Ed, who had been caught by the elves, looked frustrated.

"I'm sorry...... But we should always be together, we should take care of each other. I shouldn't have run after goblins alone in the first place...... "He didn't want to fall into such self-pity, but it was clearly his fault.

The elf was a little helpless. He didn't have much experience operating with other people, and keeping three young humans safe was his mission on this trip, but the current situation made him lose sight of one or the other.

"If you want to take care of them, you can't do it alone. Alan Carvo had said this, and he was slightly unconvinced at the time, but now he must admit that he was indeed a little overwhelmed, and the half-elf priest who "could appear at any time and anywhere" was nowhere to be seen.

"I think I can still help......" Ed crouched to himself. Perseverance - or thick skin - was his strength, and although he was deeply affected, he had no intention of giving up.

Norway looked at him thoughtfully. It's an adventure for young people, and the end result may not be as good as it should be, but they shouldn't just go back with nothing.

He probably shouldn't have just treated them as objects to be protected.

He took a deep breath and finally made his decision.

"Okay, let's do it together. ”

Ed was right, they should be together, and even if they were discovered by the dwarves, they would at least be able to rendezvous with Tess and Naria. Together, they will deal with the same dangers, rather than being separated and facing different crises as they are now.

Ed looked up at him, looking surprised and delighted.

"Follow me, I'll tell you what to do, if I tell you to stop, you stop, don't move even if I'm gone, I'll come back to you. If the dwarves find out, tell them the truth that we are here for Tess and Naria, and if necessary, say that we only met on the road and are not familiar with each other. ”

Ed shook his head resolutely, "I'll tell them you're my friend and we've got to be together." ”

"You're ......," said the elf, unable to find the right words to describe it for a moment.

"I know you're trying to compliment me. Ed said with a blank face, "It's okay, we can find another time." ”

The elf finally couldn't help but let out a low laugh.

The dwarves were preparing to set off when they caught up. The next journey elf didn't want to go through a second time - when he was alone, he just had to be careful, and with Ed, he was scared at every step. He was more worried about the young man rolling off the cliff and falling half to his death than being spotted by the dwarves.

Maybe there really is a god of luck watching over Ed, and they are in danger. Once, he nearly collided with a dwarven guard who suddenly emerged from some shadow, but was not detected. The elves secretly offered more praise to the gods than in the past year, and he hoped that such good fortune would last until the end of their journey.

But they eventually lost track of the dwarves.

The dwarves seemed to be preparing to stop and rest, and the rocks jutted high above them, perched on the cliffs on the other side, forming a natural barrier. The elf simply retracted into the crevice and adjusted its position, and when it poked its head out again, it was empty.

He motioned for Ed to stay where he was, trying to get closer. It was too dangerous to approach from below, the space under the rocks was much darker than outside, and he didn't know if there were guards watching the road in the dark.

He had to take advantage of the gaps in the rocks above, clinging to the tiny protrusions with his hands and feet, and slowly and silently moving in.

Live like a big lizard.

Ed looked at it in a cold sweat, and could only think of this not-so-elegant description.

The elf dived into the darkness and disappeared from his sight. He waited quietly and nervously, waiting, feeling like he had been waiting for almost a hundred years, and he couldn't help but poke his head out, but he almost hit the elf's chin.

"Come here. Norway frowned and said to him, "There's no one down there." ”

There was no snow here, the dwarves were littered with the water left behind by the melting snow, and on the other side there was no sign of anyone leaving, and the dwarves seemed to have suddenly disappeared into the rocks.

"There should be a gate here. "The elves looked at the rock walls on both sides, and couldn't be sure which side it was, both sides were high enough, and once the secret door of the dwarven kingdom was closed, it was impossible to find it from the outside. They were too far away to know if the dwarves had used spells or traps, and the fact that there was no guard here only meant that the dwarves were quite confident in the secrecy of the gate, and that the elves didn't think they could find a way to open it.

"Are you saying we have to wait here?" Ed craned his neck, the howling wind whistling in his face like a knife.

"No, I don't know how long I'll have to wait. We've got to find a way to get them to open the door. "If we make enough noise here, maybe the dwarves will open the door and come out to see how we can get in." ”

"Did you use this method the last time you entered the dwarven mines?" Ed had always thought of Norway as cautious and gentle, but as he traveled, he began to realize that his previous knowledge of elves was very limited.

"No," the elf smiled at him, "I was invited that time. ”

He didn't say any more, and Ed knew it wasn't a good time to tell a story. They found a leeward and hidden place and began to discuss how to alarm the dwarves in the solid stone gate.

Nalya didn't hear the heavy sound of the imaginary stone door opening.

In fact, it took her a while to realize that they had entered the kingdom of the Silver Fang Dwarves. The temperature around them began to rise, the wind carried the warmth of fire, the sound of hammers hitting rocks and metal gradually replaced the whistling wind, and the low, deep conversation of the dwarves was no longer full of wary hardness, but was dyed with the relaxation and contentment of returning home.

Someone patted her on the shin lightly, and she knew it was the young dwarf who had been following them along the way, Santino Brassy.

"You can take off the strip of cloth and get off the horse. He said, his voice full of pride.

Naria tore off the rotten strip of cloth from her eyes that the dwarves had gotten out of nowhere, and exhaled in relief, she had always felt that the strip of cloth was sticky, and her face was nauseous for a long time.

But it might be worth it.

She opened her eyes wide and looked around, silent in amazement.

Charin Hall, the kingdom of the Bronze Flame Dwarves, hidden beneath the mountains, among the rocks, a mysterious place that has never been open to humans, unfolds before her eyes.