Chapter 48: Dwarven Negotiations

“What polygon of hell do ye Demons come from?” Aitken asked, standing at the front of a large crowd of dwarves staring intently at the group, with large guns pointed at them.

Pinklia, Penelope, Hope and Junior had been captured and thrown into what the Dwarves called a “Surface Dungeon”

“We’re not Demons! Look!” Penelope begged as she tried in vain to show the crowd her clearly human skill tree.

“Demons lie, long established prior.” Aitken sighed, shaking his head.

“We’re just humans! From Dracons!” Penelope exclaimed desperately.

Junior was being held back by Hope while Pinklia tried to stay out of view, much of her form had been drained by Penelope’s magic shield so now she was no taller than Junior.

“WHY DID YOU HURT RHINEY!?” Junior shouted as he slipped out of Hope’s grip to go and berate the Dwarves, attempting to grab them from behind the stoney bars.

Aitken laughed heartily as he stepped forward, just outside of the boy's reach. Hope quickly dragged him backwards.

“Be quiet before you get us killed.” She hissed sternly, glaring hatefully towards Aitken as Junior froze up.

“The boy is clearly human, the Witch is arguable. You two however…” Aitken shook his head, looking at Pinklia and Hope.

“... I’ve never met a human with eyes like yours.” Aitken explained, shaking his head.

“What are you going to do with us?” Hope asked through gritted teeth, heart pounding.

“Until we can determine the nature of your group, until then you’re staying here. Do anything and this cliff is being blown off the map with a full scale alert being sent to the Clanmaster.” Aitken explained calmly, looking at the hateful look in Hope’s eye and sighing.

“If you’re some group of strange humans you have my word you will be able to leave safely.” Aitken explained with a sigh. Penelope let out a sigh of relief, collapsing to the ground while Hope continued to glare at the Dwarf.

“Relax, we have his word.” Penelope said as she leaned against the stoney wall.

“I don’t trust anyone who puts me in a cage.” Hope explained bitterly. Penelope shrugged as Aitken walked off to bark orders at his men.

“Dwarves are nothing if not true to their words. He seems like the boss so as long as we can prove we’re not demons we’ll be fine.” Penelope explained. Junior had started stewing in the corner.

“Umm, are you… Sure we can do that?” Pinklia asked anxiously, her own skill tree had a very clearly labelled her as a Slimenoid as opposed to Human, and considering the shoot first ask questions later approach they’d taken so far, she wasn’t feeling entirely confident.

“Demons are monsters, they don’t have a legacy skill like that…” Penelope explained, her confidence waning as she looked at the very inhuman looking Skill Tree Pinklia had.

“But what about Rhiney and… Utarou.” Pinklia sighed.

“I’m sure he won’t do anything stupid!” Penelope declared.

Hope and Pinklia cocked their heads in unison confusion.

“You have met him right..?” Hope asked delicately.

“He’s tactical, passionate and keeps cool under pressure!” Penelope explained excitedly.

Pinklia looked at Penelope in utter bafflement while Hope let out an involuntary laugh.

“What?!” Penelope asked defensively.

“You have a crush on him?” Hope said, realizing why Penelope seemed so utterly blinded to the mountain of tomfoolery that Utarou shouldered.

“N-no?! I just think he’s more competent than you’re giving him credit for! And he’s got all this knowledge and interest-” Penelope stopped herself by clasping her hands around her mouth, going beat red.

“Oh no.” Penelope said as she realized what she was saying. 

Aitken watched the girls explode into an interrogation of Penelope’s feelings regarding this Utarou character with mild bemusement.

“An act by the demons?” One of the gunner Dwarves asked.

“A damn good one if it is. Once Meachin figures out what that black beast and immortal creature was we’ll be able to make the logical decision. Praise Logos.” Aitken explained, leaving the gunners to watch the quibbling women.

“Praise Logos.” The Gunners replied in unison.

…

Utarou regenerated at the center of the massive hole the dwarven explosives had made.

“Note to self, figure out magical clothes.” Utarou sighed as he got up, looking to see if there were any dwarves at the edge of the crater watching him.

There weren’t any dwarves at the edge of the crater, but there was one watching him from inside a bush, rifle with telescopic scope aimed right at Utarou’s head.

He’d abandoned his radio for fear of demonic interference through the waves.

“He’s keeping up appearances remarkably well if he is a demon. Normally it would’ve dropped the disguise.” Meachin thought to himself as he watched Utarou struggle to climb out of the hole.

“But there isn’t such a thing as a normal demon…” Meachin reassured himself as Utarou finally managed to escape the pit.

“Alright, let’s think, Rhinoplasty was shot… Crap the girls!” Utarou exclaimed as he looked around, seeing what he could only assume was the smouldering pillar of smoke of a minor dragon had just crash landed.

“IF ANY OF YOU DIED I AM GOING TO HAVE A GENERATION VENDETTA AGAINST ME!” Utarou panicked, running towards the smoke as Meachin watched, Utarou’s screaming echoing through the valley. 

“Hmpth, certainly an odd character in any case.” Meachin thought as he prepared to follow Utarou, packing up his rifle and stalking his prey, which was currently ranting about how terrified he was of being thrown back into a dungeon as he nakedly ran through the thorny grass of Eastern Aurora.