Subscriber of the Gods Chapter 413 - Tartaros

“Long time no see!”

Great Hammer Sigma Roadhammer greeted Ethan.

In the sulfurous city of Tartaros, where flames flickered everywhere.

Ethan was sitting in the room where Great Hammer resided.

When Sigma extended his fist, Ethan naturally touched it with his hand.

Along with the natural dwarven greeting, Ethan also greeted him comfortably.

“It’s been a while, Great Hammer.”

“Even in this deep, deep cave, news from the outside reaches us. Especially about you, I’ve heard a lot. I heard you recently obtained an incredible title? Master Teacher Ethan Whiskers.”

Even in this deep Tartaros, rumors about Ethan had flowed in.

This was Tartaros, where only stories about rare materials or ore discoveries circulated, without any interest in humans. The fact that information about Ethan had reached here meant that Ethan was having a significant impact even on Tartaros.

“So, how’s the beer business going?”

That aged beer business of Ethan’s was the biggest point of interest in Tartaros.

Ever since Ethan had given them a taste, they had been eagerly awaiting news about Ethan.

The Master Teacher stuff was important too, but above all, they were most curious about the beer business.

Ethan smiled at Sigma’s words.

“It’s in preparation. I’m thinking of growing it in conjunction with another new business this time. Of course, I’ll bring the prototype to Tartaros first. Today…”

Ethan smiled and pulled something out from inside his clothes.

It was a prototype beer that he had prepared separately.

‘Actually, the other business takes priority, so I haven’t even started the beer business yet.’

It’s easy to make beer and bring it.

‘And I’m really planning to do it later. When that time comes, if I let them taste it a bit more, Tartaros will become a strong ally of our Whiskers territory.’

“I hope you’ll be satisfied with this.”

“Is it a new product!”

Sigma laughed brightly and downed the beer Ethan handed over in one go.

“Hmm, it’s cold. I say, it’s cold. Did you put a cooling spell on it?”

In this Tartaros, cold was taboo. That’s because, in Tartaros, which is full of heat and sulfur smell, cold instantly becomes heat, and magically created cold weakened the flames that the blacksmiths of Tartaros held dear.

In many ways, the dwarves of Tartaros couldn’t handle cold.

That’s why they couldn’t drink their beloved beer well in Tartaros. If they wanted to drink it, they had to use expensive artifacts that cooled it down for a very short time.

The effect was considerable, but it wasn’t permanent and was quite expensive, so it had to be used sparingly.

“This is one of the special golems. It has a cooling spell on it.”

Ethan took out a special golem that looked like a medicine bottle, showing the cooling glass.

This was also Entrosa’s work.

‘It’s a glass that allows you to drink the contents cold anytime.’

“Oh ho? The completeness of the glass is quite high. Hmm, but this, is it permanent? If it is…”

A permanent cooling glass. It was quite tempting.

“We have such cold artifacts too, but they’re actually very expensive. Since we have to get them through human mages, we often have to bow our heads several times. Human mages are as proud as our craftsmen.”

Sigma stuck out his tongue.

“I’d like to talk a little about that.”

This was now the main point.

“Hmm! Then I should summon the elders.”

Saying that, Sigma crossed his arms with an “Mm” sound.

“By the way… can I have one more drink?”

“I brought extras.”

“As expected! You’re the best human among humans.”

***

The dwarf elders summoned by Great Hammer’s call were swallowing their saliva with the beer Ethan made in front of them.

Gulp.

Ethan was explaining about the beer, but it wasn’t reaching their ears.

“Let’s drink first.”

But the words to drink were heard quite well.

Gulp gulp-.

The dwarf elders who downed the cooled glasses straight away unknowingly broke into deep smiles.

“This should be counted as a treasure of our Tartaros.”

“No, how about making Count Ethan Whiskers a treasure of our Tartaros?”

“What nonsense are you talking about!”

Bang-!

Sigma got angry at the dwarf elder’s words.

Sigma had a very serious face.

