The group lined up, covered themselves with cooking pots, and swam out through the passage the way they had come. After briefly surfacing, they stood by the lake again, removed the cooking pots and chain mail used as weights, and put everything back in order.
"Lord Richard, please be sure to keep this secret for us for the time being." Sendak had not forgotten to give him repeated reminders.
Lord nodded. As he gazed at the calm surface of the lake, his heart was filled with complicated emotions.
At first, he had thought that the reason of "guarding the divinely bestowed ore" was strange, but considering it came from dwarves famously known for having a screw loose, it seemed perfectly reasonable.
Who could have imagined it? Both he and Annie had been played for fools. It truly was as the saying went—the less likely someone seemed to lie, the more ruthlessly they lied when they did.
Those dwarves had used their stubborn reputation and an apparently reasonable goal to throw up a smokescreen, keeping the real secret strictly within the circle of their own people. There was no denying that they had played that hand beautifully.
Being able to deceive a deep partner like the Voya Merchant Guild was enough to show that they lacked neither cunning, schemes, nor the ability to act. If anyone dared say again that dwarves had a screw loose, Richard would spit a mouthful of phlegm right in his face.
Setting aside the dwarves' reverence for their ancient ancestors and considering only the most practical aspect, the essence of a Titan was worth fighting for. Even if one could inherit only a tenth of its power, dealing with a group of wilderness natives would be as easy as reading the lines on one's palm.
No