Chapter 50: Chapter 50

"what?" Theodor shouted when the story was over.

"Laxus didn't fight with anyone," the little boy complained getting up from his bed.

"Hahaha, Heroes legends keep all heroic actions of chosen ones. Not their fighting," answered Darthañan rising from Elizabeth's bed.

"But, but ..." Theodor couldn't find the words to describe his disappointment.

"Don't worry my darling. Surely Laxus will have many fights in the future," said Frigglene hugging him.

"Daddy, what was Laxus's heroic act in this story?" Elizabeth asked shyly.

The stories of heroes continued to attract her attention and although Shimu's death had shown her the harsh reality. Within her she had the feeling of being called into that path. Becoming a heroine scared her, even more so seeing the story of Laxus, but the feeling inside her didn't banish.

If he had not arrived in time, the trolls would have eaten Lilith. Had he not asked Shield to protect the townspeople, Orchid would have killed everyone. A hero's job is to save others and when they fail ... lives are lost.

"His heroic act was to give food to the poor," Darthañan smiled, stroking her head.

"What's so heroic about that?" Theodor asked not believing his dad's explanation.

Frigglene was going to respond but seeing how Darthañan was thinking she let her husband answer.

Thanks to the constant questions of their kids, Darthañan found himself in the need to learn how to explain in a way that they could understand. He used to complicate everything and entangle the subjects so even Elizabeth did not understand him.

"Let's see."

"If I tell you that a hero saves lives, am I correct?"

Theodor and Elizabeth nodded.

"So if a person is starving, what would a hero do?"

"Give him food!" The two little ones screamed at the same time.

"That's it, there is the answer," said Darthañan smiling.

The next day, over breakfast, Theodor and Elizabeth shared with Sigurd their dishes. The mighty nerthus found himself speechless. He had spent another sleepless night trying to drown his sorrows in alcohol and was planning to skip breakfast again. Darthañan and Frigglene just smiled at the children's gestures.

Once they finished having breakfast they went out to the streets of Gorudo. The warm weather greeted them with a soft, refreshing breeze. On this day Darthañan and Frigglene had decided to visit the commercial areas of the city. The previous night they talked about the situation they were in, while the little ones slept and decided that here they would change their identity again. In this way, if they were caught, no one could discover that Helvella had helped them; and vice versa, if something happened in Vorpiax nobody could track them.

Once they got to the stores they started buying the things they saw as necessary.

Bored, Theodor and Elizabeth became uneasy causing their parents to ask Sigurd to accompany them to the flea market that was a few streets away.

Sigurd went outside with the two children once their parents repeatedly reminded him of how elusive they were. Walking through the busy streets, everyone gave way to them. Sigurd's intimidating appearance made people move aside, looking down.

"What is this? Theodor asked, stopping in front of a food rack.

"It smells good," Elizabeth said, closing her eyes.

The yintreck in charge of the shelf heard a noise, but when he turned around he saw nothing. And suddenly a nerthus appeared in front of him.

Who had he offended? Had this creature been sent to destroy his stand? Just when his ferampig skewers were starting to become popular?

<Surely Yugra hired him, > thought the yintreck angry at his sister who couldn't bear his success.

"Sigurd Can you pick me up? I want to see what that is," Elizabeth said pulling the nerthus' clothing.

" Me too, me too, " Theodor shouted as he watched Sigurd pick up Elizabeth.

Once the two little ones were in sight, the Yintreck expression changed completely. He went from panicking to ecstasy. He immediately assumed that the nerthus was the bodyguard for the two dwarf pups. Which meant that the children had plenty of money.

"Welcome my lords, here I offer the best skewers made of ferampig in all Almawarth," said the yintreck making an exaggerated expression with his arms.

"You are ugly, you look like a bug," Elizabeth commented when she saw the appearance of the yintreck.

Yintrecks looked as if someone had grabbed a squirrel, a bat, and a scorpion, and forcibly combined them. It looked like the great culmination of an artist of fewer than five years.

The shopkeeper was frozen with the girl's comment. On any other occasion, he would have exploded shouting any kind of vulgarities against the dwarf, but the presence of the nerthus allowed him to keep a cool head.

What the yintreck would never believe was that Sigurd, the nerthus in front of him, was much more nervous and afraid to cause a scene.

