11 Dwarf

Fear. it was a powerful tool to use. it could bring you benefits or turn things against you. when this comes to religion, there would always be that fear in the back of your mind about what would happen when you go against your religion's teaching. is this messed up? Only, it depends on the teaching. if it tells you not to kill, there would be those to back up the region no matter how messed up the punishment is.

So, Igneel did this. your actions when you're alive would reflect heavily on your punishment after death, the fewer sins, the less pain you would suffer. the more sins, the longer and more pain you would face. this along with many things that taught one how to be a good person, Igneel religion was set to spread and gain followers like no other.

"The demi-human should be attacking about now... by the way, why do you think they are called Demi-human?" sitting on his throne, Igneel eyes were asked closed. he was board out of his mind, there was nothing to do, his daily dragon was complete, he had played out with wild magic trying to see if he could ever get the hang of casting it without the ring, and he had walked around the whole guild to make sure things were good.

"... I never thought of that," Alfred said calmly while standing below the stairs leading to my throne. Demi-Human was just a beast. such as wolves, snakes, and so on. some had a humanoid-like appearance, and some didn't. 

'Should I just go to sleep? it has been more than 5 months without sleep, and I barely feel it...' I thought while looking at the book in my lap, with so much free time, I have reading books lately. sighing to myself, I got up. For 5 months, I haven't taken a shower or brushed my teeth.

It would have been disgusting, but my body gave off no disgusting smell, no dead skin cells, my teeth remained as white as ever, plus my breath remained perfect as always. honestly, one might think I just finished getting ready with how I looked. walking off, I went to my room with Alfred and the elite maids following me... I was a prison to my kingdom. Under Odin's order, they were to keep me out of harm.

Anyway, walking through my palace hallway, I looked around, my eyes landing on all of the rare and priceless treasures on the walls, and so on. everything was so clean, as the maids looked after everything. 

'I haven't gone to look at the maids.' I thought calmly, the maids were all at level 1, and due to this they needed food and water. if they could level up, they could one day reach a level that would allow them to no longer need such things.

"You're... Tomo Maiddragon right." I stopped before a man who was bowing respectfully, she thought I was just going to pass by. but the fact I stopped to speak with her and even knew her name stunned her, and moved her deeply. but after a moment, fear overwhelmed her, did she do something wrong?

"y-yes. do I do something wrong?" She asked with an uneasy look, not daring to look towards me, but at her words, I shook my head.

"nothing like that. come, walk with me, and tell me how life has been. I haven't taken the time to look at the maids." I said calmly, to which Toma's eyes brightened for a moment before she nodded. She was the talker, as she went on to tell me everything, but she did skip over a few things which caught my interest

"how is the food?" I asked, causing Toma to smile awkwardly, she was about to speak but I cut her off.

"Did they change your meals to something cheaper?" I asked, to which Toma nodded her head weakly. the new cheaper food... well, it sucked, it was disgusting. but they needed the energy to work, and they knew that the Dragon Palace was facing some money trouble, so they sucked it up. frowning, I looked towards Alfred, who bowed slightly.

"due to minimizing the 7th-floor cost, their food was replaced with something cheaper," Alfred said calmly, to which I shook my head

"have it be returned to the original, they work so hard, they should eat the best food. plus, it would help them grow stronger. I don't mind spending a huge amount for that." I said calmly, but I was caught off guard by, Toma shaking her head

"No, the Dragon Palace can't afford it, we would willing to eat the food, we don't want to be a burden," Toma said to which looked at her for a moment,

"my words are final. go and eat your fill." I said making Toma unable to say anything, she could only look at me with tears in her eyes, such an amazing master she had.

"you're off duty, all other maids are not to work until they eat their fill," I said to which Toma nodded although unwilling. but how could she reject her master's goodwill? although she wanted nothing more than to work, she wanted to make her master happy above everything else. so, she left, leaving Alfred to step forward

"my lord, that would increase the monthly cost of this floor by more than 50%," Alfred said calmly, to which I shrugged.

"I will use my wealth to offset it," I said calmly while walking off, the amount of money I held was huge. ignoring the amount in the guild treasury, in my storage was billions. I could handle all of the maid's intake, and soon they would be strong enough to no longer need food.

