Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

Elios, the abode of the gods. Elios is a kingdom in the sky that floats above the clouds on top of the Elios mountain, the highest mountain in this world.

There are three methods to enter Elios. The first method is to enter via the sky. The second method is by climbing the mountain. The last method is to enter from the underground.

Each one of those routes are insanely difficult to enter.

The first method is naturally by flying in the sky, and yet anyone who would be entering from the sky without the permission of the chivalric order of holy knight serving under god Oudith will be killed on sight just by approaching the mountain.

The second method, though Elios mountain, is too steep to be climbed. The Elven kingdom is present in the sea of forest at the base of Elios mountain. One must have the permit of the elven race to enter this forest.

The underground tunnel of the third method is under the protection of the dwarves. No one can enter without their permission.

The route I'm taking right now is the third route, the underground tunnel.

After a short distortion of the scenery, the scenery of the current room has changed from the previous room. The magic square below my feet is still letting out a pale light.

「Where are we, Dario-dono?」

「Here is the small shrine at the end of sea of tree, Diehart-dono. The place we're going to is below the ground via underground tunnel」

The one replying to my question is a man whose height reaches my shoulder, but his body width is twice as mine.

Dwarf. That is his race.

The dwarf is a natural born blacksmith and has longer lifespan than a human’s. Dwarves make the best tools in this world.

Many of the dwarves have long since freely travelled in and out of Nargol due to the long relationship between their god, Heibos and the demon king Modes. However, the one who profits the most might be the dwarves since the land of Nargol is rich with mineral resources.

Dario has become my guide to enter Elios and is one of those dwarves who have free access to Nargol.

The reason I am travelling to Elios is to meet Heibos who is living at the lowest layer of the Elios mountain. I want to ask him to make me a new armor to replace my previous armor that had been tattered in the battle against Reiji-tachi.

「Shall we go then?」

After saying so, Dario begins to walk ahead.

It seems there's a underground tunnel inside the shrine that can be used to enter the Dwarven Kingdom.

「Let's go, Kuna」

Beside me is Kuna, and she’s embracing my arms.

Kuna nods to me. Thereupon, I caught a glimpse of her pale face between her silver forelocks from under the hood that hides her face.

I'm walking side by side with Kuna.

Though it's a bit harder for me to walk with Kuna since she’s always embracing my arm, I can definitely endure it.

She's the beautiful girl that I've been always wishing for, after all. For that, I won't mind even if it's a bit harder for me to walk.

In the first place, was there any beautiful girl such as Kuna to fall for me till now?

Though it’s obvious for her to love me since she is a goddess that was made solely for my sake, I won't care about such things after looking at the completed Kuna.

Thinking about what happened until now, I'm going to enjoy my time with her.

「Are you crying… Kuroki?」

Kuna asks such a question while peering from below her hood. Her gesture is just so cute.

「No… My eyes are just sweating. Let's go, Kuna」

After leaving the underground tunnel, the place we arrive at has small vessel-like things with strange shape.

「From here on, we're going to board this vessel, Diehart-dono」

「Board this vessel, Dario-dono?」

It's not like there's a water body around us. It's just a vessel placed on top of a road.

「Fufufu, well, you'll know when we get aboard the vessel」

Dario couldn’t help but grin mysteriously.

Subsequently, Kuna and I board the vessel with Dario leading us.

After all of us get aboard, it suddenly rises from the ground.

「Ooh!!」

I unintentionally let out an astonished voice.

After rising from the ground, the vessel is moving forward by itself.

「How's that, even the dark knight is surprised by this, right?」

Dario responds so while laughing happily.

「Yes. I'm surprised」

I told him my honest impression.

I really am astonished by the level of technology in this world. It's more developed than my original world in certain meaning.

The vessel is advancing at a considerably fast pace.

Now we're already in the underground tunnel of the Holy Land. Holy land is a place where nobody but dwarves, elves, and angels who have been approved by the gods of Elios can enter. Much less to say about me, a person of Nargol, the enemy of Elios. It'll be quite a situation if I were to be found out by any of those above races except for the dwarf race.

The vessel keeps advancing. Due to its enormous size, and the underground tunnel below the holy land being quite long, I couldn't see our destination despite already advancing at such rapid speed with the vessel.

Though it'll be faster if we're moving using transfer magic, it is unusable since there's a seal from above the defensive line that prevents transfer magic inside the entire Holy Land.

It was maybe around one hour later that I could finally see the way to exit.

After the vessel stopped at its place, we descend from the vessel. Now, we are walking on the slightly small passage.

