The apex of the Dwarves was about 1,000 years ago when the monsters invaded through the dimensional wall. There were a total of three Dwarves who were about to become Legendary Blacksmiths at that time.

Akto, Bito, and Chubach.

However, it seemed like their fame was cut after that. There were a lot of Best Blacksmiths, but they were far in comparison from Legendary Blacksmiths.

The Dwarves put the responsibility of that on the three heroes. It was because they had all disappeared without leaving behind a proper heir.

That was why it was believed that the dark ages of the Dwarf race had continued for a long time.

But finally, a dwarf that could end that dark age was finally born.

Goonto, the son of the Great Patriarch Bangart.

He was already a Best Blacksmith while not even being 40 years old, and not only that, he had already successfully completed the first Legendary Blacksmith quest and was close to finis.h.i.+ng the second quest.

The second quest to become a Legendary Blacksmith!

If he succeeds, he can understand the Secret of the Sword.

Of course there were many dwarves after the three heroes who figured out the Secret of the Sword.

Unfortunately, they were all old people over the age of 100, that they could not challenge an even higher level. There were no dwarves who reached that level at a young age like Goonto.

By the looks of it, he also had really good physique. Not only was his body large, he was both tough and strong that the dwarves gave him the nickname of the 'Dwarf of Steel.'

That was why I had my eyes on him from the moment I came into Royal Roader. He was someone I wanted to make a part of my team.

If I succeeded, it would be like gaining a thousand soldiers. Of course it would only be possible after I raised my skills a bit more.

"Of course I know. I heard a lot about you from my dwarf friends. I came to meet Great Patriarch Bangart-nim. Please guide me to him."

I said that while handing over the introduction letters from Bachu and Pichu.

Goonto motioned to a dwarf who quickly came and took the letters before handing it to Goonto.

After reading the letters, Goonto took another look at me.

However, the look of hostility in his eyes did not disappear. Rather, it looked like a different type of hostility had filled that spot.

"You are the blacksmith that Lord Vulca.n.u.s has approved?"

The other dwarves were shocked at Goonto's words.

"What? Not an anvil worker but a blacksmith?"

"A human can become a blacksmith?"

To be shocked at just that. There are plenty of things to be shocked about still remaining.

"Somehow it ended up that way. Anyways, come over her and eat some meat first. It's still fresh because I just caught him."

The dwarves were even more surprised at my words.

"What? You hunted this thing?"

"Unbelievable. You must have other party members."

"Tell the truth. Where are the rest?"

The dwarves were very hostile. It looked like they were about to grab my collar any moment.

I just twisted the meat that was roasting in the fire.

"What kind of person would be crazy enough to enter the Dwarf territory? I am alone. Take a seat."

The dwarves gathered around me as I said that.

All of them looked to be on full alert. However, they did not attack me. Maybe it was the effect of the letters from Bachu and Pichu.

After debating it for a moment, Goonto sat across from me.

"Let's eat first. It is not like it is easy to find the meat of a Golden Monster. Haguchi and Magochu, go cut off some more meat."

"Sure. I know the tasty part. When it comes to alligator meat, the tail is the best."

The dwarf named Haguchi look out a large sword and headed toward the tail of the Golden Alligator.

I was a bit worried looking at him. The tail had almost no damage to it. The weak points of an alligator are their head and side, so I didn't attack the tail at all.

Which means, they needed to cut through the perfectly fine Golden Alligator hide to get to the tail meat.

'It would be good for him to not try.'

But there was no way for Haguchi to know what I was thinking. He confidently swung his sword as if he knew exactly where to strike.

Clang.

Of course there wasn't even a small scratch. I don't know how amazing of a dwarf Haguchi may be, but there was no way to make over 5,000 damage without even using a skill.

He could probably make a scratch with the help of a support magician or a skill that allows you to do two times the damage.

"Why wont' this cut?"

Haguchi seemed to be shocked as he swung the sword even harder. However, no matter how hard he tried, the results were the same.

"Why are you so weak? Give it to me. Let me try."

One of the other dwarves clicked his tongue and stepped up.

But it was the same. He even tried to stab it with a large sword, but it just left a small scratch. He could not get any meat out of it.

The dwarf blamed the innocent sword.

