Chapter 789: She Summoned Dwarves...?

Chapter 789: She Summoned Dwarves...? [Bonus Chapter]

The brilliant pillar of light began to break apart into shimmering bands of silver and gold that drifted down through the air like a shower of falling stars.

On the pearl-white altar, the glare slowly parted and revealed ten silhouettes.

The pressure in the air settled with a deep echoing pop, and ten new figures stood there blinking against the daylight, still wrapped in the last sparkling motes of the summoning.

Silas shifted on his feet, still holding Ther’Abella upside down over his shoulder, and his dark blue eyes widened in honest disbelief as the light cleared.

Standing on the left side of the altar were five tall athletic young women.

They wore simple linen tunics cinched with leather belts, their bare arms corded with lean muscle, and they stood with the kind of proud steady posture that anyone who’d ever seen a front line would recognize.

...They were Shieldmaidens.

And standing on the right side, blinking rapidly against the light as they looked around at the silver birches, were five stocky broad-shouldered women who barely came up to Silas’s chest.

They had thick braided hair ranging from deep copper to charcoal black, shoulders like solid blocks of granite and big calloused hands that looked like they’d been made to swing heavy hammers.

They were dwarves... Real sturdy mountain dwarves!

Beside the altar, Aki’s breath caught in her throat.

Her hands flew up to her mouth, and her azure eyes welled up with thick shining tears of pure relief.

"D-dwarves..." Aki squeaked, her voice trembling so hard it cracked. "F-five whole dwarves, and Shieldmaidens... They actually heard me...!"

She looked like she was about to melt into a puddle of happy tears right there on the cobblestones.

Silas stood frozen, staring at the five stocky women with a slight twitch at the corner of his left eye.

A sudden sharp pang of jealousy flared up in his chest.

’Five dwarves in one summoning...?’ Silas thought, his fingers curling against his belt as he stared at them. ’Are you kidding me right now? And she pulls them while praying for cooks?!’

The unfairness of it burned like a swallowed coal, though the sheer ridiculousness of it brought an amused crooked grin back to his lips a heartbeat later.

Aki sniffled loudly and wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye with the back of her wrist, then stepped up in front of the altar with as much poise as her trembling knees could manage.

"Welcome, everyone!" Aki announced, her clear voice carrying across the quiet plaza. "I’m Aki, the Lord of Aki’s Wonderland! This is our territory, and we’re still in the middle of our Novice Trial... You’ve been summoned to a place where you can grow and be proud of who you are!"

The ten new women blinked and fixed their eyes on the blue-haired girl standing in front of them.

"And I promise you this as your Lord," Aki went on, her chest swelling as her azure eyes blazed with fierce sincerity. "Here, you’ll never go hungry, nobody will ever treat you like you’re disposable, and you’ll never have to face the wilds alone! You’ll have warm beds in a real hall, good weapons and a family of sisters who’ll fight right beside you! All I ask for in return is your loyalty, your hard work and your courage to help this place thrive!"

The five Shieldmaidens snapped their heels together with a sharp disciplined crack, while the five dwarves nodded their braided heads in gruff enthusiastic approval.

Aki then stepped aside and gestured with both hands at Silas, who was still standing at the edge of the altar with her Hero dangling over his shoulder like a sack of barley.

"And this," Aki added, her voice dropping into a warm fond tone that made her cheeks flush pink, "is Lord Silas, the Lord of Blessed Land! This Wonderland is his vassal, and everything you see around you is standing because of him!"

The ten new girls turned to look at Silas.

They took in his tall confident frame, the fur mantle draped across his broad shoulders and the faint gold ring glowing in his dark blue eyes, and they didn’t hesitate for a second.

The five Shieldmaidens dropped to one knee with perfect precision and pressed their right fists firmly to their hearts.

THUMP!

Beside them, the five dwarves bowed low from their thick waists until their broad knuckles touched the cobblestones.

"Hail to the Lord!" the Shieldmaiden at the front called out, her voice crisp and ringing.

"Hail to the Lord!" the dwarf at the front echoed, her deep raspy voice rumbling like grinding millstones.

Silas chuckled warmly and raised his free hand in an easy welcoming wave.

"At ease, girls. Stand up... Welcome... Work hard for Aki, and you’ll find life here treats you really well."

Aki beamed with pride and clapped her hands together to get everyone moving.

"Right! No time to waste!" Aki said, stepping away from the altar. "You five, follow me! I’m going to show you our brand-new smithy! We’ve got three big anvils, huge bellows and stacks of iron just waiting for your hammers!"

The five dwarves let out a loud happy cheer, their eyes practically glowing at the mention of anvils and bellows, and they hurried after the blue-haired girl like children chasing a candy cart.

One of them was already rolling up her sleeves as she ran, and another one was loudly asking Aki what kind of coal they had, how much of it and where it came from, all in one breath.

Before she ran off toward the smoking chimneys of the smithy, Aki paused and turned back toward Silas and the squirming elf on his shoulder.

"Ther’Abella!" Aki called, pointing a firm finger at her. "Stop wriggling like an eel! You’re in charge of getting our five new Shieldmaidens ready! Get them equipped and get them ready to head out!"

Slung over his shoulder, Ther’Abella let out an exasperated furious groan and pounded her fists against Silas’s lower back.

"Put me down, you insufferable brute!" Ther’Abella hissed through clenched teeth. "Didn’t you hear my Lady?! I’ve got work to do! Let me go, or I’ll bite straight through your tunic!"

Silas only laughed.

He gave the backs of her thighs another patronizing little pat and casually set her boots down on the cobblestones.

The silver-haired elf stumbled a little as her feet hit the ground, her knees still shaking from Morrighan’s punch.

