Chapter 72: 042. Imperial Prince is Searching for a Weapon -2 (Part Two)

I asked her. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I am. We have two of the most reliable healers in the whole empire with us, don’t we?” Hilda looked over to Alice and Raphael before looking back at me. “But what happened during the course of one night? This isn’t merely on the level of reinforcing one’s physical attributes.”

When those words left Hilda’s lips, Alice flinched slightly and hurriedly glanced at me. She even placed her index finger vertically over her lips, indicating that I should shut up. I figured that she was quite deeply conscious of her grandfather’s presence right next to her.

I replied after a slight pause. “…I was interested in the topic for a while, so I thought I might as well give it a shot today.”

Honestly, I had no idea it’d be this much. Never mind that for now, though, it seemed that Alice’s teachings had been super-effective, didn’t it?

Once I got the basics down, utilising it in practice wasn’t all that hard. As for controlling divinity, the Necromancer’s method of demonic energy utilisation played a big help there.

Still, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the output would be this incredible.

When I thought about it a bit more, combining a Priest’s divinity and a Necromancer’s method of control into one was seriously a wacky idea in the first place.

“Although you were full of openings, it was still amazing nevertheless. Just getting struck once would result in an unavoidable fatal wound. Perhaps this might be a better option for you than any other weapon.”

It was as Hilda said. The power behind my punch was more than enough to kill a regular person in one hit, and then some.

She settled down on a nearby chair and let Raphael and Alice examine her.

“We shall now announce the result of our analysis.”

Meanwhile, the dwarves approached me.

I kept glancing in Hilda’s direction out of concern, but she simply waved her hand at me to say that she was fine.

I could only swallow back this bitter taste while asking the dwarves. “Okay, so… What’s the result?”

“It’s a pity, but when it comes to handling weapons, your highness is far too… simple. We’ve been fortunate enough to analyse the scions of the Imperial Family for a long time, but this must be our first time finding someone with so little talent.”

Huh. It kind of hurt listening to someone being so brutally honest with their words.

It was pretty much an accepted norm for the protagonists of fantasy novels to be born with talent at handling weapons, but it seemed that my level was decidedly rubbish by their standards.

“Even though I broke my sister’s spear?”

“That was only possible because the weapon you were wielding at the time had been reinforced, as well as due to your absurdly enhanced physical attributes, your highness. With bladed weapons such as swords and spears, you should’ve cut or sliced through, but judging from how you broke her spears, we can only say that you were simply smashing down with your strength.”

“Fine. What about my hand-to-hand combat skills, then?”

While saying this, I looked at the drill hall’s sturdy floor, which was currently caved in deeply.

Dwarves also looked at the same spot before dumbfounded expressions filled their faces.

“We can’t say anything for certain since we haven’t fully analysed your hand-to-hand combat ability, your highness. However, because your physical attributes were enhanced too much by divinity, we…”

“Now you can’t analyse it because my attributes got way too good?”

The dwarves suddenly turned silent just then.

…Ah, ah! Dear Gaia? Why do you keep giving me trials to overcome but never give me any actual rewards? Why couldn’t you, you know, give me one or two talents at something?!

While bitterly complaining inwardly, I abruptly thought of something and asked the dwarves before my eyes, “By the way, are you sure I don’t have a lick of talent in any type of weapon?”

“Yes, your highness. However, you did exhibit natural movement while wielding the shovel. Even then, we still predict that fighting long-term with it would be too much of an ask.”

Meaning… every weapon you could think of was unsuitable for me. As for the trusty shovel, I only displayed some familiarity with it and that’s about it.

The revelation that all my hard work so far was in vain left behind this really sour taste in my mouth.

“…Ah, hang on a sec. That also means it doesn’t really matter what kind of weapon I use, isn’t it?”

While saying so, I recalled the Necromancer grimoire procured during the Morgana the Witch incident.

I shifted my gaze and stared at the weapons strewn about on the drill hall’s floor.

Swords, spears, maces, steel chains, morning stars, shovels, etc…

All of these weapons were judged to be somewhat ineffective in my hands, or so they say.

Yeah, in ‘my hands’, that was.

“How did you even arrive at that conclusion, your highness?”

A dwarf asked me while looking rather confused by my stance.

I quickly shook my head. “Nah, don’t worry about it”

“For the time being, we’ll stop our analysis for today. Her highness needs to take a break, after all.”

The dwarves bowed deeply while saying this.

“Allen, you too go and get some rest.”

Hilda spoke up before being guided by Raphael and Alice out of the drill hall.

Currently, only I remained in this messy hall.

Without saying anything, my eyes took in the sights of its interior.

There they were, all kinds of weapons discarded on the floor. Wonderful and tempting weapons, crafted lovingly by the dwarf artisans. Every single one of them.

However, I wasn’t able to properly wield even one of these. Still… I should have a way to utilise them somehow.

