Summoning the Eccentric Red-Haired Dwarf
I decided to go through with the designated summon. The loner part was whatever, but the eccentric part had me a little worried. Still, I accepted the summon.
Designated summon in progress: Dwarf.
Searching for potential residents.
Search complete. One individual wishes to migrate.
Designated summon: Dwarf. One lone eccentric dwarf.
Proceed with summon?
“Yeah!”
The light expanded only as high as my waist before stopping. When it faded, what appeared was a girl about that same height. She had wild, uncombed red hair and large brown eyes. Her face gave off an overall cute impression.
But…
“Yo~ Are you the lord who summoned me?”
“Yeah. That’s right. I summoned you.”
She looked like a girl. Definitely a girl. But her chest was enormous. So big it was easily three heads’ worth. Strangely, it didn’t feel weird to me.
Ah… I guess I’ve built up an immunity after seeing so much of it?
I turned my head. There was Miya, wearing a white tank top. Not quite three heads, but a little over two.
I turned again. There was Asne, wrapped in tight white fabric. This one was definitely three heads.
I turned once more. Lei and Ruin stood there in tight black dresses. These two were also three heads.
Was that all? Starting with Diya, most of the snow leopard women fell somewhere between two-and-a-half and three.
“Whoa~ This place is packed with beautiful people!”
The dwarf, who had followed my gaze, let out an impressed whistle. I wasn’t sure how accurate the knowledge was, but I’d heard that male dwarves judged beauty by beard thickness while females judged it by chest size. The way her eyes lingered on Asne, who had the largest among all the residents, seemed to confirm it.
“Is that a house? What a strange shape! May I take a closer look?”
“Before that, let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Kim Minsoo, lord of this territory.”
“Oh! That’s right! I lose my head the moment I see something interesting! I am the Red-Haired Pioneer of the Black Mountains!”
“Don’t you have an actual name?”
“A name? Everyone just calls me whatever they want, so I don’t really have one. It’s not important anyway. So, can I look at that building now?”
This dwarf gave the distinct impression that examining the building was currently the most important thing in the world.
“Sure. Look all you want.”
“I like how straightforward you are!”
She answered brightly and hurried toward the house, exclaiming in admiration the whole time. She knocked on the walls, pressed them firmly, and then…
“Hey! Why are you trying to lick it?!”
“Hmm? Oh, I was curious what kind of metal it was. You can usually tell by tasting it.”
“It’s painted, so it probably won’t taste like metal. Could you not do that?”
“Paint? Hmm… So it’s a coating applied to the metal? That explains all the different colors. How fascinating! Who is the craftsman that made this building?”
“Um… I’m not sure? I just bought it.”
“Oh? You purchased a house made from such high-grade metal? The lord must be quite wealthy.”
“I don’t know what you’re imagining, but it’s not that insanely expensive.”
“What?!”
The dwarf looked shocked by my words.
“You know about gold, right? This is one gold. My biggest house cost fifty thousand gold, and the one next to it can be bought for three thousand.”
“Wh-what?! You’re saying this incredible house only costs that much?!”
“Even if gold has gotten cheaper, it’s still pretty expensive to call it ‘only’…”
“Let me see that currency for a moment. Hmm… I see. The large house costs a little over fifty kilograms of gold, and the smaller one about three kilograms. If there’s a decent-sized gold vein, it wouldn’t be hard to buy at all.”
She took the single gold coin from me and roughly calculated the weight. Since one gold was about one gram, fifty thousand gold came to fifty kilograms. The dwarf pondered this with dead-serious eyes.
“If it’s not rude, may I see inside the house as well?”
“Of course. If you become a resident, I’ll buy you that small house, so let’s look at it too.”
A migrant wishes to affiliate with the territory.
Residents affiliated with the territory will behave differently according to their satisfaction level.
Target: Lone Eccentric Red-Haired Pioneer of the Black Mountains.
Target’s satisfaction level: Very, very, very high.
The lord must care for the territory and its residents.
The residents must protect the territory and the lord.
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After checking the messages, I accepted her as a resident.
The dwarf known as the Lone Eccentric Red-Haired Pioneer of the Black Mountains has been accepted as a resident.
Due to the resident’s trait, the quality of all minerals within the territory has increased by one rank.
Oh… Jackpot! I didn’t know about gold, but if the mithril’s quality went up, it was pure profit.
Thanks to Lei’s trait, gold and mithril veins had formed on Heugildo. I was curious what kind of reaction this dwarf would have when she saw them.
“You’re a resident of my territory now. Let’s check inside the house first, then I have something to show you. Sound good?”
“Haa…! Hoo…! Hiiik…! Understood!”
The dwarf was breathing heavily, almost panting. I guided her into my house. She grew excited over every little thing she saw in my modest room. Since I had simply bought it, I didn’t know the fine details, but I shared what information I had.
“Haa…! S-so… Hoo…! Y-you’re saying… Hiiik…! All of this runs on mana stones…?”
“That’s right.”
“To think such advanced technology exists… It’s insane…! Does a place like this really need me…!”
Her eyes trembled with confusion.
“Um… You don’t have to feel too burdened. The technological level of my territory isn’t that high. We’ll probably be relying on your skills when it comes to crafting things.”
