A few days after my visit to the training ground, I was at Rogard Empire again, this time to visit the stadium that was still under construction.
After exiting the imperial castle by the door, I flew a little towards the stadium, and soon I heard the sound of hammering, men shouting, and even the sound of some kind of large machine – or rather, something that looked like a large magical tool being moved.
I could feel the energy and enthusiasm of the workers.
"Okay, put that construction material over there. You idiot, that's not the right order! It's a big building. If you make a mistake in one place, everything you do above will be wrong! Be careful."
Among them, the one who was directing the construction work, with his voice one level higher than the rest, was the Dwarf King Doda.
He was responsible for the construction of this stadium.
The construction was led by the dwarves, but the king of the dwarves also came personally and organized all the craftsmen together.
Moreover, since the start of the stadium construction, he had not returned to his village even once, but stayed overnight and continued to work on the stadium.
He told me, "It has been a while since I had my craftsman's blood boiling with joy to the point that I couldn't help but continue working. This is such a happy workday!" while laughing loudly.
The human, beastman, and demon craftsmen who were working with the dwarves were also surprisingly skillful. I couldn't help but think, 'These craftsmen are really spectacular.'
I didn't want to mention this, but one of the human craftsmen said, "This is a shameful thing to say, but we alone would not have been able to achieve this fantastic construction speed."
It couldn't be helped because it was only with the help of the Dwarves that they were able to build the stadium at such ridiculous speed.
One of the Dwarf craftsmen chuckled and told the human, "I'm glad you appreciate it, but…I have to tell you that we can only build at such a speed, perfectly and to the last detail, when that person is responsible for the project."
The Dwarf King Doda supervised the entire project. He could spot differences in the progress instantly, efficiently allocate work, perfectly grasp the consumption of materials, look for wear and tear of tools. He basically made sure everything was being done as effectively and efficiently as possible.
One of the craftsmen told me before that the King was able to work things that way because he already had a clear picture in his mind of what he expected the work would look like when it was completed.
And that the King was also the best craftsman in the Dwarves, so I was amazed.
His main job should be a blacksmith, not a carpenter…but anyway, he must simply be good at making anything in general.
I called out to the Dwarf King when I was sure I was not interrupting his work.
"Hey, still working tirelessly, aren't you?"
"Oh? –if it isn't Yuki! I'm glad to see you in good health." (Dwarf King)
"You too. It's interesting to come back here after a while and check the changes in how it looks compared to before."
"Well, we are honored to be a part of such interesting architecture. So, what's up today?" (Dwarf King)
"Nothing much, I simply wanted to see what's new here. I brought you some food. The cooks at the castle did a great job cooking, so there should be enough for everyone."
I opened my item box, set up a few tables, put three big pots of hot food on them, and prepared as many plates and spoons as I could find.
It was for several hundred people, so the number of plates alone was enormous.
"Oh, thank you! It smells so good! All right, boys, time for a break!"
The Dwarf King's thunderous shout halted the work at once, and the craftsmen gathered at our location.
Hmmm, it appears that he was perfectly leading the people here.
After they gathered, the Dwarf King gave them quick instructions, and they soon created a system to serve food and distribute it to everyone.
After everyone expressed their thanks to me in a loud, wild voice, they started to eat….
"What's this, yummy! This is delicious!"
"I never thought I would find food like this here."
"This might be the best food I've ever had in my life."
"I think I'm going to cry a little."
The castle's cooks – the Court Chefs, in other words – prepared beef stew.
The ingredients were mainly meat from monsters I hunted in the Demon Forest, so there was no doubt that it was, in fact, a dish made with plenty of top-quality ingredients.
And so, while the craftsmen were gorging themselves on the food and recharging their spirits, I exchanged a few words with the Dwarf King.
"Ah, I almost forgot. –Enne, the old man Dwarf King is here. Say hello."
I took Enne's main body out of my item box, and Enne immediately transformed into human as she appeared, bowing a little to the Dwarf King.
"…Hello, Uncle." (Enne)
"Oh, Young Lady Zaien! …As usual, your appearance is quite astonishing, but I'm glad to see that you're doing well. Are you eating well?" (Dwarf King)
"…Hm…yes. I'm eating a lot and working out a lot."
The Dwarf King patted Enne on the head, looking at her with the eyes of a grandfather looking at his grandchildren.
"…Children are good, aren't they? Hopefully, this competition will lead to a good future for them."
