21st Century Archmage

“Is it all finished?”

“Of course it is. Huhu. Who do you think I am?”

‘Who? Youre my eternal treasure, thats what you are.

“Haha. Who else would you be but the child of the rock who has inherited the most outstanding artisan blood out of the entire dwarven race, the mighty leader of the Luhalumere Clan, Patriarch Cassiars?”

‘Mighty leaders laying it a bit thick, haha…

This sly patriarch loved his drink and didnt hesitate to sell off his comrades for grilled pork belly. Because of his simple personality, he was someone who would give you the shirt off his back with a few words of flattery, but in the viewpoint of the dwarven people, he probably wasnt that great of a patriarch.

Even so, sometimes in life, this kind of disingenuous flattery was necessary. It couldnt be helped. Even if I told him my sincere thoughts, Cassiars would definitely never be able to fix his naive personality, not that that was necessarily a bad thing. Living his entire life in a fantasy was also a kind of fortune.

“Its here. I made it perfectly based on what you said and replicated it. No one other than me in our clan would have been able to make something like this,” Cassiars said, gesturing to one side.

‘Did he really make it?!

I came here from the 21st century. I knew that the continents big merchant groups possessed too much strength to bring them to their knees with brute force. For people like them, the best thing was to fight fire with fire and face them with merchant schemes. Who did they think they were to refuse to trade with my territory and employ a policy to make the Rubis Merchants outcasts? I heard the continental merchant groups were even deeply involved in the dispatch of the Empires troops for Nermans downfall.

This masterpiece was commissioned in order to give those cocky bastards a real taste of hell. It was a bill-shaped money press that could produce the paper bills used in modern times. The 100 Gold bill had my handsome face on it, the 10 Gold bill had Bebeto, the 1 Gold bill had my house, Nerman Castle, and lastly, the 1 Silver bill had a landscape with the Kyre Road.

‘There will come a time when you will come crawling to me out of regret. When that happens, youll have a taste of my hot, hot retribution.

I wasnt a very kind or generous person. Those merchant groups dared to abuse me and throw Nerman in the pressure cooker just because they had a little money. They were next on my hit list. A form of revenge they had probably never even imagined was coming straight for them.

‘Huhuhu.

It was still my little secret.

Right now, I was in the village of the dwarves and elves. Like cats and dogs, they got into spats whenever they met, yet somehow got along with each other. In the small city made through the joint partnership of the dwarves and elves, elves plucked their harps and the dwarves banged their hammers, enjoying their lives apart from the rest of society. You could say they had grown closer to humans thanks to me, but there was still some kind of barrier keeping them from getting any closer. When other humans looked at the dwarves and the elves, their gazes were probably different from mine. Capable of sensing the feelings behind those gazes thanks to their pure hearts, the dwarves and elves took comfort in each other and were enjoying their newfound freedom in their own way.

One such person was the elven woman Narmias, who was quietly calling my name.

“Narmias!” I called, my voice full of gladness.

“Tsk tsk. Just what do you see in that skinny-as-a-stick elf? They all look like orcs that have starved for a hundred days, the lot of them… A true woman should have curves in the right places and curves even where they shouldnt, like our clans women. Kyre, Ill see you later.”

Clicking his tongue as he muttered about his ridiculous beauty standards, Cassiars turned around and left.

“Take care of yourself, sir,” I called out loudly, showing my utmost respect.

Of course, while I was doing so, my eyes were busy looking at Narmias, whose sweet apple fragrance wafted around her as she walked to my side.

‘Wow, how can you be so beautiful?

Narmias godly figure was an utter delight for the eyes. Her full-body elven mithril airplate glinted with silver, showing off her slim body in all of its perfection. It was enough to kindle flames in a fiery mans heart.

“I wanted to see you.”

‘Uwah!

I remembered seeing someone call elves the epitome of demureness and innocence. As she spoke, Narmias wrapped her two long, soft arms around mine without a hint of embarrassment in front of the dwarves and elves.

‘Oh! Gods above. Id love it if you would not test me so…

Even as I prayed, I was captivated by Narmias blue, mountain lake eyes. From them, I could tell that she truly wanted to see me, without lie or pretense. Because she loved me, she was not at all ashamed of her feelings.

I stroked her long hair that was pleasant to the touch.

It was a truly happy moment. The warm sunlight going from spring to summer beamed down lightly upon us, as if it knew of a certain foolish humans wish that this joy would last forever…

* * *

“Y-Your Majesty! Something terrible is happening!”

The central continent was spring, but the Ice Empire, Haildrian, was only now beginning to escape the cold of winter. In the Haildrian Imperial Palace, where magic maintained the fragrance of eternal spring, the panicked voice of Duke Aquilion reached the Tsarina.