-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Everything's Fucked
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway, he had been planning to leave.
Once Roger brought back the blueprints, he'd need to procure the matching materials.
After all, Berge was the only one who could exit the tower without issue.
It was just that his baggage had increased by one lump.
That was how he decided to think of it.
"If you're thinking of running away, go ahead. It wouldn't look good for me to be lugging around a human shish kebab anyway."
"Of course not! I could remake it if I really had to, but it'd take too long!"
Roger denied it vehemently.
He'd be lying if he said the thought hadn't crossed his mind, but it was impossible right now. Especially with that necklace around his neck.
"The exact function of this necklace..."
"Only one."
"Which is...?"
"It separates your head from your body. Turning Roger Friedri into just Roger and Friedri."
"...Under what circumstances?"
"That depends on what you do."
"Ah..."
"If you're curious, feel free to test it."
"As if I would! I am your loyal servant, Demon King!"
"Consider it an honor. It's probably the first time something like that's been put on the neck of a guy who's neither prince nor princess."
The necklace was a blade to prevent kidnapped princes or princesses from escaping. Purchasable with magi points.
"...An honor it is."
Roger swallowed his tears.
The two soon arrived at Hortonwork, the nearest human city to the Erjest Mountains.
"You've got the list of what you need, right?"
"Of course. It's cheapest and best quality to buy from the dwarf kingdom. Of course... we can't do that. It'd take too long."
"Doesn't matter."
To evade any potential pursuit and hide his identity, they traveled through multiple kingdoms.
A month including the wait for materials to arrive. They'd procured most of what was needed.
"Now there's just one thing left."
"That equipment you made?"
"I call it the Mana Ghost. It erases traces of mana like a ghost would..."
"Lame naming sense."
"..."
"Let's head in for now."
Finally.
Roger couldn't hide his excitement returning to the dwarf kingdom after nearly two months.
However, the gate guard he'd met multiple times before didn't recognize his face. A terribly realistic mask indistinguishable from real skin covered both his and the Demon King's faces.
Roger barely suppressed the urge to rip off the mask.
He didn't want to become a roasted Roger right now.
"New faces."
"Mercenaries."
"A dwarf and human combo. Not common. What's your business in the city?"
"Finished a job nearby and stopping for some R&R."
"Not keen on being too strict when you've brought one of our own, but with the city's current situation, gotta do a quick pat-down."
"Something going on?"
"Just some circumstances. Think nothing of it."
Berge and Roger submitted meekly. They'd stashed anything suspicious in sub-space, so nothing raised flags.
"Don't cause trouble. Tempers are high; won't end pretty."
"Got it."
"Well, if your own kind trusts you enough to merc together, I'll assume you know better."
Rumble rumble rumble—
The ground began descending vertically.
"What do you think's happening?"
"...Probably because I've gone missing."
"Because you're a hero?"
"I was kidnapped in the middle of forging the princess's weapon."
"That thing melting in the furnace?"
"It's probably just a lump of scrap metal by now."
"Which princess?"
The princes and princesses of the dwarf kingdom were all fierce without exception. Born warriors and beasts who sought out fights.
"Hope it's not the 2nd Princess."
"It is the 2nd Princess, Your Highness. Do you know her?"
"...This just got annoying."
Berge instinctively checked his condition. Farther from the tower, the dimensional interference was stronger, weakening his power.
He didn't know how strong the princess was now, but he couldn't guarantee victory unconditionally.
"Let's head to your workshop first."
"Yes."
The workshop lacked its former heat.
No hammering sounds.
No smiths' sweat.
Instead, there was something else.
A sturdy iron fence and soldiers guarding it.
"A month or two since you were kidnapped?"
"A bit less."
"Ruthless."
It had been like this in his previous life too.
"...How?"
"We'll sneak in and take it."
"Impossible."
"Think twice before opening your mouth, and thrice before wagging your tongue. Don't mistake your abilities for mine."
"S-sorry. I overstepped."
"Any secret passages into the workshop?"
"Yes."
The passage was located on the outskirts, about 3km from the workshop.
"Making me stare at your ass again."
"...S-sorry for tailoring the passage to my body."
"Lead the way."
"Yes!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"A month and a half gone! And you still haven't found him?"
The princess of the dwarf kingdom hurled the table in a fit of nerves.
Blood trickled from the knights' foreheads where it struck.
"Just how incompetent are you? How much more must I endure your incompetence?!"
"We're sorry."
"Sorry my ass!"
"The dwarves have dug too many secret passages. We're investigating them one by one, but he's likely long gone."
"Of course he's gone! Over a month and he hasn't? That'd make him the idiot, not the kidnapper!"
She'd given up on having the kidnapper paraded before her after just a week.
"Who said bring the bastard himself? A trace. Isn't finding one damn trace of that fucker that hard?"
