Stone recalled her past in the Dwarf Kingdom, and a smile appeared on her face. [] Just as she was about to speak, she caught sight of Doragar standing to the side, looking completely bewildered, and immediately swallowed the words she was about to say.
The flames followed Stone's gaze and finally noticed the person they had been ignoring: "Stone, who is this...?"
“Her name is Doragar, she is… she is your younger sister.” Stone’s voice paused, but he still introduced them: “Doragar, this is Fire Tongue, the second brother. This is Fire Beard and Fire Beard, Fire Beard is the fourth brother, and Fire Beard is the fifth brother. The person you saw yesterday is Fire Pliers, the seventh brother.”
Doragar looked at the three dwarfs in front of her with a blank expression: "Xiaoyi, how many brothers do you have?"
“Seven,” Stone explained with a smile, but a hint of sadness flashed in his eyes.
"Oh, seven older brothers!" Doragar tilted her head, looking at the three dwarfs. "Do they have a mom and dad?"
"Yes, but Mom and Dad didn't come today. You'll be able to see them when you get to the Dwarf Kingdom." Stone's smile froze when she mentioned her parents. She didn't understand why Hammer Dad and Fat Mom wouldn't even come up to see her.
"Where is the Dwarf Kingdom? I can't see it." Although Doragar had grown up in the palace in luxury since childhood and was quite spoiled, she wasn't as domineering as the Fifth Princess, Yisiyu. She was rather naive and sometimes silly, and a bit slow to react, but she was indeed a very cute little girl.
The flames stared at her blankly, remaining silent for a long time. The twins looked at Doragar and then at the stone, unsure of what to do.
Stone stepped forward and pulled Doragar along: "The Dwarf Kingdom is still quite a distance from here. You'll see it in a few days. [~]"
Doragarl hesitated for a moment: "Xiaoyi, aren't you coming with me? What if they don't want me?"
No, it won't.
"But I don't know anything. The book says that dwarves are very powerful, and they can all forge weapons. They are the most skilled blacksmiths in the world."
"Yes, dwarves are amazing! My forging skills were taught to me by Steel Hammer Daddy! Doragar, if you want to learn, you can ask Steel Hammer Daddy to teach you too! Besides, my brothers' forging skills are also very good."
Doragar received no comfort from Stone's words; instead, she became even more worried: "But I can't do anything. My sister said I can't dance, I can't dress up, I can't fight, and I can't use magic. I'm a big idiot..."
"Yi Siyu is the real idiot!" Mentioning Yi Siyu, who only knew how to stir up trouble, Shi Tou's anger flared up. "Hmph, Dora Jiaer, you wait! When I get back, I'll definitely teach Yi Siyu a lesson. I'll show her why flowers are so red!"
"Huh?" Doragar looked at the stone, confused. "Are you going to bully your sister?"
"This isn't bullying, it's teaching a lesson!"
"No, no, my sister is my sister, you can't bully her."
Seeing Dora Jiaer pout and look like she was about to cry, Stone quickly shook his head: "Okay, okay, I won't bully her, don't cry. I'm most afraid of comforting little kids."
"Doragarl isn't a child..." Doragarl sobbed as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
Stone dared not say no, and nodded in agreement: "That's right, that's right, Doragar has grown up and will be able to get married soon."
Doragar looked up at the stone in surprise: "Get married? But my sister said that Doragar is stupid, silly, lazy, ugly, and so fat. My sister said that Doragar will never get married."
puff!
What right does Yi Siyu have to talk about others?!
"Yi Siyu will never get married! I remember she's two years older than me, right? Humph, she's never had a suitor since she was little. Just wait, she'll never get married!" Since Yi Siyu couldn't hear him anyway, Shi Tou mocked her without any politeness.
However, this wasn't entirely untrue, given Yi Siyu's powerful sarcasm. She genuinely had no suitors. As for whether she'd end up unmarried, that was uncertain; after all, no world lacked opportunists.
"My sister won't be able to get married?" Doragar was stunned by this news: "Doragar can get married on the contrary?"
Human girls who are too naive are often disliked, but a dwarf girl, especially one who is the little princess of the dwarf kingdom, will surely find a dwarf willing to marry her, even if she is too naive. Stone was quite at ease about that.
"Second brother, I'm entrusting Dora Jiaer to you. Remember to make sure she gets married!"
It took Flame Tongue a while to react: "Huh? Get married? But she should be about the same age as you, Stone, right? She's only 12. What is she getting married to?"
