Though the words didn’t come easily at first, Mimi spoke with growing clarity.
“My name is Mimi Crystia. I was born in the underground dwarven kingdom, the Kingdom of Crystia, as its third princess.”
Belamus blinked. “A… princess?”
He’d suspected she might be someone of importance; after all, Kuusha had introduced herself as a knight, not a mother. Still, royalty was a surprise even to him.
“But why would a princess be hunted?” he asked, voice low with concern.
Mimi’s fingers tightened around the gemstone in her hands. Her eyes drifted downward as she spoke.
“A year ago, one of the royal druids declared I was cursed,” she said. “He said that if the curse was left unchecked, it would bring disaster to the kingdom. That it couldn’t be broken… and that the only solution was to kill me.”
Belamus frowned. “A curse?”
As a sage, he was intimately familiar with curses, especially high-level, destructive ones. If someone were truly afflicted with a curse strong enough to threaten a kingdom, it would be obvious to him. And yet, he sensed nothing of the sort from Mimi. No dark aura. No spiritual residue. Nothing.
“I do have some… unusual traits,” Mimi admitted, her voice growing quieter. “Sometimes I see things no one else can. I have dreams, terrible ones, that come true. Not once or twice, but dozens of times now. But… I’ve never hurt anyone.”
Her words came with visible pain. Each sentence darkened her expression further. Clearly, whatever power she held had made her a target, and she didn’t understand why.
“My mother refused to believe I was cursed. She started researching everything she could about it: consulting ancient texts, reaching out to scholars. But then…” Mimi swallowed hard. “They suddenly announced I would be executed.”
Belamus’s eyes narrowed. The suddenness of it, the secrecy… this reeked of political convenience, not divine truth.
“Before they came to take me,” Mimi continued, “my mother gave me the name of someone she believed could help. She told me to run. And she sent Kuusha with me.”
She fell silent for a moment, her gaze returning to the red gem in her palm, Kuusha’s last form, her final gift.
“We escaped from the palace and were headed toward someone who might understand curses,” Mimi said, her voice steady and heavy with memory. “But we weren’t the only ones moving. The kingdom sent pursuers, more than we could handle. The underground realm isn’t that expansive… There wasn’t enough room to lose them. We had no choice but to try and escape to the surface.”
She paused, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the gem in her hands.
“Most of the known exits were heavily guarded. All but one: the gate leading to the Great Frazes Forest. It’s dangerous, so most dwarves avoid it entirely. In fact, barely anyone even knows the gate exists. I thought we’d be safe if we took it,” Mimi explained, her voice low and measured as she recounted the decision that had sealed their fate.
Then her voice faltered. Her gaze dropped to the ground, shadowed by the memory.
“But they’d predicted that too. They were waiting for us,” Mimi said quietly, her eyes darkening with the loss.
She didn’t have to say the rest. Belamus could see the image forming in her mind: the moment Kuusha had shielded her, the moment she had fallen.
He placed a hand gently on her head, his voice soft. “That must have been painful. I’m sorry I made you relive it.”
Mimi said nothing, only kept her eyes low, her small frame tense.
“You’ve been through more than most adults ever go through,” Belamus continued quietly. “You’ve lost your protector. You’re cut off from your homeland. Alone. Hunted. I can’t imagine how overwhelming that must feel.”
Still, she didn’t speak, but her silence spoke volumes.
Belamus nodded to himself.
“Then stay here,” he said. “This town, this place can be your shelter. Consider it a bond of fate. As long as you’re in Beresdral, no one’s going to lay a hand on you.”
Mimi looked up sharply. “You’d really let me stay here? Even though I can’t give you anything in return?”
“I made a promise to Kuusha to protect you,” Belamus said simply. “I intend to keep it. And besides, you can give me something.”
Her expression tightened with suspicion. Then her eyes widened, as though a sudden fear had taken root in her thoughts.
“You… you don’t mean Kuusha’s magicite, do you?” Mimi asked, her voice rising slightly in panic as her grip instinctively tightened around the gem.
Belamus shook his head. “No. That belongs to you. It’s her legacy, and it should stay with you.”
“Then what do you want?” she asked, blinking. “What could I possibly have that you need?”
“Knowledge,” he said, folding his arms thoughtfully. “I want to learn more about the dwarves. Your people. Your kingdom. Your culture. Everything.”
He was newly curious about the hidden nation that lay beneath the earth, and now he had someone from that very world standing before him.
Belamus had also been searching for potential trade partners for some time. Looking at Mimi, with her mannerisms, clarity of speech, and quiet strength behind her eyes, he began to wonder if the dwarves might be the perfect match. From what little he’d seen, their culture didn’t seem primitive in the slightest.
“You want to know about dwarves?” Mimi asked, eyeing him curiously. “I mean, sure, I can tell you. But is that really all it takes to let me stay in your town?”
“Information can be more valuable than gemstones,” Belamus replied evenly. “And knowledge about dwarves, from your people and customs to your kingdom, is of great interest to me. I'd say it’s more than a fair exchange.”
She gave him a long look, then shrugged with a sigh. “I don’t really get why you’re so obsessed with us, but fine. Ask away.”
Permission granted, Belamus didn’t hold back.
“Your kingdom is called Crystia, right? Roughly how many dwarves live there?”
Mimi tilted her head, thinking. “I think… around a million? But I don’t know the exact number.”
“A million?” Belamus blinked, surprised. “That many? Your underground territory must be enormous.”
He’d expected something in the range of a few hundred thousand at most. But a million… Such a population implied sprawling infrastructure and high-level organization. If it was true, that kind of scale would make Crystia an ideal trading partner.
“What’s your staple food?” he asked next, eager to learn more.
Mimi hesitated for only a second. “We eat metal.”
“Metal?” Belamus repeated, brows lifting.
“Yup,” she said with a faint smile. “Other races eat plants or meat, right? Dwarves are different. We eat refined metals.”
He hadn’t expected that. Eating metal? That raised an entirely new set of logistical questions, especially since Beresdral wasn’t exactly a mining capital.
“We don’t have access to high-quality ore here,” he said. “All we can gather right now is some low-grade iron. Would that even be edible for you?”
Mimi’s expression fell ever so slightly. “L-Low grade, huh? Doesn’t sound very tasty,” she muttered, visibly disheartened. “But… I guess I can’t afford to be picky right now.”
Now that I think about it, I could technically create metal with magic, Belamus mused as he watched Mimi’s mood deflate. But like magically produced water, it might not be safe to ingest. It could turn out toxic. It’s too risky to test on her.
Still, seeing her so downcast tugged at him. Maybe once in a while, I could visit a human town and buy her a stash of the metals she likes. That might cheer her up.
Trying to steer the conversation in a more constructive direction, he asked, “Here’s another question: what kinds of metals can be found in the Kingdom of Crystia? I know you dwarves eat them, but surely you also use some for tools or weapons, right?”
“Oh, yeah. We have metals set aside specifically for weapons,” Mimi replied, a bit more animated. “The ones that taste bad or don’t have any nutritional value go into swords and armor.”
Belamus nodded thoughtfully. “Interesting. Tell me, have you ever heard of a metal called orichalcum? It’s extremely hard, nearly impossible to process with conventional methods.”
“Oh, sure. We have that,” Mimi said casually, then made a face. “Can’t eat it. It’s way too hard. We usually just dump it topside because it gets in the way.”
Belamus nearly choked. They just throw it away? If that really was orichalcum, and they were discarding it like trash, then acquiring it might cost him nothing at all.