“How dare you make such light talk in front of a guest.”

Despite having drunk pleasantly for once.

When Great Hammer got angry, the dwarf elders cleared their throats awkwardly, going “Ahem.”

“If it’s Master Ethan Whiskers, shouldn’t we unconditionally select him as an honorary dwarf!”

“!”

At those words, the expressions of the dwarf elders brightened.

“Uahahaha-!”

“That’s right, that’s it. I was wrong! A treasure of Tartaros, you say. There was something even higher than that!”

Honorary dwarf.

For dwarves, treating someone as a fellow dwarf was the highest courtesy they could extend to other races.

“Thank you for thinking so highly of me. Let’s talk more while drinking more beer.”

As Ethan took out more beer, the expressions of the dwarf elders noticeably brightened.

“I came to tell you three things.”

There must be a clear reason for gathering not only Great Hammer Sigma Roadhammer, who leads Tartaros, but also all the dwarf elders.

“First of all, I didn’t come here to do beer business. We’ll probably do beer business later, but please think of this as just bringing a prototype lightly today. This cooling glass will also be sold as a set with the beer.”

“Huh? It wasn’t the right timing yet?”

“It really tastes good though. This cooling glass is also quite complete. Both the shape and the magic applied to it. But this magic is unusual. Is it permanent by any chance?”

A permanent cold artifact.

It was quite attractive to the dwarves in Tartaros who desired cold.

“It’s not permanent. But there is a way you can use it permanently. That’s my first proposal.”

Ethan talked about this special golem in the form of a cooling glass.

“It’s a special golem in the form of a glass.”

“!”

“You’re saying this is a golem?”

“The shape… it’s just a glass though?”

“This cold is the ability of a special golem we developed. As you can see, because it has the ability to cool the contents, whatever you put in it can be cooled instantly.”

This time, Ethan poured water into the glass.

The water in Tartaros was basically hot water, but as soon as it was put in the cooling glass, it cooled down instantly.

“You don’t drink hot water because you like it, right?”

“…Well, we’ve just gotten used to it now.”

“We’ve been drinking it for hundreds of years.”

The dwarf elders said so, but they were staring intently at the cooling glass.

“But that shape, is there really a need to make it like that?”

“The completeness is high, but hmm, I think we could change the shape to make it look more impressive.”

“That’s what I came to talk about.”

Ethan brought up the main point at the interesting expressions of the dwarf elders.

“I want Tartaros and our Ethan Workshop in Whiskers territory to collaborate. At our Ethan Workshop, we make special golems…”

Ethan explained all about special golems in front of the dwarf elders and Great Hammer.

“Oh ho, so you’re saying you’ve already put in all the functions now?”

“Are you asking us to collaborate to improve the quality of the special golems even more?”

“Yes, no matter how skilled humans are, they’re not as skilled as dwarves.”

“Don’t you have Goldhand there too?”

“If it’s Goldhand, they would be similar to or better than us. We know that much.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Ethan had already recruited the Goldhand blacksmith.

But the problem was that there was only one blacksmith with that level of skill.

“Mass production is impossible.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“It would be fine if one skilled blacksmith made a small amount of items, but if we try to mass produce this, we’ll be short-handed, and if we try to improve that…”

“The quality drops.”

The dwarf elders nodded at Ethan’s words.

“I want to raise that quality. And I plan to supply the completed cooling glasses to Tartaros as the top priority.”

“!”

Improving the quality of the cooling glasses wasn’t difficult for the dwarves.

What was really important was the magic contained in this cooling glass, the special golem.

To lower the temperature of the glass this much, the completeness of the magic had to be quite high.

“How often does this need to be replaced?”

“The glass itself can be used permanently. If you regularly replace the coolant that maintains the cold, you can use the cooling function semi-permanently. We plan to sell that coolant in a subscription format.”

“Subscription?”

Just like other special golems or items from the dyeing workshop, Ethan decided to apply the subscription system to this cold magic as well.

