Hearing that all to familiar voice had snapped him out of the dreamscape he had been envisioning himself in and instead gave him a mixture of emotions that could be narrowed down to happiness and displeasure.
Happiness because she was here with him–
–And displeasure because she was here with him.
"Why are you immediately accusing me of stuff when I'm just trying to get my barrings? Your probably just as confused as I am right now, so whats the big deal?"
"The problem is, as you may know, dear brother, slimes see through vibrations in the air instead of sight, and I'm noticing an awful lot of "Vibrations" around your lower half, so care to explain what you were looking at?"
Shit.
"N-now's not the time for that sort of thing! Like I said we need to get our barrings, since we have just been thrown into a fantasy world due to some unknown phenomenon, so we should focus on finding our way around."
"Hmph, nice excuse. Well you're right, so I'll let you off the hook this time. And speaking of, what even happened to cause this? Last I remember, you were in the VR set, then when I went to grab it, everything went dark, and now we're here."
Peroroncino began to recant his side of the events, from him seeing YGGDRASILS icon in the games he had, him clicking on it, to the sudden appearance of the dragon. This explanation prompted a scoff from BukuBukuChagama.
"Figures that you would be the one to cause all this to happen. Can you never just do anything right Onii-chan?"
"What!? Your blaming me for this mess? How am I supposed to know that the Isekai genre went from fiction to 'based on a true story'? All I did was click on the icon out of curiosity. It's your own fault for being here because you tried to grab it when I rightfully had it."
"Are you serious? You're pinning it on me now?"
And so the once empty, silent wasteland of the dead, became filled with the sounds of pointless arguing that seemed liable to wake the corpses from there eternal slumber. Yet after some time, the incessant bickering finally began to die down– For now –and the emergence of a actual conversation could be heard.
"Well, we'll continue this later. For now we need to find a way to get out of here. And I think I know just where to go."
"Do you? And how would you know that?"
"As it would happen, yee of little faith, when you had disturbed me earlier, I was looking around for some signs of civilization in this area, and as it would happen, I found it. Over in that direction about 3km, there was a fortress of some kind, and with it was a group of dwarves."
The slime merely turned slowly towards him, and with a Mocking face(probably) said,"You know I can't see that far out right?"
"Whatever, just trust me on this okay? Well just head down there and ask some question on where we are, alright?"
"While I don't know how I feel in entrusting you, it seems we don't have any other option right now. Fine, lets go."
"You really need to lay off the insults you know that?"
"Why?"
And so the air once again ignited with the heat of there spat, which would continue for the entirety of there walk to the fortress.
.
.
.
"Looks like I win again!"
The dwarf who had shouted that was one of the many troupes garrisoned at the fortress outside the city of Feo Jera. Since rarely any action was seen nowadays, many of the soldiers found themselves getting board with the large amount of standby time. The Quagoa had been dealt with, though they would never have attacked in the daylight anyways, the beast usually stuck to the forest, and most nations did not know of its location. So it was rare the dwarves would ever need to actually battle. Though their was another reason for this.
"It's a little suspicious that this is now the 3rd time you've won in a row Arrain, are you sure your not cheating?"
"I think your just mixing up cheating with skill. Now pay up." the dwarves all around him somewhat begrudgingly gave there bets to the winner of the game they had just lost at. While he had said he hadn't been cheating, he was only partially telling the truth. He was using a little known technique known as card counting to win, though there was no need to tell them that.
"Man, and I was hoping to get a drink after work too. Sigh, better hold off then. Though I don't even know if this can even be considered work with those fella's up here."
His thumb jerked back to the walls of the fortress at two beings that seemed to be large in every possible meaning of the word. These were in fact undead loaned to them by the sorcerer kingdom. Whatever issues somehow managed to pop up, they could take care of with ease. They would take a stance whenever something approached the garrison, which had them double as sentries for the dwarves. So that meant that all the dwarves stationed here could relax and wait until something did happen to show up.