"by the way, water isn't a problem right?" I asked calmly, to which Alfred shook his head. many items held endless amounts of water, this was no problem. it was just food, 

Saying nothing more, I headed to my room where I went to look around. I have never been here, I remember spending time to create the place, but I never had the time to step foot in here. it was a cool-looking room, worthy of the bedroom of the world dragon,

I went to take a bath in my abnormally large bath. in my past life, baths were not my thing, but with how big my bath was, not taking a bath would be a shame. Alfred and the others had no choice but to give me personal space, I just wanted to sit back and relax.

'it's so stressful playing the role of a dragon king. how long would the coping kings I watched from movies last me? can our guild weapon evolve if it is infused with wild magic? what would happen if I die?' sitting back, I sighed softly, letting my mind wander.

I didn't want to go back to my former life, it sucked. It was mostly work awaiting him, so much work that his siblings died, so much work that it was considered a shock to live to 50 years of age. 

"How odd," I said softly while looking at my dry hand. I put it under water and back again, but it remained dry. I was completely immune to normal water, meaning I couldn't get wet by such things. the water must hold an amount of magical energy if it ever wishes to hit me.

'I should have added more things to the guild for enjoyment and fun... I added nothing, well I created everything on my own while taking information from other guilds to help point me into the path I wanted. some guilds added movie theaters into their guild, I have nothing.' I thought while looking at the shinobi who had suddenly appeared. the shinobi pulled out a scroll which opened

"Lord Loki has completed his job and wishes to speak with you." the shinobi said to which I nodded slightly. I looked at the time only to realize a few hours had passed, to him it was barely a few seconds.

getting up, I didn't bother to dry myself as well... I was dry. putting on my clothing, I went to the throne room where I found, Loki awaiting my return. sitting down, I allowed him to report.

"Everything went down perfectly. As you said, that punishment of hell was what we were missing. the demi-human just attacked, and all of the humans came together to pray and erase the mind control on the demi-human. after which, Levi was able to get the demi-human to work together with him to face the dragon." Loki said with a smile

"but as you said, since Madara wasn't a part of them, I was to increase the difficulty, forcing them to pay a huge price to kill it. that price was the so-called destruction of the Sword Of Fire, The Necklace Of Sight, and the Chains Of Heaven." Loki said while pulling those items out, making me smile slightly.

"I wish to give them some time to recover as many people and demi-human have died. enough so that they are talking about working together. it just so happened that all of the demi-humans who would have been against this died. Now, the demi-human and humans shall start working together." Loki said while I nodded slightly,

"While they are recovering, I ask for permission to head to the land of dwarfs. I wish to see if there is something I can do, to make it look as if it was fated that the dwarfs and Levi meet. I also wish to find the best dwarf, and hopefully find a rune weapon to bring back." Loki said to which I thought for some time

"it's too dangerous... but here," I said while taking off my 5th ring, that one that allowed one to bypass the requirements to use some items. Do you need a job class to use a sword? with this ring, you can use a sword without the job class.

"my lord..." Loki who caught the ring in a panic and wanted to return it was cut off by me,

"it's either you take the ring or pick one of the two. not go to the dwarfs, or go with Thor. thats a world item, with it you're safe. so take it and go." I said calmly, making Loki unable to speak for a moment before he bowed

"Thank you," Loki said with a lowered head, to which I said nothing while looking to the side at Raven.

"Raven, you go with Loki. take 1 other assassin and 1 shinobi with you. you're to follow Loki's order. avoid danger if possible, and call for backup if needed. understood?" I asked, to which the Raven nodded slightly. but before they could leave, someone raised a hand, looking over at Ember I allowed her to speak

"My lord, I want to do something to help out as well." She said, to which I was quiet momentarily, caught off guard by her request. Seeing Indria who hesitated to say something, it was clear she wanted to do something. I all have been doing was calling upon Raven, they must be feeling useless.

"Alright, how about you two join me and Alfred in my training?" I asked, causing the two eyes to brighten. they nodded their head without a second thought. Alfred on the other hand just said nothing, thinking of how he would add these two into their next lesson.

Anyway, Loki and Raven left, while I went to hell to train with Alfred and the others, of course, we were welcomed by Hela.