"Waaaaah, Doragar will never get married!" Upon hearing Flame Tongue's words, Doragar immediately opened her little mouth and started to fake cry. The so-called fake crying was all bark and no bite; Doragar just rubbed her eyes, without shedding a single tear.
"This..." Flame Tongue stared in disbelief, exchanging bewildered glances with the twins.
"Oh, right, I just remembered, dwarves don't come of age until they're 30. Marriage and such are things they only discuss after they've reached adulthood." Stone belatedly realized that in the minds of dwarves, 12 years old is still the age of a child. Not to mention, his older brother Flame, who is eleven years older than Stone, doesn't seem to be married yet.
Um, I don't think so, right?
"Second brother, does eldest brother have a sister-in-law yet?" Shi Tou asked somewhat uncertainly.
"How could that be? My older brother is only 23 years old this year! But Dad has arranged a marriage for him. By the way, you know his future sister-in-law!"
know?!
Stone was bewildered. She had stayed in the Dwarf Kingdom for a long time, but most of the people she knew were little kids around her age. There didn't seem to be any kids the same age as Flame.
No! There's one?!
"Ah? Qi... Qi... Qimei!" Stone slapped her forehead. She remembered the dwarf girl who had once kidnapped her. In her memory, Qimei was about 10 years older than her, and about the same age as Flame.
"Yes, it's Chimei." Fire Tongue nodded. "Chimei is a year younger than Big Brother, so the wedding is set for eight years from now, the year Chimei comes of age. Stone, why don't you stay for another eight years and leave after they get married?"
8 years!!!
The War of Resistance Against Japan is over... (Welcome! Your support is my greatest motivation.)
☆, Chapter 209 Goodbye, Little Dog Beastman
Stone rejected Flame Tongue's unreliable suggestion, but still agreed to stay a few more days. Steel Hammer Daddy and Fat Mama weren't unwilling to visit Stone, but rather, they were too busy in the Dwarf Kingdom to leave, so they had to come to the surface in shifts.
Stone was happy to welcome the first three dwarfs, but he was also quite tired. There was no way around it; Flametongue was one thing, but Flamebeard and Flamebeard were practically two mischievous children. Several years had passed, and they should have grown up a bit, but surprisingly, their personalities hadn't changed at all.
What surprised Stone even more was that, despite it being the first time Doragar had ever seen Firebeard and Firebeard, he had become very close with them in just a few hours.
As darkness approached and the two showed no sign of heading home, Fire Tongue, the second brother, grew increasingly anxious: "Firebeard and Firebeard, you must go back, or the other dwarves will find you!"
Stone understood that the Dwarf Kingdom and the Fallen Empire were completely different countries. In the Fallen Empire, even if a prince were to disappear for a few days, or even if he had truly run away from home, the other citizens would have no right to inquire unless the king and queen said so.
"Why were we discovered? What's the consequence of being discovered?" As expected, Doragar, who had grown up in the Fallen Empire, a human nation where imperial power reigned supreme, was the first to express his dissatisfaction.
Fire Tongue paused for a moment. Although he wasn't familiar with Doragar, she was, after all, his own sister. He patiently explained in a gentle tone, "We dwarves all have our own jobs. Today, the three of us are off, so we can run out to find the stone... uh... and you. But we have to go back to work tomorrow, and if we don't go, we'll get scolded."
"Get scolded?!" Doragar suddenly raised her voice: "Will I get scolded? By Father or Mother? Are they fierce?"
Stone quickly stopped the flames from continuing: "No, Doragar. Dad and Mom are very kind and they don't swear."
That's absolutely true; at least Stone has never been scolded. Of course, the twins, who were mischievous and always getting into trouble, didn't just get scolded; for them, being beaten every few days was commonplace.
"Then who would swear?" Although Doragar liked her playful twin brothers very much, having been spoiled since childhood, she didn't want to live in a place where she would be scolded. In her opinion, a princess should be pampered and protected.
Shi Tou hesitated for a moment: "Shouldn't it be the elders?"
Fire Tongue nodded: "Yes. But Firebeard and Firewhisker often get scolded by Mom because they both make too much of a mess. But don't worry, Doragar, Mom will definitely like you a lot, just like she likes Stone."
Fortunately, Flametongue was very steady, and he was also more sensible than the twins. With his comfort, Doragar finally stopped overthinking.
However, although Doragael had managed to persuade her, it was already getting dark.
Hesitantly glancing at the sky, Flametongue still beckoned the twins to come back with him. Seeing the slightly worried look in Stone's eyes, Flametongue explained, "It's alright, we're dwarves, not humans. But Stone, you need to be careful; the monsters here love attacking humans."
