AN: "Cookies" → Speech / spoken air quotes

"Cookies" → Thoughts

"Cookies" → Spells / Martial Arts

"Cookies" → Message spell speech

I don't own Overlord

Have fun, enjoy and please review

Chapter 42

→ Arwintar Nazarick-mansion / Arachne ←

In the evening Arachne arrived back at the mansion. She took a deep breath and couldn't do anything other than smile. She had helped another soul, had a nice tea party with the one of the few humans she liked. At least besides Leinas and Tuare though Nimble was more of Jircnivs accessory than a human in her eyes. Her love even kissed her and Arachne was sometimes still feeling up the place. She could do nothing else than think about the day on her way back.

"Mom is in the back." she heard and looked up. Zesshi was sitting at a table in the foyer. She usually did this so she couldn't be drawn into the terrors money games.

"Thank you. I hope I didn't take up too much time, Leinas." Arachne smiled and Leinas waved her hand.

"No problem. I will push you to the indoor garden?" Leinas asked. Tuare meanwhile glared at Leinas.

"I think Tuare can manage, but thank you for your proposal. I believe it is almost time for Zesshi to train." Arachne grinned and Tuare began to push the wheelchair, obviously keeping back from sticking her tongue out.

"Just give me a few minutes. Just this page, then I need a break." Zesshi mumbled and Leinas seated herself comfortably. That was the last picture for now, as Arachne was pushed through the floor, then the living room and into the indoor garden.

The door to the playground was opened.

"So she is watching the twins." Arachne thought as they got closer.

Old-mother was easy to find, as she was bigger than a human. The slightly bigger abdomen did not help to hide the old-mother either. This time Arche and Entoma were also present.

The twins were in the background though not playing with the toys but with a board game. Arche meanwhile was snoring in a bear hug of old-mother, her head on the abdomen. Entoma on the other hand was clearing the tea table.

"Good evening. How was your date?" Old-mother inquired.

"It went well. But some interesting things happened." Arachne reported.

"I can see that." Old-mother giggled while Arachne was pushed closer. She herself blushed a bit.

"When we traveled to the palace we met a messenger for the emperor. Luckily I got a copy of the scrolls." Arachne smiled and placed the copies on the table.

"That is good. What else happened besides the hickey?" Old-mother teased, stroking Arches' hair affectionately. Arachne was completely blushing and wanted to fall into the ground.

"As it turns out she became a diplomat on her way here. I wrote a summary, which officially would go to Lord Ainz, by me." Arachne replied, while trying to hide her flushed face.

Old-mother took all the scrolls and read through them while Arachne was seated beside her abdomen. Arachne couldn't withstand the idea and placed an ear on it. First she felt nothing but then she heard and felt it.

*badum-um*

*badum-um*

*badum-um*

Two heart beats vibrated in a canon. It felt relaxing and soon Arachne had to fight to stay awake.

"I can understand Arche now." Arachne thought as she rose her head from the abdomen.

"Relaxing and yet breathtaking, isn't it?" Old-mother smiled. Arachne nodded.

They remained there for a short while. Arachne heard the beat and fought to remain awake while old-mother read the rest of the scrolls. Arachne got out of hearing the future child. She looked at old-mother.

"I have to travel tomorrow, old-mother. I can't leave the girl to face her queen in failure." she told old-mother.

"I thought that. Luckily it is for diplomacy and not war." she heard her old-mother grumble.

"I think the girl can be useful to Nazarick, old-mother." Arachne insisted.

"You don't need to rationalize helping her, at least not to me." old-mother sighed and stroked Arches' hair again, both were seemingly in bliss.

"I truly believe that. But it will be over time." Arachne stated, more believe in her voice.

Old-mother, with all her eyes, looked into hers and then a smile crossed her face.

"Then make her into an ally." she said and Arachne nodded.

"Tuare? Could you prepare everything for tomorrow morning?" Arachne asked the maid, who nodded and sprinted off.

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing like this, though the twins would later join. Luckily they joined after Arachne and old-mother had finished their plans for a young blond and other, more annoying, blonds.

→ A cavern in eastern RHK / Demiurge ←

Demiurge had sent out three teams of demi-humans to collect the artifacts he had located and one of those teams was bowing before him. He himself sat on a brass throne and simply observed them squirm on the ground before him.

