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Chapter 758

Across from me was a young-looking girl who appeared to be in her teens, but was allegedly much older. She was a dwarf and the last time I had met her, she had been working as a Blacksmith trying to get her hands on some of the Orichalcum. Although she was a dwarf, there was nothing about her that screamed that she was a different species. Unlike the Esmere, who at least had some age in their features despite being small, giving them an appearance closer to halflings, the dwarves seemingly didn’t age at all, and other than just a tinge of baby fat on her cheeks, she looked completely like a young human woman.

Well, there was one other distinct thing about her. She was drunk, with her cheeks tinged red and her eyes looking just a bit unfocused. She had kicked in my door that was locked and then wondered into my tub. At this point, we were still in the tub, sitting across from each other. I was watching her, and it was anyones guess what was going through her mind.

She had become a slave under Lord Reign, although I suppose the reality was that it was under the Demon Lord Aberis. At first, I didn’t understand why the lord would go after the dwarf. I thought he had perhaps wanted her talents to himself, or perhaps it was pure coincidence. However, when she became the main prize of the gladiatorship, that blew those beliefs out the door. The only thing I could come up with at this point was that there was something about her that interfered with his plans. He wanted her gone, maybe not dead, but not able to focus on him.

“Rubee-“

“Garnet.”

“Huh?”

“My name is Garnet.” She responded, smiling at nothing.

“I thought your name was Rubee.”

“It was Rubee… now it’s Garnet.”

“Um… what?”

“I changed my name when I was turned into a slave.”

“The lord changed your name as a slave?”

She shook her head, giving me a weird look. “I changed my name. Oh! I forgot you humans keep the same name your whole life, don’t you!”

I blinked. “Do dwarves not?”

“I don’t know, are you the same person now as you were five years ago?”

Five years ago, I was a fat awkward kid in high school. There was no way I was the same as him in any way. I shook my head.

“So, why do you give yourself the same name? Other species are so odd…” She shook her head, and then looked for a second like she made herself dizzy. “Dwarves change their names throughout their lives. Of course, there is the name our parents give us, but when we grow up, we choose a new name. Any time there is a major change to our lives, like a change of career, or… slavery… well, we change our name so that it reflects that era of our lives.”

“Era? Do dwarves live that long?”

“The oldest is over a thousand, or so I’m told.”

“So… Garnet then. You’re supposedly a prize in this competition. Would you change your name after your new Master takes over?”

“Why? My Master would change, but I would not.” She spoke this like it was the most obvious thing.

“I see.” I already could feel like this girl was difficult to talk to.

Chapter 759

“You don’t seem particularly bothered that you were thrown in a dungeon, let alone becoming a slave.”

She lets out a carefree laugh. “I kind of just go where the world takes me. I’m usually happy as long as I’m allowed to practice my craft?”

“And Lord Reign didn’t say anything to you? He didn’t threaten you not to do something, or asked you to do some kind of favor for him?”

Rubee or I guess she was Garnet now, shook her head as an answer. She didn’t even seem to have to think about it. She truly had no clue what was going on here and was just going along with the flow. She seemed as relaxed being in the bath with a man as she was with being made a slave. She was casually washing and humming while I thought about what her value had to be.

Perhaps, I once might have thought this was all just a coincidence, but it was Xin who snapped me out of that kind of thinking. I couldn’t underestimate Demon Lord Aberis’s foresight and knowledge. He always had a reason. He had tossed us all into this dungeon to keep it from being completed. That meant that there was probably a reason he tossed her in here as well. He could have had her imprisoned in the castle. He could have had her left in his control at Lord Reign’s keep. Instead, he dropped her in this world and let her go about her own devices.

However, I couldn’t figure out what this dungeon wanted, and what she had to do with it, let alone Xin. Just who was Aberon? This seemed like the war between her original country and Aberis when he took control of the south. That would make the princess her grandma or something? Was Aberis the Demon Prince, and did he have a baby with the princess of Osteria? No, that didn’t make sense with what I knew. If he had a child, who would that be?

