Semi-retired Adventurer Lives Leisurely - Chapter 129

Gordon: “Hey, Human Adventurers! Thanks for taking out that annoying bastard! As a representative of the Dwarves, I want to give you my thanks!”

Andーー

After defeating the Hanuman, one of the eight Heroes of Legend who gave us a hand at the end, Mr. Gordon shouted out his greetings as he approached us.

Henry: “……….hey Mr. Gordon. It has been a while.” Gordon: “Huh? You there, have we met before? ………no, wait. That gauntlet and leg brace is something I made. That means you’re a customer.”

Oh, I guess he doesn’t remember me.

Well, that really can’t be helped. The quality of weapons and armor Mr. Gordon makes is incredible, but his production output is nothing less than God-level. He serves about 100 customers a year, so there’s no way he would remember all of them.

………even so, he is a true craftsman to remember the items he made in the past.

Henry: “My name is Henry. It was about 3 years ago that I was introduced by Sir Grandezeal and had one of my requests completed.”

Gordon: “You know that fool, Ezeal? …..oh～ oh～ it’s coming back to me. You’re that miserable-looking brat at the time.”

WーWow, I didn’t expect that.

But well, when I asked Mr. Gordon for his assistance, it was right after Gilverte came out to the frontlines, so I was definitely on-edge and always in a terrible mood.

Cyril: “Mr. Gordon? Wait, I think I heard of you. Aren’t you one of the eight Heroes of Legend?”

Gordon: “That’s right, Lil’ Miss. I am one of the followers of the God of Mines, Ovein. I am the greatest craftsman of the Dwarves. Don’t fall too hard for me.”

Cyril: “Oh, no. I’m this here person’s girl. It’s a shame.”

And Cyril tugs at the sleeves of my clothes as she puffs out her chest proudly.

………I don’t think this girl is ever embarrassed of anything.

Gordon: “HA HAAA! I see, I see. Well, I don’t have any interest in human sticks either anyways!”

Cyril: “WhーWhat a rude person……and I don’t have any interests in Dwarf Men either!”

An adult Dwarf is about 140 cm (～4 ½ ft.) tall, and are pretty short in stature as a race.

But they are not frail like Halflings. Their bodies are covered in overwhelming amounts of muscle, and each one is like a living fortress.

And as a race, they grow a full beard at a young age, and though there are some exceptions where they marry a Halfling, they have their own unique tastes in how they define beautiful women.

Gordon: “Ha, I like women with a chip on their shoulder. What’s your name?” Cyril: “…….it’s Cyril.” Gordon: “And I’m Gordon Goibniu again. A pleasure.” And Mr. Gordon winked in a not so subtle way, and seeing that he was being friendly, Cyril relented and responded mumbling, “yes, a pleasure…”.

That’s when Jend spoke up.

Jend: “Ohー, ummm, please excuse Cyril. I am Jend.”

Ferris: “I am Ferris.”: Teo: “Teo.”

Gordon: “Yeah, a pleasure. I don’t remember people’s names much, but since you’re the heroes that took down that annoying Hanuman, I’ll make a special exception!”

And Mr. Gordon burst out laughing loudly.

Henry: “………and Mr. Gordon, your timing couldn’t have been better.”

Gordon: “Hm? What are you talking about?”

Henry: “Well, you threw that Ether Bomb as the Hanuman was about to make a run.”

Gordon: “Oh that……” And Mr. Gordon snorted as he breathed out.

Gordon: “………that bastard was guarding the Gungard’s main entrance up to this morning. It was targeting anyone who stepped outside the city. We have sufficient defenses so it didn’t try to attack the city itself.” And Mr. Gordon spat disgustedly at the thought.

………..from the way he’s acting, I’m certain that there were plenty of victims.

Gordon: “And by noontime, we realized that it was only the Demonic Apes without their boss. So my hunch was that it went to attack humans coming in from the main road.”

Henry: “And you came to help?” Gordon: “What? No. I figured that it would let its guard down while it’s preying on the humans, and I was going to attack it while it was distracted. Well, it was convenient for you guys to take it down instead.”

………..yeah, uh huh. I think that’s a very practical approach.

Mr. Gordon became a Hero of Legend for his craftsman skills, so his overall combat ability is not very high. So for him, the best solution is to throw a bomb at his enemy when they least expect it.

………..but I honestly can’t help but feel less grateful now.

Gordon: “Oh, but we flipped a coin on whether you guys were coming from Alvenia or Varsaldi, so in that sense, you guys were lucky.”

………..and looking back with that in mind, that victory was way too close for comfort.

Gordon: “Well, let’s talk some more later. It’ll be nightfall before you know it.”

The sun is already halfway down.

………..? Usually, you would have to be ready to camp by this time.

