“Barkus is such a good, well-behaved boy,” noted the prince.
“Yes, it makes me want to keep him forever.”
“Bark, bark!” The pup seemed happy about the idea.
Keeping a pet was such a healing experience. After a while, Adela returned and led us to the dining room.
“Will the meals be served in courses?” I asked.
“No, it seems they will be served on large plates, and we’ll help ourselves from there.”
Brightly lit by magic lanterns, the banquet hall was full of luxury.
“Glad you’ve decided to join me, Crown Prince Richie, Crown Princess Candidate Floortje. Please help yourselves to our modest dwarven cooking on this fine evening.”
Rather than a stand-up dinner party, it appeared to be the kind where you sat at a table and took as much as you wanted from a platter. And unlike the meals in the Elven Forest Republic, here it was meat all around.
“Thank you for inviting us to this wonderful dinner, Chief Jörd.”
“Can’t imagine you had any decent meals with those salad munchers. Please, eat to your hearts’ content.”
The dwarven chief personally poured a transparent liquid into Prince Richie’s cup.
“Dwarven spirits. It’s customary to drink at the very start of a banquet.”
He poured spirits into my cup too. Wow, this smell is really strong... The alcohol content must’ve been through the roof.
“Now, then. To the joint future of the Kingdom of Aryaka and the Dwarven Great Caves!”
“Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
My throat burnt from a single gulp. This was worse than whiskey. The prince and I both coughed several times.
The dinner continued without issue. I had my drink replaced with wine. It seemed only dwarves could handle their spirits—Chief Jörd, his wife, and even their child were all drinking a lot of it. Furthest away from the chief sat Werner and Mamiana. Were they related to him?
My face felt hot. I could see the prince’s face was all red too. Regardless, I enjoyed finally getting to eat some hard meat.
“Where do you raise cows and pigs?”
“There’s a farm outside the caves. We raise our cattle there.”
Cattle did ultimately need sunlight. The dwarves must’ve grown their vegetables outside too. And surely they imported the grain for their bread from the Elven Forest Republic. The two nations didn’t get along well, but that didn’t stop them from engaging in active trade. What a curious relationship.
In general, dwarven cooking seemed to be lightly salted. The strong taste made alcohol a necessity, and dwarves drank their spirits straight and in heavy amounts while digging into salty-sweet meat. The display of such vigorous appetite was pleasant to look at.
“Is the impending attack by the Elven Forest Republic of any concern?” asked the prince.
“What’s there to worry about? You’d be appalled by how weak elven soldiers are. The problem is those demons and monsters, of course. They’re strong, but not strong enough to force their way into these caves,” replied the chief.
“So these caves are safe?”
“Yup. This half we’re in faces the elven forest, while the other side faces the lands of the Demon Lord’s army. They come at us pretty often and we push them back every time. No warrior is as strong as a dwarf in a cave,” uttered Chief Jörd with a grin as he bit off a large piece of meat.
Some monsters specialized in cave combat, but there weren’t enough of them to secure an overwhelming advantage. The Demon Lord’s army was an aggregation of monster races, and they could mount a strong assault with lots of arachne, which were strong inside caves, but sending ten thousand of them carried the risk of making them all go extinct.
“Rest assured, once we make it to Aryaka, we’ll gather an army and return.”
“You’re leading your troops against those salad munchers? The Dwarven Great Caves will gladly send some of our own to assist you.”
“That would be of much help.”
“The main force of the Elven Forest Republic are those old magicians hiding deep in the forest. They would make it difficult if they decided to stand in our way, but young elven soldiers and regular monsters are of no concern whatsoever.”
For the most part, this coup was carried out by the elven army. Judging by the elders in Hufton, I didn’t expect any old elf to help the revolutionaries. As such, it seemed we could just make a combined march with the dwarves on the Town of Yggdrasil, rescue the fairy king, and that would be that.
“Bark, bark!”
Eating his meal under the table, Barkus made himself heard. Of course, I would need to look for his parents and return him during my next visit. This escape would be over once we reached the border on the Magic Train. And here I wanted to have another bout with Arima...
“Wake up, milady. It’s morning.”
“Ngh... Already?”
“Bark, bark, bark!”
Adela’s voice woke me up. Barkus, who had been sleeping with me, was jumping on the bed. I looked around for a window and, upon not finding any, remembered I was in the Dwarven Great Caves. It was underground, after all. As great as it had been to finally get to eat some meat, my stomach felt heavy from all the fatty foods I had eaten the day before.
