The days of school seamlessly merged into weeks, and the weeks into months. Down deep in the mountain, there was no sunrise or sunset, the weather always stayed the exact same, and dwarves were genetically programmed to always be working. So the only way to keep track of the passing of time was the annual new year's festival.
It was a two week long celebration where families would gather to drink astounding amounts of beer while boasting of their deeds performed during the year. Usually my father and I would spend that time working and just get a slightly higher quality cask of beer to celebrate the new year. So I was a bit surprised when Bekhi came up to me with an invitation a week before the new year's break.
"What was that, Bekhi?" I cleaned out my ear with my pinky to make sure I hadn't misheard her.
"I said, would you like to join me in visiting my family on the surface? There's a merchant expedition that is going to Vesturhildrun, but the merchant in charge doesn't want to bring an unaccompanied girl with him. So I was wondering if you would join me for the trip. I can promise you that my dad will give you a spare room and some training, and my mom is an excellent cook. We'll have shepherd's pie, mutton, sausage, pork, and beef. So will you come wi-"
"Yes!" I unintentionally cut Bekhi off when she mentioned all the tasty food. My mind began racing with thoughts of tasty meat that wasn't salted to hell and back to prevent spoiling. Maybe I could even follow the typical isekai trope and introduce food from my own world to this one. At the very least I'd like to make a juicy, greasy, cheesy, burger, slathered with pickles and onions.
"Kvalinn!" Bekhi's loud voice cut through my daydreams and brought me back to earth. She gave me a weird look. "Kvalinn, you were drooling."
"Oops, sorry about that." I took out a handkerchief and wiped my mouth before speaking again. "I'd be glad to accompany you to your home, but I'll need to check with my father before saying yes."
"Alright, just let me know by tomorrow. If your father says yes, then you will need to bring ten silver for the round trip journey."
I nodded quickly in acknowledgement. Fortunately I had saved up that much and more from the weapons and runes that Elder Threrburk and Thrikrondromm had confiscated from me due to their excessive danger. As for getting my father's permission, I was pretty sure that he would say yes. My grades had been good this year, or in other words, the Elders hadn't seen the need to yell at me for anything and I hadn't been kept late from school.
Bekhi and I chatted a bit about the journey before school started for the day. We would be leaving the day after school let out for the new year's celebration, it would take four days of walking to reach the surface, and another four days to get back, leaving us with just four days to celebrate with her family.
For anyone keeping track at home, the weeks in this world were only six days long, and the names of the days varied by the country. In the empire to the south for instance, they were named after previous emperors, and in a religious country to the north, they were named after various gods that changed by the season. The dwarves on the other hand, did not bother naming the days of the week, or the months, and barely kept track of the years. The only thing that mattered to dwarves was work and grudges.
"My family can't wait to meet you." Bekhi said with an excited smile. "I've told them a couple stories about you and the awesome weapons you can make!"
"Wait, how much have you told them about me?" I asked in concern. If it was a four day trip, then I doubted that she could write very often, and during my first five years of school I had gotten into trouble quite a bit.
"Don't worry." Bekhi said while chuckling. "I've only told them about your successful weapons and runes. So they've been asking what you would take in trade for your weapons."
"Well, as long as there is plenty of meat and beer, I'll make whatever they want." My thoughts once again drifted to fresh vegetables and unsalted meat.
"Kvalinn! Wake up, and stop drooling. Elder Rongrim is here!" Bekhi urgently whispered while elbowing my ribs to get my attention.
I hastily wiped my mouth before directing my attention to today's lesson. For the past couple days, Elder Rongrim had been going over the past dwarven high kings, their deeds worthy of the Book of Records, and the grudges left unavenged in the Great Gook of Grudges, and today was no different.
"Brodgrith Bonebender. The last High King. His reign was both the shortest, and the most controversial." Elder Rongrim droned out. "If you remember the lessons from fifteen days ago, then you will recall that High King Dwoghun Heavythane was the last high king of direct descent from Hjerouhrdinn Godforged. When he died in battle against the pestilent humans, who at the time were under the rule of the (swear words untranslatable) elves, he passed on to his guardsmen a warning. Telling them that only someone who knew all the runes, and had the assent of every dwarven king under the mountains, would ever be able to take the crown and sit on the throne of Thindarohm.
