"No, that's right, I come from a small village, a few days' journey from here.", Etrius smiled full of pride, now he was able to tell something to his apparently omniscient interlocutor.

"From a small village? And what is the name of this village?", Slightly bored, Rurik grabbed a large tankard, put it on and emptied it. Etrius triumphed together like a house of cards in the wind.

“Well, yes, it's called village.” He mumbled softly to himself and mumbled on a piece of bread. "Pah, that has never happened to me either, every village, every city has a name. Here it is the capital, zeros. Do you even know what Kantora is?", Rurik scanned his visibly confused counterpart with a sullen look.

"Kantora?", He slightly turned his head to the side, ignorant. The little dwarf just shook his head:

"Hey, is there anything you know? Kantora is a continent, zeros its capital ... but what am I telling you that, I'm not a teacher."A shrill sound made Rurik pay attention.

"Take a look at that," he yelled from behind him. The little dwarf turned around slowly. Etrius followed his gaze and saw a really small figure just showing someone something sparkling. Nothing special for Etrius, a pile of beautiful glittering stones.

Rurik, on the other hand, knew what kind of stones they were. Opals, amethysts, emeralds, rubies and diamonds flash out of the hands of the little ones. There were so many that the girl's hand could hardly hold them all. She stealthily looked to the side, when she noticed that a scrutinizing look weighed on her, she pulled the hood deeper into her doll-like face.

Rurik slowly counted the stones and mumbled to himself. It was very noticeable that this little figure had a very similar assortment of valuable gemstones as he himself. Suddenly everything became clear to him, with one quick movement he reached for a leather pouch which until then had been dangling peacefully from his belt."By the beard of Moradin!" He exclaimed, very excited, and sprinted off. Etrius looked at the whole scenario in amazement. Rurik snatched the jewel from the child and grabbed it quite roughly by the left shoulder. The little one squeaked briefly.

"Don't let that hurt me.", The slim little arms flapped around wildly, but always missed their target.

"Oh yes? I'll do something completely different in a moment, you know, thieves have their hands chopped off. I don't care whether you're a child or not, punishment must be. Especially if your mother hasn't taught you." that you never steal from dwarfs. "His voice boomed through the taproom like thunder. Immediately it became quiet. It seemed like even most drunks breathed fearfully.

"I'm not a child and I didn't steal the stones from you, I found them and just wanted to take care of them.", The little one yelled loudly.

"Found it? Found it! Where did you find her, child?" His voice still echoed through the well-frequented tavern and thus tore apart the unnatural silence."In your pocket, I just wanted to take care of it, you drank and before you lose it, I thought-" A more than loud objection prevented the frightened being from completing the sentence.

"That mustn't be true. Such a lie, nobody has tried that until now." His grip tightened, and again the little one gave a loud, painful scream.

"Yes, please don't lie ... please believe me!", The petite body prays out of fear.

Thanks to the cloak, which dutifully covered her face, it could not be seen, but Etrius could feel it more than clearly. With every tear that hit the floor inexorably, he died a little inside. He couldn't see it, rebuke is important, but you also have to know when the right point has come to prove greatness in the form of grace.

The wildly gesticulating warrior looked to the side in shock when his flaming monologue on honor and justice was rudely interrupted."Rurik!", Without the backing of courage or self-confidence, his words attempted a heroic solo effort. Reluctantly, his body was infected by the unfamiliar thirst for action and placed itself exactly between the two.

The skinny man's demeanor brought Rurik to the point that he loosened his grip. Her arms quickly gave up the freedom they had regained to capture Etrius' legs, trembling.

At this moment the already heavily battered door swung open artfully.

Collectively, everyone focused on a bizarre image. A court lakai wearing tights tried to fill the door frame with his narrow shoulders.

He solemnly unrolled a heavy scroll.

"From today on it is announced and to know that-", the penetrating nasal voice stopped abruptly, he was roughly grabbed and thrown from behind through the entrance.

An excited man took his place.

"Do you already know the latest? The youngest princess is gone!Kidnapped! "he screeched, cruelly hastily.

Without waiting for the following explanations, Rurik grabbed his things.

"Come on human, let's go, it will be very uncomfortable here very soon.", He groaned snuggly in the direction of the still clasped.

When the girl realized that Etrius now needed his legs, she shifted her energies.

Now she concentrated fully on holding onto his hand.

"But why are we going, shouldn't we help find them?" Asked Etrius, confused, as he tried not to get lost in the turmoil.

"Pha, they'll manage that too. I'm sure of that, but soon people will show up and ask questions. Lots of questions and believe me, they'd be anything but happy with the answers you could give them, so don't be a fool and let's go. Besides, even if we wanted to we couldn't help. ", the small compact dwarf effortlessly fought his way through the excited crowd.The not so experienced hit song took advantage of the hour and closed up. His unwanted appendage also recognized the seriousness of the situation and silently allowed himself to be dragged along.

"Why can't we help?" Somehow Etrius kept the problem hidden.

"Do you know anything about the brat? No. Nobody knows anything about her. I'll explain the rest to you when we're out of here." Yelled the busy Rurik.

In the ever-increasing chaos, which incessantly corrupted the city, Etrius even forgot that one of his hands was still confined. Startled, the residents ran through the streets. A stream of uncoordinated farmers, mostly already equipped with pitchforks, surged threateningly through the huge gates of the city.

"It has spread faster than wildfire," the little man's words threatened to drown miserably.

"It wasn't that fast, we just need a long time to finally get out of here. Oh, have you ever thought that our hasty departure can also be interpreted as a confession?", asked Etrius, although he was well aware that he would not get an answer.

An infinite number of small skirmishes later, the now completely exhausted trio managed to pass the gate. Nobody paid them any attention, the urge of others to satisfy their curiosity was too great.

After a few meters, Matt let Rurik sink onto a large stone by the side of the path. He fixed his gaze on the dusty oversized dirt path.

"I praise myself for an honest battle. To fight your way through without seriously injuring anyone is a greater art than putting your opponents out of action completely.", He groaned, surprisingly taken. The paladin's gaze wandered back, patterning. Actually he wanted to catch one last glimpse of the unfamiliar panorama for the time being, but something was blocking the view. It took a while until he had processed what he saw, but the initial indolence was now made up for by his frenzied hectic pace."I can't believe it, you actually dragged this tormentor with you." Etrius met reproachful looks.

"Yes, she was standing there so near me and I thought to myself ...", he played on the lacing of his shirt, embarrassed. With a sudden jerk, the hitherto silent girl tore the hood off her face. The two men stared at her in confusion.