Alloy Steel

As the crow flies, the Dwarf Tribe Master Ranu came from was less than two hundred kilometers from Bunta City.

By road, though, the journey was nearly three hundred kilometers.

Fortunately, they could cover the first two hundred-odd kilometers quickly by carriage. Only after entering the mountain where the Dwarf Tribe lived did they have to walk the final stretch of more than twenty kilometers.

Just as Master Ranu had said, the trip took a full day.

Xu Yi had left Bunta City that morning. By the time darkness fell, he could finally make out pinpricks of firelight ahead, thanks to Master Ranu's directions.

"See those? Every one of those lights is a forge fire. The fires in our Dwarf Tribe never go out!" Master Ranu thrust out his already sizable belly, his face full of pride.

Unfortunately, the day's travel had left Xu Yi too exhausted to speak, so he failed to offer the expected agreement.

The Dwarves were somewhat surprised by Xu Yi's sudden arrival, but since he had come with Master Ranu, they welcomed him in warmly and promptly held a grand feast in his honor.

Dwarves loved their drink, so naturally, wine was the centerpiece of their hospitality.

Xu Yi had no idea how many bowls they had poured into him, or how he had ended up dead asleep. When he regained consciousness and opened his eyes, daylight had filled the room. It was already the next morning.

Xu Yi shook his head. Surprisingly, it barely hurt, though he still felt a little dizzy.

Apparently, the Dwarves were not only fond of wine but also excellent at making it. Even after drinking so much the night before, he had woken without a pounding head.

Of course, it helped that Xu Yi could hold his liquor.

Back on Earth, as one of the top mechanical engineers at the country's largest mechanical engineering company, Xu Yi had been unable to avoid countless business dinners, no matter how strictly he tried to limit his drinking. That was how he had built up his tolerance.

Distilling in this world could not compare with the technology of Earth, so its wine was far weaker. In effect, that made Xu Yi's tolerance even greater.

"Hey, you're Xu Yi, right? You're awake?" a booming voice called from beside him.

Xu Yi turned and saw a male Dwarf with an enormous nose.

"You're..." Xu Yi scratched his head. The Dwarf looked familiar, but he could not remember his name.

"Haha, just call me Canby." The Dwarf gave Xu Yi a hearty slap on the shoulder and laughed. "I thought humans couldn't hold their drink, but you can really put it away. You drank two of our people under the table yesterday before you went down yourself. Not bad!"

Xu Yi chuckled. Dwarves love their wine, so they respect anyone who can drink. Looks like last night gave me a good way in.

"Where's Master Ranu? I haven't seen him," Xu Yi asked.

"That Ranu fellow went to see the chief. Said he had something to discuss. Oh, nearly forgot—he said you could go see the chief once you woke up, too. Want to go now? You only just got up, though. Better get something in your stomach first."

Xu Yi felt his stomach. It was indeed empty, so he nodded.

Canby soon brought him two flatbreads made from ingredients Xu Yi could not identify. Xu Yi ate them quickly, then asked Canby to lead him to the chief.

The Dwarf Tribe Ranu came from was not particularly large. According to Canby, it had only a little over five hundred members in all.

From what he had seen, Xu Yi estimated that only about a hundred of them were adult males.

That disappointed him. He had come hoping to recruit as many skilled Dwarf craftsmen as possible, but there were only about a hundred adult males in the entire tribe. Even if every one of them was as skilled as Master Ranu, it still would not be quite enough.

"Who told you only adult male Dwarves know how to forge?" Shluka, the Dwarf chief, scoffed at Xu Yi's question. "Listen, we Dwarves grow up beside wine and forge fires. Even our children are more skilled than your human craftsmen!"

Seeing Shluka's smug expression and the emphatic agreement in Master Ranu's and Canby's eyes, Xu Yi wisely chose not to argue. After a moment's thought, he said, "Then, honored Chief, would you allow me to hire some of your skilled craftspeople to help Master Ranu complete the work I've commissioned from him?"

"Ranu already told me about your request," Shluka said with a nod. "In principle, I have no reason to stop you. But human, have you considered what will happen if you take away a large number of our people? Life will become much harder for those who remain. And how can you guarantee that our people will live well in a human city and receive the pay they're owed?"

Xu Yi glanced at Master Ranu, who gave a slight nod.

Master Ranu had raised this issue on the journey here. It was a problem many Dwarf Tribes faced.

Although the different races of the Sains Continent got along reasonably well, living together was another matter. Differences between them inevitably caused problems.

Master Ranu, for example, was widely recognized as a master smith in Bunta City, yet being a Dwarf still made daily life there inconvenient in many ways.

Shluka had voiced those concerns, but most Dwarves shared them.

That was why Dwarves still lived in their own small tribes rather than alongside humans.

Xu Yi had prepared an answer. "Please rest assured, Chief. If I'm inviting your people to work for me, I'll naturally address these problems. Master Ranu and I have already discussed their living arrangements, and I believe he has told you what I proposed."

"Yes. You said you'd set aside an area near the factory for our people, build houses for them, and provide for their daily needs. That's good. But what about everything else? Can you guarantee that humans won't shun or bully them?"

Xu Yi smiled faintly. "Chief, I'll admit something I'm not especially proud of: humans are a very practical race. If someone can benefit us, we'll get along with them regardless of their race. I think you'll agree with that."

Shluka snorted. "Of course I know that."

"Then what else is there to worry about? Master Ranu is a good example. He's a Dwarf, but his exceptional forging skills make life easier for many people in Bunta City and benefit them. Naturally, he has earned their respect. His life may have its inconveniences, but they haven't truly prevented him from living there, have they?"

Master Ranu laughed in ready agreement. "That's right. Those fellows in Bunta City wouldn't dare offend me. There are plenty of things the human craftsmen there can't make, so they have to come to me. Why would they give me trouble?"

Shluka pondered for a moment before continuing. "Fine. Let's set that aside. What happens to the people left here when you take away so many of our able-bodied tribe members? We Dwarves may love wine and forging, but we still have to live. Hunting and harvesting both take work. Taking those people away would have a serious impact on our tribe."

"Chief, I have a proposal. Perhaps you'd like to hear it."

"Go on."

"I plan to build a research facility here and ask the Dwarves of your tribe to help me study certain things. Naturally, I'll provide a fixed amount of research funding each month—let's say five hundred gold coins for now. If the facility produces concrete results, I'll provide additional rewards based on those results. What do you think of that proposal, Chief?"

The three Dwarves present went still.

"Five hundred gold coins?" Master Ranu's eyes widened. "Xu Yi, why didn't you tell me you were planning to build a research facility here?"

"A research facility? Human, forging is what we Dwarves do best. What do you want us to study?" As chief, Shluka was concerned with a different question.

"Rest assured, the research is related to forging, mainly the materials used in it. I brought a research proposal with me today. Please, Chief, take a look." Xu Yi took a document from inside his coat and handed it over.

Shluka accepted it and glanced over the first page. He paused. "Alloy steel? What's that?"

"The details are all in there. You can take your time studying it later," Xu Yi replied with a smile. "For now, do you have any other concerns, Chief? If there's anything you're unhappy with, please say so. As long as it's within my power, I'll meet your requirements."

Shluka exchanged a few looks with Master Ranu and Canby, then sighed softly. "Very well, human. I admit you've persuaded me. I agree in principle to your terms and to letting you recruit people from the tribe. But we still need to discuss the details."

Xu Yi broke into a delighted smile. "Of course."