Much debate ensued over the now deceased High King's words, Thane Brodgrith Bonebender came forward as a candidate for the crown of high king. Only one king assented to his ascension, while the rest waited in silence to see what would happen to the presumptuous thane. It took less than a week after his crowning ceremony for Brodgrith Bonebender to die. Treading on the hem of an ostentatious cape that was out of fashion several centuries before he became high king, High King Brodgrith Bonebender fell down several flights of stairs, and died in humiliating pain and agony.
After that, no one has yet dared come forward to claim the title of high king. Each mountain kingdom now operates independently of each other. But if you learn your runes, and achieve deeds of great renown, then perhaps you may one day be honored to go before the assembly of kings, and receive their vote to be the high king."
Elder Rongrim moved on from history to teaching middle school level math, but I mentally tuned it out. Not because it was math, a subject I hated with a passion, but because I wanted to ruminate over the history lesson.
To put what he had said into American terms. It was basically as if the President had died and no one took his place, leaving each state to become its own country. But since the dwarves were scattered across the known world, the culture of each mountain probably started to drift apart. I let my imagination wander a bit, as I wondered how the US would turn out if each state turned into its own little kingdom. It kept me occupied until the end of class.
Eventually, Elder Rongrim's class came to an end, and after yet another grueling session of training with Elder Dworhick, it was time for Rune Theory, followed by Engineering Class.
"Greetings, Elder Voghig. How is the rock hammer coming along?" Elder Voghig of the engineering class was sitting at his desk working on a device that looked like a jackhammer, but with a steam engine instead of an electric one, and a tank for heating the steam attached via a treated cloth tube.
"I've learned much from my failure that you destroyed in the beginning of the year. This time, not even cursed magical ice will be able to shatter my rock breaker device!"
"I look forward to seeing the device spread among the mining clan." I said with a grin of anticipation. "Although I still say we should have at least started designing a steam powered vehicle."
"Patience, Kvalinn. The engineers guild has only been around a few centuries, and it will likely take a much longer time than that for any of our fellow dwarves to trust our creations. So we will need to start small, and work our way up to the vehicles described by the ancient hero."
I could only sigh in resignation at how true that was. Back on Earth, it took decades for people to trust unmanned elevators, and dwarves were a much more suspicious race than humans.
"Now please go to your desk, Kvalinn. There is less than a week until the end of the school year, and you need to complete your first of year project."
Moving to my desk, I resumed working on my class project. As a fifth year student in the Engineering Class, everyone was required to make a miniature steam engine to move onto the sixth year classes. Technically, the gift to the Elders was supposed to be made at home, and then brought to school on the first day of the school year, but since transporting a steam engine was quite difficult, we were making it in the classroom.
"Greetings, Grondin." I acknowledged my fellow classmate who was working on his own steam engine. "How's your steam engine going?"
"Excellently! The parts you made for me are phenomenal! Everything seems to be made with extreme precision and care! If you weren't already training to join your father in the Weapon Clan, then I'd ask my father to extend an invitation to the Tool Clan." Grondin was enthusiastic about my abilities, but it was a bit of a cheat for me. With my rune of forging, I could craft absolutely anything metal at the forge as long as I had a strong mental image and knew how it worked.
"Glad they are working well for you. Hopefully our partnership will continue even after our graduation." I started laying out my tools from my bag before starting work.
"I wouldn't say it's a partnership. I'm just helping you with your homework in exchange for you making me some parts. But if you wish to keep supplying me parts after school is over, then I won't say no to that. After all, I'll need to craft something impressive to join the Engineers Guild in a few decades."
A couple other students entered and thanked me for the parts. It was my personal side hustle that helped me earn favors among my classmates. So far it has kept me out of trouble with the teachers multiple times when I had messed something up or accidentally crafted a rune.
