“Is there really such a place like that? It sounds too good to be true!”
“And you mean to say that they made that big wall in just under two days?! Impossible…”
“Are you of sound mind, Thrain? Are you sure that the tragedy of this landslide hasn’t damaged your mental faculties?”
Of course, the dwarves couldn’t believe Thrain’s description of Michael’s village in the Parched Lands. This paradise sounded more like a dream than something that happened in reality.
“If that is true, brothers, then you too must be imagining the wall built upon this village. Everything I said is even truer than the fact that we dwarves have ale in our blood!” Thrain affirmed.
The dwarves, although skeptical, decided to believe Thrain’s words for now and check out this magical paradise for themselves. If it was only a product of Thrain’s imagination, then they would try to help him recover from his delusion.
“Take us to this oasis in the desert,” the dwarves said.
To which, Thrain nodded with satisfaction. He was one hundred percent sure that they would soon get enamored with the village’s customs and culture once they saw it for themselves.
Truthfully, Thrain was starting to get guilty after experiencing happiness in the village. He knew that there were still a lot more unfortunate dwarves affected by the landslide who had no food or hammer to their name. It sounded unfair that they were the only ones to experience such little joys in life like beer and baseball.
“We must make our way towards the Parched Lands immediately, for it will take more than a month’s worth of travel,” said the dwarves.
But Thrain knew that there was a better and much faster way of getting to the village.
He looked down at the shadow on his feet and mumbled the words, “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!”
Suddenly, a bulbous figure made out of violet slime emerged out of his shadow, taking the form of Michael’s trusty old pet, Fudge.
“You rang for me, Thrain-san?” asked Fudge.
“Yes, Fudge-dono.”
Because Fudge was influenced by a lot of anime tropes, he always insisted that he be addressed as Fudge-dono or Fudge-kun. Thrain respected the slime, so he accommodated his requests consistently.
“We are going to need the automobiles to take us to the village,” Thrain said, introducing the other dwarves to Fudge.
“Okay! I’ll be sending them now!”
And just like Fudge said, the automobiles arrived at the other side of the wall in just a few hours.
The dwarves, just like Thrain when he first saw it, expressed their shock when the story about the horseless carriage turned out to be true.
“You should hold off on your surprises until after you see what the village has to offer,” Thrain said to the speechless dwarves.
He assisted them into the automobile, but he didn’t go with them. Instead, Thrain decided to stay near the walls so that he would be able to spread the news about the village to other dwarves.
…
…
…
Once they arrived at the village, the dwarves were quickly welcomed by the almost-native dwarves of the village.
First of all, they were given their own houses to sleep in temporarily, which were equipped with both a plumbing system and electrical wiring.
Then once they were settled in, the new dwarves were brought up to speed with everything there was to see in the village, including the farms, the accommodations, the public hot springs, and most importantly, the baseball fields where some of the dwarves were playing with the HobMankeys.
The dwarves, of course, had also made a baseball team of their own called the Dwarven Miners, and quickly proved themselves to be one of the best teams in the entire village. Their short stature allowed them to have a smaller strike zone, meaning pitchers would always have trouble with their balls.
“Ah, good! New recruits!” said the dwarf team captain. “Come and warm up with us! We need to beat the Chefs this time around!”
After a day of the dwarves immersing themselves into the culture of the village, they quickly understood why Thrain said that this was one of the best places to live in among the entire world.
Everything in this village was free, including housing, water, electricity, food, and everything else they needed to survive. This meant that they could fully enjoy what life had to offer without worrying about where they were going to find their next meal.
The best part was that everyone worked together to keep this village into the paradise it was now. Each of them, including the dwarves that made this village their home, contributed something to the table.
Whether it was smithing, crafting, or maybe even brewing beer, everyone had a job to do.
One of the dwarves even had the brilliant idea of constructing a Tavern for everyone to drink in when the night came.
With Michael’s approval, the Dwarf enlisted the help of Kong and a few others to make the tavern’s design a mix of both cultures, while still maintaining a little bit of dwarven design.
This tavern became the place where all of them gathered at night, drinking while making fun of each other’s bad game during the baseball matches.
“I know my parents would strike me down for this, but I think beer tastes better than ale!”
“You know, after tasting this cold beer, I just might agree with you.”
“This is the life! Playing baseball and kicking it back with a couple of cold ones!” said one particular dwarf, whose beard wasn’t as bushy as the others.
“You’re not the one to say that, Baldrick! Even though you’ve been here for two days now, you still don’t have anything to contribute to this village,” teased his dwarf friend, to which a lot of Dwarves and HobMankeys chuckled to themselves after hearing.
“I’m trying to find something I’m good at!” Baldrick tried to explain. “But, I have no other talent except drinking this beer!”
Just then, one of the dwarves had an idea form in his head. “What if you become the one to sell this beer to the Dwarven Kingdom?”