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Chapter 89
Dwarves Are Good… Friends
“…The Gaia Order, huh.”
That was my question about what he thought of the Gaia Order.
Keldwick answered.
“They’re pests who could be ground up and still not be cool.”
Clack.
He’d gone that far — it was clear he hated the Gaia Order.
Still, I checked once more.
“Why is that?”
“When they were in our world, those damned Gaia bastards even reached out to our dwarf race!”
“Ho.”
It was a fairly familiar story.
It brought to mind the Iron Maul defense I’d experienced in the ‘shards of history.’
“Because of those bastards, we ultimately had to fall under the dragons’ banner — such a shitty history!”
“I see.”
“They always make the species they dominate into Gaia fanatics, no matter what method they use. How could anyone like them? Even if the Master were a follower of Gaia, I—”
I cut him off there and shouted.
“Accepted!”
“…What? What do you mean?”
“This.”
Ding!
[Applying 30% of the user’s stats to ‘Keldwick’.]
[13,289 Physical stat is applied to ‘Keldwick’.]
[16,448 Magic stat is applied to ‘Keldwick’.]
“O-ooh…!?”
“I was thinking whether to do this or not.”
One of the good things about the Guardian Contract.
I could copy 30% of my stats to the guardian.
Originally I hadn’t planned to do it for Keldwick, but I changed my mind.
‘If we’re gonna take on the Gaia Order together, he’ll be useful.’
Basically, the Guardian Contract only prevents the other party from betraying me — it doesn’t let me fully control their free will.
Meaning:
‘If Keldwick were sympathetic to Gaia, even if I asked him to join me in opposing them, it might not go well.’
I couldn’t control a guardian’s likes and dislikes.
But if Keldwick also hates my greatest enemy?
That meant he could become an active ally and build a solid coalition!
“Let’s do well from now on.”
“…Master!”
“Don’t go getting beaten up anywhere.”
Fortunately, Keldwick was very pleased with the slave welfare.
“Ha. I’m really good at making items, but I had no actual fighting ability and suffered for it…!”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah! Thanks to you, Master, I won’t have to endure that disgrace so much anymore. Sobs!”
This Guardian Contract with Keldwick felt different.
Although it was self-defense, before it had been a kind of coerced agreement, right?
So I’d wondered whether he’d actively cooperate, but now I could breathe easier.
“By the way, Keldwick, you don’t use honorifics.”
“Huh? Should I?”
“No, not that. It’s just curious compared to Yuseol-ah.”
‘Come to think of it, Fril didn’t either, right?’
When you form a Guardian Contract, titles tend to be enforced.
But apparently that can be overcome with enough mental strength.
“Keldwick. Instead of calling me ‘Master,’ just call me Yujin or Mr. Yujin — something natural.”
“All right. Yujin gu… hmm. That’s not coming out well. Yujin-ssi. That works.”
With Keldwick, ‘-ssi’ was possible but ‘-gun’ failed.
“…Heh. Well then.”
“That’s a shame. ‘-gun’ sounded a bit more natural.”
Couldn’t be helped.
I’d have to be satisfied with this.
At least he wasn’t calling me ‘Master.’
Then Keldwick asked me something.
“Master, how old are you, by the way?”
“I’m twenty-three.”
“…No way! Did you reincarnate? Or live longer than normal? Nothing like that?”
“…?”
It was nonsense.
When I stared at him like he was weird, Keldwick hurriedly waved his hands and continued.
“No, looking at this, it seems the difference is a result of the mental strength levels between master and guardian being reflected.”
“Oh? Really?”
“Yes! I heard something similar when I was on the Rephos continent.”
That meant the story had some credibility.
They’d know more about the dragon powers than Earthlings, after all.
This too seemed to have originated from Rephos.
“I also have a respectable level, but Master, you seem to be of an even higher rank than me. It’s amazing.”
“…I don’t know, either.”
“Even if you don’t know, ordinary mental attacks probably wouldn’t affect you.”
“That’s good to hear.”
That was music to my ears.
The Gaia bastards used Judgment — a skill that could, if your mental strength was low, turn you into a Gaia fanatic in an instant.
I’d been quietly worried since learning of it.
‘If I were to get hit by it…’
Would I hold up?
But after hearing Keldwick, I felt confident I could at least resist better than most.
“Master, are you especially good at enduring pain?”
“Maybe? I’ve endured falling into lava and things like Flame Wave physically.”
“…That’s insane mental strength.”
“Most people can’t do that?”
“Are you kidding me?”
He said most people couldn’t.
‘Oh, right…’
A thought came to me mid-conversation.
“You also lived a bit longer, didn’t you?”
“Did I? Of course! Otherwise it wouldn’t make sense. How many more years did you live? Fifty? A hundred?”
“About three or four months.”
“…”
“Roughly three and a half months.”
The special training ground.
I’d trained there at a time multiplier of one hundred.
I did that four times.
“In terms of age, you’d be twenty-four, not twenty-three.”