Finally, school was over and I went home for the day. I almost skipped on the path home while thinking of the food waiting for me on the surface. Fortunately for me, dwarves can't skip.
"Welcome back, Kvalinn. How was school today?" Father was working behind his forge as he had for over a hundred years, and intended to do for a hundred more.
Although the forge area had recently undergone one major change lately. After much convincing, I had gotten father to allow me to install a steam powered trip hammer and a third station into the forge room. It made our jobs easier, but it had been an uphill battle to get father's approval to use valuable steel on it.
"It went well, Father." I put on my smock and filled the steam engine with water. It was heated by a pipe coming from the forge fire chimney so I didn't need to worry about fuel. "I received an invitation from Bekhi to visit her hometown over the winter break, and I was hoping for your permission to accompany her."
Father's hammer paused in surprise as he took in my question. After a minute or two, he resumed working. "We'll discuss it over dinner. Get to work on the greataxe until then. Your confounded device is much better for the grunt work."
I chuckled to myself. Father was prejudiced against the trip hammer on principle, and refused to touch it, but he wasn't against getting me to use it to shape blocks of steel into the general weapon shape. And since the trip hammer was over three hundred pounds of brute force, it could do the job a lot more efficiently.
Also, his answer was his way of saying that he'd think it over while working and give me his decision with dinner.
Once dinner was over, we relaxed around the fire with beers and Father finally gave me his answer on my request to visit the surface. "Your work this year has been exemplary, both in school and at the forge. So you may accompany Bekhi to her hometown. But make sure you are both armed with weapons from your secret stash. It's a long and dangerous road to Vesturhildrun, and you can never have too many weapons against the monsters of the darkened roads."
The secret stash that Father was referring to was the few runed weapons that I had made at home in defiance of Elder Thrikrondromm's commands. It wasn't as if I was intentionally rebelling against Elder Thrikrondromm, but sometimes a song from my previous life would pop in my head, and curiosity would consume me until I translated the song into dwarven and tested what rune it would make. The resulting runed weapons were hidden under my bed until I had a chance to test them.
"Are you sure, father? If word reached Elder Thrikrondromm that I made and tested unknown runes outside of the testing room-"
"Then I'll take the blame." Father cut me off, and glared at me with a meaningful look in his eyes. "When I traveled with the trade caravans alongside Aundarord and his father, I saw many of our guards, and even a few of the merchants, get killed by goblins, ogres, trolls, hellhounds, and the occasional insane human bandit party. I do not want the same fate to befall you, and our ancestors would be sorely disappointed if you went to their halls as you are now."
"Thank you, Father." I nodded respectfully while mentally throwing a parade. I'd now get to test out some very odd runes, and go visit the surface! Now I just needed to wait for the trade caravan to leave.
The next day at school, I told Bekhi that my father had said yes to the trip. She smiled happily at the news.
"Great! The trade caravan is leaving from a warehouse down the street from the youth center. Meet me at the youth center in five days, a half interval before the waking hour."
Telling time underground was a bit tricky. We counted the time by the intervals between meals, so one interval was roughly four hours and the waking hour so far as I could tell was around 6 AM. So we would wake up at six in the morning, eat breakfast at ten, and that was one interval. To sum it up, we would be leaving town way too early in the morning for my taste.
"Wait, what's this about a trade caravan?" Zikruk took his usual seat next to me. "Are you thinking of dropping out of school? Or are you fleeing from the Elders?"
"Nothing that dramatic. I'm just going to the surface to visit Bekhi's home." Despite my assuring words, Zikruk seemed to grow panicked.
"To the surface!? There's sunlight up there! And bugs! Trees! Wind! It's dangerous up there! What if it starts… What's the word, raining! What if it starts raining on the surface!?"
"Then he'll get wet." Bekhi nonchalantly cut in while rolling her eyes. "Besides, it's winter up there. There's no rain this time of year, just a lot of snow and ice."
"That's even worse!" Zikruk said with wide open eyes. "That means there is the danger of frostbite! What would happen to you if you had your fingers frozen off?"
