A rumbling roar came into Tess ears, sounding almost like an orc preparing to attack, and the frightened horse nearly threw her to the ground, and some man trying to escape hit her on the head.

Oh, he's dead!

The red-haired girl cursed, no longer pretending to be dizzy, and twisted her waist.

A group of stocky, short, bearded men rumbled past her.

After a moment of stunned stepiding, Tess burst out laughing crisply.

She'd never seen so many dwarves before! and they were so cute to run their little legs through the deep snow...... It would be better if the muscles in the face weren't so angry and huddled together.

A dozen furious dwarves surrounded them, and the five men had been cornered by axes and broadswords dangling under their jaws, one of them explaining loudly: "We are just passing by! We are good adventurers, and we fight only for justice......"

But the dwarves apparently didn't listen.

Good job!

Tess couldn't help but applaud, but her eyes were met with a pair of suspicious and angry eyes hidden under her furry eyebrows.

He was standing under her nose.

"Good dwarf!" said the red-haired girl, her sweetest smile, her drunken amber eyes sparkling with adoration and gratitude, "thank you for saving us!" - an additional kiss might have been better, but she hesitated at the obviously unclean, shaggy face, and couldn't kiss it.

The dwarf scratched his chin in confusion and turned to his companions around the men and yelled at one of the dwarves running over.

"Aren't you guys in a bunch?" said the dwarf, whose reddish-brown beard was longer, had to tuck it up at his belt.

But what immediately caught Tess's attention was a small knife in his belt, the blade of which was slightly curved, the silver handle was in the shape of a wolf, the wolf's eyes were inlaid with two blue gems, and the end of the black leather sheath was also wrapped in silver carved into the shape of some kind of shield.

It's a good knife, and Tess has no resistance to a pretty knife - and she's never resisted much.

The girl drooling over the knife didn't hear what the dwarf was saying until he repeated it again.

"You're not in the same league as them?"

He speaks the universal language of humanity on this continent, and he is quite fluent.

"Of course not!" Tess took her eyes off the pretty knife and moved her arm to show the dwarf her bound hands, "these men attacked us. She looked scared and helpless, "We're just passing through here......"

"Don't you know the way?" the dwarf was clearly not so easy to deceive.

"Good dwarf, you have to listen to me, we were going to go north to Balach from the road outside the Windwhispering Forest, but my little Mo-Mochi, a mongoose, it is my pet, it is like a family to me, it does not know what it was frightened by, and suddenly it ran into the forest! We just came in to look for him, and we ran into this group-" She made a look of disgust at the men without the slightest hint of disgust: "They shot me and my friend with something I don't know what to do, and we were unconscious, and I had just woken up. ”

The two dwarves still stared at him with that suspicious gaze, the same posture, the same expression, like a pair of twins.

"The gods are above, and I am telling the truth!" she didn't believe in gods anyway, "Little Mo! Oh, my little Mo, it must have been eaten by some wild beast." ”

At least half of her crying was sincere, and she hadn't heard Mochi for a while.

A gray shadow scurried across the snow, and a small squirrel-like creature crawled up the leg of the shorter-bearded dwarf at great speed, and as the startled dwarf roared to grab it, it swooped up his shoulder, and then jumped accurately onto Tess's head.

"Little Mo!" Tates exclaimed happily. Although its sharp claws scratched her scalp a little painfully.

The mongoose ran down her neck into her arms, shivering, probably frozen. Its short fluff is not designed to withstand such cold.

The two dwarves looked at each other, looking a little convinced.

"Can you put me down?" asked Tess hopefully, the uncomfortable posture of speaking with her waist stretched across her horse, her waist almost broken. Although she could come down herself, what she needed now was to show weakness - she was a delicate girl.

In addition, she was really worried about Naria, who had not moved until now: "I have to go and see if my friend is hurt." ”

The bearded dwarf nodded, and the other went around to the other side of the horse, grabbed Tess by the legs, dragged her off the horse, and untied her from the rope.

"Thank you, good dwarf. She said sweetly.

There was a hint of red in the dwarf's rough, dark skin, but he still looked unhappy, snorted heavily, and ran back to his companion on his short legs.

Naria, who had suddenly been stuffed with a cloud of snow in her neck, managed to wake up, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Tess's grinning face.

"It's a shame that if you wake up a little later, you'll be able to enjoy Mochi's loving bite. She said

Naria groaned and reached for the back of her neck, where there was a dull pain in addition to the cold.

"Don't touch it, you've been shot with an anesthetized arrow by some bastard over there, but don't worry, the wound is small and not bleeding anymore. Tess raised her chin to the dwarves and men who were still in a circle and began to yell at each other, "And then these cute little dwarfs suddenly appeared and saved us!"

The bearded dwarf was now talking to the other dwarf, pointing at them.

Naria frowned in annoyance, she didn't seem to have had much luck lately, and even if she didn't look for trouble, it would find itself on its own.

"What about Ed and the elves?" she asked.

"Probably looking for it. Tess replied, noticing the bearded dwarf walking towards them. Nalya was about to thank him when the dwarf spoke, "We can't let you go. ”

"Why?" Tess looked at him aggrieved and helpless, tears began to appear in her eyes again, "Don't you believe us? ”

The dwarf scratched his beard a little embarrassed: "This is the king's order, and all the humans who have recently appeared in the forest must be brought back and wait for the king's ruling." His face darkened: "Humans ran into our mines, drilled everywhere, stole our gems, and wounded our people. ”

"But what does that have to do with us?" Narya couldn't help but get a little angry, "We don't even know where your pits are!"

"Perhaps, but we must obey the king's orders, and he is now furious. The dwarf comforted them: "Don't worry, he is a good king, I will tell him about you, and he will let you go soon." What do your families look like? I will tell the other dwarves to take them back to the mine if they are found, and not to hurt them. ”

Tess glanced at Naria, and now told the dwarves that it might not be a good idea to have an elf among them. If even the humans of the north are suspicious of elves, their dwarven neighbors will only be as good as they are.

"There was a young man with black hair, named Ed, who had a bit of a tall head, big eyes, blue, and another with blonde hair. Naria said vaguely, not planning to resist again. Not in the way she prefers, though...... But now they can really "go to the dwarven mines".

The dwarf nodded and ran away, and after a while, the dwarf who had dragged Tess off his horse ran over.

"We're going back!" he said in a gruff voice, "you have to follow me." He spoke the language of humanity hard and loud, and it came out of his chest like the sound of rocks rolling down a mountain that they had been beating all day long.

"Of course, good dwarf," Tess smiled lazily, "you'll protect us, won't you?"

She was pleased to see a hint of red once again peeking through the dwarf's furry face. Since it backfired and she had to dig into the dark mines, she had to have some fun with herself.