‘The subscription system is what can continuously create value.’

When Ethan explained about the subscription system, the expressions of the dwarves became peculiar.

“Master Ethan Whiskers. I thought you were just a craftsman, but you’re an incredible businessman?”

“If we do this, we can continuously make money instead of ending with just one sale!”

“But.”

Ethan said with a smile.

“It’s much cheaper and can be used longer than the cooling artifacts you’re currently using.”

Ethan’s special golem cooling glass was an upgraded version of the cold artifacts currently used by the dwarves.

“You don’t need to bow your heads to picky and high-handed mages. You don’t need to listen to their unreasonable conditions.”

“That’s the most attractive part.”

“Why are mages’ personalities like that?”

“We can’t say our personalities are good either, but those guys are too much!”

“Especially human mages, they talk too much nonsense about our height and beards!”

As if they had been quite troubled, the dwarves shook their heads.

“That alone is satisfying. Yes, good. Great Hammer, what do you think? We think it’s quite good.”

“As the elders think, I also see it very favorably. Moreover, if this business succeeds properly, Master Ethan Whiskers will start the beer business right away.”

As if they were all thinking the same thing, they nodded with pleased faces at the mention of beer.

“Then it’s decided. Master Ethan Whiskers, we’ll work together.”

“Thank you. Then that’s done for the first item, I’ll tell you about the second item right away.”

Ethan pulled out a sword right there.

When Ethan suddenly pulled out a sword, everyone quickly put their hands on their waists and backs with slightly tense faces.

Shaaah-.

Cold air gushed out from Ethan holding the Frost Sword.

“!”

“Master Ethan Whiskers, were you a cooling human!”

“No. Ah, I am a cooling human, but actually, I have a god I believe in.”

“Oh, I’ve already heard about that. I’ve seen it myself.”

Sigma Roadhammer said to Ethan as if pleased.

“You said you believe in the goddess Moonforce, right?”

“Moonforce! I’ve heard about it! To think that benevolent god is with Master Ethan Whiskers. Didn’t Moonforce goddess descend on our Tartaros in the ancient past? It’s too long ago for everyone to remember.”

The oldest dwarf elder in this place said.

“I saw it clearly with my own two eyes.”

‘If that’s the case, this conversation should go faster.’

“Actually, the Moonforce Order had its lineage cut off quite a long time ago. The temples disappeared and the believers disappeared. Somehow I came to inherit that lineage, but until now, I haven’t been able to properly lead the Moonforce Order.”

Ethan continued.

“I want to build a temple for the order. I want to build a proper temple with the hands of craftsmen. Until now, I’ve asked several craftsmen, but it lacks impact compared to the temples that were built in the past. When I looked into it, those temples were built by dwarf craftsmen.”

Of course, he wasn’t sure whether dwarves made it, humans made it, or some other race made it.

But what was important was to stimulate their emotions.

“That’s why I came to Tartaros. To revive that charm, I had no choice but to find dwarf craftsmen.”

At Ethan’s words, the dwarf elders were already grinning.

“I see, then you’ve really made a good choice, Master Ethan Whiskers.”

“We’ll find them for you. We’ll choose the most excellent among our brothers and build a temple on our land.”

“The goddess Moonforce has helped us too. Think of it as finally repaying that debt.”

‘With this, the temple issue is also resolved.’

Since he came all the way to Tartaros, Ethan intended to resolve everything before leaving.

‘Now for what’s essentially the main point.’

“And actually, the biggest reason I came to Tartaros is this last reason.”

Ethan sighed deeply.

“Do you know about the subterranean world?”

At that moment, the expressions of the dwarves, who had been laughing cheerfully until now, stiffened completely.

Bang-!

Sigma Roadhammer strongly hit the table with the hammer he was holding.

“Master Ethan Whiskers.”

Sigma said.

“Close your eyes and wash your ears. Whatever you’ve seen, whatever you’ve heard. Master Ethan Whiskers, you know nothing. That’s how it should be.”