“You seek to destroy Aberon?” I asked calmly.

The Bandit Hero nodded. “I thought you might not be a demon, what with your ability to take Karma and mimic people. As for her, I knew her to be a Deep Dwarf since I first saw her.”

“I’m sorry, a Deep Dwarf?”

“Ah, you don’t know?” He asked, looking over at Garnet, who blushed slightly.

“It’s not something I advertise.” She responded. “Although there are many dwarves, I might be the last of my tribe.”

“You’re the last?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

“Dwarves of the Deep, or Deep Dwarves, were a special tribe of Dwarves. We lived completely underground.”

“Deep Dwarves were famous for mining dungeons.” The Bandit Hero spoke up.

“Like that orichalcum in the Widow’s Dungeon!” I snapped my fingers in surprise.

“Not just that,” Garnet spoke up, seeming a bit uncomfortable with talking about it. “We used to mine pockets of miasma. My people used it to power the infernal machines.”

“Infernal machines?” I blinked, glancing at the Bandit Hero, who also looked lost.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of such a thing either.”

“It was a long time ago.” She responded. “My people had long lifespans, and while the surface wears away, under the ground things last. Even so, there were only explained as the reason our people were all but wiped out. We tried to conquer the world, and a coalition of surface dwarves, elves, and humans managed to wipe us out and bury the infernal machines. The surface dwarves still blamed us, claiming we brought the curse of the dungeons.”

“I had never heard about any of that,” I admitted, feeling like as soon as I unwrapped one layer of this world, a dozen more appeared beneath the surface.

“I wouldn’t expect you to. As I said, the story of the Deep Dwarves is old. Even surface dwarves might mistake me for their own if it wasn’t for my red hair. Red, like the fires deep below the earth, or so I was told. In truth, I never saw the deep. My family had left it before I was born. I heard stories of the crystalline cities though. They were beautiful.”

Those last words caught in my mind. A crystalline city? I recalled that deep within the earth were various deposits of stone that looked out of this world. I also recalled I had seen such a place once before, the Mirror Labyrinth. Was the Mirror Labyrinth based off of the deep? Was the deep a place we could still go?

“The deep is where Silvthril is found.” The Bandit Hero suddenly spoke up. “It was how the Deep Dwarves were able to hold the miasma at bay. What they brought up is all of the Silvthril that exists, and the only one who can properly smelt and smith Silvthril is a Deep Dwarf!”

“Seriously?”

“Other masters have tried, and while they’ve managed to make little things, there seems to be something in the blood of Deep Dwarves that enables them to do what no human can manage.”

“Wait… that human was going to use the metal to forge it himself.”

The Bandit King shook his head. “He was going to try, but his chances of success were very low. I’d say he had a 1% chance of succeeding. So, I hope you understand the importance of finding a Deep Dwarf skilled in blacksmithing! It’s almost like fate has intervened.”

Fate… or a Demon Lord.