“Welp! I’m clean!” She stood up just like that.

I couldn’t stop myself from getting an eye full of her youthful body before looking away. It wasn’t like I was into that kind of thing! All of the women in my life were older, despite that barmaid’s previous look, I am not some kind of deviant!

Muttering in my mind about such things, I waited until she left the bath before I got out myself, dried off, and then dressed. I had had more relaxing baths in my time, but I had also had worse. I also didn’t know where Garnet had run off to. I hadn’t asked her much about what she was doing in this village, and she had run off before we could talk about our plans. It was probably for the best. After a good night’s sleep, I could find her in the morning. It wasn’t like this place was any bigger than the miner’s town. Finding her would be simple.

I left and went to my room using the key they had given me. It was dark, so I just threw everything into my Inventory and then crawled into bed. I reached out to hug the pillow.

“Ahhhn!”A girl’s voice echoed in the darkroom.

My hands were squeezing something, but the softness was completely absent and I could feel an absence of such things.

“Please say you’re the barmaid,” I responded tearfully.

“My lord, are you stalking me? You don’t need to play games. We can just cut this sexual tension and have sex!”

Chapter 760

“I’m not a lolicon!” I cried as I created a light bulb, illuminating the room and showing Garnet lying there, and of course, she was naked.

“And I’m not a child, so what’s your point?” Garnet frowned.

“I mean, the way you look…” I responded, sputtering slightly.

“Do you think all dwarf men are lolicons?”

“What? No!”

“But all dwarf women look like me, so if dwarf men are into dwarf women, and anyone who is attracted to a dwarf woman is a lolicon, then isn’t that what you’re saying?”

“…”

“You humans have some strange hang-ups about stuff. If we’re not going to have sex, can you turn out the light?”

“Is casual sex a dwarf thing too?” I asked.

“What are you saying?”

“We’ve just ended up in the same bed together twice now, and you seem to be very okay with having sex. Most girls would be resistant or shy.”

“Well… even if you say that I said it probably won’t fit…” She responded.

“Right, you mentioned that…”

“Well, I’m not saying we can’t try…”

“I’m not having sex with you.”

“Tsk… fine…” She shrugged. “You’re just a cute Hero around my age. If I’m going to lose it to someone, it might as well be you. That’s distinctly my opinion, not a dwarf thing.”

“Wait, you’re a virgin!”

“I know I‘m pretty easy going about this kind of stuff, but even my feelings get hurt when you say things like that.”

“Sorry, my bad.”

“It’s just, I’m already twenty-two, so I figured I might as well lose it. I always figured I’d lose it to some womanizer while I was drunk anyway.

“Now, I feel like I’m being insulted.”

She stuck her tongue out at me but otherwise didn’t respond. With a sigh, I let the light snuff out. As someone who had slept with other women by my side for some time now, it had only been the last month where I had slept alone. In other words, there was a bit of comfort sleeping next to a woman again.

Come that morning, the innkeeper gave me a knowing look, and I gave him a mouthful for giving the drunk dwarf my keys. I guess he had thought he was doing me a favor, so I made sure to set the record straight. I also made sure I did it in front of the barmaid to set the record straight. She was now giving the bartender a dirty look instead of me while he helplessly apologized like he hadn’t done anything wrong. I guess when I said I wasn’t interested in the young barmaid or the older woman, he assumed that I was interested in a loli. Seeing her drunk, he did the honorable thing and hooked us up.

To the barmaid, this probably felt like taking money right out of her pocket, so she ended up quite angry at him.

I walked out of the inn and saw Garnet walking down the street. I flagged her down.

“Are you ready to get going?”

“Huh? Where am I going?” Garnet asked curiously.

I blinked. “Um… we’re leaving the dungeon?”

She blinked. “I’m not leaving the village. This is my home now.”

I had assumed since we reconnected that she’d be joining me on my campaign. She had other things on her mind.

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