Chapter 87
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: The Legend of Vulcanus
"Vulcanus... Vulcanus..."
An elderly dwarf muttered in a slurred voice.
He had already knocked back plenty of distilled liquor and passed out cold.
To explain how things ended up like this, I had to go back to right after the mana crystal furnace started operating.
'It's really the child of prophecy?!'
'Inform His Highness at once! The descendant of Vulcanus has appeared!'
The dwarves got wildly excited over Vulcanus or whatever he was. It felt like they might actually kidnap me if this kept up. I had to calm them down somehow... but I had no idea how. That's when Callen spoke to me.
'Boss, at this point, we might as well use it.'
'Use what?'
'The distilled liquor.'
'Come on... what difference is that gonna make...'
It made a difference. Once we brought out the distilled liquor we'd stockpiled in the workshop, the dwarves' aggression dropped off sharply. The dwarves gathered in groups of three or five, chugging it straight from the bottles. Gulp, gulp. "Kuh-!"
"That's the stuff! This is why we came down here!!"
"So, what was that flame you showed us just now?"
Once the booze hit them, conversation became possible. The opposite of humans, apparently. I explained it to them step by step.
"Well, it wasn't exactly fire. It was heat..."
I didn't know or care about this Vulcanus guy, but that heat I'd shown them was just the mana crystal's energy converted into thermal energy.
"What? So it was just magic?"
"Aw, lame! Total letdown!" ...Not the reaction I'd hoped for. I told them, "No. Maintaining that much firepower stably with a mana crystal—do you know how hard that is?!"
But the dwarves weren't listening. Not even a little. They were just picking their ears and lounging around. Dwarves didn't seem to care about magic at all. If I'd shown this to the Magic Tower folks, they'd have lost their minds and mobbed me... A seed that could spark an industrial revolution if commercialized, and this was their reaction. Whatever. The dwarves were throwing a full-blown booze party. Gulp, gulp. They downed the harsh distilled liquor like it was barley tea.
"Screw it! I don't get magic, but you're alright, kid!"
"Ugh! Mister, get your beard outta my face!"
The drunken dwarves swarmed Callen. The young and lively Callen became their prime target. (For the record, Tobin had slipped away after a moderate amount, being older and wiser.) I sat off to the side, watching the chaos unfold.
"UHAHAHA! I win-!"
"Rematch! Half of yours ended up on the floor!"
Dwarves drink like absolute monsters. 'The batch I gave them last time probably didn't even make a dent.' At that pace, I'd have blacked out ages ago. Gulp. Luckily, I was sipping the beer Vulcan brought, so I was fine. Vulcan sidled up next to me and said, "Does the booze suit your taste?"
"Ah, yeah. This one's pretty good."
"I added extra hops on the way here, worried it'd go bad. Glad it hits the spot."
No wonder it had that bitter edge. A moment later, Vulcan said, "Not the reincarnation of Vulcanus, huh. We got totally duped."
"I've been meaning to ask—what's this Vulcanus thing anyway?"
"Well..."
Vulcan began his explanation. According to dwarven mythology, all fire on earth mimics the sun.
"They call that sunfire Vulcanus."
"I see."
"And there's a legend that when the sun's light fades someday, its descendant will descend from the heavens to plant second and third suns in this land."
"And that descendant is the reincarnation of Vulcanus?"
"Exactly."
"Hmm..."
I tilted my head. Fire that mimics the sun, huh. "Nuclear fusion?"
If it really was Vulcanus's fire, it might be possible someday.
"Hm? What's that?"
I thought I'd muttered it quietly, but Vulcan heard.
"Uh... don't get the wrong idea. The principle behind the sun's light is different from earthly fire. That's what I meant."
Vulcan furrowed his brow at my explanation.
"I know that much."
"Really? Then what's with the myth?"
"Who takes myths literally? It's just a symbol to bind dwarf communities together."
"..."
That made me feel awkward instead. I said to Vulcan, "So everyone went that crazy over just a symbol?"
"Vulcanus is a deeply cherished one. Empire folk don't really think the Emperor is the sun, but they'd still get mad if someone denied it."
"Yeah... I kinda get it now."
Vulcan grumbled offhandedly, "We know fire struggles to burn the higher you go. How could sunfire be the same as ground fire?"
"Ooh..."
Impressive. They'd experienced high-altitude thin air firsthand. I said to Vulcan, "That's amazing. What did you use to test it?"
"Bags filled with air, heated by fire to rise..."
A hot air balloon, basically.
"...Or packing solid cannons tight with gunpowder and using the recoil for thrust." ...A rocket? Skipping planes straight to rockets? Wild... But thinking about it, it made sense from a dwarf's perspective. Wind tunnels and such would seem boring and pretentious to them. They'd prefer crafting an insanely sturdy-yet-light body and blasting off with gunpowder. Aluminum for the powder chamber, steel plating over it, maybe? I told him, "Incredible. But... must've been tough."
"Plenty died. Lots more got hurt."
Vulcan's voice grew heavy. I silently offered him my beer mug.
"Then let's make airships that fly without hurting anyone."
