Chapter 119. The Migration of the Dwarves.
Chapter 119. The Migration of the Dwarves.
The negotiations with the dwarves wrapped up faster than I'd expected. If anything, what made things more uncomfortable was their flat refusal to accept any kind of payment.
The whole situation was made infinitely more awkward by the dwarf who'd spotted us first and brought us in.
"I failed to recognize my benefactor and dared to doubt you! Forgive me — take my life as penance!"
"Look. You didn't all know my face. If you keep this up, I'm the one who ends up feeling awkward, so drop it."
"Yes!"
The chieftain, by now thoroughly buoyant, ordered his tribesmen to bring out food and drink and threw a feast. They'd always had a fondness for alcohol anyway, so we broke out all kinds of liquor and meat and handed the beer around.
"Hm... it's no rival for our own brew, but our benefactor's homeland beer is more than decent."
"It's drinkable."
"And, benefactor — if you'll pardon my asking, might I pose you a question?"
I nodded, and he asked it with the cautious air of someone broaching a secret.
"The women beside you, benefactor — are they your wives?"
"Well, is that so?"
I answered with a question of my own, since we hadn't exactly held a wedding ceremony(?).
"Earlier, when I visited your home, I saw a portrait of me hanging on the wall. Why?"
"You rescued our tribe when we stood on the verge of utter ruin. So that we never forget, I had the brother among us who draws best produce it."
"Well, damn..."
I was sipping my beer when a sudden thought hit me, and I asked him.
"Right, that reminds me — what was that about monsters coming out at night? What's the story there?"
"..."
"What, something you'd rather not talk about?"
"No. It is only that... it feels like laying our shame bare."
While they'd been discovering veins and working the mine, they'd encountered a creature called an Umbra — a monster that lives in darkness. They'd barely managed to seal it away, and it had cost them lives. But when they crossed dimensions, the seal broke. I asked why they'd only sealed it instead of destroying it, and they admitted they hadn't possessed the strength to kill it.
"So that's what that was. In that case, why'd you shoot down the drone?"
"Benefactor, if you'll forgive a foolish question — what is a drone?"
Once I'd explained what a drone was, he looked sheepish.
"I am sorry. We assumed it was some manner of demon beast passing overhead, and so we attacked..."
"..."
The sheer banality of the reason just drained my strength. They'd brought down a staggeringly expensive drone over something like that... When the U.S. hears about this, they're going to be furious.
A drone flying through its own country's airspace got blown up...
"Benefactor, before we move — might it be possible to deal with the Umbra...?"
"Not hard."
"My apologies. It is a mess of our own making... but I feel uneasy just leaving it behind..."
Truth be told, handling it wasn't going to be much trouble. However grand the title they'd stuck on it, to me it was just one demon beast among countless others.
"Now that it's come up, I'll take care of it today."
* * * * * * * *
Dealing with the Umbra took almost no time at all. It was the sort of creature physical attacks couldn't touch, but once I split its core essence, it shrieked and faded away.
"Benefactor, thank you!"
"Enough. So, how many in your tribe are there?"
Listening to him, it turned out they had a considerable population, and beyond the numbers, they also had a tremendous amount of belongings to bring with them. We used the satellite radio to contact the village.
"Yes, Representative."
I gave them the current headcount and the volume of supplies that needed moving, and they thought for a moment before answering.
"Don't worry. We do have aircraft of our own. A little maintenance and they should be ready to fly."
"But can your air force pilots actually handle a civilian airliner?"
"Yes, there are plenty of cases where they discharge and get hired by civilian airlines."
"If we add in the time to go to the research facility and back, the schedule for an airplane out of Gimpo to get checked and arrive should roughly line up."
"That's right. We'll start preparations immediately then."
After wrapping up the transport communications, I talked with them a bit more, and true to their dwarven nature, the phrase "research facility" visibly piqued their interest.
"A research facility — may we come along as well?"
"In the first place, the reason we're heading to the research facility is to retrieve data to show to you."
When they heard we were planning to share Earth's knowledge with them, they were thrilled.
"Oooh...!"
"I'm no expert in this field myself, so I'm counting on you to pick it up well and make lots of good things for us."
"Just leave it to us!"
I asked them to wait here a while and explained why. Moving everyone all at once wasn't practical this very moment, I told them, since we were still getting transport ready. Even once the plane arrived, helicopters would have to shuttle back and forth between Las Vegas and here multiple times.
We handed over more than enough food to feed all of them comfortably, then left their village and stepped back outside.
"Once they join us, they're going to be an enormous help in rebuilding society."
"Really?"
"They might even crank out the kind of jaw-dropping stuff you see in sci-fi movies."
