As both groups approached the outer walls, their appearance became more vivid. The small people, presumably the gnomes, were very short, standing at about two feet tall, they had large rounded ears and a small head proportioned to their body. Most of the men had a little facial hair, such as a mustache or a goatee, however, some of them were cleanly shaven. The women were a tad bit shorter with longer hair and more pointed ears.Seeing them approach from the east, Caesar stroked his chin in contemplation, "If I remember correctly, Falthor departed from southern gate, how did he end up eastward?" he thought inwardly whilst jumping off the high walls.
Caesar approached Falthor with long strides, his group along with the gnomes seemed to be on friendly terms, as they all carried smiles on their faces. This anomaly piqued Caesar"s interest, why would the gnomes so readily agree to an invitation from the fox-kin? Such thoughts nagged Caesar.
Soon, Caesar"s figure was also seen by both the gnomes and Falthor, they raised their hands and waved at him… "hey, that"s the man I was referring too, you know, the genius" Falthor covered his mouth whilst whispered to the decrepit gnome on his right.
The gnome on his right had light green with hair with streaks of white, which greasily draped over his eyes, he had a large, pointed beard that extended to his chest. It was clear that this gnome, in particular, held great status amongst their clan, while also being relatively aged.
Hearing Falthor"s words, the gnome nodded his head with a wide smile, "if he is as you said, then the gnomes will once again bring fear to the world!" the old and senile gnome laughed maniacally after a train of coughs.
Although Caesar couldn"t read Falthor"s lips, as he covered them with his hand. This strange exchange was indeed captured by Caesar"s keen sight. This abnormal behavior made Caesar even more interested, while also making him praise Falthor in his head. "To be on friendly terms with another race so quickly, a grand achievement"
Thinking to here, Caesar a.n.a.lyzed their numbers… he roughly estimated their entire force to be about 250, which was not immense, however, 250 troops were not a force to be trifled with.
As both sides were examining each other, the distance between them closed and soon they were only a few feet away from each other. Both Caesar and the old dwarf stared at one another in silence before the gnome broke the ice and took a step forward.
"Ahem, I am the leader of the gnomish tribe, although we"re small, our tinkering skills are unrivaled!" he greeted whilst finding it hard to contain his excitement, a playful smile appeared on his lips as he put his hand forward.
Caesar didn"t sense anything abnormal about the small gnome, besides his strange amount of excitement, thus, he also put his hand forward and shook the gnome"s hand. "Welcome to the fox-kin tribe, here we have strong soldiers, idiots, and traitors… enjoy your stay" Caesar replied jokingly to which the gnome burst out in laughter.
The gnome laughed until he abruptly coughed, after a train of coughs, he wiped the drool on his lips. The surroundings were silent following his coughing spree causing the gnome to smile abashed.
"Ah, right, my name is Magni Locorin, just call me Magni" Magni expertly changed the awkward atmosphere and flashed a bright smile towards Caesar.
Caesar nodded his head and right as was about to open his mouth and reply… "ah don"t worry, I already know your name… Caesar, right?" Magni said without giving Caesar a chance to reply.
Caesar ma.s.saged his forehead and nodded. he raised his eyes and could see all of the other gnomes looked at him with their eyes gleaming in curiosity as if they had found a new toy. Seeing this, Caesar knew that he was going to acquire a few headaches.
After another short moment of awkward silence, it was Caesar who broke the taciturnity, "why have you decided to join the fox-kin on this quest, besides the obvious hatred for the trolls" Caesar asked.
Magni stroked his long beard and looked over his shoulders, he inspected each and every one of his fellow clansmen before turning back to face Caesar, "it"s a long story" he said after a moment of hesitation.
Caesar nodded his head and turned his body around, "it"s poor manners to leave guests outside for too long, come, let me show you around" Caesar said thoughtfully, to which the gnomes expression brightened and they once again started energetically walking toward the stronghold.
Falthor and the other fox-kin just followed in relative silence, they hadn"t spoken since Caesar came into their view. Caesar had a few questions he wanted to ask Falthor, alas, he would wait until they were alone.
