"We're flying~"
"Cinnamon is flying too~"
After arriving in the Western Continent with the help of Astrape, and Bronte, William summoned a flying ship in order to continue his journey.
Ephemera, who was his guide, told Will where to go, and the flying ship soared in the sky, headed to the Dwarven Kingdom of Beldaral.
The Half-Elf had wanted to visit the Demigods first and convince them to join their side. But, after thinking about it carefully, he didn't want to go out of his way to travel everywhere to look for them.
Because of this, he decided to head straight to the Dwarven Kingdom first, and have an audience with its King. He hoped that after the two of them met, the reclusive kingdom would agree to join their side when the time to fight against the Army of Destruction had arrived.
Naturally, he didn't come alone. Almost everyone, including the Seven Heavenly Virtues, accompanied Will on his journey.
However, the majority of them were staying inside the Thousand Beast Domain, enjoying the comforts that it brought them.
With the help of Optimus, Will had built an Antenna inside his Domain, that was directly connected to the Bifrost Bridge, allowing it to get signals directly from Earth.
Because of Erinys' influence, the ladies were suddenly introduced to the world of television, movies, and telenovelas.
It didn't take long for the girls to become addicted to it, and asked Will if he could put T.V's in their bedrooms, so that they could watch the shows inside the villa.
Due to their own personal tastes, they often watched different shows during their free time.
For example, Haleth and Charmaine preferred watching the cooking channels because it allowed them to discover new, and delicious, dishes that they could serve to everyone.
Shannon, on the other hand, asked Erinys to help her purchase Otome Games, making the Fox Lady hole up inside her room as she tried to clear the different routes, whenever she wasn't busy painting on her canvas.
Everyone was going at their own pace, but one thing was clear. This time, they would go with William wherever he went, even if they were just staying inside his Thousand Beast Domain.
"We're almost there," Ephemera, who stood beside Wiliam, said as she pointed at the towering mountains in the distance. "The Dwarves have made that entire mountain range their fortress, and their cities are found underneath those mountains. This is also one of the reasons why no Kingdom has dared to invade them, even though they are not part of the Gunnar Federation."
When the flying ship neared the mountains, over a dozen Wyverns flew in their direction.
These were not ordinary Wyverns, because they were the flying mounts of the Dwarven Wyvern Riders, who protected the skies of their Kingdom.
"Halt!" one of the Dwarves riding a Wyvern shouted. "This is the territory of Beldaral! State your name and business for coming here!"
The other Wyvern Riders circled the flying ship and aimed their hand-held cannons at it. If the people inside it resisted their inquiry, they would not hesitate to shoot it down from the sky.
William didn't want to have any conflicts with the Dwarven Kingdom, so he immediately stopped the flying ship from moving, allowing it to simply hover in the sky.
"My name is William Von Ainsworth," William replied. "I have come here to talk to your King to discuss very important matters."
"What Kingdom do you belong to?" the Dwarf asked in an annoyed tone. "How many times must we say that we are not interested in joining the Gunnar Federation! No matter how many envoys you send, our King's decision will not change."
William gave the Dwarf his most dazzling smile in order to calm the tension, however, after seeing that the Half-Elf was more handsome than he was, the Dwarf aimed his hand cannon at the Half-Elf's face, and was itching to shoot him down.
Seeing that his action backfired on him, the Half-Elf raised both of his arms in surrender as he tried to negotiate with the Dwarf whose finger was itching to pull the trigger.
"Violence is bad!" Maple shouted as she placed both of her hands on her waist. "Uncle should know how to talk properly. Everything can be resolved through food and drinks."
"Cinnamon is a little hungry," Cinnamon commented. "Uncle, do you have some Dwarven candy with you?"
Seeing the two pink-haired girls standing in front of the Half-Elf, the Dwarf was forced to lower his weapon, so that the two girls wouldn't be scared of him.
"Are those two Dwarves?" another Dwarf asked as his wyvern moved closer towards the ship.
His name was Vaggron, and he was the Captain of the Wyvern Riders of Beldaral. The reason why he didn't introduce himself earlier was because he was closely observing William, and his entourage, from a distance to see if they were a threat to their kingdom.
He was unable to discern their ranks, which made him raise his guard. Only people stronger than him had the ability to hide their inner presence from him.
However, when the two girls appeared, it reminded him of someone, making him take a closer look at them.
"Little girls, what are your names?" Vaggron asked.
"My name is Maple," Maple replied.
"Cinnamon is my name," Cinnamon answered.
The Dwarf captain frowned. No matter how much he searched his memories, he couldn't match any name to the two girls' faces. However, one thing was certain, he could vaguely sense Dwarven blood in their bodies.
Vaggron then shifted his attention to the Half-Elf who still had his arms raised in the air in surrender. Judging from how he acted, he could tell that he didn't want to escalate the situation, so he decided to hear them out for the time being.
"William, was it?" Vaggron said as he looked at the red-headed teenager. "Which kingdom do you hail from?"
Seeing that the dwarf was willing to hear him out, the Half-Elf lowered his hands and introduced himself properly.
"Once again, my name is William Von Ainsworth," William replied. "I am the Emperor of the Ainsworth Empire that hails from the Central Continent."
Vaggron frowned after hearing William's reply. He was carrying an artifact that could detect lies, but since there was no reaction from it, he assumed that what the Half-Elf was saying was true.
Although the Dwarves almost didn't travel outside of their domain, that didn't mean that they weren't aware of what was happening in the world.
The Dwarves that were living in the other cities of the Gunnar Federation would regularly send them the latest news and rumors that were being spread about the various Kingdoms.
One of them was the war that was happening in the Central Continent, where powerful beings that surpassed the Rank of Demigods were said to be decimating the armies of the Kingdoms in the Central Continent.
When the Dwarves first heard it, they treated it as simply nonsense. How could there be beings that were stronger than Demigods?
However, their King was different.
He took this news seriously, and ordered his army to stay vigilant and issued a command to all Dwarves that were living outside of the Dwarven Kingdom to keep them updated if any signs of the war were to spill over to the Western Continent.
"An Emperor?" Vaggron eyed the Half-Elf from head to foot. "Someone as young as you is an Emperor in the Central Continent?"
"Yes," William replied. "Is there a problem?"
"I'm finding it very hard to believe your claim."
"Well, the fact still remains that I am indeed an Emperor, but I will have to agree that I don't look like one."
William couldn't help but shake his head bitterly because he really didn't have the aura and charisma of a ruler.
"Okay, let's say that for a minute I believed you," Vaggron stated. "You said you wanted to talk to our King, but what do you want to talk to him about?"
The Half-Elf stared at Vaggrom with a complicated look on his face. In truth, he also didn't know how to start the discussion about the Army of Destruction without making it sound like a crazy story.
After organizing his thoughts, he gazed steadily at the Dwarven Captain before answering his question.
"Giants," Will replied. "The Giants are coming."