The moment I stepped into the hall, a bright light invaded my eyes, prompting me to cover them with a hand.
Taking a few seconds to adjust to the light, lowering my hand, the first thing I saw was an enormous table that stretched all the way to the other side of the hall.
Seated along the table were the representatives of each race as well as the dwarven elders.
They were all mixed together, and there were no particular seating arrangements. It brought for a nice atmosphere, as all races mingled together.
The moment we entered the hall, all eyes were on us.
As Douglas smiled kindly at the others, Waylan, who was next to me, whispered in a soft voice, "Looks like we are the last to come."
"Yeah."
The fact that there were only three empty seats did not go unnoticed by us. We realised that our group was the last to come.
"Humans, you are finally here."
But fortunately, the others didn't seem to mind this, as Gervis stood up and warmly welcomed us to the hall.
He pointed at the seats close to him.
"Come, come, I've reserved seats just for you."
"Thank you."
Lowering his head, Douglas did not stand on ceremony and walked toward the seats that Gervis had pointed at.
Naturally, I followed behind him.
As we were walking toward our seats, from the corner of my eyes, I caught sight of a familiar figure.
'Isn't that Malvil?'
Sitting next to his disciple, Malvil was taking a sip of his drink.
Seeing me looking at his side, he raised his cup slightly before turning his attention back to his drink.
Smiling back at him, we soon arrived at our seats.
Right after, standing up, Gervis warmly greeted us.
"I'd like to thank you humans for coming."
"It is our honor," Douglas politely replied. His reply caused Gervis to laugh out loud as he patted him on the back.
Well, he tried, but he ended up patting his thigh.
"Hahaha, there is no need to be so polite. Your people have made great contributions alongside Jomnuk, and…"
Pausing, Gervis squinted his eyes before looking towards a not-so-far-away seat, his voice turning into a quiet whisper.
"…and that guy."
His voice contained hints of anger and bitterness.
The guy he was referring to was none other than Randur, who helplessly shook his head.
It was clear that he was still not over what had happened a while ago, back at Inferno.
"Have a seat so that we can start eating."
With that said and done, Gervis gestured for us to sit as he himself sat down. Out of respect, we had remained standing until then.
Following his example, we all sat down on our seats. Once we did, Gervis looked at everyone present in the hall before coughing slightly and raising his voice.
"Keumm… May I have everyone's attention for a moment."
At his words, silence enveloped the hall.
It was clear to see that, judging from how everyone stopped talking when he spoke, Gervis was highly respected by everyone present.
"Thank you."
The moment silence enveloped the hall, Gervis smiled.
Glancing at everyone once more, after a brief moment of silence, Gervis started to speak.
"If I had to be honest with all of you, at the very beginning of the war, I was not optimistic about our chances…"
His voice was soft, but each word that came out of his mouth reached the ears of all those present in the hall.
"I thought that given our current capabilities, we won't be able to defeat the demons. We also had to worry about both external and internal attacks. Our chances were slim."
He paused, letting his words sink in.
His eyes were slightly emotional, Gervis looked at every single individual present in the hall. At that moment, it felt like he was reminiscing about the past, thinking about those who were no longer here.
Then, lowering his head slightly, he thanked everyone.
"…and when I'm saying I'm truly grateful for your help, I mean it. Had it not been for what you guys did, we would've never been able to win the war. Be it dwarves, or whatever other race you are, the moment we fought together, such things no longer mattered, and all I can say is that we, the dwarves of Henolur, are extremely grateful for what you've done for us."
As soon as his words faded, I started clapping my hands.
Clap— Clap—
"Huh…?"
But just as I was in the middle of clapping, lifting my head up, I noticed everyone in the hall staring at me oddly.
"Ren, clapping is a human thing."
It was only after Waylan's reminder that I realized my blunder.
An ordinary person could die of embarrassment here, but fortunately, my skin was now thick.
Extending my hand and grabbing the drink in front of me, I took a soft and subtle sip.
Turning my head to face Gervis, I raised my cup and gave a toast to him.
"It's good stuff."
It wasn't. It really wasn't. It was almost as bad as the ale in the tavern, but I was somehow able to keep my face straight as I said those words.
Staring at me for a brief moment, Gervis smiled.
Turning his attention towards the others, he once again started speaking.
"That said, I would also like to especially thank a few individuals."
Gervis then pointed in our direction.
"As many of you probably already know, the only reason why we were able to win this war was because of the contributions of certain individuals who are seated among us. Of the individuals, I would like to thank these three humans over here: Douglas, Waylan, and Ren."
Turning his head, Gervis's eyes paused on Jomnuk and Randur.