Magni sparked up tasteless banter with Caesar every now and then whilst they walked, talking about things such as pets, hobbies, and even his favorite color… All of which, Caesar couldn"t care less about.
The more Magni opened up his lips, the more Caesar felt his surplus of brain cells kill themselves one by one. Thankfully, they soon reached the fox-kin stronghold and entered the already opened gates, presumably Musashi"s doing.
"Whoa!" Magni opened his eyes wide in surprise as he admired the insides of the stronghold, he wasn"t alone, the entire gnomish race had stars in their eyes as they looked at the walls and the mansion in the middle.
"Wow, look at the architectural design of this wall!" one middle-aged gnome said toward his friend.
"It looks spectacular, but isn"t it primitive compared to the walls our ancestors designed?" another gnome b.u.t.ted in.
This exchange, of course, did not fall on deaf ears, causing Caesar to furrow his brows, although the wooden walls could be considered primitive to humans, who had stone walls. But, Compared to the furbolg"s who live in a tree and the kobolds who merely had wooden fencing, it was pretty advanced.
Thinking to here, Caesar inspected the gnomes once more, they wore simple clothes such as shirts and pants made from animal hide, while the women wore dresses or long skirts. However, what was more eye-catching, was that a few of the men had monocles or gla.s.ses covering their eyes.
If Caesar remembered correctly, back in Rahvin kingdom, things such as gla.s.ses and monocles were very expensive, as they were extremely hard to make. Not to mention, creating them in a backwater place such as the dark continent. This made Caesar look at Magni in a new light.
"Are you perhaps a race of engineers?" he asked bluntly.
"I don"t know what sold us out, but you"re absolutely correct! Alas, most of our schematics and knowledge disappeared with our ancestors… our once great race devolved into a mere 250 strong, small tribe. Even the dwarves weren"t capable of making contraptions as great as we used to" Magni said with a lost look in his eyes as he gazed toward the sky.
"At least that"s what my Father told me," Magni added after a few coughs of embarra.s.sment.
Caesar nodded his head and led the gnomes further into the stronghold, their loud noises awoke a few fox-kin and kobolds, however, they just simply went back to bed once they saw that Caesar led them.
"Ah, that strategist brought gnomes in this time... I wonder if they brought a lot of food like the kobolds," one little fox girl asked her mom while rubbing her sleepy eyes.
The gnomes put their head down in a fl.u.s.tered manner once they heard the whispers of the many people surrounding them. They were quite the shy race, Magni was, of course, an exception…
in the midst of their walk, Magni started to slowly open more and more up to Caesar, "that"s why I didn"t hesitate to join your coalition once I heard Falthor say you weren"t from the dark continent… with the limited materials and the constant war, us gnomes don"t have the strength to survive. We are a race of tinkerers but there is nothing to tinker!" he said exasperatedly.
"I take that as you want me to bring you, and the others out of the dark continent once we defeat the trolls?" Caesar asked to which Magni nodded solemnly.
"Many of us, including some of your gnomes, may die in this war… are you sure you still want to join us?" Caesar replied after seeing Magni"s solemn look. Although he wanted more troops, he didn"t want soldiers that did not understand the magnitude of war.
"I understand! Us gnomes, albeit small, are good marksmen, whether it"s a bow or a slingshot, leave it up to us" Magni responded with a serious expression.
Seeing this, Caesar smiled in relief, "Falthor, bring them to their living quarters, I"m going to go back and wait for Soka"s emergence" Caesar abruptly called out to Falthor and before anyone could even react, he disappeared from everyone"s sight.
Falthor smiled wryly and took Caesar"s position, after Caesar"s departure, the rest of the gnomes clearly felt more downcast… Even Falthor didn"t understand why the gnomes liked Caesar so much.
Once Caesar departed from the rowdy gnomes, he quickly made his way back to outer walls whilst carrying an expression of worry.
"Soka is late…" he whispered.