Players’ NPC daddy.

He almost forgot it, but when he stood in front of the dwarf workshop and smelled the burning smell, he remembered it.

Mallika's mother also has this smell.

"This should be the smell of a forge. Strange, why does she smell like a forge?"

"Who smells like a forge?" asked Marika, who had been following Blaze. At the same time, she secretly sniffed her red hair and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that there was no smell.

"Ah, um... nothing."

Blaze subconsciously chose to conceal it, but he regretted it after concealing it. Why didn't he say it out loud?

People from other places often complained about his situation. It was obvious that there would be no problem if he spoke it out, but he insisted on holding it in, which ended up creating a huge hidden danger.

All kinds of misunderstandings, conflicts and contradictions are caused by concealment.

Blaze took a deep breath, turned around to face Marika, and waved to her. Marika immediately leaned over as usual, supported her bent knees with her hands, and put her face close to Blaze.

"When you were still living in the church, before you were kicked out and didn't know me, I saw a woman who looked very much like your mother." Blaze added, "I remembered it from the special smell in the dwarf workshop."

Marika's expression froze, and a complex expression of surprise, trance, and shock appeared on her cold and beautiful face.

Blaze reached out and pressed Marika's cheek, squeezing it towards the middle, making her thin lips pout. Marika then came back to her senses with a complicated expression.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"You didn't tell me when you were little because the dwarf who was suspected to be your mother was really a dwarf. She was exactly what you worried about your future appearance: square, short arms and legs, muscular, but no beard." Blaze couldn't help but complain.

"I'm afraid if I tell you, you'll start a hunger strike again and won't want to grow up anymore."

Marika blushed, pursed her lips and said nothing.

This is probably Marika's dark history from her youth. When she was just beginning to fall in love, she knew what a dwarf looked like. She was worried that she would really become like that in the future, so she tried every possible way to stop her body from growing, including but not limited to fasting and praying to God.

At that time, it caused a lot of trouble to Blaze. Fortunately, the bloodline of the Giens people played a role. Marika grew rapidly during her developmental period. Sometimes, her pants were too short in just one night.

"Then, why didn't you tell me when I was older and didn't care about these things anymore?"

"Because I forgot." Blaze spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders, looking quite a rogue.

"Even when I remembered it later, I forgot that I forgot to tell you about it."

After Blaze's antics, Marika's slight sadness when she heard the news about her mother dissipated a lot.

"Really... why do you think my mother abandoned me in the church?" Marika said calmly, as if chatting casually.

"That's because of the dwarf's curse."

Chapter 1826 Earn the difference

Blaze turned around, and it was not him who answered Marika's question, but Odin, the old guy who always made a mysterious appearance at critical moments and liked to be mysterious as soon as he appeared.

"You bastard, you actually dare to do such a thing!"

"Give me money! You've turned the atmosphere of Valhalla into what it is, and now you want me to clean up the mess!"

Blaze grabbed Odin's beard, and his resentment was about to turn into flames and burst out.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough—" Odin coughed twice. He had been observing in the dark and had intended to take this opportunity to talk about business and bring up the matter of Valhalla. He didn't expect that Blaze had no intention of letting him go.

After coughing twice, he realized that he had no way to convince Blaze, so he had to continue coughing, like a bullied old man.

"Alright, Blaze."

Marika put her hand on Blaze's shoulder, shook her head at him, and said softly, "Mr. Odin has had a hard time too. He's an excellent merchant under the [Hermes's Traveling Hat], how could he be involved in robbing the [Hermes's Traveling Hat]?"

"Is he still going to strive for the top ten vendors next year?"

"Okay then." Blaze let go of Odin's beard and then grabbed it.

"Then just give me the money."

Odin's breath, which had just been relaxed, was lifted up again.

"What kind of money do I have? How much can I make from selling fruit? Are you trying to steal even my hard-earned money?"

"It's not about snatching, it's about wanting," Blaze corrected.

Of course, depending on my mood, it will become a fight.

"How about this, I don't want your hard-earned money either. I want the money you earn by violating your conscience."

Odin's expression froze. Did he make money by violating his conscience? He was running a small business, and every piece of fruit he sold was fresh. How could he make money by violating his conscience?

It really does.

That is to fleece strangers. After all, the shrewd strangers are inferior in experience. They don’t recognize some materials, or don’t know the hidden effects of some materials, or don’t know that some materials have special uses in certain places. They sell them all to street vendors like clearing out junk.

Up to this point, it is not considered to be against conscience, because the stranger will get the equivalent of gold coins to complete the transaction. After all, merchants have to make money, and in most cases they will not repeatedly remind strangers whether they want to sell.

Besides, the strangers who usually sell materials at roadside vendors are there with the intention of taking out the trash, and if the trash can opens, they will just yell "SKIP" impatiently.

Then when the stranger finds out that he has sold the good stuff and comes back to look for it, he can only regret it and kneel on the ground shouting the name of the material.

Even if you want to buy it back, you can't, because the street vendors don't have much knowledge and most of them just hand it over to [Hermes' Traveling Hat].

