Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Guest Expulsion Order
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Let’s talk about a certain being.
Forge Master Volcanus.
He was a dwarf who had reigned at the pinnacle of the Rock Clan for a full five hundred years.
After the death of the greatest blacksmith of the past, “Great Demir,” Volcanus had never once relinquished his position as Forge Master.
- Of course. He’s the strongest.
- Yeah, in wartime, the strongest one has to lead the council.
- Great Volcanus!
- Without Volcanus, our clan would’ve been wiped out already!
War had devoured the Rock Clan’s “craftsman spirit.”
The more blood they shed and flesh they tore under elven arrows, the more they craved “power.”
And the one who stood at the peak of that “power.”
That was Volcanus.
- Rock Clan! Stop making weapons!
It was his speech right after ascending to Forge Master.
- Throw away your tools and pick up weapons! Why are you sitting there hammering an anvil? If there’s nothing to hit, just grab an elf and pound them instead! If you really want to make weapons, use elven bones!
Originally, elves and dwarves were like brother races.
A symbiotic relationship where they helped each other.
Elves lacked dexterity with their hands.
All they could make was grass woven together or wood braided—nothing like handling metal.
That’s why they needed weapons supplied by dwarves to wield greater combat power.
- Isn’t it unjust? Isn’t it frustrating? Why should we play servant to the elves? What’s the point of pouring our hearts into making things just for them to take it all? Power is what matters! The force to protect ourselves! Without it, we have no right to dream! No qualification to sing of hope!
In truth, there had been a specific reason they once united their strength in the past.
The forest.
And the rocks.
The dragon that ruled both.
The Giant Dragon Drugen.
A being that made every race in the world tremble.
To check that ferocious dragon, the two races had joined forces.
Elves provided the manpower.
Dwarves provided the weapons.
The two races produced tremendous synergy.
- We already killed the dragon. Demir and Eldrin teamed up to bury it deep in the underground labyrinth!
The legendary blacksmith “Great Demir.”
And the legendary high elf Moonlight Eldrin.
Even just five hundred years ago.
Those two were the absolutes representing the forest and rock clans.
The two heroes united their clans’ strength, buried the dragon, and died heroic deaths.
- But now, why are you making weapons? Look at those wicked elves. They’re the treacherous race piercing our hearts with the bows we made for them! The moment there’s no common enemy, they draw their blades—a race mad for murder!
Volcanus’s orders were simple.
Exterminate the elves!
Until then, no crafting activities whatsoever!
In fact, some might not understand this command.
- Why not use our strengths?
- Yeah! Elves mainly use bows anyway! So just don’t make bows, right?
- True? Then we don’t have to worry about them taking our weapons?
Some dwarves raised reasonable doubts.
But Volcanus’s stubbornness was formidable.
- Shut up. Do you know how short-staffed the front lines are?
- And the blacksmiths captured as prisoners? Would you refuse to make weapons even with a blade at your family’s throat?
The logic was a bit flimsy.
But no one could break his will.
- I don’t care. If you’re unhappy, come at me. If you win, I’ll step down as Forge Master!
A tyrant through and through.
And so, for five hundred years.
Volcanus’s dictatorship continued.
And now.
In this Senate chamber.
The product of that dictatorship had descended.
Thud, thud.
The short figure’s slow steps carried an indescribable, immense force.
Just like when he first met the old man, the mere presence choked the breath from his lungs.
“We greet the Forge Master.”
“We greet the Forge Master.”
The dwarves seated at the table all rose and saluted.
Dagnal and I hesitated before standing as well.
“Hmm.”
The old man watching shook his tongue with a click.
“Indeed, the world is vast and fascinating. If only I could roam other worlds while alive—it would’ve been so enjoyable.”
He licked his lips, as if eager for a bout.
Of course, the living and the dead wouldn’t clash directly.
“You there…”
It was then that Forge Master Volcanus’s gaze turned to me.
His bulky muscles twitched.
“You’re that suspicious outsider who gifted weapons to our clan this time?”
Suspicious?
The word grated a bit.
But factually, it fit.
“Yes.”
I nodded.
However.
Something felt off.
Pfft. Volcanus was smiling.
But his eyes definitely weren’t.
A gaze brimming with clear hostility.
‘What’s this?’
My affinity with the dwarves was a solid 75.
I’d only given them silver, never harmed them.
“By the way.”
Volcanus’s voice grew icy.
“Who gave you permission to use the mines?”
“…”
Silence blanketed the chamber.
The air grew stifling, like the ocean depths.
Even Dagnal, who’d gazed at the Forge Master with admiration.
Froze stiff.
“Hmm.”
I tilted my head.
Regardless of the Forge Master’s strength.
I just couldn’t understand why.
“Pardon me, but may I ask one thing?”
“Speak.”
“Have I done anything to harm the dwarf clan?”
“Of course.”
Volcanus answered immediately.
