“Thank you. I like the aroma. It’s not too strong, either,” Davey commented.
Golgouda nodded. “I’m glad you like it. Not all dwarves like strong liquor. Actually, I have something I want to talk to you about too.”
“Something else?”
‘Is he going to come at me forcutting his mithril anvil?’ Davey began to think of an excuse. As a joke, he thought that maybe he should hand over one of the twin swords as collateral.
Whoosh! Of course, Davey had to think of something else. The two swords, which didn’t even have conscious egos yet, vibrated in strong opposition to his idea.
“The truth is…”
“Ah, I’m sorry about the anvil. At a later time, I’ll…”
“Hm? What are you talking about?”
As Golgouda looked at him with a puzzled expression, Davey quickly shut his mouth. “Nothing. Anyway, what’s the matter?”
“Ahem! I may be old, but my ears are still fine. Other than finishing the last work of the ‘Thousand-day Blacksmith,’ I did hear that you wanted to bring us dwarves over to repair the facilities in your territory,” Golgouda said.
“Well, yes.” Davey had intended to bring the matter up later, but things were now made easier with Golgouda mentioning it first.
“We dwarves never forget a favor. Although our skills are nothing compared to yours, we will help you with anything.”
“Are you sure? It might take a long time.”
“We have received a huge favor from you, wise teacher. We are no longer going to be remembered as incompetent ancestors to the next generation, and we have also regained our pride. Also, you have allowed us to discover the skills our ancestors had studied,” Golgouda said.
Davey said nothing. The sacred item held a lot more significance than he had expected.
“I didn’t even say a proper thank you. You set us on the right path when we were caught up in our stubborn ways, tainting the name of the dwarves.” Golgouda spoke calmly and chuckled, as if he was a grandpa talking to his grandson. It was an honest and friendly smile that came from the heart. He then made a pledge. “Although we are lacking, we will follow you, teacher. We swear on the God of Iron that we will always stand with you when you have any problems. The Yellowstone Tribe will always follow you, even if all the other tribe villages are hostile.”
“Thank you.”
“We should be the ones thanking you.” There wasn’t a hint of regret in Golgouda’s smile.
“Then, please become my territory’s residents,” Davey offered.
“Residents?”
“I want to make the Heins Territory, which I am managing, into a unique territory.”
Currently, there were many species living in the continent, but each had their own exclusive region. There wasn’t any place where various species lived in harmony.
“So, can I assume that you are asking us to consider leaving this place and moving there?” Golgouda asked.
“Well, it’s not right away. And to be exact, I am not requesting the dwarves of the Yellowstone Tribe to move.”
Golgouda tilted his head in confusion. “Then?”
“I will tell you the details later. All I need right now is your cooperation.”
Golgouda looked puzzled, trying to figure out Davey’s intentions. But he soon shook away that thought. He opened his mouth to say something when…
“Elder!! Elder Golgouda!!” Someone hurriedly ran toward them and called for Gologuda.
“What is it?” Golgouda’s smile vanished from his face. He asked in a solemn tone, because the approaching dwarf was one of the attack dwarves guarding the village.
“There’s a big problem! I think an intruder has hidden in our village!”
“Intruder?” Golgouda frowned.
Whip!! Crash!! A sharp red object flew toward the two dwarves when Golgouda had just heard the news. Davey got off his hammock and swung his arms. The object that bounced off his arm was a red knife, but it wasn’t made out of metal. It was made out of blood.
* * *
“Ahhhhh!! Goddamn Davey!!” The scream was one of insanity. The ladies-in-waiting turned pale as the boy had completely lost his cool and was flipping out. He just kept screaming without any thought; he was too angry to think straight.
“Davey!!! Davey!!!” As he was breaking, kicking, and destroying everything around him while screaming Davey’s name, he didn’t seem to be in good shape. First of all, not a strand of hair could be seen on the top of his head; it was as if he had shaved only the crown of his head for some kind of surgery. It was what people called a large bald patch!
What enraged the boy more was that he wasn’t even completely bald. He just had a patch of baldness about the size of a palm at the very top of his head. However, Davey’s curse didn’t stop there.
