Chapter 1396
“Oh, so you’ve showed up. I thought you might have run off from fear!” Gabbro slapped his knee as we entered the room from the far side, causing the other dwarves to break into laughter.
They had chosen one of the currently bossless boss rooms to set up their forges. They had also seemingly built them on top of a stage and created seating all around it. The dwarves were quite industrious when they wanted to be. The entire place looked like an arena, and all three hundred dwarves as well as Pait and Dav were sitting in the stands. Pait had his arms cross, looking irritated by the noisy dwarves who were all chatting excitedly, that was when they weren’t cheering or singing loudly.
“M-master… I’m sorry I teased you early. I regret everything. Can we please surrender?” Sapphire’s voice was very high-pitched.
“Sapphire, you need to do this.” A woman declared, approaching the pair of us.
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Lapis bowed her head to me politely and then turned to her daughter. “How many deep dwarves do you have memories of interacting with since reaching the surface?”
“Ah! That… our tribe… only fifteen.”
“You may not have known this, but blacksmithing is a bit like a sport for us. We take it very seriously.”
“I can tell…” I said dryly.
“What are you trying to say?” Sapphire asked.
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“For all intent and purposes, the child I called daughter died a long time ago on the surface.” As Sapphire opened her mouth, her mother raised her hand. “I accept you as my daughter, and I love you. I believe that my husband felt the same in the end and that his sacrifice was made for you as much for his people. However, while I have accepted you back as the princess, many of the other deep dwarves have not. I’ve noticed that you have intentionally avoided them and remained near your Master, and while they would never question me to my face, I’m sure there is some doubt deep in their hearts.”
“That’s rich, considering you were all bound in Twilight…” I grumbled.
“It’s true that none of us truly have a right to our lives. Deek, you are our benefactor and none of us will deny it.” She nodded to me before turning to Sapphire. “And it’s perhaps for that reason that there hasn’t been more pushback. However, speaking as your mother and a queen, I must tell you that this competition is important. Only with brother’s approval will they start to see you as a truly one of us.”
“Once again… this would have been something better to tell us before this point!” I narrowed my eyes.
Lapis stiffened, her cheeks darkening. “It’s been a busy couple of days. I’ve been keeping everyone together and on task, and you’ve been away the last few days. I can’t possibly fill you in on every nuance on the deep dwarves in only a few hours of speaking.”
I lowered my head. “Right… sorry.”
Although it wasn’t like time had stopped when they were in Twilight, it had slowed down. They had only felt like they were in twilight for a year or so. Had her worlds not had a time delay, surely more if not all of them would have broken down throughout hundreds if not thousands of years. Even the deep dwarves weren’t that onery. That still meant that it felt like everything had been lost in the blink of an eye. One minute, they are surrounded by darkness, and only a few days ago they found themselves waking up in another world where they were an endangered species and their kingdom had fallen. Perhaps, this competition between uncle and niece meant more to the deep dwarves than I had originally thought.
“Alright! It’s time to begin! Show me what you got!”