"I see. That would explain a lot actually."
To be honest I did not care what I was. I was just trying to distract the dwarf from his sadness. And it seemed to work.
But then I heard footsteps outside of the building right before the knocking on the door.
The dwarf dragged himself out of his chair. Silently grumbling while doing so.
He made his way over to the door and opened it.
There stood a frail young man with brown hair and green eyes. He smelled of sweat and was heavily panting.
This gave me the impression that he had ran a large distance.
If he had stopped during that run, he would not be that out of breath as he was now. it basically looked like he was about to faint due to exhaustion. so, he must have had a good reason to push himself this far.
Yet in his sorry state he still focused on me. ready to run back if I made wrong a move.
"The leaders want to speak with you. They say that it's urgent and that you have to bring that demon with you."
He barely managed to speak before he turned around. Ready to head back.
The dwarf reached out and grabbed the man by the wrist before he was out of reach.
"Why don't you rest here for a while? Not taking a break after all this effort wouldn't be healthy. Don't worry we will be on our way and report to them that you did an amazing job."
He slowly nodded. He no longer had the energy to argue with the dwarf and decline the offer. However, he did not enter the building right away and stepped a few meters to the side. There he waited until I was out of the building before, he quickly made his way in.
"Don't you think that it is not a good idea to let someone into your house while you are not there?"
The dwarf shrugged. "What harm can he do that I wouldn't do myself? There is also nothing wort stealing so it should be fine. Besides, he really needs to sit down for a moment."
"And those crystals? Those seem pretty valuable to me."
The dwarf grinned while we kept walking.
"I said that there was nothing wort stealing. Not that it isn't valuable. Not many people know the actual use of those crystals and those that do would immediately know that they are mine."
I was staring to understand his way of thinking.
If people knew that those crystals were from the dwarf, then they would probably make sure that they would be handed back to him as soon as possible. Afterall he might send his demon to get them back.
When we walked through the city. Most people had by now already heard of me and tried to ignore me as much as they could. They all had been fed the rumour that I was under the control of the dwarf so that they would not inform the leaders about a demon walking through the city as they had done before I was sent to hell. Though by most of them, their sheer terror or anger could not be contained as they saw me.
Eventually we reached the beautifully decorated building in which the leaders of the stone city resided. It was just as elegant and colourful as I remembered.
We followed the same path as when I first met them. but wen we encountered a servant, we were told to head to a different room than before.
While making our way to that different location, I asked the dwarf if I should read his thoughts again.
However, this time he declined. Saying that having the presence of someone else in your mind isn't comfortable and that it would probably not be necessary this time. As the rumour that we wanted to spread was already going around.
The dwarf knocked on the door leading to the certain room. The sound of fists on wood echoed through the hallways. The dark-haired elf opened the door not even a second later. It came to my notice that I did not hear his footsteps at all. But maybe he was just standing behind the door.
He stepped aside to let us in.
I hesitated for a moment. I could hear the breathing of multiple people hidden just outside of my line of sight. But I soon realised that I could not afford to hesitate here as it would only make the woman and the elf suspicious if I truly did follow the commands of the dwarf.
Yet my caution of trying to maintain my cover disappeared when I sensed something holy. The humans that were hidden from my line of sight were carrying something with them that could most definitely hurt me.
The dwarf turned around when he noticed that I stopped following him.
"Is something wrong?"
I shook my head and decided to keep up the act.
I stepped in the room that was entirely made out of stone with salt and silver engraved in the walls and a bluish crystal on the sealing that illuminated the entire room.
The way this room was build did not surprise me. Afterall it only made sense that one of the most important buildings in the stone city would be built to ward off attacks from the demons that keep entering this world in growing numbers.
But then I felt an incredible pain as a pure white net was thrown over me. It burned in my skin as it left deep wounds.