Ch. 57 The Island of the Dwarves
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 57 The Island of the Dwarves
After finishing the request form, the first thing Liza did was create composite sketches of my friends.
“The first is a girl named Isolin. She’s about the same height as me and wears a big pointed hat because she’s a mage…”
“Hmm. Okay, next?”
“Next is Gladia. She has blonde hair and is a little taller than me—maybe just under 150 cm? She wears a pretty revealing leather armor set…”
“Got it. Next?”
“The last one is Nyongmom She’s a fairy with grayish hair.”
“A fairy, huh…”
“Oh, and all three of them have soft, squishy cheeks…”
“Mhm.”
As Liza’s hand moved swiftly, the girls’ appearances took shape on a large poster.
Though not perfectly identical, the composites captured their key features well.
With the sketches complete, Liza carried them over to a machine in the corner of the reception room. She fed the poster into the device, and after the large lamp flickered repeatedly, it spat out dozens—no, hundreds—of copies of the same image.
“Here, take these.”
Liza handed me the stack of composites. If I were an ordinary girl, I probably would’ve struggled to even lift them.
But this much was no problem for me. After all, I was a Player blessed by this world.
The rule was simple: as long as an object wasn’t taller than the Player, it could be stored in the inventory, no matter how heavy. The thick stack of posters disappeared into my inventory in an instant.
“Got the composites?”
“Yes!”
“Good. Then let’s go find your friends.”
Right now? I turned my head to glance out the window. The glass shimmered faintly, tinted by the hues of sunset.
Liza was efficient. While we were away, there was a chance my friends might come looking, so she visited the village chief and handed him some of the posters.
“If any of these little ones show up in your village, tell them to come to my office.”
The village chief nodded and immediately posted the composites in high-traffic areas.
With that done, Liza declared our business in the village finished and dragged me off to our next destination. The sky, dyed in twilight, gradually darkened as we moved.
The place we arrived at was a large warehouse behind the Sky Detective Agency.
I followed Liza inside and asked,
“Why are we here? I thought we were leaving for somewhere else.”
“Why? Because what we’re riding is stored here.”
Liza grinned confidently and pulled out a massive machine.
A helicopter? No… a plane?
What she revealed was a hybrid between a helicopter and an airplane. Its sleek, elongated body glimmered under the moonlight, radiating the cold, sturdy aura of metal. It had long wings and a large propeller.
[Skyhawk]
- Exclusive aerial vehicle for floating islands.
- Uses clouds as fuel.
- ※Max capacity: 4
- ※Owner: Liza
“This is the Skyhawk. Cool, right?”
“Wow…”
As I nodded in awe and ran my hand over its surface, Liza suddenly lifted me up and plopped me into the cockpit.
Then she shouted
“Alright! Let’s go!”
With her spirited cry, the Skyhawk roared to life. The engine sputtered before unleashing a mighty growl, and the magic circles engraved inside lit up brightly.
A moment later, the Skyhawk took off.
BWOOOOM—!
“Gah…!”
With no windshield to block the view, the open sky rushed toward me. Clouds bathed in pale moonlight scattered past the wings, and the shimmering stars grew closer.
The Skyhawk wasn’t too fast, but not too slow either. It glided smoothly through the vast night sky, almost like a ship sailing across the sea.
Just as I reached out toward the passing clouds, Liza, sitting in front, turned back and warned,
“Ah, you shouldn’t stick your hand out below the clouds.”
“Why not?”
“Well…”
She trailed off, her gaze shifting. At that moment, something enormous surged up from between the clouds.
FWOOOSH—!
A massive horse emerged, its hooves wreathed in mist. It glanced at us briefly before vanishing back into the clouds.
“You never know what kind of monsters might be hiding in there.”
“Yikes…”
Though the flowing clouds were mesmerizing, I didn’t want to risk touching them. I nodded and quickly tucked my hands behind my back.
About an hour later, the Skyhawk descended to the ground. Crawling out clumsily, I asked Liza,
“Um… where is this?”
“The Island of the Dwarves. It’s the closest island to where you first arrived, so one of your friends might be here.”
“Really?”
Looking around, I noticed this place was nothing like the Sheepcloud Village. Not a single cloud was in sight—instead, it reminded me of the forest where I’d met the fairy Lili.
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Ah, okay!”
Liza strode ahead confidently, as if familiar with the area. I had to jog to keep up with her much longer strides.
The dense forest was teeming with monsters, mostly large insect-types. They seemed skittish, scurrying away (sasasak—!) at the slightest hint of movement.
“There are a lot of insect monsters here.”
“That’s just because it’s night. The daytime monsters are different.”
As we chatted and navigated the winding paths, I started eyeing Liza suspiciously—until, at last, we spotted a structure bearing signs of human hands.
“We’re here. This is the dwarves’ village.”
[New Area Discovered: “Yanto, the Dwarves’ Village”!]
The first thing I saw was a surprisingly low wooden fence. The sharpened stakes suggested it was meant to keep monsters out.
But the village of Yanto wasn’t small because the fence was low—the walls surrounding it were also short. If Liza stood on her tiptoes, she could probably see over them.
“Who goes there?!”
A high-pitched, almost cute voice called out.
I saw a boy much shorter than me pointing a crude spear in our direction.
[Lv. 15]
[Village Guard: Yam-Yam]
I tilted my head, puzzled. Given the name “Island of the Dwarves,” I’d expected dwarves, imps, or goblins—but apparently, I was wrong.
To learn more about Yam-Yam, I focused, and a system message appeared:
[Panto]
A race that lost its future after committing a great sin.
Distant relatives of humans.
Forever trapped in the form of children.
“Hey there, Yam-Yam.”
“Eh…! You’re Liza!”
They seemed to know each other. As Liza approached and waved, Yam-Yam lowered his spear, his wariness fading.
“What brings you here? And who’s this? A girl from another village?”
“Just dropping off something. And she’s not a Panto—she’s human.”
“Human…?”
Yam-Yam’s eyes widened in disbelief. He circled me, inspecting me closely before sighing in disappointment.
“Tch… so she really is human… Well, what’ve you got for us? Food? Or some weird tool?”
At his question, Liza glanced at me. Understanding, I pulled out one of the composite posters from my inventory and handed it to him.
Yam-Yam studied it, nodding at first—then suddenly froze, staring intently at Isolin’s sketch.
Liza noticed and said,
“We’re looking for the kids in these posters. If you see them around, could you contact me…? Hey, Yam-Yam?”
“T-This is…!”
He was fixated on Isolin’s image. Suddenly, he raised the poster and shouted,
“It’s a picture of the Goddess!”
“Goddess…?”
At Liza’s question, Yam-Yam nodded vigorously, tucking the poster protectively into his clothes.
“Yes. It seems word of our Goddess has reached even you humans. I shall offer this portrait to her. Surely, she will reward you greatly for it!”
Liza and I exchanged confused looks. Yam-Yam’s words made no sense to us.
Then, he turned and beckoned.
“Come into the village! I’ll take you to the Goddess!”
With that, he marched off. After a brief hesitation, Liza and I followed him inside.
There, in the village, seated on an ornate chair with an air of solemn dignity—was Isolin, the tiny mage girl, being waited on by young girls.
“I desire grapes!”
“Here you go, my lady!”
At her command, a young girl presented grapes. Isolin plucked them delicately without moving from her seat.
The moment our eyes met, Isolin shot up.
“Supreme!”
“Isolin!”
Our first reunion. Without hesitation, we rushed into each other’s arms.
Warm, soft, and unmistakably Isolin
(tl: lewd !)
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