"Our apologies."
"Two weeks. Exactly two months total. Find a trace of the fucker who took my weapon's smith in that time. Where he went, who he is, hell, even a single hair!"
"Yes!"
"And seal every secret passage except the ones the city made officially."
"Understood."
"Get out. Can't stand the sight of you."
The knights hurried from the room. The princess paced, breathing heavily to calm herself.
But her rage wouldn't subside.
"Arrrghhh!"
She smashed the chair, crushed the table. Mashed iron cups into a single lump and stomped.
"Clear it out."
Only after a while did she calm a bit. Maids waiting outside rushed in to clean.
The princess left the office for the workshop where her weapon's smith should have been working.
The massive workshop occupying half the third floor. The furnace that should belch endless heat was cold, no hammer strikes.
And the lone lump of scrap metal smoldered faintly, as if trying to reignite her cooled fury.
That should have been my weapon!
The furnace should roar with flames.
Roger's arms should swing the hammer.
He should have finished her weapon even if kidnapped—then been taken.
Not left half-done, abandoning this fragile scrap.
"Roger, just stay alive."
No, he must stay alive.
"You can't die until you finish my weapon."
At that moment—
"Uh..."
One wall slid open silently. The princess, spewing curses fit to devour, locked eyes with the dwarf emerging from the passage.
"...You?"
"...Princess?"
The princess's brow twitched. She glanced at the furnace, then back, glaring at the dwarf.
"...You're Roger, aren't you?"
Though his face was different, it was Roger's workshop.
A space he'd designed himself, one no one else could enter casually.
As a dwarf herself, the princess knew what a workshop meant to them.
So she was certain.
The dwarf emerging naturally from the workshop's secret passage could only be its owner.
And she pieced it together.
This wasn't a kidnapping—it was the fucker fleeing because he didn't want to make her weapon.
"So..."
The human entering with Roger was nowhere in her sight.
"You vanished because you didn't want to make my weapon?"
She clenched her tiny fist.
"Should've said so sooner."
She smiled.
The dwarf stepped back.
"I would've sliced you into jerky right then."
"M-misunderstanding!"
"Misunderstanding? No, I don't think there's any."
She kicked off the ground.
"I'll rip out the tongue of the wretch who dared mock a princess and make you my slave! You'll forge my weapons for life!"
"H-heek...! Sp-spare me!"
Boom—
A fierce shockwave rocked the workshop.
"And who the hell are you?"
Cold eyes glared at the human.
The Demon King in human disguise felt the numbness in his hand.
"Roger, grab the equipment you mentioned."
"So you left it behind and came back? Stirring up my guts and acting all casual?"
"You should calm down first. You're a princess, after all."
"Save the calm for the afterlife."
The princess swung again. Berge clicked his tongue at the violence unbelievable from such a small frame.
The solid muscles peeking through her clothes were no joke.
"Where's the equipment?"
"Over there..."
Berge's gaze followed Roger's finger.
"...Wanna die?"
"That's why I said sneaking it out is impossible..."
There stood a machine filling one side of the workshop.
Nearly 5m tall.
The pinnacle of magitech.
Hundreds of lines snaked out, wrapping the entire workshop.
Berge wondered why he hadn't noticed it when he first kidnapped Roger.
"You can detach it, right?"
"Installed in the workshop, so I need to deactivate and sort the lines. It'll take some time."
"Who said you could?!"
Thwack—
The princess's fist halted before Roger's nose. The ensuing wind pressure whipped his head back. Drip, nosebleed.
"Get it ready to move now."
"Y-yes, sir!"
Berge, gripping the princess's wrist, flung her. She landed lightly with a roll.
"Who are you?"
"Let's say the master of the poor dwarf you're bullying."
"Master? Says who?"
The princess's brow furrowed.
"He's mine. My slave, to forge my weapons and armor for life."
"Won't happen. Unfortunately for you."
"No."
The princess growled.
"I take what I want. Always have, always will."
"Not this time."
"You know what happens to those who talk back to me like that?"
"Because you're a princess?"
"Everything's fucked."
She drew up her aura. It raced through her aura road, permeating her body—strengthening muscles, veins, bones, skin.
She kicked the floor. Crack—the stone split. In a blink, she was before Berge.
Bang—
Her fist held no feints or flair. A straight, brutal punch.
But fast and heavy enough to negate all flaws.
Berge stepped back. Fists and kicks poured like a storm; he could only block.
Not quite as strong as back then.
The her he'd met before regression was top-tier. Incomparable to now.
But Berge was different too. From the him who'd toppled kingdoms and shed most dimensional interference—to now, was dragon to snake.
I could kill her.
Exhausting all power, collapsing after.
Then caught or killed by the dwarves hearing the commotion.
That was the worst of the worst.
So hurry up.
Worst case, I might have to kill you and run.