what we've been told by our people and anybody around town. These children seem to be absolutely terrified. But the three of them together. I also. heard they're strong and they have their own house and I. like all the things I seen what's going on?

  The mayor’s entire personality suddenly changed. And it wasn’t that he became colder or anything like that. He looked at the dwarves and said, “We’ve adopted them because they had no one else. If you’re gonna screw with that, then the whole town will have an issue with you. If you want to make this better, then maybe you can explain to me why they’re so afraid—we can’t even get that out of them. And they are terrified of everything… until they’re not. They’re some of the most fearless dwarves we’ve ever met. But when it comes to social matters, they’ve got nothing.”

  As the mayor tried to tell them the story, one of the dwarves cut him off. “We know about the grave. Or maybe not a grave… in the forest, and all that jazz. Where did they come from?”

  The mayor just shrugged. “Literally, one day they showed up in town. We don’t even know where they were before that. But they picked this town as their new home. Then they bought themselves a mine.”

  The two dwarves had no clue. Absolutely no clue that these kids already owned a mine.

  “Oh,” the mayor added. “Technically, they don’t own it. They’re not registered with us, so legally, Larry owns it. But somehow, Larry gave them the deed. Until I have that deed back, whoever owns it controls the mine. Larry says it’s theirs when they come of age. Until then, he’s holding it for them. Now… do you understand why Larry did this? Why he’s going through all this trouble for them?”

  The younger dwarf, still not learning his lesson, piped up. But this time, what he said was, “Sometimes the truth comes from the mouths of babes.”

  “Are you telling me they already have their own hoard?” The younger one was always on the verge of tears, realizing that these three kids had nothing… except, somehow, they had everything. They had a hoard. They had a home. They had made their home.

  The older dwarf saw the younger one nearly crying. One tear—one lone tear—fell from his face, and the bear saw it. The bear just nodded. The old dwarf smiled.

  The mayor was about to put down Larry’s piece of paper, but at the same time, the dwarf nearly did the exact same thing, placing down the piece of paper they had brought. The two of them looked at each other, then exchanged papers and read them.

  Then they started laughing.

  The dwarf howled, “I think we’ve been played here.”

  The bear grinned. “Yup. I think we got played here by Larry and the boys.”

  But the bear was happy. And the dwarves were happy. Because by Dwarven law, it would take a lot to boot those boys out of their clan and their hoard now.

  Then cold pragmatism kicked in for the old dwarf, and he got straight to the point. “Okay. Before we go any farther—how are they handling their money? How are they buying and selling things if they don’t even come into town?”

  The mayor just smiled. “The city’s bank has already accepted coal and other goods from the kids. They already have enough for a year’s worth of food, tools, and booze.”

  At that, the two dwarves just grinned—because the three things dwarves need are a job, food, and a way to unwind. So, for now, it was acceptable. The town was going to take care of them.

  And as for protection? A murderous force had already spawned to keep these kids safe.

  And their guardian? A great church member.

  About thirty minutes later, the mayor had already cracked open the alcohol and handed out drinks to the dwarves. His assistant came in, looked them over, and was waved inside by the mayor.

  The mayor said, “We’ve agreed on all the steps here. The only thing left is to get the officer to open an account with the city, so we can transfer money to the king—paying the taxes properly. Because dwarves—doesn’t matter where in the world they are—always have to pay taxes to their king. It’s a tithe to keep their royal names and their clan holdings. There are also probably back taxes to be paid. If the kids are to be cleared from the system as ‘indebted’ or if there’s something wrong, we’ll need to sort that out.”

  The two dwarves and the mayor didn’t even notice the assistant. She had a small box—no bigger than a foot by half a foot. A simple wooden jewelry box, unassuming. She kept it hidden under her arm, waiting for the right moment.

  One of the dwarves took a coin from his pocket and flicked it to the mayor. The mayor took a piece of paper, wrote a bank number on it, signed it. The dwarf signed it.

  And just like that, they had one gold coin in the bank for the Dwarven King.

  Then, the older dwarf turned to the younger one and asked, “What’s the dissolution status of the two clans?”

  That question caught the mayor’s attention. They were ready to pay the taxes. They knew what they were doing.

  Then things got weird.

  The dwarves looked at each other uneasily. “Well… we actually found a clerical error in the paperwork,” one admitted. “We don’t know which name the boys want—‘Fire and Coal’ or ‘Coal and Fire.’ Technically, both belong to them. One clan was annihilated. The other was ‘disbanded’ when the heads were lost. We think the children are from the house staff. We’re just… not sure. There weren’t good records when they were let go. They were just given money and sent off. Then they showed up here.”

  He sighed. “We don’t even know where the old clan members went. The whole thing was screwed up pretty bad. But now that we know there are survivors, we can fix the paperwork. We’ll go back, get it sorted, and return.”

  Everyone was happy with that—except for one thing.

  Taxes.

  Would they have to pay taxes on two clans?

  The old dwarf was about to say no… and then he stopped.

  “Wait. What if that’s actually possible?”

  The clan wasn’t dead. It had been closed illegally. One clan had money in a bank account, but that money couldn’t be used to fix the other clan’s taxes.

  So how do you pay taxes on a ‘dead’ clan?

  That little bit of uncertainty didn’t throw their plan into disarray. But it was perfect for the mayor’s plan.

  The mayor raised his hand to get the old dwarf’s attention. He had fallen into deep thought, mumbling to himself, lost in the problem.

  “We may have a solution,” the mayor said, “but we’ll need the king’s permission. Would you be willing to consider a trade? Something we have here in town. Something we could send back with you—as both payment for the taxes and a gift to the king at the same time.”

  The dwarf wasn’t expecting that. He was taken aback.

  “Huh. I always love something like that. What would you be talking about?”

  The mayor held up one finger. “As long as you don’t ask where we got them from. And you’ll understand why… once you see what we have for you. Okay?”

  The dwarf was getting nervous. “What the hell are you pulling? You gonna try and stab me or something? What’s going on here?”

  The young dwarf just looked confused, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.

  The mayor and his assistant locked eyes as she stepped forward, placing a small box into his hand. In her other hand, she carried a black cloth.

  The mayor approached her gently, took the box, and draped the black cloth over his right arm like a ma?tre d’ at a fine restaurant. He then turned to the dwarf before him and said, "Sir, I'd like to offer you what's in this box."

  Rather than handing it over, the mayor simply opened the box in front of the dwarf. The dwarf’s eyes locked onto two radiant jewels inside—each flanking a small, seemingly unremarkable piece of glass in the center.

  "Those are beautiful," the dwarf muttered. But then, confusion set in. Why was there a piece of glass between the gems? Before he could ask, the answer revealed itself. After a few seconds, the glass caught the light just right, refracting it into the gems. They began to glow, their illumination intensifying. The dwarf tilted his head, recognition flickering across his face. He thought he knew what this was—but something wasn’t right. It couldn't be.

  The mayor slowly closed the box and said, "Gentlemen, I’d like you to observe something else."

  He handed the black cloth to the dwarf and instructed him, "Cover your head and block out all light. Now, open the box."

  The dwarf did as he was told. When he reopened the box in darkness, the gems still glowed.

  "What in the hell?" the dwarf whispered in astonishment.

  This was the test to identify magic glass, a naturally occurring but extremely rare material. When exposed to light, it absorbed and amplified magical energy, transferring it to nearby gems. Once charged, the gems could continue glowing in total darkness. The rarest and most powerful specimens even self-charged, generating more energy than they absorbed. The most perfect piece ever recorded reached 101% efficiency—dangerous because it never stopped charging and could eventually explode.

  The dwarf removed the cloth and instinctively reached into the box, seizing the two gems. He held them close, his expression unreadable. Then, without a word, he dropped them into the mayor’s outstretched hand.

  The mayor frowned. "What’s wrong?"

  The dwarf’s face twisted with fury. He had just realized the implications of what he’d seen. If this glass was real, and if it had been found in this town, then the children had unknowingly stumbled upon an untapped vein of super magic glass—something so powerful and valuable that his clan couldn’t possibly afford to buy it back. This material was legendary. Normally, a piece the size of a die was discovered only once every fifty years. And yet, here it was, casually being sent as a tax payment to the king.

  The mayor, still examining the gems, noticed something startling. As the light hit them, a subtle reaction occurred. A tiny pulse, like the heartbeat of an engine, rippled through the stones. The mayor had seen magical gems before, but only when actively channeled through a staff or conduit. This was something else.

  The old dwarf snatched the box away, clutching it to his chest. He scowled, realizing how thoroughly the children had bested him in this deal. His anger wasn’t just at the situation—it was at himself for being outplayed.

  After a long breath, he composed himself and muttered, "We need to speak with the king. We will return."

  With that, he stood and left, stopping only to command his assistant, "Copy those documents before we go."

  The younger dwarf, whose magical ability allowed him to perfectly transcribe information by hand, quickly got to work. Meanwhile, the elder dwarf prepared for departure, securing their belongings and acquiring two massive horses—beasts they despised but needed for the urgent journey ahead. If they rode hard, they could reach the capital in three days instead of five.

  Once the young dwarf had finished copying the documents, he rushed to join his elder at the stables. They mounted their horses and rode off into the night, determined to reach the king as quickly as possible.

  Back in town, the mayor and his assistant hurried to the vault, where they presented the two remaining gems to Murphy, the town’s expert in magical artifacts. The mayor, though not a skilled magic user, could feel an unusual energy emanating from the stones.

  Murphy took the gems and placed them into individual glass containers, sealing them shut. Almost immediately, the dim lights in his workshop flared brightly. As the moments passed, the lights continued to grow stronger. Murphy glanced at a gauge—already maxed out.

  "Hold on a second," he muttered, plugging in cables to redirect the overflow of energy. Each time he connected another machine, sparks flew, and the gauge dropped slightly before steadily climbing again.

  By the third machine, Murphy turned to the mayor, his face pale with fear. "Take these to the well. Now."

  He thrust two bottles into the mayor’s hands. The mayor didn’t hesitate. He sprinted to the well, barely 60 feet away. As he arrived, he noticed the gems inside the bottles growing even brighter. Wasting no time, he unsealed the lids and dropped them into the well.

  For a moment, silence.

  Then—BOOM!

  A column of water erupted, slamming into the well’s cover. The mayor, drenched, trudged back to his office and muttered to his assistant, "File a request to have the well inspected. I think I just blew it up."

  His assistant, still stunned, asked, "What the hell just happened? Why did they go critical?"

  Murphy scratched his head. "That… might be on me. One of those gems came from the kids. The other one… I’ve had it for years. Bought it when I first arrived—thought it was a beautiful, slightly red-colored magic glass. Kept it locked away, never thought much of it. Turns out, when you put the three together, they created a feedback loop. A runaway reaction."

  The mayor exhaled sharply. "And what if that’s what’s happening in the mine right now?"

  Murphy’s expression darkened. "Exactly. And I think that red one might be a Monte Cristo magic crystal—a legendary variant I’ve only ever heard about. The old dwarf took the clear one when he left."

  The mayor took a deep breath. "Do we have an estimate yet?"

