I smiled at Palten, who was still half out of his wits, and said.
“I've come to break down the one-sided, unfair relationship between dragons and dwarves up to now and work toward our mutual development. Um, how many more dwarf villages are there?”
“Ah...... yes. Including this one, there are 5 villages in your territory, Lord Rainisis.”
I'd asked how many villages there were because I was curious how well they knew one another. My search showed all 5 clustered quite close together. Even the farthest pair were 3 hours apart in a straight line, and allowing for the rugged mountain paths, travel should've taken 6 hours at most.
Furthermore, though it was only my guess, they were very likely to have dug tunnels connecting their villages in case of emergency.
According to a book I'd read, ‘A Reliable Report on the Cultures and Lives of Humanoid Races’, dwarves didn't fight among themselves and enjoyed in-depth discussions of metals and mineral veins they'd discovered—for them, the depth of an in-depth discussion was proportional to the amount of beer consumed.—When villages were physically close, they dug connecting tunnels. A highly credible institution had researched this and found that neighboring dwarf villages, especially ones linked by tunnels, were likely to have split from a single original village.
Well, putting all this together, I guessed—though it was almost certain—that these 5 villages had once been one, dividing again and again because of overpopulation and other problems to reach their present form. I also thought they'd built villages while digging the tunnels, rather than dug tunnels after building the villages. Satisfied with his answer, I said.
“Please contact the other villages and have all their leaders come here.”
“Pardon? Ah, understood. Then this way.......”
I followed his lead. It would probably take some time, so he wasn't going to leave me standing there, was he? Surely he wouldn't lead me away for an ambush? He took me to a space I ‘assumed’ was a reception room for guests. Lacking a human sense of aesthetics, it felt less like a reception room than a place for ‘receiving’, or more precisely, ‘receiving and nothing else’. Still, the sofas and decorative ornaments were beautiful enough to leave no doubt of dwarven handiwork.
But the room's layout itself was excellent. The vents, door, and shelves for ornaments were all positioned perfectly, as if crying, ‘It couldn't be better!’
Is this the essence of architectural engineering......?!
I took a brief look around and decided to relax and wait at ease. Barring unforeseen events, I'd live a very long time. I couldn't get restless over a little waiting. Meanwhile, Palten, who'd guided me here and briefly gone elsewhere, returned with a bottle of wine. He offered me a glass and politely recommended the wine—if dwarven politeness meant trembling hands and a stammer.
“I-it was made in the year 1200 of the Aures Calendar. It should taste good.”
The Aures Calendar was the calendar here. Before it, there had been calendars such as the Demon-Subduing Calendar, the Moon-Cleaving Calendar, and others, but according to the oldest, supposedly first-established Divine Opening Calendar, this was the year 13,855. Aures was the most powerful god in this world, and the Aures Calendar dated from his appearance before humans and the spread of his power.
A vintage from Aures Calendar 1200...... Since this was Aures Calendar 1428, that meant wine aged for a full 200 years.
Ohh, impressive?
He carefully set the glass before me and filled it with wine. Its color was a clear, translucent, jewel-like red. The unique, fragrant aroma of alcohol filled the reception room, rich and sweet, yet hinting at severe punishment if drunk carelessly.
I picked up the glass. As Palten watched me anxiously, I first savored the aroma, held the wine in my mouth to enjoy the sensation, then swallowed.
Ahh, this sweet aroma, like a devil's temptation! Neither bitter nor sharp, with a texture that seemed intensely stimulating yet carried no sensation at all! Ahh, the way it slips down so smoothly! Just what you'd expect from wine aged 200 years!
I emptied the glass in one go, grinned, and said.
“This is good. But why are you standing there? There are plenty of seats. Sit down!”
He was visibly flustered by my words. Again, he'd probably never seen a dragon act so humbly. No, had he ever even seen a dragon? Had the vague fear he'd gained from stories passed down among them suddenly swelled? He hesitantly sat opposite me. I held my glass out toward him, poured wine into it, and handed it over.
“There's only one glass, so this'll have to do. It's an absolutely magnificent wine.”
“No, I'm quite all right. How could I dare.......”
“What are you saying? Didn't I tell you I'd come to promote friendship and mutual development? There's no need to be so subservient to me. I'm only a 1,000-year-old dragon, after all.”
He seemed truly apologetic. Taking the glass, he smelled the aroma as I had, held the wine in his mouth, then let it pass down his throat, proudly proving that he wasn't merely a heavy drinker who happened to own fine wine.
Ohh! He knows how to drink!
Palten seemed to enjoy the feel of the magnificent wine just as I had. With an enraptured expression, he said.
“Fine wine really does seem to get better with time.......”
