Ultimate Level 1

After Merla hugged Batrire, Max coughed to get the older elf’s attention.

“Is he always so serious?” the healer teased as she frowned at him.

“Yes, but I can’t complain. Thank you again for healing me.”

She winked at Batrire and smiled.

“It’s my job, but still I’m glad I could make it in time. You four gave me a little excitement in my usually dull life.”

A few chuckles came from Fowl and Tanila as Cordellia kept her distance.

“Our Faction leader told us we could request a teleport to one of the dwarven towns if we paid the price,” Max informed the healer, as she was unusually chatty today. “I figured we should ask you, since a standard attendant might not give us as much help.”

“Did you forget who you are, Seth?” Merla asked, her frown present again. “You could have asked most of the attendants to carry you to the leader of this hall, and they would have done it just to brag about it later. You’re a celebrity. That’s why most of these people are staring at you.”

Sighing, Max nodded and knew exactly what the older healer was talking about. At least fifty adventurers had asked for his autograph since the time they stepped out of the carriage before the gate. Many others had come up and greeted him.

“That is true,” Merla stated as she tapped her chin and pretended to do some math in her head. “At least double, from the size it’s grown.”

“I’ll pay; we just need to go. There are lots of things to do, and these two dwarves need to return home so we can announce their wedding.”

Merla gasped and looked at Batrire, who was grinning from ear to ear, all of her teeth on display.

“A wedding?! Congratulations! I wish I could come and celebrate that moment with you!”

Max held back a feeling of frustration as the pair rushed forward to embrace Merla. Whispers between the three went on for a moment.

“Let it go, we’ll be fine,” Tanila told him as she pulled him aside. “You’re agitated… why? I thought last night with Dexic went well.”

“It did… it’s just…”

He trailed off, rubbing an eye for a moment as the weight of everything from his talk with Phaius hit.

“Time… once again, I feel like we’re running out.… I just want to keep you all safe and make sure nothing happens. The longer we’re out of the tower, the weaker we are. Being in it last night, seeing the gear that drops… I just want to outfit you all.”

He watched the woman he loved frown and shake her head at him.

“We will be fine, and you know rushing ahead isn’t a good thing. This wedding is special, and neither Fowl nor Batrire wants you to take away from it. So relax. Smile. If any children were present, they would run off like those last few adventurers did when you scowled at them.”

Sighing, Max bobbed his head and did his best to look happy.

“I’ll try. Perhaps I’m just jealous they’re going to be married.”

Not realizing how loud he had said that line, Max noticed the silence around him, and all of his friends, including Merla, turned toward him.

“You’re wanting to marry her, and that’s how you ask?” Fowl sputtered. “Gods, man, even I’m not that dumb!”

“I’m not asking!” Max exclaimed, realizing immediately how bad that sounded. He turned toward Tanila, who was frowning. “I didn’t mean I don’t want to, just that I… we don’t want to steal from their moment. Don’t we have to wait a while before we get married?”

“Are you asking me if I want to get married or when I’ll be okay with you asking?”

Her tone was like ice, and even though he had faced down beings of great power, seeing the look of displeasure on the woman he loved directed at him struck a chord of fear for a moment. RαƝỐʙĘṡ

Just drop to your knee and pull out the ring, you fool.

It only took a second for him to react after Bob told him what he needed to do. The moment his knee hit the stone floor, the small box with the ring he had purchased a while ago was in his hands.

“Tanila, forgive me. I didn’t mean to upset you, and I want nothing more than to be your husband. I had a plan on when and where to ask. We were going to visit that restaurant we had our date at and…”

He stopped talking, fumbling for a moment with the wooden case, opening and closing it a few times as he looked at the ring inside.

Alfreda had helped him design the ring, a twisting of three different rare metals, all with a single ruby surrounded by small emeralds. It was a tribute to their intertwined lives, forming a new life in the process. Carefully, he pulled it out, stored the wooden box, and held it up between two fingers before her.

“If you’ll put up with me and my occasional moments of stupidity, will you marry me?”

A few gasps came, and Max could sense the hall’s din had gone quiet as people had gathered closer to where they were grouped up. Now, it was a spectacle for every adventurer and attendant to see.

“This seems unfair,” Tanila said with a wink, glancing around at the room. “I’m in a tough spot; if I wait too long, some might think I’m mean.”

“Say yes because you love me like I love you,” Max whispered. “Don’t do it for any other reason.”

Her lips trembled slightly, and Max could sense her heart was racing just as his was. Without waiting another second, she smiled and moved her head up and down.

“I would love to marry you.”

Max stood and slid the band onto the finger she presented him, the moment suddenly feeling surreal. It fit perfectly, which is another task their Faction crafting elf had pulled off.

He couldn’t help but grin like a fool as he stood there, holding her hand, seeing the look she gave him.

Never had a more perfect smile been created, with the way her lips parted and the light that seemed to radiate from her eyes.

“Kiss her, you fool,” Batrire said, her hand pushing him in the back.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Not needing any other help, Max moved forward, wrapping his arm around the woman he loved, and he did just that, kissing her with every ounce of passion he had inside.

A cacophony of noise came as everyone gathered near them started clapping, whistling, and hollering.

When they finally pulled apart, both of them breathing heavily, the newly engaged couple acknowledged the crowd celebrating this moment.

