The Young Dwarf

Kukuri visited Ria's shop nearly every day.

True to his reputation as a natural-born thief, he sometimes found himself struggling with temptation in front of the shop's merchandise, but he never actually pocketed anything.

He also came to talk with Sei more often. Having traveled extensively, he was knowledgeable about affairs in various regions.

"So you're in training right now?"

"Yeah, once I'm done, I'm planning to go to the Dragon Wing Continent."

"The Dragon Wing Continent, huh～. I've heard public order there has gotten pretty bad."

"Really?"

"Since military forces are being diverted to the war against the gods. It's only natural that bandits would increase."

In Japanese terms, it would be like police officers being mobilized as soldiers. The number of people maintaining public order was decreasing.

Apparently Kukuri planned to stay in this village for a while and stock up on dwarven weapons and armor.

There was a Labyrinth of Trials relatively nearby, so there was significant demand for such items there.

Though it seemed like listening to Ria's adventure stories was probably his main reason for staying, he himself didn't seem to realize it.

"This area is peaceful. Even though it's close to the frontier, the Ogress Empire has a reputation for good public order."

"What do you do when traveling through dangerous areas?"

"Well, you hire adventurers or mercenaries as escorts."

"Adventurers! So they really do exist!?"

"Of course they do. There's even a guild here, you know?"

"I had no idea…"

Adventurers, the protagonists of fantasy. Apparently they were active in this world too.

Their purposes ranged from exploring ruins, labyrinths, and demon territories to escort work and running errands.

"You really don't know anything, do you?"

Kukuri said this with a puzzled expression, but he didn't pry for details.

Kukuri would teach Sei basic common knowledge.

Explorers were those who delved into labyrinths to obtain magic stones, materials, and treasures harvested from monsters.

Adventurers often worked as explorers too, but apparently their guilds were different.

And mercenaries had yet another different guild, with the biggest distinction being whether or not they participated in wars.

"When there's a monster outbreak or something, adventurers get emergency summons too. Are you planning to become an adventurer after all?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"I wouldn't really recommend it for female adventurers since the dangers to their person are greater. Better than being a mercenary, though."

At that point, Kukuri made a face like there was something he absolutely had to ask.

"Come to think of it, why do you live here?"

"I'm learning martial arts from Master Ria and magic from Carla-sensei. Once that settles down, I'm planning to head to the Dragon Wing Continent like I said."

Hearing that, Kukuri's expression turned slightly mischievous.

"Smells like adventure to me."

What kind of smell was that?

At any rate, Kukuri became Sei's friend number one in this world.

When asked his age, he said he was 29. Despite the nearly double age gap, halflings didn't care about such differences. Incidentally, their average lifespan was apparently around 200 years.

Ria and Carla recognized Sei and Kukuri's relationship as a good thing. After all, she had come to this other world all alone. She needed friends.

Sei's training naturally continued, but talking with Kukuri helped alleviate her mental fatigue. Communication with others was indeed important.

That day too, Sei was killed several times, ate breakfast, and rode her horse.

When she returned to the shop, there was a small figure there, though not Kukuri.

"Hey."

The one who bowed his head to Ria was a dwarven young man. Or perhaps a boy?

Dwarves were difficult to age due to their beards, but he clearly had youthful skin.

"Gantz, what's up?"

Ria seemed to know him and called out casually.

"Want a match."

"Hmm. Fine, but I'll let this one watch too."

Ria indicated Sei with her thumb. Gantz merely nodded.

They moved to the Sacred Chamber of Time.

"So more than three people can enter here."

"It's not the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, after all."

Gravity was set to normal, and atmospheric density was adjusted to regular levels. Then Ria and Gantz faced each other.

Ria had her usual wooden sword. Gantz was in full plate armor with a shield, wielding a battle axe.

Gantz inched closer, entering Ria's range. But Ria didn't move.

Having entered his own range, Gantz quickly raised his axe to strike. Honestly, it was faster than Sei had imagined.

Ria easily dodged it and brought her wooden sword down on Gantz's head.

Gantz collapsed from that.

"Wait, Master! That's going too far!"

Sei hurriedly rushed over to help Gantz, but the dwarf slowly sat up.

Even though he had been wearing a helmet, it was the same kind of attack that always killed Sei instantly. In fact, Ria's wooden sword was broken.

"There's no way a dwarf would die from an attack of this level. Gantz, want to keep going?"

Gantz stood up and nodded. And the same exchange repeated itself.

After about ten similar exchanges, Gantz lowered his weapon limply.

"I want to be your apprentice."

He was a dwarf of few words. Though some of the dwarves at the tavern were quite cheerful.

"As I've told you before, I don't specialize in axes, and humans and dwarves have different fighting styles. If you still want to get stronger, start by running."

"Dwarves are slow."

He probably meant that dwarves couldn't run fast. They seemed to have both explosive power and endurance, but their legs were just too short.

"Even so. Besides, there should be plenty of other strong dwarven warriors."

Gantz fell silent, but he didn't seem convinced.

With a rare sigh, Ria glanced at Sei.

