Chapter 68: Worked to Death

“They’ve surely turned those elves into prostitutes, right…?”

“Then, are we also…”

“No, look at us. We’re too ugly to be turned into that. More likely, because we’re a bit stronger than most humans, we’ll be worked to death…haa…”

The dwarves spoke to each other about their worries.

“That’s not the case here at all. The elves are living here as regular villagers. We don’t discriminate against people of other races here, so don’t worry about that.”

“Geez, who’s been turned into slaves? We’re proud elves, you know. We’re living here not because we’re the humans’ slaves or anything; we’re living here out of our own will.”

After I tried to dismiss their concerns, Philia-san talked as well to verify what I said.

Whether that worked, I wasn’t sure. But I did know that letting them look around the village would help.

“Let me give you a tour of the village.”

And so, we let the dwarves in.

“What a clean village…”

“You said it. There’s no smell or even a single piece of trash.”

“There’s also so many wonderful buildings…but they all seem brand new.”

“They also said we can use as much water, hot water even, as we want…do all humans live like this?”

Being noticed by the villagers, the dwarves were frightened at first. However, as they saw more of the facilities in the village, their astonishment eventually won out.

By this point, they were restlessly looking around.

“That one over there is our public bath house.”

“Your public bath house…?”

“Yeah. It has large baths that can be used by a lot of people at once.”

“Wha…”

“Bathing at once…then, all have to be naked…?”

“I don’t think I can ever do such an embarrassing thing…”

Unlike the elves who didn’t have an issue with it at all, the idea of bathing naked with others seemed impossible for the dwarves.

I had this image in my head that the dwarves wouldn’t have minded something like that, so I found their reactions to be a bit surprising, to be honest.

And lastly, I guided them to a particular apartment building.

“This will be the place you will be staying in. There shouldn’t be any problem even if each family take up a unit. Each unit there has its own toilet, by the way.”

I proceeded to show them the inside. I also gave them a rough explanation of how to use the various things in each unit.

“A-ahm…village chief-sama…”

“Yes, what is it, Dolan-san?”

For some reason, Dolan-san seemed to have trouble speaking.

“This is all so wonderful and all, but…”

“If there’s something you want, feel free to tell me.”

If I used Facility Customization, I should be able to give them what they want.

“Actually…the windows, well…they’re big, and…and lets in a lot of light…”

“?”

When I asked for more details, they said that they weren’t so fond of the sunlight, possibly because they had lived in a dark cavern for their whole lives.

“If it’s too bright, we’ll be on edge all the time…or perhaps feel ill…”

“I see…”

The dwarves have quite the troublesome constitution.

But if their problem this time was just that, it was easy to solve: just remove the windows from each unit.

“Oh, but I think I have a better solution.”

◇　◇　◇

“So, what do you think?”

“A-amazing! It’s almost like we’re back in the cavern we’ve lived in! Yes, we’ll be perfectly relaxed here!”

Dolan-san shouted like that in the tunnel.

Yes, the place I brought the dwarves was an underground tunnel I just made.

I figured that they would much prefer living here that above ground where the sun’s light could reach them.

After building the tunnel, I then built an apartment building within.

I didn’t even have to remove windows!

◇　◇　◇

“And so, cheers!”

“““Cheeeersssss!”””

When evening came, we held a welcoming party for the dwarves.

The sun has set, so they didn’t mind being outside.

“Alright, don’t hold back, drink as much as you can!”

“W-we’ll take you up on your offer…hmm, it’s so delicious!?”

Alcohol brewing has become popular in the village recently, resulting in more kinds of alcohol being available.

And perhaps because of the abundance of clean water and other good ingredients, they were delicious as well.

…or so they say. I still didn’t drink, after all.

I had heard that dwarves like alcohol, so I kind of expected them to let loose a little.

However, I turned out to be wrong. Well, inaccurate.

“““OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!!”””

…the dwarves, who have drank a bit, suddenly began shouting.