Chapter 30
Dwarf Hephaestus (2)
There were 370 dwarves working like slaves in Workshop No. 47.
Even though it was not a major workshop and was located on the outskirts, its population alone was more than three times that of the entire Red City of Gepetto.
The ones controlling more than three hundred dwarves were fellow dwarves serving as supervisors, along with giants kept on standby in case an armed conflict broke out.
‘There are only five of them...’
When the workshop dwarves realized that Gepetto’s scouting party consisted of only five people, their unease became obvious.
The scouts had smashed through the door so confidently that everyone had assumed a proper resistance force had finally been organized.
But that was not the case.
The resistance was still small and insignificant.
The elderly dwarf and the others who had lived here as slaves knew all too well how powerful the supervisors’ weapons were and how terrifying the giants could be.
There was nothing five dwarves could possibly accomplish.
And so the elderly dwarf spoke.
“...Could you at least take the youngest child with you?”
“Grandpa, what are you saying?!”
“Everyone, do you agree? If we cannot all survive, then the youngest dwarf with the greatest potential should.”
“The young are our hope.”
“Hephaestus is a genius, isn’t he? Better for a talent like him to survive than old fools whose minds have already gone stiff.”
There were around forty dwarves in this section alone.
Liberating every dwarf in Workshop No. 47 was obviously impossible, and there was no realistic way a scouting party of five could evacuate even forty people.
From a practical standpoint, the old dwarf’s suggestion made sense.
However—
“Everyone here is a craftsman, aren’t they?”
“Blacksmiths are the future of the dwarves. We’re taking every last one of you to the Red City. No one gets left behind. Don’t worry.”
The scouts’ attitude was unwavering.
“You’ll all die with us if you do that!”
The elderly dwarf shouted.
The paladin standing at the front shook his head.
“As long as God is watching over us, we will not die.”
His voice was firm.
“We’ll buy time. Gather every dwarf in this workshop. Then tell all of them to serve Lee Shin. You need to do it as quickly as possible.”
“What are you—”
“If you do that, everyone can survive. Not a single person has to be left behind.”
「TIP: A Hero is a soul that appears in response to a world’s crisis, born from the gathering of desperate wishes.」
「TIP: A ‘Hero’ born from accumulated wishes is granted powerful talents suited to that world’s theme and possesses limitless potential.」
「TIP: Hero Candidate Hephaestus must be brought back alive.」
「TIP: If you lose a puzzle piece, one of the methods for restoring this ruined world will disappear. Unless all four puzzle pieces are gathered intact, the apocalypse cannot be driven out.」
Judging from the status window’s explanation, the scouting party seemed to have discovered something extraordinary.
Hero Candidate or not, Lee Shin had no intention of abandoning people in danger.
He intended to do everything he could to save them.
‘Then does Jude’s world have puzzle pieces too?’
That world had been destroyed as well.
「TIP: Since the ecosystem of Eerie but Lonely World has been completely destroyed, there is currently no system-recognized method of restoring it.」
「TIP: Furthermore, because ‘Jude’ possessed excessively high potential even before his soul was damaged, there is no possibility of a new soul of that kind appearing.」
It was a painful message.
「TIP: Of course, that does not mean there is absolutely no answer. The worlds you possess influence one another as they develop. If this world continues to grow, perhaps Jude’s world may someday recover its original form as well. So for now, focus on this one!」
That was reasonable.
Lee Shin turned his attention back to Small but Deadly World.
He saw the paladins racing around Workshop No. 47, causing absolute chaos while emitting brilliant light.
“Look at us, you vile invaders!!”
Eve, Santiago, and Jude were the Lee Shin Church’s core forces.
But could the ordinary dwarves still prove themselves without any of those three present?
It was a moment Lee Shin had long hoped to see.
***
Hephaestus had always wanted to escape this wretched workshop.
Yet strangely, now that he was finally seeing the sky again after so long and a real battle had begun, his legs would not stop trembling.
Why?
He had always said they needed to reclaim their freedom.
That they had to resist.
But the actual moment of rebellion was far more terrifying than anything he had imagined.
“Look toward the sky. Our god has returned. The Order of Steel Knights who came to save us said we must believe. That only then can we survive....”
The ones acting most decisively were not young Hephaestus, but his elderly grandfather and the other old dwarves.
Those same old men who had always bowed and scraped before the young supervisors, constantly terrified that something might go wrong, now looked completely different.
They threw open the doors of Workshop No. 47 one after another.
Even though the paladins were buying them time, Hephaestus could not shake his fear.
The supervisors.
The giants.
He still remembered the day they had trampled his homeland and reduced buildings to rubble with a mere gesture.
His grandfather must have witnessed even more terrifying things than Hephaestus had.
So why was the grandfather who had always seemed so weak now filled with such passion?
The old man managed to persuade more than a hundred dwarves.
Those dwarves then scattered throughout the workshop, spreading the faith to others.
Telling them this was the only way any of them could survive.
Where had the grandfather who always kept his head lowered gone?
“Hephaestus, reality is very different from imagination, isn’t it?”
“....”
“You probably imagined beating the traitors who sided with the governor into the ground, passing judgment on them, and becoming a hero. But reality is different. Shouts erupting everywhere. Screams. The noise of battle. The sharp smell of gunpowder and choking clouds of dirt.... None of it is exhilarating or glorious. It’s simply frightening.”