"Then I'd make a prosthetic." The word prosthetic accidentally came out in English since there was no dwarven word for that, so I quickly corrected myself. "I'd make a false hand to wield the hammer. It's not like I need all my fingers."
My words made Zikruk facepalm, and Bekhi giggled to herself at his discomfiture. I probably could make myself a prosthetic hand if I put my mind to it, but it would have to be made of steel rather than the advanced plastics of the 21st century.
"Kvalinn, be careful, alright? My father and I have invested a lot of time and money into preparing to sell your runed weapons, and I'd hate for it to all be for nothing."
"Don't worry, Zikruk, I'll keep him safe." Bekhi said with a sigh. " But I can't guarantee that I'll be able to keep him out of a forge. My family all want weapons from him, and they have lots of food to bribe- I mean, trade with him."
Zikruk gave me a warning glare. "Just don't make them too cheaply. It could tarnish your future brand, and pricing."
"Or it could make them collectables in a few centuries." My attempt at humor though fell flatter than an ironing board.
"Why would they become collectables in less than a few centuries?" Zikruk asked with a raised eyebrow. "If you live that long then people can just go to you for new weapons, and if you don't live that long then your name won't reach far enough to make the originals famous."
I mentally facepalmed. The human logic of my previous life had to be discarded when it came to the passing of time among dwarves. Just for fun, I tried to imagine what some of the famous artists on Earth would be doing if they had a few centuries to hone their craft.
My ruminations were cut short by Elder Rongrim's entrance and the day's lessons began. Just a few more days to go before I could leave for the surface. I was starting to get more excited than a kid for Christmas!
A few days later and it was finally time! I made my way to the youth center with my bag full of clothes and weapons. There was no need to bring food, since that was being provided by the trade caravan, so most of my heavy luggage was full of weapons for me and Bekhi.
"Good morning, Kvalinn! Oops, I mean. Greetings Kvalinn." Bekhi bounced up to me with an unfamiliar greeting before correcting herself. Since there was no sun or timekeeping down here, greetings like good morning, good afternoon, good evening, ect. Were never used. Or at least I hadn't heard them used before today in this world.
"Greetings, Bekhi. Where is your luggage?" Bekhi didn't have any bags or luggage nearby, so I asked an obvious question to cover her misstep.
"They're already on the carts. Com'n, let's go get your fees paid and your baggage loaded." Bekhi then noticed my father trailing behind me with one or two extra bags that I couldn't carry by myself, and she assumed a much more respectful tone than she ever took with me. "Greetings, Ekgor Blazingbrand. It is an honor to meet you again."
"Greetings, Bekhi Mubrimssdottir." Father nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you for agreeing to host Kvalinn in your home. Hopefully this trip to the surface world will be educational for him."
Bekhi grinned in response. "I'm not sure about it being educational, but it will be fun! My dad got to see a sword that Kvalinn made for me, and he wanted to fight with one made in his size. Specifically, he wanted to fight Kvalinn with it. He said that weaponsmiths who can use the weapons they make are much better at their craft."
"Hmm, sounds like something my great uncle used to say." Father commented with a slightly dour look on his face. "Be careful, Kvalinn. Do not let your eagerness to test your weapons cause you to seek out danger."
"Yes, Father." We turned the corner and I jumped in surprise. "What are those!?"
Hooked up to several carts, were creatures that looked like giant star nosed moles. They were roughly the size of a donkey, but with short stubby legs, a massive tube-like body, and small beady eyes.
"That's a mole-mule, Kvalinn." Looking at me as if I was asking what a cow was. "It's what pulls the wagons between the cities and mountains. Haven't you ever seen one before?"
"No, well, possibly." I realized that I had caught sight of a couple before while on my way to the youth center, but I had been too absorbed in memorizing my school notes at the time to notice. "Is it safe to get close to?"
"Yep, just don't touch it's nose. That's what it uses to see everything." I looked at the mole-mule's nose. It appeared to me to be long, slimy and wriggly, like some abominable combination of a squid's legs and worm's body.
"I'll keep that in mind." I said dryly. I had absolutely no intention of touching the animal if I could help it, much less his nose.