They were bowing out of fear and gleamed up. Smiles were on their faces and Demiurge couldn't help but grin.

"So you found it?" he inquired.

"Yes, master." the leader of the group answered and all bowed even deeper, nearly digging their forehead into the stone.

"Good. Lead the way." Demiurge ordered.

"As you command." they replied and stood up.

Soon afterwards Demiurge stood before an intriguing structure. It was built like a catapult, but with some differences to the human variant. The counterweight had a toxic-green glow and Demiurge could almost smell the disease from it. The smell was only surpassed by the one from the loading platform. It was designed like a fork or claw. The stench was so terrible that Demiurge thought about placing it in his farm. But he decided against it shortly afterwards. The structure itself was made from strong wood, except some rusting metal nails and plates to stabilize it.

"How many died to bring it here." Demiurge asked.

"We barely managed to bring it here, master. The other 38 died when pulling it here." his pawn answered.

"I will look for another method to pull those. But the artifacts will prove devastating. I can't wait to see them in action." Demiurge said, feeling the raw surface of the wood. He almost felt how the disease tried to take him. Luckily he was strong enough to withstand it.

"We will. We will g-go then, master." the pawn told the master, who waved his hand.

Demiurge continued to observe the structure further. It was crude, but efficient. He truly couldn't wait to see its devastating effects. Especially after hearing stories about similar weapons destroying dwarven karaz and diminishing dwarven formations.

→ Re-Estize Royal-palace / Renner ←

Renner was furious with Barbo, as he was not only doing her work, which would actually be generous, but because he was destroying her friendships outside of Nazarick. She had received news of a new law, pressed by Barbo of course, which would force every adventurer to 'volunteer' in the royal army. Renner, with the news and not enough information, decided to invite her friends, read pawns, from 'Blue Roses'. It would only be fair to use the information she had, and which she might get from them, to maybe push them into service for her masters.

Thus Renner was preparing a tea party. Cups and plates, with the good stuff, were already placed. The table was thus prepared and Renner simply read in her notes. Her climb meanwhile had polished his armor and stood guard. She sometimes lost a glance or two at him, maybe even doing more than staring.

"My treasure." shot through her mind.

Then the adventurers came and seated themselves, aside from Gagaran who remained standing.

"Good afternoon." the group greeted.

"Good afternoon. I wanted to get news and I think I have important news for the adventurers. But first, how is it going in regards to Momon?" Renner inquired, knowing Leinas and Evileyes crush. Both stuttered and looked away.

"With the ban to travel there we weren't going." Gagaran replied for the group.

"What ban?" Renner asked.

"Shortly after the king fell ill one of his advisors told us that adventurers are banned from moving to E-Rantel." Gagaran told her.

"So they were moving that fast? Doesn't matter. My older 'brother' is passing a law to conscript adventurers into the royal army. It is an awful piece, I tell you. It states that they would receive rations and quarters if in barracks. Pay and loot will not be given to them but deducted from taxes." Renner told them.

Shocked faces were plastered in the group.

"Since when do adventurers pay taxes?" Leinas asked confused.

"We don't, evil master." Tina answered.

"Yes. Adventurers don't, as killing monsters increases security and thus makes trade more lucrative." Renner explained.

"So let me get this. They want our service, but not to pay us. But the king generously doesn't demand our taxes, which he already doesn't? It sounds stupid." Gagaran threw in the group and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. That sums it up. Of course I can't say anything to anyone here. But if news got out to the adventurers…" Renner began and let her idea hang.

"That would of course be terrible for the crown…" Evileye nodded along.

"Maybe we should also 'forget' the ban on travel to E-Rantel. I can't wait to spar with Momon again." Leinas sighed.

"As long as you don't 'leak' the future law to the adventurers guild before." Renner said, her tone making her intent obvious.

"Of course not. " Leinas winked and Renner relaxed.

"What else is going on?" Evileye inquired.

"In what regard?" Renner asked.

"The crown. I saw many people moving out of the cities in the east. The west is barely better. Something is going on." Evileye specified her question.

"You didn't hear anything that happened in politics?" Renner countered.

"No. Adventurers in general aren't interested in politics. We were already getting onto thin ice by helping against eight fingers." Leinas told Renner.