"…Yes, I agree. That's part of our goal in completing this structure and event."
The Dwarf King, as I remember, was childless.
He did have a wife, and in fact, I greeted her once before when I visited the Dwarf Village… From the looks of it, I could tell that his wife also loved children, so there must be a reason why they didn't have any.
It might be something I shouldn't ask… lightly, you know.
I asked something else to change the topic.
"How long do you think it will take to complete?" (Yuki)
"If it's based on our current progress, the stadium should be finished in two months. It will take some more time to improve and develop its surroundings, but rest assured that by the time the event starts, we'll have everything we need." (Dwarf King)
"Oh, that's great. If you run into any problems, please let me know. I will try to solve it as soon as I can, but well, I'm just a decoration emperor, so there might be problems that I won't be able to solve on my own. If it's a personal request though, I'll help you directly." (Yuki)
"…Enne will help you as well. I will help if Uncle thinks that I can help."
"Gahhhh, the Demon King aside, with Young Lady Zaien's help, I'll be invincible." (Dwarf King)
"Oh, so you are saying that you don't want the help of this Demon King?" (Yuki)
"I don't want to imagine a situation where I'll need your help, seriously."
Well, I guess so.
If it came to a point where he had to go to the trouble of personally asking me to solve a problem, then that would mean that something pretty crazy had happened.
I shrugged my shoulders with a wry smile, and then continued our talk.
"Oh, this stadium, when it's finished, you are free to name it Doda Stadium, you know?"
After all, the Dwarf King was literally doing his best, in every way, even in the design of the building.
Using his name to call this stadium would be fitting.
"Oh, thanks, but we already have a name for it."
"Oh, really? It was already decided on a name?"
"I'm not going to tell you yet. I'll reveal it when it's finished."
The Dwarf King grinned – and that's when it happened.
Something strong had suddenly appeared.
It was then followed with my map suddenly opening, then followed by a scream.
Enemies.
[shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!]
[boaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!]
There were two loud, earth-shaking roars.
I turned my head in the direction of the presence, and immediately, the figure was reflected in my field of vision.
Race: Sea Serpent
Level: 87
Race: Krull Tartus
Level: 91
The figures appeared in the center of the stadium under construction.
A snake-shaped monster that resembled my pet Orochi, and a tortoise-shaped monster with a vicious-looking face. Neither of them were the most gentle of creatures. Both were huge, about the size of something you would find in the Demon Forest.
Moreover, the tortoise was walking on two legs. Sadly, it was not Gam*ra, you see.
No, that was not the point. I did not care what they looked like.
More importantly.
–Where the heck did these guys come from?
They didn't appear on my map before – or rather, even without using my map, someone would have surely noticed if monsters of that size were approaching.
To begin with, there was no place in the vicinity where such a huge body could be hidden.
I had also not detected these guys until now.
If that was the case, then these guys probably just appeared there at this moment.
The first way I could think of being able to do this was… Space Magic.
Having that teleportation door of my dungeon made me think that there must be someone somewhere who could use magic that could transfer them.
Someone must have used it to summon these monsters to this place… No, even considering this angle, there were no hostile reactions on the map other than monsters in the stadium. There was no sign of anyone who looked like a magician.
The situation was too complicated to assume anything at this point. Moreover, since I had just gathered all the craftsmen for a break, only a few guards remained in the stadium. So, it was unlikely that monsters were summoned by a person.
I think it was done by using some kind of pre-installed magic that would kick in when certain conditions were met.
"Whoa!?"
"Hiii…?"
The craftsmen screamed and ran for cover. Some of them were ready to fight back with tools in their hands, but others around them rushed to stop them and dragged them away.
…Well, I should think about the reason later.
But still, they were rather powerful monsters.
A group of humans would have a hard time defeating them, even if they fought them with an army.
"…Demon king. I'm sorry, but it seems like we're going to need your help right away. Can you help us out?" (Dwarf King)
"…Oh, I'll take care of it. This is in my line of work, Enne." (Yuki)
"…Nn!" (Enne)
After confirming Enne's return to sword form, I pulled the sword out of its sheath, and at the same time, three pairs of wings appeared on my back.
I threw the scabbard into my item box, and at the same time, I jumped forward.
I first aimed at the soft-looking sea serpent.
When the sea serpent saw me approaching it, it made a frightened gesture for a moment, and then it went berserk.
