Aerial Fortress (1)

Aerial Fortress Urkon Azgal.

The place where the dwarves lived was both a fortress and one enormous forge.

It constantly expanded its land in real time, filling in the parts needed for an aerial fortress.

It was a growing fortress and a home where the dwarves could live with their shoulders held proudly.

"But does Mirne really have what we want?"

"Whether she has it or not, we have to finish the aerial fortress anyway."

"Hmm, that's true."

The dwarves chatted as they diligently expanded Urkon Azgal's land with mechanical arms.

Krrk, krrk.

They leisurely operated the heavy machinery, casually hauling heavy materials around.

Whenever they had some free time, they gulped down beer covered in white frost.

It was the very picture of dwarves.

"Anyway, you're treating us so well that it's almost unsettling. I wish you'd just come out and say what you want."

"Hmm, for once you're making sense. Mirne's support has been substantial, considering how far it has gotten us in building the aerial fortress."

"But why doesn't she officially declare the aerial fortress to be the property of the Kingdom of Maselin?"

"Wouldn't that let the surrounding nations know there's a huge fortress floating in the sky? It would be dangerous. It would make us look like we're preparing for war."

"Didn't they used to say that if you want peace, you should prepare for war?"

"We could use the aerial fortress as a deterrent."

"I suppose she's worried about the Empire's reaction."

They continued working while chatting, and

apparently deciding that they had nearly met their daily work quota, they climbed down from the mechanical arms one by one.

Heavy machinery whose bucket had been replaced by a gigantic mechanical arm.

Admiring an appearance that could be called every man's dream, I continued watching the dwarves.

"You're worried about the Empire despite having an aerial fortress—Urkon Azgal? Is the Empire really that formidable?"

"You really don't know what's going on in the world, do you? You think the Empire is still the same Empire it used to be?"

"I'm wrong?"

"Of course you are."

"No wonder our material supplies have been so poor lately. So that's why."

As expected, it seemed that most of the Empire's support had been spent on building the aerial fortress.

'I suppose she kept pouring resources into it until I became directly involved.'

She had even continued providing support until the Empire's administration deteriorated to its worst.

If all those resources had gone into this aerial fortress, I could more or less understand the grandeur it displayed now.

'No wonder she paid up without a word whenever I demanded compensation.'

She must have paid some of it simply because she was afraid of the Empire.

But Mirne had clearly paid the compensation while inwardly relieved that the aerial fortress had not been discovered.

To put it bluntly, she could always use support from the surrounding nations to pay for it.

But the aerial fortress was a masterpiece Mirne, blessed with protagonist privileges, had devoted herself to creating.

She must have concluded that anything was better than letting the aerial fortress be discovered.

'So that's why she gave up on the academy too.'

To begin with, I had wondered how she intended to build an academy.

Then I realized it was because she had been relying on the dwarves.

"Once the aerial fortress is complete, we only have to wait for the moment the pact we promised about is broken."

"But will it break? At this rate, the Empire... seems like it might really honor the pact."

"We'll see. Either way, we're not the ones who lose, no matter what happens, so it doesn't matter."

Then the conversation about the pact, which had been mentioned earlier, came up again.

The dwarves continued talking as they gulped down their beer.

"Well... if the pact is resolved, we can side with the Empire. If not, we can destroy the Empire and side with Maselin."

But I really disliked the subject of that conversation.

Their attitude was arrogant, to put it mildly.

I wanted to reveal myself right then and there and make them experience firsthand what kind of place the Empire was.

But if I did that, it was obvious that all my plans would go up in smoke.

So I ended my reconnaissance of Maselin and moved toward the Empire.

I considered scouting every corner of the aerial fortress's interior as well, but

'No need.'

I felt that going that far would be a waste of time.

The aerial fortress was certainly impressive.

'Gilbat will have plenty of news he'll enjoy hearing.'

The greatest dwarf engineer was in the Empire, after all.

Well then, shall we prepare to take it?

+++++

To give you the conclusion first.

"I am the designer of the aerial fortress... Urkon Azgal, that is."

Taking the aerial fortress did not seem particularly difficult.

No, it was so easy that I found it almost bewildering.

"Gilbat, you designed it?"

"Yes. But I repeatedly urged them not to build it while I was away, and yet they went and caused this mess."

"Why did you tell them not to build it?"

"Because I, who should have been holding the baton, wasn't there. It was like an orchestra without a conductor."

"So development was likely to veer off in all sorts of directions without a clear guiding principle."

"Not likely—it was inevitable. Dwarf stubbornness is truly beyond reason."

An aerial fortress built with only the blueprints, leaving out the designer.

Naturally, it was impossible to build the aerial fortress perfectly by looking only at the blueprints.

A design was only a design, after all.