"My lord, did you come to take me out?" Hela asked with a charming smile, to which I shook my head

"I'm not going anywhere," I said calmly, to which Hela's eyes narrowed slightly while getting closer to me

"how about you take me on a date," Hela asked softly, in an enchanting voice, to which I looked at her in confusion.

"You don't know today's date? well, I seem not to know it myself." I said softly, trying to keep eye contact with Hela and not look at the two things growing closer to my face.

"I don't mind if you put something in my drink... I will not question anything." Hela said softly, to which I sighed softly.

"Hela, my self-control has its limit. keep this up and you will not be able to hold back." I said calmly, to which Hela's smile grew

"Don't worry my lord, you can ram your heavenly pillar into my virgin cave." Hela said, causing Alfred whose face was dark this whole time to reach his limits. this sexual harassment, how could he stand by and do nothing?

"Hela, we came here to train," Alfred said coldly, Hela's face dropped as she glared at Alfred, just as the two were about to fight, I walked forward while taking a deep breath... Alfred stepped in at the right time,

meanwhile, far away, Loki walked through what looked like a city. he was underground, with items holding runes. these items gave off light, making Loki guess they were some kind of light rune.

he was within the kingdom of dwarfs, unlike humans who normally lived in tribes, and weak houses, due to the fact they might have to get up and move, dwarfs built their homes into caves.

Yes, they moved around a lot, mining out places before moving to another place to start mining, allowing the former ground to heal. because of this, they split up many times, and there were many dwarf kingdoms out there.

the one Loki was within was ruled by Smalldo, a powerful dwarf equipped with the most powerful gear this place had to offer. strong enough to allow him to fight and kill a dragon, the former owner of this gear once killed a dragon.

In Loki's eyes, controlling the dwarfs was easy, just off the bat, he thought of dozens of ways he could control these simple lower lifeforms. He could have them dancing at the palm of his hand, but since his lord wanted a more peaceful and low-key way of doing things, he would have to limit himself.

the first thing he had to do was get to know the enemies of the dwarfs, now this was simple, as charming a few dwarfs easily gave him this knowledge. the dwarf's enemies were those demi-humans who lived and hunted underground.

years ago, they were mining and stumbled upon a huge earthworm that killed a good amount of its people. it was their king and a few others who joined hands to drive it off.

today, they were at war with Quagoa. Quagoa is a mole-like beastmen. Quagoa lived in groups of tribes deep within the Evash Mountains which they shared with the Dwarves, their mortal enemies. The Quagoa clans have always conflicted with one another, you may ask.

how would you like a group of dwarfs coming to your mountain and mining the hell out of it? many times they have to move to other mountains, yet at some point, the dwarfs would appear to mess up their homes. So, they had a good reason to fight. the dwarfs were the bad guys here, they were simply fighting for their homes.

Loki after getting everything he needed went on to look for a dwarf to play as the main leader of the dwarfs. someone with potential, and he found him...

"What are you doing now?" a dwarf who was about the size of a normal human asked while rubbing his beard. he was a unique type of dwarf, unlike others who were short to help them in mining and blacksmithing, he was special as was what you called a warrior dwarf. they were rare and slowly dying out as most of the female dwarfs rather marry a blacksmith, and many children dreamed of becoming a blacksmith, not a warrior.

so even when a warrior dwarf grew up, they had a high likelihood of wanting to become a blacksmith instead of going for a warrior job class. this dwarf also happens to be the king, the strongest warrior the dwarfs had.

"I'm learning to engage a high-grade rune." the king's son said softly, making his father sigh in annoyance. like him, his son was born to be a warrior dwarf, but he rejected the path and wanted to become a blacksmith, 

"I forbid you to become a blacksmith... son, the dwarfs need warriors as much as they need blacksmiths. how can they mine without us to protect them?" He asked with a deep sigh, he didn't want to be that father who forbade his son, but the dwarfs needed strength, or risk being enslaved by other races to craft weapons for them.

"But... thats not what I want to do." the kid's son said with an unwilling tone. he was at that age where he felt like others were trying to control him. he wanted to do his own thing, and he saw the cool and great things rune smithing could do, unlike warriors, he swung around a sword all day.

