The Demon King's Hero Of Light 154 Chapter 154 Dwarven King Voluri And Elven Princess Daefina

"Halt! Who… Oh, it's you, King Aella," sputtered a guard just inside the second door, lowering his brandished ax, looking embarra.s.sed for only a moment. "Hold on a sec, and I'll grab someone to escort you so no one else bothers you."

The elven princess watched as the dwarf scurried away and turned to Aella. "Why do you hold so much esteem in the eyes of the dwarves? They've only just met you!"

Aella shrugged. "It could have something to do with the drinking contest."

"What drinking contest?" asked another dwarf, returning with the first.

"I was just telling the princess of the elves here, that I was going to hold a drinking contest in the newly built bar, to congratulate the new king, and to pay my respects to the late royals."

The dwarves' eyes lit up and they both grinned wide. "That sounds like a fantastic idea! When were you planning on holding it? Can you hold off for a couple more hours so we can attend?"

"Of course! I do have to inform King Voluri first, and introduce the princess to him," said Aella with a chuckle.

"Then let's get you down there," said the new dwarf cheerfully, turning to lead them along the winding path once again that seemed to be hanging in thin air.

Aella watched the princess as she examined the interior of the carved mountain, noting that she was looking for strategic places in case they ever needed to invade them. As it was, the dwarves had done a wonderful job in the entryway, as anyone who tried to forcefully come in through this route, would be completely exposed on all sides and the path itself could be destroyed. Aella's impression of the princess went up another notch as she even seemed to study the decorative stone work as they walked. Now she would have something to complement the dwarves on when they reached their king.

"I've heard about the new bar you built, but haven't had a chance to go there myself. It's not really on my way and I've not had a free moment to scoot over there, but don't worry, I'll be there at the drinking compet.i.tion if there's any way at all!" rambled the dwarf as they made their way.

"Has the new king been crowned already?" asked Aella, breaking through his long explanation on who he was going to invite to go along with him.

"Oh, I don't know. Word had just gotten to us that the prince and princess had died. It's a great mystery, it is! Seems they killed each other!" fretted the dwarf, shaking his head and running his hand through his beard, as if to calm himself.

"Then we shall see if they are done when we get there," said Aella, giving the elven princess a smug look.

Arriving at the throne room, they found a large crowd of dwarves cl.u.s.tered around the doors.

"Make way! Make way!" demanded their escort, pus.h.i.+ng dwarves aside.

It wasn't that they weren't moving out of the way, it was that that couldn't move. The crowd had pressed in so tightly to see what was going on, that the middle was packed too tightly for them to pa.s.s.

"I guess we'll just have to wait a bit," shrugged their escort with a sorry expression.

Aella looked over the heads of the dwarves before her, and saw that they had already crowned the king, and were just talking.

"The king has been crowned, you can all return to your normal duties," she said to the dwarves around her.

They glanced up at her, then grumbled before starting to disperse. It wasn't long before the way had cleared enough the dwarven guard could let them in.

"How shall I announce you?" he asked the elven princess with a sudden panicked expression.

"My formal name is too long, just announce me as Elven Princess Daefina Felidae."

"Ouch, I would hate to know what the whole name is. Alright then… Announcing King Aella and the Elven Princess Daefina Felidae," cried the dwarven guard, as the group around the new king turned to look at them.

"Ah, King Aella, I was just being briefed about your prior visit," said the new king, settling onto his throne and waving at the dwarves who were cl.u.s.tered around him. "Perhaps you could tell me exactly what is going on, without all of the d.a.m.n political flowery language."

"Of course, King Voluri," laughed Aella as she saw some of the dwarves around the new king scowling. "I arrived a little less than a week ago, requesting the installment of a new bar, and that the dwarves look at the issues plaguing the agreements between your kingdom and the elven kingdom."

"And that's why you brought the elven princess back," said the king, nodding to her.

"Yes," said Aella, turning to the princess as well.

"What issues exactly, Princess Daefina?" asked King Voluri. "I haven't had this heavy crown on my head long enough to know what issues we've got with your lot."

"The prior king of the dwarves had an agreement with our prior king, that allowed trade of wood from us to you for stone and various ores from you. When both kings.h.i.+ps pa.s.sed on to the next lines, the agreement ended. We've not received anything from the dwarves and your people have been cutting trees along the border, that we really did not want to be harmed. I hope this can be settled for the small matter that it is," explained Daefina.

"I expect the wood we are getting from you is being used as supports for our mines, and wooden handles for our tools. Unfortunately, our mines have run dry and we no longer need the extra lumber. I understand that you do need stone and ore, but I'm afraid we will need to figure out a new agreement for them."

"I don't mind arranging a new agreement, if you can have your dwarves stop cutting our trees, we can still provide wood for other mundane needs," said the princess.

"I don't have a problem with that at all. The twins were having us continue to dig, even though the mines were dry, which was why the trees were cut. I've stopped the nonsense of digging the bare rock, so your trees should be safe. What would you be willing to trade for the ore and rock we can still provide to you?"

"I understand you greatly enjoyed some of our perishable food items before your last king pa.s.sed away, that were often used to make a variety of ales and foods specific to dwarves. I am qualified to offer those again in trade for the ores and rock we need."

"Wonderful. We can finalize the details after lunch. King Aella, I would like to thank you for the service you have done the dwarves. What could I possibly repay you for your service?" asked the king of the dwarves.

"I have no need of anything material," said Aella thoughtfully. "I have the Earth Hero in my city to provide me with any kind of stonework that you might be able to offer. However, it has come to my attention that you are a race that enjoys to dig and mine, and your current location has run dry. Perhaps we could come to an agreement where some of your dwarves might come back with me to my kingdom and search the mountains around my new city for any possible mine sights. We could work out the percentages of anything they might find later?"

"That sounds promising!" he agreed heartily, climbing from the stone throne. "Let us proceed to the dining hall to eat, and we can continue our conversation there. Unless there were anything else you needed to bring up first?"

The dwarven guard that had escorted them from the western entrance was trying to get her attention, and had drawn the attention of his king instead.

"Actually," laughed Aella, "I had mentioned to some of your guards the fact that I was wanting to provide a drinking contest at the new bar I completed, to congratulate you on being crowned, and to provide my respects to the late royals."

"A drinking contest?" King Voluri asked, with a twinkle in his eye. "Does your new bartender know how much a dwarf can drink?"

"I believe Bob is suitably prepared," laughed Aella as the princess's head perked up.

"Bob? He has a bar here, too?" Princess Daefina.

"What do you mean, he has a bar here, too?" asked the dwarven king suspiciously.

"Bob is a magical being who is capable of having bars in multiple locations at once," explained Aella. "I don't understand it, myself, but I a.s.sure you he is a fantastical person to know. I've been craving one of his specials for a while."

"Then let's have lunch there while I meet this Bob and we can get this drinking compet.i.tion planned out," said Voluri, with a grin. "I'm sure all of the other things we need to discuss can wait!"