"Well. Since father is ill, Prince Barbo took over. Sadly he passed quite some laws and proved to be a diplomatic disaster. Essentially the nobles in his inner circle were given a 'carte blanche' for their lands. The ruination of our work in regards to eight fingers didn't help. The living condition thus worsened in the last three weeks." Renner sighed.

"So they rather live under an undead?" Leinas asked, shocked in her voice. Evileye though seemed to get more interested.

"Seemingly. I am surprised by this development. But what can I do about it?" Renner said, resignation placed in her voice.

The rest of the tea-party went to a more relaxed discussion. 'Blue Roses' told her some stories about their adventures while she fed them some tidbits about nobles.

"It is truly delightful to ruin my brother's future days." Renner thought as the 'Blue Roses' left.

Renner decided that her little friends within the walls of the adventurers guild could entertain her today.

→ Re-Estize adventurers guild / Blue Roses ←

After leaving the princes with potentially devastating news, the party went to the guild hall. Once there they got upstairs towards the leaders office. Leinas had known the leader of the Re-Estice branch of the adventurers guild from the beginning of her career. Thus she only needed to knock.

"Come in. Ahh. Leinas, how are you?" The middle aged woman asked.

Small strands of gray moved through the leader's otherwise green hair. A mithril plate hung around her neck and she wore magicians robes. Leinas knew her as Rishia. Leinas also knew that she was an illegitimate child and thus tossed aside. After that she had taught herself to read and then moved to magic. Rishia was able to cast tier 3 magic, which was quite something for Re-Esstize. Her ability to read brought Rishia the seat she now holds within the guild, regardless if she wanted or not.

"We were great, sadly we brought grave news for the guild, ." Leinas replied.

"What news? Since the king is ill I wasn't allowed within the court's meetings." Rishia inquired.

This was unusual since the leaders of the main guild were present at the court's meetings. Afterwards they would spread the news to the side branches. This was vital for the adventurers guild, as the normal adventurer didn't care about politics.

"Prince Barbo took over. Since then he has passed a few laws. One of those is about to pass and dictates that we adventurers be conscripted." Leinas began.

Rishia punched the table in anger and then signed for Leinas to continue.

"It says that the adventurers will be paid in rations, housing within the barracks and lesser taxes." Leinas continued.

Now the group looked on as Rishia broke her hand on the table.

"Tzzz. argh. How sure are you about the information?" Rishia inquired.

"My source wants to remain anonymous." Leinas replied

"So it's the golden princess. Thus the news is accurate." Evileye nodded and observed Rishia breaking the table with her broken hand.

"Itch. Itch. Itch. I will spread this. For now it seems we will close this branch and leave." she hissed and casted a healing spell on herself.

"Since when do you know healing magic?" Leinas asked, only knowing Rishia as an elemental caster.

"Since I took over this accursed position." Rishia answered and the group simply remained deadpanned.

They would leave the office soon after, already knowing the next course of action. The group was almost ready and decided that E-Rantel would be worth a short visit. If only to talk with Momon and Nabe.

Later, when the group was ready to leave and doing paperwork to do exactly that, they saw Rishia at the top of the stairs. She had a big trunk and a sunhat on her head. A loud bang was heard and all heads turned towards her.

"Thanks lads. I got news that a new law is about to be passed. After receiving news about it I made a grave decision. From now on our guild will be closed until the law is changed. It says that we all would be conscripted. Without pay and barely anything in material matters. From here on out there will be two options. Either you leave the kingdom for a while, or you resign your status as adventurers and become citizens of this kingdom, again. Since the desk will be flooded, I will help our dear Raphtalia there." Rishia told them and silence spread.

After a short while the news registered and shouts erupted. Another bang echoed through the hall.

"Keep calm. We will all do our paperwork NOW. If you can't write, get someone who can. The ones who can write WILL help you." Rishia shouted and walked over to the entrance desk.

Leinas soon afterwards gave her parties paperwork.

"Good luck, Leinas. I hope we will see each other again." Rishia sighed.

"Do we give the plates back?" Leinas inquired.

"Nah. Sadly I have no time to dishonor any adventurer by demanding their plates." Rishia hissed.

Leinas got closer.

"Let me guess, you're quite happy to leave the office?" Leinas smirked, observing the summer dress and hat.

"Of course. I hate paperwork." Rishia smiled.

"Have a nice couple of weeks." Leinas sighed.