At the end of that small passage, we arrived at a expansive place.

Various spectrums of light are shining upon us. Though the lighting of the passage is bright, this kind of light is different from those.

This townscape colored by various lights such as yellow, green, and red is making me forget the fact that this city is underground.

The entire townscape is donned with beautiful ornaments, and those ornaments are the ones responsible for creating this fantastic scenery by emitting out variegated lights.

「Ooh! ! This is too…」

I yelled out in admiration since this is the first time I'm seeing this kind of scenery.

Dario is showing a proud look upon his face after seeing my amazement.

「Welcome, Dark Knight Diehart-dono. Here is the capital of Dwarves, Volundr」

Volundr, the capital of Dwarves which is located beneath the holy grounds of the Elios Mountain, is a city that was created by gathering the best of magic and craftsmanship.

In the city which was piled up with numerous floors, the things connecting between the floors are gem-like elevators that are moving between the floors back and forth despite nothing resembled a rope holding it. This is something that cannot exist in the world of humans. The dwarves undoubtedly possess far more advanced magecraft than the human world.

On top of that, the ornamental beautiful gems that are scattered throughout the entire city is shining in different prismatic colors due to magecraft. And despite being located underground, it doesn't feel cramped due to perfect layout design of the city.

There are around twenty thousand dwarves living in Volundr. Though the number of dwarves is a far cry from human count, this city is isolated from humans. But, this city, which has become the territory of God of Craftsmanship and God of Dwarves, Heibos, is a special existence for the dwarves.

We've been passing by numerous dwarves along our way. I can only say that it's natural since we are in the capital of dwarves.

But there's also no dwarven race that is passing by us once in a while. Looking carefully, other living beings, which couldn't be considered livestock, are also living in this city with a body that looks like a pipe, accompanied with a flat smooth face. They might be the golems that are made by the dwarves.

Golem are dolls made by using materials such as iron, wood, and rock. They're similar to the robots back in my original world.

Those golems are the attendants of the dwarves; they're also the ones who take up the menial tasks of cleaning the roads.

I heard some bits of trivia about the golems from Rugaas. The golems are of various kind, ranging from combat types to household types.

The golem that was sweeping right now might be of the sweeping type.

Come to think of it, maybe that huge steel doll at the shrine was also a golem.

Maybe there’s a type of golem that repulses the intruder who trespass without permit. We might be in danger if we had not come along with Dario.

「Do not be surprised yet, Diehart-dono」

Dario said so as he looked at me who was restlessly glancing around for quite a while.

「Yes, Dario-dono. In spite of being underground, I'm truly surprised by the scale of the city that was made by the Dwarves」

Dario is delighted after hearing my honest impression.

「Fufufufu. But, Diehart-dono. That's not all the surprise for you. Prepare yourself since we're going to go to an even more amazing place」

Dario’s expression became serious during his response.

I nodded at him.

「Hide your face, Kuna」

I told the quiet Kuna who walked along with us while clinging to my arm without even saying anything.

「Uhn」

After I say so, Kuna raises her hood to hide her face.

We get on those elevator-like things and then arrive at the upper level. We must move carefully from this point ahead.

The point ahead is the workshop of the dwarves, an extremely restricted area located in Volundr.

And then, the workshop of god Heibos is on top of that after leaving the workshop area.

We enter the workshop area. It is a completely different experience with the ornamental area from before, a completely dreary yet practical area is spread ahead of us.

Many of the Dwarves inside those workshop are especially moody; we can't make a ruckus here.

Though I think it's better not to bring Kuna along since beautiful girls have the tendency to dislike entering this dwarf workshop, in the end, I still brought her along with me since Kuna doesn't want to leave my side, and I feel anxious to leave Kuna alone in Nargol.

If one were to ask what kind of anxiety it is, it would be her relationship with Regena, the former princess of Algore.

After I saved Regena and her relatives in the Akeron mountains, she became a maid who took care of me in the demon king castle.

And for some reason, Kuna seems to hate Regena. It seems that hatred is the one-sided hatred of Kuna since Regena doesn't seem to hate Kuna. Thus, I would feel anxious leaving Kuna alone in the demon king castle while I'm away. Thus, I ended up bringing her along.

We leave the workshop area in silence. Though I'm curious about what those dwarves are doing in their workshop, I restrain myself since they're the type that dislike someone who trespasses their area.

We finally arrive at the workshop above the workshop area.

There is a strange room here.

