Chapter 101: Welcome to Dwarf Town (1) Scratch, scratch.
In the quiet dean's office of the Doren Mage Tower, only the soft sound of a quill pen flowed steadily.
Painfolt, the headmaster of the Doren Mage Tower, was absorbed in his research on teleportation magic as usual.
He still had the NuX bar stick he had eaten after breakfast in his mouth, even though it was already nearing lunchtime.
"Hmm, let's see..."
Painfolt stretched and checked the time on the desk clock he had received from Jinseo.
"Has this much time already passed?"
Up until early last year, he had been unable to overcome the passage of time and found it difficult to focus on anything.
His life, which he had been spending day after day in numb resignation, thinking of himself as good as dead as a mage, had completely changed after he learned about the food truck.
Thanks to ice cream as a dessert, he regained the concentration he had lost and was able to walk the path of magic once more.
Even though there was nothing he could do about his aging body, he felt newly grateful for the fact that he could still keep his mind clear.
"I am a bit hungry… but it's bothersome to have a proper meal."
Painfolt began to boil the water inside a glass bottle on the desk with magic.
Then he opened a drawer and took out a paper cup and a stick of instant coffee.
Because of his age, he often skipped meals, but he never missed a cup of instant coffee and a NuX bar ice cream.
Slurp.
Painfolt took a sip of the instant coffee while stroking the pendant hanging around his neck with his left hand.
"Even after doing this much, I still can't see the end."
He let out a short sigh as he looked at the piles of parchment scrolls stacked beside the desk.
Thanks to ice cream, he had been able to accelerate his previously stagnant research on teleportation magic and coordinate designation.
The reason he created, refined, and meticulously reviewed teleportation magic formulas capable of traveling to other continents, ensuring not even the slightest mistake, was only one.
To track the whereabouts of his twin younger brother, whom everyone else believed to be dead—but whom he still believed to be alive.
"But someday, I will be able to see you again, right?"
The magical pendant left behind by his twin younger brother could translate dozens of languages.
Painfolt did not miss the fact that among them were languages not from the Francia Continent, but from other continents and even non-human races.
If his younger brother, who had been a far more talented mage than himself, had traveled between other continents, it was entirely possible that he had created that pendant in the process.
On top of that, Painfolt added one more assumption of his own.
That the massive explosion powerful enough to blow away an entire mage tower had actually been a runaway teleportation spell leading to a distant continent he had never been to before.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
Painfolt set down the paper cup of coffee and spoke at the knock coming from beyond the door.
"Are you Headmaster Painfolt? It's a pleasure to meet you for the first time!"
Hearing the hearty voice characteristic of a dwarf, Painfolt turned around in his chair.
It was not Geshtain, who came and went from the headmaster's office as if it were his own home, but a dwarf with an unfamiliar face.
"My name is Kelzman. As of today, I have been dispatched to the Dwarf Federation Embassy. I heard that you were the first human my master befriended on the Francia Continent, so I came to pay my respects."
"The first he befriended? Ah, Geshtain's disciple, then?"
"Yes! My master told me you are the greatest among human mages!"
"I'm not such a great mage… but in any case, it's nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is mine! But, um..."
Kelzman tilted his head and studied Painfolt's face closely.
"Have you ever been to our territory?"
"Your territory? I did visit the Ashred Continent a few months ago."
"I don't mean Lord Wigenburg's territory, but another one. It's strange. I'm sure I've seen your face before..."
Kelzman stroked his long-grown beard as he continued to look up at Painfolt.
"Perhaps a sibling or relative of yours has visited the Ashred Continent?"
"A sibling?"
At the word sibling, Painfolt grabbed Kelzman's shoulders tightly.
"Have you seen my brother?"
"Your brother?"
"My twin younger brother! His name is Rainfolt! When—where did you see him? Please, tell me!"
An excited Painfolt clutched Kelzman's shoulders and shook him hard back and forth.
"Th-That would have been ten years ago… or maybe eleven. Anyway, around that time. I don't know his name."
After finishing a month-long vacation, Jinseo drove the food truck toward Falstead Castle.
The feeling of speeding alone along a quiet road winding through dense foliage rather than a city was one of the pleasures he could never experience in Korea, where traffic was always congested.
To be honest, it hardly felt like a vacation given how busy each day had been, but meeting a younger acquaintance after a long time and talking with him allowed Jinseo to recharge in his own way.
"Huh?"
As he drew closer to Falstead Castle, Jinseo doubted his eyes.
The rough soccer field that had been there before he left on vacation was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a neatly grassed soccer field.
"Here! Pass it here! Give me the pass!"
"What are you doing? Pass the ball! Why are you just standing there?"
"Look over there! It's the food truck! Jinseo is back!"
The knights who had been in the middle of a match noticed the food truck belatedly and hurriedly chased after it.
Jinseo slowed the food truck, drove along the path between the soccer fields, and headed toward Falstead Castle.
"Has this much been built already?"
Buildings that had not been there before now stood in large numbers around the area where Jinseo usually did business.
"Huh? It's the food truck! The food truck is back!"
"Jinseo is here?"