"I will have a nice time. Have a safe trip and good luck with your lovelife." Rishia waved when Leinas was ready to leave.

Soon 'Blue Roses', now officially dissolved, left and began their trip to E-Rantel.

Leinas would later hear that Rishia had quite a fun time ruining the prince's reputation among other guilds, especially the magicians guild. Both guilds would shut down afterwards and bring the news to the side branches.

Adventurers who did their mission during the closing would still be compensated and afterwards either become citizens or leave the kingdom.

It was a second exodus since the branches of the guilds happily complied. Mages and adventurers left en masse, either towards the Baharut Empire, the new Sorcerer Kingdom or Roble Holy Kingdom.

→ Arwintar Nazarick-mansion / Arachne ←

It was still dark outside when Arachne woke up. Though tired, Arachne was also energetic, thanks to her excitement. She would visit another country and act in the interest of her old-mother and Baharut. If she could, she would have danced through the halls of the mansion. Even Tuare, seeing her excited, had pushed the wheelchair a bit faster than usual.

Everything was packed and stored already. Only one task remained and Arachne was pushed towards old-mother. Once there Arachne was in a bone crushing hug. Only sheer determination gave her the strength to breathe. But the old-mother soon let her free.

"I will be back shortly, old-mother." Arachne promised.

"I know. But it is still hard." old-mother said and Arachne gave a small hug.

"All will be well." Arachne reassured

"I know. But now, do your assignment and stay safe. I can't lose a child." old-mother sniffed.

Arachne only nodded and was pushed towards the loaded carriage.

Soon the carriage began to move and traveled through the empty streets of the capital. A fresh breeze was going through her hair and Arachne enjoyed it as much as possible. But soon the carriage was inside the palace-court and Arachne was back in her wheelchair.

She was pushed to the outside area, which she frequented with the emperor. The emperor was seemingly using every chance he got, as he had servants prepare a large breakfast. The diplomat was already there and stood a bit aside.

"Good morning, my emperor." Arachne smiled.

"Good morning. How was the trip?" Jircniv grinned and Tuare pushed the wheelchair close to him.

"As usual. I enjoyed the wind in my hair." Arachne answered and was now able to actually take a piece of bread.

The three ate in tired silence and Arachne cherished this. But soon she was full and leaned back in her wheelchair. Jircniv waved for a servant and then looked at her.

"You look tired already," he grinned.

"I couldn't sleep well. The excitement is already tearing me up." she confessed.

"You will manage. I already prepared what I wish in the contract. There it comes." Jircniv told her.

The servant brought her a scroll, which she opened. It contained a payment for her services, which she understood. It would also be a military alliance, seeing that Roble would agree to fight Re-Estize, if Re-Estize would attack Baharut.

"Well done. It should also work for Lord Ainzs great plan." Arachne thought, resealing the scroll.

"I will do my best. By the way, where is Fluder?" Arachne inquired.

"He is on his way." Jircniv answered and Arachne nodded.

Neia, not having said anything, was seemingly hyper.

Shortly after the breakfast Fluder arrived and nodded towards Arachne, which she reciprocated. After a short briefing for Fluder, the group prepared to leave. Fluder used this opportunity to cast "Gate", which he had recently learned from old-mother, and a portal opened.

"I hope I can see you later, Jircniv. But now we can heal and negotiate." Arachne tried and Jircniv gave her a kiss on her forehead. She blushed and looked away from the group.

"Please be fast and stay safe." Jircniv whispered into her ear and she simply nodded.

After that Arachne, Fluder, Leinas and Neia stepped through the portal, some with more pressure than others.

Once she was through Arachne looked around. They were outside of a gigantic city. White walls surrounded it and Arachne saw soldiers patrolling it. Sadly they were too close to look over the wall. Soon the group collected itself and began to move, though Neia needed a bit more time to calm down.

They got closer quite fast and entered the city without any trouble at the gates. Inside the city was comparable dirty, but mostly because she only knew the roads of Baharut, the Nazarick-mansion and the floors of the tomb. All of which were cleaner.

"I assure you, lady Arachama. Compared to Re-Estize the roads are clean." the old wizard had reassured her. Arachne still rolled her dress up a bit, since it was a gift from old-mother.

"Lets just proceed. The sooner I am back the better." Arachne sighed and Tuare began to push her chair a bit faster than before.

