Early Morning. Galbarar's grace dyed the night sky with shades of orange and red in the east. Before me a question which every single person I revealed myself to asked.

"Why don't you take over the country?"

Why, indeed. When everyone's first reaction is the same, the inevitable follow-up was, they have a point. But their viewpoints were too narrow, too close to the ground to see the bigger picture. Kings come and kings go. A nation, however, was more than just a sovereign.

Swopping in now to "rescue" Windemere would result in a weaker kingdom, one that would fall prey to exactly the same dangers as before, or worse, one that would expect me to come and help them again in the future whenever they needed help. If I wanted a strong Windemere, I couldn't coddle the country. Like a toddler giving its first steps, the parent had to stay at a safe distance and let her fall a few times. Get some bruises, but keep her confidence and eventually run, jump, dash, and skip.

My vision for the future of Windemere was, obviously, a representative democratic republic. But the level of civility, ethics, and self-governance required was far from existing. The people needed to understand its advantages and disadvantages, the concepts, and have a level of freedom and responsibility closer to what we had back on Earth. But as the saying went, aim for the stars to hit the moon.

Would a senate like the one in Ancient Rome work? I had no idea. I was an IT engineer, not a politician, and my experience in Yznarian politics was rather cutthroat, or quite literally, one could say. I could only steer the nation away from disaster and hope for a good outcome. I started to write a code of laws with what I remembered from the few times I browsed such documents. But my extra time was over. Helger knocked on my door and we had to go visit the dwarves.

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"Haru! We're going to be late! Wake up, already!"

"I'm decent!" I shouted right after he entered. I had no idea why I cared.

"We need to go now, Haru. There's a carriage caravan going north on the Dungeon road, we're joining them." Helger saw my tools on the desk. "What are you working on?"

I quickly emptied my desk of tools and materials. "Secret! You'll have to wait."

"I saw dragon scales."

I modulated my voice to imitate an infomercial narrator, "Dragon scale, dragon horn, dragon bone, leather, and sinew. All on sale here on H&H's raw material depot."

We laughed. Helger brushed a hand over my desk. "Platinum burrs. Sloppy child. You need better work discipline, girl. This is money you're leaving on your desk to the wind."

Fine particulate won't go into the item box. But those burrs are not worth the trouble to me. But since I was a good girl, I lowered my head. "I'm sorry. Could you teach me how to save those?"

"Who taught you to work precious metals? Were you self-taught? Looks like. When we reach Vugh Tarim, we're getting you decent tools. Better yet, we can make them."

Vugh Tarim was the dwarven stronghold deep in the mountains north of the Dungeon where I was born. The same place where Lakerta once found a huge vein of precious metals and gemstones the dwarves have been mining for centuries. I suspect these magical veins regrew slowly but had no concrete evidence.

"Do you have everything you need?" He asked.

"Yes, I always have everything with me," I grinned.

We took a carriage to the north gate of the city.

"Father, I'm going to hide my tails and ears. Don't mention Fangor or Nozmizla. I'm just an orphan Apprentice you picked at the orphanage. Nobody needs to know my origins."

"It's not like I had any other dwarves to tell the tale. Some customers might have gossiped about you, after all, your stunts weren't exactly inconspicuous. But I can say I hired a fox-kin clerk. I can even actually find one to work as your cover. The lie will pop up later because you'll be famous at the Academy soon, but we'll deal with each situation as they arise."

"Thanks."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I was sure that Axejaw motherfucker would cause trouble if he knew I was alive. Maybe it was too late but it was easy for me to dismiss their worries.

"Tell them I'm not even awakened. Since nobody can see my Status, there won't be any problem."

I had two pureblood dwarven lives before this when Bundeus' fanatics murdered me right at birth. I used some of them to change my facial features a bit, hiding my Kin heritage and making me look less like Nozmizla.

At the gate, a caravan of dwarven wagons awaited us and other dwarves. It seemed every single dwarf in the capital was being recalled. Their tightly-knit family structures meant most answered the call. Whether to join the separatist party or to knock some sense on those stupid beard twisters.

"Hey, Stouthammer!" A black-bearded dwarf approached. He seemed older than my father. "What a surprise seeing you here, we were sure you wouldn't answer the summons. Who is the young girl?"

"An orphan I adopted from Zacheia's orphanage. The one in Rosebush," Helger put his hand on my shoulder and made me bow.

"You met with the [Saintess]? Is this one of her children? What a pretty girl, but isn't she too young?"

"Maybe she is. Maybe not. The [Saintess] spoke well of her. And she is of the blood, although we suspect she's at least a quarter something else. She's too tall for her age. Haru, this is master [Miner] Baritono Icebreaker!"