“Yo… Your Highness… Please calm…”
“What?! Ribbit!!” There was a strange animal sound that he kept blurting out at the end of his sentences. It didn’t happen all the time, only emerging when he had something to say during important moments. It also occurred regardless of his intentions; it was as if it waited for the perfect timing.
Because the animal sounds happened just some of the time, it looked like Carlus was joking around. It was so bewildering that even Queen Lynesse, his biological mother, couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. Since it wasn’t a disease, the examination of Ramdas, the palace doctor, yielded no answers either. The only people who could recognize some mischief were the priests.
However, the curse plaguing Carlus was made by the dark mages who were constantly oppressed and persecuted, meaning that the traces of the curse couldn’t be easily found even if the low-ranking priests examined him. As wild and destructive as dark magic was, it was developed in secret. And so, the details about Carlus’ symptoms, which were similar to madness, were hard to find.
However, Carlus was fully aware that his weird symptoms started to happen after he had encountered Davey, the First Prince of this kingdom and the idiot that he thought to be inferior to him.
“Gahh!!!!”
“Please calm down, Your Highness!”
Of course, others assumed that Carlus had gone mad and was oddly obsessing over Davey.
“Cacaw!! Cock-a-doodle-doo!!” Carlus frowned in extreme anger and confusion. He was hiding it as best as he could, but news about his hair was already spreading. The rumor turned even more strange because of his weird animal cries. He was flipping out since he wasn’t used to things not going his way.
“Giggle!” Then, one of the ladies-in-waiting could no longer hold in her laughter. She giggled at Carlus’ strange voice. She instinctively covered her mouth, but he had already heard her. She cried out, “Y—Your Highness!”
“Yes, you are all mocking me too! How dare you lowly beings!!!” Carlus lost his cool and was blinded by anger. Trembling in fear, the lady-in-waiting collapsed onto the floor from Carlus’ menacing attitude. However, he simply walked over to her and strangled her without hesitation. “How dare you insult me?! Die!! Die!!!”
“Gasp!! Wheeze!” The lady-in-waiting flailed around, but a little girl couldn’t beat the strength of Carlus, who had insisted on getting swordsmanship training. Watching her go limp after flailing around and even pissing on the floor, the other ladies-in-waiting went pale. It was an insane situation, but no one could say anything; there was no one who could stop Carlus.
“You… Are you guys mocking me too?!” Carlus shouted.
“N—No, Your Highness!”
“Please have mercy!”
As his anger shifted toward the other ladies-in-waiting, they simultaneously began trembling and got on the floor to beg for forgiveness. If they didn’t do so, they were convinced that they would die just like the first girl did.
“No… No! You are mocking me as well, right? Ehehehe… Ribbit ribbit!” Laughing strangely, Carlus’ eyes shone with malice, and it looked like he was going to kill everyone here immediately. The ladies-in-waiting had to calm him down somehow, but they couldn’t say a word as they trembled in fear.
That was when a relaxed and easygoing voice was heard. “Hm, I haven’t seen anything this interesting in a while.”
Carlus, who was walking toward the ladies-in-waiting, opened his eyes wide and turned toward the voice. Then, he stopped for a second as someone entered the room through a window that had opened on its own. He was surprised that someone had broken in, but that wasn’t his concern.
“Kyakk!”
“Shriek!”
The intruder was holding onto a human head. It was still bleeding, as if it had been freshly ripped off of someone. The ladies-in-waiting fainted, foaming at the mouth, as they watched the horrendous situation.
But Carlus, who had lost his mind, growled at the intruder with a threatening scowl. “Who are you? Do you have any idea where this is?!”
“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Pace.” The man with icy blond hair and eerily red eyes had a cunning handsomeness. However, his extremely pale skin made Carlus question if he was really human. Unphased by the situation, Pace calmly greeted Carlus with a sly smile. “Actually, I heard that you were disappointed by one of our people.”
“Your people?”
Pace smiled eerily and snapped his fingers. Whoosh… A space opened up near him and someone was pulled out from it. It was a battered-up woman hanging on a cross; she was in a shape so bad that it was difficult to tell whether she was alive or not. However, Carlus was familiar with the woman.
“You’re Mother’s…”
It was Shari, the quiet lady-in-waiting who used to be under Queen Lynesse. Carlus thought that she had disappeared at some point. “You… What are you? Growl…”
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