"..."
Vulcan's bushy beard twitched. He said, "Yeah. We should." Clink. The rough wooden mugs bumped together.
The news that the dwarves had ended their isolation spread across the entire Empire.
Normally, it'd take months for word of mouth to carry it everywhere.
But not this time.
[Uphills Workshop Partners with Dwarf Artisans!]
Thanks to the Empire's first regular publication: the Uphills Gazette.
Magic Tower student cafeteria.
"Whoa... just how far is this guy planning to go?"
Ellara gushed in admiration, newspaper spread wide.
Gwendolyn Everglow set down her tray opposite her and chimed in.
"Right? Dwarves... I never even imagined it."
"What, when'd you get here? And what's a grad student doing in the undergrad cafeteria?"
"My school's underclassmen are going nuts over the news. Couldn't handle it, so I ducked out here."
"Ah..."
Ellara instantly knew what she meant.
Her situation was the same.
"Yours too, huh. Mine as well..."
Ellara had fled her lab under a barrage of questions.
All because she was friends with Isaac.
Ellara continued,
"If we're like this, Liam—your roommate—must have it worse, right?"
"Oh, him? The news barely hit, and he called in sick and jetted off on vacation."
"Quick on the draw..."
A decisive move, worlds apart from the Liam of a year ago.
The salons across the Empire buzzed with dwarf talk too.
A noble who'd snagged an airship ticket at auction boasted,
"What'd I tell you? Buy early, profit early."
With dwarf engineers joining, ticket prices were skyrocketing daily.
A noble without a ticket set down his teacup.
"Damn... shoulda bought then. Any word on a second auction?"
"Beats me. Heh heh heh."
"...Brag much? If I'd had the cash, I'd have bid without a second thought."
"Heh heh heh heh."
The ticket-holders basked in smug victory.
Flying the skies after the Emperor himself, aboard a dwarf-crafted marvel—it felt within reach.
But the real winner of this affair was someone else entirely...
Princess Isolde.
Heh heh heh.
Princess Isolde chuckled.
"The tea tastes especially fine today."
"That good, Your Highness?"
Pour, pour.
The Dean refilled her cup every time she drained it.
The Princess said,
"Of course."
Gazing out the Magic Tower window toward the Uphills Workshop, she continued,
"I told young Isaac to spend whatever he needed..."
Truth be told, finances were tight.
Floating a steel fortress for 1,000 passengers in the sky?
That demanded a massive chunk of the imperial budget.
One slip-up, and the Finance Minister and Central Bank head might've dropped dead from stress.
But now? All good.
"First-auction tickets are fetching over thirty times the starting bid on the black market."
Sip.
"I see."
Pour, pour.
The Princess nodded with a satisfied smile.
"Right on plan."
She'd deliberately released a tiny batch of tickets via first auction before the dwarf news broke.
They sold at solid prices.
But as time passed and nobles cooled off, the vibe became "suckers bought high."
Makes sense—no info had leaked yet.
Enter the dwarves?
Ticket-holders would bend over backward to lord it over the doubters.
Hearing the plan, the Dean said,
"The ones who missed out will be desperate for the next round."
"Exactly."
The market was white-hot.
"A second auction now would..."
"Rake in the gold."
"Exactly."
Sip.
Pour, pour.
"If it goes well, it might cover the whole airship build."
"I see."
Even so, this year's budget would still be strained.
Metric system, paper, typewriters—all rolled out at once.
No helping it.
This was an investment in Isaac, the Empire's future.
Heh heh heh.
The Princess set down her cup with a pleased grin.
The Dean watched her silently.
'Will it really go according to plan?'
Having witnessed centuries of ventures rise and fall, the Dean knew.
Projects where funders and clients split always—always—blew past budgets.
But she held her tongue, sparing the cold water.
The dice were cast.
She only hoped Isaac still had a shred of conscience left.
"What? It might run short on funds?"
Vulcan scowled at my words.
"Can't be helped. At this rate, it'll be a clunky box taking wind resistance head-on. You really wanna float an ugly beast like that?"
"Hmm..."
I peered at the blueprints again.
He had a point.
The current design prioritized build efficiency with its boxy shape.
But for something sailing the skies, sleek streamlining was far better.
Sure, airships flew via gravity magic, so aerodynamics weren't critical.
That's why I'd drafted it this way.
'No. Since we don't need magic to streamline the outer air flow either, maybe this is better?'
A streamlined hull would ease the lift stones' burden.
Meaning greater operational range.
Vulcan said,
"What do you say? Revise the design?"
"Hmm..."
The issue was cost. Curved surfaces ate money.
But...
"Eh, sure, let's do it."
I nodded casually.
"...You're agreeing just like that?"
Vulcan seemed more surprised than I was.
"I thought humans obsessed over money matters?"
I shrugged.
"It's not my money anyway."
The Imperial Court was footing the bill. No way they'd balk over funds.
"Hmm... Fair enough."
Vulcan nodded.
I eyed the blueprints he'd revised.
The streamlined body stole the show.
Battlecruiser? Nah, this was a starship.
Beautiful.