It must have sensed my power when it detected my presence.
"Hey, stop, we just made that!" (Yuki)
[…Bad snake. I want you to learn from our pet Orochi.] (Enne)
"Yes, it should get some lessons from Orochi! When Orochi breaks something because of moving his huge body, he will look so scared and shrink back in size!" (Yuki)
[Hmm… Orochi is cute when he's feeling sorry.] (Enne)
-One Strike.
Enne's blade was not repelled, and cut deep into the sea serpent's torso.
It roared from the pain.
It was a big creature, so the wound was not enough to kill it… if that was the case, then I should just keep slashing at it until it died.
"You're going to be roasted eel– whaaaat…."
Dozens of Ice Spear-like things were released from Gam*ra, shooting me, who was floating in the air. Oh, man, I was not concentrating.
However, I now have high mobility.
Ice spears were being fired one after another like a machine gun, but the barrage was too weak to stop me!
"Shhhh–!"
Gam*ra saw me approaching and was just about to tuck its body into its shell when Enne's blade reached it.
But it was hard.
I did not cut the back side of its shell, but the belly side, even so it was as hard as a rock.
The blade was able to break through the belly's shell, but it was far from an effective strike.
I should either slash when its head was out, or use magic… but well, my magic mostly consisted of area attacks, so I shouldn't try that since it would cause extra damage to the stadium.
Well, since Enne's blade could pierce it, I should just keep slashing it. That's what I was thinking, when…
"Take thiiiisss!"
Dogoooon!
After a huge thud, Gam*ra's head popped out of its shell.
And from its back, I found the Dwarf King who was holding a huge hammer smacking it.
And then followed by the craftsmen…
"B*sta*rds! These two tramps are trying to destroy what we've made!"
""Let's beat them to death!""
Then the dwarven craftsmen, each with a weapon, or rather a tool that could be used as a weapon, charged towards Gam*ra with a loud battle cry.
Hey, hey, I thought they evacuated. I was listening to them as they moved away a while ago.
Sigh, what a bunch of troublemakers they were.
I couldn't help but chuckle, and the Dwarf King shouted out to me.
"Demon king! We'll take care of this one."
"Okay, don't die!"
I left them to deal with the turtle and faced the sea serpent again.
The sea serpent who snapped out of its stunned state after detecting my approach was about to flee.
…What a disaster.
By the looks of it, both of them were monsters of the sea that were probably dragged out here all of a sudden.
Seeing me closing in, the sea serpent opened its maw to swallow me whole, most likely out of sheer desperation.
I avoided it by spinning sideways with my three pairs of wings, and with the momentum of that spin, I swung my sword.
The blade cut through its skin without any resistance, and the long blade of the Enne sliced its neck off with a single strike.
Its head was already cut off, but the body still convulsed violently, moving around unconsciously, but it was already dead, so I left it be and changed my target.
"Enne, next!"
[…Nn!]
Since I already confirmed the elimination of the sea serpent, I quickly changed the target to the giant tortoise.
The craftsmen… Some were wounded, but no one died.
Only the Dwarf King was vigorously beating the heck out of that turtle along with the other craftsmen fighting like mad men.
The King was the only one doing real damage while the rest were only assisting him in annoying the turtle.
"I'm done with the other one. I'll take care of this!"
Seeing me approach, Gam*ra again pulled its limbs and head back into its shell and tried to intercept me with its magic.
But there was no way to defend against me this time.
With its arms and legs retracted, Gam*ra fell forward trying to crush me, but before it could do so, I got under it and kicked it up…
"Orah!!!"
I then kicked Gam*ra below the opening of its neck, causing its huge body to flip over.
I climbed on top of its belly and stabbed deep into it with the Enne.
Blood exploded, and a cry of anguish could be heard from inside the shell.
Then, I injected a gust of wind inside its body using Enne, which was already stabbed deep inside its belly, causing its neck to pop out from the pain.
I pulled out Enne's beautiful red blade from its belly, now stained with blood, causing blood to spurt off the stab wound.
It tried to retaliate with magic aiming at me as a counterattack but its magic that was not yet deployed, dispersed after I cut off its head.
The turtle was no longer breathing.
Seeing this, the Dwarf King nodded his head and raised his voice.
"B*st*rds! It's our Victory!"
Wooooooooooooooooo!
The shouts of triumph from the craftsmen echoed throughout the under-construction stadium.