"d.a.m.n it. Is the sword too dull?"

He then looked toward me with a complicated expression.

The other dwarves were the same way. They subconsciously started to pay attention to me. It was like there was a battle between dwarves and humans right now.

It was reasonable, since I managed to make the side completely shabby.

In comparison, the dwarves could only make a small scratch. No wonder their pride was hurt.

Other dwarves stepped up to try to regain their pride, but the Golden Alligator tail still did not reveal the meat inside.

Goonto could stand it no longer and stepped forward.

"You must all be tired from yesterday's battle. I will try."

"You're probably right. Sigh, my shoulder is still stiff."

"For me, it's my hips. If I was in prime condition, I could cut through this kind of tail with a single strike."

"Yes. Goonto should step up for something like this."

The dwarves were staring at Goonto with antic.i.p.ation. They were hoping Goonto could restore the pride of the dwarves.

To be honest, I was antic.i.p.ating it as well. Since he was so amazing that they called him the Dwarf of Steel, shouldn't he be able to show amazing strength?

'Yes. Hurry up and try. That way, I can verify whether you have the qualifications to be a part of my team.'

Goonto swung his large sword toward the Golden Alligator tail.

Swiiiiiiiish-

A refres.h.i.+ng sound of wind. He really seemed to be strong.

Paaaaat!

As expected, he made a larger dent than the other dwarves. It was a decent sized cut.

Amazing strength!

He really deserved the nickname of Dwarf of Steel.

However, Goonto was not satisfied. No, he must be angry. In comparison to the injury on the side of the alligator, it was like kid's play.

Goonto swung his sword again. He must have put a lot of strength as it managed to cut through that thick hide, and I could see the veins in his forehead.

Paaaaaaat!

But it was the same. He could not make a cut larger than the size of a palm no matter how many times he tried.

Paat! Paat!

I was embarra.s.sed for him.

At least get some help from the support magician. If he received attack strengthening magic, he should be able to do twice the amount of damage.

But Goonto wanted to fight it out with just his strength. Why is it so important to prove you are strong that you need to work so hard?

I decided to say something. I felt like I needed to give him a way out for him to stop.

"The hide is really tough in the tail so it is hard to cut. Just eat the meat from the side."

"I am almost done."

He really is a stubborn fool.

But after trying over ten times, he finally managed to create a large cut. It was big enough to slice off enough meat for the dwarves to eat.

Goonto cut off a large chunk of tail meat and brought it over. He seemed to be very pleased with himself.

"Stop eating that tasteless side meat and let's eat this."

"Our Dwarf of Steel!"

"The tail is always the best for alligators."

At least we all gathered around the bonfire.

We shared all sorts of stories. Goonto did most of the asking, while I focused on responding as if I was in the hot seat.

Thanks to that, Goonto and the other dwarves should have gotten a good idea of my situation.

Of course it wasn't that their hostility completely disappeared. In fact, they even seemed more hostile than before.

"It is unbelievable. A human blacksmith who also learned Jewel Alchemy?"

"I do not believe things that humans say. In addition, it is rare to even find a dwarf who knows Jewel Alchemy. But a d.a.m.n human is going to challenge the Expert Blacksmith quest with Jewel Alchemy? Do you think us dwarves are idiots?"

"Humans are not trustworthy. You liar!"

Tsk tsk, have they been scammed their whole lives?

I didn't want to beg them to believe me. It would be useless in a situation like this.

Instead of responding, I took out two Jewels of Creation that were lightly s.h.i.+ning. They only had creation indexes of about 30.

I handed them over to Goonto. After verifying the creation index, I received it back.

In that short moment, the creation indexes fell to 7 and 8. It had gone down to a half of a half after going through Goonto's hands.

It didn't matter. I had a ton of Jewels of Creation.

I showed them Jewel Alchemy on the spot. Since their creation indexes were so low, it was easily completed in about 5 minutes.

I opened my hand and showed them the result. One was still s.h.i.+ning while the other became as transparent as a crystal.

"Oh, he wasn't lying!"

"A human Jewel Alchemist."

The dwarves were all shocked.

However, their hostility toward me still remained.

It was to be expected. Being a blacksmith was the pride of the dwarves. But as a human, I had stepped on their pride by successfully becoming a blacksmith.

