The Origin of the Conductor of Emotions
Dagran and Reina. The dwarf Dagran, bearer of the title Artisan, was the creator of the holy sword Conductor of Emotions. Once dismissed as talentless among dwarf blacksmiths, he shot to stardom that year by forging the blade. No one before him had ever created a weapon that converted emotions into energy. Yet it was not the weapon itself that made him a star. It was the reason he had crafted it.
And that reason was love. Love for a human female knight.
The tale reaches back forty years, to a time when the Empire and the Dwarf Allied Kingdom still shared amicable ties. Imperial knights were frequently dispatched to the mountainous realm to lend their strength. The dwarves were then in the midst of securing new mineral veins, and the monsters that lurked in those uncharted ranges demanded protection.
It was during one such expedition that the dwarf Dagran met the human knight Reina.
While Dagran and his companions led a team of laborers up the slopes in search of a fresh vein, they were ambushed by a massive snow ogre. As death closed in, Reina saved him.
“Urgh!”
“A-are you all right?!”
In the process, however, Reina suffered a grievous wound to her leg. The injury was so severe she would be unable to move for months. The snow ogre’s corruption rendered healing magic useless; no amount of restorative power could mend her.
“I’m sorry. You were hurt because of me…”
“……”
Reina had been injured trying to save him, yet her own comrades showed not the slightest concern. Instead they sneered that she could at least “make a pained face” and left her behind.
When the furious Dagran demanded an explanation, they answered coldly.
“Stay out of what you don’t understand. It’s actually a blessing that the bitch got hurt. We were already sick of being stuck in the same party with her. This works out perfectly.”
With those words they abandoned her and continued up the mountain. Dagran’s own companions hurried after them; the vein had to be found before sunset. Left alone with the injured woman, Dagran could not bring himself to leave her side.
Her response was ice itself.
“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you following your group?”
“…Pardon?”
“Ours is a contractual relationship. I fulfilled my duty to protect you. You, however, are neglecting yours.”
“No, I stayed because I was worried about you—”
“Go find the vein. Only when you discover it will my compensation increase per the contract. A man who cannot even guard his own body is of no use to me if he remains here.”
…Ha. The sheer audacity left him speechless. He had stayed out of genuine concern, only to have his heart trampled by a dwarf’s pride. Still, the fault for her injury lay with him, so Dagran swallowed his anger. He dropped heavily beside her.
“You’ve got quite the temper. I’m useless with a hammer and even worse with people, so I’m an outcast too. Seems only right that two outcasts should keep each other company.”
“……”
Reina stared at him with that same blank face. After a long moment she looked away again.
“I am not angry.”
Not angry? The answer caught him off guard. He had assumed her colleagues shunned her because of that frigid tone. Apparently he had been wrong.
“Then what? It can’t be lack of skill. You took down that snow ogre single-handedly.”
Dagran leaned in with friendly curiosity. It would be at least half a day before the others returned; he hoped conversation would ease the tedium.
“……”
Reina offered only silence. She kept her lips pressed tight, eyes fixed straight ahead as though she wanted nothing to do with dialogue.
Awkward, Dagran hid his discomfort and stared in the same direction. It looked like he was stuck enduring this dull stretch of time.
“…It is simply that I am different from others.”
The answer came ten full minutes later, completely out of rhythm with the question. Dagran paid it no mind. He studied her carefully. What exactly made her different?
Her features were not unattractive. By human standards she was beautiful—pale skin, lively golden hair, long lashes, and eyes that should have sparkled. Yet there was no life in her face. Her gaze was dead.
Now that he thought about it, she had shown no change of expression the entire climb. As if reading his thoughts, she spoke the answer he had already guessed.
“I cannot feel emotions.”
“……”
He had half-expected it, yet the words still stunned him. She continued, almost defensively.
“For a knight it is an excellent trait. There is no risk of error through emotional sway.”
“……”
“Thanks to that, I survived. Four years ago my entire party fell into a trap. While everyone else rushed to save them, I made the rational choice and lived. Had I joined them, we would all have been slaughtered.”
Dagran nodded. He was beginning to understand why she was ostracized.
“How did it happen?”
“Fate. I was born with damage to my brain. My parents discovered it far too late for any treatment.”
Fate. The word struck Dagran as unbearably sad. Had she simply accepted this existence as her inescapable destiny?
“At first everyone wears that same expression.”
Reina turned her blank face toward him, referring to the look he now wore.
“This… this kind of expression?”
