Dwarves and Gnomes

"Hey, wake up!" In a daze, Donald felt a pair of hands shaking him.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a beautiful woman's face on a child's body. Remembering what had happened before he blacked out, Donald scrambled backward on his hands and feet. "Are you still Nina?"

"No, I'm Natia Vida," the woman said gently, her voice pleasant to hear.

"Are you that Harpy?"

"Natia, are you sure this is the clever lad? How come he looks like a fool to me?"

The speaker was an even stranger person. His rugged face was covered in a thick beard, yet he was just as tall as the woman beside him—no taller than a seven- or eight-year-old child.

The woman shot the short man a glare, then continued speaking to Donald. "I'm not a Harpy. I'm from the Gnome Race of the north. When we found you, you were stumbling into the forest. You didn't look quite right."

"Thank you for your help. I think I had a strange dream..."

"There's something wrong with this forest. Just now, something seemed to try to bewitch me, but I scared it off with my Battle Qi." The short man sounded annoyed.

"Have you seen my companions?" Donald worried that Richard and the others might be frantic because they couldn't find him.

"We have. Don't worry. It's already light out, so they'll be fine," Natia Vida replied.

"May I ask if you and your father are also here to hunt Tree Rats?"

"Haha, listen to that, Natia! He thinks I'm your father! Hilarious! I like this fool!"

Natia Vida had no choice but to glare at the short man again. "Oh, Donald, you've got it wrong. Aidarua is a Dwarf, and I'm a Gnome. We're not the same race. In fact, I'm older than he is."

"Why do you know my name?" Donald immediately grew wary.

"Of course we know your name. We came all the way from Dorn City. By the time we finally reached your camp, there was only a hunter who knew nothing and his granddaughter. If we hadn't hurried, you would've gotten lost in the forest. Those people we passed on the road, the ones burned beyond recognition—that was your doing, right? Not bad, kid..." Dwarf Aidarua was always butting in, but from what he said, Donald at least knew Nina was safe.

"Please don't misunderstand. We first heard about you because of that strange patterned sword. Then, a little over half a month ago, I saw your paper—the one about synthesizing metals," Natia Vida replied. Her voice was always unhurried and soothing, with a strangely compelling quality.

"My paper? Why would reading it make you come looking for me? Shouldn't you have gone to Professor Victor?"

"Donald, you were the one who came up with the idea for the experiment, weren't you? And when we took that Thousand-Tempered Sword into account, it was obvious that all of it came from you."

"Then, why were you in such a hurry to find me? Was it because..."

"Don't you know what relations are like between the Dwarf Kingdom and humanity?" Natia Vida asked in puzzlement.

Then, from the Gnome woman, Donald learned enough geography to answer the question that had puzzled him for so long: why Knights went north and Mages went south.

"The world is a slope..." In her gentle, soothing voice, an extraordinary map seemed to unfurl before Donald.

The world was one enormous slope, descending from Southern Heaven in the south all the way to Northern Hell. The Hells Continent lay almost at its center. East and west of the Hells Continent, along the same slope, were several much larger continents. These lands at the center of the slope were collectively known as Middle-earth.

South of the Hells Continent, beyond the Sea of Oblivion, lay the Magic Continent. Magic Elements were abundant there, and Elves, magical beasts, and humans lived side by side. It was also home to the Seven Great Holy Academies of Magic. Farther south lay Dragon's Lair, and it was said that beyond it was Heaven.

North of the Hells Continent lay the Human Federation, known as the Chaotic Land. There were no kings or nobles there. Since Magic Elements were scarce and Mages were extremely rare, the Human Federation was also called the Knight Federation.

Farther north along the slope, beyond the Northeastern Mountains, lay the lands of the Dwarves and Gnomes. Humans called them the Filthy Land, while Dwarves called them the Extreme North Country. The conditions there were so harsh that not a trace of Magic Elements could be found. Yet, as if the gods or devils were playing a cruel joke, it was also the richest source of Magic Crystals. In fact, by now, it was the only place where Magic Crystals could still be mined.

It was said that tens of thousands of years ago, the Dwarves had no kingdom of their own. Humans enslaved them and drove them all to that so-called Filthy Land to mine, since only Dwarves could endure its harsh environment. The Gnomes were just as short as the Dwarves, so they suffered the same fate. Over tens of thousands of years, the Dwarves and Gnomes pushed farther and farther north, until at last they established their own kingdom in the Extreme North, a place ordinary humans could never reach. The Extreme North Country couldn't grow crops, but it had Magic Crystals, which could be traded for food. The Dwarves were also skilled at forging weapons, while the Gnome Race produced a great many engineering prodigies. As trade with humans developed, weapons, armor, and all kinds of machinery gradually replaced Magic Crystals as the Extreme North Country's most important resources.

Farther north still lay the Courage Wasteland, said to be the training ground of Holy Knights. Only Knights of Holy Rank could reach it. In tens of thousands of years, fewer than ten people had ever visited that mysterious place.

And beyond the Courage Wasteland lay Hell, where devils were said to roam. No one had ever reached it, and no one knew what the devils looked like.

"If the world is a slope, why doesn't the water flow downhill to the north?"

"No one knows. Some say the water is blocked by the Middle-earth Continent."

"Is Middle-earth really one big continent? Isn't there an ocean east and west of the Hells Continent?"

"Why do you ask so many questions, kid? There aren't that many oceans. The lands between the Sork Continent, the Fermont Continent, and the Dolon Continent are all swamps!" Dwarf Aidarua was growing impatient. He couldn't understand why Natia Vida was wasting so much time explaining things to the kid.

"All right. So you came to find me to stop me from making weapons and machinery good enough to be useful in Middle-earth?"

"Hey, Natia, this kid's not dumb!"

"Mm, Donald, I'm glad you understand our position."

"You want me to betray the human race?" Donald's voice was calm, giving no hint of how he felt.

"Donald, millions of years ago, during the Day and Night Chaos and the Great Flood Period, humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, and the Elf Clan were all equal. It was cooperation among our races that allowed us to survive those conditions..."

"I think we're still equal now," Donald said without hesitation. To him, equality between races was a given.

"Good! Good! I'm so glad you think that way. I believe we can have a proper talk." For once, Natia's tone changed.

Dwarf Aidarua's impatience faded, too. He looked at Donald with newfound interest.