"Thanks to the intricate plan they formulated with Jomnuk and Randur, they infiltrated the main headquarters of Inferno and created an opportunity for us to end the war. For that, I plan on rewarding each individual present."
Gervis's words did not cause any stir as everyone present calmly accepted them.
I was of course excited at the prospect of receiving a reward, but I did not show it outwardly.
"Now, after thinking about it for a long time, I decided to reward Jomnuk and Randur by granting them the highest level of authority, only second to mine, the Metropoliskeeper."
Instantly, all the dwarves in the room opened their eyes wide in shock.
Before letting the others voice out their opinions, Gervis raised his hand and cut them off.
"My decision is final. They have made enough contributions to earn their current reward. If you feel that that is unfair, do something of their caliber before talking to me."
All the dwarves that had previously tried to voice out their opposition stopped and sat back down.
Scanning the crowd with his eyes, Gervis turned to face our direction. He then extended his hand to bring the attention towards us.
"Regarding you humans, instead of me personally giving you a reward, I'd rather ask you for what you want. Since I don't know what you guys want exactly, I'd prefer to ask you directly."
Once he finished his words, Gervis looked at Douglas straight in the eyes.
As Gervis was looking straight at him, Douglas glanced towards his right where Waylan sat. Staring at each other for a brief moment, they both nodded in agreement before Douglas opened his mouth to speak.
"For someone of my age and level, there aren't many rewards that intrigue me. "
"Understandable," Gervis muttered upon hearing his words.
As they were both powerful figures, they understood that once someone reached a certain level, not many things attracted their attention.
"Still, I insist that you ask something from us. It would make us look ungrateful if we don't give you anything for all the help that you have given us."
With a slight nod, Douglas worded his next sentence carefully.
"Then, I would like for you to consider the possibility of working together with humanity."
The moment his words faded, the hall was enshrouded with silence. Gervis's brows knit in thought.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Tapping the table with his finger, his deep voice responded throughout the hall.
"What do you mean by that? Elaborate a bit further."
Unfazed by the sudden shift in mood, Douglas continued.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking you to ally with the humans immediately. I'm only asking you to consider the possibility. We have the same opponent, so you know that we're on your side."
"Hmmm…"
With his brows knit, Gervis propped his elbow on the table and supported his face with his hand.
"If we do choose to ally with humanity, we would first need to talk with the other alliance members… And, not only that, but we would also need to provide you guys with resources so that you can catch up to our current level because frankly, you guys are still quite weak."
"We know," Douglas calmly replied, "But you've seen how much we've grown ever since you guys came, without your aid. If you choose to support humanity, I'm sure it will be beneficial to the Fantasia Faction in the long term."
Silence once again descended on the hall as Gervis stroked his long beard.
For the next minute or so, Gervis didn't say a word, and naturally so didn't the other people present in the room.
After a while, glancing at Douglas, Gervis carefully said, "Okay. I will give it some consideration. What you've done for us is akin to saving the lives of millions of dwarves. I will only look ungrateful if I refuse…"
Turning his attention away from Douglas, Gervis looked at the people in the room and announced, "Once the situation settles down for the two other alliance members, I will propose the admission of humanity in our alliance."
Once his words faded, a myriad different expressions appeared on the faces of the people present, but no one disagreed.
They all knew that Douglas's previous words contained truth in them.
Ever since the arrival of the other races, humanity had truly evolved into a medium to large-sized power. Given a few more years, they would without a doubt become even stronger.
"Thank you, that's all I'm asking for," Douglas replied, a big smile finally revealed on his aged face.
"It's the least we can do," Gervis replied with a slight smile. Then, he turned his attention towards me.
"What about you, human? I've heard that you made quite a big contribution. What would you like as a reward?"
'This is it.'
The moment he asked me that question, sitting upright, I carefully worded my next words.
"Well, my request is much simpler. I'd like to select a skill if possible."
After a lot of consideration, I thought that this was the most appropriate reward.
I could've asked for an artifact, but with Malvil working on my sword, I didn't think it was necessary.
Moreover, I still had plenty of artifacts which I had gotten from the duergars that I had killed back at Inferno.
Although most of them were useless as they required demonic energy to function, they could still be worth a lot if sold in the black market.
I also thought about trying to get a martial manual, but then I remembered that those could only be found in the human domain.
So, in the end, I was left with no choice but to choose a skill.
Not that I was against it, as skills were extremely rare. In fact, they were far more valuable than any manual or artifact.
There was another reward that I wanted, but, well, now was not the right time to ask.
"So, you want a skill?"
Gervis's voice sounded in my ears, disrupting me out of my thoughts.
Meeting his eyes with mine, I nodded.
"Yes."
After that, a subtle silence ensued before Gervis nodded back.
"Okay, that's doable…"
