The moment Tamara could no longer see them, it was like a bomb went off in every children. They started hopping up and down, chanting, “We’re going to Juggarntorn, we’re going to Juggarntorn.”

After several failed attempts, Alice gave up on the hopes of keeping them quiet. Once she extracted a promise that they would stick close to her, Alice searched the bundle of children for Lilah. It was difficult, picking one face out among a dozen, especially when they were always shifting and swapping places. Eventually, Alice located the girl and singled her out.

Dropping to a crouch, Alice whispered, “Do you know where Juggarntorn is?”

Lilah looked up with doleful eyes and shook her head. Alice’s heart plummeted to somewhere in her nether regions. “You sure?” Another nod.

What now? Knocking on the door to ask Tamara for locations didn’t seem to be the most ideal choice, considering the reason behind this entire endeavor was to not bother her. Tamara had said to follow the noise, but…

Alice turned around in a complete circle. The only noise that circulated the air were the sounds of footsteps crunching on sand and the giggling of children. Speaking of footsteps…

Alice hurried to put the children behind her, providing as much cover as she could. The dwarves she’d seen lurking around the area yesterday were quickly approaching them, like sharks sniffing vulnerability in the water. Alice grit her teeth. One, two, three—there was too much for her to fight off, and she couldn’t ask the children to fight on her behalf. Not for the first time, she cursed her lack of an offensive Skill.

If Alice launched a sneak attack and managed to catch the dwarves by surprise, the children could use the time to run under their legs and escape. The door to the hut stood tantalizingly in her peripheral vision. Alice had heard the door lock behind Tamara, and banging on the door and hoping Tamara could hear took too much time. No, this was the best choice.

Alice inhaled, lightly hopping on her feet. Now or never! Envisioning fluffy teddy bears in place of the grizzly dwarves with knives, Alice coiled her leg muscles.

“Hey, kids. Whatcha doing?” one of them asked, patting a nearby kid on the head.

Alice aborted but it was too late; by the time she’d come to the realization that this might be a bad idea, her body hadn’t received the memo and she was flying through the air. At the same time, her awkward start altered her trajectory so she would hit the ground instead of bowling anybody over. Alice covered her face, preparing for impact.

She stuttered to a stop and for a second, she was hovering upside, inches away from the ground. Alice went cross eyed while she tried to figure out what was going on. Then the world twisted and she was back on her feet, arms wrapped tightly around her.

“Woah there, lass, don’t trip,” the dwarf who saved her said. Alice’s face flushed and she averted her gaze, inwardly thanking the heavens that they’d misunderstood.

“T-thanks,” Alice forced out.

“Anyway, where are you guys going?” another dwarf repeated.

“We’re going to the Juggarntorn!” one of the kids exclaimed before Alice could figure out whether that was the right choice. She stared at the boy in abject horror before facing the dwarves again; just because they were nice didn’t mean they should tell them what their plans were!

Luckily, they took it in stride. After pointing out the direction they were supposed to go, they waved goodbye to the children and wandered off, vanishing into the shadows from whence they came. Alice had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn’t going blind; one second they were plainly visible in the daylight, the next, she could barely make out their outline.

“Hurry, hurry, let’s go!”

“Right. Don’t leave my side, and follow me!” Alice instructed, waiting until everybody had agreed before moving. The dwarves had told them they were supposed to turn to the left, and then they would find themselves on the main street. After that, all they had to do was keep going in a straight line until they left the village.

While the group walked, Alice slowed her steps until she was in the back. This way, she had better visuals on the children and could ensure none of them vanished under her watch. Coincidentally, she happened to end up walking side by side with Lilah.

The young dwarf didn’t seem interested in talking with her in the slightest, keeping her eyes locked onto the back of the head in front of her. Alice sighed, thinking about the best way to go doing this. “So, you know those guys back there?” she asked.

“Yes. They watch over us when Tamara is busy. Sometimes, they come and give us snacks.” Lilah touched her chest with her chin, a small smile forming on her face. “I really li—“

Alice thought she was making progress, but all of a sudden, Lilah’s face tensed. The smile was wiped from existence so fast Alice wondered if it’d existed in the first place, and Lilah held her head up high. In fact, all the blabber from the children had faded.

“Guys? What’s wr—?” Alice noticed the dwarves lining the streets now that had emerged once they left the other quadrant of the village. Men and women alike were staring at the children, covering their mouth with their hands and tilting their head away from the group. Whispers flitted across the air, harsh statements that they didn’t bother censoring.

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“Useless.”

“Cursed. I heard they killed their parents.”

“We should have let them die.”

With every word, the children flinched. But they remained steadfast, marching resolutely through the streets.

Alice clenched her hands, anger springing to life within her. She glared spitefully at the gossiping dwarves until they looked away, a spiteful continent filling her when she saw fear on their face. Good. What the hell did they think they were doing, talking about the children like that? A small hand slipped into Alice’s, the warmth cutting through the cold fury that was enveloping Alice. She looked at Lilah with wide eyes, as ever so slightly, she shook her head.

