Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 135

Creating Kin and Building the Human Empire 137

Human Ranch (16)

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Heading northeast from the Nerup Plains, one would encounter two things: a bone-chilling cold and a landscape dominated by mountains, with nary a plain in sight.

The dwarves’ settlement was located there.

Due to the sheer number of mountains, counting them was a pointless exercise. Instead, one only needed to remember one landmark: the Red Mountain, a peak distinguished by its reddish hue and complete lack of vegetation.

The Red Mountain was superior to all other peaks.

This was because its primary mineral deposits were orichalcum [a mythical metal, often considered superior to gold] and mithril [another mythical metal, known for its lightness and strength], and the deposits were so abundant that they had been mined for thousands of years since the dwarves settled there.

The other peaks were divided into several tiers, but generally, the lower the tier, the less likely it was to contain orichalcum or mithril.

Bruno Bronzehammer was a craftsman from one of these lower-tier mountains.

“What have you been up to, disappearing for so long?”

Ninety dwarves had come to visit Bruno’s residence.

Bruno invited them into his courtyard and replied, “Well, I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Hmph. Who doesn’t know you’ve been away from the workshop for months? And you came back empty-handed and immediately locked yourself in. What exactly have you been making?”

The one-eyed dwarf spoke on behalf of the group, and the other dwarves nodded silently. They had hoped that Bruno had returned with inspiration gleaned from the mountains.

“Ahem.”

Bruno cleared his throat.

“It seems everyone is curious about what I’ve been making.”

He couldn’t help but feel pleased that he had piqued the intellectual curiosity of his fellow craftsmen, and a faint smile crept onto his lips.

“If you know, just show us without any fuss.”

“I could be hammering instead of wasting time like this!”

Bruno stood at one side of the courtyard.

For dwarves, the courtyard served as an auxiliary warehouse.

It was a place where they crafted various items, demonstrated their operation, and sometimes discarded them. As such, there were several pieces of equipment scattered around, and only one was covered with a tarp.

“This is it.”

He placed his hand on the tarp, as if to grab it, then spread his hand out. “Before I show you, I should explain why I made this.”

“Not that I’m particularly interested.”

“As you all know, the humans unified their tribes a few years ago.”

So what?

The dwarves’ expressions were indifferent.

“And recently, the water snakes fought with the humans and were defeated. You all know that much, right?”

The water snakes referred to the nagas [a race of serpent-like humanoids].

“We know, so stop stalling and get to the point!”

“You’re talking nonsense!”

“Do you think we came here because we’re curious about monkeys!”

Bruno waved his hands, trying to calm them down. “Now, now, listen carefully. The reason I went down the mountain was because of that. Since the humans created this empire, the supply of slaves has drastically decreased. So I went hunting to find some help. The Council of Representatives had just granted unlimited hunting permits in the southwestern peninsula.”

The dwarves reluctantly nodded. Few of them hadn’t gone hunting. Even though dwarves were skilled craftsmen, they only had two arms and two legs.

Doing even simple, unskilled labor themselves was too inefficient. For dwarves who were instinctively driven by creative desires, simple, repetitive tasks unrelated to creativity were nothing short of torture.

Therefore, craftsmen needed slaves. The more successful a craftsman was, the more slaves they needed. And slaves, with very few exceptions, meant humans.

“Humans are too expensive these days.”

“Those lizard bastards are manipulating the prices.”

“And hunting is getting harder and harder…”

They whispered, venting their frustrations.

“Anyway, when I went hunting, I was tempted by the promise of slaves and went to the city of the water snake called Tishireddon. To be precise, it was a city of parasites.”

“So?”

“Tishireddon was an island. It was being invaded by humans. The humans, lacking ships, were foolishly filling the sea with dirt to connect the island to the mainland.”

“Foolish.”

“It was foolish. But I saw something incredible there.”

“Incredible?”

“Yes! They’re going to fill the sea because they don’t have ships? Would the water snakes just stand by? They fiercely attacked from the sea to stop the dike construction. But the humans fought them off. They created ingenious weapons!”

Ingenious weapons.

The dwarves who had been yawning closed their mouths.

Their eyes lit up for a moment, and they perked up their ears.

“The power of those weapons shattered battleships and crumbled walls! And it wasn’t magic. Even without a shred of magic, anyone could do it if they just knew how to use them.”

Bruno grabbed the tarp and pulled it away.

The weapon that the tarp had been covering was a cannon.

The bronze cannon was a large one, measuring 3 meters in length.

The diameter of the bore was wider than a human head, making it a siege cannon.

“This is…”

The dwarves pushed Bruno aside and surrounded the cannon.

Each of them reached out to touch the cannon, put their heads inside the muzzle, and hammered it, analyzing it in every way possible. However, none of the dwarves immediately grasped the cannon’s purpose.

Bruno smiled, feeling intellectually superior.

“It’s called a cannon.”

“Cannon.”

Some of the dwarves’ expressions changed as if they had realized something.

Soon, Bruno loaded the cannon with gunpowder and an iron ball and demonstrated its firing. The dwarves who had been pondering until then realized the purpose and power of the bronze cannon and blinked in surprise.

“Isn’t it amazing? We originally developed gunpowder. But we used it for fireworks; we never thought of using it as a weapon. But the humans made a shift in thinking.”

Monkeys.

The word caught in his throat.

“And that’s not all. The humans also made smaller cannons than this.”

Bruno raised a wooden stick, shouldered it, and pretended to shoot.