"I understand... I do. but without a warrior, there is no smithing. yes ago, we dwarfs were enslaved by that human village. Do you want to know why? because we have too much attention on mining instead of having warriors. in my father didn't... sigh." He let out a deep breath, he was nearing the peak of his health, and his son should take over. but without him taking up the task of a warrior, what awaited the dwarfs was death

history repeated itself, a long time of peace and the dwarfs grow relaxed. without an everyday reminder of why they needed a warrior, they would do what they loved most, mining and blacksmithing.

"Shortjo..." The king said softly, calling out to his son. A weird name, as the t was salient, but to the dwarfs, this wasn't weird.

"yes." His son who was hiding the look of annoyance he felt of that same old story answered, in his eyes the dwarfs were alright. with the powerful runes they could create, what did they have to worry about?

Just as the king was about to speak, the sound of cries entered their ears, a moment later a dwarf entered the room with a panicked look. 

"The Quagoa are attacking. they are uniting with earthworm." the dwarf yelled, the king wasted no time and rushed out to go fight, and he soon followed. Although he wasn't as strong as his father, he was still a warrior.

he ran out of the building, only to see a scene that would hunt him for life. the lifeless bodies of dwarfs lay everywhere. their small legs unable to carry them away fast enough, some who were still alive moaned in pain, while they tried to crawl away.

his father? he jumped into the wace of Quagoa, his sword swings cutting through at least 5 Quagoa at a time. but he was outnumbered,

"Shortjo, gather everyone in the kingdom and escape, hurry up!" He roared, his voice snapping Shortjo who was frozen on the spot back to reality. fearful, Shortjo node and quickly ran around, gathering everyone there to escape through the escape tunnel they had built... but there were only 40 dwarfs, the hundreds of dwarfs who once lived had been dropped to such a small number of dwarfs.

"Shortjo, we must go!" the only surviving warrior dwarfs said, seeing Shortjo just standing there looking towards where his father should be

"M-my dad, he will be here," Shortjo said in a shaky voice, but the tears running down his eyes showed he knew his father wasn't coming. he would most likely use his life to buy them time.

"Shortjo..." the warrior dwarf was about to say something, but froze when he saw the king running towards them with countless Quagoa following behind. weird dwarf pupils shrink seeing the dwarf king removing his armor and other gear before he throws them at them. Shortjo tried to catch it but was sent flying into the tunnel.

"hurry up and close it," He roared while pulling out a lower-grade sword than the one he normally used, and turned to fight, but the gear he had that allowed him to be at level 40 was no more, right now, he was only at level 20.

"No, Father!" Shortjo roared seeing as a huge worm came out of the ground, trying to swallow his father who managed to dodge and stab its side, but was sent flying to a wall, where the Quagoa jumped on him, ripping his body apart.

Shortjo couldn't see all of this, as the warrior dwarf pulled him back while pulling a rope, which caused rocks to come falling. he picked up Shortjo and the gear and ran at top speed, not wanting to be crushed by the rocks.

"..." below the mountains, they stood, looking at their former home, and how low the surivals were.

"if only we had more warriors." the warrior dwarf said with a downcast look, causing Shortjo to start crying. his father warned him and many others, but they refused, leaving him a few handfuls of warriors to act as warriors.

"Let go... up ahead is the homes of the elves, we should avoid it. they might capture us and make us their slave." The Warrior Dwarf said quickly, they couldn't just stand there like fools, but where should they go? there were only 40 people here, mostly teens, with some adults among them.

what sucked was that most of the survivors were all skilled and talented runesmiths. none of them were good for long journeys. he thought for a moment, but he suddenly looked far east, towards the border lake... something was telling him to go there. a gut feeling, as if that's where he should go.

"Shortjo, you're the only one who can wear this... you're father made sure you can get this for a reason." the dwarf warrior said while looking towards the down cast Shortjo Shortjo looked at the gear for a moment, and while removing his tears he took the gear and slowly put it on. with this gear... he was strong, he was a level 32 warrior. feeling the strength the armor gave, he took a deep breath and stilled his heart.

"Let go," he said softly... at the same time, far away, Levi had a dream about dwarfs