They moved through the streets, barely being recognised, and closed in on the palace. It was now obvious to Arachne, where most of the funds were going when the city was built. A palace was stretching towards the sky like an unbreakable mountain. Walls were made from white marble and it was seemingly polished. The windows were tall yet narrow. The top of the walls had decorated battlements. The craftsmanship was almost the definition of perfect. What caught her eyes though was a stone with runes, which was laid close to the entrance.

"This palace was built by the dwarves under high-king Grumbli Bonebart. The runes were etched by the last known runelord Gondoric Firebird, also called Ironfoot." Fluder explained.

"You speak with certainty." Arachne smiled, remembering her mothers interest in dwarves.

"I once tried to study under the runelord. Sadly he thought I mocked him and thus declined. Now, as far as I know, his knowledge is lost." Fluder confessed, a sad undertone in his voice.

"Do you know what the runes mean?" Arachne asked.

"These are simply names of dwarven clans. It can be seen as a memorial and a gift." Fluder explained and Arachne nodded along, making mental notes.

"Father told me that around 200 years back the dwarves and humans made a coalition against a gigantic threat. Many dwarven lives were lost." Neia recounted.

"That is true. It is most likely the high-king of the dwarves had the runelord craft this plate so the humans don't forget the past coalition." Fluder agreed.

They continued their way to the gates of the palace, when guards stopped them. Again this proved to be inconsequential. After they recognised Neia as Remedios squire and the seal on a scroll that Arachne carried, she was let through. Neia led them towards the training area within the palace. Once they got closer they heard a woman training. Soon after they got closer and Neia knocked at the door.

"Get in." came the reply and Neia opened the door, waving the group through.

Inside was a woman in training clothes. Muscles were visible and she used a greatsword, which now rested at her waist.

"Good morning, Sir Remedios Custodio. I may present to you, Baroness Arachama, master Fluder Paradyne and Leinas Rockbruise. This is Sir Remedios Custodio, grandmaster of the 'Roble Holy Kingdoms Paladin Order'." Neia presented.

"So this is the mage we heard about. Are you here to help my sister?" Remedios inquired, wiping sweat from herself with a towel.

"Among other things." Arachne smiled while Remedios nodded.

"Then come." Remedios ordered and opened the door for them.

Remedios led them through the palace and the group followed, practically glued to her. After a few minutes they reached a room, where two guards stood.

"Since the dastardly attack we have strengthened our watch. It was a close call and my sister got stabbed by a foul weapon the attacker used. Sadly he escaped." Remedios told them.

"So we can check what he used." Fluder sighed.

"I am sorry, but he was faster than me and took his weapon with him. The only reason we were able to survive was that I got lucky and struck him hard in surprise." Remedios grimaced.

"No offense, but with the weapon it would have been easier." Arachne threw in and the scowl went from Remedios face.

"That makes sense." she replied after a short while and opened the door.

A window, with a grid, was opened and illuminated the room. A bed, in which a young woman was groaning, was placed in the middle. She held her hand towards her stomach and her face was contorted into one of torment.

"Now, Fluder. What do you think of a practical test?" Arachne inquired.

While she could probably figure out and cure the wound, she also had to uphold the official apprentice and master relationship.

"That would be good." Fluder grinned and cracked his fingers.

He got closer and cracked his neck.

"So you are his apprentice and look how he does it?" Remedios asked.

Leinas had a deadpan face. Fluder looked unbelievingly over his shoulder.

"No. He is my apprentice." Arachne replied with a smile.

Now Remedios looked like a fish out of water while Leinas smiled and Fluder turned his attention back to the woman.

"But you are what? 25?" Remedios replied.

"The merit I can bring to the table is more important than age amongst magicians. I can cast a bit higher magic than my apprentice" Arachne sighed.

Remedios now got angry.

"Then I demand proof." she snarled.

"Ok. Could you step aside Fluder? Thanks "Cleansing of Flesh", "Greater Healing". Now she will need some rest." Arachne casted and first a white aura and then a green one engulfed the woman.

The groaning stopped and then snoring erupted from the female. Remedios got closer and looked at her sister, looking for her wounds to find none, to find a curse but find none.

"Now we wait till she wakes up." Arachne asked, tilting her head innocently, the grumbling of her stomach interrupting the silence in the room.

Remedios, in complete silence, brought them to a terrace where lunch was served.