" I want one, " said Theodor, pointing to the ferampig skewer.

" This is not food for us, " replied Sigurd.

"Why?" Elizabeth asked surprised to hear that this food that smelled so good was not for them.

" Ferampigs are made of rock, " replied Sigurd.

" I can eat rock, " said Theodor indignantly.

" No, you can't, " Elizabeth contradicted him.

When the two little ones were going to start fighting the yintrecks voice interrupted them.

"You don't have to worry. These skewers are made with pieces of ferampig stomach. The internal part of the organ is made of meat.

Taking advantage of the fact that he captured the attention of the dwarves and nerthus, the shopkeeper grabbed one of his skewers and with great skill separated the rocks from the flesh parts.

"Take this free sample young masters," said the yintreck offering them the pieces of meat.

Theodor and Elizabeth held the cubes of meat in their hands and without bothering with how hot they were, they put the pieces to their mouths. Elizabeth closed her eyes and savored the juicy piece of meat. Theodor instead opened his eyes as if the secrets of heaven had been revealed to him.

"Another, another I want another," demanded the little one swallowing the meat cube he had received.

The yintreck smiled at the success of his product and turned his gaze to the nerthus. Who was the one carrying the money of the dwarf pups.

" Give me two, but be careful not to leave any pieces with rocks, " said Sigurd, worried that the children's teeth would be damaged.

"Yes, I will do it with all the care," the yintreck answered, taking the nerthus' words as a threat.

Seeing the work of separating the pieces of rock and meat as something on which his physical wellbeing depended, the Yintreck cut with extreme care each piece of ferampig.

Once they received their skewers the little ones separated a cube from the top, and each stuffed it into Sigurd's mouth.

"You have to eat more, you are very skinny," Elizabeth said repeating the words that her mother used to say almost always when they ate.

Theodor on his side was immersed in the flavors of the meat.

"More," said the boy showing the empty toothpick.

Sigurd trying the delicious food thought that the parents of the little ones would also want to try the curious dish.

"Pack ten skewers of only meat," said Sigurd calculating that two skewers for each one would be enough.

"Right away," replied the yintreck happy with the request the nerthus had made.

Once they received the order, Sigurd paid what was due and gave a new skewer to each child. Leaving a happy yintreck behind, they continued to walk through the flea market.

"Hey Sigurd, can you give me another one?" Elizabeth asked, still eating hers.

The nerthus thought that Eli was worried that his brother would eat everything since he had already eaten four, so he nodded and took out a skewer to give it to her. At that moment, he decided to buy more to give to Darthañan and Frigglene.

Elizabeth, upon receiving the skewer ran into the crowd. Sigurd seeing this was alarmed. Grabbing Theodor who was still distracted with his affairs the nerthus began to follow the little girl.

Once he caught up with her he was surprised by what he saw. Elizabeth was handing over the skewer to a malnourished old dwarf.

Doblin was the dwarf's name. His skin was white with brown spots as a result of burns he received during his life. His tragic appearance: skin stuck to his bones, oil-filled hair and beard, totally disheveled and with long nails; was due to a series of unfortunate events.

The brilliant Doblin had come to Kinzoku to implement the technologies he had learned in the middle islands. And for several years he gained fame and popularity on the island until soon the same dwarf who had brought him was threatened by his increasing popularity and decided to end his competition. A series of explosions at the Fukai mines were identified as a malfunction of the machines that Doblin had created. Baron Jinshu, furious at the large monetary losses, removed Doblin from his post.

The dwarf, not believing what had happened, dedicated the following years of his life to investigating what had happened. But when he finally found out who was guilty, he couldn't do anything. The Dwarf in charge of the mining technology division had died in a strange accident making it impossible for Doblin to execute his revenge. Worse yet, by that time new technomagical artifacts had begun to arrive making his knowledge irrelevant. Soon a great depression swept over him, rendering him unable to work. He lost his friends little by little. Then his house and his things, ending up on the street cursing the gods. He had done nothing wrong and ended in these circumstances.

It was in the middle of a hot day as he watched the crowds go on with their lives as they ignored him that a beautiful girl approached him and offered him food.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

The dwarf would not stop thanking with tearful eyes the little angel who had offered him food. It had been more than two months since he ate. Had he not had the sturdy body of a dwarf he would have died long ago.