This workshop is cramped with various kind of gems, paper, and tools that it's a room that would make anyone seeing it to get bewildered since the form of the room itself is chaotic.

It seems this is the workshop of god Heibos. If that’s the case, it means that this area is the boundary between Volundr and Elios. According to the story, god Heibos is living in the lowest place of Elios, which also happens to be the highest place in Volundr.

We enter the workshop of god Heibos.

We reach a slightly spacious place. In there, a man was waiting for us. Though he gives the impression of a weak person with his crooked-looking body and bushy beard, I can feel his sharp spirit from the glints that are peeking out from his side profile and his brawny arms.

「Heibos-sama. I brought the Dark Knight」

Dario is bowing to that man. There's no mistake, this man is god Heibos.

Heibos looks at us.

The sharp glint in his eyes locks on my figure. It seems god Heibos himself isn't gifted with combat prowess, but the glint in his eyes make him feel like a veteran warrior in my eyes.

「It's nice to meet you, god Hei—-」

「No need to greet me, Dark Knight Diehart」

He's interrupting my greeting.

「You should have heard about my request from Dario. Can you show me that sword?」

Heibos stretches his hand.

I gave him the short sword I kept in my bosom pocket.

A short sword length is generally shorter than a longsword.

This short sword is something that I made myself after Dario taught me about know-hows to make a sword.

When the short sword is drawn from its sheath by God Heibos, its blade is exposed to the light.

「This one can understand a few things after seeing this sword. One look and this one can understand better than hundreds of words」

The eyes of Heibos are pinned to the sword. I made this sword with my own black flame while taking lessons from Dario, and I finally completed this one after numerous failures.

On top of the scarce material that can withstand my dark flame, I made a heap of wrecked swords due to the difficulties in adjusting the degree of my power and timing.

Eventually, when I finished the short sword, the sword blade cast a dark light which might be due to its long exposure to the dark flame; it was quite sharp, too.

Though I thought it was a nice sword, I have lost all my confidence upon showing such a crude sword to the God of Craftsmanship.

「Fumu, I see… You made a good sword. But please wait for a minute」

Heibos left us for a while after saying so. When he returned a while later, he's holding a beautiful short sword that’s different from the one I gave to him a while ago.

「This is」

Heibos gives the short sword to me.

I stretch my hand to receive that short sword.

「Try to unsheathe the short sword」

When I unsheathe the short sword, exposing the dark sword blade to air…

「This is….」

I'm struck by surprise.

「Yeah, this is the sword made by you」

The short sword which he gave me was the same short sword that I gave to him. The short sword that I gave didn't have any pattern or whatsoever. I was just focusing on how I can make it easy to use and easy to hold.

But, God Heibos didn't change the ease of use of the short sword at all, rather he gave a splendid finishing touch to it. Thus, I failed to notice it when he gave that sword back to me.

I admire it in silence.

「The thing I could grasp is the fact that the sword doesn't have any aesthetic design at all. So, I added a bit of aesthetics via my craftsmanship to it. Honestly speaking, I'm not that inclined to do so either. You might be the type of person that completely ignores fashion sense. You are always wearing a dark-colored cloth so that you won't stand out, aren't you?」

Heibos’s words stab into my heart like an arrow.

How do you know that? I'm surprised that you know that fact.

Shirone even told me 「Say Kuroki, have you ever worn any clothes other than the ones with grey or black color?」Dark color makes you feel at ease, you know….

「Bull's eye, aren’t I?」

I can't even retort to his words.

Well, it's just way too obvious without me making a groaning sound since it's the fact.

And then, I look at the sword.

「But, I can feel a good will residing inside this sword….」

After that, Heibos looks at me.

「You're a clumsy man in a certain sense. You cannot do anything even if there's a woman that you love. Furthermore, you just keep resigning from competing with another man to win the love of the woman you love」

His words once again pierced like an arrow into my heart.

「Maybe it's not just limited to woman; you basically won't compete for anything and just keep resigning, don't you? In the end, you're at a loss for what you have to do and end up doing something that you shouldn't do」

Heibos changes his line of sight.

「Similar to Modes… Though Modes put up a good fight, he ended up retreating to Nargol. Starting a dispute due to his own wishes from which both parties were unable to fall back」 [TL : referring to Rena's clone]

Now, Heibos is smiling lightly.

「But then, this Heibos who shuts himself in his own small studio and refuses to have any interaction with others doesn't have the right to say that….」

Heibos is muttering such words.

