Chapter 2162: Befriending the Eastern Dwarves

"Masters! It has been hundreds of years! It’s been so long!"

Althea: ???

She looked at her husband and then back at the old, crying elf. For the most part, she just felt a little befuddled.

It seemed like the dwarves were placed here by quasi-elves, and because she and her husband had this aura, the dwarf made the association. He seemed old and had bad eyesight, but she did not dare pretend to be the dwarves’ actual masters.

What if he asked questions she had no idea how to answer? He might just shoot her himself.

Althea paused for a moment before slowly nodding. "You must be speaking of my grandparents. We heard that they have been here, and it’s actually why we are here."

She had to place a lot of disclaimers just in case she said something inconsistent later. At least with this excuse, she can make logical excuses to some follow up questions or at least have a valid explanation for being unable to answer others.

Althea could now lie with a straight face, in stark contrast with how she was when she was young. She had grown a lot over the years, indeed.

That said, the fact that they were ’recognized’ meant there was already a bias on the other side, which gave Althea the confidence to ’twist the truth’ a little.

"I see, I see!" the old dwarf nodded. "I knew it was similar! Though, to be honest, yours is purer. I suppose it’s a typical case of the younger generation overtaking the older generation!"

She looked at him, green eyes sparkling with interest. "In your eyes, is my aura very similar to theirs?"

"Yes, but I like yours more," he said. "Even his is the same." The ancestor dwarf said, pointing at Garan.

They took note of this, though they really didn’t have much to say.

The two orcs, on the other hand, were just fascinated by the little creatures, and the little ones were the same with them. Since the elder said they were not hostile, the atmosphere had indeed loosened up, and some dwarves allowed themselves to show the curiosity they were feeling.

Althea and Garan did not know when, but at some point, when they turned around and checked on them, they saw that each orc was already carrying a young dwarf.

"Hweeee~"

"So high!"

"We’ve been trying to make a tower over each other before, but we just fell down."

These weren’t necessarily children. Most were teenagers in dwarven years, though they still acted like they were babies.

"Can you stay here and carry us?"

"..."

Althea shook her head with a smile, turning her attention back to the elder.

Since the atmosphere had visibly loosened up, she took this chance to figure out more things, primarily about things that outsiders would typically never become privy to.

"How is the mission?" she asked the old man, making Garan give her a sideways glance. What mission?

Unexpectedly, the old dwarf perked up. "We are halfway there! We only took a hundred or so years! We have been perfecting the explosive technology, so the progress should be shorter over the next few years!"

Both Althea and Garan froze a bit hearing this, the old dwarf’s words confirming what they had been worried about, but their expressions didn’t betray their thoughts.

Althea and Garan wondered what to do to stop this project. They didn’t want to result to violence, and offending an entire tribe while on their turf was extremely stupid.

While looking at the dwarves playing with the orcs, Althea got inspired. "Actually..., I remember that this project had been stopped before.

"It seems like the message didn’t pass on?" Althea asked, looking genuinely shocked.

"What?" "Truly?"

The old man looked shocked and confused. This was understandable. This was a project that he had been working on for over a hundred years. How could he accept it was ’cut’ all of a sudden?

"Truly," she said, her voice soft and empathic. "But rest assured, nothing went to waste. Haven’t you mastered these technologies already? They would have other uses in the future."

These were one of the cases where she was glad the system wasn’t in this area, so Oaths were not found. In human territory, it was pretty much a default standard operating procedure to make oaths during serious discussions and deals.

It was here that everyone was called to the communal canteen. The elders guided them there so they could continue their conversation more comfortably.

To travel there, they stepped over and used the carts; otherwise, they would take a long time to get there, considering the speed of the dwarves. It was similar to those mining carts in Terran and was designed to carry a few dwarves or relatively big components. For humans and orcs though, one cart could carry one, and the orcs even looked like they were squeezed like sardines.

The community canteen was about as large as a big classroom. Dwarves didn’t take a break at the same time, so this was sufficient since they took turns to eat.

The seats here were on the floor, and there were just flat panels over the soil that served as chairs.

"Can you tell me more about the instructions, please?" The old dwarf asked, looking weaker and weaker as time passed. Althea felt a bit sorry for him, especially since she knew she was lying, but she also had to think of the safety of her side of the world.

"Yes, times have changed," she said. "What is your understanding of the plan? Why do you think this started at all?"

She wanted to know their perspectives, too.

"The humans...have done a lot of sins towards everyone." The dwarf said, though he looked a little guarded. Quasi-elves were still mostly human, after all. However, those who had even a bit of elf blood would tend to identify as quasi-elves, regardless of how diluted it was, and regardless of whether it was their wishful thinking.

Similarly, the dwarves saw their quasi-elf master as non-humans, even if that was technically not true.

"The humans, thanks to the system, have become much more tolerable. Although it’s still very bad and I don’t recommend you contacting humans yet, there are improvements, and that progress is important." "If we continue with this plan, then this could be pushed back."

"I see..." the dwarf mumbled, obviously not sure how to absorb this change. He was probably going to have an existential and identity crisis this late in life.

She thought of what could comfort the old man. "But... they lived full lives. They hope you can also relax and no longer worry about this stressful work."

The elder blinked and lifted his head. "So they were finally able to make arrays effortlessly as they wanted?" he exclaimed, clapping his hands. "That’s good, that’s good..."

Althea blinked. Arrays? Those people wanted to make arrays effortlessly? What did that have to do with this place?

She hadn’t heard of a quasi-elf doing this. Further, she remembered the system telling her she was the only array master for now, so she could safely assume that these dwarves’ masters did not succeed.

The dwarf continued with his soliloquy, and Althea listened in, her heart turning turbulent.

"It’s good that they were able to do so. It seemed like they really managed to cleanse the human blood in their bodies! Congratulations, Masters!"