Bekhi giggled to herself at my response. She then spotted someone, and dragged me over to him.
"Greetings, Kholgaik Caskbreaker. May our journey this year be swift and uneventful." Bekhi gave the traditional greeting to who I assumed was the leader of the trade caravan. He seemed to be a roughly middle aged dwarf, with just a bit more armor than I would have thought necessary for just a four day trip.
"Greetings, Bekhi Mubrimssdottir. May the ancestors protect us so that we reach our destination alive." Kholgaik gestured to me and my father. "Are these two joining us as well?"
"No, just Kvalinn this year. What wagon should he load his bags into?" Kholgaik gestured at a mostly full wagon that had just enough room for my bags. Just before I loaded the last bag into the wagon, I subtly handed Bekhi a warhammer.
"Here, Bekhi. This is one of my experimental weapons that I made at home. I'm pretty sure it's safe for you to use, but I haven't been able to take it to the testing room, so no guarantees." The weapon I gave her was technically a war hammer, since it had spikes on one side of its head. but I had given it a short handle to make it easier to wield.
"Awesome! What rune did you add to it!? What should it do? Wait! Don't tell me. I want to be surprised. Unless it's explosive, in which case, I think you should keep it." Bekhi handled the weapon eagerly at first, until she recalled my previous attempts at a fire rune that had singed everyone's beard and hair, then she was a lot less enthusiastic about her new weapon.
"It's nothing that bad, just a rune of strength. How it works, or how safe it is, I don't know. But it should be safe (ish) for you to use."
"Thanks, Kvalinn. I can't wait to use it on any goblins we run into!" Bekhi gave me a quick hug that threw me for a loop. So far as I had seen in this world, dwarves didn't even shake hands, let alone get close enough for a hug! But I didn't have any time to think about it though, since it was time to depart.
After I said my goodbyes to my father, and received a litany of warnings and cautions from him, the caravan set off into a tunnel leading out of town.
The tunnel was extremely dark, almost pitch black. The only thing lighting the tunnel at all was one torch on each of the five carriages of the caravan. Fortunately for us, the road was exceptionally smooth, not smooth enough to slip down, but just smooth enough that tripping would be difficult. It wasn't paved in the least, but it seemed to me that the road had been carved out of the solid rock.
During the first day of travel, it was a constant uphill journey, but it was relatively peaceful. The guards and Kholgaik left the two of us alone for the most part, aside from polite conversation over dinner, and Bekhi chatted during the trip with me about her family.
On the second day of travel though, was an event that I had only ever experienced in video games and tv.
"Goblin pack!" One of the guards yelled out loudly. "Quickly! Everyone, ready your weapons! There's about thirty of the blasted buggers!"
I slid my round shield off my back, and unsheathed a short sword. In the narrow and dark tunnels, it was best to have a weapon with a short reach, and was easily controllable in combat. Bekhi, however, elected to use the hammer I had given her the other day.
"Finally! I've been needing to relieve some frustration before meeting with my family." Bekhi gave the darkness a rather unsettling grin before yelling out. "Com'n! Come and get me!"
When the skittering of claws came within earshot, I felt something unusual. My left hand had the rune of wrath on it, but so far it had never activated, or seemed to do anything. But now, it started to burn fiercely, the sensation was as if bread straight out of the toaster had been applied to the rune lines. And in the darkness, every single goblin's eyes lit up with that same rune burning in their eyes.
"That's… new." Bekhi murmured as the goblins started charging towards me. This may have been their normal behavior for all I knew, but to me, it seemed that they had gone mad with desperation to kill me. I mentally thanked Elder Dworhick's training several times in the next few minutes while repelling the goblin's claws and teeth.
"Get off of him!" Bekhi yelled as she swung her hammer at a passing goblin. Her eyes widened when the hammer turned the unfortunate goblin into paste on the far wall of the tunnel. "Woah! This is awesome!" She then began swinging like a champion tennis player. Sending two, even three goblins at a time to splatter against the tunnel wall.
