Thanks to the three little girls, King William and Alexa were greeted by the dwarves.
The three little girls and the five dwarves led the group through the wide corridor while King William, Alexa and Heero followed from behind.
"They're dwarves?" King William whispered as quietly as he could.
"Mnn... But..." Heero looked forward to make sure the five dwarves did not hear their conversation.
"Don't call them dwarves in front of them, don't do it," Heero warned King William and Alexa.
Heero's warning confused them. They were dwarves, but they were not allowed to call them that. It was totally weird for them.
"But why?" Alexa was the one who asked.
"They hate it! We'll save that story for later. For now, just be friends with them. Besides, they are foodies," Heero winked at them.
"Look, we arrived!" Then he pointed forward with his finger. They reached the way out of the passage.
"Woaw!" Alexa unconsciously exclaimed in shock. She stood speechless with her eyes wide open. She could not believe what she was seeing.
"This... this... this..." King William himself stuttered at the sight before him.
The five dwarves heard this, you could tell by their ears twitching excitedly. The five dwarves turned around with broad grins on their faces.
"Amazing, isn't it?" The hostile dwarf asked proudly.
"Yes, it is amazing," Alexa nodded her head.
Fifty meters below them, a large city unfolded before them. The city was surrounded by a black wall, towers were placed here and there. It was like a fortress.
In the center of the big city, there was a big and tall castle. The castle was well built. But the thing that made the city amazing was the crystal on the ceiling.
There was a big crystal right on top of the castle. The crystal gave off a bright light that illuminated the city. This was the thing that amazed the couple.
"Huhu... Your wife has good taste," the dwarf with the thick mustache praised Alexa for praising their city.
Heero secretly gave Alexa a thumbs up. She was doing well to get close to these people.
King William looked around, wondering how this whole city was built? Huge pillars had been built to support the ceiling, perhaps? King William was truly amazed, beyond amazed.
Then he began to wonder why Heero had brought him here. Judging by the reaction of the dwarves, they did not like to interact with others.
So Heero brought them here without their consent.
'Ah, I remember he said I was their new customer.'
'What did that mean?'
While King William's mind wandered, the group stopped in front of a black obsidian gate. The gate was huge, twenty meters high and nine meters wide.
With their tiny bodies, how could they build such a huge gate?
He could not help but be amazed the closer he got to entering the city.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
One of the dwarves banged on the gate three times and a small door opened.
A dwarf with brown plate armor came out. King William could not see the face of the new dwarf because his face was also covered by a brown helmet.
The new dwarf had an axe on his shoulder that was twice the size of his body. As soon as their eyes met, the new dwarf's eyes turned bloodshot and stared at him menacingly.
However, unlike the five dwarves, the new dwarf did not immediately take an aggressive stance against him. The new dwarf stared at the five dwarves. He looked at them one by one.
The armored dwarf demanded an explanation from the five dwarves for bringing the stranger into the city.
"It's not us, it's him!" The mustached dwarf pointed his short and thick finger at Heero.
With a big smile on his face, he waved his hand at the armored dwarf, "Hello, they are safe."
As Heero said that, he sent an okay gesture to the armored dwarf, indicating that King William and Alexa were friends and safe.
Heero approached the armored dwarf and whispered, "Food, you can exchange a lot of food with them and build a new base under their kingdom. He's the king of a kingdom and she's the queen."
"Can we trust them?" The armored dwarf replied in a whisper.
"I showed them a dragon, we can trust them I guess and..." Heero whispered what had happened to the last king of the Regal Kingdom in a voice only the armored dwarf could hear.
"Good, so you want to bring them to our king?" The armored dwarf asked Heero.
"Mnnn, unless you want to be the one to do the talking?"
"No, you can go in then, but I will not allow them to run around the city!"
"Fine, fine, you can come with us if you want."
Just like that, Heero and his group entered the city under the escort of the armored dwarf. The streets of the city were well paved and most of the houses were square.
The armored dwarf treated King William and Alexa coldly, but he treated the three little girls well, so well that Alexa was jealous of the three girls.
"What should I do with them? They look unfriendly to us, how am I supposed to talk to them if they won't talk to us?" King William asked in a whisper.
Before Heero could answer King William, Miao Miao interrupted them, "Daddy, I want to play with them, is that okay?"
She pointed with her index finger at the five dwarves who were leading them into the city. The little girls were familiar with the five dwarves.
"Hmm, you can play with them, but you have to go back to the castle in an hour, okay?" Heero nodded as he pointed to the large castle that was not far from where they were.
"Good~!" The three little girls replied at the same time.
Then they happily left with the five dwarves. The cold armored dwarf also said goodbye to the five dwarves and the three little girls.
Heero's group then continued on their way to the castle.
"Don't worry, the king of these people is fair."
When the group went to the castle, King William and Alexa met more dwarves. He got more hostile looks and it made both of them uncomfortable.
He began to think that he should not be here. But that thought changed after he met the king.
*** ***
"Huah..." King William breathed a sigh of relief as he emerged from the secret passage.
His face was bright with a wide smile. Then he turned to Heero and held out his hand for a handshake.
"Thank you, the device will help us a lot."
"No problem, helping you also helps me," Heero shook his hand.
The device they were talking about was a device to detect specters. A device to detect Dark Ki to be more specific.
"But I hope you only share this device with the person you trust the most, the people you trust the most, otherwise the device would be useless!"
King William nodded his head with a solemn look on his face.
"But what did the king mean before? He said he was a dwarf, but he preferred that I not call him a dwarf?"
King William had a strange look on his face as he asked.
"They are dwarf for sure, but you don't like to be called a dwarf. They have a dwarf bloodline, but because of their voice, they have been isolated from the 'real' dwarves!" Heero made a quote gesture with his finger when he said "real" dwarf.
"The 'real' dwarf?" Alexa blurted out, even more confused by Heero's words.
"Yes, as you already knew, they have a cute voice, right? The 'real' dwarf has a deep and raspy voice. That's why they don't like to be called dwarfs. They have been isolated by their kind," he said.
"So they choose to be called Tiniman?" King William nodded. It was normal to be isolated because they were different. It happened here as well, the mutant was the best example.
The king of the underground city introduced himself as Tiniman. The king also emphasized not to call them dwarves with a strong tone.
"Mnn... I hope you treat them well," Heero nodded.
"You don't have to worry about that. They are also our helpers. I will certainly treat them very well," King William hugged Heero and patted his back. He was really grateful to Heero.
Just like that, the journey to the underground city was over.