Chapter 225: The Forceful Dwarves

“Lord Van! Hand them over to us!”

“We can make a full-body Orichalcum suit of armor!”

“Wooooooah!”

The Dwarves were already in a frenzy, celebrating a gift I hadn’t even agreed to give them.

“N-no, no, I wasn’t planning on processing them right away…” I tried my best to resist their momentum, but Havel and the others, who were already in a trance-like state, couldn’t hear me.

“Alright! Let’s take it back and prepare the furnace right away!”

“It ain’t the same as Mythril! We’ll have to keep it at an increasingly high temperature!”

“Aye! We won’t be able to leave the furnace for a week straight! Go stock up on grub!”

As Havel and the others clamored loudly, passersby gathered, wondering what the commotion was about.

“W-wait a minute! I was planning on storing this at the Lord’s manor first…”

“Storing it!? We don’t need money! I’ll stake my name on forging the finest armor ever!”

“Orichalcum Dwarven equipment is something even the great nations don’t possess, you hear!?”

“P-please! Let us have it! We’ll even pay you for it!”

When I said I wouldn’t hand it over, the Dwarves’ expressions changed drastically, and they began saying things like that. It felt odd that they would offer to pay me just to let them craft Orichalcum gear—something even great nations lacked.

For the time being, I wanted to forge the item myself, so I tried to deny them. However, I then heard the voices of the onlookers.

“Hey, he said Orichalcum.”

“They’re asking Lord Van to let them forge something even the great nations don’t have.”

“Those stubborn Dwarves?”

Since Havel and the others were unnecessarily loud, the content of the conversation was laid bare to the crowd. The noise grew rowdy, and the fact that the Dwarves themselves offered to forge Orichalcum gear would undoubtedly become a rumor that spread far beyond Seatoh Village.

If that was the case, I had no choice but to use it to my advantage.

“…Sigh, fine, I understand. In that case, if you can forge a blade with a sharper edge than the Mythril sword I created, I will acknowledge your skill and allow you to work the Orichalcum.”

I let out an exaggerated sigh and offered a wry smile before presenting my condition for forging the Orichalcum. Havel and the others looked like they were gritting their teeth and took a step back. At their reaction, the newer residents of Seatoh Village tilted their heads in confusion.

“I hear Lord Van’s weapons are amazing, but are they superior to the Dwarves’ weapons?”

“Surely not, that can’t be right.”

I heard voices like that, but an older village resident nearby crossed his arms, offered a defiant smile, and spoke in contradiction.

“Don’t you know? They say Lord Van’s weapons are superior even compared to Dwarven weapons. Especially when it comes to sharpness, they are far above.”

“Yes. Lord Dee and the adventurers have said so, too.”

The clarification helped my cause. I pretended not to hear the conversation while my mind raced. This was excellent reinforcement. Smirking internally, I shrugged my shoulders as if troubled and offered a new condition.

“It can’t be helped. Well then, if you can create a suit of Mythril armor that satisfies Dee, I’ll grant permission for you to create Orichalcum armor. However, the finished armor will belong to Dee, and it will be used on the front lines.”

“Hmph! We can manage that!”

“Oh! There’s no point in having the finished article just displayed!”

“You won’t know the greatness of Dwarven equipment unless it’s used!”

The moment I eased the condition, Havel and his companions’ spirits lifted, and they burst out laughing. It seemed they were confident when it came to defense gear. Or perhaps they are simply not confident in their ability to beat the blade I created.

Either way, I was still researching defensive gear that had to withstand slashes and impacts. Whether it’s iron or Mythril, an alloy—mixing in other metals—can sometimes create stronger armor than using the pure metal alone. I wasn’t trying to make stainless steel or anything, so my research wasn’t that advanced. Therefore, there was a possibility that the Dwarves could create a better-balanced metal for armor than what I could produce using pure metal or some random alloy.

Considering all this, I made the decision to proactively commission Havel and the others to create the Orichalcum armor.

“In that case, I’ll look forward to the Mythril armor. I should be back in about three months.”

“Aye! Leave it to us!”

When I set the deadline, Havel and his friends flexed their biceps and replied with powerful conviction. Then, they immediately turned on their heels, heading back the way they came.

“Oi, lads! Let’s hurry up and forge this armor!”

“Oh! It’s perfect timing, as I just came up with an idea for the world’s strongest armor!”

“You’re a liar, you bastard! I’m better with my hands and my head than you are!”

Havel and the others returned to their forge, making a huge ruckus, completely ignoring the attention gathering around them.

Honestly, their forcefulness and obsession with forging are truly typical of Dwarves. At least I managed to inform them about my upcoming trip, so I suppose the original purpose was achieved.

Incidentally, the rumor that the Dwarves had promised to present an Orichalcum suit of armor as a gift spread as planned a few days later, and the visibility of Seatoh Village seemed to have increased slightly once again.