In addition, a human also learned the Jewel Alchemy skill which was rare even amongst dwarves. No wonder they would start to detest me even more.

Now it was time to suck up a bit.

"I may have become a blacksmith, but it doesn't change the fact that the blacksmith is a Dwarf occupation. That was why I really wanted to receive the final quest for Expert Blacksmith from the Great Patriarch-nim of the Dwarves."

"That's why you came all the way here?"

"Isn't that enough to put my life on the line? It is the path of becoming an Expert Blacksmith."

I was praising the dwarves and the Blacksmith profession as much as I could. Especially the Blacksmith portion.

Maybe that was why, but I could feel their hostility dying down just a bit.

"That is true."

"At least it is a human who knows how to be respectful."

"I can see why Bachu and Pichu would write you introduction letters. The meat seems to be cooked. Let's eat together."

I ate the Golden Alligator meat with the dwarves. I then heard a message ringing in my head.

The dwarves had a satisfied smile on their faces as well.

Of course there was a disappointing part as well. I wished that my magic went up proportionally to the amount of meat I ate, but that wasn't the case. No matter if you ate 10 portions or 100 portions, it only went up by 1.

This extremely large alligator was at least 20m long. We only managed to eat a small portion, and there was quite a lot of meat still remaining.

We can't just waste all this precious meat. Furthermore, the Golden Alligator hide had more value than the meat.

"What about taking the meat to the village before it goes bad?"

Once I suggested it, Goonto's eyes started to sparkle.

"Are you saying you will let the dwarves in the village eat the meat as well?"

"It'd be a waste to just throw it away. The hide as well. This monster is ranked in the upper half of the Golden Monsters. I'll give it to your for cheap."

Goonto nodded his head.

"It is a good idea. Chupato, go to the village and gather as many Dwarves as you can. We will start dividing up the meat and roasting it."

"That is a good idea."

"Make sure to bring Beringknim's sword on your way back as well."

"Alright."

The dwarf named Chupato quickly started to run. The Dwarf Village must be in that direction.

Goonto and the other dwarves started to cut apart more meat and roast it over the fire. While they did that, a herd of Dwarves headed toward us.

"It is here."

"Oh, they really did hunt a Golden Alligator. Amazing."

There were at least 100 of them. It is not common to see so many Dwarves moving together.

"Goonto. Beringknim's sword."

It was an extremely large sword with the blade alone being over 2m long. Just looking at it, you could see how sharp the blade was."

"Abique. Increase my attack strength."

"Sure."

There were magicians among the dwarves as well. If you are born with a weak body unlike most dwarves, they are supposedly trained from an early age to become magicians.

Abique was a dwarf like that. He seemed very weak in comparison to the other dwarves.

Goonto picked up Beringka's sword and attacked the side of the Golden Alligator once more. An injury the size of three palms was instantly created.

All of the other dwarves were full of admiration after seeing that.

"Oh! The Golden Alligator's hide truly is amazing. Goonto using Beringknim's sword can only cause that much damage."

"Isn't he also getting Abique's support? It really is not a normal monster."

The dwarves must have been shocked at the Golden Alligator's st.u.r.diness as they continued to let out their noises of admiration.

There was also something else that caught their interest.

"But who made that large injury on the side?"

"Who hunted the Golden Alligator?"

"Goonto wasn't the one to hunt it?"

The dwarves that recently joined us started to ask.

The response was up to Goonto's crew. One of the dwarves looked toward me and explained the situation.

"That human hunted it."

"What? That human?"

"Now that you mention it, why is a human here?"

I didn't have to explain once more. The dwarves naturally shared information with each other.

They even brought up how I was the first Human Blacksmith, as well as the fact that I knew Jewel Alchemy.

The dwarves all responded the same way. They were all amazed, but also full of hostility toward me. Some of the dwarves even clenched the large swords in their hands.

'This is annoying. Do I need to crush the dwarves' spirit at least once at this point?'

End

Woohoo! We made it to 3 digits!

Sponsor chapters are now open for Royal Roader! If you would like to support my translation and want more chapters released quickly, please help out! Thank you all in advance ?

APB for a missing Maso. Maso is missing, so if you see errors, please let me know ?

Translator : Miraclerifle

Proofreader : Borderline m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t