As I got dressed and stepped outside my bedroom, I ran into Prince Richie, who had just stepped out of his. Though he was a prince, he had been able to take care of himself ever since going through communal life at my stable in his early sumo days. Sumo stables were popular with nobles as places to train their children and teach them discipline, since nobles and commoners received equal treatment there. Some nobles were concerned about potential romance between their children and commoners, but... Yeah. Sumo is all about merit: when you’re standing in the ring wearing nothing except a mawashi, your social status doesn’t matter.
“Good morning, Floortje. You are beautiful as always.”
“Thank you. And Your Highness is as handsome as always.”
“Bark, bark!”
“Good morning, Barkus. Lively as ever, mm?”
A dwarven maid brought breakfast on a cart. Time to dig in...
Meat in the morning. Wow, dwarves. Why couldn’t they give me fried eggs with ham? I ate a bit of the meat, along with spongy bread and moss tea. The soup was full of solid ingredients: delicious, but rough on the stomach.
“I thought being stuck with bread, soup, and salad for breakfast in the Elven Forest Republic was bad, but this breakfast is a whole different beast,” spoke the prince.
“Can’t wait to get back to Aryaka and have some chanko.”
“Me too. And I want to eat some rice and miso soup.”
Somehow, Japanese food had become commonly available in Aryagard after the construction of the sumo hall, and going on trips such as this one, I felt like Japanese people did in my past life when dining overseas. Dosukoi dosukoi!
Once I was done with breakfast and was relaxing with a cup of moss tea, Chief Jörd entered the room.
“Morning, you two. Did you sleep well?”
“Thank you for providing us with this marvelous room, Chief Jörd. We had a good rest.”
“Glad to hear it. All right, you ready to head to the Magic Train terminal?”
“It’s ready?”
“Sure is. Loaded the firebox with magic stones and finished checking everything yesterday. You can leave anytime.”
Thanks to that, it appeared we would be able to reach Aryaka by noon.
Behind the chief stood Werner and Mamiana.
“Morning, you two.”
“Good morning, yokozuna and Prince. We’ll be your bodyguards until you reach the border.”
“Please and thank you,” replied the prince.
“Mamiana, would you like to come to Aryagard with me while we’re at it? I’ll find you a sumo stable to join,” I offered.
“I-Is that okay? U-Umm... Grandfather...”
“Sure, if that’s what you want, I have nothing against it.”
“Thank you, grandfather!”
The road from the border to the capital would take about three days in a coach. After that, it would take two more days to assemble troops, then another three to get back to the border again.
“Now come, you two. It’s this way.”
The chief led the way through heavily winding passages. After descending a staircase that seemed to go on forever, we finally reached the train platform. And wasn’t the Magic Train itself a sight to behold! I adored its fancy design, which resembled that of a bullet train. Steam blew out from both sides of the locomotive.
“I present to you the first in a series of Magic Trains, which shall be the pride of the Dwarven Great Caves: the Trailblazer!”
“How magnificent,” was the prince’s reaction.
“It looks great,” I added.
“Bark, bark, bark!” Barkus seemed to be agreeing with me.
The Trailblazer had five cars: an engine, a magic-stone storage car, a first-class car, a second-class car, and a third-class car.
“Today’s test run is exclusively reserved for you, Aryakan Crown Prince Richie and Lady Floortje.”
“Thank you. It’s an honor,” replied the prince.
I opened the door of the first-class car and entered. The interior design resembled that of Meiji-era steam trains. I liked its retro look and the luxurious leather-covered seats.
“Now, take your seats. We’re about to depart.”
Taking the chief up on his offer, Prince Richie and I sat facing each other. Adela sat beside me, while Barkus took the seat near the prince, tail wagging in apparent joy.
“Once these get into regular operation, it will be of great benefit to trade with Aryaka,” spoke Chief Jörd.
“I have no doubt that many would want to take a ride, even if the cost was high.”
Traveling was difficult in this world unless you had a dragon to ride. Ordinary people had to use coaches, but having to look after horses meant it wasn’t much faster than walking. It had taken us a month just to get to the Elven Forest Republic, bumping around in a coach the whole way. Even though we were able to rest in highway towns and villages, it was still a pretty tiring journey.