“I’m not going to cheat!” Terra cried out.
“How could you possibly not vote in your Master’s favor!” One of the dwarves shouted out.
“This is unfair.” Another added.
I lifted my hand, quieting them down enough that I could be heard. “As you are all aware, Terra is my slave and I am her Master. You may not be aware, but I had the job Slave Master, and that job, I can give orders to my slave, even setting the severity of punishment should they go against them. In this case, I order Terra to judge honestly and select the superior weapon. If she goes against my order, then she will experience pain. Good?”
“He probably ordered her yesterday to ignore any orders today!”
“What if he’s not a Slave Master, then he could just say anything and it wouldn’t matter!”
These dwarves were stubborn! I was expecting that to be the end of it.
“How about this?” Gabbro spoke up. “Both of our judges will pass, and if they do not agree, then we will depend on a tiebreaker.”
“Who are you picking?” I asked. “I have made my slave swear to be honest. What guarantee do I have that you won’t have someone who would always pick you?”
I was starting to sound like them!
“I had considered this as well.” Gabbro nodded. “That’s why I selected Lapis to be the decider. She is my sister and Sapphire’s mother. If anything, she’d be dispositioned to helping her daughter…”
“I would never throw a contest so dishonorably!” Lapis cried out, shooting Gabbro a glare.
The smile immediately left his face and he gave an awkward laugh. It appeared like there was someone who could still make Gabbro squirm. His younger sister was a weakness of his.
“Fine, I will accept her.” I agreed. “But who will be the tiebreaker?”
“As if it’d get to a tiebreaker.” Gabbro snorted. “Very well, since we’re deciding, we’ll go with that esmere over there.”
“Me?” Pait jerked up. “Why me?”
I had to agree. “He came here with me. He’s my friend. He also knows nothing about weapons. Why would you leave him to be the tiebreaker?”
“It’s because he came here with you that I knew you wouldn’t dispute it.” Gabbro laugh. “However, I know a politician when I see one, and he’s a politician. He may be your friend, but I’ve already had a chance to pump him for information. Now, he’s a lad who can’t hold his alcohol.”
“Is that why you invited me to drink?” Pait cried out. “Dav still won’t look at me after I came home drunk, but I don’t remember anything and she won’t tell me!”
Everyone glanced at Dav, who was distinctly looking the other way, her face glowing red. “It’s nothing…”
“Anyway, I’ve learned that he doesn’t belong to the same country as you, and you kidnapped him from his current post.”
“I might have done something like that,” I muttered.
“Whether he’s your friend or not, it is still Esmore he must look after. Would he rather do you a favor, or would he rather owe me? Half the population of Esmore is dwarves. Some believe deep dwarves went to the surface and became surface dwarves. Others believe they were cousins from the same dungeon world, and I suppose a few believe they aren’t related to us at all. However, no one can deny they’ve been jealous of our blacksmith and mining techniques for untold ages. I wonder what he’ll consider a more advantageous choice, allowing Aberis to gain control of the deep dwarves and their techniques, or freeing them from such an agreement and getting a personal favor with me.”
“When you say it like that, isn’t he going to pick you?”
“Hehe… that depends on how loyal a friend you think Pait really is.” Gabbro laughed. “Of course, if you deny him, aren’t you saying you don’t trust this friend of yours?”
“Geh…” He really had me there. “Fine, I agree!”
“Then, let’s begin!”
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