After thanking those who came forward and wished them good luck, Merla led them from the hall to the transportation room.

With only another small round of goodbyes required, the older healer wished them the best. Soon, the light of the spell surrounded them, and a warm, dry breeze reached their skin a moment later.

“Gods, we’re home,” Fowl muttered, pointing at the large walls that stood less than a quarter mile away.

Max glanced around, his first time ever seeing a dwarven city, and noticed immediately the difference in Nomgrom, compared to the towns he had grown up in.

Every building he could see was made of worked stone; not a single house or business had wood. The street was lined with a different-colored set of stones, and sidewalks ran in perfect straight lines.

Carts laden with all sorts of goods were moving up and down the main road, and Max couldn’t help but grin as he saw that he and Tanila were now outnumbered ten to one.

“So many beards,” their ranger muttered. “I mean… and the colors. Purple?”

“Ahh, that’s an uncommon one,” Batrire said, a grin plastered on her face as she held onto Fowl’s arm. “Some dye their beard for different reasons, but only a few will dye it purple. That means she’s pregnant and has just found out.”

Max spotted the dwarf they were talking about, walking down the road with a large open backpack full of cotton. Bales of it were even strapped to her, a few small pieces occasionally falling out of the open top.

“Don’t ask,” Fowl informed him as he started to open his mouth. “Dwarven women are built differently.”

Using all of his intelligence points, Max kept his comment to himself, not wanting to cause problems within the first minute of arriving in a new kingdom.

“So… which way to your parents’ place?”

Their dwarven warrior grimaced slightly while Batrire started to smile.

“We’ll go visit my parents first. They’ve always loved Fowl, even when he took me away.”

“Your parents didn’t mind?” Cordellia asked. “I mean that he would steal you from them?”

Both dwarves started to laugh and shake their heads, and Max noted how much happier they seemed in the short time they had been here.

“Get off the platform!”

The shout had come from an attendant who emerged from a shack near the roped-off area they were standing in, wearing a guild emblem on their drab tan outfit. “If you want to loiter and have fun, go find a tavern!”

“Sorry!” Fowl yelled out, motioning for everyone to move toward the marked exit area.

A huff came from the red-bearded dwarf, who glared at them until they had exited the area.

“He seems a bit gruff,” Cordellia muttered. “Perhaps dwarves are exactly how I thought they were.”

“And how are we?” Batrire asked, a hint of an edge to her tone.

“Grumpy when you’re in their way, happy with alcohol in their hand.”@@novelbin@@

Both dwarves started to chuckle and nod, a slight smile on each of their faces.

“Seems she learns quickly,” Fowl declared as he pointed at an intersection nearby. “We’ll have to head that way. We’ll go left and head into the main city. Stay on the sidewalk, and don’t get in the street unless you’re prepared to have your ears violated by curses far worse than what I say.”

Rubbing his bare chin, Max cocked his head and grinned.

“Part of me wants to test that out and see if I can pick up any new phrases.”

“Gods no,” muttered their dwarf. “Batrire washed my mouth out before we met you so many times… I’d rather not get back into that habit.”

A bar of yellow soap and thick toothbrush, most likely for an animal, appeared in their healer’s hands as she glared at Max.

“You best not act like some foul-mouthed dwarf, or I’ll hold you down and show you why I won’t tolerate certain words.”

Waving both hands in surrender momentarily, Max winked at Tanila and smiled, catching her looking at the ring on her finger.

“Care to walk with me, my fiancée ?”

She flashed him a fantastic smile and nodded, taking the hand he offered her.

“Lead on, fiancé .”

“Ockrim help me,” Fowl said with a groan. “Promise me we weren’t like this.”

Batrire shook her head.

“No, you were worse.”

As a group, they started to laugh and chat as they followed Fowl and Batrire, the pair leading the way as they walked down the sidewalk, getting a proper tour of the third-largest city in the dwarven kingdom.

Max took in everything he saw, his mind recording all the names and buildings they passed.

Each street in this section was named after a weapon or armor, and as they came to the corner of Battle-Axe and Horned Helm , he saw a small pack of four dwarf guards walking down the middle of the street, wearing chain armor and occasionally shouting out orders at wagons who passed by.

“What are they doing?”

Fowl shrugged and smacked his mouth a few times.

“Ehh, they are out here to deal with potential brawls in the ale houses on the outer part of this area. Those two wagons most likely have dwarves who have gotten into trouble recently. Usually, they won’t bother you unless you’ve earned a reason for them to know your name.”

“And they used to know his name,” Batrire stated immediately afterward. “The stories I can tell.”

His cheeks and his nose went red at those words, and Tanila started to chuckle.

“Oh, you’re going to tell us those stories if simply mentioning them makes Fowl look like an apple so easily.”

“Bah, you can suck a—”

A bar of soap appeared in Batrire’s hand, and all the color on their warrior’s face was gone just as quickly as it appeared.

“Suck a what?” Max asked, unable to hold back the smirk he knew was present.

“A… a lemon,” Fowl finally replied.

With a simple nod, their healer stored the soap bar and winked at Tanila.

“We’ll discuss some things in private. For now, let’s get to my parents’ place before my betrothed finds himself burping up bubbles.”

‎