I bowed. "It is an honor, master. I'm Haru Stouthammer, at your service."

Baritono guffawed, "What a polite girl! I see why the [Saintess] praised her. Come, little Haru. Say, can you lift a pick? You seem like a strong girl."

"I think I can, master Icebreaker. Would you show me how to swing one?"

He laughed again. "Of course! It's not every day a girl has an interest in mining! Would you mind me stealing your daughter for a while, Stouthammer?"

"Nay, Icebreaker. It's better if she learns to swing a pick the right way from the beginning. She'll get a strong base when she has to hammer metal."

"True, true! Come, Haru. Sit with me. I'm sure you are tired of Stouthammer's stinky beard!"

"My father isn't stinky!" I protested and pouted.

All of us laughed and boarded the same carriage. The luggage went on the roof. The trip took the whole day as the caravan moves slower than a single wagon would. Baritono told me stories of a younger Helger and I repaid with a lot of giggles. We moved past the dungeon.

"Is that the Black Dragon Dungeon?" I asked while the walls were in sight of the carriage windows.

"Aye," Baritono replied. "A dangerous Dungeon full of undead monsters. The enchanted walls hold them back."

"Wow, enchanted walls? Who enchanted them?" I barely held my true self back.

"We dwarves, with the help of a lamia, of course."

Oh boy. Few things would irritate me more than stealing the fucking credit for my achievements. I still managed to contain myself. "Who was the master enchanter that made that? Blight is ridiculously hard to contain and continuously generated by the undead."

"I don't remember… Do you, Stouthammer?"

"Nay. And I have a hunch that this story is not right. I never heard of an enchanter that strong in Vugh Tarim."

"Bah, bollocks!" I grunted. "What are the fucking loremasters drinking? Gnomish cogwheel lubricant? How can the dwarf that enchanted these walls not be engraved in the annals of Vugh Tarim! That's absurd! Did he enchant the gates of our mighty hold too?"

Baritono was staring at me, flabbergasted. "No. The gates of Vugh Tarim aren't enchanted."

"Why not? Did this bastard of a master enchanter just vanish in thin air and erased everyone's memories of him?"

"That's impossible," Helger chuckled.

Actually, the mind-benders in Pekothas could've done this.

"Or maybe this story of a master dwarven enchanter is just bullshit. Those walls were enchanted by someone else," I threw oil into the fire.

Baritono went from surprised to angry and then settled back on his seat. "That's possible. But elder Blackbrew couldn't be mistaken."

"Maybe he's a bloody dirty liar," I rambled.

"Haru!" Helger cuffed me with all his might. He was strong but no Gluteus Maximus the Mermaid Bully and Whale Food. He unfocused as he read the damage notification and shook his head. "Damn, you're hard, girl."

> Helger cuffed you for 0 HP of damage (Base 14 x2.8 Strength x0.0028 Reductions)

"Wouldn't have survived otherwise," I quipped.

Baritono raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on our interaction. "She has a point. Our lorekeepers might be drunk on… what did you say? Gnomish cogwheel lubricant! Ha!" He chortled.

Half an hour after the dungeon, we crested a hill and then descended. The gates of Vugh Tarim appeared, nested inside the mountain. My place of birth. The first turn of the game started.

The gates opened and the caravan entered the massive cavern that was the staging grounds. High walkways overlooked the floor, where dwarven defenders could safely harass invaders below. It reminded me of the statue hall back at the mind-bender academy.

We dismounted and retrieved our luggage, walking with Bartiono into the bowels of the mountain. A sense of dread covered me.

"Daughter, is everything okay?" Helger asked.

"I have to use the outhouse, father," I replied and clenched my thighs. "Is there any around here?"

"You better go outside. There are some places out there for this kind of thing," Baritono recommended. "Around here you won't find any that isn't already occupied. You weren't the only one holding it in during the trip."

That was convenient. I ran toward the gates, "I'll find you later!"

Outside, I made sure I wasn't being watched before summoning Nenandil. "Go to the Lamia compound. I'm sure they know you there. Ask the lamias to send half their strongest knights here, to curb the dwarven uprising. I'll send Pandora to let you know when. Ah, and check if they have any sub-tabards with them."

The fairy nodded, "Okay!" And vanished.

I could sense her invisible form flying back to the city. I used the opportunity to send Kazuyran a {Messenger Bird} telling him to not get involved with the dwarves. I would handle them.

Back inside the gates, I dodged and skipped around the caravan, following Helger. I kept {Detect Sentients} on, tracking his position.