Chapter 50: Hell Prison and Craftsmen

"If even one of you fails to meet the target our great lord has set today, then everyone..."

Bilkin sneered. "Remember, I said everyone. Everyone will go without food!"

Hearing that, the dwarves still digging in the mine could not help but wail.

Once sturdy and thick-bodied, they had grown gaunt and bony after becoming demon slaves for a long time. The mines they were based on were already the harshest place to work, and if their food was cut further, their frail bodies might not hold out. They could die in the endless labor.

But that was not the worst news they would hear today.

Bilkin glared at his fellow dwarves with burning red eyes and spoke in a truly vicious voice.

"The slowest worker will be dragged out of the mine and given to the imps as food!"

Every dwarf who had been complaining and wailing shut his mouth at once and threw himself into the work.

"Heh, now you finally know fear?"

Bilkin looked at them with satisfaction and wore a very cruel smile.

The dwarves were not afraid of death itself. Under the rule of demons, a swift and complete death might be the only escape.

But things were different now. The calm, peaceful death they once could hope for had been tampered with.

And the cause of it was a structure the demons called the Hell Prison.

It was the first structure of its kind that Koda had seen. Every other structure of the abyss had been made for endless war: moving armies, calling champions, hatching warriors...

But the Hell Prison was special.

Within its reach, every soul of the dead was forcibly drawn in. It could pull in every soul within ten kilometers, crush it, and turn it into the raw soul essence needed to hatch demons. It had cost a fortune to raise, and Koda could build only two of them.

It supplied him directly with the soul essence he needed most, and it did not need a moment of his precious attention. It worked like an automated workshop, producing a steady stream of souls for him without end.

In short, the Hell Prison made his supply of soul essence far more abundant at once.

Before, Koda had to pour more than half of his daily wealth into buying soul stones. Now he could save about half of it and spend it elsewhere. On higher quality demon warriors, or on more demon troops.

With it, Koda’s expansion would speed up greatly.

Yet even this one structure that made wealth was seen by others as deeply evil and twisted. It chilled every demon slave to the bone.

To them, a thing that took souls as raw material and turned death into fuel was a blasphemy against life by its very existence. The Hell Prison did not just crush souls. It crushed hope and every good thing life had to offer.

* * *

"Hmph!"

Seeing that his words had finally frightened the dwarves into working hard, Overseer Bilkin left the mine, satisfied.

Still, he could not rest.

After inspecting the mine, he had to take yesterday’s ore to the three new Demon Workshops Koda had built.

Clang! Clang!

With countless hammer blows ringing out, Bilkin led dozens of demon slaves into the workshops.

Inside, dozens of demon craftsmen Koda had newly hatched were melting ore, one chunk after another, without a plan. They turned it into piles of messy armor and weapons that looked chaotic, but were clearly made by demons.

Their thoughts while working were just as chaotic.

One craftsman might begin by trying to forge a plate of armor. Halfway through, he changed his mind and decided to turn the ore into two daggers.

Then, while forging the daggers, he had another sudden idea and decided to merge the two daggers into one longsword...

In the end, a longsword shaped like a dagger lay at his feet.

Yes, you read that right.

A longsword shaped like a dagger...

It was neither logical nor careful, but it was certainly demonic.

’By the Dwarf Father, no, by the great lord,’ Bilkin groaned inwardly.

He had once known the quality of weapons and armor well. Looking at the pile on the ground now, he could not help it.

’The quality of these things is awful. Even a dwarf apprentice would curse if he saw them.’

That was what he thought, but he showed not a trace of arrogance or contempt. Instead, he bowed to the craftsman who came to take the ore, fawning, and it looked both ridiculous and funny.

But in truth, the overseer knew very well that the users of these weapons were not the dwarves of the past. They were the demons who now ruled all of Grimstone.

These shoddy-looking weapons and armor could unleash great destruction in the hands of demons. Bilkin had seen more than once how vile imps and lesser demons drove these crude weapons into the bodies of their enemies.

"Is that all?"

A demon craftsman with three arms and four eyes looked at the ore Bilkin had brought and spoke impatiently.

"There is even less ore today than yesterday!"

Hearing that, Overseer Bilkin only smiled apologetically.

"I’m sorry, Master Craftsman. Yesterday our great lord took all the ore in the storehouses, and nearly half of the demon slaves too. So this is all new ore, and this is all there is."

"I promise that by tomorrow, the ore supply will keep up with your pace!"

Hearing that his own lord had taken the ore, the craftsman nodded in dissatisfaction and had the slaves carry the ore away.

But just before they left, the craftsman seemed to remember something. He turned to Overseer Bilkin and asked with curiosity.

"What does our lord want with so many demon slaves?"

"Is he hungry?"

Bilkin froze, then said hesitantly.

"No, no. The great lord seems to be personally overseeing some kind of construction. He seems to be building..."

"Some kind of thing called a Profane Torch!"