→ Souther Dwarf Kingdom / unknown dwarf ←

The main karaz of the dwarven Kingdom stood proudly against a steep cliff. The cave around it was glimmering in light blue, with the exception of carved roads. This karaz, also known as Karak-ar-Araz, had two openings. One leads to the overworld, which allows the kingdom to trade with their sole reliable ally, the Slane Theocracy. Sadly they haven't heard from their 'allies' for a while.

Fear was running rampant that they were lost like their northern brethren in the 'giant grumbling', which destroyed large parts of the kingdom and cut the connection to the dwarven king in the 'Azerlisia Mountains'.

The second entrance leads to the greatest masterpiece of the dwarves, the underway. It was a gigantic underground, thus the name, network of tunnels. Those tunnels lead to many other karaz and were used to secure the travel, as no other race knows of its existence. In recent years the dwarves even started to mine in the underway. But it proved hard for the high-king and kings of the single karaz to agree on anything.

Every single karaz, and their surrounding villages, was ruled by a king while all dwarves were ruled by the 'high-king'. At least that was the theory. In practice the ruling high-king, Grommel Bonebart, was seen as weak and thus the kings had the power. This was slowly, but steadily, making the oldest dwarves, the longbeards and the ones that had served under the former high-king, angry.

One of those dwarves was Gongrimm Ironspine. He was the oldest dwarf in the kingdom that still served in active duty. His sworn duty was to lead the armies of dwarfs into battle, till death may take him. He didn't die, yet, and thus he continued to lead the armies. Even if all voices demand he should retire, amongst those voices the high-king and even Ironpine himself. But he couldn't. Yes he had a clan that would feed him, which was also demanding him to retire. But oaths were important in their culture. Even more important than their lives. Luckily he wasn't alone. His wife Grollin was steadfast at his side and encouraged him to carry his brother's weapon and to lead the front. Grollin was already close to 350 years old.

"But an oath is an oath." thought Gongrimm as he stubbornly marched his 363 year old body to the council. His bones were cracking on every step. Luckily, despite beginning to near his end and thus becoming weaker, he was still packed with muscles and a mountain of a dwarf. He towered over other dwarfs at his 1,65 meter(5,49 feet). The warhammer he carried with him, a gift from his long lost brother and runelord Gondoric Firebeard, was weighing him down heavily. But he carried on towards his appointment, the council.

Soon he came across a longbeard, the elite of the normal dwarven warriors, if you don't count specialized regiments. Longbeards had to fulfill two requirements. The first was battle experience, then there was the long beard they would need to even be considered. It would need to touch the ground. That normally happened around the age of 120. The biggest exception to that rule was his own brother, again, as his beard touched the ground at the age of 106.

He got closer to the palace of Karaz-Ar-Araz. High pillars stretched to the roof of the cave. Solid walls were visible, all of which were covered in runes, and were stubbornly standing against the ages. It truly was magnificent craftsmanship and a proud monument to the dwarfs.

Gongrimm entered the building with 'ease', and a sting in his back reminded him of his lack of time. Hammerers, the bodyguard of the kings and the high-king, were standing on their positions. Their warhammers were ready and Gongrimm was proud of the warriors.

"As usual, lad?" he asked one of them.

"Yes, Sir." the hammerer answered stoically.

"Carry on." Gongrimm replied and then inaudibly grumbled in his beard.

He walked up some stairs, which his back didn't like and what the back continued to communicate to him with stings in his spine, to find the usual council room. The room had a large table, which was surrounded by 44 comfortable chairs for the clan heads, four thrones for the kings and a bigger throne for the high-king. Beside the throne for the high-king was a desk with a quill and one of the most important pieces of the dwarfs, the 'Dammaz Kron', or book of grudges.

One of the thrones and 4 chairs were not used in the last 200 years, as they were in the Azerlisia Mountains and thus lost within a gigantic earthquake. The reason their seats weren't brought away is due to tradition.

With more pain in his back, and now lower back as well, Gongrimm sat down and sighed.

"Getting old, arent yeh?" a youngster, and chief engineer in Karaz-ar-Araz asked, a smile visible in the eyes.

"I am agin' like fine wine. Just yeh watch." grumbled Gongrimm.

"Of course." the youngster responded and grinned at him.

