The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom: Part 1

There were also a demihuman with a rabbit’s face wearing a maid’s uniform, as well as a bipedal, frog-like demihuman, but she had only seen one example of each in the city.

It seems more normal than I imagined… well, not that normal, but still, it’s quite similar to a human nation. You can hardly tell that it’s under the thumb of a terrifying undead king.

There were no looks of fear on the faces of the citizens walking along the streets. Neia was not sure if this was because they had resigned themselves, they had grown used to it, or they had decided that there was no need to worry about living with the undead. However, there were no signs of chaos on the streets. At times, she even heard the sound of children laughing.

This is much better compared to Jaldabaoth, I guess.

Just then, Remedios suddenly halted her horse. Since their leader, who was travelling at the group’s head, had stopped, the rest of them had no choice but to follow suit.

“Excuse me, Dwarf-san. May I ask you a few questions?”

Remedios was addressing three Dwarves who were working by the side of the road. There were also three Skeletons performing earthworks under the Dwarves’ orders.

The culture shock she had received after entering the city had been so great that she now thought little of seeing Skeletons. There was even a hint of relief in her mind which came from seeing an opponent which even she could win against.

“What? Who are you guys? Which country do you hail from.”

“I apologize for speaking from horseback. However, we are from the Holy Kingdom and we are looking for the inn known as the Shining Gold Pavilion. May we ask how to get there?”

“Shining… Shining Gold Pavilion? Ahhh, that’s a classy place.”

The Dwarves gave them rough directions. However, it differed slightly from what the gate guards had told them and it felt like they were being sent slightly off-course. However, her real objective was not asking directions.

“I see. Thank you very much. Gustavo, give them a token of appreciation.”

Gustavo dismounted from his horse and produced a small pouch of coins.

“You do know all we did was give directions, right?”

“It’s fine. After all, we’ve interrupted your work.”

“Really? Well, sorry about that.”

The Dwarves accepted Gustavo’s gift, and smiled.

“Well, when we get some good grub with this, we’ll thank the men and women of the Holy Kingdom for it.”

“No, there’s no need… speaking of which, what are you doing here?”

“Hm? You can’t tell? We’re laying roads. His Majesty himself requested it of us. While it’s mainly the residents who are doing the work, we’re here to serve as technical advisors.”

Gahahahaha, the Dwarves laughed heartily.

“I see. And the undead over there are…?”

“They’re Skeletons that His Majesty lent us, can’t you tell? Ahhh, honestly, you can’t beat the undead when it comes to pure manual labor. It’s certainly changed my view of them.”

“Controlling the undead, huh…”

“It’s not like there’s anything surprising about it… Well, I guess it can’t be helped because you’re travellers. Still, it’s only to be expected in the Sorcerous Kingdom, no? I’ve heard that the undead are showing their stuff in the nearby villages. After all, they can complete tedious chores like planting and so on with just an order. I mean, look, the undead don’t tire, they don’t sleep, and they don’t eat. In addition, they also understand what we want to say, so they do fantastically when given a task within their means. Things being what they are, you don’t even need to work like a dog any more. Even our country’s starting to make use of them too.”

“By your country, you mean a nation of Dwarves separate from the Sorcerous Kingdom?”

“Oh yes. That’s where we come from, but now we stay in the Sorcerous Kingdom’s demihuman district.”

“Demihuman district?”

“Yup. It’s where all the races who aren’t human live. They say it used to be the pauper’s district of this city, but it was torn down. Then, it was rebuilt in order to let races of all kinds live comfortable lives. Well, it might be a while before it’s complete, but work on the dwellings for races smaller than you humans — like we dwarves, for instance — has already begun.”

“Originally, we came here to take charge of that building work!”

The Dwarf’s colleague jumped into the conversation.

“I see. But if the pauper’s district was torn down, where did the original residents go?”

Remedios’s eyes went to the undead.