Biru was hoisted up by his teammates, tossing him high up in the air in celebration.
At the end of the game, they all celebrated his game-winning hit at the tavern, where HobMankey and Dwarf alike congratulated him for his crucial part in their win.
The dwarves that were once so harsh to him had now finally warmed up to Biru. He had earned their respect, and the Dwarven King respected them in return.
He finally understood why they all treated the sport as seriously as they did. He understood why they worked hard all day long to prepare their bodies for the physical intensity they had to produce to get a win.
They apologized to him, but Biru waved off their concern by pouring them more and more beer.
They drank as much as they could.
The King didn’t think he would be able to increase his love for beer, but the feeling of having his newfound friends and teammates drink and celebrate with him was an entirely new sort of happiness that he wouldn’t have found if he hadn’t left the confines of his kingdom.
Finally, he understood why dwarves preferred to live in this village rather than their kingdom.
And in truth, if he didn’t have the responsibility to protect the Kingdom given to him by his ancestors, then he could see himself living in this village and exploring all the culture that it had to offer.
As he looked upon the happy faces of his fellow dwarves, the King finalized a decision in his mind.
If he couldn’t move here for himself, then he would make sure that all the other dwarves in his kingdom would be able to experience what he felt during this night. He wanted them to be free from the old tradition of closing themselves from the world, and explore what life had to offer!
So, he decided. He was going to open his doors for this village.
He walked out of the tavern and visited the large estate in the middle of the village. This was where their supposed leader lived.
The King felt a little bit nervous as he stood at the gates. This would be the first time he would be meeting someone so legendary. He hadn’t heard a lot about this ‘Michael’ character, but from what he gathered, he seemed to be a man of mythical status.
His magic was comparable to that of wizards renowned throughout the world. His intellect was of a genius level, with no comparison for him to even be at the same level.
“Biru, was it? Michael is ready to see you. Just go through the gates and enter his house,” Lolo said, opening the gates for him to enter.
“That easy?”
The Dwarven King didn’t think he would be let in so easily without even having to schedule a meeting.
He would have thought that Michael’s security detail would be a lot stricter than that. He was their leader, after all. Having a hundred soldiers pat him down before he entered was the bare minimum.
This only told Biru one thing: Michael, alone, was enough.
Biru walked through Michael’s door with his mind racing with thoughts about what he perceived Michael to look like. A burly man at the peak of his physical prowess? A hermit in the twilight of his life with a mind full of wisdom?
But as the door opened, there was only one person that greeted him on the other side.
“Oh, you must be Biru. Welcome to our village,” Michael said with the most casual of greetings.
The Dwarven King was speechless. He thought he was ready for anything, but he would have never expected that the mastermind of this whole village, and the owner of the Reborn company, was none other than a ten-year-old human child!
“You’re…you’re…you’re Michael?!” Biru asked,
Michael shrugged. “I guess…”
Biru had to shake his head, thinking that he was still drunk from beer. But no matter how much more sober he got, Michael would still remain as a child.
“Forgive my rudeness,” Biru said. “I wasn’t expecting you to be so young.”
Michael didn’t take it to heart. “Don’t worry about it. What brings you to my house? Does the Dwarven King need something?”
Biru’s eyes widened. Michael could see through his disguise!
Knowing that there was no use in hiding it anymore, he let go of the magic surrounding his body.
Slowly, his stature became taller, his eyebrows became a lot wilder, and his beard began to twist and tangle into the signature royal dwarven pattern.
Michael was now looking at a dwarf who was even taller than him. Not only that, the dwarf also oozed a sense of regality and dominance, with a confidence that only monarchs had.
“You…know about my true appearance?” Biru asked.
“Yeah, sorry. My eyes could see through all types of magic, disguises included. And if I’m going to be honest, I have a friend named Fudge who informed me of your arrival as soon as you made contact with Thrain,” Michael said with a casual tone.
The Dwarven King could only chuckle once he heard that. If there was any doubt in his mind that Michael was truly capable of doing all the things he had done, then it was now long gone. Just from this little interaction alone, the Dwarven King knew that Michael was not to be messed with.
“I’m sorry for trying to deceive you. I simply wanted to observe your village with an unbiased eye,” the King apologized.
But Michael didn’t care about that. He cared more about the Dwarf King’s opinion of the village.
“And? What do you think? Did you like the game?” Michael asked with a proud smile on his face.
The King smiled. “Yes. In the brief time that I have visited your village, I have become enamored with everything it has to offer. So much so that I am willing to break thousands of years of tradition.”
He faced Michael with a serious expression and held out his hand.
“I want to establish a friendly relationship with you, your village, and your company. Let us help each other and grow our territory to much greater heights!”