“Squeak, squeak!”
These were the Steel Hogs that were acting arrogantly just moments ago.
But their cowardly trait wasn’t just for show.
The Steel Hogs sensed the aura flowing from me and slowly backed away.
I remember someone saying that the ham we ate at the tavern was from these Steel Hogs.
It was incredibly delicious.
Thinking about it made a drop of saliva fall from my mouth.
“Squeak!”
The Steel Hog at the very front fell backwards.
After taming over 100 monsters, the rank of my ‘Monster Leader’ achievement had greatly increased.
Even so, their reaction was more dramatic than I expected.
Some were even wetting themselves out of fear.
Come to think of it, the monsters from the Monster Wave even drooled at the sight of me.
There really is a difference between these creatures and wild monsters.
Anyway, I need to intimidate them enough to break their spirit.
This much isn’t quite enough.
That’s when it happened.
A small Steel Hog turned around and fled in a panic.
Instead of hiding, it ran to a large Steel Hog watching from behind.
It then rubbed its head against the larger one, trying to curry favor.
The large Steel Hog slowly approached.
It had quite large protruding tusks.
──────────────
[Steel Hog King lv14]
[Traits]
[Leader], [Tyrant], [Coward]
──────────────
“It’s the leader of the pack.”
Dunkel warned in a low voice.
I could tell just by looking at its status window.
It stomped its feet, not showing any fear towards me.
It looked like it was about to charge at any moment.
But I could see right through it.
Especially that ‘Coward’ trait prominently displayed.
This is even better.
I used the Crown of Overcoming.
I used more than half of my recovered mana all at once.
「Using Gigantification lv1.」
My body grew rapidly.
Not just Dunkel, but even the dwarf elder who was pretending to be uninterested while repairing the fence dropped his hammer.
Above all, the sight of the Steel Hogs was quite a spectacle.
My shadow, which grew along with my body, loomed over them.
“Hiss!”
When I roared once, the wild boars froze stiff like a herd of goats.
Even the Steel Hog leader, who was full of spirit just moments ago, was the same.
The one that was dropping dung seemed completely overwhelmed by me.
There’s no need to even exert my power.
「Using Crown of Domination lv1.」
The goal was to tame them.
「Partially succeeded in dominating Steel Hog King lv14.」
「Successfully tamed Steel Hog King lv14.」
Perhaps because it had mentally submitted.
I was able to dominate it, at least partially.
That meant I could move the leader as I wished.
Following my will, it knelt down.
The other Steel Hogs followed their leader and knelt similarly.
Even after I released the gigantification, it didn’t stop.
I approached the Steel Hog leader and stroked its forehead.
‘Let’s get along, okay?’
“Squeak…”
Just eat your food quietly and behave.
Don’t act up against the dwarf elder.
That’s what I ordered.
This was the difference between ‘taming’ and ‘domination’.
Just because I tame a monster doesn’t mean I can control it at will.
It’s practically impossible with monsters that don’t understand language.
But thanks to partially succeeding in domination, I was able to convey orders to the Steel Hog leader.
‘There’s nothing to worry about now.’
I conveyed this to Dunkel.
He still seemed unable to believe the current situation.
From afar, the dwarf elder put down his hammer and approached.
He came up to me and carefully said,
“Snake…”
His tone had changed from when he initially paid no attention to me.
“Will you meet Blue Beard and kill him?”
Well…
I’m not sure yet.
I was about to shake my head when Pelerian intervened.
“It might come to that if he’s brazen about violating the contract.”
So I might kill him then.
Not knowing how to answer, I just shrugged my shoulders.
I mean, I just moved my head since I don’t have shoulders.
“I see… Wait a moment, Dunkel.”
Then the old man hurriedly ran to fetch something.
It was a belt with various tools attached and a pickaxe.
The pickaxe, in particular, looked interesting.
It was designed so that the head could be changed into a shovel, truly an impressive craftsmanship befitting dwarven make.
“Take this with you.”
“But… this is your property, grandfather.”
“Yes, but you’ll need to work as a miner to go down there, won’t you?”
I wonder if my actions had changed the old man’s mind.
I couldn’t understand the reason.
“When you meet Blue Beard…”
An indescribable emotion filled the old man’s dark eyes.
“Give him one chance. He’s a pitiful man too.”
I didn’t bother to answer.
The old man didn’t seem to expect an answer either.
He turned to look at Dunkel and said,
“Go!”
His voice boomed.
A beardless dwarf, born in the mines and living tending to pigs.
Kind-hearted Dunkel who loves gardening.
The day has finally come for him to head towards the depths of fire and steel.
==
While dwarven mines are scattered across the entire continent,
They are particularly numerous in the ‘mountain ranges’.
The Red Anvil Mine is no exception.
The ‘Red’ modifier often implies blood, but it has a slightly different meaning for dwarves.
It usually refers to iron ore. The modifier likely comes from the red, rusted iron ore.
In other words, a lot of iron is mined from the Red Anvil Mine.
However, like most mines located in mountain ranges, several other ores exist as well.
Perhaps it’s the nature of the magical realm, but the deeper you dig into the mountain, the more mysterious ores you find.
Among them, a particularly unique ore is called ‘bone crystal’.
I heard that bone crystal was discovered a few months ago in one of the branch tunnels extending westward from the underground mine.
Bone crystal is white like ivory and extremely hard.
True to its name, it’s a metal formed by bones of living creatures compressed tightly by time and magical power.
The term ‘metal’ wasn’t entirely incorrect.
It didn’t burn even when heated with strong fire and could be forged by hammering.
It’s truly amazing to think about how this bone crystal came to be.
It must have been the bones of an enormously large creature. The original size of a bone crystal the size of a fist must have been at least ten times larger.
The expression that mountain ranges are the spine of the continent might be literal.
The dwarves mining in the tunnels were warriors as well as miners.
There are monsters on the surface of the mountain ranges, but there are also monsters here underground.