Alice grit her teeth, Tamara’s words resurfacing in her mind. So this was what she’d meant by saying the dwarves wanted to cover things up. She wanted nothing more than to prove them wrong, to show the villagers their bigoted viewpoints and how precious the children were. But…

Alice looked at the children and saw how even though their eyes were shimmering with unshed tears, not one of them let a tear slip down their face. Not one of them snapped and yelled at the villagers, affirming their beliefs. They remained strong. And if they could do that, so could Alice.

The group traversed the village in silence, never once letting it show that the hateful words got to them. Eventually, the amount of dwarves thinned out and then they had left the village, beginning their trek down the grassy hill to where a ginormous crowd had gathered.

The children burst into a run, racing each other down the slope. Alice opened her mouth to reprimand them, to tell them to slow down before they got hurt, but the laughter shining on their faces held her tongue.

Alice shot one last look at the dwarf village, anger smoldering in her eyes. This village had a lot of things Alice had enjoyed, things she wanted implemented into her own village. But what Alice had enjoyed the most, which had made this village such an amazing place, were the children. Not the bell, not the architecture, but the living, breathing balls of joy that this village seemed to try so hard to stamp out.

“Someday, I’ll make a community where no one has to hide because of who they are,” Alice swore. It had slipped out, a stray thought which she would have normally said, but pushed by the hurricane of emotions thrashing within her.

“I hope you do,” Lilah said.

Blinking, Alice turned her head to look at the girl, but she was already gone, running after her family. Alice’s lips curled upwards before she chased after her charges, making wider lunges to avoid tripping on the near-precipitous slopes.

As she neared the crowd, Alice realized this was the very same spot she’d witnessed yesterday when viewing the dwarf village for the first time. Covering the sun with a hand, Alice scoured the top of the hills, searching for the exact location—there! She’d been standing there, staring down at where she was now. Now that Alice was on ground level, she saw that the hills formed a series of natural walls that surrounded the village; like somebody had created a bowl within the earth and dumped the dwarf village inside.

“It’s starting, it’s starting!” one of the children said.

“So what is this anyway?” Alice asked as she followed the kid, struggling to keep an eye on everybody. Although they were still on the outskirts of the crowd, the constant struggling and pushing from the people made it difficult to maintain a clear line of vision for an extended period of time.

The kid shrugged, pointing towards his ear. Alice grimaced. The noise volume here was off the charts, each dwarf hollering and screaming at the top of their lungs. “WHAT IS THIS ANYWAY?” Alice screamed.

“IT’S A THING WHERE PEOPLE SEARCH FOR CORES!” he screeched back.

Wait, what? Alice opened her mouth to ask again with some clarifying words when one of the dwarves in the back of the ground turned around. Alice placed herself partially in front of the children, her arm hovering protectively above their heads. She wasn’t going to let somebody else insult them, Juggarntorn or not.

“HEH HEH, THE YOUNG LAD MEANT TO SAY IT’S A TOURNAMENT. THOSE OF AGE WHO WISH TO PARTICIPATE SPREAD OUT AMONG THE PLAINS, AND SCOUR THE DEEP UNDERGROUND FOR MANERGY CORES. IT’S REALLY SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TOO—OH, HOLD ON!” the dwarf yelled. There was a sudden sharp increase in noise, the screaming and roaring and cheering blending into a symphony of pain-inducing sound. Alice winced, backing away from the earth-shaking noise.

The dwarf continued informing Alice about the Juggarntorn and Alice thanked him before thinking about what she’d just learned. Apparently, a long time ago, monsters roamed this very land. It had been a frequent nesting place for them, making it nigh-impossible for anybody to cross through safety, and establishing a settlement had been a foolish dream. Of course, that was all in the past. However, when the monsters were slain, their bodies took time to decompose. Decades worth of time, and gradually, the environment and weather took its toll on the land. The monster’s corpses were covered up by layers of rock and dirt, and new life walked the plains.

By now, the body of the monster should have entirely dissipated. The only thing that remained was the Manergy Core. The point of this tournament was to stock up on Manergy Cores, and to demonstrate one’s strength in Elemental Magic. The contestants roamed the lands and reached out with their magic, sending the underground for the Cores. When they found one, they would have to pull it back up through sheer power alone. The person who retrieved the biggest and most potent Core and delivered it to the Dwarf Chief won.

Now that she knew what the Juggarntorn entailed, Alice knew for certain that there was no way she could have taken part in it, despite Jargon’s wishes. Never mind that she didn’t know Elemental Magic, in the past, the Juggarntorn had stretched out into the night from the morning! While the temperature wasn’t sweltering by any means, the participants were running around the enormous plains in an attempt to find the best Core first. Alice’s measly human stamina wouldn’t serve her well here.

Alice stared at her palm, curling and uncurling her fingers. Still, Elemental Magic. . .merely thinking about it made her scalp tingle. Being able to reach deep under the ground and summon a Core...would Alice ever be able to achieve something like that?

Alice didn’t notice the tiny cracks forming in the ground beneath her feet, in tangent with her finger movements like a choreographed dance. Nor did she hear the sound of low laughter, traveling on the wind.