Chapter 138 - The Foundations of Hope

'What did I just hear?'

Unless his ears were deceiving him, the word had been “legs.”

'Or bridges. Bridges are good.'

They were fine structures that spanned rivers and shortened journeys. But that was not what the Demon King was asking for.

'Put legs on the tower?'

And make it move?

What was that supposed to mean?

The tower was enormous. And heavy. No, beyond its sheer size and weight, everything about this tower, created through the power of the Demon Realm, was unknown.

And he wanted to make it move?

That was, that was...

“That's impossible! It's madness!” Logger shouted.

For all his innate talent and skill at making things, putting legs on a Demon King's tower and making it move was beyond all reasonable bounds.

“It's impossible because you think it's impossible.”

“I'm saying it's impossible because it is impossible.”

“Logger.”

Berge's eyes turned cold. His growling voice made Logger flinch.

“I-I'm sorry...”

“Are you a human or a dwarf?”

“A dwarf, of course.”

“And dwarves are craftsmen with greater skill than humans, aren't they?”

Logger had no idea why he was asking these questions, but answered in all earnestness.

“Not just humans. No race can match dwarven craftsmanship.”

“Then what about you, Logger?”

“What do you mean?”

“Dwarven skill is second to none. But where do you stand among those dwarves? Near the top or near the bottom?”

Where did he stand among dwarves?

“I'm the best in Berft, of course—no, the best on the continent! No one on this continent has ever surpassed me, and no one ever will!”

“Then shouldn't a craftsman of such supreme skill create something great that no one else has managed?”

“Of course! I can turn out things those other worthless fools wouldn't even dare attempt!”

“Then you can make legs for the tower.”

“... Hic.”

Swept up in the moment, Logger had gotten carried away. Only now did he remember his predicament.

“... Th-that seems like a rather different matter.”

“You just said yourself that you would do it. Surely you're a great ‘dwarf,’ not some worthless ‘runt’ who goes back on his word?”

“O-of course I'm a great ‘dwarven craftsman.’”

He could not bring himself to deny it. His fear of the Demon King—and his pride—would not let him.

Even though he knew he was walking straight into his own doom.

“Then make them.”

“But...”

“You will accomplish a great feat that no one has ever achieved—no, that no one has even dared attempt.”

“... A great feat.”

“Every craftsman will look up to you. They will marvel at your masterpiece and worship it. Perhaps they'll even erect a golden statue of you in the heart of the continent.”

Logger gulped.

He had little interest in things like fame. At the same time, however, he was a typical dwarf who wanted to create the first and finest weapons and equipment, even if no one recognized his work.

He did not covet the renown of a dragon slayer who had slain a dragon. He wanted to be the craftsman who made weapons from that dragon.

“I'll do it!”

“An excellent decision! That's what I expect from my subordinate!”

“Of course! With the finest craftsman in your service, you can accomplish whatever you wish!”

The Demon King and the hero looked at each other and roared with laughter.

“Oh, finish moving everything from the first floor first. We'll proceed as planned through the reception of Hilderan's raiding party. After that, we'll draw up detailed plans. Come up to my office once you're finished.”

“Yes!”

The Demon King waved and disappeared.

'... I'm screwed.'

It did not take long for the dwarf, intoxicated by his fantasy, to face reality.

* * *

Throughout the process of moving the remaining mana cannons, Logger thought it over.

Was it possible?

No.

'Of course, I'd like to try something like that...'

Making a Demon King's tower move—what could be more thrilling?

But reality was not so accommodating. Dwarven technology was currently the most advanced on the continent.

Yet even their golems, which represented the culmination of that technology, could be no taller than seven meters. Their performance far surpassed human creations, but that was their limit.

They could not compare to a tower dozens of meters tall.

This was a problem on an entirely different scale from simply making large numbers of mana cannons.

'I won't do it. No, I can't.'

But having fallen for the Demon King's tricks and confidently promised to do it, he could not easily take it back.

So he changed his approach.

'I'll explain why it's impossible and make my lord give up on his own.'

There were countless reasons it was impossible in the first place. Surely he could manage that.

Facing the Demon King and his adjutant, Logger narrowed those reasons down to three.

“There are three problems with making the tower move.”

“Let's hear them.”

“First, a tower dozens of meters tall must be correspondingly heavy. Legs capable of supporting it will have to be enormous as well, and that will require a vast quantity of materials.”

“I'll find a way to supply them through the trading company.”

“But we aren't talking about just one or two things. It's uncertain whether the trading company can gather so many materials, and doing so could expose the company you've put so much effort into...”

“Would it?” Berge asked Gordon.

“We can conceal the transport of that volume of resources into the mountains by dismantling them and using your storage dimension, my lord. But their disappearance without a trace could arouse suspicions of its own.”

“Can we gather what we need?”

“I cannot give you a definite answer until we have blueprints and an exact list of the required resources. However, our steady procurement of materials for the mana cannons has given us a fairly extensive distribution network for ores and construction supplies. That was in the report the Dark Knight submitted recently, so it should be accurate.”

“Then that's settled. The trading company was created to be used, after all. If I die and the tower falls, it will be meaningless. What are the other two problems?”

Faced with such a clear-cut solution, Logger struggled to make excuses, but none of them had the slightest effect.

“The second is the core. In fact, this is the most important issue. A tower that moves on legs is ultimately not very different from a golem. And the key to moving a golem is the core that supplies its mana. Without enough power, even the best-made legs will not move.”