Upon hearing what the flames said, Doragar let out a scream: "Ah! The monster is going to eat people!"
"You're not human!" Firebeard blurted out quickly. The bearded man added, "It's alright, you're so small, the monsters won't eat you anyway, they wouldn't be able to fill their stomachs."
That's what I meant...
Seeing Doragar's face turn pale and then green, Stone quickly chased the three away. Far off, they could still hear the sounds of flames reprimanding the twins.
"Doragard, be good, that's just how Bearded Firebeard is. When you get to the Dwarf Kingdom, if those two bully you, you can tell Mom and Dad!"
Seeing Doragar's still teary-eyed and bewildered expression, Stone quickly stepped in and recounted how he had fought back against the twins since childhood. He continued until Doragar, looking sleepy, leaned against Stone.
Stone readily pulled Doragar into the ring's space. When their feet touched the ground, she vaguely heard Pipi seem to have made a sound.
After settling Doragar in, Stone left the ring space again: "Luopipi, did you call me just now?"
Luo Pipi rolled her eyes and stared at the stone with a depressed expression: "Little Aunt Duo'er, aren't you being too discriminatory towards humans? Why can she go into your space and have a good sleep, while I have to stay in this broken tree hole and listen to the roars of magical beasts outside?"
Shi Tou touched her nose guiltily. Could she say it was because she didn't trust Luo Pipi? Could she?
"Alright, alright, even if you don't want me to go in, you should at least get me something good to eat, right? You're not planning to just let me eat this stuff, are you?"
Following Luo Pipi's finger, Shi Tou saw some leftovers from today's meal: "Oh, these were made by my mom! They were so delicious."
When Fire Tongue and his two companions arrived, they didn't come empty-handed. They brought some dry rations made by the plump mother herself. For example, hard cornbread that could kill someone, two skinned rats, and two jugs of very strong liquor…
"Delicious?!" Luo Pipi couldn't help but raise her voice: "Corn pancakes are one thing, at least they can be soaked in water and boiled for a while to turn into corn porridge. But what about this rat meat? I never eat such low-class things!"
Rats, too, eat grains!
Stone opened her mouth, but under Luo Pipi's angry gaze, she said nothing. She obediently took out a cake and a pot of milk tea from her ring space, and also put away the things Fat Mama had prepared.
"That's more like it. By the way, do you have anything else? Like roast chicken?"
This time it was Stone's turn to roll her eyes, but considering that Luo Pipi had never mistreated her during the journey, she still took out one of her few treasured chickens. Of course, it was just a chicken, not roasted yet.
Luo Pipi muttered as she took it. Seeing this, Shi Tou didn't wait for her to make any further requests before disappearing into the ring's space.
The next morning, Stone pulled the sleepy Doragar back to the tree hole, only to find that she saw someone she didn't want to see at all... or rather, a humanoid creature?
"Where is Kagaral?"
Stone blinked, looking blankly at the orc in front of him: "You're looking for Kagaral?"
"Yes! Didn't he used to live here? Why are you taking over his place? Humph, and he was so kind as to save you from my clutches!"
The little orc in front of them was none other than the puppy-like orc that Stone and Luo Pipi had encountered on their first night in the Crimson Forest.
Stone only now realizes that it was Huoqian who saved him and Luopipi from her grasp.
“He went home, but he’ll be back in a few days.” Stone didn’t dare to be careless with this little orc. Although she looked young, she had genuinely wanted to kill him that day.
"Go home? Does he have another home?" The little beastman looked at the stone with hostility. "I promised to let you go on a condition. He said he would help me find my pet. But two days have passed, why hasn't my pet come back yet?"
Stone stared at her with wide eyes: "So you can speak quite fluently? Oh, orcs are people too."
"Human! What did you say? Don't put us orcs together with low-level creatures like you humans!" A ruthless glint suddenly flashed in the little orc's eyes, and his upright body tilted towards the ground, as if he might pounce at any moment.
Shi Tou swallowed hard. She noticed that the little beastman was looking at her as if she were looking at a pot of fragrant roast chicken, and his gaze kept lingering on her and Luo Pipi's necks.
"Huh? Are you a puppy? You're so cute!" Just as the two sides were about to reach a stalemate, Doragar suddenly spoke up.
Stone was so startled she almost rushed over and covered Doragar's mouth. She now understood that this little orc hated being called a puppy.
"Hmph! I'm not a dog!" Sure enough, the little orc was angry, but when she saw that Doragar was a dwarf, she hesitated for a moment: "Dwarf? What are you to Kagarar?"
"Kagalar?" Doragarl looked bewildered.