Slowly, tears fell from her eyes as she impulsively jumped into Arthur’s arms and she started crying silently.
“…” The boy was quite taken aback for a moment as he looked at the little girl. Then, a small smile appeared on his face before he slowly put his hand on the back of her head, patting her gently.
“… I was really scared… Hick!” The girl muttered through her tears. Nobody could truly fathom how terrified she was that she might get caught again. She imagined the hell she escaped returning far worse.
Even though Sora was quiet and timid, she still enjoyed her time with this group of people. They were very nice to her, feeding her, protecting her, and giving her a reason to look forward to tomorrow. She was deeply grateful to them for truly opening this new life for her.
When she was at her lowest point, ready to die just to escape this hell once and for all, Arthur appeared like a beacon of hope and pulled her out of that darkness. It didn’t make sense how such a thing could happen when the world had told her again and again that she was nothing but a worthless tool.
Even her own family threw her away when they realized that she was of no purpose nor did she truly fulfill what they expected. Her soul shattered again and again into small pieces and all she could do was watch from the side as if it wasn’t her problem.
“It’s ok. Everything will be fine. You were very brave there.” He replied in a calm tone. “You were actually a huge help because we would’ve not known what could’ve happened if he got too close. Good job, Sora.”
“… Mm…” The girl nodded her head as she slowly pulled away. Arthur then gave her a tissue to wipe her face and nose.
Isla and the others watched the scene with warm looks on their faces. They all felt really bad for the small girl for going through all of this at such a young age and yet still be able to keep hoping and trying. That kind of strength was truly rare.
After calming her down, Arthur stood up and looked at his group. “Well, now that we made it. I think we should immediately start working and building the place. We don’t have time at all. Some annoying rivals arrived at the city and they will try everything they can to actually take over. We can’t let them do that… This city… No, this entire empire is now our playground.” He grinned.
Then, he pointed at the ground. “Let’s play it right.”
“Hell yeah!” Herculia yelled excitedly. “We won’t let those bastards get a room to even breathe!”
“Fufufu, calm down, Herculia. We don’t want to make too much noise.”
“Hmph, we will just destroy them if they try to stop us.” Danny scoffed arrogantly.
“As you heard Arthur, we have to start work immediately. Finlay, Serko.” Calling for the two dwarves, Isla noticed that they had already started work, putting the plan on the ground as they examined it thoroughly.
“Ok! Perfect, we have enough material for the building process!” Finlay exclaimed as he slowly rolled his sleeves. “We can start.”
“Do you guys need our help?” Arthur asked. “The more people the better, after all.”
“Mm, we have to work together.”
Quickly, everyone surrounded the two dwarves and the two boys started giving clear instructions to them. Their innocent personalities and cheerful energy were replaced with serious and focused demeanors.
The sudden shift was surprising but it also gave the group an idea of how much the two dwarves took this project seriously. They have been perfecting the plan for several days now even though with their skills, a day was more than enough to draw the entire plan.
Yet, they wanted it to be perfect, down to the smallest details. It was their gratitude to Arthur and the others that drove them to put their heart and soul into this project.
With that, the group then scattered into the place, each with their own task in mind. They first picked up the materials and then started bring them to their right places.
Meanwhile, Finlay and Serko moved at horrifying speeds, quickly starting to dig the ground using the shovels provided to them. Their speed was simply incomprehensible. It was as if whenever they had to build something, they turned into bolts of lightning, moving at a horrifying pace as they did their tasks perfectly.
‘I can never understand how they can do this…’ Arthur stopped for a moment to stare at them.
“They might not even need our help…” Herculia muttered. “Well! Let’s hurry boys! We can’t slack!”
The team quickly accelerated their working effort as they moved through the entire place, quickly setting the foundations.
“Hey! Herculia! Catch this!”
“What?!” The big man looked to the side, only to realize that Arthur had thrown a large stone at him.
“What the hell?!” He quickly dodged the rock at the last second.
“Hahaha!”
“You were about to kill me, bastard!” He yelled.
“Hmm, a small rock like that one wouldn’t even take down your health, relax.” Arthur shrugged.
“Relax? Come here!” He yelled as he ran after him.
“Hey! Stop playing around, you two!” Emmy yelled at them.
“… Sorry…”
The atmosphere was quite positive as the group shared jokes and laughs while working. Slowly, time passed as a wall of wood started rising from the ground, covering the entire area.
The wall wasn’t thick nor strong and its intention was simply to hide what was happening inside from the people’s eyes. Finlay and Serko were the main workers on the project and their safety required such a wall to keep them from unwanted eyes.
After exactly 5 hours of work, the entire wooden wall was built, reaching almost 20 meters in the air.
“Fuuuh… We are finally done!” Arthur exhaled as he wiped the sweat off his face. He was truly exhausted after several hours of work.
“But… We’re done…” Herculia threw himself on the ground. Arthur also sat down as he rested his back on the big guy’s stomach.
“Now, this should be enough to hide the place from the eyes. As long as we make sure nobody gets too close, we should be fine.” Isla said. “Is this enough, you two?”
“Mm! We are definitely safe here!” The two nodded their heads. “Now, we will start actually working on the building itself.”
“Aren’t you like… tired?” Arthur asked with an almost horrified look on his face. The two dwarves had done the most work by far and yet they looked the least tired of the entire group.
“Hm? We are fine! Hehehe!” The two dwarves laughed. “You guys can rest while we start!”
Then, as if they didn’t even care, the two resumed work as quickly as when they started. Nobody could understand where all that energy came from but they didn’t bother to ask. They were happy they had Finlay and Serko in their group.
“…”
“… They’re built differently…” Herculia muttered.
“Duh, they’re dwarves.” Arthur elbowed his friend’s stomach as he replied.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3