  Murphy chuckled dryly. "Minimum? A platinum coin from the king."

  The room went silent. That was enough to buy a castle. And Murphy had only said "minimum." If they truly had a whole deposit of this material… they were sitting on an unfathomable fortune.

  The mayor straightened. "Send a message by bird. And another in twelve days, just in case. We are officially requesting a gold-level lawyer. By mayoral decree, no questions asked. And they’d better be fluent in dwarven law."

  His assistant nodded and left to arrange it.

  With a heavy sigh, the mayor slumped into a chair, grabbed a nearby bottle, pulled the cork, and took a long swig. He immediately coughed. "What the hell is this?"

  Murphy smirked. "Dwarven whiskey. Ever hear the story of what the kids drank their first time?"

  The mayor stared at the bottle, then at Murphy. "You're joking."

  Murphy just nodded.

  The mayor took another swig. "Holy crap. They're gonna need it."

  Meanwhile, in the dwarven capital…

  The two dwarves rode their horses for two days and one night before reaching the next outpost, where they immediately ordered and paid for two fresh horses to be ready in three hours. They then rented a room at an inn, arranged to be woken in two and a half hours, and requested food to be prepared for their departure. After paying, they slept briefly, were awakened as planned, and set off again without delay.

  They reached the dwarven capital within five days.

  During the final stretch of their journey, one of their horses began to tire. To keep moving, they both rode a single horse while leading the weary one by its reins. Upon arriving at the last outpost, they purchased a replacement horse and completed the final half-day ride to the capital.

  When they reached the king's castle within the city, they were informed that it was the middle of the night and that the king's court would not be available until morning. They were shown to two guest rooms, where they immediately collapsed into sleep.

  In the morning, word reached the king before court had started that the representatives sent to investigate the Fire and Coal Clan had returned in poor condition. They were still sleeping and had not been woken.

  The dwarven king, being different from typical royalty, simply instructed one of his stewards to give them a thirty-minute warning before their audience later that morning. He ordered that they be brought to him in whatever state they were in at that time.

  After the court session had begun and the stewards had finalized the day's schedule, they determined that the dwarves should be summoned before lunch to allow them the maximum amount of rest while also ensuring a timely report for the king.

  A knock came at the older dwarven officer’s door.

  Groggy, tired, hungry, and sore, the dwarf got up and opened the door to find a steward bowing. Without missing a beat, the steward informed him that he had twenty-nine minutes to appear before the king. The dwarf could hear another steward knocking on his assistant’s door.

  It took about ten seconds for the older dwarf to fully process what had been said. Then, without hesitation, he rushed back into the room, jumped into the washroom, and began cleaning himself from the road. Within three minutes, he had donned basic mining clothes—respectable attire in dwarven society, as miners were held in high regard. He lacked formal court attire, but this would have to suffice.

  The older dwarf and the first steward soon stood outside the younger dwarf’s door alongside the second steward. They did not have to wait long. Within two minutes, the door opened, revealing the younger dwarf in inappropriate clothing. The older dwarf immediately barked at him to put on his mining gear—coveralls with a proper shirt and boots.

  Chastised so publicly, the younger dwarf quickly complied. The assembled dwarves chuckled, lifting the morning’s mood. As they began walking toward the king’s chamber, the older dwarf made sure to grab the small wooden box they had carried all this way.

  As they neared the king’s meeting hall, the older dwarf’s heart began to race. His younger assistant had no idea what was about to unfold. The weight of their discovery—and the mess he had inadvertently caused—sent his heart pounding at a pace he hadn’t felt in years. Anger burned within him at how he had been swindled, dishonoring both himself and his mission. This had to be rectified.

  At the chamber doors, they were asked to wait. Moments later, they were announced, and the doors swung open. The normal procedure would have been to walk down the center of the hall, kneel, and formally address the king. But that was not what happened.

  The older dwarf slowed his pace, while the younger, operating on autopilot, kept walking until he realized his companion was no longer beside him. He turned to kneel before the king but stopped short, seeing the older dwarf gazing at a sword and shield mounted on the wall. The older dwarf began walking toward them.

  The king immediately stood, realizing this was breaking protocol. The entire room tensed. The guards, suddenly alert, prepared to intervene—the older dwarf was heading directly for a weapon, an act that would not be tolerated in the king’s chamber.

  Stopping before the sword, the older dwarf pointed at it, then bowed his head to the king while keeping his finger raised.

  "Your Majesty," he said. "May I have permission to touch this blade?"

  The king, no fool, acted swiftly. He grabbed the pickaxe resting beside his throne and his shield, strapping them on. He tested the weight of the pickaxe, swapping hands until satisfied. Then, using its wooden handle, he struck his throne three times, commanding attention before issuing his order.

  "Guards, to me."

  Every guard in the room reacted instantly, sprinting to the king’s side, forming a protective barrier with spears and swords aimed at the older dwarf, who still pointed at the weapon on the wall.

  The king then spoke in a loud, authoritative voice. "I grant you permission to take that sword and present yourself before me immediately."

  Gasps echoed through the hall. Only the older nobility understood what was happening; the younger ones had only heard tales of such a ritual. This was an ancient means of restoring one’s honor after a grievous failure.

  As the older dwarf removed the sword, the guards remained on high alert. He approached the king, stopping precisely fifteen feet away. With a resounding thud, he placed the sword on the ground, knelt, and pressed his forehead against its blade—a traditional sign of respect. He remained in this position before slowly raising both hands above his head, holding the small wooden box aloft.

  "Report, Officer of the Crown!" the king demanded, his voice gruff and impatient.

  The old dwarf started to talk and said to the king

  I officer of the crown McfinaSwitch Mctoggel Hereby ask for leniency for me assistant In regards. to the outcome of the mission you had sent us on Sir and I please ask that my family's honor not be tarnished with my mistakes.

  This took the king aback because the next thing had happened is he bowed his head and put the sword on the ground, put his head to the sword, which was literally saying, take my head, sir. Do not harm my family as to how 1 of the people that raised him show respect like that and be that afraid of him. He was angry just for them. Be afraid of him.

  But what he did next shocked the king.

  He stood up with the sword still on the ground and reached into a pocket and pulled out the wooden box and offered it to the king.

  He then said these words to the king. Your Highness, we have found the lost clan of fire and coal. And they. send this as tribute to you This is a great day.

  This absolutely shocked the king and the whole room. This was a great thing. They could understand why he started with the sword and how he was splicing different rituals together.

  The king dropped his shield, his pickaxe attached to his belt, and pushed his guards out of the way. He stormed down to see the person who raised him and demanded, "What the hell is going on?" The guards moved to stop the king, but he just shoved them aside, pointed at the man, and commanded, "Kick that box open. Make sure it's safe. I want to know what's in there."

  One guard waved two others over. They walked off to the side with the box, carefully inspecting it for magic, explosives, or any other dangers. When the box was finally opened, a strange gas escaped from it. The three of them exchanged glances before turning toward the king.

  As they saw the knight standing there, the two inspectors dropped to the ground, pressing their foreheads to the floor. The knight, holding the box high above his head, did the same, bowing so low his head touched the ground.

  Whatever was inside that box was… something enormous. The king's instincts screamed that whatever he was about to see would mess with his head. So instead of looking himself, he ordered, "Bring it to me. Look inside one more time—just in case we're under some kind of spell."

  The knight he pointed to was one he personally knew and trusted. The knight hesitated for only a moment before stepping forward. He peeked into the box—then his eyes went wide. He spun around so fast it was a blur, thrusting the box toward the king and cracking the lid open just slightly.

  The king caught a glimpse—just a sliver of white—before he slammed the box shut. He froze. Then, in a dangerously calm voice, he said, "I want everybody out. Now. Only my guards and these two stay."

  The room erupted in murmurs as people shuffled toward the exit. Someone in the back grumbled under their breath. The king snapped his head toward them, eyes narrowing. The person immediately shut up, ducking their head and moving faster. The room emptied quickly after that.

  Once only the guards and the two expedition members remained, the doors were locked. One of the guards gave a nod to the king, signaling they were secure.

  Then the king dropped all formality. He stalked forward, demanding, "What the hell? Tell me what's going on and why I have a piece of the royal glass in my hand. And what the hell color is this? It's clear, but it's not clear!"

  McfinaSwitch Mctoggel looked the king in the eye, his voice shaking. "Either the kids you sent me to find found it… or the town gave it up to protect them." Tears welled in his eyes as he openly sobbed. "I found them. They have their own horde. And then I—" his breath hitched, "I screwed it all up."

  The king’s eyes narrowed. "How? How did you screw this up? This sounds like incredible news. Why aren’t they here? Why didn’t you bring them home? You know our laws. What happened?" His voice grew sharper. "How did you mess this up?"

  McfinaSwitch Mctoggel reached into his pocket, pulled out two pieces of paper, and silently handed them to the king.

  The king read through the papers, his expression shifting rapidly—from astonishment to rage, then to bafflement, then to pure confusion. And finally… a chuckle.

  He walked back to his throne, sat down, and fell deep into thought. And this wasn’t just a momentary pause—this was twenty minutes of dead silence. No one spoke. No one dared interrupt.

  But the king did tell everybody to sit down said "He had to think about this" he aslo told some of the sweaters to bring refreshments and food, because he was hungry, but he needed time to think.

  So a keg was brought out. jerky. dried sugary fruits. fruit juices. and the kitchen was told to start producing warm and hot foods.

  Because this room sometimes was also used as a banquet hall and even. a hall just for events. There was a door on the side that had double shutters and the moment the king said that the double shutter is open and it was a direct access to the kitchen. And you can hear the fire is getting lit and the kitchen started cooking and food started to come out.

  The king walked back to his throne, sat down, and fell deep into thought. This wasn’t just a momentary pause—this was twenty minutes of dead silence. No one spoke. No one dared interrupt.

  Before that, however, he had instructed everyone to sit and announced that he needed time to think. He also ordered some of the servers to bring refreshments and food, as he was hungry. A keg was brought out, along with jerky, dried sugary fruits, and fresh juices. The kitchen was given the order to start preparing warm meals.

  Because this room was sometimes used as a banquet hall and event space, there was a door on the side with double shutters that provided direct access to the kitchen. The moment the king gave the order, the shutters swung open, revealing the bustling kitchen. Fires were lit, the sounds of cooking filled the air, and food began to emerge.

  At the twenty-minute mark, the king finally stood up and made his pronouncement.

  “Summon all those who were escorted out. Allow them food, drink, and merriment. Today, we celebrate two things. First, the reclaiming of a lost tribe—Clan Fire and Coal. Second, within only one year, these children have earned the right of a hoard. And with that right comes responsibility. I hereby call upon the Matron of the Families and the Keeper of Records to certify the actions to preserve their clan and hoard.”

  Outside the king’s chambers, those who had been ushered out were waiting anxiously. They could hear nothing from inside. After five minutes, murmurs spread through the crowd. By ten minutes, people were pacing, and some had left to gather news. At twenty minutes, the guards struggled to keep the growing crowd under control.

  Then it happened. From the other side of the great doors came the unmistakable sound of spears pounding rhythmically against the floor—over and over again. The beat echoed through the halls, a steady, powerful pulse. Then the doors opened, and the sound was a hundred times louder as the guards in the room struck their spears in unison.