The dwarves who had been constructing buildings threw down their equipment and ran toward the food truck alongside the knights.
The knights, drenched in sweat from kicking the ball and running.
The dwarves, covered head to toe in dirt and dust from their work.
They all greeted Jinseo, who had returned from vacation, with bright smiles.
"Oh! You're here! We've been waiting!"
The one who vigorously pounded Jinseo's side in welcome was Geshtain, whom Jinseo had personally seen off when he returned to the Ashred Continent after finishing the delegation schedule.
"Huh? Weren't you returning to the Ashred Continent?"
"I came back again. This time as a diplomat. Honestly, is there any dwarf who knows the Francia Continent better than I do? So as soon as I arrived, I said I'd come back right away, and they gave me this! Hahaha!"
Geshtain slapped the badge he wore on the upper left side of his chest, which had been personally bestowed by Wigenburg.
"Congratulations. I look forward to working with you."
"I'm the one who should be asking that! This is my first time doing something like this, so I keep making mistakes! Anyway, welcome back!"
"We've really been waiting! Does that mean we'll be able to eat other street food besides tteok-twig-sun-ra-gim now?"
"We've been having a really hard time since MeXna ran out. Next time you go on vacation, please stock the branch much more generously!"
As the knights began airing their grievances about what they had missed while he was gone, Jinseo smiled lightly and looked around.
"It's only been a month, but I didn't expect things to change this much."
"We originally planned to finish everything before you came back, but things got delayed quite a bit."
Some members of the dwarf delegation had remained on the Francia Continent to construct the embassy.
The Doren Kingdom had offered to set up the embassy inside Colses, but the dwarves in the delegation politely declined and insisted on establishing it at Falstead Castle.
The reason was simple.
Because the food truck was there.
Jinseo provided part of the land near Falstead Castle that had been bestowed upon him by King Philip III to the dwarves, and while he was on vacation, they focused on constructing the embassy and various other buildings.
"It's a bit different from the buildings I saw on the Ashred Continent."
"Well, it's not a place only dwarves will live in."
Geshtain tapped the door of a house under construction with his fist.
Since the building was meant to facilitate interaction with humans, it had to be convenient for humans to come and go.
As a result, by dwarf standards, it had to be built quite large.
Instead, since it was inconvenient for dwarves, they installed small, compact stairways here and there to match their stride.
"Does Lady Charlotte come by often?"
"She hasn't come even once since you left. She must have really liked Orte Harbor. Well, once the cola runs out, she'll come even if you tell her not to..."
"Come to think of it, where is the food truck branch?"
"Ah, as you can see, there are still many areas under construction, so it's messy and dangerous... We moved it to a place a bit farther away."
Geshtain raised his right arm and pointed beyond the buildings still under construction.
"Oh, they're coming right now."
"Mr. Jinseo! You're here!"
"Brother! I missed you!"
Aston and Jason, who had been selling street food at the food truck branch in Jinseo's place.
Like everyone else, the two men warmly welcomed Jinseo, who had returned to the Francia Continent after a month.
Jason, in particular, was so overjoyed that he hugged Jinseo tightly.
-meow!-
"Nero! It's good to see you too! Owl, same for you!"
Jason waved to the two beings flying in circles above his head.
"But guys! Before that, I have something to ask you, brother! So let's play later..."
"Is this what you needed?"
When Jinseo took something out of his pocket, a wide smile spread across Jason's face.
"Yes! That's it! That's the one!"
Jason pulled out the portable TeXris device he had kept in his waist pouch and hurriedly replaced the battery with the new one Jinseo handed him.
Jinseo had been certain that Jason would find it hard to endure a month without TeXris while he was away from the Francia Continent.
So the day before his vacation, he had obtained a portable TeXris device and given it to Jason as a gift.
However, in the spirit of moderation, he had only given him one spare battery.
Jason, unfortunately, was not a man who understood moderation.
Holding the portable TeXris device, which had begun operating again, in both hands, he smiled sincerely.
As he squatted in place, enjoying TeXris with a crazed grin, the knights and dwarves around him began backing away one by one.
"I don't know much about it, but it's terrifying."
"It should get better with time. But weren't you in the middle of work?"
"We were. Well then, we'll go finish what we were doing. Once we're done, we'll stop by the food truck, so please make us some budae-jjigae."
"Yes, understood. But… aren't you working without helmets?"
"Helmets? Is there really a need for that?"
Geshtain brushed off Jinseo's question casually.
However, having lived in modern Korea, Jinseo could not simply overlook the otherworld's characteristic lack of safety awareness.
"You said you'd be building things here, so I did prepare some items. Should I bring them out?"
"What are they? I'd like to see."
"Please wait a moment."
Jinseo went into the additional trailer and took out a large number of items he had stored in the subspace storage.
Construction helmets, cotton work gloves, blue tape, shovels, modular handcarts, and more.
They were tools and equipment Jinseo had prepared, thinking they would be helpful at a construction site.
"There are many things you're seeing for the first time, so I'll explain how to use them."
To demonstrate, Jinseo put a construction helmet on his head and adjusted the chin strap.
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