Various variables arose whenever one actually worked at the site.

But what if the designer was absent, and they had to overcome those variable situations using only the blueprints?

There was no way the work could proceed properly.

"The aerial fortress was originally designed so that there would be no need to expand its land. No matter how large a fortress floating in the sky is, wouldn't that only make it a bigger target and slow its movement?"

"Then why do they keep increasing its size?"

"Because it probably can't move properly. Some variable must have arisen that was serious enough to force them to abandon mobility. I can't know exactly what happened, but... they decided to increase its size instead of preserving its mobility."

"So if it can't move, they're going to make it bigger?"

"Precisely. Anyway... since they're ruining my masterpiece, Urkon Azgal, in this way, I'm afraid I must punish them."

Aerial Fortress Urkon Azgal had grown haphazardly larger until it became an illegally expanded building.

Gilbat looked at me as though he would never tolerate the continued existence of such a monstrosity.

I slowly nodded and opened my mouth to respond to his feelings.

"Gilbat, if it were you, could you operate the aerial fortress remotely?"

I asked with an expression that seemed to wonder whether it was possible, but I already knew it was.

The Crown Prince's memory, which had resurfaced along with his anger while I was traveling to the Empire, had told me everything.

"It is possible. But I cannot move it very far. At the very least... I can bring it out beyond the clouds."

Gilbat had a remote-control device capable of moving Urkon Azgal.

Of course, it was merely a prototype, so its performance was not particularly impressive.

But that much was enough.

"We only need to move it out beyond the clouds and as far as the place where the Imperial garrison is stationed, even if we have to push it to its limit."

"Come to think of it, the Imperial knights stationed in the Kingdom of Maselin are near the Maselin royal palace!"

"Yes, exactly."

The land where an Imperial garrison was stationed was Imperial territory.

And what if an aerial fortress suddenly appeared over that land?

Then who would the aerial fortress belong to?

I was genuinely curious.

+++++

When it was first designed, Aerial Fortress Urkon Azgal was only about one-tenth its current size.

That was because I believed an aerial fortress should be built around fast mobility.

Knowing this, its designer Gilbat had forbidden them from building Urkon Azgal until he returned.

However, because of Mirne, the dwarves had moved into the Kingdom of Maselin and begun building Urkon Azgal at her command.

The problem began right there.

"Why... why are they building it like this?"

"No, but to begin with, why isn't it moving properly?"

"It's a fortress in name only... If it can't move, shouldn't we at least make it bigger?"

Naturally, there could be no order at a site without a conductor.

And once order disappeared, no one could figure out why the design had been made that way in the first place.

Thus, the dwarves who remained haphazardly continued building the aerial fortress.

As a result, its size naturally grew nearly tenfold,

and they had long since abandoned fast mobility, reaching the point where they were wondering, Why isn't it moving?

Nevertheless, Urkon Azgal's strategic value was extremely high.

It was enormous, and it simply could not move yet.

Starting with the golems it continuously produced, there were also various cannons and other weapons.

Once it was properly operational, it could pour out all of them without limit.

"It is an aerial fortress, so doesn't that count for something?"

"We at least preserved the original form, so it's not bad."

"Gilbat might be even more surprised when he sees it later! We made something greater than his design!"

"What good does it do that he's a once-in-a-generation genius? He's not even here! Besides, putting our heads together might produce an even better result!"

"That's right!"

The dwarves had acquired the habit of gleefully badmouthing their absent superior.

Although they criticized Gilbat, they also feared the punishment they would receive when he returned,

and that fear drove them to keep enlarging the aerial fortress.

But.

Rumble, rumble.

"Wh-what? What is that?"

Something they had never imagined happened.

"Wh-why is this moving?!"

"The aerial fortress is moving! Emergency! Emergency!"

The aerial fortress, which had not budged no matter what they did throughout the entire period of its construction,

Rumble, rumble, screeeech!

began moving with a tremendous noise, its entire body letting out a shriek.

It was not fast. But speed was not the point.

The problem was that a fortress with no reason to move at that moment was moving,

and more importantly, it was moving toward the place where the Imperial garrison was stationed.

"No! We have to stop it!"

"How are we supposed to stop it?!"

"Mirne! Tell Mirne first! She'll know what to do! She was the one who told us to make it bigger in the first place!"

"R-right! First, we need to tell Mirne...!"

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

Even as the dwarves fell into a panic, the aerial fortress continued moving.

At last, Urkon Azgal broke through the clouds packed over the Maselin royal palace and revealed itself to the world.

And directly below it.

"If an unauthorized structure enters the area where an Imperial garrison is stationed, then naturally we must claim it for the Empire and levy taxes on it."

The tax-collecting knight, Levi Moebius, was waiting.