Book 2: Chapter 71 (1/2)

“Welcome back, Your Gloriousness,” a dwarf said as Vur and E walked into a room. Close to a dozen dwarves were sitting in a circle with two empty seats in the center. “Who is this?”

“This is Vur,” E said. “He was supposed to be the new dwarf king. The coronation ceremony will have to be put on hold until this situation is dealt with though.”

“A human as our king?” one of the dwarves with a massive red nose said. “I can’t accept this!”

Another dwarf who was bald and had a silver mustache nodded. “Right. I hate Plumby’s guts, but even I have to agree with him this time.”

“Don’t call me Plumby!”

“Shut up!” E said, stifling the commotion before it could grow too loud. “If you can’t accept a human as our king, then pretend he’s a really tall dwarf. There will be no more arguments about this, understood? We have more pressing matters to deal with.” E strode to the table and leaned over it, reading the titles of the documents spread out over a massive map. “This is the declaration of war? It’s definitely written by some pretentious nobles, look at how archaic the language is. And it’s even backed by the Lion of the East. What are those two buffoons who call themselves emperor and empress thinking?”

“Oh, you were hit pretty hard, huh?” Vur asked as he towered over all the dwarves. He rested one arm on Plumby’s head while gazing at the map on the table. He brushed aside a few documents and clicked his tongue. “Whoever designed this kingdom sucked. It looks like a mishmash of twelve separate countries tied together by a couple of roads.”

“Well, that’s essentially what my kingdom is,” E said. “I rule over the twelve generals, and the twelve generals rule over their own lands.”

“There’s only eleven people here,” Vur said and looked around.

“We lost Mooney,” one of the dwarves said. “That’s his portion over there.” He pointed at the section of the map with a giant red ‘X’ drawn through it. “We know nothing about it. No messages have been sent out, and all the scouts we sent in never came back.”

Vur rolled his eyes. “Well, when you only have two roads leading into a country, of course, it’s going to be easy to isolate. Get the earth elementals to construct a road over this river and send in scouts that way.” He pointed at the portion next to Mooney’s on the map. “Who owns this section?”

“I do,” the dwarf with the silver mustache said. “I—”

“Alright, you’re responsible for reconnecting with Mooney via new entry routes,” Vur said. “Create one road exiting your territory, but have it branch out into hundreds of roads to enter Mooney’s so the invaders can’t use them to sneak in.”

The mustached dwarf glanced at E. E nodded. “Do as he says,” E said. “His words are greater than mine. He’s a master at strategy and warfare. He comes from across the ocean, much like our ancestors, and he owns his own kingdom that he’s confident enough to leave without management to go on a vacation.”

“Hmm.” The mustached dwarf inspected Vur from top to bottom as if he were seeing him for the first time. “So he has some qualifications. Well, I see nothing wrong with his proposal. I’ll create those roads right away, but will the earth elementals cooperate with me?”

Vur patted his right arm. “Deedee,” he said.

“Don’t call me that…,” a defeated voice said as a brown figure materialized next to Vur.

Vur gestured towards Diamant. “He’ll help you coordinate with the earth elementals.”