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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Because They're All Dead
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I was planning to leave anyway.
Once Roger came back with the blueprints, I'd have to procure the materials to match.
Right now, the only one who could leave the tower without issue was Berge.
He just had one more lump of baggage now.
That's how he decided to think of it.
"If you're thinking of running away, go ahead. Carrying you around as a human skewer wouldn't be pretty for me either."
"Of course not! I could remake it, but it would take too long!"
Roger denied it vehemently.
He'd be lying if he said the thought hadn't crossed his mind, but it was impossible right now. Especially with the necklace around his neck.
"The exact function of this necklace..."
"Only one."
"Which is...?"
"It separates your head from your body. Turns Roger Friedri into just Roger and Friedri."
"...Under what circumstances?"
"That depends on what you do."
"Ah..."
"Curious? You can try taking it off."
"As if I'd do that! I am your faithful servant, Demon King!"
"Consider it an honor. It's probably the first time something like that's been put on the neck of someone who's neither prince nor princess."
The necklace was a blade to prevent kidnapped princesses or princes from escaping. Purchasable with magic points.
"...An honor."
Roger swallowed his tears.
The two soon arrived at Hortonwork, the nearest human city to the Erjest Mountains.
"You've got the list of what we need, right?"
"Of course. Buying from the Dwarf Kingdom would be cheapest and highest quality. But... we can't do that. It would take too much time."
"Doesn't matter."
To avoid potential pursuit and exposure of his identity, they traveled through various kingdoms.
A month of waiting for materials to arrive. They'd procured most of what was needed.
"Now just one thing left."
"That equipment you made?"
"I call it the Mana Ghost. It erases traces of mana like a ghost..."
"Your naming sense is terrible."
"..."
"Let's go in."
'Finally.'
Returning to the Dwarf Kingdom after nearly two months, Roger couldn't hide his excitement.
However, the gate guard he'd met multiple times before didn't recognize his face. A wretched mask indistinguishable from real skin covered both his and the Demon King's faces.
Roger barely suppressed the urge to rip it off.
He didn't want to become just "Ro/ger" right now.
"New faces."
"Mercenaries."
"A dwarf and human combo—rare sight. What's your business in the city?"
"Finished a job nearby and stopping for some rest."
"Even bringing a fellow dwarf along, but with the city's current situation, we have to do a light body search. Nothing personal."
"What's going on?"
"Just some circumstances. Think nothing of it."
Berge and Roger submitted meekly. Anything suspicious was stashed in sub-space, so nothing caught attention.
"Don't cause trouble. Everyone's on edge—won't end well."
"We'll keep that in mind."
"Well, if you're trustworthy enough for a dwarf to team up with you as a mercenary, I figure you'll be fine."
Rumble rumble—
The ground began descending vertically.
"What do you think's happening?"
"...Probably because I've gone missing."
"Because you're a hero?"
"I was kidnapped in the middle of forging the princess's weapon."
"That thing melting in the furnace?"
"It's probably just a lump of scrap metal by now."
"Which princess?"
The princes and princesses of the Dwarf Kingdom were all fierce without exception. Born warriors and beasts who sought out fights.
"I hope it's not the 2nd Princess."
"It is the 2nd Princess, Your Highness. Do you know her?"
"...This just got annoying."
Berge instinctively checked his condition. Being away from the tower had strengthened the interference, weakening his power.
He didn't know how strong the princess was now, but he couldn't guarantee victory unconditionally.
"Let's head to your workshop first."
"Yes."
The workshop lacked its former heat.
No hammering sounds.
No sweat of smiths.
Instead, something else was there.
Sturdy iron fences and soldiers guarding them.
"It's been a month or two since you were kidnapped?"
"A bit less."
"Ruthless."
It was like this in his previous life too.
"...How?"
"We'll sneak in and take it."
"That's impossible."
"Think twice before opening your mouth, and thrice before letting your tongue wag. Don't mistake your abilities for mine."
"S-sorry. I overstepped."
"Any secret passages into the workshop?"
"Yes."
The passage was located on the outskirts, about 3km from the workshop.
"You want me staring at your ass again, huh."
"...S-sorry for making the passage fit my body."
"Lead the way."
"Yes!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"A month and a half gone by! And you still haven't found him?"
The princess of the Bergft Kingdom slammed the table in irritation.
Blood trickled from the knights' foreheads where it hit.
"Just how incompetent are you? How much more must this princess endure your incompetence!"
"We're sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it!"
"There are too many secret passages dug by dwarves. We're investigating them one by one, but he's likely already escaped."
"Of course he has! Over a month—staying put would make him an idiot, not a kidnapper!"
She'd long given up on having the kidnapper paraded before her after the first week.
"Did I say drag that bastard here right now? A trace. Finding even one trace of that damn scum—is that so hard?"
"Our apologies."