  A herald stepped forward to the now-silent crowd and declared:

  “By order of the king, I hereby call upon the Matron of the Families and the Keeper of Records to certify the actions of the surviving members of the Fire and Coal Clan and their compliance with the law of a hoard! The king welcomes all who were asked to leave—return now and celebrate this great honor.”

  As the herald finished speaking, silence hung in the air. Then, a single, deliberate gulp from the keg. And then, as one, the guards shouted “One! Two! Three!” before slamming their spears into the ground again. The reverberation made it real. It made it official. It was an order of the king.

  Within thirty minutes, an elderly dwarf woman in a wheelchair arrived at the king’s chambers. She was ancient, her presence commanding. What she found, however, was chaos—a party of half-naked dwarves drinking and feasting. More booze than she had ever seen filled the chamber, as if the barrels would never run dry.

  “I heard what’s going on,” she said, her tone expectant.

  The king approached his mother, keeping his composure, trying not to let his excitement show. He told her everything, worried that the news would be too much for her heart. But she simply grinned ear to ear. Then, she whispered something to her attendant—a young dwarf girl—who immediately bolted from the room, running full speed, vanishing down the corridors.

  The king smirked, knowing exactly what his mother had set in motion. Moments later, the bells of the city rang out.

  Seven chimes. A two-minute pause. Seven more chimes.

  No one had heard that pattern in a hundred years. People poured into the streets, confused at first, until the elders among them realized what it meant. Then the city erupted in cheers. A party began in the streets, a celebration unlike any in living memory.

  And then, after thirty minutes, the bells rang again. Ten chimes. Another pause. Ten more. And another set.

  Confusion spread. What did the ten signify? The older dwarves, those who knew the old ways, wept. A hoard had been formed. A lost tribe had returned. Dwarvenkind had grown that day.

  Messengers rode out to every settlement. Port Town—the small, overlooked harbor—was now a name on every dwarf’s lips. What was once a quiet place was now destined to be one of the most famous cities in the continent.

  The party lasted three full days.

  Meanwhile, at The Gray church main offices , things were becoming interesting. The Great Church had begun receiving messages—many messages. The first was met with mild amusement. The second caused concern. By the third, panic set in.

  “What in the hell is happening in that town?”

  And then came the most shocking message of all: a request from the Church’s own monk and librarian—Larry—to remain in Port Town and personally take responsibility for three dwarven children.

  Larry. The same Larry who had been banished to that town for his reckless behavior. Larry, who could take out nearly anyone in a fight without breaking a sweat. Larry, who was too high-ranking to be dismissed, despite his history of impulsive decisions. And now, Larry had waded straight into an international dispute between the dwarves.

  Before anyone could react, another message arrived—not from Port Town, but from the dwarven capital itself. It was less a message and more a warning. The city was in uproar. A hoard had been formed. The dwarves were celebrating, drinking for three days straight. The last time that had happened, war followed.

  But this time, it wasn’t war. It was celebration.

  And that was the only thing preventing the Great Church from mobilizing its full forces and descending upon Port Town.

  Within twenty minutes, the highest-ranking leaders of the Church—the heads of the military, financial, and religious branches—had packed their bags and were in the stables. Orders were issued, messengers dispatched. It was as if a beehive had been kicked.

  They met at the gates, embraced, and wished each other luck. Two departed toward Port Town. One set off for the dwarven king. Their mission: prevent a catastrophe and ensure the proper induction of this new hoard into dwarven society.

  Back in the king’s throne room, the party had slowed after two days, settling into a more manageable pace. The king, seated on his throne, was reviewing documents as servers moved about, ensuring food and drink remained plentiful.

  Then, a new sound emerged. The rhythmic stomp of feet—not metal-clad soldiers, but something else. The king looked up, puzzled. Then he understood.

  The Staff of the Caretakers had arrived.

  These were the dwarves entrusted with raising, teaching, and protecting the young. They were the backbone of dwarven society, the ones who shaped the future. And they had come, as one, to see him.

  At the front of the procession, his mother sat in her wheelchair, leading them.

  Behind her, five rows stretched wide. The line continued beyond what the king could see—hundreds, perhaps more. Some were longtime caretakers. Others had stepped forward this very day, pledging themselves to the cause.

  Their beards glistened—wet with tears. But their faces shone with pride and joy. The air itself seemed to hum with their emotions. Dwarves could feel one another’s moods in times of great unity, and right now, the throne room vibrated with a singular force:

  Determination ,LOVE, PROTECTION

  The king stood, straightened his clothes, and smiled. His mother had set this in motion. Now, he would see it through.

  As they came into sight, his mother was being pushed in a wheelchair in front of dwarfs in rows of 5 wide and the end was not in site yet. there Must have been one or 200+ of them Men and women who had basically promised for their life to take care of the young and teach them and make sure that if there is something that was going to hurt them, that they would hurt it first. The protector of the shelter.

  If you could see the beards of most of them were just covered in shininess. And he realized it was crying and thought these people had been crying for hours. So happy with the smiles on their face, being able to do what they're about to do. Just all they were just. so happy to be there right then right now. You could feel it

  Magic in this world Was it that harmonic to people's emotions But in their mountain, their people could feel each other if. a small percentage of them were unhappy. The rest of them window it when everybody was happy. Everybody felt it, and it was a great feeling. But the feeling he was getting from these Guardians, these protectors of children with that of pure utter donger. But a rage of passion and protection that he knew they were going to do what he doesn't take care of these kids.

  The line of people as they stopped reached out the doors and around 1/4 to the point where the king couldn't see how many people were actually there. There must have been over 500 people. He couldn't believe that they had this many protectors and guardians of their children. And he realized it was adults that their kids had grown up. A lot of them were just literally siding up right then and there.

  The king was just shell shocked to see this as they pushed the little old lady in the wheelchair up to his side.

  He put up a hand, pitched the nose bridge. he looked at his mom and said, mom, I didn't have time or the ability to tell you because I didn't want you to get angry. But we have a small situation. We understand how to fix it, but you have to be informed if you're going to do something this large.

  He had been given two copies of those documents as the originals went into the files on the 1st day. He pulled out the copies and handed them to his mom. She looked them over then. anger, understanding, anger, a feeling of love. Everybody behind and feel what she felt. She was so in-tune with the energies in this room. They all went through the emotions with her. Even her son felt what she felt. And then. she was just confused until he literally took the little wooden box off the he had requested be brought to him just moments beforehand. he the Motioned the box with its black closth cover to be brought to him. Putting a black cloth over it, which was assigned to his mother that this was a magical item that couldn't be reacted to light. And the thought of what this could be made her turn pail a little bit, but she put her head under the cloth, lifted up the box, closed it, handed it back to him, sat back in her chair. and just stopped moving for a couple moments

  At first, everyone behind her was alarmed—especially the two attendants responsible for her well-being. They rushed forward, checking her pulse, but she didn’t even flinch. She was simply lost in thought. When they finally registered that her heart was racing, concern deepened. One of her assistants leaned in, studying her expression, trying to read her emotions. After a moment, that assistant let out a small sigh, then gave a thumbs-up. The tension in the room eased. She was just thinking.

  It had taken no more than thirty seconds before she finally raised a hand. Her two assistants leaned in as she whispered the following words:

  “Write this down.”

  Three times three times 3 Prepare to go now. three in three days, three and three more days. That will. continue for 30 days. Each of them will take 1 gold per group with them and will deposit it in a town of Port Towns Bank This influx will allow three of the lawyers from this the king's a personal clan at 3 from. volunteers. from the Guardians to be going in 30 days. They're goal is preserved the rights of the horde and the children. And that is it. By any means necessary. She looked at the king and he just nodded.

  She continued by saying bring a book of recording to this room right now. and be ready to get a second book of recording if necessary to have over 1000 pages per book and everybody that had volunteered and is behind us now will sign their name, their clan and what they hereby are willing to donate to this order. This will be the order of fire and coals guardians.

  The king Went to his mother in front of her and kneeled down, This. was taken by every. body as the king say yes, this is to be done He then stood up, went to his throat. I live with three hits of his wooded part of his pickaxe. The yards. basically started bagging their spirits. About a minute later, the king banged his wood part of his pickaxe one more time, and it all stopped by. that point. two lines had been formed and two books were brought out. and everybody that was behind the Batron. was already signing their names and information in. This went on for hours that after someone retired their name, they would go off to the side and grab food and booze and start the party. In the end, there was almost 2000 people that had signed the books they had to get a third book because some of the people's writing was so messy that they took them too much room. This was amazing. The king that had bribes looked into what was just off of the donated

  Families that had donated small amounts of money or small items. This was given off to the tax collectors and would be acquired. immediately an account would be credited as a thank you from the king for doing this for tax purposes to each of those families. Any money would be put into the bank and any items of work that were of proper and respectful to the operation and to the king's wishes would be taken with them. And if not, they would be held by the king here in the capital until the day they were retrieved by the rifle claimants.

  It had gotten out that there was three boys, so all the female dwarf. s that were of the same age. And this is quite young. Parents had offered them this. The king took as respectful, but not respectful, due to the child's ages. So all those were held and given to the Guardians to start vetting all those families. This. actually was a great thing for the king. He now had a reason to verify that the trading of all the nobles and non nobles was up to stuff with the dwarven laws to make sure that every dwarf knew how to mine knew how to read, write, drew beer, cook their own food, wash their own clothes. It was like kid boot camp for the dwarf. It was great. He just got 1000 2000 new families. and for the the Guardians could take care of this one. This would take a lot of the people that wanted to go to the Newtown and reduce that to just a couple under 100 hopefully

  The roles that the dwarfs had to follow was that they would not invade. But that's why 3 by 3 by 3 was the way they would do it. And they would slowly infest the town every couple days. More would show up. And every couple more days, more would show up until they owned everything in that town. And once they owned it, they would fix it. They'd make it into the best horde and help bring back a old clan.

  And the last thing—any large amounts of money, anything really weird, an entire clan being promised, land, or anything even more unexpected—the king was going to deal with personally. Honestly, it took another day to sort everything out, but only three families had done anything truly unusual.

  Was...? Actually, one of the sub-clans of the king’s own lineage. For them to do what they just did—offering to send an entire team of their secret glass masters to verify and train—was significant. As part of what had to be revealed, the king informed the group that this actually tied into one of the great dwarven secrets: magic glass.

  Long ago, this clan had been given the task of mining, purifying, shaping, and learning how to use magic glass to recharge gems. Those gems were always registered with a percentage—how much energy was put in and how much came out. If they put in one candle’s worth but only got half a candle’s worth out, that would be a 50% efficiency.

  They were taken to the site on day one of the party and asked to appraise a piece of magic glass—or "maniglass," as some called it. It wasn’t until there was a large explosion that the true nature of the test was revealed. Guards rushed into a side room off the king’s main chamber to confirm what the officer of the crown had warned about—exploding gems. The king had not told the Clan of Glass about this, wanting to see if they would recognize it themselves.

