Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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>Translator: Lord First
>Chapter: 111
>Chapter Title: A Vacation to a Conflict Zone (3)
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*
Nabelun’s claim that the situation was urgent proved true. At the dwarves’ insistence, Ivan and Enrique were immediately escorted to the State Council Chamber.
Ivan had rarely seen so many unarmed dwarves sitting in one place. (Which is to say, he had seen it before. Though none of them could be seen anymore.)
All the council members, except for the dwarves who had come out to greet Ivan, eyed the two humans who had suddenly burst in with suspicion.
“Have you finally lost your mind, Comrade Nabelun? How dare you bring humans into the State Council Chamber?”
“What nonsense. Wasn’t it the council’s decision in the first place to request support from Krasilov for the Shadowblade?”
“And look at Krasilov’s answer to that request!”
The dwarves gestured toward Ivan, who stood beside Nabelun with his arms crossed.
“I don’t want to repeat the same commotion, so let me make one thing clear. Ah, do I have the floor, Nabelun?”
“Speak freely, Shadowblade. You are now an official envoy of Krasilov.”
“Good. Then listen up, everyone.”
Enrique strode to the center of the State Council Chamber, puffed out her chest, and declared.
“As an official envoy of Krasilov, I will deliver Krasilov’s official position. Dwarves. Council members of Andgrund. We who are present here are the only support Krasilov can offer…”
Angry shouts erupted from among the dwarves. *Nonsense! Stop your tricks, human! Are you trying to insult us!* and the like.
In the middle of the chaotic chamber, Enrique continued speaking, unflinching.
“And the strongest support at that. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Enrique, Enrique Sergeyevna. A member of the Hero’s Party and a witness who was at the very spot where the Demon King was slain. When it comes to naming the single greatest warrior Krasilov has to offer, I have never once conceded that title. If any of you still doubt my skills, step forward and demand proof.”
The dwarves still wore expressions of discontent, but none among them dared to challenge Enrique.
Enrique scanned the room and spoke.
“This man here is my disciple, who has learned everything I know. He is the Executioner of Abiditas and the commander of the Counterintelligence Command. Colonel Ivan Petrovich Eremov. He would have been a Major when you last knew of him. Yes. The Poison Spider.”
“The Poison Spider… Ivan! I heard he was dead!”
“Are we under any obligation to disclose our personnel administration to your country?”
Enrique’s words silenced the dwarves. Their silence was all but forced. Not a single council member in the room could hide the look of shock and terror rising on their faces.
The atmosphere in the chamber was palpably changing. The swirl of emotions centering around one man was so clear it was almost visible. Fear, hatred, anger, and then again, ‘fear’.
The Annihilation Squad, led personally by Ivan, had inflicted more damage on the dwarves than any other single military unit in the world. During the war, the dwarves had been defeated on only one front.
The defeat of that era transcended the realm of tactics, because news of the loss never reached the outside. That is, no survivors returned to report the defeat.
On the fronts where they were defeated, the enemy’s gains expanded exponentially. They could only recognize their defeat and respond after the number of lost troops surpassed a critical point.
As their intelligence network within the mountains gradually went dark, and every ‘unexplored area’ beyond the shadows of the tunnels turned into a ‘danger zone.’
The dwarves came to know fear. The fear that ‘the Poison Spider comes for those left alone at the end of the tunnel.’
“Our enemies are not these people, comrades. This is about punishing the minions of Abiditas and those fools who dared to rise against His Excellency the Secretary. Let us put down our axes and begin to talk.”
At Nabelun’s words, the crowd regained its composure. They looked at Nabelun and the two humans with sunken eyes, then spoke.
“But we can’t possibly share our frontline maps with ‘that Ivan,’ can we? Even if we win with his help, what future is there for us? With a direct line to Andgrund opened, if Krasilov learns the layout of all our tunnels beneath the mountains, what future is there for our people?”
“Do you have a future otherwise?”
At last, Ivan spoke. The dwarf who had spoken first flinched and stepped back.
“The Secretary’s son has been kidnapped, half of your people have risen in rebellion, and behind the rebel leader lurks a legion of the Seven Dragon Generals. In such a situation, can you truly turn the tide of war with your strength alone?”
“…That is why we requested military support from you.”
“And that is why I am standing here.”
Ivan walked to the center of the chamber. He scanned the still-cowering dwarves, attempting to meet each one’s eyes.
But not a single dwarf dared to meet his gaze directly.
“I understand why you do not wish to share Andgrund’s frontline situation with me. So I will not force you. Instead, I can make a promise.”
“A promise?”
“Assuming I have absolutely no prior intelligence on this region, I can accomplish the mission objective within half a year.”
