Chapter 337: Nothing They Can Do

Shamile snorted as she looked back down at the planet under her. "I will never understand why that man only has you in his eyes… But that's fine. As long as you die by someone else's hands, I will not be breaking the promise I made back then."

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"Creige, look at this one. What do you think?" Kana came out of her forge room with a brand new sword in her hands. Creige, whose expression was very serious just seconds ago, turned his head with a smile and walked over to Kana, taking the sword from her hands. 

"Mmm... This one is much purer and can easily beat half the forge master's in Stone Hammer. In a few years, you may even be on par with me." Creige was always serious about forging. It was one thing he would never give in on. If he found a weapon to be excellent, he would praise it. If he found it to be trash, he would say it to your face. Even when it came to Kana on this one thing, he would be brutally honest. Even with the first weapon she showed him, he pointed out its flaws, but he still treasured it since it was made by her. This much had never changed. But on the first day in the forge, Kana asked Creige to be tough on her and really point out everything that is wrong with her weapon. Since then, he had been very, very picky, so him saying this now made Kana very happy. 

Creige took the sword and hung it up on the wall behind the counter below the dagger she first made. The difference was like night and day. Once he put it up and admired it a little bit, he stepped back and was about to pray to it when he suddenly turned his head towards Baldswin.

Baldswin frowned but still walked forward and stood next to Creige. "Yeah, yeah. I just need to pray to the damn thing, right?"

Seeing the two men standing there clapping their hands together then bowing their heads as they prayed to her sword made kana burst out laughing: "What are you two doing!?"

"I don't know ask your stupid husband!" Baldswin yelled out. He did not even know why he had to pray to the damn sword!

"Humph!" Creige snorted and gripped Baldswin shoulder.

"Ouch! Damn it! Fine, I'll pray! I'll pray!" Baldswin cried out in pain. He cursed Creige deeply in his heart.

"You guys are really close." Kana said with a smile. She even walked next to the two and prayed to her own swords. 

"We have been friends for many years since I brought him back. He had really taken a beating back then." Baldswin replied.

"Mmm. I owe him a lot. He is a good friend." Creige nodded, and in a rare moment, praised Baldswin.

"You!? Are you drunk!? Damn, just hearing you say something like that sends shivers down my spine. Don't do that ever again!" Baldswin hugged himself and even did an exaggerated shiver. 

As the three talked, the whole issue with the desolate race seemed to slip their minds. But there was one person who was not having an easy time. "Your Majesty, what should we do? If they send their envoy looking for an explanation on why we did not protect their princess, I am afraid..."

The dwarven king let out a long sigh. He leaned back on his throne and closed his eyes. "In my long life, I have had to deal with many things. But this is one of the worst disasters to come to stone hammer in hundreds of years. So far, we have been lucky. The wars that have happened so far have never reached our borders. Our ally, the Rural Kingdom, has stopped all foes before they could reach our borders. At the same time, we have lost many men of our own, but we have been able to keep our lands safe. 

"But this time, the biggest threat this world could ever face is knocking on our back doors. Since the time of old, since the formation of Stone Hammer. Our dwarven kingdom has stood and has yet to fall. My ancestors have kept our lands safe for all generations and kept the promise that was made way back then. But now… Even though it was out of our hands, we will still be seen as at fault. And I have a feeling that it will not just stop with us. In order to keep their people safe, the desolate race will try to purge this whole continent and maybe the world so that their people will never be threatened again." The Dwarven king let out another sigh.

"I heard the hero of Rural is now living in our kingdom. What about her?" One of his ministers asked.

"Even if this was the case, so what? Even that bastard Creige is no match for them. What can one little girl do? She may be powerful, but so what? She is one person. Even if we requested aid from the realm of gods, it may still not be enough. If their deities decide to take action, we are all doomed. Our fates were sealed as soon as we discovered the poor girl. Make sure you treat the girl's body with extreme care. Have a group of maids wash her from top to bottom and dress her in our finest clothes. Have our best wood smith make her a luxurious coffin. We can only hope by treating her as one of our own that we can maybe gain some favor in this situation. I want everything done by tomorrow." The dwarven king gave this last order before standing up and, with the help of his servant, left the throne room. His ministers went right to work to get the tasks they were given done.

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Deep within the mountain range, located inside an illusion barrier was a large village. Inside the largest hut an old man sat on the highest seat looking at the people in front of him. "What happened to Lanta? Why is she not here?"

"This…. Grandfather, Lanta… Lanta ran away again..."