I nodded. Only then did Palten seem to relax around me a little. He brought another glass, and we quietly drank, pouring for each other. Around the time I'd finished 2 bottles and he was finishing his fourth, word came that the leaders of the other dwarf villages had finally arrived, and I stood.
Hmm, about 5 and a half hours? My estimate had been fairly accurate.
“Hmm, they're here sooner than I expected.”
“Ah, yes. We were originally families living in one village, but now we each have our own mine and live on an equal footing. So tunnels connect their villages to ours, allowing easy travel at any time.”
Hmm, why does everything keep going as I expect? Could I really be a genius?
Ohhhh! Mother, rejoice! You've produced a genius dragon!
Am I drunk already?
“Now, shall we begin our summit?”
“Pardon?”
Palten asked with a bewildered expression. I grinned.
The contract with the dwarves was concluded successfully. They accepted my terms and agreed to enter the contract with genuine joy, rather than submitting to my strength.
When it was officially announced, every dwarf in the village, regardless of age or sex, cheered with delight. Eventually, they even held a grand festival.
Of course, I could've broken the contract by force whenever I wished. But I'd placed my blood seal(blood stamp), an oath staking my life and honor, on the copies I gave them. The dwarves were deeply moved as they accepted contracts that could even be called disadvantageous to me.
A blood seal stamped with a dragon's blood and the oath sworn with it had to be honored. Dragon blood never carried such little weight that it could be squandered as humans did.
Almost no creature in this world could wound a dragon. Unless it was another dragon, no creature's physical abilities could pierce a dragon's hard scales and hide to draw blood, so dragon blood was rarely seen.
Blood that wouldn't emerge unless you drew it yourself.
A blood seal made with such blood accompanied an oath and was as good as a guaranteed check assuring that oath would be honored. If a dragon broke its oath during the period it covered, its Dragon Heart would automatically be stripped away, and an execution squad formed by its clan would hunt it down and kill it. Failing to keep an oath sworn on dragon blood meant it was unworthy of being a dragon, hence the loss of its Dragon Heart. The execution squad was sent because it had disgraced the clan.
Thus, by placing my blood seal on a contract that could even be called disadvantageous to me, I'd shown my determination to honor it without fail.
After finishing the grand party at the dwarf village—we spent nearly 3 days eating, drinking, and merrymaking in a daze—I first fulfilled the dwarf chiefs' requests. As if by prior agreement—and perhaps they had agreed—they all asked me to stop anyone—very pointedly mentioning humans in particular—from entering their villages. I accepted and erected 3 layers of barriers for them.
For the first barrier, I permanently cast the intruder-preventing environmental illusion Invader Prevention Hallucinatory Terrain(Invader Prevention Hallucinatory Terrain) over a wide area, preventing intruders from even spotting a wisp of smoke from the dwarf villages. If an intruder broke through that first barrier, I'd cast the condition-triggered maze spell Contingency React Mazetion(Contingency React Mazetion) to turn the surrounding area into a maze and leave them wandering.
For the third barrier, I cast an immense, powerful barrier over the whole area containing the villages, using the absolute presence-erasing spell Absolute Delete Trace(Absolute Delete Trace). It prevented intruders from sensing any sign of the dwarves, ultimately removing every clue that could lead them to them.
I visited the settlements of monsters that repeatedly appeared in their mines, attacked the dwarves, and stole their treasures. I let my Fear rise, lowered my voice, and crushed them with terror so they'd never do it again.
There was no reason to act humbly toward fellows like monsters, who instinctively obeyed the law of strength. Bowing so low their heads nearly struck the ground, they promised never to touch elves or dwarves again. As a reward to encourage future obedience, I turned a nearly 10-meter boulder into a lump of meat with Stone to Flash(Stone to Flash, the reverse of petrification. This spell transforms rock into animal protein.—They seemed to like it very much, judging by the drool dripping from their mouths even as they bowed.
After fulfilling my contract with the dwarf villages, I rested thoroughly for a day in my lair, exhausted from 3 consecutive days of drinking—I could've cured it with magic, but I was used to resting. Still, completing my contractual duties despite that fatigue makes me quite an amazing dragon?—then visited an elf village.
Ahh, after spending so much time in the dwarf villages, I think my standards have fallen terribly. My eye for beauty is still focused on human standards, at least. With dragon standards mixed in too.
However skillful, good-natured, and hearty they were, and however much I liked them, days of looking at those rounded beards and broad torsos seemed to make my eyes hurt. A moment of silence for my overworked eyes. And a moment of silence for the dwarves, planning their rosy futures without knowing I was judging them this way. But the elves will be handsome men and beautiful women, won't they? Let's go feast our eyes a little. Hehehe.