“You needn't worry about that. Do you remember what happened to the Mana Ghost?”

“Oh...!”

Logger recalled what had happened.

The Mana Ghost had become fully integrated with the tower and begun operating on demonic energy.

“Then attaching the legs to the tower will automatically link them to it!”

“Exactly.”

Though Berge could not begin to estimate how much demonic energy that process would consume, he was willing to pay even more if it meant escaping the Empire's hero's journey.

“Then it might actually be possible...?”

A power source capable of moving the enormous tower. With the greatest obstacle resolved more easily than expected, Logger accidentally let his true feelings slip.

“Of course it is. Surely you haven't been thinking it wouldn't work?”

“O-of course not!”

“What is the third and final problem?”

“Manpower.”

“Manpower?”

“Things like mana cannons are small enough that I could make them one at a time, but these legs are a different matter. We would be creating magical engineering equipment at least several meters long, possibly dozens of meters, in proportion to the tower's size. I cannot do it alone.”

“What if you use the elves?”

“They could assist, but I'm afraid...”

“You need craftsmen of a suitable skill level?”

“Yes, precisely. This is still only an estimate, but not just anyone can work on a culmination of magical engineering like this, something we've never made before.”

“What about the golem controller, Lavinia, and the monsters?”

“The golem controller and Princess Lavinia would be helpful. But the monsters are absolutely, absolutely out of the question!”

“Understood. Then I'll find craftsmen somehow. The more, the better, I assume? And preferably dwarves?”

“Yes, of course...”

“Then if we resolve the issue of craftsmen, you can make them?”

“... Uh.”

As the conversation raced ahead without a hitch, Logger found himself nodding.

“... There will still be minor problems, but I think it can be done.”

Normally, the most important part of a golem was the core that powered it. But if the tower's demonic energy could replace the core, then perhaps he really could...

'Make it and leave my name in history?'

Absorbed in his craftsman's passion for making things and nothing else, Logger failed to realize something.

If history did record him, it would not be as a great craftsman, but as the Demon King's lackey.

* * *

Logger left.

“Your sudden announcement that you would move the tower surprised me.”

“I thought you would object and call it absurd nonsense.”

“We have the precedent of the Mana Ghost, don't we? Even I don't know the full extent of this tower's powers.”

Gordon smiled wryly. Though he had finished at the top of his class at the Demon Training Academy, the tower remained a mystery to him.

'They never even taught us that magical equipment could be integrated with the tower.'

In truth, rather than simply not teaching it, there was a good chance they did not know either.

The first Demon Emperor, who had designed the towers and elevated them into a supernatural power, was already dead. The demons of today were merely using the legacy handed down from that time.

Many hidden functions likely remained undiscovered.

'There are only fifty towers, after all.'

Ten dimensions, and fifty Demon Kings in total.

Even as more and more Demon Kings graduated from the Demon King Military Academy or returned safely after conquering a dimension, the Demon Realm never attempted to conquer more than ten dimensions at once. The reason was simple.

There were no towers to spare.

When a Demon King died, their tower vanished. But it did not truly disappear; it was forcibly summoned back to the Demon Realm.

The towers were artifacts that the present Demon Realm could no longer create, and could never afford to lose.

“Even if Logger succeeds, moving the tower will require an enormous number of demonic energy points.”

Moving a tower, a manifestation of the Demon Realm's power, could hardly come cheap.

[5154232pt]

Berge checked his demonic energy points. Despite having spent every point he had saved on removing dimensional interference, a great deal of demonic energy had accumulated in a relatively short time.

'Incredible.'

The rapid increase had begun only recently, at the moment the tower's location was discovered and announced across the continent.

He had devoured some of the searchers who entered his domain. He had killed a Star hero, Dafner Philiain.

Star heroes were symbols of all heroes, the very embodiment of humanity's hope. Killing one could sow the seeds of unease across the continent, but the humans had taken measures of their own.

'They buried Dafner's death altogether.'

Not completely. They had certainly grieved and mourned him.

But by elevating Hillen Cargill far more than necessary, and proclaiming that the discovery of the tower was a victory for humanity and the Empire, they had diminished the significance of Dafner Philiain's death far more than they should have.

Anger, on the other hand, had grown.

Anger that demanded the destruction of the tower Dafner Philiain had given his life to find, and the death of the Demon King who had killed him.

Dafner had become a martyr for humanity, and Berge an evil unparalleled in his time.

It was the result of propaganda by the Empire and the Heroes' Guild, designed to stoke anger toward the Demon King rather than grief over a fallen Star.

But that anger was steadily becoming Berge's strength.

He expected the current rate of increase might continue until he reached ten million.

Not that this was entirely a good thing.

“With this much...”

It seemed there would be enough to link Logger's legs to the tower and move it once.

“There's something else, though,” Gordon murmured uneasily.

“What?”

“Can those legs really be built?”

“...”

“Given the case of the Mana Shadow, I don't think it's entirely impossible. But if it fails...”

“We're finished. But it will succeed.”

“Are you certain?”

“No one expected the Mana Ghost to bind itself to the tower, or to be able to conceal the tower itself.”

“But temporarily hiding the tower and moving the tower itself are different things.”

“They aren't.”

Berge could say that with confidence. He still did not know the limits of this damned tower's power. But in his view, if the legs failed to bind properly to the tower, that meant...

“We simply don't have enough demonic energy points. We just need to pour in more.”

“...”