I wasn't twiddling my thumbs while Bekhi went full rambo on the goblins. My sword had the rune of precision added to it, and each strike seemed to automatically find and sever an artery, or strike a weak point on the swarming goblins.
It took less than five minutes for all of the goblins to be killed. A couple had been slain by the guards, but most of them had fallen to Bekhi's and my weapons.
"Ancestors beard!" One of the guards said with an impressed whistle. "That was quite the fight! I don't think I've ever seen goblins killed like that before. Just how strong are you now, lass?"
"Don't forget the boy." Another guard commented. "Here, lad, are you carrying worm weed on you? Or any other type of monster bait? I've only seen goblins react that way once before, and that was when we were unwittingly carrying a cargo of worm weed on the surface."
"No, I only have clothes and weapons in my bags." I made a mental note to find out more about worm weed later. It might be a good monster distracting tool. "How do goblins act normally?"
"Normally they are just a tad smarter." Yet another guard joined the conversation. "They send out the weakest to test our defenses, and then pounce if they sense any chance of killing without getting killed. I've never seen them act in such a berserker rage before."
"Enough talk." Kholgaik said in a flustered tone. Instead of wielding a weapon, he had in his hands two round shields that he gripped with whitened knuckles. "There might be more goblins in the darkness and we have a schedule to keep. Leave the bodies, the hell hounds will clean them up for us."
With that, the drivers flicked the reins and set the mole-mules walking up the road. After flicking the goblin blood off my sword, I put it away. Bekhi kept her hammer out, examining it for damage after the fight.
"This weapon might be too strong, Kvalinn. I think I'll leave this one with my father. You can make the handle longer for him, right?"
"I don't see why not, but was there something wrong with the weapon?" I asked in concern.
"Nothing like that, but it just felt… weird. I got to test a hammer you made with a rune of impact, and that felt like a normal weapon. But with this hammer, it felt as though I was swinging a weightless stick around and seeing the goblins die so easily just felt too easy. So I'd like my father to hold onto it. He's a lot better at fighting than I am, and something like this would help him defend the town."
"Alright, I mainly got the hammer out of storage so it would see some use outside the testing room, and if your father needs it more than you do, then I'll rework the handle. I'll even make a custom handle if we have time."
"Thanks, Kvalinn!" Bekhi gave me a cheerful smile. "I'm sure dad will love this! I mean, did you see those goblins go flying! It was awesome!"
I had to listen to Bekhi rave about the hammer for the next day and a half of travel. It was quite nice, at first. Having someone praise your work is always a source of pleasure no matter what species you are. But after having the battle recounted over a dozen times, with only slight changes to the wording, it gets old very quickly.
Finally, we arrived at the end of the road. There was an extremely large wooden door blocking the end of the tunnel. Kholgaik reached into a bag and started handing something out to everyone. Bekhi passed one to me.
"Here, Kvalinn. Put these on." It turned out to be a set of extremely darkened sunglasses. They weren't exactly cool shades to wear outside, but instead they were similar to driver's goggles that were worn before cars were made with roofs. Being held together with string and leather.
"Since you've never been to the surface before, the sudden transition from dark to light could permanently blind you. So keep the sun shielders on during the daytime until your eyes adjust. Although it might be time to go home by that time."
With the goggles on in the dark tunnel, I couldn't see anything so I had to hang onto the wagon for guidance. The rest of the guards and drivers were in a similar position so we must have looked quite comical.
Kholgaik confirmed that everyone had their sun shields on before putting on his own and banging on the door with his hammer. A few minutes later, the doors creaked open slowly, letting in a flood of bright sunlight and freezing cold.
"Welcome to Vesturhildrun, Kholgaik." A dwarf with a beard that only came down to his chest and a very relaxed demeanor walked through the door to greet the merchant. Bekhi seemed to recognize him, because she ran up to him with a grin almost as bright as the sunlight pouring through the door.
"Dad!" Bekhi almost bowled him over with a hug that made me wince sympathetically. But he took it like a rock and returned the hug with his own.
"Bekhi! It's so good to see you! I'm glad you were able to come home this year!" The two of them seemed so happy that I hated to break it up, but I felt that I should probably introduce myself right about now to avoid causing a grudge.