  Luckily, they weren’t lacking in their training. They identified the unstable gem just in time to get rid of it—though they didn’t realize another was across the room, bolted to the wall. It wasn’t until they closed the box and someone blew out a light that they saw a gem on the wall glowing bright green—and getting brighter.

  One dwarf reacted immediately. He swung his hammer at the gem. It worked, but he ended up in the emergency ward for his trouble. His hammer had dented, and the force of impact sent it flying across the room. The backlash tore the muscles in his arm, and he’d be in a cast for a few weeks, but—yay! Nobody died.

  The king realized that for the Clan of Glass to send someone, he would have to make sure their identities remained secret. He ordered the scribes to create a fake sub-clan in the royal records to cover for them. But as he was explaining this, the clan member who had signed the book overheard and yelled at the king.

  "Don’t you dare!"

  The king was taken aback, but the old dwarf looked him in the eyes and said:

  "You have to remember—one of our clan’s rules is that we don’t lie. We look for the ones with the magic touch. We will go there and inspect these children, and if one of them—or all of them—have the magic touch, we will teach them the ways of the Clan of Glass. I hope that they will be able to bring more material to all the clans, so that we can begin turning on the old machines that have lost power. Right now, what little maniglass we have is burning out. What remains is foggy, smoky, and doesn’t work well."

  The king sighed and agreed. Then, he went back to his paperwork, telling the scribes to ignore what he had just said.

  This would not normally happen, but one of the people who had volunteered with the Guardians to protect the children was clanless. Normally, no one could come before the king—or even enter the royal chambers—without a legal reason or an invitation. So when a clanless dwarf put their name in to move themselves and their family to Port Town and offer fealty to Clan Fire and Coal, it was taken very seriously.

  The name was looked up. The records showed that this so-called clanless dwarf was actually a guardian from an old clan—one that had been disbanded, just like Fire and Coal. There were notes under their name. When these notes were retrieved, it turned out they referenced another book—one that took an entire day to locate.

  That book was actually kept in one of the city’s churches. When the king read what was in it, an evil but delicious idea came to his mind. He agreed to their request, but under the following conditions:

  a) Anyone signing this book hereby renounces all connection to any previous clan and, with honor and respect, agrees to join the Clan of Fire and Coal.

  b) In doing this, they will own nothing but will show fealty to the three new kings of Fire and Coal, abiding by all rulings until they come of age at fourteen.

  c) The King of the Dwarves guarantees that no ruling will harm the children. This is written, signed, and made law.

  When the representative for the clanless was summoned, it was a woman. She approached the throne and kneeled. The king threw the book he had just signed down in front of her.

  "Pick it up. Read it."

  She hesitated, afraid she had made a terrible mistake by offering her family to join another. But as she read the book, tears welled in her eyes. She reached for a pen—

  The king threw her a golden pen.

  "Keep it. You’re gonna need it."

  She replaced her own pen with the gold one and signed the book right there in front of the king. Then, she hugged the book to her chest, stood, and bowed.

  The king stood as well, banged his fist to his chest, and declared:

  "Be off with you. Be good. And fill that book with your family."

  She froze for a second, nodded, then turned and ran.

  That was not proper etiquette, even in a relaxed setting. The king tilted his head, and the room fell silent. Then, he just started laughing.

  One of his advisors—quite drunk—leaned over.

  "What am I missing? What just happened?"

  The king waved over a scribe.

  The advisor took the book, flipping through the pages. When realization hit him, his face turned to pure shock.

  This was a 200-year-old book.

  It was filled—almost to the brim—with names. It came from one of the church orphanages. And those names?

  Not just some. Not just most.

  Every single name belonged to a clanless dwarf.

  The advisor turned to the king.

  "What did you write in the book you gave her?"

  The king spun the book around, revealing the single sentence inside:

  "We, the clanless, wish to join the Clan of Fire and Coal as Guardians."

  The king had taken that literally.

  By signing, the woman had just adopted every single clanless dwarf in the city into Fire and Coal. And now, over the next year, hundreds of dwarves would migrate to Port Town.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The whole city realized what was happening. And, as was tradition, the process would happen three by three by three.

  The Clan of Harmonics was ancient but had dwindled to only three members: the clan head, his wife, and their daughter who was 20 years older then the 3 kings.

  Though their numbers were few, they were musicians at heart—and magical. Long ago, a group of dwarves discovered a cave with perfect acoustics, allowing them to amplify their magic through resonance. But overuse destroyed the chamber.

  Now, they wished to move to Port Town for five to ten years, hoping to find another harmonic chamber.

  The king approved their request immediately, but with one condition:

  The clan head had to sign a writ of birth, ensuring that their lineage would continue for at least 200 more years by law.

  When this was presented to the clan of harmonics, the clan head, his wife and daughter there, that being called to the king's thrown room, it was the. 3rd day of the party and the king himself went into the personal wine cellar and brought out a bottle of ancient meat made over 600 years ago by the ancient king himself.

  When the king brought this bottle out I put it on a table between himself and the family members of. the clan of harmonics, the he also put the piece of paper and a pen beside the bottle. They all read the piece of paper, and then the husband looked at the wife and then they just started crying and hugged each other, getting out of the way for their daughter read it.

  She just looked up at the king with puppy dog eyes, then signed it before her dad did Here dad realized what she was doing, to think I'm supposed to sign it first the clan head said under his breath, so she handed the pen to her mum, his wife gave it to him last.

  And with that, they toasted with 600-year-old brandy to the long life of both the Clan of Fire and Coal and the Clan of Harmonics. The king informed them that they would have to wait a year before they were allowed to even go near that town.

  "Do you understand?"

  They said they’d be ready. And with that, they were dismissed and went to celebrate.

  Outside the main horde of the dwarven king, in the outer city, was where most of the clanless lived. And truthfully, because they were shunned so much, they had formed their own little society. That whole society had no clue what she was holding as she walked through the encampment, heading toward the chieftain’s house.

  When her friends saw her crying and refusing to speak to them, they knew something was wrong. They started following her, needing to understand. And when she knocked on the mayor of Undertown’s door—by the gods, she couldn’t stop crying.

  When the mayor opened the door and saw one of his daughter’s friends sobbing, he had no idea what was wrong. But despite her tears, she was smiling—a giant smile. Then she lunged forward and hugged him.

  After a moment, he gently pulled her away, looking into her eyes. She just handed him the book. He opened it instantly.

  The shifting expressions on his face captivated the entire crowd watching outside his house. It was packed—shoulder to shoulder, wall to wall. The mayor’s house was slightly elevated above the street, allowing everyone to see his face.

  And then, the most important thing he did—he closed the book, looked out over all of them, and prepared to speak.

  Just as he was about to address the crowd, the one who had brought the book grabbed him by the shirt, pulled him close, and whispered into his ear:

  "The Clan of Glass and the Clan of Harmonics are going with us. Not permanently, but they’re coming to sanctify the mountain. We have one year to prepare. Do you understand? The boys are shaving their beards to hide among the humans."

  The mayor nearly recoiled. It was a shocking statement—like uttering something blasphemous. He didn’t understand at first. But then he did. They were hiding. They were scared. And she let him see it in her eyes—the weight of what the Guardians needed to do.

  The mayor took a deep breath and addressed the silent crowd.

  "To all who are clanless—if you are willing to follow the laws of the clans, that means the king of the clan will give you your laws. You must give up everything you currently have for the new clan. But the Clan of Fire and Coal has been given the right to accept any clanless in one year. War protocol: three by three by three has been initiated. Any who wish to leave earlier than one year must shave their beards for the next year to prove their willingness to protect these three new kings."

  The outcasts of the dwarven nation—those forsaken by their clans, whether by choice or by action—had just been given a way out. Some, whose shame was beyond all compare, didn’t hesitate. They ran. They shaved as they ran. They were gone before the day ended.

  But the rest… they stayed.

  Ninety-nine percent of them, maybe ninety percent at worst, remained.

  And then the mayor spoke again.

  **"By the ancient war accords—three by three by three—we will not invade this town. One month from now, thirty of our people will go. And every month after that, thirty more will go. These thirty will pave the way for the rest of us. And in one year, the rest of us will descend upon that town. If you believe you can bring the most success to one of the first three monthly missions, come to us. Bring the family you wish to take with you. Thirty families the first month. Thirty families the next. Thirty families the month after that.

  "You will not live in the town. You will go to the mountain. Be ready to work hard.

  "In a year, we bring the beauty.

  "For now, we bring the pain."**

  The outer town erupted.

  It was pure noise. Pure insanity. Ear-wrenching chaos. Screaming, shouting—this was life-changing news.

  Amid the chaos, two dwarves—an elderly man and woman—walked forward. Unlike others, they didn’t push or shove. No one would dare touch them, not out of fear, but out of pure respect.

  To call them a fallen king and queen would be rude, but true.

  They came before the mayor, bowed low, and went down on both knees, pressing their foreheads to the stone.

  "Let us be part of it," they said.

  The mayor knew who they were. He knew their disgrace. They had not been exiled but had lived in quiet shame, taken care of by their remaining family. And yet, here they were.

  The mayor grasped the book tightly. The young woman who had brought it still held the golden pen given by the king. A magic pen. Her hands were shaking from crying, but she smiled as she handed it to the former royalty.

  The ex-king reached for it, and the moment his hand touched the pen, a brilliant yellow light shot into the sky. When the light faded, the pen glowed—charged, alive.

  Without hesitation, he turned to the book and signed.

  Giving up everything.

  Everything he had been.

  Everything he had owed.

  Then he looked at his wife.

  Tears streaming down her face, she took the pen and signed as well.

  She then handed the pen back to the mayor, turned to her husband, and kissed him in front of the entire crowd.

  And in that moment, the dwarves of Undertown expected them to walk away. To retreat into obscurity.

  But they did something no one foresaw.

  The ex-queen—now simply a follower—pulled a knife from her back in a motion reminiscent of ancient human warriors. She took the blade and, without hesitation, cut her beard short. She did not shave it—just shortened it. Then, she took her ponytail and did the same.

  She turned to her husband, offering him the blade.

  He took it, gripping it by the sharp edge, letting his own blood mark the moment. Then, with his free hand, he took the hilt, cut his beard, and cut his ponytail as well.

  Without a word, she took the knife back and returned it to its hidden place.

  Then, together, they held up their severed beard and hair for the entire crowd to see.

  Silence.

  This was heresy.

  This was devotion.

  This was a true believer’s sacrifice.

  They would do whatever it took to protect this new clan.

  They turned back to the mayor, who still held the open book.

  He let them.

  The queen placed her beard and hair into the book. The mayor closed it.

  And the two walked away.

  No one said a word.

  The crowd simply parted, allowing them to leave.

  The silence was not eerie. It simply was.

  Everyone was thinking now. Everyone was asking themselves: Am I really going to sign that book? Am I really going to go that far—to give up everything I’ve worked for—for a new clan I know nothing about?

  So many had already left. They had seen others bail before them, walking away just as quietly. They knew the mayor had the book all day, ready to assign names, and once they signed, they would be on the list. More than half—more than 75%—had simply stood up and walked out. This was not a decision to be taken lightly.

