Chapter 50: Status Abnormality?

The old blacksmith's temporary departure from Sanctuary Valley to visit a human city caused a sensation among all the dwarf-beasts in the underground city.

You must know that although dwarf-beasts would roam around to mine, the act of "paying a visit to humans" was extremely rare, even in the distant past.

Coupled with the later sudden surge of monsters and the increasingly perilous roads leading to human cities, the dwarf-beasts were even less likely to do such a thing.

Soon, even the tribal chief came knocking, attempting to analyze to the old blacksmith just how dangerous this endeavor would be.

However, the old blacksmith's resolve was unwavering.

In the end, the tribal chief could only helplessly entrust Chu Jiu with a plea: The old blacksmith had never traveled such a long distance before, so please take good care of him along the way.

*

Two days later, Chu Jiu left the underground city with the blacksmith squirrel.

Bowknot and the three brothers accompanied them all the way to the surface.

The three brothers had originally wanted to tag along, claiming that although their combat strength was a bit lacking, they could still serve as extra hands.

As it turned out, the blacksmith squirrel told them that he had temporarily entrusted the blacksmith shop to Bowknot and was afraid she would be overwhelmed alone, prompting the three brothers to stay behind and be of good help.

Only then did the three little ones reluctantly give up.

After Chu Jiu and the blacksmith squirrel both mounted their dodo birds, the four little squirrels stood in the gravel-strewn wasteland, frantically waving their little paws under the pale azure sky: "Be safe, be safe!"

The blacksmith squirrel waved his paw back at them, and Chu Jiu turned his head and shouted, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of the old man!"

*

The old grandfather's fingers stroked the candy, once, twice.

Chu Jiu stepped into the hallway.

"Little squirrel! Little squirrel!"

To save time, this time when crossing the Sunny Plateau, Chu Jiu did not visit the chestnut sprite camp, but simply asked a passing little chestnut sprite to relay a message to Sheldon and the others that he was safe.

For instance, when he met his human friend more than ninety years ago, he was still in his "youthful" period.

Having obtained the cute little paw print, Lauren continued to giggle foolishly, personally sending Chu Jiu and the others back onto the carriage.

The young woman looked hurried and rather haggard, paying no attention to Chu Jiu whatsoever, and not even noticing the little squirrel by his side.

Just as Chu Jiu had anticipated, when the Douglas family saw the old blacksmith, their pleasant surprise far outweighed their astonishment.

He said, "It's wonderful... It smells exactly the same as it did back then..."

*

Therefore, casting aside manners and etiquette, he directly blocked the young woman, recounting his purpose quickly and clearly.

Through Eric's incoherent narrative, combined with the information the blacksmith squirrel had more or less revealed along the way, Chu Jiu finally pieced together the past story of these two old friends.

*

The system had just sent him two notifications this morning.

This morning, the great-grandfather's spirits had suddenly improved, and he insisted on seeing the "gem candy decorative painting" in the shop, which was why she had rushed over.

The little squirrel shook his head, telling him truthfully that another human had brought these gems.

The little squirrels loved them immensely.

The young woman was slightly annoyed at first, which then turned into astonishment and disbelief.

This old blacksmith, by human years, was fast approaching two hundred years of age.

To Eric, who was under ten years old, this "pale yellow ice-cube-like raw material" must have been an extremely rare ore.

*

Muttering such internal complaints, Chu Jiu seemed to have forgotten how he used to place the little black kitten right against his chest so the little fellow could sleep peacefully regardless of time or place.

Thus, the group entered the city and stayed at an inn without any obstruction, facing zero hindrance.

*

In truth, because dwarf-beasts lived far longer than humans and possessed physiques vastly superior to theirs, despite the white-eared squirrel's advanced age, he required no extra care whatsoever.

However, no matter how long they waited, the candy shop doors remained firmly closed.

The biggest obstacle actually lay in this:

Eric, a white-haired old man of one hundred years old, was weeping like a ten-year-old child.

"He found his old friend, heard the sound of the ocean, and saw the moon upon the sea..."

Chu Jiu had originally thought it was some kind of "foreign population registry," but now he saw it clearly: it was a copy of "Folk Legends"! Moreover, it was the "Dwarf-Beast Special Edition"!

When Chu Jiu and his group rushed to the old grandfather's house, the white-haired and bearded old man was lying in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling with lifeless eyes, mumbling incoherently, "Gem... gem..."

"Could it really... really be true...?"

Amidst his daughter's continuous chatter, Douglas heard Chu Jiu voice his concerns.

Lauren chuckled foolishly for a long while before Douglas's cough reminded her to spread the thick, heavy book open in front of the little squirrel, politely asking him to "press a paw print" on it.

The physician standing guard waved a hand at the others in the room: "Everyone out."

"Indeed, if it were humans who knew nothing of dwarf-beasts or didn't believe in their existence, seeing Mr. Blacksmith for the first time would probably cause panic."

Chu Jiu still chose "accumulated reward."

A few minutes later, his eyes gradually regained their luster.

"C-Can I meet him?"

Despite her mother's admonitions, Mary continued to stare cheerfully at the dwarf-beast, repeatedly murmuring, "So, cute, oh..."