“I-is that so…! That’s a relief.”
“And while I don’t know about crazy advanced techniques, there are quite a few known things here. If you compare them to your own knowledge and only learn what you need, won’t your skills improve too?”
“Oh…!!! I see!!!”
“Anyway, like I said earlier, there’s a place I want to show you. Is that okay?”
“A place you want to show me? Where?”
“It’s a mineral vein. Gold and mithril. You’ll recognize it the moment you see it, right?”
“This territory has gold veins and m-mithril veins?!”
“Yeah. They’re there, but I didn’t know how to mine them so I left them alone. Now that we have a dwarf, I figure we can finally do something about them… Oh, and since you don’t have a name, would it be all right if I gave you one?”
“Let’s go! Right now! Names aren’t important! So let’s go immediately!”
The dwarf stared at me with a strict, solemn, and serious expression, urging me to lead the way. Since a name didn’t come to mind right away, I decided to guide her first.
We traveled with Asne parting the sea. Along with Miya’s family, Asne, Lei, Ruin, Lily, and the dwarf, we arrived at Heugildo.
“My lord, I have a question.”
“The mineral vein? I said I’d show you right away.”
“No, not that. Um. The person who casually transported this many people… that person over there…”
“Asne? Why do you ask?”
“Could she… perhaps be a S-Siren…?”
“Oh? You know about Sirens? That’s right. Asne is a Siren.”
“Oh… Almighty Armahart God, protect me with your eternal light…!”
She suddenly clasped both hands over her chest, recited a prayer, closed her eyes, and froze completely still.
“Are you okay?”
I touched her, but the dwarf gave no response at all.
“Oh my, did she faint?”
“She fainted the moment she heard Asne was a Siren.”
“Aah~ That can’t be helped. There are a few races that fear us Sirens, and dwarves are one of them. I was careful not to let her feel my power, but… it didn’t work.”
“Uh… Sorry. If I’d known, I would have warned you in advance.”
“It’s not something for you to apologize for, my lord. If anything, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you beforehand.”
I grew even more curious about what Sirens were like in that other world. But the Asne standing in front of me was simply beautiful and kind, so there didn’t seem to be any need to dig deeper.
“Dwarves once tried to mine something in the sea and got severely scolded by a Siren! It’s so famous that everyone knows the story!”
“So something like that happened…?”
“It wasn’t me, but a Siren I know…!”
“Huh?! That was hundreds of years ago… Mmph?!”
“Miya~?”
“Hic!”
Asne quickly covered Miya’s mouth. Miya had been about to blurt something out in surprise. When I quietly called her name, she hiccupped. It must have been that frightening. I decided then and there never to ask about Asne’s age. It would definitely be better for my health.
“What should we do about this?”
I pretended not to know anything and wondered how to handle the dwarf. Asne approached and placed her hand on the dwarf’s head.
“Hah!? Almighty… Where am I?!”
“Fear not. In my territory, residents do not harm one another.”
“Ah, lord who commands a Siren…! I pledge my loyalty!”
“Just relax. I don’t want any of my residents feeling uncomfortable in my territory.”
“How magnanimous! Understood! I shall trust my lord and live comfortably without fear!”
“Good. Now, about that mineral vein I wanted to show you… It’s at the center and the edge of that mountain over there.”
The dwarf looked at the mountain, but her eyes were filled with obvious disappointment.
“That mountain doesn’t look like it has any mineral veins at all?”
“Does it look that way to an expert?”
“It does. It is quite an old mountain, but… it doesn’t seem like a suitable place for minerals.”
“You’ll understand once we get there.”
I was curious what kind of face she would make when she actually saw the veins. We rode the Snow Leopard Express to the center of the mountain. Naturally, I was carried on Mino’s back while the dwarf rode on Miya’s.
“The gold vein should be somewhere around here. Take a look.”
“Somewhere around here? My lord, if there was a vein, wouldn’t it have been found through proper vein detection? Saying ‘somewhere around here’ makes it sound like you didn’t even do any detection at all?”
“Uh… There’s something like that. I knew about it but couldn’t use it, so it felt like it was just left alone?”
“Huh… You really are a difficult lord to understand.”
She shook her head but still scanned the area carefully.
“As I thought, this doesn’t seem like a place where a vein would—”
“I’m certain there’s a gold vein nearby. If there isn’t, I’ll grant you any wish I’m capable of fulfilling.”
“Hmm… That’s some incredible confidence. Then I’ll search seriously.”
The System had never lied to me before. So there had to be one. If not… well, I’d have to grant the dwarf’s wish. Honestly, I was a little nervous, which was why I’d added the condition that it had to be something I could actually do.
“Lord! Lord! Isn’t this the spot I mentioned last time? Over there! I feel something right there!”
“Yes, this is the place Lei pointed out before. Where exactly do you feel it?”
“Right there!”
Lei pointed, and everyone’s eyes naturally followed. That included the dwarf.
“No way…?”
The dwarf seemed to spot something and dashed forward. She started scraping at the ground with her hands.
“The gold vein… is really… here? Then the m-mithril vein too…?!”
The dwarf fainted again right where she stood.
It looked like I had summoned a dwarf with a rather fragile spirit.