  Yet, a strange group remained. Unmoving. Waiting.

  They stood out, their heavy armor making them impossible to miss. These were armor dwarves—completely encased, their faces obscured. Where one might expect eye slits or openings, there was only fine chain mesh, and the rest was solid plate—so masterfully crafted that it resembled dragon scales. Every piece had been forged by its wearer, passed down through generations as part of their lineage.

  They did not speak. They did not waver.

  Quietly, so as not to disturb those still deciding, they approached. As the last of the hesitant ones trickled out, the warriors—the defenders, the guardians—stepped forward. The mayor had expected this. Without a word, he went inside and returned with a small night table. Before he could even set it down, two dwarves took it from him, ensuring it was properly placed. More joined in, bringing out chairs and making preparations.

  Within minutes, a line had formed.

  Each warrior came forward and signed their name in the book. No hesitation. No second thoughts. Where others might list their trades or contributions, these dwarves wrote a single word: Army. Some included their former ranks, knowing they would be called and vetted first. The mayor understood. They all did.

  By the war accords, the warriors would not all leave at once. By three, by three, by three. A small contingent would go first, then more in the middle, and finally the last wave at the end of the cycle. The rest would wait for a full year before they were allowed to follow.

  When the last warrior had signed, the remaining dwarves—the ones who had been sitting against the wall, drinking—left and returned. They lingered. The mayor, just as he was about to pack up, noticed them.

  He recognized their faces.

  Another group was waiting.

  After the military had gone, the mayor was informed of another lineup outside. It was small—under twenty dwarves—but he knew exactly who they were.

  Two groups.

  The miners.

  The engineers.

  Each one of them a convicted criminal. Each one responsible for a death.

  They had lost their clan over it, or whatever had happened in the end. Their clan was disbanded, and they were now here now. Everybody used the idea that. they killed someone. But the truth was that none of them did. Each one of them had been a part of one of their clans plots. And those plots had had some people killed. They not one of them had used their hands or any of their knowledge to make something to help someone else to kill. But they were tied to them. And it's so much easier to just be accepted as a murderer in dwarven under city that it is to try to prove. something you can't prove. Just people that really don't give a **** So this is their way of getting out from that idea that they were murderers. The mayor didn't know this, but one of the assistants kind of whispered in his ear that they were all here for a part and for the murder they did not commit. And when the mayor heard that he just looked at them all and realized that they had all come forth for a new start.

  He looked em over. He told them to sign up and told the scribe, group one, these right here. I will fill in the last 10 with people to make it security safe and maybe even one person to keep an eye on these convicts. But he said it was such love, and they knew it too. One of them took it wrong with the rest of them. Just kind of realized it, and they put their arm around the one that took it wrong, and somebody whispered something into his ear. And when the kid heard these words come from another dwarf, the kid relaxed.

  We are convicts no more today. but don't tell anybody. We don't want our reputation to get all noble and all. We're going to go there and cause some trouble, but we're going to cause it for the boys, for our kings. What do you say? Want to go cause some trouble?

  The small group of dwarfs around the young dwarf that overheard this, basically, it is just like hell, yes. Are they all just lined up to sign the book? And that was, it was done under a minute and 1/2. And they left the subject empty. And the mayor just looked at describing, he said, for them, team one, the rejects. They all looked at each other, and they accepted, and they all just shouted out the rejects.

  They left the mayor went back in. He had a couple of people helping him in his assistance. They started to go through what they would need to have a crew of mercenaries slash. guards are able to do odd jobs and protect then they needed the miners to go into the actual caves and then the engineers to make the bridges and find find the core of the whole if they could, they would have one month to make a core for their whole a place to stash the horde and a place to protect it. Another place to protect the three kings.

  Back in the king's chamber on day three Of the party the king. looked at one of. the scribes and said I guess we have to officially do it Send messenger by foot, by feather and by magic to the Kings and Queens of the human and elf Please ask them to pass on all messages to the relevant also parties that. the three by three by three packed has hereby been enacted for the port town of Port Town on the continent of the human/dwarf/elf partnership.

  *****

  When you hear of Elf Civilization, some people like people living in trees, eating only vegetables in trouble through trees and blah, blah, **** and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, no, they are nothing more than humans that live longer have pointed ears and have an affinity for certain types of magic. And that's just because a chunk of humanity was it human race. from somewhere else, a long time ago, and humans had babies. After a while, they looked like elves and they were elves, or they came to this planet as elves. No one knows, but they're here and they're elves. They meet. culture, buildings inside scrapers. They do love the trees and do make buildings within trees. So I guess that is kind of racist, but not the point. Should see some of their forts. They build out in the wilderness for their kids. It's like jungle gym for adults. It's great. And honestly, they really do love hunting.

  So when at the Royal Capitol of the elf part of the Kingdom. a messenger recorded the message and took it directly to the King and Queen, who honestly, we're just sitting on a balcony with breakfast in the morning and we're just talking **** while they waited.

  Then you ask, waiting, waiting for what? Well, not the thing is, they knew something was up. The entire world's manifield wasn't just buzzing. They had musical inflection to it, and it was dwarven. They could feel the pump of the rhythm, and they knew it had a hard base. When it felt like Earth, they knew it was the dwarf doing something. So they're expecting something where they. expecting to have a chunk of the land contested under the old 3 by 3 by 3 compact. Hello, this. was one hell of a what the ****

  This started off investigations and ended with, after two days of them getting information and the. birds coming in saying a messenger was on foot with all the details and because they were coming from the Earth capital to the Elf Capital Magic was used.

  It wasn't lost on. their spy who recorded the three groups that had come by the king's order during the party of three days to get special pieces of paper because of this They didn't know what the pieces of paper said, except for the one of the undercity. Everybody knew what that one said. So they knew that they had an entire flood of dwarfs going to be going to a town. It wasn't until they read the lines of the clan of glass and the clan of harmonics the elves just. start dancing. And when the king started dancing and the queen looked at him, I'm like, what are you doing? And he just had it in the paper and kept on dancing.

  One of the rules for the three by three by 3 contact is you could get into a battle. You weren't being attacked the whole continent was all of theirs. If they wanted a resource, they had to do things like take over a city, show that they could take care of a city, protect the city, do taxing properly, don't break the law, take care of the criminals. They had to do all these things and the dwarfs. We're going to flood that city. They didn't have to worry about **** But the best part is the. would do all the work too, all. the owls really wanted was more glass. Madaglass. Everybody needed man a glass of protection. Mine of managers. was the best thing possible for the entire continent. It's just it was going to cost through the nose. So the first thing the king did was tell all his advisors to reach out to every single one of his people. Every single 1 and let them know the dwarfs were going to be requesting so many products for the making of alcohol and foods. And the next coming months and years that the king would hereby give out small reimbursements to help you start the farming process and then. as long as you paid back at 10th of what was given and sold to the dwarfs when they needed it and or to the king who would then sell it for you for a good price. This was a royal decree.

  The Queen understanding, because she read the report, but being more interested in the clan of her harmonics, because there's. this old story that was kind of passed down to royalty that the clan of harmonics was around. But basically it was dead. But in its heyday, what they did is they tune entire mountain to magic. By doing so, they found a manna thing. No one really knows what they call it. It was a place in the world where the manner wasn't pure. It wasn't strong. It wasn't weak. It broke the small barrier of reality. It was. like, if you were near this point and you use magic your will would affect the world with your match. It was a way of tuning your magic to the magic of the mountain. It was an amazing, amazing thing. And to have that, have that ability to have that maybe come back to have a tuned mountain and have a man a glass mountain to that if it is true to be a man of glass mountain. What? if they were able to. charge the whole mountain range.

  The Queen called over one of her. spies slash ladies in waiting. These ladies hope. fully help the queen out when she needed things done. And she basically just said three things to these ladies. Her representatives listen and wrote down her words and then just disappeared As in walking out of the room and will never be seen again until this is done. And by that I mean holy crap, the queen had a cool idea. This is what she said.

  As Queen of the elves, I hereby request under. 100 people of the Elvin population to move to Port Town. This is to do three things. One to make products of Alvin quality and keep the standard of quality in that town to such a high state when it comes to wooden products and anything else is needed. Number two, most of the people will go into the forest and start hunting and clearing the forest and replanting trees for regrowth and starting up. a wood processing industry there. The third is to take almost no money at the beginning for these services But how a large amount of debt owed to the royalty. So when it is time we have the right to request one of the mountain peaks in the mountain range as our own but we will not ask for what's in the mountain. We'll ask for what's on the mountain and we will build a fortress on top of this mountain, one that even the dwarfs will want to help us build one to protect the mountain and the three new kings. And after that is done, we will. give a copy of all of our magic books to this. new clan as a welcome gift. and we will promote magic for the next hundred years in a school in that castle on top of the mountain.

  The king was not just a little taken back. He had a smile on his face, and he was so proud of his wife at how she is. She has so smart, they had time. They just had to make good with all the people that they were going to deal with and to give them good furniture when they had nothing to give them firewood for down to the caves. Give them what they needed to make, what they need, and honestly, to have food coming in. They make. money day in, day out. They know how to do it. They just had to be good to the people and they would and they would make sure food always flowed there and that will always be respected. And that's all they had to do for the 3 by 3. Either pick the fight or pick the help and they chose to help this town because they believed in it. And honestly, they wanted their own little place there too. Why not? They all done it before. Why could they do it again? They had been. away from war for so long that they just decided it wasn't worth it. They'd rather bust their **** show little backbone muscle and cut some trees down and turn trees into mana glass

  ********

  Happiness was not the first set of emotions the very. first human who saw the message had when he saw what the 3 by 3 by 3 compactors being activated over

  The reason is that the town, poor town, was a very small town, but it was technically in the humans district, if you will, of the continent. They are allowing all the different groups, but they were at the moment in charge there. So this was more of an invasion to the humans than anything. And they needed to get something out of this. They weren't just going to give up a land. What the hell?

  This one teddy man. would cost so much problems for the three new kings just because instead of going directly to the human King and queen, he went to one of the generals who wasn't racist, but had been alive long enough to see some pretty horrific battles and was pretty **** **** about a lot of them. This wasn't a way of getting back, but before. he took it to the king. He sure by hell would make sure that he understood what was going on on this little short message was not good enough.

  But lucky for the kids. the look of questioning himself, the general. gave off, which he never usually did. Gave this one member of the Royal Guard A bit of hesitation, and he said, directly to him. General, I am going to tell the King and Queen next. And before the general can come out of his stupor the the Royal Guard scribe. Walked to the king and queen who were in court at that time. And he got in line. to be announced.

  Two things happened within the next three minutes. One, the. member of the court that announces you realize that a page was in line. Pages go around. They tell their thing to the messenger, blah, blah, blah. Unless it's important, then they get in line. So something important just got in line. Number two, the same. person that would announce you to the king saw the general run up to this person. Drag them off and off to the side for a moment. He overheard. Let me have time to find out more information. I'll get that to you. Just tell them. But just let them know I'm looking into it. OK. the Subscribe and the general split in the scribe went back in the line.