"Two weeks. Exactly two months total—give me two more weeks. Find a trace of the bastard who stole my weaponsmith. Where he went, who he is—even a single hair!"
"Yes!"
"And seal every secret passage except those made officially by the city."
"Understood."
"Get out. I can't stand the sight of you."
The knights hurried from the room. The princess huffed, trying to calm her breathing.
But her rage wouldn't subside.
"Arrrgh!"
She smashed chairs and crushed tables. Mashed iron cups into lumps and stomped the floor.
"Clear it out."
Only after a while did she calm a bit. Maids waiting outside rushed in to clean.
The princess left the office for the workshop where her weaponsmith should have been working.
The massive workshop taking half the third floor. The furnace that should spew endless heat was cold, no hammer strikes echoing.
And the lone lump of scrap metal smoldered faintly, as if desperately trying to reignite.
'That was supposed to be my weapon!'
The furnace should roar with flames.
Roger's arms should swing the hammer.
He should have finished her weapon even if kidnapped—then been taken.
Not left half-done, abandoning this fragile scrap.
"Roger, please just be alive."
No, he had to be.
"You can't die until you finish my weapon."
At that moment—
"Uh..."
One wall quietly slid open. The princess, spewing curses like she wanted to devour him, locked eyes with the dwarf emerging from the passage.
"...You?"
"...Princess?"
The princess's brow twitched. She turned to the furnace, then back, glaring at the dwarf.
"...You're Roger, aren't you?"
His face was different, but it was Roger's workshop.
A space he'd designed himself, one no one else could enter casually.
As a dwarf herself, the princess knew what a workshop meant to them.
So she was certain.
The dwarf emerging naturally from the workshop's secret passage could only be its owner.
And she pieced it together.
This wasn't a kidnapping—it was the bastard fleeing because he didn't want to make her weapon.
"So..."
The human entering with Roger was nowhere in her sight.
"You vanished because you didn't want to make my weapon?"
She clenched her tiny fist.
"You should have said so sooner."
She smiled.
The dwarf stepped back.
"I would've sliced you up and made jerky on the spot."
"M-misunderstanding!"
"Misunderstanding? No, I don't think there's any."
She kicked off the ground.
"I'll rip out the tongue of the wretch who dared mock this princess and make you my slave! You'll forge weapons for me your whole life!"
"H-heek...! Sp-spare me!"
Boom—
A fierce shockwave rocked the workshop.
"And who the hell are you?"
Cold eyes pierced the human.
The Demon King, disguised as human, felt the numbness in his hand.
"Roger, grab the equipment you mentioned."
"So you left it behind and came back? Stirring up my guts like this and acting all calm?"
"You should calm down first. You're a princess, after all."
"Why don't you find calm in the afterlife?"
The princess swung her fist again. Berge clicked his tongue at the unbelievable force from such a small body.
The sturdy muscles peeking through her clothes were not to be underestimated.
"Where's the equipment?"
"Over there..."
Berge's gaze followed Roger's fingertip.
"...Wanna die?"
"That's why I said sneaking it out is impossible..."
There stood a machine filling one side of the workshop.
Nearly 5 meters in size.
The pinnacle of magitech.
Hundreds of cables snaked out, wrapping the entire workshop.
Berge wondered why he hadn't noticed it when he first kidnapped Roger.
"You can detach it, right?"
"Installed in the workshop, so I need to deactivate and sort the cables. It'll take some time."
"Who said you could?!"
Thwack—
The princess's fist halted before Roger's nose. The following gust whipped his head back. Drip—nosebleed.
"Make it ready to transport now."
"Y-yes, sir!"
Berge grabbed her wrist and flung her. She landed lightly with a roll.
"Who are you?"
"Let's say the master of the pitiful dwarf you're tormenting."
"Master? Who decided that?"
The princess's brow furrowed.
"He's mine. My slave, forging my weapons and armor for life."
"That won't happen. Unfortunately for you."
"No."
The princess growled.
"I get what I want. Always have, always will."
"This time's the exception."
"You know? Nothing talks to me that arrogantly."
"Because you're a princess?"
"Because they're all dead."
She drew up her aura. It raced through her aura road, infusing her entire body—strengthening muscles, veins, bones, skin.
She kicked the floor. Crack—with the boom, it fissured. In a blink, she was before Berge's nose.
Bam—
Her fist held no feints or flair. A straight, brutish punch.
But fast and heavy enough to negate all flaws.
Berge stepped back. Fists and kicks poured like a storm; he could only block.
'Not as strong as back then.'
The her he'd met before regression was among the strongest. Incomparable to now.
But Berge was different too. Back when he'd toppled kingdoms and undone most dimensional interference—he was dragon to this serpent.
'I could kill her.'
Exhausting all power, collapsing.
Then caught or killed by incoming dwarves hearing the commotion.
The worst of the worst.
'Hurry up, then.'
If worse comes, I might have to kill you and run.