Henry: “Mr. Gordon? What……”

Gordon: “Ha ha ha. I’ll show you my awesome car.” A car……..if it was a regular Magecraft vehicle, it wouldn’t be able to drive on this rough terrain, but if it’s made by one of the best craftsman of the ages, Mr. Gordon, it must really be something else.

Mr. Gordon waved us forward as he guided us to an object hidden in the shade of a large rock and covered with a camouflage sheet.

Gordon: “Yup, this is it! I named it the Land Cruising Shooting Star・The Super Gordon Special! Doesn’t it look amazing?!”

And as Mr. Gordon took off the covers, we saw his car in all its glory.

It was a wonderful work of metal with sharp contours. There were a lot of additional blocky pieces attached to it, but I couldn’t tell what they were for.

But this is a up and coming new type of Magecraft vehicle and compared to the ones where the designs resemble horse carriages………..this one looks amazing.

Of course, we have to leave the name aside.

Jend: “WHOOOOOOAAAAーー!! This is amazing, Mr. Gordon! I want one too!”

Gordon: “Yeah? Yeah? Of course you do.”

Henry: “Hey! I want one too. CーCan you really give us all a ride?” Gordon: “I usually only let women ride with me, but it can’t be helped. I’ll make an exception for this one time, got it?” And Jend and I completely forgot about the fight to the death we just overcame, and Mr. Gordon laughed merrily as he watched our reaction.

Cyril: “I do think that it looks cool, but is it something to get that excited over?” Ferris: “Cyril, you just have to let them fuss when they get all excited like that.”

Teo: “……….what happened to the tension we were feeling a little while ago?” I knew the women of our group were exasperated at Jend and I, but I pretended to not notice.

<<<<>>>>

As we expected, the Land Cruising Shooting Star smoothly crossed over the rough terrain, and in 20 minutes, we speeded over to our destination.

Gordon: “Alright, we’re here!”

And Mr. Gordon sharply turned the wheel, and slammed one of the pedals used for activating the brakes.

The car slid sideways as it decelerated quickly……..and it stopped right in front of a large cavern on the side of a mountain. Around us, there were many facilities and tools probably used for defensive purposes, and I saw the foundational mechanism for a Magecraft Barrier generator.

This must be the entrance to Gungard.

…….and in front of the cave, there were many heavily armored Dwarven Warriors standing guard, but they all looked shocked at the sight of Mr. Gordon’s car.

Among them, one of the warriors with more elaborate and luxurious armor walked towards the Land Cruising Shooting Star.

“GーGordon? Didn’t you just leave to go take care of that ape? Who are all those people with you?” Gordon: “Hey, Georg. Listen up. This party of humans minced that annoying Hanuman. I helped too of course.”

“What? Hey, is that true? After the Demonic Apes all disappeared, we thought something was up but…..”

Ohhh, since they did not spawn naturally and were clones of the Hanuman, after the Hanuman died, they all probably disappeared too.

Gordon: “It’s all true. So, in that case, I won the bet.”

“……….no, wait, Gordon. You said those humans killed the Hanuman, right? Then isn’t the bet off?” Gordon: “Nope, I won the bet. The bet was, ‘If I came back alive,’ then all the good-for-nothing warriors who can’t even get rid of this city’s enemies would buy me as many drinks as I liked. There was nothing in there about me defeating the Hanuman.”

Sheesh. They were making bets on the Hanuman? But honestly, being able to live and come back to tell the tale against a Highest-Tier is a pretty amazing accomplishment. On the way here, Mr. Gordon told me that the reason why he didn’t bring others along was because without any passengers, he would be able to probably escape driving away on the Land Cruising Shooting Star.

“………ugh. If only you died, we would have drank with all the wealth you would have left behind, and then we would have gone and killed that stupid ape. Because of you, now we lost the chance to take down a Highest-Tier, you jerk.”

Gordon: “Too bad for you!”

And Mr. Gordon laughed merrily once again.

Although these are some dark humored jokes, judging from how both sides are laughing, this must be the norm around here.

“Ohhhh! We forgot to greet you. Hey! Line up!!”

And the Dwarven Warrior named Georg straightened up, and the other warriors probably under his command came running at his order.

The Dwarven Warriors shook themselves out of shock and lined up in a straight line.

“Draw and salute!”

All the warriors drew out their weapons and with both hands, held it in front of their face.

You could tell that they were all carrying first-rate weapons. Every weapon was of an amazing quality just from a glance.

………and now that I think about it, I heard that for Dwarves, showing their must trusted weapons like this is the utmost form of respect they can show.

“You have defeated the atrocious Hanuman, human heroes! We, the Dwarven Warriors, welcome you! Welcome to the Mountain City of Gungard!”

And we received an unusually intense welcome.

……….and that’s how we arrived at the Dwarven City of Gungard.