  The messenger for the court would have informed the. court guard and the king. If the general had pulled that person out to find out what was going on because I didn't need to have a repeat of the war 200 years ago because of what's going on in the background, humans had caused so many problems that they were super paranoid. And that's just it. It was like an adult watching over their children. They just watched everybody cause they're expecting everybody to make a mistake. This is. what they allowed the gray church to get so powerful over the years is because they didn't. ever want to have a war that bad if they were going to do something bad, the great church would come to them and tell them not to be a dip. And they promised to listen after the last two times they didn't and it almost made the entire continent die through magic and through pure war and death.

  When? The messenger on. the announce the scribe. The script entered. stood in front of the king, and the king asked him to tell us the message. His swap hand signals were already given, and the kicker already knew something was about to happen, so he wasn't freaked out. He was wide awake and looking.

  The scribe said the following words” King I have emissive from the dwarf in royalty. Informing us active. activation of the three by 3 by 3 compact on the port town of Port Town in our area of the continent.

  Before the king could even say anything. the scribe dropped to his knees, put his head to the ground and put his hands over his head. I said, I apologize your majesty. I informed the general of your army first before telling you and he has already run off to collect more information. This was my. failure and I will accept whatever punishment you deem necessary and proper and just.

  The king looked at the scribe in his armor, bowing to the king, and he looked. the king over at the head of his guard and he nodded twice. The head guard came over and picked up the scribe off. the ground and the king looked the scribe directly in the eyes and said you will spend the next 10 days in the leftmost tower on floor 14. You will help the witch on floor 14 with whatever she needs and keep her company for the next 10 days as your punishment. You will be fed as a knight should be fed and when you are done you will be going for night's training and by God you will learn with. gone with you. Please take this night away for re education.

  Under the head nights. helmet. There was this stupidest biggest smile because this is a great way to get a promotion. But it was a **** **** So yeah, there can be a lot of cleaning in this one scribe slash nights future now. the head of the guard just had to go figure out what the general one is up to and get more information himself.

  The king. Before everybody moved, just looked at the head night and gave one nod and said, general. And the night went, yes, Sir. And then took the new to be night and left his. kings thrown room

  The King sat back in his throat. His wife wasn't with him right now, and he needed to talk to her because well, part of the compact was that each king would have a white and each wife would take care of the great church for king. for their kingdom. So he know. needed to have his wife go talk to the great church and deal with this properly The other countries had their own way of doing it, but they still follow the rules because they technically screwed up the blast 1. So they were then the hot seat until someone else screwed up. Hopefully it wasn't them again.

  The king then called? on one of his advisors, and told him to send Duke Herald not joking. He was a Harold who then became a Duke. Two port town to take. it over and explain what the **** was going on there within 2 weeks.

  Back in port town.

  Larry had gone back to see his. uncle. and what he found out was the boys just owned the town at this point. They had enough in there to buy at least five or six buildings if they wanted. They've already paid from the mine, and they have a surplus of money. So the mayor, I'd already sent a bird messenger. to the gray church, informing them of A1 platinum legal fee needed for the town. Please send lawyers.

  When the mayor told Larry this wow, Larry whistled to have the mayor put a platinum down on this was basically all in basically.

  And they knew everybody was coming so. Larry then just asked his uncle for a note saying that. Larry had the right to order anything he needed from any of the stores in town in any bulk. And if anybody had a problem with it, they were come directly to the mayor. And City Hall And the mayor would pay for these items And if there was no payment, they would take it out of the city's own coffers until that could be replenished by Larry.

  The way that Larry had worded that the mayor smiled his **** off, signed his paper, wrote it alert and gave it to Larry this way. They could go back and forth when they needed stuff. If they didn't have the cash, and it would all just come down to what the bank in town hall had, not what the kids had. and they could leverage that down the road if they needed to. But I even Larry didn't think they needed. But this way, at least they could get what they needed coming and going.

  So Larry went over to the Bruce shop, the local store, to all of them, the bar, everybody showed the piece of paper around, so that when Larry needed stuff, he just had to ask, and the bills would be sent to the mayor. And everybody was on board. It's like an open black mastercard. Hell yes. Let's party on Larry's expense.

  So as Larry made order after order at the general store of the guys, I just started bulging out, knowing he had none of this stuff, and he had to start ordering it, especially amounts of food. And then he caught on, and he just looked at Larry and said, what the **** happened?

  Larry looked over at the shopkeeper and just said three. by three by three at Port Town.

  The man lost 20 years and started acting like a giant kid, dancing around, jumping up and down, being gleeful, hooting and hollering because it was like winning the lottery. It was he. He had to do stuff. He had to get stuff coming in. He wouldn't have enough stuff soon. Everybody would be buying him out. He'd be empty all the time. He had to get a lot of stuff coming in. Okay. So he had to set up and he just kind of went into his own little world. And Larry just tapped them on his shoulder And the guy had been taking notes up until that point. So Larry just looked down at all the stuff he had requested. He turned paper round, wrote a couple more things at the bottom, signed it, Larry turned it around, gave it to him. The shop owner was just out of his own mind. Just he's just in La La Land thinking. Larry took off with a smile on his face. He did this three more times in town till. the point where he had everything he could want for food to becoming, for supplies, for everything. And everybody knew about the 3 by 3 by 3 compact. So the town was just in an uproar. Basically, the mayor had just given a black Mastercard to everybody in town to upgrade the living **** out of this **** as quickly as he could be. Four people started showing up, and Larry was the guy they told everybody how awesome they were. Even stopped by the Baker and told the Baker, who then started hiring the thugs and the. the pickpocket kids from around town. Not that that they were pickpocket kids. They all knew who their parents were. But these were the little **** **** that you had. Well, you couldn't get rid of them. And you hope that they grew up to be a better little people that they were now.

  And when they explained it to the kids, what they were going to be doing, they were literally going to be running bread from building to building every morning and making more money in a day or two days. They did in a week. Each one of the kids and even the thugs are like hell, yeah, we can make sure that no one steals the bread. They're like, no, no, no. We need to need the dough. We need those muscles. And they just laughed. They no, never had to do violence again. And they got paid with bread every morning. They were kind of in heaven and well, being guys that made beer, free bread means free beer in the end. Kinda. They just had to have time patients and well, yeah, red beer was something that their dad and mum taught them how to make. They could. Well, they knew what they were going to do. So this worked out really well for everybody. Everybody was profiting. And the day wasn't even done yet.

  *******

  The monk in the librarian always. in the morning, we're watching the show, and it was always when Larry showed up. Larry was just pure chaos. But to hear everybody cheering before Larry took off out of town, they waved him down. Then they just asked over the balcony what's going on and all he had to say was this.

  We may have started a three by 3 by 3 compact between the dwarf steel's and the humans again here in town. You might want to pick up building to turn into your local church before they're all gone. I give you like 6 hours to talk to the mayor before everything is **** ****

  This was like telling them that they just won the lottery. They, they ran instantly to the mayor, like they didn't even they came downstairs, and Larry was just standing there, and they ran past Larry. The librarian came up and kissed Larry straight on the lips, and then took off with her soon to be husband, who was super jealous when he saw her do that. But literally was like, okay, that was definitely worth it. This is gonna be fun And the manic look appear insanity on Larry's face would make John Drew Volta. Just smirk.

  As the monk opened the door to the City Hall for it, it seemed to be white. She rushed in, and the receptionist, the mayor's assistant, saw them rush in and just pointed up the stairs and said his door is open, go right on in He's been expecting you.

  The mayor was absolutely **** **** drunk at this point. He had been drinking for a couple days now, and just a smile on his face. Big, rosy nose and everything is like, if I'm going to go out, I'm going to go out drum and stone and full of dainties and super happy. I'm going to have a big steak tonight and he was just with a giant smile in his face.

  He had just become one of the richest mayors in all the continent because of the 3 by 3 by 3 compact. So he knew that the Great Church was going to want some property. So he was waiting, and he was looking out the window, and he saw them rushing up. He just started smiling. And when they came into his office, he just looked out the window, and he pointed to a building right across from the city hall. That was one of the really nice old buildings. It could probably hold around 40-50 people at any one time comfortably.

  The librarian looked out the window, and they shook her head. The monk was kind of a plex, and she said that one and the one on each side of it, please. We'll pay for it all right now. The gray church will hereby give a life. debt to the town of Port Town. or two members of the Great Church until the proper. currency can be financially held. Also known as we are your hostages and your collateral until the church pays you. Whatever the hell you want for those three buildings.

  The mayor not even trying to like this is a good deal, and his mind he wasn't going to say no and he was going to have a very large contingent of the block. market probably because of the great church alone, which means whatever they found down there would always have adventures and others to come and help clear it out. And now with the amount of dwarfs like probably 30 to 40 that he was expecting to show up in the next couple of months because they're going to throw a couple hundred doors at us where he was thinking was. he ever **** out by a couple zeros.

  The monk not giving a **** either, and the librarian just putting up their lies for this went to the mayors desk and pointed at the bottle of booze and the mayor went yo join in and she was. she was going for the boots. The month took the mayor up and found his stash of weed pulled out a joint from the case and started puffing in the mayor's office booth, then looked over at him and gave him a sneer and said share would you

  The monk smiled ear to ear, handed the joints of the mayor who took 1 hell of a deep drag, handed it back, who the monk actually passed it to. He seemed to be wife who took it and then passed it back to the monk after taking a pull. While that was going on, the mayor was blowing the smoke out the window. And coughing his **** off.

  The mayor's assistant stuck her head in and. said to the mayor. I feel a little bit energetic. I'm going to go and talk. to my husband for about half an hour I'll come back. You guys just stay tight and keep happy. I'm going to lock everything up. So let yourself out when you're done.

  The mayor knew what that meant So about 20 minutes later, what. a very happy howl came from the depths of City Hall and the librarian and the monk looked at each other. They both looked at the mayor who just started to howl. because. his appraiser was putting his hours in, if you know what I mean.

  The town was in party mode, and everybody just didn't give a **** They knew tomorrow they'd have to work hard. But for today, everybody. was just on cloud 9.

  Within the four days, everybody in town had bought as much land as they possibly could within reason. And IOU's only went so far before. the mayor had to basically tell everybody, unless you have cold heart cash or something that you can put up as collateral going forward, I have to be able to sell these other people too by the laws. I can't hoard it at a new hoard site And he started laughing at his own joke.

  What had happened in the past went a three by 3 by 3. Compact would happen. Was, if there was nothing around the first one to get there, would basically own everything. But because there was a town there or a city, the local.'s who could would normally buy as much land as they could, so they would own the town. And then. when the Lord would come in and have to take it over, they would have to pay for what they took over. You couldn't just take away the land without giving people payment. It just didn't work like that through the rules of the compact. So by doing this, they were all basically ensuring that they wouldn't get kicked out and they would make money in there by selling off these pieces of the property. They're paying cheap for now. But shortly, they would have the ability to say you fix these two pieces of property and you can keep that 1 all of a sudden, all these pieces of property started having small houses and shanty towns built up. And then after a while, if they don't get them built up to a certain stage, then that would be a forfeit and they would be told to leave and someone else would come and continue on the work or to air down and start over again depending on how bad the work microchip is. And that's the thing. A lot of people didn't fail doing this. It wasn't hard to build a little log cabin. So knowing that there is dwarves coming and that they had forced all around them along. the mountain range. they they knew that they were going to have something beautiful shortly. They just didn't know what yet. They just had to be ready with all the supplies and especially the food.

