—–
These two dwarves were absolutely insane. It wasn’t that they were just prideful. They were straight out insane to the core. They were tortured so much they were left with scars all over their bodies, but they still didn’t work for it.
I don’t know if I can even convince their souls to work for me even if they die and I make them ghosts. Their will seems so strong and unmovable, like a stone pillar… And they also talked about some Earth Goddess… Is she their goddess?
Wait…
By checking their Status, I saw a lot of the talents they got, Hammer Technique, Master Blacksmith, Smith Magic, and… They are blessed by the Goddess of Earth and the God of Forge.
So that’s it…
They’re actually so strong-willed and resilient because they’re the Heralds of Gods, apostles of two gods to boot, and both of them! Wait, I think they’re blood-related. Could they be siblings? Twins?
“Are you guys twins?” I wondered. “Also, by checking your status, you got blessed by the Goddess of Earth and the God of Forge….”
The two dwarves stood there looking at me in disbelief. They seemed both disappointed and angered at me for some reason! Did I do something wrong? I just checked their Status! What’s wrong with that?
“You can check status?!” asked Baldor. “That’s very rude! You can’t just check the shape of our souls like that. Even if you’re a ghost!”
“Yeah, that’s very offensive…” said Balladur. “But yeah, we are twins and blessed at the same time. We were blessed the same day we were born, together, and since then, we have been bros that have never separated from one another.”
“That’s right! Bros until the end!” said Baldor. “We have always stuck together. Our Divine Protections makes it so we are inseparable.”
“Is that so?” I asked. “Do you even go to the bathroom together?”
“No, we don’t! We hate when someone jokes with that!” said Baldor. “Also, we ain’t helping you anyway.”
“Yeah, do you think we’ll help you just because you have helped us?” asked Balladur. “We have done more than enough, making clothes and other things for you with that kid Darfu… We ain’t forging for ya!”
“Come on! You can’t be that much of an asshole, can’t you?” I asked. “It doesn’t cost you anything, and you’ll be helping good people.”
“We have helped them enough,” said Baldor. “That’s enough for me.”
“That’s right, we have helped enough,” said Balladur. “That’s also enough for me.”
“You guys begin speaking at the same time sometimes.” Said Emeraldine. “Typical Dwarf behavior….”
Emeraldine began cursing in a low voice while the Dwarves completely ignored her. Meanwhile, Partner was constantly emanating a strong presence of black and red color, and she was quite frightening.
“You two… You also come from the same place as Darfu, right?” asked Lucifer. “Who are you exactly? Were you important figures? Doing all the things you said… You mustn’t be normal at all.”
Lucifer surprisingly spoke in a respectful tone of voice to the two dwarves, who looked at him while squinting their eyes and then nodded.
“Yeah, we come from the Gray Mountains too. We are the famous Redstone Brothers.” Said Baldur. “We did many things, and we taught a lot of the kids there….”
“Compared to our age Darfu is just a young kid… We are over three hundred years old.” Said Balladur. “But I still feel like new, though!”
“T-Three hundred years old?!” asked Emeraldine. “I didn’t know Dwarves could live so long!”
The two dwarves nodded; they didn’t seem to be particularly angered at Emeraldine for being an elf, so they even answered her questions.
“Yeah, we are pretty old.” Said Baldur.
“Usually, people of our race can live up to two hundred years… But those that receive a Divine Protection can live way more than that.” Said, Balladur.
“Each Divine Protection can give you some extra lifespan because we both got two Divine Protections. We got a lot of extra lifespan to go around,” said Baldur.
“Yeah, we have outlived some of our friends…” sighed Balladur.
“Well, they’re now in the embrace of the Goddess of Earth anyways.” Said Baldur.
“Hm!” said Balladur.
They were also quite religious with their Goddess of Earth, and they were probably talking about being buried in the dirt? Maybe… Well, whatever the case, Lucifer seemed to have the intention of negotiating with them, but I don’t really know how that will fare.
“I am an ancient dragon that has lived hundreds of years, probably almost a thousand years if not some more. I used to live in the very place where you dwarves are living now.” Said Lucifer.
As he began to unleash his entire potential outside of his body, an enormous aura of pressure and phantasmal power emerged behind him, shaping itself into his dragon form, resembling a deadly specter.
The two dwarves looked in shock at the scene for a few seconds before going back to their usual expressionless selves.
“I see, so?” asked Baldur. “What about it?”
“You’re an old Dragon and an Undead… What happened to you?” wondered Balladur. “Ah, not like I care if you don’t answer….”
“Eh?! Well… It didn’t work. I thought that Dwarves respected dragons…” sighed Lucifer. “Anyways, I guess I can ask you some other things later. For now, what Maria wants to do is employ you two as her forgers and architects.”
“That’s not possible.” Said Baldur. “We retired from that heavy lifting job and all of that.”
“Even if others do the lifting, I ain’t working.” Said, Balladur. “Unless…”
“Unless…” said Baldur. “Unless you bring booze.”
“Of the nice one, though.” Said, Balladur. “Maybe we’ll think about helping by then.”
“Oh, you’re picky too? You don’t want any Beer, but the best we can find?” I asked. “You’re a bit too expensive, but I am beginning to think there’s no other way around it….”
The two dwarves were quite the expensive workers… asking for something like high-quality beer… I hope we can find some.
—–