“They hold it with both hands and shoot like this. Its power was enough to pierce through iron armor. And its range wasn’t much shorter than a bow.”

“So? You’re copying a weapon made by monkeys?”

The one-eyed dwarf asked sarcastically.

“…”

The dwarves’ expressions weren’t very good.

The phrase ‘shift in thinking’ must have bothered them.

Dwarves were a race born as craftsmen and died as craftsmen.

They were a race that prided themselves on being more creative than anyone else, but the fact that monkeys had made a shift in thinking that they hadn’t thought of and created an ingenious weapon wounded their pride.

The one-eyed dwarf’s sarcasm was an expression of that feeling.

“To be honest, yes.”

Bruno also replied with a stiff expression.

His voice was stiff, as if he didn’t like it either.

He quickly added, as if making an excuse, “But look at its performance. It’s too bad to let the humans monopolize it, isn’t it? The power of this cannon is comparable to the magic cast by elven wizards. But it’s simple enough that even those without magic can use it.”

“Hmm…”

“The small cannons are the same. Easier to learn than a bow, and able to pierce even iron armor? How convenient and powerful a weapon is that? I clearly saw the humans using these weapons to hunt water snakes.”

“In the end, what you want to say is that we should make cannons and arm ourselves with them, right?”

“That’s right!”

Bruno clapped his hands and nodded.

“The humans have only just introduced cannons. We’re not too late either. If we start producing them now, we can surpass the humans! Human craftsmanship can’t possibly keep up with us!”

The dwarves were silent.

They glared at each other, avoiding answering.

Bruno felt uneasy at their reaction.

And his unease was justified.

“Is there really a need to do that?”

Bruno frowned at the one-eyed dwarf’s question.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m saying, is there any reason for us to use weapons that even monkeys use?”

“No… you. How did you listen to what I said—”

“What advantages would we gain from using this?”

The one-eyed dwarf thumped the cannon with his fist.

“To be a little generous, I think cannons are decent enough. They’re powerful enough to break down walls. If we use them to replace the lacking wizards, they’ll have some effect.”

Other dwarves chimed in, supporting the one-eyed dwarf’s words.

“I agree. But I don’t think those small cannons that you hold and shoot are a good idea. You said they can pierce armor, but is that limited to iron armor? Can they pierce mithril or orichalcum too?”

Bruno hesitated for a moment before answering no.

What was the reason why humans couldn’t process orichalcum and mithril?

It was because it was impossible to melt them without a craftsman skillfully manipulating magic. Even forging, which involved changing their shape by hammering, required imbuing magic to disrupt the structure of the minerals.

Would such orichalcum and mithril budge from a cannonball flying with only the explosive power of gunpowder, without a shred of magic? If it were a very thin armor, or if a siege cannon hit it head-on, it might, but what are the chances of meeting those conditions in actual combat?

“Those pig, water snake, and lizard bastards have weak magic and weak armaments, so there would be many places to use them. But for us or elves, wouldn’t we just say, ‘Why bother?'”

“Especially those small cannons you mentioned. Who would put down their hammer and pick up a weapon used by monkeys? It’s faster and more certain to swing a hammer than to fire one shot.”

“There isn’t a warrior weak enough to wield such a weapon. Are we such a weak race that we would consider such a guy a warrior?”

“Maybe mosquitoes would.”

The dwarves burst into laughter.

“That’s right! Dying guys would gladly take it.”

“We don’t need to do that. If we use the same weapons as those guys, if we use weapons that aren’t affected by magic, we’re just throwing away our advantages.”

Harsh criticism poured out.

Bruno closed his mouth with a stiff expression.

He knew from experience that there was no use in saying anything.

“That’s it! I don’t want to hear any more!”

Bruno shouted and kicked out the guests.

Left alone in the courtyard, he muttered to himself, seething.

“Idiots! They throw away practicality and indulge in art that no one can understand! Can’t they see how terrifying these weapons are, even when they see it with their own eyes?”

He nervously tugged at his beard.

“No matter how excellent orichalcum and mithril are, there’s only so much of them. And no matter how excellent the warriors are, what happens when they die? We’re continuing a war of attrition with the elves, fighting mosquitoes, and now even humans are coming at us? How long do they think we’ll have an abundance of warriors!”

Bruno sat on the cannon and sighed deeply.

He was there when the humans attacked Tishireddon.

He felt a chill as he watched the subspecies of nagas and the human groups who worshiped the nagas being pierced and killed by cannonballs. At this rate, even the nagas… even the elves and dwarves could suffer the same fate.

So he fled Tishireddon as if running away and returned to the peak.

He endured the disgrace of copying the monkeys’ things and created the weapon called the cannon. But, in the end, his own people, whom he was trying to protect, only ridiculed him.

“This can’t go on. Humans aren’t the monkeys they used to be… If we don’t feel a sense of crisis and respond, we’re the ones who will be eaten.”

Bruno clutched his head.

“I have to show them the power of the cannon even more. I’ll improve it a little more and send it to the peninsula. There are still guys fighting the humans there. If I send it there and show them its performance, there will be guys who accept it.”

As Bruno resolved to do so and entered the workshop, another dwarf entered the courtyard and stood in front of the cannon. He was one of the craftsmen who had been mixed in with the group of ninety dwarves, and he was a servant of Vlad.

“A cannon… it will be helpful to the Elder.”

It was early winter.

The expeditionary force of the Human Empire was about to set out.