#129 Interlude (1)
“So, you’re saying the Tureil Merchant Company asked us to postpone payment for the bituminous coal?”
“Y-yes…”
“And you accepted that just as it was?”
“B-but I didn’t simply permit it! We agreed to receive proper interest according to the overdue period, and from future transactions onward, we could raise our side’s share a little—”
“Tsk, you still haven’t come to your senses! Interest? Future transactions?”
The guildmaster’s office of the Hubert Trading Company.
A short dwarf was roaring at a merchant standing before him.
As several merchants who had entered to report on their work merely watched for the right moment under that frostlike pressure, Howard, who had been huffing and puffing, drew in a deep breath and continued in a calmer tone.
“Phew. You know bituminous coal is necessary for smelting, don’t you?”
“…Of course.”
“And you’re well aware of what the situation up north is like right now.”
“…Yes.”
“A human who knows that! In the middle of a war, you hand over something no different from military supplies, and what? Interest? Inteerest~?”
But his calm attitude did not last long, and his voice began to rise again.
Iron was the most basic material for weapons, and bituminous coal was a fuel absolutely necessary for producing high-quality iron.
In other words, in wartime, when weapons production had surged, they could find buyers anywhere if they wanted.
And yet what he had brought back, even while accepting that their funds would be frozen because they had not received payment, was “ordinary interest” and “an uncertain concession later on”…
It was a situation where he could not help but be furious.
“…There’s no way a so-called merchant didn’t know something that basic.”
Howard, who had been venting his rage with a reddened face, murmured quietly again and stared at the merchant, who could only bow his head.
The pressure of Howard, who should have been nothing more than an ordinary dwarf craftsman, quietly swallowed the space, creating an atmosphere in which it was difficult even to breathe.
“This, no matter how I look at it, seems like you tried to line your own pockets while Hubert was away. Did I look that easy to you?”
“N-no! That’s a misunderstanding—!”
“We’ll know once we investigate.”
“W… wait! Lord Howard! Please, just listen to what I have to—!”
In the end, with the guards who entered at his signal dragging the merchant away, silence hung in the office for a moment.
“What are you all doing? We don’t have time, so hurry up and have the next person report!”
But even that did not last long.
That uncomfortable gathering finally came to an end only after Howard had heard all the merchants’ reports and issued work instructions.
“Then I’ll be going now, so unless it’s truly important, handle it at your discretion and report to me afterward!”
Only after Howard, having finished his work, disappeared were the merchants belonging to the Hubert Trading Company able to breathe easily.
“Phew— It really feels like working with the guildmaster himself.”
“You felt that too? At first, I wondered why some dwarf I’d never seen before had been seated there as acting guildmaster…”
The merchants of the Hubert Trading Company each murmured among themselves as they moved away.
When it was said that, due to the sudden situation, Hubert had vacated his seat and Howard would take over as acting guildmaster, it was only natural that they would feel some resistance.
After all, a dwarf unfamiliar to them, who had not even been with the company for very long, had suddenly been placed above their heads.
If someone whose abilities had not been proven was going to interfere in every little aspect of operations, how sincerely could the merchants who had built the company up until now follow him?
Of course, no fool had shown any hint of that in front of Harley’s muscles when he suddenly barged in.
“Mm… Still, it does seem certain that he’s in contact with the guildmaster. The work orders were also things that the guildmaster himself would likely have given.”
“To tell the truth, that was something I was worried about too. From the guildmaster disappearing, I wondered if all of this might be some sort of conspiracy… But for now, I think we can rest easy.”
Since Harley, who was no different from a co-representative, had personally appointed Howard as acting guildmaster, the merchants followed him for the time being, but they were keeping a close eye on his movements.
In case all of this was someone’s scheme to take over the company.
But he only made efforts to maintain the company as usual, and showed no signs of trying to siphon off interests or assets.
At most, all he did was supply various materials to his personal workshop.
Of course, since that had been something Hubert had permitted from the beginning, it was not a problem.
“By the way, did that fellow Kaol really receive a kickback from the Tureil Merchant Company?”
“Ugh— It’s not the stage to jump to conclusions yet, but it certainly was suspicious.”
“Really, he has no fear.”
“You can say that again.”
The merchants clicked their tongues and shook their heads.
With the captain of the ship gone, they could understand feeling greed, but actually putting that into action was, quite literally, an act without fear.
Above all, had that “Harley” not personally given a warning?
Recently, the Tarak commercial sphere’s foremost objective had been supplying the Steel Citadel, which could be called the front line.
Naturally, news from that side was bound to be relayed in real time, and the hottest topic of late was undoubtedly his monstrous performance. ‘On top of that, the Tarak security force is openly patrolling around the company from time to time and showing that they’re paying attention, so acting rashly here would be stupid.’ Of course, even that Kaol seemed to have read the room to some extent, as he had not directly embezzled funds and seemed to have prepared an excuse of his own…
But as Howard had said, that was no different from underestimating him. ‘So he wasn’t simply parroting the guildmaster’s instructions. And that suffocating charisma, too… I should check once more to see if I’ve missed anything myself.’ In the end, the merchant who had come to genuinely submit hurriedly moved away to check his own work again.
And he was not the only one who thought that.
Thus, despite Hubert’s absence—
Thanks to Howard’s efforts and Harley’s influence, the company continued on smoothly.
***
“Tsk, Hubert needs to come back quickly! This is such a waste of time. But it’s not as if I can just take my hands off the company’s work!”
Howard grumbled constantly as he entered a building.
The place he headed to immediately after finishing the company’s work was a personal workshop he had set up nearby.
Due to unavoidable circumstances, he was handling the company’s work at the same time for now, but his original goal was to use the time difference to cram Earth’s knowledge into himself as quickly as possible.