"Greetings, I am Kvalinn Ekgorsson-'' My polite greeting was cut off when Bekhi's father started shaking my hand with the hammer still in it, with an eager smile on his face.
"You're Kvalinn!? Excellent! I'm Bekhi's father, Thredak Fieryrage, but most people around here just call me Dak. Welcome to Vesturhildrun!"
"Dad!" Bekhis call saved me from her overeager dad. "Mind if we start the trip home while you finish the paperwork here? I want to introduce mom and everyone else to Kvalinn."
"Aww, don't you want to help your dear old dad with the unloading? We only have a few days to spend together before you go back to school." Bekhi just chuckled at his attempt to offload work onto us.
"Nice try, dad. I'll see you at home when you are done over here. Kvalinn made a weapon that you are going to love."
"Alright, sweety, I'll see you soon." Dak finally released my hand and started to talk business with Kholgaik. No sooner was my hand released though, then Bekhi grabbed it and started leading me away.
"Com'n, Kvalinn. We need to hurry, otherwise dad will sucker us into helping him with the bargaining and unloading the cargo. Also, it's way too cold outside to stand around waiting."
While getting dragged along through town, I got to see a lot of the buildings. They were built with low walls but tall and pointy roofs that were ideal for dealing with a lot of snow. All around the town, there piles and tall banks of the powdery white substance. If I had been wearing warmer clothing, then I would have been tempted to make a snowman (snow dwarf?) out of the accumulated snow.
Eventually we arrived at the largest house that was just on the edge of the town. Beyond the house, there was only a snow covered road, and a few barns scattered around the undulating and unending fields of white.
Bekhi walked up to the door, and without hesitating at all, she opened it up and called inside. "Mom! I made it home for the new year!"
There was a loud clanging sound, as if someone had dropped a heavy metal pan on the floor, and a woman who I assumed was Bekhi's mother rushed to the entrance area, and pulled her into a long and motherly hug.
"Oh, Bekhi! I'm so glad you're home safe! We were hearing from some merchants a few weeks ago that there were packs of goblins terrorizing the outer roads."
Bekhi's mother was the very picture of a shepherd's wife. Strong and stout like all dwarves were, but also sunburned and worn from working in the sun all day, but from her face radiated a happiness and joy that was not often seen down deep in the mountain.
"We're fine mom." Bekhi at first seemed to enjoy the hug, but when it stretched out too long she started to flail about in an attempt to escape. "Kvalinn made me an awesome new weapon that kept me safe."
"That's good, that's good, wait, did you say we?" Bekhi's mom looked towards the still open door and realized I was standing there. I took out my hammer to politely greet her, but before I could even get the first syllable out, I was enveloped in the same hug that Bekhi had tried to escape from.
"You must be Kvalinn! Bekhi has told us all about you! And those weapons you made her were quite nice indeed. All her sisters are jealous that she has such a nice young man already giving her gifts when she is only ten winters old."
It had been over a decade since I had experienced a mothers hug. So I enjoyed the warmth and affection, while remembering very old memories from my past life. But when Bekhi's mother started saying that I was giving Bekhi gifts, I desperately tried to escape so I could set the record straight.
"Wait a minute! I'm not giving Bekhi gifts!" I shouted out. "They are a fair trade, fresh food from her farm for my weapons." I eventually was released from the hug, so that I could be sat down by the kitchen fire.
"So, Kvalinn." One of Bekhi's older sisters approached me in curiosity once I had defrosted in front of the fire. "Bekhi gave us a recipe for something she called 'cookies'. She said you created the recipe, but we've been trying to improve it over the past couple years. Would you like one?"
Bekhi's sister held out a ceramic jar filled to the brim with cookies! After grabbing one, I poked it, smelt it, and finally bit down. The soft sweetness of fresh butter flowed through my mouth, and although it was still a bit chewy due to lacking baking soda, it was still way better than any of my attempts.
