The Legendary Rebuilding of a World by a Realist Demon King Chapter 25

Gottlieb, the Chief of the Dwarves

After descending into the hole, the old man pulled out a black jar from his pocket.

“This is a secret substance known as gunpowder. Only some of us dwarves know how to make it. Filling cylinders with this and igniting them can cause an explosion.”

“It is a type of bomb, then.”

“So you know of bombs.”

“I always did like to research across many topics.”

Eve had told me that there were no firearms in this world, but that gunpowder existed.

Alchemy was rather advanced here, and so the existence of gunpowder was not too surprising.

However, the fact that it hadn’t advanced far enough for guns to be invented and developed, suggested a strong reliance on magic, which was after all, incredibly advanced in comparison.

Magic could replicate the powerful force of a gunshot. And this was causing a delay in scientific discoveries.

I thought of such things as the old man lit the bomb.

The fuse sparked loudly.

“Step away, it will explode very soon.”

I had an idea of what kind of damage it would do. Jeanne and Eve moved back and I protected them with my coat.

A few seconds later, the bomb detonated just as we expected, with a storm of dust and wind.

The girls remained clean, as they were behind me, but for some reason, the old man was in front of us and covered from head to toe.

He directed his dirt-stained face at me and smiled.

“I wanted to see how it would explode and how the cave would collapse.”

He said, and then removed his goggles.

It was here that we finally had a proper greeting.

“It is an honor to meet you. My name is Gottlieb. I am the chief of the earth dwarves.”

“The chief of the dwarves?”

Now, this was a surprise. I could not have hoped for a more pleasing one.

Our very purpose for coming here was to meet him.

I inspected him with this new information.

His hair was white, as was his long beard. And he had the frame of a beer barrel.

Yes, it was much the same as a classic dwarven image.

However, aside from the short arms and legs, he was very much like any human.

It might be difficult to distinguish some humans and dwarves then.

“By the way, I see that you and that maid are demons. But the one with golden hair appears to be human. Are you a demon lord?”

It would be poor manners and quite pointless to conceal the truth here.

And so I said,

“That is correct. However, what I want is nothing like Eligos’s design to subjugate. I want to collaborate.”

Which was our honest purpose.

“Collaborate?”

“I am currently expanding my castle. I wish to build a city where many races from all over the world will gather. And it was so I could have dwarves help me in building this city, that I came here to look for help.”

“I see, yes. That is a wonderful idea. There is no end to demon lords in this world, and yet I cannot recall seeing any who wished for humans and other races to coexist. I like the way you think. And it would be my pleasure to collaborate with you.”

The old man smiled for a moment, but it quickly disappeared as his shoulders drooped.

“…I wish I could say that. But… There is something you should see first. This settlement has been ravaged by Eligos. Many of my friends have been killed in their raids.”

“But not all of them?”

“Half of our number were able to escape into the mines. These mines are a labyrinth. And besides, we have bombs to prevent the enemy from coming in too deep. But there is a problem.”

“A problem?”

“It is food. We have water from underground streams, but our food supplies are limited. This place was merely a place for us to work. It was not meant for such a long stay.”

“I see.”

“And so we have occasionally created escape exits in order to leave and search for food. But we are reaching our limits.”

“How much longer can you last?”

“Let me think… Around a week.”

“And how many dwarven warriors have you?”

“We earth dwarves are a gentle tribe. Not many of us are warriors by trade. However, some of the miners can fight. Their pickaxes could pierce the scales of dragons.”

“I suppose they must be very strong.”

Eve said.

“That appears to be the case. Well, I worry about the lack of battle experience, but this is not the time to complain about such things.”

“Yes.”

I looked at Eve and then at Jeanne, then I asked them.

I wanted to help him. No, help the dwarves. To fight. Were they alright with that?

I asked them this with my eyes, and they understood.

Eve bowed humbly.

Jeanne nodded.

For Eve it was loyalty, for Jeanne it was perhaps an act of charity from one who was the servant of a god.

We knew what we wanted to do now, but I wasn’t sure that this old man would accept us.

Well, he would accept us, but the issue was the terms. Would he agree to follow my command?

I thought that it was possible to drive Eligos’s army back, but it would require the help of these dwarven men.

Would this old man, this Chief Gottlieb, would he give me the authority to lead?

I wasn’t sure if he would trust me.

Of course, there was no point in wondering about it.

And so I would ask him.

Bluntly.

“Sir Gottlieb, I understand that you might take offense to this, but I must say it. I am confident that I can save your people from this danger. But it will require the united help of the dwarven men under my leadership. Will they obey my commands for this plan that I will now lay out? As their chief, this includes you as well.”

According to legend, dwarves were very proud and even more stubborn. How would this one react?

There was a possibility that he wouldn’t even consider it. He could reject me outright.

If that happened, I would give up and leave this place.

I had to be practical.

I was not here to look after some stubborn old man.

And there would be little benefit in collaborating with some chief who could not be flexible.

I had to consider all of this coldly, but the chief turned out to be a good man.

“I saw you fighting those demons. It was marvelous. If it is you would be leading them to battle, then I will pass on my authority to you. If there are any young dwarves who refuse to obey you, I will have them punished. Do not hesitate to inform me.”

“…You have my thanks.”

It took me a moment to reply because I was a little ashamed to have doubted him even for a moment.

This dwarven chief had been able to lead his people to safety even after being ambushed by Eligos. And he had stopped the invasion for several weeks.

He clearly had a good eye for strategy.

With such a man helping us, defeating Eligos’s troops would not be impossible.

After that, I began to talk about what I had in mind, but Gottlieb laughed.

“I will be glad to hear what your plan is, but not in this narrow tunnel. I wish to tell my people that we have reinforcements and show you our settlement deep in the mines. You will be introduced to them as a powerful demon lord.”

“I am honored.”

It had escaped me for a moment, but it really was not very gentlemanly to keep these two girls in a place that was dark and filled with dust.

The ash was also bad for one’s health.

And while I could withstand it as a demon king, Jeanne was human, and Eve could be rather brittle.

They were also tired after the recent fight.

Apparently, the dwarven settlement did not have much food, but they had plenty of water.

That meant that Eve could at least use the tea leaves she had brought in order to brew some tea.

It was with such thoughts that we followed the chief and descended deeper and deeper down the mines.

It really was just like a labyrinth.

I could see why Eligos had not been successful in attacking.