Village Girl POV

We've been following the dwarves through the forest for a while now. And there's not much talking at the moment, which is just fine by me right now. I'll continue to hold the hands of my little brother and sister as we follow them.

The dwarf with the mace and the auburn hair seems to be their leader. He said it's not up to him to decide what will happen to us. I wonder if there are more dwarves. Grandpa said that there aren't many dwarves, but there are seven of them here with us right here.

We've been walking for a long time now, and we only take short breaks. And I think if it weren't for us, they wouldn't make any breaks at all. The leader seems to want to return to their camp as soon as possible. It's late afternoon, so he probably wants to be back before it's getting dark.

After a while, we finally reach the other end of the forest. And I see some felled trees here, did the dwarves do that? I don't know of any village in that direction.

We go on in this direction for a while longer, and finally, we reach the foot of the mountain. And here are more dwarves. They seem to be digging a hole, although I can't imagine what that's good for. There are also many strings and ropes tightened, it looks like they used them to mark the hole.

The leader of the dwarves goes to the workers and talks to them for a while. In the end, they all pack up their tools and load them onto an ox cart. Afterwards, he waves to us, and we all go to him. As it seems we are lucky because we can ride the cart for the rest of the way.

The cart drives south along with the mountain range. The other children all fell asleep as soon as we left. And meanwhile, I can't stand the silence anymore. Which is why I speak to the leader, as he is the only one who is with us on the cart.

"What were you digging for?"

But he looks a little confused by my question. Did I ask a strange thing?

"We're not looking for anything. They were digging a foundation."

"A foundation? What is that?"

This time he seems somewhat surprised.

"With very large buildings, you have to lay a foundation first so it won't sink into the ground later. But don't ask me how exactly that works. All I know is that they want to dig a hole first and then fill it with big stones."

"Big buildings? Like in a city?"

"Yes, just like a city. Because that's exactly what we want to build here."

You want to build a city here? This is the first I'm hearing of it, but then again, they don't seem very far along. But are cities ever built directly? I thought they used to be just villages...

"Ah, here we are."

Where is here? All I see is open land and the mountain range, nothing to indicate a camp. Even the wagon tracks end here. So I'm all the more surprised when some of the dwarves lean against the rock, and it opens like a door.

I wake up the others and follow the dwarves into the cave. And what we see there is even more amazing than the hidden entrance. The whole cave is brightly lit, but I cannot see a single candle or torch. Instead, the ceiling itself seems to glow in some places. Is that some kind of magic? I've never seen anything like this before.

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Victoria POV

I sit at the dining table and draw some plans and take notes as the hidden door to the cave opens. With Dungeon View, I can confirm that these are our people. And it looks like Siegward is finally back from his reconnaissance mission. He and apparently everyone else who was still out there is back now. And with them are some children?

"It seems you brought some guests with you, Siegward. What did you find out?"

He makes a salute and the other dwarves started to spread out. Their job is done, and they don't all have to attend this meeting. Not that there are many rooms to retreat to.

"Your Highness"

A girl, apparently the oldest among the children mumbles something that sounds like "a real princess".

"As ordered, we have set out to examine the pillar of smoke. After crossing the forest, we came across another grassy area. And after a while, we spotted those human children running in our direction.

Since we didn't know the situation, I decided to ambush them. And when they came closer, we discovered twenty gnolls that had been chasing them. Because of the ambush, we were able to defeat the enemy without casualties."

I'm frowning, there's far too many of them to chase a few children.

"Twenty for what? To capture five children?"

"So it was, Your Highness. We followed the pillar of smoke even further after that. But when we saw the burning village on the horizon, I aborted the mission."

Siegward takes a short break in his report so that I can process what I've heard. Aborted? What did he find to abort the mission directly? I make a gesture with my hand to show him to continue.

"Don't keep me in suspense. What did you find there?"

"At least a hundred gnolls gathered outside the village. And several dozen more who scoured the surrounding area for survivors."

I freeze at this revelation. That would mean that the village was attacked by at least two hundred foes. And probably a good deal more than that. If they were to discover us, we wouldn't stand a fraction of a chance.

"I see..."

I'm massaging the bridge of my nose as I contemplate the consequences of this news. The temple will have to wait, the important thing is to prepare a defence...

"Arrange for everything to be placed in the cave, including the animals and the cart. After that, no one goes outside without orders."

Siegward salutes again and instructs some dwarves to carry out my orders. Then I turn to Isgard, who stands beside me.

"Looks like we may have some problems ahead of us."

However, she seems rather unimpressed by that.

"Do not concern yourself, Your Highness. I am certain you will make the right decisions. And we are here to support you."

I'm not sure if that reassures me or only adds further to the weight on my shoulders. Which is why I end up nodding at her.

Next, I turn to the children who are all dressed up and with nowhere to go. Two girls and three boys, I turn to the oldest one of them.

"My name is Victoria, and what's yours?"

"I am Rina. And, um, are you really a princess?"

I can only laugh at that question. After everything that's happened, is that the first question she has for me? At least she doesn't seem too burdened by what she's experienced. Or maybe it's all too surreal for her now, and the truth will catch up to her later.

"Why? Yes, I really am a princess. In fact, I am the princess of the Dwarven Empire. Although there's not much left of it now..."

I shake my head a little to avoid thinking about the vision I had in the temple. Even if they were Victoria's memories and not really mine, it felt very real. And sometimes I see them at night when my avatar is asleep, and I don't really have anything to do.

"So, Rina, you guys can stay here for now with us. Do you have any relatives outside the village or anyone else you could go to?"

Maybe I shouldn't have asked that, because now she looks sad and shakes her head in silence.

"I see. As I said, you can stay with us for a while. We can decide everything else later."

Was what I said, but what do I do with them? And there's not really a shortage of supplies, so that's not a problem. But we don't really have the best conditions for children here, do we? The best thing is to send them to our cook, for now, I'm sure she'll be able to help with the small jobs. They probably did most of it in the village too...

"Isgard, please take them to Blida. She'll take care of her for now.

"Yes, Your Highness. Please follow me."

That should take care of that little problem. Now I just have to deal with the significant issues. First I'll go see the stoneshaper, who has recently awakened. Hopefully, she will live up to my expectations of her.

And it won't be long before I find her. Which is not really surprising considering the size of the dungeon. She's only a few centimetres smaller than me, but the first dwarf with blonde hair I see.

"Your Highness. My name is Herta."

"Now Herta, please tell me about your stone shaping skills."

"I'm a Level 4 Earth Mage. And mostly I've devoted myself to creating works of art like statues and decorating buildings."

With level 4, she should be far superior to me, after all, I'm still on the first level. Even though I've manipulated tons of rocks...

"Unfortunately, we can't afford to pursue such things right now. I assume you can dig a tunnel without any problems?"

I think I offended her with my question, even though she's trying to hide it.

"Of course, Your Highness. Such a task presents no problem for me. However, someone has to take care of all the rubble that comes with it."

Which makes sense, without the dungeon inventory, this is really a problem. Even I started making bricks out of it...