Ivan was a member of the Annihilation Squad, which was fundamentally an operational team that infiltrated deep into enemy territory. It was the same when he moved with the Hero's Party; his objective was to identify potential dangers along the party's route and return alive.
Therefore, he was an agent specialized in reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, and survival in areas with zero information. He had never made a single mistake on any of those fronts, which was how he had been able to survive the Hero's Party's decapitation strike.
Thus, this situation, where the location of allied bases was clear and the enemy's garrisons were also well-defined, was hardly a challenge for him.
Interrogating the first enemy encountered, identifying the location of that unit's command post, striking the command post to interrogate them further, and then infiltrating toward the next operational point. The entire process was second nature to him.
So.
“If you share the frontline situation with me, I can accomplish the mission objective within two months.”
“Two months…! That’s ridiculous…!”
“And if you grant me the frontline situation, practical field command authority, and adequate fire support capabilities, I can accomplish the mission objective within one week.”
“…One… week!”
The dwarf who had first spoken stammered out a question.
“What… is the mission objective you foresee?”
“It’s one of two things. Either we rescue the Secretary’s son, as you desire. Or we annihilate the minions of Abiditas, who are behind this war.”
“Both of them…”
“That’s not possible.”
Ivan gave a short shake of his head. Claiming the impossible is possible is the way of a charlatan. A trained agent must deliver an honest assessment of an operation's feasibility.
“The Secretary’s son is a hostage of sorts. He’s merely a deterrent against all of you. The moment Abiditas’s minions die, the hostage dies too. Conversely, the moment you rescue the hostage, they will lose their deterrent and will surely launch an all-out war. Assassination becomes virtually impossible at that point.”
“You have already assessed the current state of the war?”
“If they’ve taken a hostage, they aren’t waging an all-out war. It means they’re trying to buy time, inducing a war of attrition, which means they’re preparing something to turn the tide.”
“Do you have another opinion? I will listen.”
This must be a test of sorts. To see if he really was Ivan Petrovich, and if he was as competent a commander as the rumors claimed. Fine. The Annihilation Squad always had to be more competent than the rumors.
“The reason the front is at a stalemate is obvious, isn’t it? Because both sides are dwarves. Both your defense and offense are excessive.”
Even a basic dwarf infantryman is clad in near-perfect plate armor. In close combat, a phalanx of clustered dwarf warriors is like a single wall.
They easily block small arms, of course, but also melee weapons. Even bringing in a superhuman would be of little advantage. Therefore, when dwarves engage in close combat, the front line is bound to stretch out sluggishly.
But at the same time, the dwarves’ firepower is too excessive. They are a race that fundamentally builds cities beneath the ground by digging out tunnels.
This means that, contrary to many people's misconceptions, they do not excavate the ground with shovels and chisels. Over their long history, they have developed highly sophisticated blasting explosives.
At this point in time, with all the earth-boring machines lost, the dwarves' excavation technology relied almost entirely on blasting explosives.
And just as with dynamite on Earth, when you throw industrial explosives at people, it becomes the genesis of a weapon of war.
The firepower of dwarven war weapons is excessive. While they were an absolute threat when fired on the surface, it was not so underground. That was because they could too easily fire a single shot that could collapse an entire tunnel.
Unless they wanted to collapse the bedrock of all of Andgrund, the use of firearms had to be restrained in a dwarven civil war. Just as nuclear war on Earth is restrained to prevent mutually assured destruction.
“Therefore, we must assume that the minions of Abiditas, who already know all of this, have something else up their sleeve.”
“Something else…?”
“They could be excavating Abiditas’s remains, or they could be producing undead forces through a large-scale sacrificial ritual. There are many reasons to stall for time, but not much information. It might even be both.”
Abiditas’s Sky Citadel, the [Fortress of Desire], had crashed near the Sky Mountains. Abiditas’s soul was destroyed when his soul vessel was shattered, but his corpse must still be buried somewhere in the ground, pinned beneath the fortress floor.
Along with the countless relics he had collected in his lifetime.
Abiditas’s disciples would naturally want to recover their master’s legacy. If a few hundred years passed like this, a second Abiditas could be born.
Therefore, the battle had to be decided now, before such a situation could arise.
Ivan felt a sense of fate. A fate connected to the Seven Dragon Generals who had taken away everything he had last held dear.
For now he had returned, to turn everything Abiditas cherished to ash and dust.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It was time to grant eternal oblivion to the undying spirits who had fled from death.
This was vengeance for each other, and an incense offering for the memories they both held.
Vengeance and an offering for the subordinates of the Annihilation Squad who died at Abiditas’s hands, and for Abiditas who was annihilated by the Annihilation Squad.
