’t say scary things like that.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“Instead of worrying, you just have to do it. First, give it a try.”

I told the bewildered Dwarves to give it a try.

That being said, it’s probably tough with just a verbal explanation and no support.

Let’s give them a little help.

When I first learned physical enhancement magic, I think it was…

“MANY MELT SPHERE!”

Using magic, I created a massive amount of ultra-high temperature fireballs and floated them around the Dwarves.

“H-Honorary Master Rex, what on earth is this!?”

“Those are fireballs with a temperature about the same as the furnace fire. Perceive the flow of magic power in the fireballs, and when you find the weakest part, hit it with magic power as if stimulating it. If you do that, the fire will go out.”

Right, because it’s easier to imagine if the real thing is right in front of you.

During my time, in order to learn physical enhancement for each attribute, I was tossed into a blazing volcano, kicked off a cliff with raging storm-like winds, and thrown into a massive whirlpool that could crush giant ships to practice physical enhancement magic.

…Yeah, I’d rather not have remembered that.

“The flow of magic power… a-hot.”

“D-Disappear, disappear… hot, hot.”

“Imagine adjusting the furnace’s heat~”

The Dwarves stared at the ultra-high temperature fireballs floating around them and searched for the flow of magic power.

“D-Disappear, disappeaarrr! Hothothothot!!”

“…Nu?”

Yep, yep, as expected, Dwarves have good compatibility with the Fire attribute.

Several people with good intuition are already starting to understand the flow of magic power.

“Ooh, it feels like Rex‘s hellish training has begun.”

“Rex-san is pretty merciless when it comes to training, after all.”

That’s why I told Meguri-san and the others not to say scary things.

Look, the Dwarves are staring at me with faces going “Seriously!? There’s more!?” now.

“It’s okay~. I won’t do anything scary~.”

” ” ” ” ” “That’s already lost all persuasiveness, though!?” ” ” ” ” “

Eh~? Even though this is just the beginning~?

But looking around, it seems there are still some who haven’t quite grasped it.

For those people…

“CLAY BODY!”

Chunks of earth rising from the ground engulfed and buried the Dwarves’ bodies.

Of course, I’m being careful not to suffocate them.

“Ooooh!? Wh-What is this!?”

“Ugh!? I-I can’t get up!!”

“These chunks of earth are brittle at the parts where the magic power is weak. So, use your skin to learn the weak parts of the earth and the sensation of magic power. If you do that, you’ll be able to move the earth freely.”

I dub this the Great Contact Operation! It’s a recreation of the event where Jairo-kun became able to use physical enhancement triggered by healing magic!

“M-Move it!? This!?”

“Yes!”

“I-I’ll give it a try! M-Moooove!”

“Kuh, my nose is itchy but I can’t scratch it! Uwoooooh! Please! Move! Get out of my wayyyy!!”

“This has turned into quite a sight.”

“Kyuu.”

For some reason, Jairo-kun and Mofu-mofu are looking on with distant eyes, but I’m not making them do such harsh training, you know?

Compared to tossing someone tied up whole body into a swarm of monsters, it’s completely safe.

That being said, maybe I was a bit too gentle?

Doing exactly what was done to me would be too pitiful, but maybe I should make it so they can get a bit more serious.

“Then, if everyone isn’t able to use physical enhancement by evening, shall I increase the number of fireballs and raise the temperature too? Also, I’ll increase the amount of earth and bury everything except your mouths and noses.”

” ” ” ” ” “!!?” ” ” ” ” “

When I declared that, the Dwarves showed faces as if the end of the world had arrived.

And the next moment, the Dwarves began practicing physical enhancement magic with a seriousness completely incomparable to before.

” ” “Disappearrrrrrrrr!!” ” “

” ” “Mooooooove!!” ” “

“Yeah, as expected, it seems it was the same as when I taught everyone physical enhancement magic.”

“Same as us?”

“That’s right. When I was going to teach everyone physical enhancement magic, setting aside the mages Mina-san and Norb-san, all of you warriors doubted whether you, not being mages, could really use magic, right?”

“Ah, true.”

“In the same way, because the Dwarves in this village had forgotten that they could use magic, they were skeptical about whether they could truly become able to use magic. So, except for the intuitive people who could easily sense magic power, they lacked seriousness.”

“I see, now that you mention it, that might be true.”

Meguri-san nodded in understanding at my explanation.

“Cool dooooooowwwwn!!”

“Moooooooooovvve!!”

And then, just a little before sunset.

The fire flickered waveringly.

The chunk of earth shifted unsteadily.

” ” ” ” ” “It mooooved!!” ” ” ” ” “

It was fast after that.

If one person can do it, it serves as proof to believe that they truly can become able to use magic themselves.

As a result, the Dwarves, whose magic power and consciousness had synchronized, succeeded in activating physical enhancement magic.

And when I had the Dwarves who learned physical enhancement magic try peeling the hard bark of the World Tree once again…

“Ooh!? It cuts! It cuts!”

“Amazing! I can clearly understand how to cut that damn hard World Tree bark!”

They were able to peel the World Tree’s hard bark as if their initial state of throwing their hands up in defeat was a lie.

“By applying physical enhancement magic, you can improve not only gathering but also your blacksmithing skills. I’ll teach you that starting tomorrow.”

Physical enhancement is the foundation of the Dwarves’ blacksmithing, no, of everything.

By learning this, their blacksmithing techniques will surely leap up at once.

Or rather, reclaiming the skills they had lost would be more accurate.

“We look forward to your instruction, His Majesty Honorary King Rex!!”

“Like I said, please stop that.”

In this way, the Dwarves went about reclaiming their lost techniques.

“Ah, once you get used to it, I’ll have you learn the technique to peel the hard bark without physical enhancement magic.”

” ” ” ” ” “Huh!?” ” ” ” ” “

“It’s fine. Even without relying on magic power, if you identify the grain of the material and apply the knife there, you can cut most things.”

” ” ” ” ” “That sounds obviously high difficulty, though!!” ” ” ” ” “

It’s easy once you get used to it, you know?