"I know right! Who knew that creatures of such strength could be controlled. There just so damn strong! Remember when the pheonix lord came down and spotted us! I though we were done for!"
"Yeah how could we forget? Who knows what would have happened otherwise."
The incident in question happened a few weeks prior. One of the rulers of Mt. Rappaslea, its power was considered one of the greatest in the Azerlisia mountain range. Though it rarely comes down this low, it must have been looking for prey due to a shortage. While the dwarves quickly fell into panic and were ready to die then and there, the two undead had managed to fen of the creature and caused it to flee back into the mountains. From then on, nobody questioned there power.
"Well regardless, its all thanks to the sorcerer kingdom for that. I've actually been saving up to take a trip there, as I hear their food is just delicious! And after this game, it looks like I have enough."
"Wow, lucky you. Looks like you worked real hard to save up that much."
The dwarf simply flashed his friend a grin as they began to set up the cards once more. However, before they could finish, the distinct sound of metal clattering could be heard. That had meant that the undead had spotted something. While they would be fine with staying down here since they were confident that they could deal with anything, they still needed to verify if it was a traveler and let them through.
"Well, I guess I'll see whats got them all riled up this time. Don't start without me!"
"Then don't take too long."
With that, he began to ascend the steps of the tower to see who the unannounced visitor was. While there was a scheduled drop off of goods today from the sorcerer kingdom, the undead would not have acted, so it must be something else.
"What could it be this time. Hm?" as he looked over the balcony, he had seen the people in question. While the sorcerer kingdom had accepted a large amount of species into its fold, many who lived outside its walls were not used to seeing them. So there was still a bit of shock that was present to outsiders.
After seeing the two, the first thing he had though was confusion. While they had no weapons and were alone, that was not enough to curb his suspicion. For one, one of the entities was a slime. These creatures were known to be non-intelligent, basically acting on instinct. While there was a wide variety of them , such as fiber eating slimes, and sewer slimes, none had ever grown to be larger than large rocks other than particularly noteworthy individuals such as kings. But this one appeared to be the size of a human, or even a bit taller!
The other one appeared to be some kind of bird man. While it was not unpleasant to look at, it seemed to radiate an air of beauty despite not doing anything due to its coloration. It was a mixture of gold and white, with long black hair. At first glance, it seemed to be intelligent given the way it was moving. Was the slime some kind of Utility creature for the rode or...
"Excuse me dwarf-san! My name is Peroroncino, and this is BukuBukuChagama! It would seem we have gotten a bit lost in the mountains! Could you please tell us where we are at present? It would be a great help!"
Ah, so that's the story. If directions was all they needed, then he could happily assist them. "This is the stronghold outside the city of Feo Jera. If your looking for directions back to a city, then the closest place would probably be the sorcerer kingdom to the south. If you are willing to travel a ways more though, the empire is a bit further out in the east."
"I see. Well we had run out of supplies recently, so would it be possible for us to enter the city to restock? Pretty please~?"
The one who had said that was the slime which had come as a huge shock. Not only the fact that it was intelligent, but the high-pitched voice was so far from his expectations for the monster, that he was stunned for a few seconds.
Once he regained his composure, he answered them as best he could. "Well, I'd have to check with the others, but if there seems to be no problems, than sure." with that, he went back to inform the dwarves of the new arrivals, hearing a muffled "So you were staring at them? I didn't realize you swung that way." which was followed by some kind of retort most likely. When he reached the room and informed them of the visitors, surprise filled the their faces as he told them who was there, but a general consensus had been reached.
He went back up to notify them of the arrangement with a few others in tow. "While would be more than happy to accommodate you, you're unknown to us all, so in exchange for passage, could we ask a favor from you?"
"What would that be?"
"In an hour from now, the Flatchest Vampire Airlines is scheduled to drop off some goods here, so could we ask you to help us transport them down to Feo Jera with us?"
