A Demon Lord's Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss

God of Iron

The next day when I visited the Dwarf King’s mansion again, Dwarf King Doda started to tell me a story.

“It is said that the god we worship, Dverg, built that shrine.”

Dverg, the God of Iron.

He was one of the gods whose name came up when I analyzed my divine spear with my analysis skills.

From what Ruin showed me, it was probably the God who created the Dwarves.

“It is said that Dwarves were originally the forge of the God Dverg, but before his own life ended, he transformed it into a new form. And the method of using that sanctuary… was passed on to a Dwarf. That was the first Dwarf King.”

The first Dwarf King.

The Dwarf who mastered the same [Weapon Smelting] skill as I did.

“Wow… Dwarves have a history from that long ago?”

The era in which the Gods existed – the God’s Age – was a time far in the past that even the Dragon Race, with their extremely long lives, had difficulty tracking.

Even Old Lady Cicerius, a Dragon Race scholar who seemed to have traveled all over the world, had limited knowledge of the Gods’ Age.

The humans, a species with such a short life span, continued to try to maintain this knowledge and had managed to barely preserve some of it until now.

There were secrets still yet to be uncovered, as I thought.

“Hmm. It is an interesting story. We are a mountain tribe. We do not have a long life span compared to other species, and we do not make a living as scholars. But, at the same time, we are a tribe of iron. Iron, that is, a [Metal] that has been around much longer than us.”

The Dwarf King got up from his seat and stood in front of me. I also rose from my seat that was next to where he stood.

“Metal is a living thing. It lives, breathes, and pulsates just like us. If we could only know its life, we would be able to preserve it… like this here…”

There it was – a stone monument, bigger than me.

Probably made of the same material as the one at the shrine we went to yesterday… I realized after looking at it again, I’ve seen this one before.

It was most likely the same as the one I saw in the Dragon’s Village, where my name was engraved on it.

The surface was covered with letters, and I could read them with no problem thanks to the [Language Translation] skill I gained when I first came to this world.

It seemed that two sets of texts were inscribed here, one on the left side and the other on the right side.

The writing style was slightly different, but the meaning of both sides was the same, so maybe one of them was a translation or something similar of the other one?

It looked like an Egyptian Rosetta Stone from my previous life.

“The one on the left side is written in the ancient Divine Era script. On the right side is the ancient Dwarf language. The contents are probably the same, and the right side was carved in later times to prevent loss of transmission. We can barely read the right side… how about you?”

“I can read it, but this is precious, isn’t it? Are you sure you want an outsider to see it?”

“Gahaha, it’s a little late for that now, isn’t it? Well, we decided it was okay if it were you. It is part of our mission.”

It was said that there was a mission that had been handed down from the first Dwarf king to the next generation of Dwarf Kings.

If anyone asks about Gods, you must check what that being is like and, if deemed to be trustworthy, pass on the traditions that have been left behind.

In other words, if someone like me appeared, not some random idiot, even if that one did not know anything, but was a trustworthy person, the Dwarves would guide that person to that shrine like some form of test.

Since he told me all this, I guess he trusted me. I was grateful for that.

“Nn… thank you. Then I will not hesitate to have a look at it.”

I read the old-fashioned inscription from the top.

The contents were… about half were instructions to Dwarves.

It seemed to be an instruction on how to live with iron and on how to smith.

It seemed to be the direction that the God Dverg wanted his followers to take.

The next part had little to do with me.

The other half… the subject was blurred and difficult to understand, but it seemed to describe the thoughts of the God Dverg regarding the war of the gods.

It seemed that the weapons bearing the name of the Gods took their shape through the cooperation of the other gods along with Dverg, who was the one to forge it.

The Gods were divided into two camps and fought each other, but it seemed that Dverg helped in creating the weapons regardless of whether they were friends or foes, and the poem expressed some regret over creating weapons that could kill each other.

But at the same time, I also felt a sense of pride in Dverg’s words about everything, despite the regrets, as it was engraved in the text I was reading.

It was necessary for him to do what was needed to be done, and if the same thing happened again, he would simply do it in the same way.

Even though he felt sadness when they used his works to start killing each other, he still had a certain conviction and pride in his works.

The abstract way in which he wrote this suggested that the Gods did not intend to leave a detailed record of the conflict for future generations.

From the images shown to me at that time, I could deduce that the Gods were on reasonably good terms with each other.

I had no doubt about it, since it seemed that Dverg also made weapons for the Gods with whom he was in conflict.

It was not strange for people to request for weapons that would be used to fight their enemies, nor to create something that would be used by their enemies against them.

It was not that the Gods had any grudges or bitterness toward each other, but rather that they had created an unbridgeable gap in their ideology, which had led them to turn their weapons against each other.

We are enemies, but we are also friends.

***

I think they didn’t want to leave a record that they killed each other or destroyed each other.

…This would be almost impossible to understand unless you had the prerequisite knowledge of the Gods that Ruin showed me in that white space.

