"Perfect timing." Mogdin muttered under his breath.
Then he waved, signaling a dwarf messenger to approach. The messenger carried a short staff representing his status as an envoy and strode toward the fortress's still-unsealed front gate.
He stopped some distance away, raised his head high, and shouted in a deep, rough voice in Aldo Language:
"Lord Mogdin, son of the Stonemason Clan, guardian of the ridge, hammer of the Rocky Mountains, by order of the Clan Chief, hereby issues a proclamation to the unlawful wall-builders!"
He raised his voice even louder. "You built a fortress here without permission, desecrating the domain of the Stone Father! This fortress must be dismantled."
"Within three days!" The dwarf messenger held up three stubby fingers. "You must tear down every wall, burn every fortification, and then crawl back to wherever you came from!"
"If you obey, you may still leave with your lives. But if you choose to defy us—" He pointed toward the silent dwarf army behind him. "The mountain will collapse, the walls will shatter, and your bones will become the first layer of foundation beneath the new walls!"
After delivering his proclamation, the messenger turned and strode back.
As his voice faded, a deathly silence descended over the fortress construction site.
The soldiers stopped their work, tightened their grips on their weapons, and fixed their eyes on the silent, furious dwarf army at the Mountain Pass to the north.
The Engineer Captain frowned and muttered, "Do they really dare attack? The walls haven't even dried yet..."
Just as Mogdin's lips began to curl upward, believing that his thunderous ultimatum had scared the humans witless—
"Ha—" An uncontrollable laugh came from the watchtower.
Then, as if a powder keg had been ignited, thunderous laughter erupted throughout the entire fortress.
"Hahaha! Did you