The dwarves, who had been trembling in fear, began to explain their intentions.

"We were part of a group called Ursus Underground," one of them said. "Basically, we were a group created from dwarves who couldn't adapt to the puzzle rule and tried to get by doing other things."

Lumi nodded in understanding. As a dwarf who couldn't handle puzzles, she seemed to resonate with their situation.

"Sometimes we did dirty things, like stealing and stuff--"

"But not this time!" the other dwarf interrupted. "We were asked by our newest member to look out for you guys! We didn't plan to do anything bad! It's the opposite, if something bad happened to you, we would help you!"

"Really?" Rita said, clearly not believing him. "Sounds like an excuse to me."

Ruby nodded in agreement. "We can't trust them. Let's just end them quickly so we can continue our journey."

"No! Please! We're really not lying!" the trembling dwarf pleaded.

Lumi felt bad for them, but the others were not so easily convinced. Aurora eyed the dwarves suspiciously, while Rita began to unsheathe her sword.

The dwarves became even more scared, but Lumi spoke up.

"Wait," she said. "Let's hear them out. They might be telling the truth."

"Fine," Aurora said. "So who was this new member you were talking about?"

"He was a human called Ace," the dwarf said. "He was the one who suggested making a shortcut too."

Ace? Aurora thought. She had never heard that name before, whether in the game or someone she met directly in this world.

"Yes, that was our newest project!" the other dwarf said excitedly. "Shortcut project! Now you can go to any layers quickly, as long as you trade something! It's a hundred times better than using the normal way like this!"

"Shortcut?" Aurora said. "Do you know anything about that, Lumi?"

"No, I don't think so," Lumi said, thinking about it.

"It's because that was a new project!" the dwarf said. "We just finished digging a few days ago! Of course, words had not yet gone around!"

"Okay, that sounds interesting, but more importantly, tell us more about that human," Aurora said. "He specifically asked you to watch over us?"

"Yes," the dwarf with a longer beard said. "He asked us to find a group of human girls. One with long blue hair, accompanied by a tall knight girl and a small girl with twintails. He didn't say anything about the dwarf girl that followed you, but I believe he was talking about you."

Stolen story; please report.

That description was indeed specific to them, which made Aurora even more suspicious.

"Why?" she said. "Why did he ask you to watch us? What did he want from us?"

"I'm sorry, but he didn't tell us anything," the dwarf with the longer beard said. "Even though he was a new member, he immediately got a high position. We couldn't ask too many questions."

"We were the bottom of the barrel members," the other dwarf said. "We just followed orders."

Aurora glanced at Rita, and the knight girl nodded.

"I think they were honest," Rita said. "Not that it means much though. Just because these guys believe they didn't do it to harm us, that human who asked this might have a different idea. I mean, do you know that Ace guy?"

"Never heard of him," Aurora said.

"Neither did I," Ruby said.

All of them glanced at Lumi.

"No, I don't know him either," the small dwarf girl said quickly.

"So it's weird that someone we know nothing about is trying to protect us," Rita said. "If he did it because we were fellow humans, that might be reasonable enough. But..."

Aurora nodded. "He knows exactly how we look like," she said. "He specifically knows us from someone, and he knows we will come here. Though again, that doesn't explain why."

"We should just ask them to bring us to that Ace guy," Ruby said. "There's no point in thinking too much about it if we know nothing about him, right?"

Aurora smiled. "Well, that's true."

"Alright, where is this Ace person you were talking about?" Rita said, pointing her sword at the dwarves.

"O-okay, we will do what you want but please put that thing away," the longer bearded dwarf said in fear. "H-he was staying at the town in the layer three. We can lead the way of this Labyrinth so you can arrive there quickly."

"That's right!" the other dwarf said. "We know a way where you don't need to encounter monsters too!" He gulped. "Even though... I guess you guys didn't really need it."

"Okay, lead the way then," Aurora said.

"But if any of you try something funny," Rita warned, "you know what will happen, right?"

"O-of course," the dwarves said. "We're not stupid enough to do that. But please, will you let us go when this is all done?"

"What? You dare to demand something from us?" Ruby said. "As I thought, let's just end them here and now!"

"No, please! I'm sorry! I'm being foolish!" the dwarves pleaded. "I will shut up now!"

They looked at Lumi, begging for help. But the small dwarf just looked down, as she didn't have the power to decide something like that.

"Let's not do that," Aurora said. "At least before we meet that Ace guy and figure out what his deal is."

"Okay," Ruby said, looking at Aurora.

"Then please lead the way," Aurora smiled.

"W-we get it!" the two dwarves said in unison.

The dwarves then led the way. They both worked efficiently, quickly finding the right path to the exit. Finally, they reached the third town without any monster encounters.

"So where is that Ace most likely right now?" Aurora asked.

"Probably in our group meeting place," the dwarf with the longer beard said. "Please follow us there."

They passed a few buildings until they reached the building in the shape of a U. The two dwarves showed a dwarf who seemed to work as security for that place some cards before they were allowed to enter.

"That's him," the dwarf said. "That's the human called Ace."

He pointed at a purple-haired young man who smiled at them. He looked kind of like Dante, but younger.

"Oh, welcome," he said. "I heard a lot about you from my brother, Miss Aurora."

Aurora couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

"I see, so you're Dante's spy in this kingdom?" Aurora guessed. "Everything makes sense now."

"Please don't call me a spy, but yes, I'm part of the Information Guild that he sent here," he said. "Fascinating place, isn't it?"

"Indeed," Aurora said. "But why do this?"

"Come on, you're a very important person. I was just doing my job, miss. As part of the Information Guild, it was my duty to protect our clients," Ace said. "Of course, I didn't want anything bad to happen to you when you were in my territory."

"Well, thanks, I guess," Aurora said. "But nothing like this happened when we visited other kingdoms."

"That's because I'm better than them," Ace said. "I act accordingly without the need to receive orders from my brother, I mean, the guild master. Talking about him, it's a good thing that you decided to come here yourself. He sent you a letter."

Ace pulled out a letter from his pocket and offered it to Aurora. Aurora took the letter and opened it, her eyes scanning the words quickly. When she finished, her expression shifted from curiosity to worry.

"Something wrong?" Ruby asked, noticing Aurora's change in demeanor.

Aurora nodded, passing the letter to Ruby. "Dante told me that the Kingdom of Samalanra is making a move sooner than I expected. Serena and the others are forced to fight them now, while I'm still here."

"What do we do then?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know," Aurora said. "Even if we decided to go back now, will we arrive in time?"

"This is where my genius comes in," Ace said, clapping his hands. "You see, when my brother asked me to collect information about Dwarf Empress Gaia, I had a hard time doing it. Because so far, I'm stuck here. I haven't even reached the deepest layer yet, where she is staying. So this gave me an idea."

"What are you talking about?" Aurora asked.

"A shortcut," Ace said, grinning. "I'm joining hands with these guys to create a shortcut. I realized that not just me, but a lot of people—or dwarves—want access to all the layers. So I thought this would be a convenient thing and a potential business project."

Aurora's eyes widened in realization. "You mean..."

"Ding-dong," Ace said with a wide smile. "I can take you quickly to the fifth layer and meet the Empress, or you can get out of this kingdom fast. So what are you going to do?"

***