–The next day.

The next day, we arrived at a dwarf village not far from the elven village.

Our group consists of me, Sonja, Ouroboros, the elf queen, and the hand riding rabbits.

By the way, Maria was left behind to guard the hut.

The dwarf village is located near the mine. In the center of the village, there’s a big steel mill-like structure in which black smoke was rising.

「I’m sorry but we don’t have enough manpower at the moment.」

The dwarf chief said that war is about to break out in the neighboring countries so the village is now focused on producing weapons and armor.

By the way, dwarf men have an average height of around 155cm and 140cm for women.

There are only old men and women and children up to twelve years old there.

According to Ouroboros, the dwarves are some kind of “old race” where they suddenly become old at a certain age. And that’s for both men and women

It seems like it is the normal feature of an old race so you would never find anyone that looks in their mid-teens to early thirties.

「Can’t you do something about it, chief? You and I are close, aren’t we!?」

The elves have been buying from the dwarves things that they will grant magical attributes to and they have been doing this for a long time that they have built a good relationship.

Well, the elves are kind of a hermit race so they are basically treating them as good neighbors.

「But….」

The dwarf chief, who looks like a seventy-year-old grandfather, made a troubled expression.

By the way, we are currently in the drawing room of the chief’s house. Seeing the things around, he should be living in a fairly good condition.

The tea served is also delicious.

「By the way, I heard that chief has…a grandchild! I heard that she’s still a halfling. If that is the case, she should be free, right? Carpentry is one of your basic skills….she can do it too for sure, right? Lend her to me for around 2 weeks!」

Then, a twelve-year-old girl came out from the back.

She has glossy light blue hair and her height is around 130cm.

Anyway, she’s too different from the dwarves in my imagination since she’s not muscular.

—-I mean, this girl is so cute.

She looks like a pretty girl that will break if you touch her. Just looking at her can heal you.

「Grandpa….can I go? I’m still a halfling but….I’m already recognized as a full-grown if it is related to my skills….」

Bo-bo-bo….boku girl?

TN: The pronoun “boku” is used by males to refer to himself.

As expected of a fantasy world.

This is the first time I’ve met a girl who talks like this.

「You can’t, Katya!」

「…..eh?」

「You are still a halfling! I won’t allow you to go out of the village!」

「Can’t you let her, chief? How about a week! I’ll even pay more!」

Oi oi, I’m the one who’ll actually pay.

Don’t decide without my permission….maa, even if I say that, she won’t listen so I’ll just keep quiet here.

「Even if it is requested by the elves, we can’t since it’s the law of the village….」

「Law?」

「Yeah. Being a halfling means you are a trainee. You must not get to the outside world. A halfling can only be full-grown if he mines a special ore himself and make something from that ore as proof of being a full-grown.」

「But….」

「To tell the truth, this girl is already as good as a full-grown in terms of skill like she said herself.」

「Then, why is she still not making that proof?」

「Her birthday was last month and she should have done so according to plan. However, sudden order came, a lot of them, because of the war…..no one was free to escort her to the mine.」

「…..she needs escort?」

「The mine has become a dungeon. She has to be protected while exploring the mine. 」

And the elf queen nodded and smiled.

「I understand. As for her escort….we’ll do it! 」

You talk fast!

In addition, she never thought that she needed to consult us before deciding anything first…..

Well, it seems like it has been decided that we’ll go to a dungeon.