Little Joe knew that boy, and he didn't like him one bit. That was Rudy, who had beaten him earlier and taken his goods when he was just trying to earn his money honestly. The dwarf, though grumpy, didn't move and kept staring at the troublemaker, who was trying to bite through a metal stone he had in his mouth.
"This kid is so stupid," thought the dwarf, waiting for the ridiculous scene to play out.
To the boy's surprise, when he bit the stone, it didn't break. Instead, he broke a tooth, spitting both the tooth and the stone onto the ground. Shocked and embarrassed to realize it was actually a metal stone the dwarf was selling, Rudy ran off without even looking back.
As polite as always, little Joe bent down, picked up the stone that the rude boy had spat out, and carefully cleaned it on his clothes before handing it back to the dwarf.
Embarrassed by his earlier behavior toward Joe, the dwarf accepted the stone and, politely, addressed the boy:
"I'm sorry about before, but I'm not used to doing business with polite people."
"Don't worry about it, sir dwarf. Maybe I didn't express myself properly, but what interests me most is the information about this metal stone and its uses."
"For the information, I charge ten bronze coins. But for the stone, I don't charge anything. It's yours; you can keep it."
Little Joe thanked him as he sat down on the ground, listening attentively to everything the old dwarf had to say for a long twenty minutes.
The small screen of the subsystem popped up quickly, giving an alert:
["You have listened to the instructions of a mining specialist. You've gained level 1 understanding of the metal stone's use."]
Little Joe was about to leave after attending that brief lesson when the dwarf came up to him and said:
"Would you like to know how we extract resources from a mineral cave?"
Little Joe replied that he did. The lesson lasted over an hour, covering how to find a good cave and determine if it could be profitable or not.
["You have listened to the instructions of a mining specialist. You've gained level 0.10 understanding of how to find and evaluate a cave."]
Finerg, the dwarf, was moved to find someone truly interested in a subject that no one else cared about anymore. He began explaining how to start excavating a cave, either from a cliffside or straight from the ground.
["You have listened to the instructions of a mining specialist. You've gained level 0.10 understanding of how to start cave excavation from scratch."]
"Listen to me, my young friend, and you will learn how to extract any type of ore from a mine or cave the right way."
["You have listened to the instructions of a mining specialist. You've gained level 0.10 understanding of how to extract ore from an enclosed site."]
"Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. I am Finerg, a dwarf. For a long time, I was the chief of the miners at the Sucasta Cave. Unfortunately, it was taken from us dwarves by nobles from other regions, and we were forbidden to work in our trade. So, we've tried to survive in other ways, but it's been very difficult. We don't have much of good quality left. Besides taking our jobs, they took our honor. We don't even have the right to defend ourselves, even if they attack us unfairly."
Without a second thought, little Joe reached into one of his pockets and, pulling out a handful of copper coins, gently placed them in Finerg's strong, calloused hands.
"I, Finerg, of the Guderf family, am immensely grateful. I will accept your kindness because it's been a long time since anyone bought anything from us dwarves. But I promise, as soon as I get a chance, I will repay you. If you want to meet my niece, I'm sure you'll like her."
Little Joe wrinkled his nose. He couldn't even imagine dating a dwarf, especially since he wasn't much taller than one, and how strange that would be for him.
"Don't worry about that, Mr. Finerg. Better days will come for all of us."
Before leaving the dwarf's presence, the subsystem tab opened again, showing him new information.
[Hint]
[The dwarf Finerg's emotions shifted from resentment and bitterness to surprise and friendliness, and ended with deep gratitude. If you manage to increase it to immense gratitude, you'll be able to create a skills screen for him at no cost.]
"Wow! How great would that be?"
"What did you say, young man?" Finerg asked, not knowing that little Joe was talking to the subsystem, assuming instead that Joe had changed his mind about meeting his niece. Finerg added, "She's very pretty, my boy. Actually, she's the most beautiful in her village. The only problem is, she's a bit bold. I don't understand young women these days, but I think it's because she's past the age for marriage."
"Sorry, Mr. Finerg. I was just remembering something and ended up thinking out loud. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll visit the stalls of the other two dwarves. Are you all from the same family, by any chance?"
Finerg's friendly face changed, and, apparently angry, he responded:
"No! We're not from the same family, and I don't even like them. But they are honorable and trustworthy, and we're all in the same situation. Like I said, I don't like them, but I respect them. Even though they don't like me, whenever they can, they help me with something. My good boy, if at any point you can help them in some way, I'll be immensely grateful."
A smile spread across little Joe's lips.
"Leave it to me, Mr. Finerg, because in the end, I believe we'll all be fine."
Still insisting on the topic, Finerg said to little Joe:
"If you change your mind, my boy, and want to meet my lovely niece, her name is Bellartes."
Pretending not to hear and walking away from the dwarf, little Joe looked thoughtfully at the other stall, just a few meters away.
"Mr. Finerg, I think I heard that your mines were confiscated. So, does that mean there were several?"
"Yes, my boy, and even our mini-mines were blocked with rocks so that we no longer have access to them."
"Could you show me one of those mines? Don't worry, I don't mean you any harm, nor do I want to hurt you, but I'd like to see if I can help in any way."
More curious than afraid, Finerg accepted Joe's company without hesitation. Asking one of his subordinates to cover for him for the rest of the day, Finerg looked firmly at little Joe, who had a confident look despite his young age, and said:
"Just follow me. We have a few hours of walking ahead."
"Do you have someone trustworthy who could quickly go to Mr. Ettuards' farm to fetch something for me?"
Two minutes later, some young men took off at full speed, carrying a bundle that contained the Little Queen Florida, disguised among some rolls of paper. In the pocket of one of them was the following note:
**"For Mr. Van Vil"**
"Grab my small travel bag, put some of my clothes inside it, and leave it open on my bed for 10 minutes. Then, close the bag and give it to the young men who will be waiting for it at the reception. Follow the request exactly, and a reward will follow."