“I closed the mines and banned weapon-making. That’s been my policy for five hundred years.”
Ah, so that’s it?
What Dagnal had said made no sense.
The crystallization of five hundred years of stubborn old-man energy.
Volcanus simply disliked me making weapons at all.
“That policy is shaking because of your reckless actions—how could I let it slide without summoning you?”
“…”
“It was four hundred years of effort. Only a hundred years ago did I finally erase blacksmithing from history, and now you’re reawakening the dwarves’ creative urges. I’m quite angry.”
“…”
Absurd, but not wrong.
I was just a guest here.
Volcanus was the master.
From his view, I was a loach muddying the clear water he’d purified.
“I’m sorry.”
I bowed my head in apology first.
Whatever the case, this quest’s goal was resolving the conflict between the two clans.
I couldn’t add to the conflict before resolving it.
“There was no malice. I saw mines going to waste and wanted to use them. The weapons were made because the dwarves asked. If I’d known the details, I wouldn’t have.”
Of course.
Above all.
The being before me was overwhelmingly strong.
In truth, isn’t the strong one’s word law?
“Heh.”
The old man chuckled beside me.
“I thought my disciple was just reckless, but he knows how to bend when needed.”
‘It’s not bending—it’s dodging. What, scared of shit?’
“That’s some scary shit at your level.”
‘Yeah, fair.’
“Anyway, what’s your plan? He looks ready to tear into you.”
The old man shook his head.
“Be careful—this isn’t like the Sun Spear incident in your mind. This is a real world. Mess up, and you die. If you go down, Mansul’s done too. Got it?”
Not worried about me.
Just Mansul—kinda hurtful.
‘It won’t come to that.’
“Why?”
‘Look at their eyes.’
I nodded toward the meeting attendees.
Their lips were pursed tight, but I could clearly sense it.
“Heh, they’re dissatisfied.”
‘Yes, exactly.’
Their eyes said it all.
The councilors.
No, the entire Rock Clan, like Dagnal.
Clearly disliked Volcanus’s dictatorship.
They endured only because his power was too great.
‘Even a dictator like Volcanus can’t just kill me outright. No need to light the fuse next to the oil. Dictators seem mighty, but they always live in fear of revolution.’
Volcanus was strong.
Insanely so.
Even all dwarves and elves combined couldn’t beat him.
Meaning he could wipe out every dwarf right now.
But he didn’t, for a clear reason.
‘They’re his own kind.’
No matter how strong.
Slaughtering all rebels would nullify ruling over them!
Besides, dwarves were a race that remembered favors.
Volcanus saw harm to himself, so he acted out.
But the rest didn’t.
No need for him to stir trouble.
“Hmm.”
Volcanus stared me down.
“Sorry, but you can’t be our clan’s benefactor. I’d love to rip you apart right now, but since there was no malice, I’ll let it slide. However.”
Stubborn as ever.
He didn’t ask or listen to other councilors.
“Leave this city, Titan, immediately.”
A blatant guest expulsion order.
That was why Volcanus had summoned me.
“Th-that’s ridiculous!”
Dagnal beside me shouted then.
“Joo Dong-hoon is definitely our dwarf clan’s benefactor! We didn’t defy the Forge Master’s orders! Another race made weapons out of goodwill—how can you turn him away at the gate!”
“Ridiculous?”
Volcanus’s gaze shifted.
Dagnal gasped.
Immense pressure crushed him.
“I’m speaking politely with decorum—do you find it funny?”
“Guh!”
“If you think it’s ridiculous, simple.”
Bam!
Volcanus slammed the table hard.
His ritual whenever deciding something.
“You leave too.”
Gah.
Suddenly.
Dagnal got expelled alongside me.
* * *
Dark night.
Banished to the boundary between the rock and forest zones, Dagnal and I wandered aimlessly.
“Man. That absurd Forge Master bastard. Great Volcanus my ass. What good’s brute strength? That’s why he can’t end the war! Tsk tsk.”
“It’s baffling.”
One word.
And denied his own race.
I was an outsider anyway.
But poor Dagnal.
‘Besides.’
Truthfully, I was quite regretful too.
The quest aside…
Piles of materials in the mines haunted my eyes.
‘Boneflesh needs leveling up.’
“Anyway.”
I stopped grumbling Dagnal.
“What?”
“What do we do now? Anywhere to go?”
This world split into two zones.
Elf territory or dwarf territory.
Seemed like outsider spaces everywhere, but…
Dagnal answered my question.
“How would I know? I’ve never left the rock zone except to fight.”
“…I see.”
“Sigh, damn Forge Master. I’ll show him how well I fight because of his stubbornness…”
Grumbling nonstop at the Forge Master again.
Just as it started.
“Wait.”
I raised my hand.
My senses caught a presence.
‘At least elite level or higher.’
Direction: forest zone.
If elves, dangerous.
Affinity with them: a mere 25.
“Damn, battle stations!”
I swiftly summoned my bones.