Of course, considering the time difference with Earth, the time spent handling work was not that much, and he still spent most of his time in the workshop…
But since he was now building up from the fundamentals, every minute and every second was precious. ‘And no matter how much the time ratio differs by ten times, there’s no way simply knowing something as knowledge and embodying it would take the same amount of time.’ Because of that, the daily quota he had originally scheduled had fallen quite far behind.
If he wanted to make up for it, he would have to move diligently from now on.
“Ahem! Then shall I begin today’s work?”
Howard, having changed into work clothes, lightly loosened up his body and approached the furnace radiating heat.
It was a magic furnace that maintained its heat unchanged even when he was away, and was equipped with safety measures against the risk of fire.
Thanks to the money he had poured in without hesitation, many convenience-oriented spells like this had been applied throughout the workshop.
All so that he could focus solely on raising his proficiency in his craft. ‘Hmm, I’ll need to raise the temperature more.’ Howard checked the temperature by casually extending a hand toward the furnace, then tossed in a heap of coal with practiced movements.
The heat, which rose in an instant, only gradually stabilized once it reached the optimal temperature he wanted. ‘Just right.’ Considering that not much time had passed since he had begun serious practice, it was astonishing, but to him, it was nothing special. ‘As expected, the senses are different from a human’s. With such a huge difference, it’s only natural they’re called a race of craftsmen.’ What a human would have had to acquire through countless years of experience, a dwarf could do by instinct alone.
Just by looking with his eyes and feeling with his skin, he could match the temperature of the fire down to the decimal point.
If he held coal in his hand and gauged its weight and particles, he could intuitively know how much the temperature would rise when it was put into the fire.
The optimal center of gravity he naturally felt when he gripped a hammer, and the properties of materials vividly transmitted through his fingertips, were also things humans did not have.
And since they were born with delicate handiwork and powerful bodies on top of that, the starting line between them and human craftsmen was bound to be vastly different.
To the point that telling them to compete on equal footing would be far too cruel to humans. ‘Well, this time, I’m the dwarf, so that’s fortunate.’ If he had had to grow from the bottom without such merits, how long would it have taken…?
Once again, gratitude welled up in him toward Pickaxe Elinne and Zaonic, who had willingly handed it over.
“Mm-hmm! For now, I should start lightly with smelting iron ore!”
Howard collected materials such as bituminous coal and limestone piled up in one corner of the workshop and continued his training diligently today as well.
Within extreme concentration, the knowledge transmitted from Earth was engraved in his mind like a sponge absorbing water.
And information processed through all kinds of media—photos, videos, documents, and more—was reproduced at Howard’s fingertips, becoming his flesh and blood.
Clang—! Claang—!
And so, in a small workshop that still had hardly anyone paying attention to it, one craftsman was growing steadily.
***
Warm light surrounded the area and seeped into Hubert, who lay groaning in bed.
The “Auterica Sacred Method,” imbued with the power of healing, aided the recovery of his body and infused him with vitality. ‘Still, he’s recovering faster than I expected at this rate. There’s no need for it to take several days; he should be able to move around in another day. Looks like I underestimated myself too much.’ The improvement of the damage reduced from fatal wounds by “Instant Death Immunity” was faster than expected.
The synergy between Heinrich’s healing sacred method and “Super Recovery” had been beyond imagination.
In truth, a large part of the reason I had estimated the recovery period to be long was because of my previous experience with Heinrich.
A robust body forged through extreme training, the protection of divine power and blessings, and even the shared skill “Super Recovery.”
Heinrich, who possessed such supreme conditions, had needed to recuperate for nearly a month in the best possible environment, the Great Temple of Roselia, right after his battle with the Immortal King Hans.
Naturally, except for “Super Recovery,” Hubert had inferior physical conditions and the level of healing sacred method he received was also inferior, so I could not help but estimate his recovery period just as harshly. ‘But I had overlooked the fact that Heinrich’s opponent was none other than the Immortal King.’ Even among fatal wounds, the level was in an entirely different dimension.
Unlike Heinrich, who had been soaked in atrocious curses and unable to recover properly, hadn’t Hubert merely had his heart and organs crushed cleanly? ‘No, that itself is definitely more serious… But still, thanks to “Instant Death Immunity,” in the end it only amounted to his organs being badly damaged.’ And such injuries could be recovered from quickly through the combination of “Super Recovery” and holy healing.
To the point that I could send Hubert to Auterica as soon as the cooldown of the next transfer formation ended.
“Mm, once Hubert leaves, I’ll have to do that boring work again…”
With a reluctant feeling, I looked at Hubert, who was lying down and operating a tablet by moving only his fingers.
Naturally, that was the process for transmitting metallurgical knowledge to Howard.
Once I read it, the “understanding” was handled by Howard’s head, but I could not help finding the process itself annoying.
There was no way sitting blankly and cramming that vast knowledge into my head could be fun. ‘With an avatar, I can filter such emotions through “Mind Hub,” so mechanical repetitive work is fine, but I’m in a position where I have to endure with pure mental strength.’ Of course, through multiple enhancements, my mental strength had already surpassed that of humans, but I could not distinctly feel that fact.
Because, well… ‘I have eight bodies moving at the same time.’ And except for Hubert, every single one of them was a guy who consumed an extreme amount of mental strength.
On top of that, there was adapting to the dimensional time difference, and though “Mind Hub” was mainly responsible, a little was also consumed in preventing mental contamination.
Mental strength was a resource that felt insufficient no matter how much I had. ‘As expected, there’s only one thing that can resolve this situation.’ But as always, I had a breakthrough prepared for that too.
Namely, strengthening my unique skill and creating a new clone.
As expected, “Avatar” was the best.