The girls each let their imaginations wander as we walked back to where the helicopter was waiting. A tent had been pitched in front of the chopper — it looked like they'd been camping here for days. When they spotted us coming, they waved from a distance.
"Did everything get resolved smoothly?"
"Yeah, nothing to worry about."
"Then we will once more see you safely to our final destination — Washington."
Just like on the way here, we swung by the airport in Las Vegas, boarded the chartered plane that had been waiting, and headed straight for Washington.
The trip was a little tedious, but nothing like flying from Korea to the States, so I could stomach it. When we arrived, our men were looking remarkably bright-faced — apparently, they'd been treated well here.
Well, they're all Awakened who've been honed through special forces training, so...
"Representative, good work."
"Of course. So, what've you found out?"
"Yes, it's looking simpler than we feared. There's a server room where all the facility's data is stored. All we have to do is get there and pull the drives."
"Let's get over there and hear the details."
I briefly greeted the others and excused ourselves, then headed toward the room the U.S. side had set aside for us. On the way, the Special Forces Commander murmured something into my ear.
"They've been asking about martial arts and magic... quietly. I think they've got their eye on those as well."
Naturally they would. No matter how far modern science advances, in the future — unless you're talking about weapons of mass destruction like nukes — the balance of military power will shift depending on who has Awakened. Already in our village, anyone who's reached a certain level of mastery can spot a handgun aimed at them and dodge it. Looking purely at individual combat strength, that's the case, but if a professionally trained Awakened is inserted into a foreign country for assassination or espionage missions, catching them becomes extraordinarily difficult.
"So, what'd you tell them?"
"Haha. Naturally, I told them absolutely nothing. I just wanted you to know they're sniffing around."
We went inside the room and the Special Forces Commander spread out the map of the research facility he'd acquired across the table. He then briefed us on the plan he'd drawn up so far.
"We plan to insert via helicopter, rappelling from the air onto the rooftop and making entry from there. However, we'll need your help, Representative, for the descent."
He glanced at me and went on.
"For a rope descent, the helicopter would have to fly low, and the noise would draw zombies swarming toward us. On the other hand, if we try to parachute from higher altitude, the rooftop isn't large enough for a full deployment."
In other words, they wanted me to regulate mana to help everyone land safely.
"That much won't be difficult."
"Also, we received the photos they took while doing aerial recon with the drones, and they didn't pick up anything particularly out of the ordinary. Although..."
"I've been told there's an absolutely staggering number of zombies."
"Zombies are everywhere in huge numbers anyway."
"This many defies comparison."
He pulled several photographs from a pocket and handed them over. The zombies were packed in such appalling numbers that you couldn't see a single inch of open ground. I'd been imagining a few hundred at most, and I was left speechless.
"Was there some kind of event going on back then, or what?"
"An international seminar was being held, and they hosted it here. An overwhelming crowd flooded in — research personnel from every country, their families, and even vendors targeting them."
"Huh..."
For people who'd likely been looking forward to a pleasant event with their families, a catastrophic tragedy had unfolded. Everyone tangled together, making escape anything but simple.
"Then, naturally, survivors..."
"Yes. The United States has determined there are absolutely none. Even if someone had managed to hide somewhere early on, they would've starved to death by now."
"Hm... that much time has passed since the world ended, so..."
"Yes. If by any chance we do find survivors, they've instructed us to handle it at our own discretion."
In any case, all the data from the research facility was ours; nothing from it was going back to them. So their meaning was clear: if you find survivors, do as you see fit. Whether that meant eliminating them or rescuing them.
We immediately boarded the helicopter the White House had arranged and headed for the facility. The American research complex boasted a staggering size — it was practically a village in its own right. The fact that data from a complex this vast had all been consolidated in one place was, from the standpoint of someone coming to retrieve it, as good as it gets.
"Still, we're lucky we only have to go to a single location."
"You're right. When you think about having to comb through this entire enormous place and collect everything... yeah, that'd be a nightmare."
We pulled into a hover above the relevant facility and opened the door. The moment I gave the signal, everyone leaped into the air. Just before they reached the rooftop, I used mana to break their fall and help them touch down safely.
"Everyone, sound off and check your weapons."
The special mission agents checked their gear with perfect coordination and flashed the okay sign. From the rooftop, I looked down at the scene below, and it was nothing short of hell. An unspeakable number of zombies crammed every inch of space between the buildings.
"At this rate, we'll run out of ammunition before we make a dent in the zombies..."
"We'll have to avoid contact as much as possible and go in carefully."
They slung their rifles across their backs and drew their combat knives, then exchanged glances in front of the rooftop door.
Slowly, we opened the locked rooftop door and made our way inside.