  The mayor was thinking of the rules when it came to getting. food into a town for a compact was to find the first traders that come in and make contracts with them to keep supplying over and over and over. And as they had problems, have the adventurous fix the the transport problems seemed to work the best and the safest. And honestly, it made everybody get paid. So yeah.

  *******

  With a couple of jugs of pretty strong homebrew and. 3 bottles Of a hard cider. The boy said, never tried. He was told by the salesman at the alcohol shop. And his back filled with food in beat jerky and things to keep everybody going, along with a chunk of rope. He started up to go see the boys and go have an adventure with them while he let the town basically implode on itself. It was always fun to come back after a week or two and find how much stuff can change in a short period of time when people put their minds to it. And. well, he was going to ask the boys if he could live with them in the caves because it wasn't going to be caves for much longer from what he was seeing. And the boys had no idea what was coming. So he had to protect them. So he was going to be around a lot more with them. So he had to get the understanding them better

  Sound track to larrys adventure with the 3DB’s

  .******

  Did you think that technology didn't exist in this world? If you did, you're kind of mistaken. By mistaken, I mean, you're **** insane. What the hell is wrong with you? Dwarves humans and elves have plains. They have electronics. So to have the absolute. dregs of any society who don't have a lot be offered a new home. You don't get in the way of that.

  The king of the dwarfers had sent people immediately to be the first ones to make it to town before anybody else got there, after they received their message. I had only took a couple hours before they had been sent. So those. dwarven riders on especially. raised horses to get very far, very fast, very quick. Made it to Port Town in four days, not 5 1/2 to 6. The horses honestly they think they were going to die. They were so ran dead like they had to stop once or twice. Or else they would have died. But when these horses made it into town, the guy that takes care of the horses in town was going to hurt these dwarfs. He was so angry at them to the point where he called a healer and he told them that he was going to be paying a healer to heal these **** horses before he would take care of them. He wasn't going to have them die on his watch. And did they understand that the doors not having a **** issue with that said please and thank you, please. and thank you. We have no problem with that. And here and they gave him a each a gold coin for these four dwarfs in full light leathers. for each one of their horses. and said keep them here. We will be back. We have to talk to the mayor immediately.

  Larry was up with the boys. The town had been basically bought out by the locals. And these four dwarfs are literally bolted to town like a lightning bolt. As they get up to the front door, the mayor knows better. He's not going to get in their way, but he is going to protect his building because they will get violent quicker. They are strong. So he already meets them at the front door and walks out himself and meets them on the stairs just outside the door to the City Hall.

  The mayor just puts up a hand and said, good dwarves. Please tell me who you represent before we communicate. I am the mayor of this town.

  The main dwarf the head honcho of this little expedition says, I have been sent by the king of the dwarves to announce the agreement of the 3 by 3 by 3 compact. It struck. It has started.

  And that the Declaration of war basically made them start jumping up and down and hugging each other. And they just looked around at their new town because they weren't leaving. The Bayer understood that war nowadays was a little bit different, and he was kind of really happy. This is the more civil version of this. So he just pointed over at the end. It said, boot and booze over there. It's on me. Tell them, and they just, they just shook their head. They said, no, we brought buddy. Don't ever have to worry about that again. You have no idea what it meets to us to give us back, not just a clad, but three new kings at a hoard at the mayor hearing those words. More the **** first time dropped to his **** right there. The three by three by three, called back to his like, winning in the lottery having three kings. He almost expected, but the horde they didn't expect him to agree to the hoard, because that means that the whole place was under protections and no one was allowed to start murdering others. All the major parties would said their kings here, if there was a problem, which means he just went pale white. He just became the mayor of a peaceful, superpower town And I depuked. He absolutely puked on his front steps off to the side a little bit behind a pillar. But he just started puking, losing everything that he'd been drinking. And the dwarfs looked over and just started laughing because, well, it's not the first time or last time a message from a dwarf will make a human puke. They're guts out. And they just started laughing and patting him on the back

  When the mayor was finished, he came up for breath and wiped the sludge from his mouth on his sleeve. They looked over his shoulder at the dwarfst. They all just gave him thumbs up. They said, it's a pleasure to meet you, mayor. We'll talk to you later. Good luck. You're going to need it. Have they all just smiled and laughed out and made a joke about the mayor being a light weight when drinking.

  **********

  Larry's adventure to meet up with the boys.

  So Larry made it back up to the campsite and found the cave entrance to be plugged in. Kind of freaked out a little bit when he noticed that. But as he looked around, he saw where they had hidden the red. flag last time, and there was another little round piece of wood there with no flag. But Larry recognized it.

  It just said in writing, stay in. our house will be back. See you soon.

  Larry wasn't gonna say no, but when he went into the house, he realized that there was a whole walk of little rooms and little outcoops to sleeping. And Larry had one of them carved with his name, and it was. the biggest one on the floor and by the door. And it would be the one that the dwarf brother. s would always give to the one who was keeping eye on the house. So it just felt right to give it to Larry. One of the men told the others They all agreed without having to say much other than a head nod So Larry realized that the boys really did adopt him and he really did adopt the boys. So Larry not being right into. like mining with tools and all that didn't mean he didn't know magic. And he knew enough magic to realize that he could do a little bit around the place. So the thing with magic and minerals specially mountains, if the mountain was magical enough, you could basically use the rock's own latent stored magic energy to do small things And if you had a focus, you could use that to focus the areas to do more detailed fine things. And that would absorb all the energy in the area. While Larry didn't have a focus, but when he went and started touching the walls, he felt magic. Like more than you did outside or anything like this little room. And then he realized that the boys must have. had that little piece of gem, that little piece of clear glass in this room. So Larry realizing that this could have been bad goes around and just are touching the wall in certain places and smoothing out little bits here and little bits there and just starts making it look nicer and feel nicer and little things like popping a back hole under the fireplace and cleaning out the flu by putting his hand up there and just smoothing it. Like even the smoke in there, the flu was semi magical. Like something was definitely going on. And the boys had definitely found something and it wasn't until Larry had camped out there overnight, gotten drunk off the dwarven heavy stuff and woke up to three little kids poking him. Great. Is he alive? Is he alive?

  Larry tried to open his eyes, but it hurt. He went to smile 'cause he could hear them. And even smiling hurt. So he just said, keep it down. I'll be with you in a couple minutes. One of them handed Larry a cup, and Larry just downed it, not realizing it was the cup from last night, and it was more of the whiskey. So after a couple of seconds of sputtering and fallen out of his bed. and then truthfully, him just kind of sitting there being drunk and beginning drunker. He said hi guys, I need some food. Excuse me. And he just moved himself on all cores around for his backpack and started grabbing some old, a day old bread and started shoving into his face. He then found his water sack and started just drinking. He realized that he felt like **** So he ran out of the house, not the puke, but while the other end.

  The boys were in the house talking when Larry came back in. He was semi sober and a lot less in pain. And he was now focusing enough to be able to go, hello. I'm glad to see you guys are okay. I have some. paperwork for you. And he dove into his backpack and pulled out the adoption form. Basically, the mayor has signed off on and the information about the declaration of war on the town.

  Larry, being the **** disturber that he was, just sat there, smiling, letting them read it, going through the motions of what? Ah, this is great. This is not great. This is great. This is not great. This is war because of us. What? And he goes literally. You guys are now the king of this mountain, the three of you. 3 kings. This is your horde. Do you understand what that means?

  All three of them, almost in sync, just shook their head. No. And Larry kind of face palm that they didn't know what a hoard that they even had was. So Larry sat there and explained it to them while they. well, ate some of the food he brought for them. They're hunger for being down in the cave system.

  Larry explained that a long time ago, Dragons still were around, and Dragons were large lizards that had been evolved because of magic. They basically had gone into a cave and their eggs had been maturated around magical energies, enough that when they were born, they were bigger and stronger. And generation after generation, they got bigger, strong and smarter to the point they could understand language. And then their culture starts survive. because most of them didn't ever lose the aggressive tendencies other than the lizards they came from. A lot of times they would do things that would get them exterminated and only the ones with great sentience communication and the heart not to kill were honestly left alone. The ones that would go into a town and just slaughter for food because they wanted to eat something and oh, look, a human was there or anything like that. They would. Yeah, they would put down those type and a lot of times the Dragons that were more mature would even try to take those younger ones someplace where they could train them. But they didn't have a great success rate because they were just so feral. So a long time ago, one of these smartdragons had his whole and after. he threatened to annihilate an entire kingdom. All he asked is to be left alone and is hoard not to be stolen. And that was absolutely fine Now he didn't live more than A150 more years after that. Well, 200 years later, some stupid. adventurous decided to triumph. down into this rumored place where the dragon horde that hadn't been seen in 200 years. Blah, blah, blah, all that jazz. And they found it. So they claimed it promptly through the government, through the kingdom itself that started. up rules that it ever found a horde, something that was precious. You could claim it. And because of that, that was now the new standard for any kings and Queens to have storage. So rulers of countries would literally dig out the mountains and create entire bolts inside the mountains that would be their hordes. These were recognized and overtime wars were fought over hordes until the Great War happened, where the three great nations dwarf L and human all agreed to never, ever have a war like that again. They would agree to have plans and hordes And the goal was to civilize the entire continent. They hadn't even traveled away from their continent to other lands except in very, very rare expeditions. And most of those never came back. And from what they could tell, there was more land out there. But due to the fact that magic was in the air. flying in the first hundred to 200 years was not a possibility. So boats. And then they found munchers in the sea and just a lot of bad things nowadays. What would happen is they would take a plane and they would send it a 1 way trip with a magical device to send back images and that would be a way for them to plan 1 way trip across to make landfall. And they had done this in 1 or 2 spots. But these were small expeditionary camps that honestly, even after 50 years we're still very small because not a lot of people wanted a one way trip. So when the great compact of three by three by 3 was agreed on, they would never ever start a grand war. Each would be a micro war, a war of economics and how it would work is if you wanted something in the other's land, you could ask for it. You could take it, but you would have to prove first that you would take it or that you could supply what the people were asking for before even that if you were going to be there, you were there to protect the area, not eradicate the people and take it from them. The people that were there could be bought and their land could be given like the sold to the new groups. So if the Earth Kingdom had land that the dwarfing kingdom wanted the dwarfing Kingdom could form a proper town city and pay taxes properly every single one of them. Or they could buy the land and turn it into a dwarven and pay the dwarven king his tide. Who would then pay the king of the humans for the land It's all about the prophets. At the same time, if one of the parties didn't care or didn't want to get involved, they didn't have. So in this case the elved didn't want to get involved in the land distribution dispute. But they wanted to be there to make money and buy products and sell their products, which was economical in its own right.