“…Master.”
“Yes, Keldwick.”
“Let’s just say Master is gifted.”
“…Hmm.”
I thought it probably wasn’t talent.
I’d spent ten years sharpening my will without rest.
That might be why.
Or,
‘The dragon powers.’
Maybe they’d had some effect.
‘But there’s no need to go into every detail.’
So I replied like that.
“Maybe so?”
“Do that, talented Master.”
We’d agree to call me a ‘talent freak.’
“By the way, Master, are you hostile toward the Gaia Order?”
“Yes.”
“It won’t be easy… but—”
“We still have to do it.”
“Then I have an idea.”
“Oh! What is it?”
“Gather the dimensional refugees.”
Dimensional refugees.
Those who came from the destroyed Rephos continent to Earth, similar to Keldwick.
I knew most of them were pretty capable.
If you didn’t have a certain rank, you wouldn’t even become a refugee — you’d die when the dimension collapsed.
However…
“Would they cooperate willingly?”
That was my doubt.
Why would they bother to oppose the Gaia Order?
Unless they had some special grudge.
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Pardon? Why?”
“I told you the gods fought the dragons, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Among the continent’s many races, humans and some others became fanatics and followed the gods. But what about the rest of the races?”
He asked me a sudden quiz.
I had no way to guess.
“I don’t know.”
I didn’t have enough information to deduce it.
Keldwick didn’t expect me to guess; he just answered.
“They all joined the dragons’ ranks.”
“…Huh?”
“Well, otherwise they would’ve been captured by Gaia and turned into fanatics. So they had no choice. So—”
From there, I could infer.
“Most dimensional refugees would hate the Gaia Order from the start.”
“…Exactly.”
Skilled people who hated Gaia were hiding all over Earth. If we could find them, they’d be a huge help in toppling the Gaia Order.
‘…Nice.’
Honestly, taking down the Gaia Order alone was never easy.
I’d gathered quite a few like-minded people recently; some were massive corporations.
‘Still hard.’
A single religion as vast as Gaia couldn’t be matched yet.
So information about potential allies was like rain in a drought.
And then one more deduction surfaced.
“Are the Prophets those dimensional refugees?”
The Prophets.
Those who minimized the chaos of the cataclysm and spread new civilization to Earth with knowledge they already had.
I’d thought they were simply lucky people who awakened early, but maybe—
‘Could they be dimensional refugees?’
It occurred to me they might not have been Earthlings originally.
And my thought proved correct.
“That’s right. Among the dimensional refugees, some kept to themselves and some liked to take the lead. The three known as Prophets on Earth were particularly powerful.”
“I see.”
I’d learned a lot of new information.
I sorted my thoughts.
‘The cataclysm on Earth also came from that other dimension. Those who came and acted as saviors to seal it off were dimensional refugees.’
So the peaceful Earth became this mess because of the Rephos continent.
And,
‘…If the cataclysm hadn’t happened, maybe my parents wouldn’t have died.’
Perhaps it could even be traced back to my parents’ deaths.
“…Sigh.”
It wasn’t an easy problem.
But right now,
‘Let’s focus only on revenge against the Gaia bastards.’
It wasn’t the time for complicated thoughts.
Just think about wrecking the Gaia bastards.
At that moment, Keldwick said regretfully,
“Other dimensional refugees matter, but above all, it would be great to get the help of those known as Prophets. Yang Mujin, Metheus…”
“…Metheus?”
“Yes. Metheus, the founder of the magic tower. I’m not certain, but among the dragons who fought Gaia there was a name like that. Maybe Metheus is a dragon, Master.”
An unexpected name.
It was the person I planned to meet soon anyway.
Metheus.
“I have one problem though. Without something special to appeal to him, someone like Metheus wouldn’t cooperate—”
“I have it.”
“Huh?”
“I have this. I’m going to meet him soon.”
I took out the token item Metheus had given me and showed it.
“T-this is!”
“Do you know what it is?”
“Heh, heh. To see a token that can only be received by those who’ve done a favor for the dragons here….”
“…Favor?”
No matter how I thought about it, I hadn’t done any favor.
If anything, it was Metheus who had saved my life.
One thing was sure.
‘If I show this, Metheus will at least listen to me.’
It could be a token of goodwill.
“…Well then.”
Keldwick looked up at me as if seeing something unbelievable and asked,
“That strange contract skill, that mental strength, and that dragon token too… what on earth are you?”
He was curious about me, who now held his leash.
“Just.”
That answer wasn’t hard.
“A person seeking revenge.”
My parents’ death.
I just wanted to avenge that hatred.
In that sense—
“Keldwick.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Keldwick, you’re the head of Korea’s largest artisan guild, the Blacksmith Guild, right?”
“…Is that so?”
“So you must have a lot of good items?”
Keldwick blinked and answered,
“Y-yes?”
To him I said,
“Give me some items. Preferably legendary grade or higher.”
“……”
I extorted him a little.
Why not? Isn’t that reasonable?