"Sei, try fighting him."

What she handed over was a wooden sword. At least it wasn't a real blade.

"Um, I don't get any armor?"

"You don't need it, do you?"

Well, sure, since I'm immortal, I don't need it.

Gantz faced Sei without complaint.

Confronting him directly, she realized this dwarf was indeed quite strong. She used Identify on him briefly.

Level 30… His strength and endurance were about three times that of a human. Even compared to Sei's current stats, about fifty percent higher.

His age was 20, by the way. He really was young.

Even so, the fact that Carla had strength and endurance orders of magnitude higher despite looking so delicate was pure fantasy.

His skills included Axe Arts, Hammer Arts, and Heavy Weapons, and as racial traits he had Gifts like Herculean Strength and Robust Health.

But apparently dwarves couldn't swim. It was like their entire body was made of iron.

Sei raised her wooden sword and searched for openings in her opponent. He was full of openings. Well, compared to Ria, anyone would be.

(That shield is really in the way…)

"I forgot to mention, but magic is allowed too."

In that case, Sei fired magic arrows. The arrows, equipped with homing capabilities, struck Gantz from all directions.

But they couldn't pierce his defenses. Dwarven full armor was truly formidable.

She found openings and attacked, but the shield was hopelessly in the way. She used footwork to her advantage, but couldn't draw Gantz's gaze away.

She had thought she'd gotten quite strong, but it seemed that was overconfidence. The shield was really in the way.

"Well, at your level, the shield would be in the way."

Hearing that, Sei decided to imitate Ria's method. She waited for Gantz's attack.

Gantz inched closer, then launched into an attack all at once.

Ah, this won't kill me.

Sei easily dodged and brought her wooden sword down on his head.

Gantz took the hit but swung his axe back as if nothing had happened.

"With your strength, you can't even give him a concussion."

Indeed, that was true.

From there, Sei repeated the same thing many times, at least ten times or more, and finally Gantz dropped to one knee.

"Heal."

With Ria's healing magic, Gantz stood right back up.

In the eyes staring at Sei, there were no negative emotions like anger or resentment. However, she could sense his fighting spirit.

"I'll be back."

With those words, Gantz lumbered out through the mirror.

"He seems a bit different from other dwarves."

"He's young. Hot-blooded. Dwarves are a race that loves battle as much as they love smithing and alcohol, but that one is particularly devoted to fighting."

"He said he'd be back."

"He'll be a good training partner for you. I'd actually like to ask him for the favor."

That was certainly true.

"By the way, his shield was really getting in the way. How would you deal with it, Master?"

"If I used a real sword, I'd cut right through the shield and all. I was actually holding back even with the wooden sword."

What an extraordinary answer.

From the next day on, Gantz started coming nearly every day.

The timing varied, and when he came during Carla's magic lessons, he would pass the time looking at the weapons on the first floor.

When he and Kukuri happened to be there at the same time, Kukuri would talk one-sidedly while Gantz occasionally nodded. It was rather amusing.

Fighting against Gantz taught Sei important things.

Techniques like feints and parries that were impossible to learn when being one-sidedly beaten by Ria.

Incidentally, while Gantz didn't have the Hand-to-Hand Combat skill, he was stronger than Sei in a fistfight.

She could win if she managed to grapple, throw him, and get a joint lock. That was about the extent of it.

"Dwarves train their strength rather than refine their techniques. If you ever end up fighting the heroes, this experience should prove useful."

On a related note, Kukuri joined in the fights a few times for fun.

His fighting style was to repeatedly make high-volume attacks with his short sword while occasionally throwing it.

Come to think of it, Ria didn't use throwing techniques, so it was a fresh experience for Sei.

When she later asked Ria why she didn't use throwing, the answer was that such things couldn't pierce mana barriers anyway.

Basically, Ria used magic defensively and brought the fight to close quarters for offense.

"She's good at it, but more accurately, Ria likes close combat. She likes personally cutting down her opponents."

Carla, who said this, excelled at magic instead, and her swordsmanship was only for when she couldn't finish enemies at long range.

Indeed, Carla's Swordsmanship skill was at level 9, which could be considered low compared to her various magic skills, most of which were at level 10.

Even so, she had slain dragons with her sword in the past.

Incidentally, Ria's Swordsmanship level apparently exceeded 10.

This skill level system had a maximum of 10, but it was a system the divine dragons had created at the request of humans long ago.

They occasionally updated the finer details of status displays, but adding notation for levels above 10 was apparently too troublesome, so none of the divine dragons had bothered with it.

"Those guys have plenty of free time, so they should do some work. Especially Teru."

Ria grumbled, which was rare for her.

Divine dragons apparently spent most of their time sleeping. Even so, Rana bestowed blessings on her followers, Ouma played around, and Irina maintained the environment around labyrinths.

At any rate, Teru was the one with the most free time, so Ria was thinking of putting it on the agenda at the next Divine Dragon Council.

"When is the next Divine Dragon Council?"

"… When, indeed. Well, we should hold one within 10,000 years."

What an unhurried timeline that was.