Chapter 134

"What you ask… that is a great deal… we know little about your country." The hard nosed dwarven elder said with a weighty voice but he could not meet the masked face or clasp the hand which offered salvation.

"Will the quagoa offer you a better deal? And even if you win, can you defeat the dragons? And they are not the only evils who would destroy you. Ancient evils come and go in this world, I offer to share our strength. Are you strong enough to refuse the offer and still stand alone?" Ainz asked of them, and they one and all answered by looking down at the table as if it were quite fascinating.

"Can you… give us some time to think about this?" The forgemaster asked with the utmost humility.

Ainz let his hand fall away.

"That is fair, but remember this… it would be unnatural for me to offer my help for nothing after you refuse me. If I leave the dwarf kingdom with nothing, then nothing of my kingdom will come to the dwarf kingdom in return." Ainz suppressed his inner cringe at his melodramatically deep voice.

'The tastes of this world are bizarre!' He screamed in his head and wondered again if perhaps he was not the one who was strange.

"Let us offer you our hospitality for the night at least… we have wonderful beer and-" Ainz held up a hand.

"Let me offer a gift, a small token if you will, to show my good will." Ainz interrupted and reached into his dimensional space.

"In the long ago vanished world, they also had beer, some of them were old even when I was young. Let me offer you a taste of the past in the hopes of a brighter future." Ainz said, and withdrew three small boxes.

"This one," he held up a can, "is called 'Guinness'. It comes from a people who were famous for their dark brews." He held up another, this time a bottle. "This one comes from another country, called 'Arrogant Bastard Ale', note the cocky look of the demon on the glass." He then held up another, this time a small white bottle, "And this one is called 'Sake'. A personal favorite of mine." He laid the boxes down, by stroke of luck each box held enough for the dwarf council to have one bottle each.

Their noses began to twitch. "We… yes we thank your majesty for his generosity, of course we will make our first toast to yourself… but first we should… yes, we should provide you with quarters." The aged council member said and stood up. He yanked a short rope and from just beyond the door, a bell rang incessantly until someone came rushing inside.

"Gondo?! We were calling for an escort…" The forgemaster snapped.

Gondo pointed down to his feet. "I got feet, I can take whomever, wherever."

The Forgemaster rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever. You know this part of the city, take His Majesty to the finest empty house we have, give him whatever he wants, down to your last beer until it's time for him to talk to us again."

To their surprise, Gondo nodded with such wild enthusiasm that his beard bounced off his barrel chest. "Of course, there's no problem with that!"

Furrowed brows and deep set eyes were turned on Gondo, 'Down to the last beer' was a very serious order, and not one of the dwarves followed eagerly as it might well come down to that. But Gondo didn't seem to care.

"Your Majesty!" Gondo said with a deep bow at the waist.

'This is strange… I was trying to win the council over… Why does this one sound so enthusiastic?' Ainz wondered, but quietly accepted the evident devotion as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Lead on, I am in your care, 'Gondo'." Ainz said, and when Gondo straightened up, Ainz followed after him.

When they were outside again… such as it was while 'inside' a mountain, the fire red bearded dwarf asked, "My Lord… did you really mean what you said about runecraft?"

"Every word." Ainz replied without hesitation.

"Then… I know I'm supposed to take you to where you'll sleep for the night, but if I could ask you… would you like to meet with the other runesmiths? Some of them heard what you said, the same way I did. Word spread from them to the others, and I've gathered them together at a tavern."

"What for?" Ainz asked, he furrowed his brow behind the mask.

"My Lord… we want to come with you. We've got no future here, our craft… our own people don't much care for it anymore. I saw your sword, some, they're not quite convinced yet, a little on the fence, but most of us want to go where we can practice our skills again." Gondo replied, he took a step ahead of the King and turned around to look up at him. Stopping in his tracks he said, "I'm a rune developer, been at it for years trying to find a way to save the art from dying. But it didn't mean anything and now there aren't so many of us anymore in the first place. I was out there in the crowd when you showed that sword… please, just a few minutes of your time…" Gondo was all but begging.

"You've got no idea what it's like, to see something you devoted your whole life to just 'dying off', fading away and threatening to disappear. It looks like you might be our second chance. I'd give my soul for that, the whole damn thing." Gondo insisted with fervency and shaking hands that were clasped like he was praying.

To see someone so devoted to their craft that they would abandon literally everything, it reminded Ainz of how he felt about Yggdrasil and his guild. His affection meter for Gondo went higher than it had since he began his journey and crystalized into resolve. "Alright, I will meet with them." He said and set aside any misgivings he might have harbored before.

Gondo veered off their prior course and led him to walk down a narrow street. While they drew many a look from dwarves before, they were now out of sight of any of them, but it didn't take long to get where Gondo intended him to be.

Gondo flung open the door and shouted before Ainz could follow, "On your feet! Rise for the King!"

And the sound of dozens of dwarves hopping off their chairs hit like the sound of a military formation.

'This is off to a good start.' Ainz reflected as he ducked under the doorway to enter the room with a fresh audience.