Negotiations: The Dwarf Arc

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/25/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

After we finished eating, we rested a little and then went out.
Incidentally, Kira had gone to the bedroom and stayed there, as told.
…That I wanted to stroke her while she slept could not be helped, and I would like to be praised for restraining myself.

At any rate, we first headed for our first destination, the dwarf settlement.

Or rather, we tried to head there.
I thought we would walk.

“Asha, you must be tired.
And we must not keep them waiting too long.”

The moment we were outside, Gerda said that, came close… and lifted me in her arms, sideways, truly as if I weighed nothing.
A so-called princess carry.

…Eh? Eh!? W-wait!?

“Wai—um, Gerda, this pose is, um, embarrassing—”
“I understand the feeling, but, well, bear with it for the sake of efficiency.”

And you show me that refreshing smile there!?

Stop, I’m in a skirt, I don’t think you can see inside in this pose, but there is such a thing as modesty, aaaaaaah!!

My inner voice was ignored.
I could not deny it felt as if she understood, a little, and did it on purpose.

…That I found myself thinking Gerda I could forgive was truly cheating, I thought.
At any rate.

“Wahyaaaaaa!?”

Raising a scream with no allure whatsoever, I was taken by Gerda on a journey through the great sky.

 

“I-I thought I was going to die…”

Having arrived at the dwarf settlement, I muttered it with a haggard face.

Look, the acceleration was gradual, and when we landed it was a soft, fluffy landing, but.
The top speed was brutal.
And come to think of it, the deceleration had come at the throat rather hard, I felt.

Come to think of it I remembered even propeller planes could do some five hundred kilometers an hour.
How far Gerda’s went I did not know… but I had probably been made to experience a speed on par with a Shinkansen, or more, in the flesh.
Of course I’d feel wind pressure I’d never felt, of course it would feel like my clothes were about to fly off!!

Ah, being alive is wonderful.

“Forgive me. I meant to fly slowly, at least… was it hard on someone unused to it after all?”
“Th-that was slow… N-no, thank you. Thanks to you it was over in no time.”

As I said it, I got down from Gerda’s arms.
…Yes. That my legs trembled a little could not be helped, I thought.

Or so I thought.

“I seem to have startled you after all.
Then I shall have you let me carry you.”

No sooner had she said it than Gerda princess-carried me again.
Wait, wait!?
My heart and my brain cannot keep up!!

“No, wait, put me down, people will see, they’ll see!!”

We were about to go into a settlement of dwarves I did not know at all; this pose was far too embarrassing!
I pleaded desperately, but Gerda’s face was cool.

“What, if you are seen, they will only see that you are a person who receives this much treatment. There is no problem.”
“There is a problem with my sense of shame!!”

My shout rang out.
She seemed to have heard it, somehow; I was set down just before the entrance to the settlement…
Uu, we weren’t seen, but I was strangely embarrassed all the same.

 

“Oh, Gerda. I thought you’d be a bit later. Quite early, aren’t you?”

What I was shown to, led by Gerda, was an especially large house at the center of the settlement.
We knocked and went in, and a dwarf woman came to meet us.

About two-thirds a human’s height, a squat, solid body with breadth.
But that body was clearly composed of packed muscle: a powerful form.

A beard, she did not have, of course. The image of dwarves is a rich beard, but that seemed to be men only, after all.

I said squat, but there was no impression of fat.
If anything, the impression of round and cute was stronger.
Her dark brown hair was abundant, and she had it neatly in two braids.

The dwarf woman who had come to meet us looked at me frankly, without reserve.
Dwarves tended to have forthright characters, and many were unreserved like this, staring.
But that was an expression of interest, not of looking for faults or the like.
…Yes, a certain grass runner’s face floated up, but I paid it no mind.

“Ah. Time was on my mind, so we flew a little.”

Gerda answered pleasantly.
That it was not a figure of speech, I knew better than anyone.
The other person seemed to have taken it as well; she looked a little wry.

“I see, that explains it.
And this is Doctor Asha?”

Her gaze turned on me.
Being stared at, appraisingly, could not be helped.

“Ah. This is Asha.
Despite how she looks, a formidable apothecary.”
“Er… I don’t know about formidable, but I’m Asha, the apothecary. A pleasure.”

So saying, I bobbed my head.
The staring gaze was still on me in that time.
…Especially, I felt, on my hands.

“Yes. You do look like an experienced apothecary, Doctor.
I’m Nora. I play the face of this dwarf settlement.”

So saying, she showed a smile that looked terribly reliable.
What was it.
A person the word ane-go, big-sister boss, would suit.

“So, Gerda.
We’re to make the tools this doctor wants?”
“Ah, I would like to ask it of you.”

Hmm… it could not be helped, but I still felt something half-believing, or rather, not yet trusted.
Well, that was only natural.

“Fine by me, if it’s a request from none other than you, Gerda.”

Was it my imagination that it felt a little like she was putting me in her debt?
Come to think of it, I had heard dwarves were stubborn and difficult.
I see: they would not take a newcomer’s commission lightly, but from trusted Gerda, was that it?

Taken as an expression of their artisan temperament I did not dislike it, but that did not mean I could be looked down on and looked down on.
From here on I would have to ask the dwarves for all sorts of cooperation.
If I were oddly looked down on here, we would get nowhere.

“Thank you. A troublesome thing like this, I could only ask of dwarves.”
“Hmh? What, is it that much trouble?”

…I see. She reacted to words that tickled pride.

“Yes, very troublesome… I think at first you won’t understand what it’s for.”
“Ho ho. What, you’re saying there’s something in making things we wouldn’t understand?”
“When it comes to making the thing, I don’t think so.
The use of it, I thought there might be things you wouldn’t understand.”
“Interesting. What sort of tools do you want?”

Oh, she had bitten splendidly.
To be honest, I was quite grateful. Whether they would take an interest and spend their technique on it would, I thought, make a considerable difference in how complete it came out.

At any rate, I went on telling them the tools I wanted.
The tongue depressor they understood the meaning of at once, as expected.
Then I tried explaining a stethoscope.

“Ah, we’ve got something close. We tap bedrock and listen to what’s inside, you see.”
“Is that so!?”

I had raised my voice despite myself.
Yes, now that she said it, that was only natural.
In my previous world’s world they had done percussion surveys of bedrock as well, surely.
In that case, it was no wonder they, more familiar with rock and stone, would have developed it.

But honestly, I had to call this a happy miscalculation.

Besides that, I explained the shape of a four-tined fork for eating, and tried having them make one as a trial.

“Why go to the trouble of making such a fussy thing?”
“The truth is, there are diseases that spread because people eat with their hands.”
“Heh? There are things like that, are there?”

She looked very puzzled at that.
Of course they did not know about bacteria and such; that could not be helped.

And so I told them various tools in bits and pieces, and secured their cooperation in making prototypes.
When at last I told them the specifications of the tool that was the main one… her expression at once went bewildered.

“I can make it, sure. But what’s it for?”
“Well… it’s hard to explain in words, so shall I show you it in use when we take delivery?”
“Oh, that would be welcome. By all means, show me!”

In the end she said it in high spirits, so I would take that as good.
At this rate it might be finished early.

There was a time when I thought that.
I could not have imagined it would come to that…