The other party had stood still and silent for a length of time after that. While it was not long enough to warrant a repeat of the question, it was still long enough that brought about uncomfortable awkwardness.
Yet the silence was soon broken with another question. "The what?"
"Ah, yes. Its relatively new, so I don't think you would of heard of it, but we have recently begun trade with the sorcerer kingdom, and the utilize frost dragons to carry the goods between nations. Its actually quite ingenious when you think about it. They can't be robbed because the dragons can fend for themselves and would scare of thieves, and traveling by the air means they can make it here in extremely short time. Its great!"
"That's not what... never mind. We'd be happy to help."
While he could sense they still had something on their mind, he chose to ignore it for now, as he had no need to pry deeper. Since they had agreed to cooperate, they had held to there side of the deal and opened the gate. Though with that came a new type of caution, as they had walked past the undead without so much as a glance. That either meant that they had seen them before, or they could handle them in a fight. While he did not think that the latter was a possibility, he had filed it away in his mind as a precaution.
Soon enough, the pair had walked with them all into the landing zone. Since they had some time to spare, they had decided to pass the time with the newcomers.
"Well, since it will most likely be a while before the supply drop is here, why don't we have a card game while we wait."
"I'm down. How about you Chagama?"
"I'm fine with it. It beats waiting around doing nothing."
"Then its settled. Though I warn you I'm pretty good. I haven't lost a match all day."
The Taunt seemingly fell on deaf ears, as the Avian merely responded with, "Then I guess I'll just have to take that title from you." though he could not read its expressions well, it most likely had a smug look.
Now challenged, the game was set in motion, and by the end of it, he had made due on his promise and had managed to beat the dwarf, much to his chagrin. Even though he had found a technique to win games easily, Peroroncino seemed to find a way around it.
"Well, it looks like I've won!"
"How did you manage to do that anyhow? He's been beating us all day, but you just came in and defeated us all like it was nothing!"
"Well its a little trick I've learned called card counting. You simply assign a card with a value, like a number, and keep tabs on how many have been taken from the pile already, and use the values to learn what the other players have based on what is left from your calculations. Its not cheating as it takes skill, but it gives you quite the advantage."
"Ah, so you knew about that method to then?"
Realizing what he just admitted to, he soon found glares from the dwarves that were present being directed at him, now knowing how he had won all those times.
"A-anyhow, it seems that the dragons are in view. Looks like the supplies have arrived!"
Sure enough, it would seem that a flight of 5 different dragons was making their way to the fortress. Each one seemed to be carrying a large amount of crates and other assorted fair. As they landed, their imposing frame became all the more clearer, with the one exception being a dragon who had tiny glasses on his snout, with a large amount of fat on his body. While it may appear humorous, it was still one of the strongest species in the world, so its looks did not matter much.
"Well now, since the supplies and food have arrived, lest get to work bringing them down to the city!"
.
.
.
Since Peroroncino had promised them that he would assist in carrying the supplies, he happily obliged. Since he was of quite a high level, his arm strength was more than sufficient to make this menial task child's play. The dwarves around him expressed shock at how easily he was able to carry the large boxes that would have normally needed to be unpacked, then taken out individually.
However, as they began to head for the large crack in the mountain, a loud, bell like voice rang forth.
"Peroroncino-sama!"
Shocked at the sudden development, he had turned around to see who had said such a thing, and when he did, his blood turned to ice.
Standing by the dragons was a short, petite girl. Her eyes seemed to glow a deep crimson, and silver hair that gleamed in the sun descended form her headdress. Her outfit seemed to be a very deep purple with white frills outlining it, and appeared to be a gown of some sort. And finally, her face was a pale white, and seemed to be the incarnation of beauty. But despite all of this, none of it surprised him.
For he had already seen her before. Indeed, as he had made her back in YGGDRASIL.
"Hey Peroroncino, isn't that–"
He wasn't able to hear the rest of her sentence, as he soon past out form the overwhelming emotions that had consumed him.