A yawn to start the day, Urist woke up feeling worse than usual, shown by his bloodshot eyes. Haunted throughout the night by the sounds of ripping flesh and crunching bones. The cursed noise had echoed loud enough to reach the depths of the cave.

The light sleepers of the group, like Urist, couldn’t sleep until well into the night when the rats decided to stop their frenzy. However, he didn’t let a little lack of sleep stop him from getting ready for the day. 

Grabbing his oxygen light crystal he gave it a few breaths, did some stretching before setting his mind to get to work. Giving the wake-up call one by one the male dwarfs awoke. Some were grumpy like him, but it wasn't the time to slack off. There was work to be done.

Walking over to the females’ quarters, Urist also gave them a wake-up call, before heading over to meet the new arrivals. He wasn’t feeling up to the task of getting a headstart on exploration. That and Uria had taken the fourth shift of the night so he wanted to lessen her load a little thanks to the rats.

As before, four new dwarfs stood there confused. Urist, with the help of Arben, got them up to speed. Ubig the carpenter, Gale the wind mage, Littou the veteran warrior and the commoner Ran.

The only one that stood out from the group was the buff and scarred warrior Littou who had black graying hair, yellow eyes that shone like amber and a majestic double braided beard that stopped at his chest midway. His gear consisted of iron chainmail and an iron Warhammer that had a  warm auburn handle.

His first words left a deep impression on Urist.

“Are there enemies that need slaying? If so please point me in the direction.”

“No, not right now, but I feel that soon we shall.”

“Excellent with this body I can go to war once again! I now serve you, my lord!”

The old dwarf got on one knee and bowed.

Urist felt flustered and raised Littou from his knee, “I am not a lord so there is no need to bow. I’m merely a leader, is all.”

Littou got up from his kneeling position with the sparkling eyes of a puppy which contrasted his rough exterior.

“I’m sorry if I’ve offended you!”

The old man got onto one knee once again causing Urist’s head to ache at the sight.

“You haven’t offended me so please rise. Just call me boss like everyone else does.”

Getting Littou back onto his feet, Urist turned to Arben, “I’ll leave it to you to get everyone sorted out, alright?”

Hitting his chest with a  fist Arben replied, “Understood, boss.”

Urist watched Arben lead the four dwarfs out of the cave and felt uneasy. There were so many dwarfs now living here that it would be hard to keep track of them all. He felt daunted by knowing he held so many lives in his hands.

And now dwarfs were calling him a lord?

Man, I need to find someone to help me get things done sooner or later.

Urist mused as he slapped his cheeks to clear his mind, “We have to survive this before I can think of the future. I’ve held it off long enough time to see what the team is doing.” 

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Opening the bamboo cave door Urist’s eyes adjusted to the light allowing him to see that the construction team was still going strong. Since they had finished up the walls they were working on getting the other defenses ready. Such as the rock holdings, getting the maces ready to attach to the pulley defenses, and sharpening wooden sticks to place along the wall.

Out of the corner of his eye, Urist could see the alchemist Empty, poison mage Gift, and the metal fanatics Baikm and Hot-working hard together. They also had a team of helpers, borrowed from the construction team.

There was a reason why such a group was formed. Grenade manufacturing. They were currently working on the production of metal grenades. For one reason that after seeing the effectiveness of the first test grenades, Urist wanted a dozen or so copper grenades to use in emergencies. 

He felt it acceptable to make them since the expedition a few days ago had acquired enough spare material. There was enough leftover to make a couple of dozen after finishing the other on spearheads and maces.

Urist thought about making grenades out of clay but discarded the thought for the moment. They didn’t have enough materials due to it being used to make bricks. Although he thought of buying clay on the market, Empty rejected the idea by stating that clay grenades were the hardest to make for him. 

The problem with clay grenades was if the mold messed up the clay or cracked it would become a useless product. Add to the fact that inlaying a ruby on the top of the grenade was a chore Empty really didn’t want to worry about.

So they had decided that when the earth mages finished up making the rock holdings and filling them up. Their next task would be making rock cores that the alchemist and his team could chisel away. The reason the earth mages couldn’t make the shape in one go was that they didn’t have enough control to perform such complex carvings. Without time on their side, Urist and the Alchemist decided on such a plan.

He and Empty got into a heated discussion about hollowing grenades out and filling them with poison. So the poison mage, while filling barrels of poison, also filled the still hollow grenades.

With them using so much metal, its production had kicked into high gear. Whilst building the wall the dwarfs also managed to increase the number of kilns to keep up with demand. To work the third kiln the pottery maker Zaster was shoehorned into the position.

Although the man was a little saddened that he wouldn’t get to create jars and other useful clay items he understood that it wasn’t the time.

“Hey boss what are you doing? We're all ready to go!”

A stout male voice called out to Urist shaking him from his thoughts.

Elrish and the rest were waiting for him with their new armor and weapons, ready to proceed.

“Sorry for keeping you guys waiting. Let's head out and survey the area. I fear it’ll be more dangerous than the other day. With that in mind, I expect you guys to be on your guard.”

Rat shrugged his shoulders, “Should we be scared of some oversized rats, boss? I mean they aren’t so strong that they could threaten our lives.”

“Last night was strange so I want us to be on our toes. That being said… Hey Tomo!”

On top of the wall, Tomo stood up from crafting a stone holder and gazed down from the wall.

“What's up, boss? You need something?”

Nodding his head Urist replied, “I need you to do me a favor. Just in case. I want you to save enough mana to block the entrance with the stone wheel you guys made the other day, ok?”

“Understood, boss.”

With everything in order Urist’s eyes sharpened, “Let’s head out and see what those rats are doing.”

““““““Yes, Boss!”””””””