According to Nut, Heibos always shuts himself inside this narrow workshop and never attends the meeting of the gods. That's why it was only much later on that he became aware about Modes’s banishment to Nargol.

Heibos feels that he had some sort of responsibility for that. That's why he agreed to help Modes.

And now, looking at the short sword in my hand,「Our talk strayed away a little. Though it's lacking any sort of decoration, it's a proper sword. In terms of usability, it's by no means inferior to any dwarven sword」

Those words are basically the highest praise I can hope for.

「Thank you very much」

I bow to Heibos to express my gratitude for his praise.

「Can you show me the sword that you received from Modes?」

I unsheathed the demon sword strapped on my waist and then give it to Heibos.

Its name is Demon sword of Venous Blood due to the red blood pattern etched on its blade.

「It's a wonderful sword no matter how many times I see it. Even this Heibos can't make this kind of sword」

Those were surprising words coming from him.

「You're not the one who made this sword?」

Heibos shakes his head in denial after hearing my question.

「The one who made this sword is Nargol, the mother of Modes. Nargol, hailed as the god of destruction, does have the power to make the weapon of destruction. It is to the degree that it's beyond this Heibos’s skill. In fact, as long as it is limited to weapons, Modes can make a weapon which rivals the weapons created by me. But the person himself isn't too eager to make any weapon. I think you might be able to do the same thing」

Heibos is saying so while comparing the short swort made by me and the demon sword.

The power to make a sword.

In short, the power of a swordsmith might be included to the power that I got after being summoned to this world. But the world of sword is too profound to the point that there's a saying, "One whole life for polishing".

Though I did, in fact, receive a bit of lesson from a swordsmith, an acquaintance of my master, I knew that it isn't something that can be understood just by such a brief lesson.

And that might be the reason why I could make an article that won't lose to dwarves after coming to this world. That's why I might not be able to make a sword at the same level of the one that I showed to Heibos if I were still in my old world.

「Well, though your appearances are far apart, you're similar to Modes in this regard. You may give this sword to someone if you want. You might dislike this sword of yours since I made it a bit too gaudy」

He said that while returning the short sword.

To whom should I give this sword I wonder.

Though on my side, Kuna's making an expression of wanting this short sword, I want to give Kuna something that’s even better than my handmade sword.

「I'll give you an even better one someday, Kuna」

Saying so, I kept the sword back to my pocket and then patted Kuna head.

Though she looked dissatisfied by my decision, she recovered the next moment when I patted her head.

「As for the armor, you can find it over there. Follow me」

After saying so, Heibos leaves the room and guides us to another room.

The room to which he guided us was filled with armors and helmets. Though I see the same black colored armor with the one I used before, the magical power loaded in it is far more stronger than the previous one.

「Different from your previous armor, I made this one to fit your stature. I made it with the scrap of dark knight armor which you wore before. Try to wear it since I'm not very sure myself whether it would fit your stature」

When I tried to wear the armor, it fit perfectly on my body. Despite looking solid and heavy, the armor is by no means hindering my movements.

「Amazing… I can move at ease despite wearing such a big armor」

No one can make this level of armor even back in my original world.

「And this one is for this lass」

Heibos takes out something that looks like a long pole. It’s a huge scythe.

「This is….」

「Yup, I was told by Modes. He asked me to make this one since it seems this lass preferred this kind of weapon. So, I made one for her」

After saying so, Heibos gave the scythe to Kuna.

When Kuna is holding that scythe, it's not too short nor too long for her height. It's a perfect match for her.

Though I'm reluctant to involve Kuna in a battle, I of all people know very well the pain of having no power.

Though I don't want to involve her in a battle, there's always an "If" in any kind of situation.

「Thank you very much, god Heibos」

I bowed at him while expressing my gratitude.

「There might be something that you're not willing to give in no matter what, thus I pray for you to be able to protect that」

After saying so, Heibos turned his back.

It seems there's nothing more to say to us.

After bowing again toward his retreating back, we return to Nargol.

We're back to the demon king castle with metastasis magic.

I'm looking at the scythe which I got from that old man called Heibos a while ago.

Now Kuna can fight alongside Kuroki with this scythe. With this, Kuna can become Kuroki's power.

When I try to swing the scythe, it fits perfectly in Kuna’s hand. Even so, it's useless if I do not train to use this properly like Kuroki.

Kuroki is swinging his sword every morning.

I'm told that it's something you call as ‘training’.  Mine is not a sword, so it might be better if Kuna also swings her scythe everyday. Doing that, Kuna can train along with Kuroki too.