A human couple, accompanied by a guard detachment, had shouted the name "Eric" over and over again at the edge of the forest.

Who could mine ores out of Sanctuary Valley?

Eric's grandchildren crowded inside.

Along this journey, let alone "taking good care of the old man," Chu Jiu sometimes felt like he was the one being taken care of.

The only thing that troubled him was that neither he nor his friends could find that kind of "rare ore resembling pale ice cubes."

Little Iron took Eric along to pick nuts, learn how to mine, and go drifting down the underground river...

Douglas had been inside for quite a while now, leaving the white-eared squirrel inside the carriage feeling somewhat uneasy.

He looked at the little squirrel beside him, squinted his eyes for a long time, his lips trembling slightly, before finally shouting out in disbelief: "Little Iron! It's you, Little Iron!"

Little Canned: "Meow."

His legs were no longer agile, and his speech was no longer clear.

The moon remained quietly and indifferently embedded in the night sky, unfazed by the vicissitudes of the mortal world.

*

The next day.

Little Iron smiled, speaking word by word in his disjointed language: Your wish is to make gems, so my wish is to become the best blacksmith in the underground city.

Later on, he grew old.

He had a gut feeling that he must make things clear within these few short minutes, or he would surely regret it.

He was a shopkeeper, a husband, a father...

Chu Jiu: ......Ahhhh, do you fur enthusiasts have to be this absurd......

Just like that, the little squirrel escorted Eric to the Forest of Forgetting, watching from afar in the woods as the young boy returned to his true home.

Amidst such hesitation and internal conflict, he took on more and more identities.

At this point, the young woman choked up again.

Eric had loved the candy from home since he was a child. No matter how distressing things were, whenever the adults pulled out a piece of candy to show him, he would instantly stop crying and turn it into a smile, reaching out his hands to grab those glittering colored gems.

*

Naturally, it was the distant Sanctuary Valley.

"It's me, I, came to see you."

Covered in nervous sweat, Chu Jiu hurriedly inquired: Did something happen to the old grandfather?

Hearing Eric recount this, the little squirrel shook his head.

And, unlike you dwarf-beasts, as I grow up, I will become a bearded adult just like my father. If you fail to recognize me, I will take out the gems and tell you: Eric has returned!

Running frantically like this for a full eight days, Chu Jiu finally returned to Bean Village.

Chu Jiu's intuition felt even worse.

Finally, Irene had to pick up her daughter, place her on a chair, and instruct her: Be a lady! Sit up straight! You cannot disturb people like this!

Chu Jiu felt a bad premonition in his heart.

Naturally, it was the dwarf-beasts from the legends.

In gratitude, little Eric generously shared the gems he carried, gifting them to his little squirrel friends.

The little squirrel shook his head.

The little squirrel's friend never came to the underground city again.

He said: Little Iron, my wish is to make this kind of gem, to make so many that we can never finish eating them.

As he grew older, he finally understood: What he lacked was not some kind of mineral at all. What he lacked was a type of extinct plant, a craft that no one knew anymore.

Chu Jiu lowered his head slightly and whispered to Little Canned, "Mr. Blacksmith has pulled it off..."

Because interactions between humans and dwarf-beasts had ceased long ago, most people no longer recognized dwarf-beasts, or simply assumed that dwarves and sprites had all vanished.

However, for little Mary who was not yet seven years old, it was probably all joy and no fright.

The brilliance in his eyes became as dazzling and bright as a youth's.

Chu Jiu squatted down and gently patted the little squirrel's shoulder.

After the white-eared squirrel used a stone to lay out equations in the sand and explained earnestly for a long time, Chu Jiu roughly understood:

Yet, because their lifespans were long, the developmental stages of dwarf-beasts differed drastically from those of humans.

However, the "human bearing gems" never appeared again.

Therefore, he needed Douglas's help.

If he were to rashly ride a carriage to Sea Moon City just like that, it would likely stir up other complications.

Seeing this, the blacksmith squirrel clutched the candy Chu Jiu had handed him and walked slowly toward the old grandfather.

Of course, the "letter of certification" needed by Douglas had already been properly and securely issued.

At this moment, the blacksmith squirrel, who had remained silent all this time, spoke up: "I, see him."

Trembling with his hands, he asked incoherently: "Are these... gems? You... you found the raw material? Y-You... helped me... fulfill it?"

This great-grandfather, who had lived a strictly orthodox life, had actually traveled to such a distant place in his early years and genuinely befriended a "dwarf-beast."

Not only because Douglas was a former captain of the Psionic Patrol, but more importantly, Douglas had firmly believed since childhood that other intelligent races still existed in the wilderness.

Armed with this letter of certification, coupled with Douglas's own prestige, neither the guards of Sea Moon City nor anyone else with ulterior motives could find any fault with Mr. Blacksmith.

The blacksmith squirrel was a man of few words to begin with, and now he simply stopped talking altogether.

He hopped onto the footstool prepared for him by the young woman and placed the gems in his hand into the old grandfather's withered, thin palm.

Turns out I really was fooling a kindergarten kid with candy!