Eric excitedly gazed at the mountain of piled-up red beets, his mind already imagining countless delicious dishes after they were made into sugar.
He excitedly led Leo, running and jumping joyfully on top of the mountain. From here, he could overlook the entire training valley.
He saw two large snow wolves colliding with each other without holding back, their fangs and claws also mercilessly attacking the opponent. Occasionally, a giant snow wolf would ram into the boulders in the valley, sending them flying and kicking up a cloud of dust.
[No wonder they chose a place so far away.] Eric thought to himself. [If it were closer to the tribe, the houses would have been demolished.]
A breeze blew by, and Eric's nose suddenly caught a metallic scent of blood. This scent was completely different from that of the Snow Wolf people, even though the warriors were injured at times every day.
He had never thought that one day he would be able to smell the difference in blood.
Naturally inclined to feast rather than fight, but out of curiosity, he still followed the metallic scent of blood. As a precaution, he told Leo to wait where he was.
After crossing a rugged, rocky area, he discovered a few drops of fresh red blood on the grass. This place didn't look like the scene of a magical beast fight; the grass and trees showed no signs of destruction.
He bent down and followed the blood trail, slowly advancing towards a narrow mountain cave. Pushing aside the concealing branches, Eric carefully poked his head in to look. Inside the dark mountain cave, a person was lying there.
Is it a human?
Eric wasn't sure, so he used his hands to turn the person over.
The person before him had a face rougher than that of a human male, with angular features, a protruding forehead, and dark brown skin.
His body was quite short, estimated to be only about 1.3 to 1.4 meters, but he was incredibly sturdy. His face was covered in a thick beard, revealing only his eyebrows and deep-set eyes.
A name flashed through Eric's mind. Wasn't this a member of the legendary Dwarf race? Why had he come to their tribe's territory? Moreover, the Dwarf before him had a vicious wound stretching from his shoulder to his chest, the flesh torn open, his entire body covered in blood.
Eric hurriedly carried him to a small nearby lake, washed the wound clean, then found some anti-inflammatory and hemostatic herbs from his memory, crushed them, and applied them to him.
The Dwarf remained unconscious, allowing Eric to tend to him. Eric intended to carry him to find the chieftain, but then he thought that the man's body was too heavily injured; if he were to get hurt more while being carried through the training grounds, he might not be savable.
He placed the Dwarf beside the pile of red beets, told Leo to keep watch, and went into the valley to find Thomas.
In the valley, Michael was in a fierce fight with Sam. The two snow wolves bit and clawed, tumbling on the open ground without holding back. In the end, with his richer combat experience, Michael was victorious. Sam shook his head in frustration, reluctantly backing away.
Taking advantage of the moment they finished, Eric quickly rushed down and ran to Thomas's side.
"It's very dangerous here, why did you run over?" Thomas said with a frown.
Before Eric could speak, Max also walked over. He looked Eric up and down, then reached out to wipe a streak of blood from his shoulder.
"It's the scent of a Dwarf." Max's expression turned a little serious. Thomas sniffed the air, his brows furrowing even tighter. Seeing this, the other Snow Wolf people also gathered around.
Eric felt a bit pressured and stammered, "I found an injured Dwarf near where we were digging red beets... he's quite badly hurt. I left Leo to watch over him."
Max and Thomas looked at each other. Max directly pulled Eric onto his back, and the whole group of Snow Wolves rushed towards Leo.
Leo was still watching over the Dwarf. The little one was curiously scratching at the man's thick beard with his claws, making the iron ring at the end of the goatee move. Seeing Thomas and the others arrive, Leo quickly retracted his claws.
Max put Eric down and squatted to look at the Dwarf. "He's from the Du tribe."
Michael also had a serious expression. "He doesn't look like he was chased here by a magical beast."
The expressions of the tribesmen were all very solemn. Eric didn't dare to speak, feeling a little regretful in his heart about his recklessness.
Thomas decided, "Let's take him back to the tribe. When he wakes up, we'll ask what on earth happened."
The Dwarf was heavily injured and remained in a coma for three days before slowly waking up. Discovering he was awake, Michael immediately sent for Thomas and Max. Eric only dared to peek from the doorway.
When they brought the Dwarf back, he had volunteered to let the man stay at his house, but the others were not at ease and left Michael to stand guard.
The Dwarf on the grass mat tensed and sat up. He looked at the Snow Wolf people before him, his lips pale and chapped from excessive blood loss, and said:
"Was it you who saved me? Snow Wolves of the Thomas tribe, could I please see your chieftain? Our Du tribe has been attacked by humans."
Eric was astonished.
The Dwarf race was known for their exceptionally skilled forging techniques, and the weapons they created were highly sought after. But because of this, they were enslaved by greedy people, tortured day and night to forge weapons.
After rising up in resistance and suffering heavy losses, they migrated to the Illusory Dream Continent under the protection of the Elf race and the Golden Kingdom. However, they still couldn't escape from smugglers.
Eric felt a bit of pity, so he mixed a bowl of thorny beast honey water and fruit jam for the Dwarf. The man took it, gulped it down in a few swallows, then wiped his mouth heartily and expressed his thanks gratefully.
At that moment, Thomas and Max walked in, their faces grim.