"Then why are ye here? Mockin' an' old man?" inquired Gongrimm.

"No. I only wanted to remind you of the tests tomorrow. The one with the prototypes." came the reply.

"Why do we need to test all this new and unreliable stuff?" Gongrimm sighed and waved the engineer off.

"I know, I know. Now let an ol' man rest his bon's." he responded and closed his eyes for a moment.

A hand woke him up. It was the engineer, who signed over to the door. The high-king was advancing and Gongrimm thanked the lad.

The high-king walked over to the throne and sat down. Immediately one of the kings began a tirade against their only remaining ally.

"Again the political stuff. If this continues I will die of boredom." he thought and cracked his fingers, only his position as clan head was forcing his attendance.

It took some time to get the political struggling, which interested the old dwarf not in the slightest, out of the way. He mentally drifted to his troops and then to the masterpiece of his brother. Then he heard something with interest.

"We haven't had contact with the manlings. If this continues we will get problems with food and other supplies." one of the kings responded.

"We can send rangers out. Look what happen'. Then we can make better decisions. At least better than grumblin here." Gongrimm threw in.

"You grumble all the time. What difference does it make here."

"Bitter old man."

"Why is he still the leader of the throng?"

All of those replies were spoken, but none stepped in front of the group.

"Typical of them. Back in my days we would have stood to our word." Gongrimm hissed in his mind.

"We should do as he proposed." One of the older kings agreed and soon the tide turned.

Gongrimm smiled under his beard. He felt invigorated. Maybe there was a threat and he could finally meet his brother again. But not after using his brother's masterpiece for a final time.

The masterpiece was a runehammer. It had multiple runes built within it and worked efficiently, just like dwarfs liked their stuff. A thunder-rune was overcharged by two energy-runes by every hit on the enemy. It also needed a calming rune, because two further runes enabled the user to command the weapon back. To make sure only the worthy dwarfs could use it an intention-rune was used in the handle.

In battle he would either hit an enemy and usually the lightning from the hammer would fry the nervous system away, or he would do it normally, as the runes still needed a big amount of concentration. Sometimes, if necessary, Ironspine could also throw it and then command it back.

He fell asleep after they argued again. After the meeting he took up his warhammer and couldn't wait for the results of his rangers. He hoped he could use "Off-Switch" a final time before he met his ancestors.

→ Arwintar Nazarick-mansion / Entoma ←

Entoma was having a typical day. First she had changed, cleaned and then polished the mansion. She also kept a close watch on her mother, though it pained that she was ordered to do so. But it was for her good and thus she did.

After the cleaning and cooking she was going to Demiurge, as the supplies were running short. Entoma was completely astonished how much mother ate, but Pestonya reassured her by explaining that this was not only not dangerous, but also completely expected. Since she had one panic attack once, she had taken lessons from Pestonya, just in case.

Entoma was just stepping through a portal, which was bringing her to Demiurges farm, when she looked around. For a few weeks the amount of demi-humans had drastically increased and she smelled it. It was nasty and Entoma was hoping to get her business here done as fast as possible.

"Ahh. Entoma. I hope everything is going smoothly?" Demiurge greeted her.

"Everything is going normally. Mother is getting bored though." Entoma sighed.

"As is expected. The same as usual?" Demiurge made sure and Entoma nodded.

Entoma observed how Demiurge cut the necessary pieces and checked everything double. It luckily didn't take long for Demiurge to fill the bags and she could leave.

She once again went through the portal and arrived in the mansion. Once there she placed the new supplies in their spot. After dinner was made, though, Entoma was able to convince the homunculi to do it for her in exchange for gossip. She herself went to the indoor garden where mother was still sitting.

Entoma sneaked up on mother and then slipped just under her arms. She knew that mother liked this and ,to be fair, Entoma enjoyed sneaking up like this as well. There they remained and cuddled.

Like usual, she could have remained in such a position for eternity, being cuddled by her mother and hearing the beating heart of her future sister. But all good things came to an end and thus Ninya walked inside the garden. Entoma immediately nudged her mom, as she was stroking her 'hair', even if she was asleep.

"Food is ready, mother." Ninya reported and helped to wake mother up.

Grudgingly she was soon awake. After reorienting herself she carried herself and Enti to the living room.

All others were already there and Entoma was glad to still be in her mothers lap.

AN: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you did feel free to review.