「Eh, Kuna-sama…. W-welcome back」

I meet a woman while walking on the corridor. This woman bows when she sees Kuna.

Her name is Regena.

This woman smells fishy. She is always trying to get closer to Kuroki.

I'm Kuroki's. That's why one might call that Kuroki is mine too.

Kuroki is so kind to this woman even though he's supposed to be exclusive to me. That's something I absolutely can't accept.

I want to attach a collar to Kuroki and make him exclusive to me only. But, Kuroki might hate me if I do that.

In that case, I have no choice but to do something about this woman. How about I kill her? But, Kuroki might be sad if I do that.

Thus, I have to think about another method.

「Regena」

「Y-YES! WHAT'S THE MATTER, KUNA-SAMA!」

Regena is showing a frightened expression when I called her name. I'm not going to kill you yet anyway. But it's not like I'm going to tell her that.

I just suddenly noticed the thing on Regena’s hand.

「What is that?」

So I ask while pointing at the thing in her hand.

「I…. It’s laundry desu!」

Her voice seems to be higher. Did she get scared when I asked her?

「Of whom?」

「…. Master」

Her voice became way smaller now.

The one Regena called ‘master’ is Kuroki. It felt like a blazing dark flame arose inside me whenever I heard her calling him that way.

「Are you going to wash that?」

Regena nodded at my word.

「A princess never did that, didn't they?」

Regena should be a princess of a human kingdom called Algore.

In the story that I know, a princess shouldn't do something like laundry.

Kuroki has been reading various books for the sake of learning the letters of this world.

He read various tales about humans amongst the books he read, and then he'll tell Kuna the story inside those books before we go to sleep.

Sleeping while hearing Kuroki’s gentle voice is a moment of bliss for Kuna.

And then, the story of princess was included amongst them.

The princess in those stories don't do these kind of things. It's always the duty of their attendant to do so. That's why I'm surprised that Regena could do such a thing.

「N-No, I just want to express my gratitude to my master… Thus… I'm learning to do laundry from my wet nurse」

Regena is replying with a flustered voice.

Certainly, Regena was picked along with her attendants. Thus, she might learn to do laundry from them.

「I see…」

And then, I see the laundry in Regena’s hand. I saw Kuroki’s underwear amongst them.

That was the underwear Kuroki used yesterday. There's no doubt about it since I've confirmed it so many times.

「….Did you suck it? 」

So, I ask Regena.

「…. Eh? 」

After I asked that question, Regena lowers her line of sight to the laundry. Naturally, Kuroki’s underwear is there.

「I DID NOT DO S-S-S-S-S-SUCH A THING! SOMETHING LIKE S-S-S-S-SUCKING IS…!!」

Maybe because she couldn't understand what I meant at first, Regena’s reply is slightly delayed.

「Putting it on your head… How about licking it…」

「I'M NOT! I'M NOT DOING THAT!」

Regena is shaking her head in denial.

「WHAT’S WITH THIS SUCKING! AND LICKING!! I DIDN’T DO THAT! I just sniffed a little…」

Though Regena is frantically denying it, there was a remark that I couldn't let pass.

「You sniffed it?」

「Ah….」

Silence dominates this place.

No good… If I don't do anything soon….

「Regena…」

「Y-Yes!」

I bring my face closer to Regena.

「Teach Kuna how to wash laundry」

Since I can't kill her, Kuna has no choice but to protect Kuroki’s underwear by learning how to wash the laundry.

「Eh? To you, Kuna-sama?」

Regena is showing a surprised face. I don't know the reason.

「And not just washing the laundry, you'll teach Kuna everything Kuna needs to look after Kuroki. I want to be able to do everything to help Kuroki」

「B-But, for the daughter of your majesty the demon king to do such things is….」

Regena is saying so as if feeling apologetic for it.

Unaware to Kuna, it seems Kuna is regarded as the daughter of the demon king. It might be because Kuna resembled Mona.

They're wrong, but it's not like Kuna needs to deny that.

「It's okay… Just teach me」

As long as Kuna can reach the point of being able to do anything, there's no need for Kuroki’s maid, Regena.

At that time, I can send Regena to somewhere else.

Maybe I need to think about where should I send her, too. The kind Kuroki might prepare some place if Regena has nowhere to go.

The name of one place comes to my mind.

Algore Kingdom.

Regena was the princess of that place. Now then, what should I do to send this princess back to her kingdom?

It should be a better choice for Regena since Kuroki also won't disagree to return her to the kingdom.

Thus, I came up with a really good plan.