Ivan squeezed his eyes shut.
The memories of that day still echoed in his ears. The last words of all his men had always been the same.
-Don’t die here.
They had said it with a smile, even as they were swallowed by death, for the sake of their comrade.
Those words, uttered when the first comrade drew his last breath, were passed down to the very last, finally reaching Ivan.
He was left alone. The combined wish of the entire strike team became the will that sustained him to this day. *Let’s not die here. Let’s not die like this.*
For all those who lived with purpose and died a worthy death, I alone will remember them until the very last moment.
When Ivan finally opened his eyes, the assembly was watching him in silence.
“Now I believe you. You are undoubtedly the Poison Spider of those days. Will you accept our apology?”
“Meaningless.”
Ivan gave a short shake of his head. It was better to carry out the operation as quickly as possible than to indulge in such formalities. The enemy’s forces were likely growing quantitatively with every passing hour.
From that ruthlessly efficient demeanor, the dwarves understood.
They understood why they had feared this man during the war. He was rational to a chilling degree, he converted that rationality into competence, and that competence always produced malicious results.
“The Secretary wishes to meet with you in person. The map of Andgrund’s entire territory will be shared afterward, during the tactical meeting.”
“Is Durantrain Ellovandi still serving as Secretary-General?”
“…May I at least ask you to use a title of respect?”
“Noted.”
Ivan nodded and followed Nabelun.
*
The Secretary-General’s palace was located deep underground, down a grand staircase so wide that five dwarven armored trams could line up side-by-side and still not fill it.
Giant stone statues of dwarves holding axes and hammers lined both sides of the stairs, looking down on those who approached.
Ancient dwarven runes were inlaid in gold on the palace’s arched entrance. [At the end of this path lies the center of the world.] A typically dwarven display of arrogance.
Knowing that the planet’s core could not possibly be this shallow, Ivan remained impassive, unlike Nabelun, who trembled with awe.
-Kugung.
-Kugugugugu…
The palace gates opened, kicking up dust. The thick stone gates parted, and from between them, the faint sound of *kang, kang* could be heard.
*Kang, kang, kang.* And then *chiiiik*, the hiss of metal being quenched. Sounds one would expect to hear in a forge echoed through the vast hall.
After walking for some time, Ivan found himself led before a massive furnace from which heat radiated in waves.
“You’ve come?”
A short dwarf, covered in soot and dressed in shabby clothes, turned his head toward him as he hammered away.
“It feels strange to finally meet the human with the highest bounty in our world.”
“Excluding the Demon King and the Seven Dragon Generals, your bounty was also among the highest in our world.”
“And it isn’t now?”
“It won’t be, from now on.”
At the sight of old enemies from the war discussing peace, the old dwarf let out a hollow laugh.
“I am Durantrain Ellovandi.”
“Ivan Petrovich Eremov.”
“Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule. It’s not something I should say, being the one asking for a favor, but I truly wanted to see you in person.”
“You must have been listening to the entire conversation in the council chamber?”
“Isn’t that what egalitarianism is all about?”
Ah. Ivan nodded. A true dictator does not easily show himself. He knows that the shadow cast from behind a dark curtain guarantees the greatest control.
“Isn’t this rather mundane work for the Secretary?”
“Smithing? It’s not about who does it. It’s about whose hands it ends up in. Whether it’s a weapon or a piece of armor, who wields it and for what purpose is what ultimately bears fruit.”
The Secretary wiped the soot on his cheek with the back of his hand. But since his entire hand was already stained with charcoal, his face only ended up darker.
He smiled unassumingly and looked at Ivan.
“What weapon do you use?”
“I’m not particular.”
“Your preferred weapon.”
“An axe.”
“Wait. Comrade Nabelun?”
Nabelun, who had been listening to their conversation in a daze, stepped forward in shock.
“Yes, Comrade Secretary!”
“Open the treasury and give him the best weapon. Grant him whatever he desires, and supply him with whatever he needs, even if you have to plunder all of Andgrund.”
The Secretary looked at Ivan with clear eyes, then turned back to stand beside the anvil. He placed the lump of iron he had been quenching on the anvil and raised his hammer.
“In return, give us back the remaining half of this mountain range.”
“I will.”
“The deal is struck. Tell your master I expect the next envoy to be a civil official. You may go.”
Without waiting for a reply, the Secretary began to hammer.
Ivan gave a short bow and followed Nabelun. The sound of hammering, *kang, kang*, echoed behind him.
He was a man of steel.
If Ivan ever had to return to this underground city under orders from Krasilov to conquer it, it would not be easy. So he thought.
*