She quickly smoothed down the front of her tunic and glared at him with enough cold starlight fury to melt iron, though the deep crimson blush on her cheekbones gave away just how flustered the whole thing had made her.

She turned on her heel and marched over to the five new Shieldmaidens, who were still standing at attention by the altar.

"Listen up, recruits!" Ther’Abella barked, her voice snapping back into a sharp military tone as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You’ve shown up at the perfect time! In less than an hour, we’re marching out through the gate and into the wilds to hunt down monster nests...!"

The five new girls stood a little straighter, their eyes widening slightly, though their chins stayed raised with fierce pride.

"Since you only just got here," Ther’Abella went on, pacing back and forth in front of them, "you don’t have any gear yet. So you’ll be wearing armor from Blessed Land!"

She stopped, planted her boots wide and looked each of the five women dead in the eye.

"You’ll march in the back, behind the rest of us," Ther’Abella declared, her blue eyes flashing with stern authority. "You’ll stay in formation, you’ll do what you’re told without arguing, and you’ll watch how real fighters handle a nest! If you show some courage out there, if you hold your ground and prove yourselves today, you could earn yourselves a promotion before the sun goes down!"

The five new Shieldmaidens puffed out their chests, their eyes blazing with wild ambitious fire.

"Yes, ma’am!" they roared together, their boots slamming down on the cobblestones in perfect unison.

STOMP!

’Finally, some real discipline around here,’ Ther’Abella thought, crossing her arms tighter as a faint grim smirk touched her lips. ’These girls have some fire in them... That arrogant usurper thinks a charming smile and some fancy tricks can replace real training, but these girls are going to be worth something. Let them watch the front line. They’ll see how the Viridian Guard does things.’

Standing a few paces away along the edge of the path, all of the old girls quietly watched the whole scene, the ones Silas had brought from Blessed Land and the archers and spear girls who’d been in Aki’s territory from the start.

Lupina let out a low breathy chuckle and leaned her shoulder against Morrighan’s arm, her wolf ears flattening with amused pity.

Beside her, Morrighan’s expression didn’t change, but her spade-shaped tail gave a slow lazy sway that said everything.

Rowenna hid a small shy smile behind her notebook, while Aurelia gave a gentle sympathetic sigh, her golden-amber eyes crinkling at the corners.

Slowly, almost all at once, every one of the old girls started shaking her head in knowing amusement.

...The only one who didn’t shake her head right away was Solenne.

The artificer stood there blinking her golden eyes in honest surprise, her ears flicking forward as she watched the five puffed-up recruits practically vibrating with excitement.

’Wait, are they really that excited to go running into a pit full of monsters...?’ Solenne thought, a shy little flutter of embarrassment brushing through her as her fluffy tails twitched behind her. ’I-I guess they’ve got no idea what’s actually waiting for them out there. I was just like that too when I was starting out as an artificer... I thought it’d all be pretty blueprints and clean brass gears...’

A soft self-conscious flush warmed the tips of her fox ears.

When she realized she was the only one staring, she cleared her throat delicately and joined the others in a slow elegant shake of her head.

They’d all been that young, proud and foolishly excited once.

Every one of them, except Solenne, had stepped off a summoning circle thinking she was about to go on some glorious adventure where a brave heart and a shiny sword could beat anything.

These five poor new girls were about to find out the hard way that there were real monsters walking right alongside them.

Between Morrighan’s fists, Lupina’s claws and their Lord, who did terrifying things like it was nothing, a raid wasn’t some neat military march out of a book.

...It was a chaotic beautiful mess.

Within twenty minutes, the whole settlement was humming with brisk orderly energy.

Aki came back from the smithy with her face glowing after setting the five overjoyed dwarves loose on the anvils.

Meanwhile, Ther’Abella had strapped the five new Shieldmaidens into the spare sets of Blessed Land armor that Silas had pulled out of his Inventory, sleek dark steel breastplates over heavy leather greaves, with solid rimmed shields that gleamed in the light.

With everything ready, the whole group lined up in marching formation along the main stone road leading toward the gate.

Silas walked at the front, his long easy strides setting a comfortable pace.

On his left walked Aki, dressed in her armor, a fitted steel breastplate that hugged her slender waist, with segmented shoulder plates and a pleated armored skirt that swished around her greaves.

On his right walked Elowynn, her twin cutlasses at her hips, her tall curvy body moving with smooth feline grace while her amethyst eyes kept darting up to Silas with dreamy starry-eyed adoration.

Behind them came the Blessed Land girls, Morrighan and Lupina up front, Rowenna and Aurelia in the middle, and Solenne and Kaelia walking safely at the back.

Bringing up the rear of the whole line were Ther’Abella and the five new Shieldmaidens, marching in tight steps that clicked sharply against the stones.

As they walked under the towering rose spires of the Keep, Silas turned his head and cast an amused glance down at Aki’s armor.

The steel plates were spotless, polished until they caught the sun like mirrors, but the heavy segmented collar around her neck made her chin tilt up in a comically stiff posture.

Silas let out a quiet chuckle and gently nudged her shoulder plate with his elbow.

"You look ready to go fight a war, Aki," Silas teased, his tone warm and playful. "But tell me honestly, isn’t that armor a little heavy on you...? You look like you’re carrying half an anvil on your shoulders. We haven’t even left the square yet, and you’re already marching like a tin soldier."

Aki’s head snapped toward him, her azure eyes flashing with adorable indignant pride as a bright rosy pink flared across her cheeks.

"It’s not heavy at all!" Aki protested with a haughty toss of her blue hair, puffing out her chest until the steel plates creaked against the leather straps. "It’s the proper size!"

To prove her point, she stopped for a second, turned her face right toward him, pulled down the lower lid of her right eye with one finger and stuck her little pink tongue out at him.

"Bleh!"