"These are amazing! Can you teach me the recipe?" I was tempted to reach for another one, but then I remembered that this world was in the medieval age culturally, and butter was both difficult to make and valuable.
"So you can bake!?" Bekhi's sister seemed surprised. "I had thought that she obtained the recipe from the house she was staying in. But if you can bake, then sure."
I got out my writing materials and wrote down the recipe. There were unfortunately several herbs and spices that were only obtainable on the surface, so I'd have to file this recipe away for later.
"So, Kvalinn. What else can you bake?" Asked Bekhi's mother. "Can you cook as well? We have some beef that's just finished defrosting in the pantry."
"If you don't mind, I'd like to see what's available in the pantry before seeing what I can cook." I did my best to be polite, since I knew that in ancient times on earth, a family's food stores meant the difference between life or death. But my attempts were just met with chuckles from Bekhi's mother.
"No need to be so polite, young man. Dear me, Bekhi's brothers could stand to learn a thing or two from you. Then they might be more successful in their courting." Bekhi's mother, who was named Mubrim, glanced meaningfully at one of Bekhi's older brothers. He just sighed in the way all men do when their mother asks when they will get married.
"Follow me, Kvalinn. I'll show you to the pantry, and maybe we can discuss something to trade for one of your weapons. It's not fair that Bekhi is the only one with runed weapons."
The inside of the house was much bigger than it had looked on the outside. The areas closer to the roof were reserved as bedrooms since the heat naturally got stuck up there, the center floor was work rooms and playrooms, and the basement was used for beer and food storage.
"I'm Streruk by the way." Bekhi's brother said casually. I was beginning to see why Bekhi had been so easy going when she had first started coming to school. "So what type of food do you think you will be able to make from all this?"
"Depends on what's down here." I then went down a list of ingredients with Streruk and found to my joy that most of them were in the pantry. Several items had different names from their Earth counterparts, but overall I could make a dish that I hadn't had in over a decade. So with arms laden with ingredients, I made my way back to the kitchen.
"Bekhi, would you mind using the hammer I gave you to smash this into crumbs?" I passed her a loaf of stale bread while I started dicing onions and turning some beef into ground beef the old fashioned way. With a very sharp knife and a lot of patience.
"What are you doing with that old bread, Kvalinn?" Mubrim looked more than a little confused as to why I was using an inedible ingredient. "And aren't you cutting up the beef too much? It's going to be tasteless mush if you keep doing that."
"Don't worry. If everything goes as planned, then I'll give you the recipe to make for yourself." I grinned in anticipation at the juicy meat getting sliced and diced. Once I had the beef turned into ground beef, I mixed in the bread crumbs, onions, and a few herbs, then I shaped it into a loaf, covered it in a semi tomato sauce, and set it to cook in a covered pan. Since there was no oven, and the only thing to cook over was an open fireplace, I hoped that the cast iron pan would cook it enough.
An hour later, Dak returned from unloading the trade goods and came to the kitchen while sniffing the air. "I'm home! What's that smell? It doesn't smell like your usual cooking, Mubrim."
"Kvalinn is cooking up a mystery dish, dear." Mubrim greeted her husband with a quick kiss from in front of the stove. "Kvalinn, when will your food be ready? The stew is just about done."
"It should be done now." I said confidently. Taking the pan off the fire, I transferred the culinary concoction to a cutting board, and after taking a deep breath, I cut through the center to see a perfect medium rare color. "I call this dish meatloaf. Take a slice and tell me what you think."
There was a fresh loaf of bread on the table, so I made myself a meatloaf sandwich and savored the juicy, greasy, delicious food. After only having meat so salty that you needed a cask of beer to wash it down for over ten years, this frozen beef was like a meal from the heavens for me.
"This is actually quite good." Bekhi said in surprise.
"Yes, I wasn't sure what to expect when he had you turn that stale bread into crumbs, but I agree." Mubrim said while chewing.
"It goes nicely with some beer." Dak said with a smile, while taking a sip of beer.
Overall, everyone seemed to enjoy my food, and thus, meatloaf was born into this world. I just hoped that I'd get to make at least one or two other dishes from my world before going back underground.