I began examining each of the weapons in the drill hall.

**

(TL: In 3rd person POV.)

Inside the mine located in the northern part of Hilda fiefdom.

Clang-! Clang-! Claaang-!

The sounds of metal clanging away resounded out. Then, sounds of heated up metal cooling down inside water spread out afterwards.

The dwarves were still working hard late into the night.

They mined mineral ores and burned the flames inside their forges.

Belrog was also present; while a blacksmith himself, he was also the leader of these dwarves as well.

He urged the other dwarves to finish up that day’s quota.

“Alright! Although we’re a little late, we still managed to meet our quota for today!”

Dwarves smiled in content and looked at the mined ores, as well as the completed weapons loaded onto the mine carts. To them, crafting things wasn’t just an act of labour. It was far closer to an enjoyable hobby more than anything else.

“Let’s go and knock some cold one, fellas! I hear Lady Hilda prepared one hell of a feast for us since she’s been feeling pretty good lately, so you all better prepare yourselves!” Belrog roared out.

“Oh, ooooh!!!”

“As expected of Lady Hilda!”

“I’m telling you, she’s one tough lady!”

Hilda fiefdom was pretty much a paradise for them – an abundant mine, plenty of ores, lots of liquor, then even freedom too!

All of their needs were being supported by the empire. There couldn’t have been better living conditions for a dwarf than them!

They began packing away their equipment while chatting amongst themselves and some even broke into loud peals of laughter as well.

They exited from the mine and smithies, and were greeted by the soldiers waiting for them by the carriages. They then boarded these carriages originally designed for human’s body size with some difficulty, but before they could set off towards the citadel…

– Awwwwooooo!

A beastly howl reverberated throughout the mountainside.

The complexions of everyone present, including the dwarves, hardened in an instant. The soldiers tasked with protecting the lives of the dwarves vigilantly scanned their surroundings. But then, their gazes drifted up into the heavens.

Because of the demonic energy spreading within the air, the moon above them shone in the distinctive colour of blood.

“Damn it, it’s them!”

“We shouldn’t have stayed late to finish our quota!”

“Secure the tools!”

All of the dwarves hurriedly loaded the newly-crafted weapons onto the waiting carriages. Even then, they didn’t forget to keep looking around the vicinity.

They could see the beasts with crimson eyes dash around between the trees.

The dwarves quickly finished boarding the two waiting carriages, but at that very moment, the beasts leaped out from the forest and dug into the soldiers’ ranks.

“Uwahk!”

Most of the dwarves flinched and hurriedly shifted their gazes over to the soldiers.

One of the soldiers shouted out back at them. “Hurry and leave! We’ll somehow… Keok!”

Even before the dwarves could do something, the soldiers were all killed off.

“Dammit!”

“Everyone’s on board now! Go!”

The dwarves acting as coachmen urgently whipped the horses.

The carriages set off immediately down the road as the horses neighed and snorted roughly.

The beasts detected the dwarves’ movement and began giving chase.

“Fire!”

Several dwarves raised the crossbows in their hands and fired their bolts. But the carriages continued to rock side to side while rushing down the road, and the surrounding foliages were too dense for them to take aim and bring down these damn creatures.

Eventually, the beasts sprung out from the forest.

These half-man, half-beast monsters were as fast as the horses. They ran alongside the carriages before trying to jump on top of the vehicles.

“You dare…!”

Belrog lifted up a warhammer and slammed it onto one of the beasts.

“Hahat!”

He then roared out in a satisfied laughter.

But around the same time, another lycan pounced on the horses.

This humanoid monster, which was over two metres tall, began tearing into the horses without mercy. All thanks to that, the carriage veered off course and eventually overturned.

The dwarves riding inside were thrown to the ground. A lycan bared its fangs and glared threateningly at the dwarves.

“Heot…!”

The dwarven coachman driving the carriage in front looked behind him. But before he could bring his vehicle to a stop, Belrog, currently surrounded by the lycans, shouted out. “Do not stop! Go on ahead and get help!”

He then let out a thunderclap-like roar while swinging his warhammer.

“Die, you stinking sons of b*tches!”

One of the lycans was struck by the hammer and got flung away.

Meanwhile, the remaining dwarves retreated and pressed their backs against each other. They were now surrounded on all sides by the lycanthropes.

It was then, they detected more movements coming from the forest.

It seemed that they were dealing with a large number of these damnable beasts.

Cold sweat trickled down the faces of the gathered dwarves.

“What should we do, leader?!”

“What do you mean, what? We run! Fine liquor is still waiting for us back home, so we can’t die in this place! It’s still too far to the citadel from here… we are returning to the mines!” Belrog groaned slightly. “If we build a wall there and make a stand, Lady Hilda will surely come to our aid!”

The dwarves swallowed back their dry saliva and glared at the undead beasts.

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