“Yes. The one that pities me.”
“…Ah. Forgive me.”
“It is fine. In any case I feel nothing.”
“……”
“In time you too will come to despise me. Even then I will feel nothing. Nothing will change.”
It sounded true. Throughout every word her face remained utterly expressionless. Yet somehow Dagran sensed a deep, hidden sorrow beneath that indifferent mask, as though she had sealed grief away in the farthest corner of her heart.
“You saved my life,” he said.
Impulsively, he made a vow that seemed impossible.
“Therefore, one day I will make you smile. Even if it is only for a single moment, I want you to feel the emotion called joy.”
“……”
She stared at him without the slightest flicker of movement. Then she looked away and spoke a single indifferent line.
“It will be impossible.”
“……”
Impossible. Reina’s words struck a chord in Dagran. They ignited the stubborn pride that ran through every dwarf’s blood and forged within him an iron resolution: he would make this woman smile no matter what.
From that day forward, Dagran devoted himself entirely to the question of how to make Reina smile.
“Stay at my house. I will assign servants to help you recover.”
After descending the snowy mountain, Dagran made Reina an offer. She would live in his home while her body healed. In truth, he wanted to investigate the cause of her emotionless state.
“Only if you pay me.”
Her answer was anything but ordinary. Most women would have protested at the idea of staying in a stranger’s house. Reina simply named her price.
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand arden per day. Empire currency only.”
“…Very well.”
Dagran had money to spare. After all, he was the son of one of the five great families that ruled the Dwarf Allied Kingdom. He could have been crowned king if he wished. The only problem was that he had zero interest in the throne.
“I will prepare your quarters. Follow me.”
Thus began their strange cohabitation. Reina moved with mana-infused crutches, following Dagran to lodgings suitable for a human.
A month passed.
“Heh heh… Ordinary methods really won’t work, will they?”
Dagran gave a self-mocking laugh and collapsed onto the sofa. Reina, seated on the bed, watched expressionlessly as he pressed a hand to his forehead.
“Shall we dissolve the contract?” she asked.
“…No. We’re still far from finished.”
He had tried everything to make her smile. Bestselling joke books, renowned clowns, exquisite cuisine, fragrant flowers, breathtaking scenery, legendary blades—nothing worked. Yet Dagran refused to surrender. If ordinary methods failed, he would use a method befitting a dwarf.
He would build a device that could make her smile.
“No matter what it takes, I will make you smile!!!”
Thus began the legendary stubbornness of a dwarf. The forge fire never died. By day he spoke with Reina, researching everything about emotion. By night he poured his soul into crafting devices that might awaken feeling.
Born the son of a powerful chieftain, he had lived days of boredom and privilege. For the first time in his life he burned with true passion. Making Reina smile became his greatest purpose.
“…Your face is badly injured.”
One day Dagran staggered into her room, face swollen and bruised. Reina barely glanced at him before returning to her book.
Dagran dropped onto the sofa.
“Aren’t you curious? About why my face looks like this?”
“……”
She lifted her head.
“Why did it happen?”
“……”
Dagran let out a small laugh. They had been living together for over three months now, yet her indifference still stung.
“…Your former comrades said it. They called you a money-crazed lunatic. A whore who would sell her body to a dwarf if the pay was right. …I couldn’t let it pass. A knight trampling another’s honor? I knew it was foolish, but I had to deliver some form of retribution.”
He spoke hoping she would understand. Hoping she would realize he had fought for her sake, even if he had been beaten senseless without landing a single blow. Only then could he salvage his bruised pride.
“You did something pointless.”
Her reply was devastating. With a face as cold as blank parchment she continued.
“I cannot feel shame. That is why I could abandon my comrades and flee. I feel no attachment to them, nor any shame in running away.”
“……”
“Why would you do such a thing? His words hold no power over me. In truth, money is all I need. If you had desired my body, I would have named an appropriate price—”
“Enough!”
Dagran shot to his feet, breathing hard.
Reina’s expression remained blank.
“I told you. Eventually you will come to despise me as well.”
“……”
“Shall we dissolve the contract?”
Staring into eyes that showed not the faintest ripple of emotion, Dagran felt as though every effort he had made had turned to dust. Yet beneath that crushing disappointment, a single truth crystallized.
He had fallen in love with her. Nothing less could have made his heart rage like this.
“…You really don’t understand a dwarf’s stubbornness at all. Just wait and see. Because one day, I will make you smile.”