“....”
“I was the same. I imagine many of the old dwarves brought to this workshop were too. We endured terrible things, and we decided that rather than experience them again, it would be better to submit and preserve the lives we had left.”
“....”
“But old men know something. We know what happens if we simply freeze because we are afraid. God does not reach out to those who refuse to move. He always extends His hand only halfway. It has always been the dwarves’ responsibility to run forward and grasp the hand of salvation.”
His grandfather smiled.
“Hephaestus, my little Hephaestus. These shabby, weak old men were once younger than anyone, their blood burning hot. Old men do not forget the past. We remember what humiliation we suffered because we fled instead of fighting, and because of that, we remember what our younger selves should have done.”
“....”
“A new god has come, Hephaestus. He is different from the gods we once knew, but He is a new god suited for a new age. Welcome the new age that has come to you, as a young dwarf of this era should.”
“As the last Flame Blacksmith of legend, whom everyone else has forgotten....”
Tat-tat-tat-tat—!
The supervisors opened fire on the paladins who had come to save Workshop No. 47.
But the steel bullets could not wound dwarves protected by their god.
The moment God returned, the blessings of flame and steel engraved into the dwarves’ souls awakened once more.
From now on, every flame and every piece of steel in this world would refuse to harm their closest friends.
Just as the First and Smallest God had once decreed.
“Haaaaah!”
The Hunters trained by Santiago moved swiftly across the battlefield.
Their skills were crude compared to Santiago’s, but still more than good enough.
They darted in every direction, firing shotguns from one position after another.
BOOM!
With every blast, a supervisor’s body burst apart.
Dwarves unloved by God were unloved by steel as well.
The remaining supervisors trembled at the sight of the traitors’ end.
Then—
BOOM.
A grotesque vibration shook the ground.
The giants had begun to move.
From far away came a triumphant shout.
“It’s done! Every dwarf in Workshop No. 47 believes in Lee Shin now! So please, save us!”
The moment they heard those words, the paladins began pouring oil over their own bodies.
Hephaestus stared at them, wondering what madness this was.
Then he understood.
Dwarves loved by God could not be harmed by flame or steel.
Which meant there was no danger in covering their entire bodies in fire.
And if they did that, even the giants would hesitate to attack them recklessly.
But there was a problem.
“The fire won’t light!”
“Damn it! It must’ve broken during the fight....”
Something had gone wrong.
While the flustered paladins struggled with the ignition device, the oil continued spreading.
It flowed across the entirety of Workshop No. 47.
Watching it spread, Hephaestus finally understood their full plan.
If every dwarf here had received God’s love, then flame was no longer a terrifying enemy.
It would become their most dependable ally.
Just as it had been throughout dwarven history.
If only they could ignite it.
Then everyone could live.
Realizing that, Hephaestus reached toward his waist.
And drew out the companion that had been with him throughout his life, long before he had ever been thrown into this cursed workshop.
—Hephaestus.
In a workshop where all he did was repetitive labor—
he had never once been able to raise this object for the sake of those who had trampled their homeland and stolen away everyone precious to them.
—You are the hope of the dwarves.
Whoosh.
Hephaestus leapt high into the air.
He looked toward the sky.
God was there.
Hephaestus knew nothing of the old Gods of Small Things.
To him, the god above was the first god he had ever met in his life.
And perhaps the last god he would ever meet for as long as he lived.
As the world seemed to slow around him, Hephaestus thought,
I resented You many times.
My family was trampled to death.
My home burned and vanished.
My youth wasted away in a place like this.
And yet You never appeared.
I hated You for that.
If I said I felt no resentment toward You for appearing only now, after I no longer even have a home to return to, that would be a lie.
But Hephaestus knew.
Resenting and hating what had already happened was not the answer.
Just as his grandfather and the old dwarves had shown him, wounds from the past were not an excuse to stop moving forward and accept the present.
Never forget those wounds.
Remember them so that day would never repeat itself.
And then take one more step forward.
Hephaestus knew that was what he had to do.
Had the god he had glimpsed for only a brief moment read his heart?
The god’s gaze seemed to say,
You are right.
Hephaestus did not answer with words of reverence or gratitude.
There was only one thing he had to do now.
A hammer engraved with the symbol of flame.
Raising his lifelong companion high above his head, Hephaestus brought the hammer down with all his strength and roared until the veins bulged in his neck.
“Eternal—Furnace!”
「Low-Rank Believer Hephaestus activates [Eternal Furnace].」
「This flame will never go out. Not until its master extinguishes it.」
The heavens opened.
A pillar of fire descended.
At the same time, surging flames raced across the spilled oil like waves.
The eternal flame once gifted by the First God, permitted only to the dwarves.
「Hero Candidate Hephaestus believes in you.」
「The ‘Flame Blacksmith’ has joined you.」
「* The Governor of Earth No. 444 has sensed that the current situation is becoming serious.」
「* Rather than resolving the matter cleanly through meticulous preparation, the Governor of Earth No. 444 is beginning to succumb to the temptation to end this in a ‘spectacular, magnificent, and so decisively overwhelming that no one could possibly object’ manner.」