I could only understand this because I was told that there was a struggle between them.

And…the sentence that was written prominently in this text, and probably the one that he most wanted to preserve for posterity, was this.

[This is for those who have reached the shrine of Gods, the Shrine of the End.]

“The Shrine of the End… was it that place from yesterday?”

“Mm. It is said that the Dverg died at that place. That’s why it was named so, according to legend.”

“I see… Now that you have put it that way, that place certainly has a tomb-like atmosphere. How could they have chosen a place in the middle of a crater, literally burning hot, as a resting place?”

“Gahahahaha, well, it’s our god. He must have been stubborn and hot before he died, and magma is like bath water to him.”

As I was reading through the inscription, while we were joking around, I noticed that there was a sentence on the left side of the inscription that was not on the right side of the inscription.

In other words, a sentence that was not translated into the ancient Dwarf language, but written only in the Divine Era script.

[We have fulfilled our role.

There is still much room for development, but the form of the world that the primordial God seeks, then, is complete.

So, the next step is your turn. The rest is up to you.]

I felt a shiver run through me.

“…”

“We don’t know what this thing is made of. At the very least, it must be an alloy made of Orihalcum, but the ore components are so intricately intertwined that we have no idea what proportions are used…? I believe this is a blank space…”

Dwarf King looked at the same spot I was looking at, and his expression turned dubious.

“…It looks like the conditions are met, and a new message is displayed. This must be a message addressed to me.”

Seriously, those Gods… were they generally mischievous?

With my experience with Ruin, I had a feeling that this Iron God Dverg was smirking and gloating as he imagined someone reading this message.

“…I see. Yesterday was the same, but here too, there is a trick like that. May I ask what is written on it?”

“Ah, well, it’s fine, but I can only assume what I know and would like to ask for more information if you did find anything new. But with this information, I’m certain that [Dungeons] are deeply connected with the Gods. And since I am the [Demon Lord] who rules a dungeon, that shrine reacted to my presence, and the inscription in this tablet reacted the same way.”

The Dwarf King appeared to be thinking as he responded.

“Hmmm… I didn’t expect that Demon Lords would have such a secret…”

“I’m sorry, I can’t explain the rest. I’ve been told and shown so much, but this information is probably not supposed to be revealed. It’s something I should probably keep to myself for the rest of my life. So, I can’t tell you the rest.”

The dungeon was like the child of [Dominus], so to speak.

The [Demon Lord], who was the seed of the world and its custodian – in terms of position, I suppose, he was similar to those Gods.

They were the limbs that developed the world, which could not move on its own.

This information could not be divulged to the outside world. It must only be revealed to my immediate household.

…I’d like to go home right now and talk to Lefi about it.

I had just learned a crazy secret.

Where the heck was I heading to?

I felt like I was getting more and more out of the [Demon Lord] category. Well, technically, I had already turned into a [High Lord].

At my words, Dwarf King stared at me and nodded with a mystified look on his face.

“I understand. Then I too will not ask any more questions.”

“Thank you. I will not forget this favor. If you need any help in the future, please let me know. I will help you to the best of my ability. Or, if you have any disadvantages because of this case, kindly let me know.”

This was something I heard this morning, but when I received the power from Ruin and evolved into my new race, the entire volcano was rumbling.

Magma and earth magic were pouring out from several points at the same time, and it almost felt like they were going to erupt.

Dwarfs knew that the volcano was originally an active volcano, so they had already equipped the city with magical defenses, but because I had absorbed the volcano’s magical power, which was the fuel for the defense magic, at the Shrine of the End, the defense magic that would normally be activated when something unusual happened was not functioning, and that contributed to the confusion.

The Dwarf King seemed to have taken care of the situation while I was in bed, but I felt slightly sorry for him.

The Dwarf King replied with amusement, as if it was not a big deal at all.

“Well, if I can get to know you just by telling you a secret that doesn’t affect us much, then all the better. Don’t worry about the volcano. There was some confusion, but things are back to normal now.”

At times like this, unlike a black-hearted Demon King, Dwarves were much easier to get along with.

This was because of their straightforward nature, for better or worse, which I fully understood, even though we had only known each other for a short time.

It’s a welcome addition to my circle of friends.

Well, I guess the Demon King was also included if not for him constantly making mischief.

But I couldn’t let my guard down around him because even when I talked to him, he seemed like he was doing something fishy.

“Anyway, are you guys still staying here?”

“Oh, since we’re here, we’re going to stay here for a few days, especially since our little one also seems to like the bold cuisines in Dwarf Village. She likes meat the most.”

“Gahahaha, little Miss Zainne. She’s a sight to behold. I’ll bring the best cook in our village over later. He’s a Dwarf who makes excellent meat dishes.”

“Oh, thank you. I’d appreciate it.”

With the conversation over, we left the lord’s house to meet up with my family waiting for me.

-A few hours later, we received a request for help from a Beastman Village not far from Dwarf’s village.