  Larry laid it all out and he explained to them that by his guess he was going to stay up here for at least a week with them. And then when that week was up, all of them, all four of them, would have to go into town and they would have to sign papers and become proper citizens now. due to the fact that they had been shaving this whole time, they would. start to meet dwarfs and Larry had to explain to them some of the stuff they just didn't know. And Larry even had to learn it recently to make sure that he understood the cultural ramifications for shaving their beard It was a sign that the person didn't just not have a clan, but they didn't believe themselves to be dwarfish or didn't have the proper upbringing that all doors were taught with for them to be shaving it and running around like they were It was. odd, but Larry told them to not stop for one year because until one year passed they needed. to keep the traditions that they had started going and in one year there would be a council meeting that the 3 boys, the 3 kings would be invited to where they would decide the outcome of the war They had one year. to figure out how to control the town. And that was one of the things in the compact you had to be able to control and protect the town. You had to control and protect your hoard and any people that belong to your plan had to be under your control and pay taxes properly and do it legally for proof that those people were not just hired to hire to be there for and then leave, but that they were staying there to make a home. This is to prove that it wasn't just taking area. drain it dry and then run away. Well, this was done. It was a proper war. This was not taken lightly.

  The boy's reversing giant chunks of information. And Larry knew this, and he was just riling them up. But he just, at the end, he said, calm down. Don't worry about it. For the next week, you only have one job, and that's to show me how deep you and me can get in here safely. And then.

  Larry did. something he loved. He loved doing, but knew better to Jen to use this other than it wasn't an emergency magic. It was more suited for exact lead this moment when he had to share. not just information, emotion and feeling But he had to explain what was going on. So they understood. So instead of just talking, he turned on his mind magic. and told the boys to all hold hands. And when they did, Larry showed them what his imagination could dream up.

  The bore of them were sitting around the table, but below their feet there was nothing. They could see the chair and they could see the table, but underneath it all around them was just sky and then. they started to fall, but nothing moved. There was like watching a T V screen and it was moving

  They flew past the clouds falling as soon as the cloud cover broke. They slowed down, and they just looked down over there. entire continent. And then the distance they could see two other continents, one from the left and 1 to the right. So they were right over the main constant.

  The view then streamed as fast as it could possibly go without becoming too blurry over to Port Town.

  The boy is at this point something inside them, touched on something in Larry, and Larry was taken to a moment where the three of them sat on the pier with the sun set. And Larry looked at the 3 of them as they sat there. They look back and said, that's where our bars gonna be. One day, boys, and they all agreed. And Larry said, damn right. I. After that, they zoomed through town, like through the buildings and above, all the way up to their house. But it wasn't their house. Their cabin was different. It was bigger. It was more pronounced. And the cave was all cleaned out. And I had a gate on it. And as they got closer, the gate just opened, and they flew in. And it wasn't a small cave anymore. It was dwarf and cut tunnels. And it went on and on, and it just, it was Larry's dream of what this could be And it was just random, but they flew through cave after tunnel, after Grand Cathedral, until Larry just stopped in the grandest of all cathedrals. And behind him, there were three thrones. The boys didn't even realize it, but within a flash and a blink of an eye, the three of them were sitting in the Thrones, and Larry was at the bottom of the staircase after the Thrones, looking at them with smiles and just said, I believe in you three. And he bowed and took a knee.

  Well, Larry wasn't expecting what happened next, because the whole connection went. wobbly and wet, and it wasn't until they pulled their hands away that they realized the boys were just lovering. I mean, full on cry and Larry, who had a couple of tears strictly coming down that he had a giant smile on his face and he goes boys. You don't know what's coming, but it's not bad. I trust me when I say you only have one thing to do for the next week. Show me how deep your rabbit hole goes, because we're going to go down into your horde and see how far we can go. And you got to show me the best things that you can show me. Can you do that for me?

  Not realizing that he just hit a sensitive subject one in three looked at chew like their heads whipped over at him when he said that. And to just smiled and nodded one nod and one in three just smiled so big as they were not going to be afraid to show Larry the secret they had found. And they didn't need to say much more. They just put out the fire in the fireplace and started packing up. And Larry didn't need to be told he knew what was going on. The boys are ready to go. So I took him about 20 minutes to turn everything off and clean everything up. And yeah, this is a Bush campsite. as they were about to leave, Larry had an idea, and he had brought some ink to refill old school ink pens. He took a piece of paper, and he poured a little bit of the income paper, and then folded the paper so that it covered almost all the paper like a Warshak test, except he told the boys to come here. And he put the piece of paper on the rock table that they had made And Larry put his hand on it, and then he put it down on the table and left a hand in print. Then. he told the boys to put theirs in each of the 41. of the other three corners of the four corners of the table facing inward and do the same thing. And all three of them followers a great idea. So they did that and they left their handprints on the table, their own little round table their family table.

  Larry just threw the paper into the fire, and the little bit of heat that was left actually lit the fire. into the paper and the ink, not realizing but the magic in the ink because somehow there was magic in this ink. And even Larry didn't buy magic ink. So what the hell it? made little sparkles as in the fire went out and the last remnants of that piece paper littered up the flu. It was magical looking, but to to it wasn't just magical. He saw something special. because he wasn't. trying to use his ability to see magic and it activated naturally. It stopped. needing to be turned on and off. And it was just on this. And this. was well let's say trippy would be an understatement.

  One in three had seen this partially before, and it was overuse of the ability, except you hadn't used it in a couple of days because they said not to. So this. they just watched to make sure he had lost it and he seemed absolutely coherent, just super happy and look. at things that they couldn't see.

  Larry was gonna leave some of his stuff behind, but the boys just told him not to and to follow them. And as he started to walk to the back of the cave, he got really confused until he saw them literally disappear as he got closer. He noticed that there was a piece of stone that they had moved out of the way. But if you hadn't known a look, it would look like the wall. And once he popped his head in the back, he realized there was another whole cave back there where they had made beds and everything. Or is there a little hiding hole, It wasn't until he put his pack through. And then, well, crawled through to get in. Did he realize that it wasn't just one cave? It was a scent of little caves. I'll attach each other bubbles and the whole mountain was like this, except it was super solid. So. they had to be very careful how they dug through this. He just now realizing. So they told him to leave most of his stuff here. And they were going to just take him for the the tour of the staircase as they made and give him some information. And then they were going to come back and rest for the night. And depending on if there's anybody in there. home when they got back, which and he showed the kids showed Larry that they made little keep holes and everything they could plug with rocks and Yeah. the last thing they did before they went down was they closed the little hatch to their home and they put a rock on the backside and it was a perfect fit so that no one could push from the other side. It could only be open from this side. So no one was going to get in in there.

  The Grand Tour. It was amazing. They had gone down 26 of the tunnels, the little orbs, and they shown Larry and thank goodness for the stairs as Larry was having trouble. He was big and these things weren't that small or big at times. Some of them are a little bit bigger and he had to do some maneuvering and some of them they actually had to make a 1 or 2 of them a little bit bigger to get him through. So after around 25 and you were on 26 they told Larry you can't come past 2425 here and he asked why and he said look down and. it wasn't until they put their lights out did Larry freak out and realized that they were over a very, very large cave. But there was light everywhere and they had explained on Cape 4 there was a crystal day broke and it let some oxygen or something in and after that just turned on and they're worried that if they activated the wrong way they could burn it all out or it caused an explosion. So they had sealed it up and it giving off this light already. and Larry right there knowing exactly what the **** was going on said you guys are idiots. Do you know what man a glass is?

  And the three of them actually knew they had been told stories when the religious church had been grown up in about how the dwarfs had found pieces of cleared glass that when you put light through it, it would basically admit Manna Energy and things in that area would then start absorbing it.

  The boys. were then directly asked about that little piece of glass they sent with the bag that he took into the mayor. And what were they found in what was going on? Literally number two with a rope tied around him. Crawled into 20SIX'S room and went to the edge. He then took a little hammer and took a piece of the broken edge and it was about the size of his hand. Like a fist size chunk of glass. He brought it back and he gave it to Larry Larry just froze. He wouldn't take it. He wouldn't do anything and he just looked around the room. He was inside of a giant orb of this glass. But he looked around. There was different colors. This one was blue and green. The one in the next chamber. The floor was clear and the ceiling was black and the walls were blue and green. It was like something had changed. And he realized that there was pieces of glass probably down below that were getting light.

  He told him to throw that piece of glass into the hole and never show anybody where this is until he is told to because this was not just a heart of their horde. This was the big enchilada, the big, big everything to them.

  One and three and two just snickering through each other 'cause they just looked hilarious. Larry, if that's important, what we're going to show you next is going to make this look like it's kid stuff. Ready. Come with us.

  They backtrack up to the 17th or cave, and then went to the right. And this is literally where they're going into the bigger cases in the bathroom. And the only. person that could make their way through the different twists and turns of all the little caves they went into next. They took them above an hour, but it wasn't until number two. followed his sight that he led them back to the one glass wall that had the clear liquid in it. And now it wasn't clear anymore. It was starting to get black. But the moment they got close to it and they put the light up to it. the lights itself took the material from block to clear and it glowed. The moment they did that, the room started to glow all around them. Larry just stood there, realizing how the three kids had just killed them. And they didn't even realize it.

  Larry wasn't too sure what he was looking at, but from what he could tell, the moment they brought light in, he he actually stopped right there before he continued to think and he just stopped, looked at them and said turn off your lights right now. You never have light in this room, ever again until until we explain you have just found. something so powerful that it could explode. Do you understand what I'm saying with those words?

  The three of them not needing light, because the room was quite glowing as it was. just nodded their head and were like, okay, we understand what you're saying. What do we do now? And he just asked, Kay, if we leave right now, will it go back to being dark and not clear? And they just said, yes, we checked it 3 times, and then he shuddered when they said three times. And he said, okay, let's get to hell outta here. Oh my god.

  They backtracked for about 20 minutes until they were in the middle of what they called the labyrinth. It was just a lot of different rooms that were connected together through areas where the two orbs touched, and there would be a little hole. Some of the holes bath would fly through. Other water had come through and and they had themselves had broken a couple of them to get through to the other ones. Larry. sat down and just had to think and he could see it in there. It was everywhere this this. wasn't small pieces of man a glass. It was one big piece of manic glass. They were in the middle of a giant piece of maniglass and they had no idea how how. like like the only thing I think saved these kids was all that the fire that had happened here had covered everything so that there was no reflections. But that wasn't going to last. And as soon as some light came in, the mountains might explode this. This was insanity. There was more wealthier than in the whole country, whole continent. and these 3 the three of them. 8 year olds were in charge He just started laughing to himself and laughing and laughing and then the three of them Asked if he was okay Are you all right

  Larry just had to call him himself, so he said, OK, here's what we're going to do. We're going to go Oh, how did you even find this? And that's when. two just stepped up and said I can see magic He can taste magic. Number three and number one, we don't know yet what his magical ability is, but he can tell the difference by the. smell and taste of it. Three can do. He's actually the one that picked most of the or that went into the the bin. And I've picked that one piece of glass at threw it in the bag I thought the metal would have been more important. I thought it was glass, but I didn't think it was manic glass. But Managlass has, from what I understood, it's. never very powerful. You always put more light in than you get man out. Why are you so scared of us with the lights here? Like it shouldn't do what you're saying.