Durin's Diary

After half an hour, Old Ironhammer, clad in civilian clothes, and his two subordinates, also in plain clothes, slipped through the back door of the salon.

As he sat in the large chair Durin had specially prepared for him and listened to Durin's introduction, Old Ironhammer slapped his forehead and then turned to his subordinates, "Go to the town office and pull up a list of all human merchants with their portraits."

The two subordinates left to carry out the order, and Durin asked Kamian some questions about the characteristics of the human merchant. After confirming that the merchant had an eyepatch over his left eye, Old Ironhammer slapped his thigh, "The merchant you described, I've seen him. Came five days ago, his caravan was on the plains west of the town, and I found it odd they didn't enter the town."

Durin personally poured Old Ironhammer a strong drink, "Kamian is inexperienced, and it's his first time too, and he even reported the incident; he doesn't seek merits but hopes for no faults, what do you think?"

By saying this, Durin was desperately protecting Kamian. If Kamian's elders heard of the incident, a whipping would be inevitable. Durin was afraid that, in a fit of rage, the elders might drive Kamian out of town—if anything happened, Kamian's death would be regrettable, but if the Lanlanmu family's unfortunate ones were to be kidnapped along with him, Kamian's faults would be grave indeed.

The tragic fates of the Grassland Elves exiled by the Exiles were filled in the history books.

Moreover, Kamian was just a child. If he went to the Human World, an Exile's fate as a mage's slave would be pitiable beyond belief.

Who knows, he might even be sold for other purposes, and that would be the end of it.

"He has done a service, and is without fault, young sir, what do you think?" Old Ironhammer finished, looking at Durin, giving Durin face—as if he hadn't known beforehand, and if something happened to the kids tomorrow, he wouldn't be able to explain himself at the Town Council.

But now that he was informed, just confirm the human merchant, then he would lead his team directly to swoop on his caravan.

The human merchant can deny all he wants, but in a world with a True God, Divine Arts for detecting lies couldn't be used carelessly. However, there was no need to hold back against a merchant of hallucinogens. It was a matter of who could hold their tongue the longest, and even if the matter dragged into the Human World, he, as the town's police chief, could confidently stand in the palace's grand hall and point fingers at the other party.

"Very well, Kamian did a good job in reporting this, it couldn't be better," Durin said and picked up the wine jug, and Old Ironhammer also smiled, finishing the drink in his hand before accepting Durin's toast.

Don't ask, that's Dwarf culture.

Kamian's eyes reddened with excitement. After Old Ironhammer left to make a phone call, he thanked Durin, "Thank you, Durin."

"It's no big deal, we youngsters should be united and help each other. Next time you encounter a human merchant looking for you, you must be more cautious and ask me and Anta for advice. If both of us aren't around, find the police chief. Old Ironhammer is a good person; he will give you advice," Durin said, giving Kamian a teaching lesson with a smile. Maybe in the future, there would be ideological differences, but at least for now, they were on the same path.

Kamian listened attentively, and Tomimi's cousin Faris also showed great respect, "Everyone says Durin is a young sir (In Grassland Elf language, 'sir' is an honorific used for someone whose speech compels others to listen, and 'young sir' refers to someone young whom people still want to listen to). Tomimi has praised you to the skies, and I thought it was an overstatement, but only today did I realize it is true."

"It's just everyone's kindness to me, I just have some prestige, and everyone is willing to listen to me ramble on," the naturally humble Grassland Elves, with Durin especially preferring to keep a low profile, graciously accepted Faris's respectful gesture of cocoa in place of a toast. Durin then noticed Old Ironhammer hanging up the telephone handset.

It's worth mentioning that telephones in this world are still quite primitive, even still using manual switchboards for dialing. In the Human World, telephones are only found in inter-city and major cities and installed only in places like police stations in affluent towns or public places like salons within the Eastern Elven Territory.

As he walked over, Old Ironhammer's face was flushed with excitement, "I've spoken with Lord Yishu, and he is already leading the team to apprehend them."

"That's wonderful; in such matters, it's best not to let the night bring more dreams," Durin said, foregoing another toast. Old Ironhammer had plenty of work ahead of him, and being drunk wouldn't look good on him.

Old Ironhammer left first—still through the back door.

After resting for a while, Anta made a phone call home. Twenty minutes later, her family's carriage arrived.

The group of five boarded the carriage, and Anta loudly directed the coachman toward Durin's small estate.

Suddenly, Durin spotted the young human man who had followed the carriage and turned three street corners in the side mirror attached to the carriage window.

Camilla Ulysses

Old Profession System: Warrior

Level: Level Four Warrior

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Attributes:

Strength: 15

Agility: 10

Constitution: 16

Intelligence: 11

Perception: 12

Charisma: 13

"It's him, it's him, the persistent one staring at the carriage."

Big Orange has given a sharp review, there must be no mistake.

In the old system, warriors were the most common find; even those maimed in limbs could advance, and although a Level Four warrior sounds unflattering, as it didn't leave the realm of mortals, a strong mid-level warrior could even dodge the bullets of a muzzle-loading gun. The two were not even on the same level.

Thus, Durin got out of the carriage at the street corner, tucked within an angle out of sight, and hid among a group of children, putting his forefinger to his lips to signal the little ones to stay silent.

Once the young man followed the carriage past him, Durin gestured for the patrol officers—locals, of course, who recognized Ailish family's young master and reported the young human's behavior. Two strong beastmen, resembling healthy beasts with horns, followed and apprehended him.

One held the man while the other searched him, finding a short knife and a revolver on him.

The town had rules; any outsider within the town's domain needed a gun permit to carry a firearm. Violators could face imprisonment for one to five years, depending on the situation.

The young human, unable to produce a gun permit even from the depths of his backside, was punched a few times by the beastmen officers and taken away. Such a criminal would be subject to investigation and questioning. Durin walked a few steps and jumped onto the waiting carriage.

"Durin is so impressive." Tomimi cheered quietly.

Durin smiled and climbed aboard, ensuring that there were no second followers, but it seemed someone in the crowd was watching him.

Regrettably, he was small and couldn't find the observer. However, it didn't matter; in town, Durin was not afraid of anything. Besides, it was just a gaze without any apparent malice.

As he slipped into the carriage, Durin swept one last glance around, only seeing a middle-aged human with a beard and a head of flaxen curls. He was holding a silver-haired Grassland Elf girl, turning to leave.

Was it him?

Durin was puzzled, but he eventually buried his doubts and stretched out his hand for a natural high-five with Anta.

"So, will Anta and I be in the clear tomorrow morning?" Durin looked at Kamian.

"Should be." Kamian nodded. Without a way to earn money, life had to go on, hoping to get a small bounty from the officers this time.

"That's great, then. Tomorrow morning, Anta, my ally, would you be willing to accompany me to meet my mentor to check out my Talent?" Durin turned to Anta, showing the generosity expected of an ally.

"Sure, it's an ally's responsibility. I'll spend the night at your small estate then." Anta smiled in agreement, bestowing the greatest trust on her ally.

Durin paused, then showed a trace of embarrassment and a smile, and then listened to a chorus of "woahs" from within the carriage.

What's with the woahs, are you frogs from Lublin Lake?

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