Because of the strangers' behavior of "dumping garbage", all merchants registered with "Hermes' Traveling Hat" have a corresponding amount of funds to purchase materials from strangers. That amount of funds is considered to be borrowed, but as long as the purchased materials are handed over, they can be repaid.

But Odin is different. He is in debt. His experience and vision are unique in the world. Even if there are omissions, he can rely on his remaining omniscient and omnipotent right eye to make up for them.

Therefore, Odin never handed over the special materials obtained from strangers. He just waited for the strangers to come and redeem them, or sold them to others at a high price, and then filled the funding gap and turned the difference into profit.

This is what Blaze said, money earned against one's conscience. [Hermes' Traveling Hat] does not grant each merchant a sum of recycling funds out of kindness. The merchants are only purchasing on behalf of the merchants, and reselling to make a profit is strictly prohibited.

"If you don't give it to me...I'll take it away."

"Here, I'll give it to you!" Odin took out a small leather bag with a painful look on his face.

Although it looks like it can only hold a dozen or so gold coins, it is actually a money bag item that can hold up to one million coins.

Blaze took the gold coin and handed it back to Odin.

"I was just joking with you. I won't really steal your money."

"You little brat, I knew you..."

"Now take this money and go into that shop to compensate the Einherjar for the damage done to the [Hermes's Traveling Hat]."

When Odin walked out of the shop, his face looked even more vicissitudes due to the ups and downs he had experienced, and the desolate feeling of sitting on the steps was full of tragedy.

He tilted his head back, his voice trembling.

"My family is unfortunate..."

"Well, if you keep up this pretense, I'll take the other, bigger purses you've got hidden on you."

"Ahem." Odin coughed dryly twice, patted his butt, stood up, and said shamelessly, "As expected of the third-generation one-eyed man and the current king of Asgard, he saw at a glance that I handed over the smallest purse."

"But I promise, I just paid for all the losses. I definitely didn't get any discounts based on face, or even get ripped off!"

When Odin said this, Blaze became surprised.

"How much money did you make from this reselling?"

"Not much, not much, just a small business." Odin gestured with his index finger and thumb. A small business means making a huge profit with only one investment, which is commonly known as a small business.

Strangers are never stingy when it comes to spending money to buy the materials they need, and they are willing to pay millions of gold coins.

Obviously Odin didn't know how many strangers he had killed.

"Be more restrained and don't let strangers get their eyes on you." Blaze said this and then got to the point. "What does the Dwarf Curse mean? Isn't it only Balder who cursed the Dwarves?"

"Badr's curse is nothing."

Odin waved his hand and lowered his voice, as if he was telling the secrets of an ancient legend.

"Those are two curses that are more fundamental and instinctive, appearing with the birth of the dwarves."

"One of their curses is that the sun's rays can turn them into stone, so they can only live underground from birth."

"It is precisely because the dwarves, who live in the dark land all day long, are extremely sensitive to the power of fire and are extremely familiar with the ores in their living environment that they have become a race skilled in forging."

"And this curse of the dwarf race will be passed down through the bloodline. No matter how thin the bloodline is, this curse will not disappear."

"However, the effectiveness of the curse will also vary depending on the concentration of the bloodline. Those with a weaker bloodline will probably feel a slight stiffness in the sun, while those with a slightly stronger bloodline will turn their skin to stone under the sun."

"That's not the case with Marika." Blaze turned his head to look at Marika beside him. Not to mention being petrified, her skin was white and her body was soft.

After all, from Marika's appearance, there is no sign that she is related to dwarves.

Chapter 1827 Dwarf Curse

Marika raised her head and squinted her eyes to feel the warm sunlight. The sunlight, which was extremely poisonous to dwarves, only made her feel warm all over.

Not to mention being petrified and stiff, she even felt her body loosen up.

But this doesn't mean Odin is wrong; the dwarves are simply too few in number. Putting aside dwarves from other lands and half-breed dwarves, there aren't many dwarves left in this world, no more than a few dozen. They are a truly endangered race.

In the past, when the upper limit of the blacksmith profession was locked, most people believed that dwarves were extinct.

"The little girl is special." Odin explained.

In the mythological totem of the World Tree, except for the original land of ice and fire, the world in which subsequent creatures live was created by Odin using the flesh of the first giant.

In addition to the world itself, many species were born from the body of the Founding Titan, including dwarves.

The dwarves were created from the flesh and blood of the ancestor giant Ymir, and the bloodline of the Giants comes from the descendants of the ancestor giant Ymir, the mountain giants and frost giants.

There is a certain probability that the mixed blood of dwarves and Giants will lead to atavism, so that the mixed-blood children will not inherit the blood of their parents, but will be closer to the ancestor giant Ymir.

But this was just Odin's speculation after meeting Marika. Before that, he had never thought of such a possibility.

"So strictly speaking, the little girl can't be considered a half-dwarf, but a giant."

"I see...but is it necessary for you to come and tell me about this?" Blaze stared at Odin suspiciously.

He now seriously suspected that Odin knew the time and came to hint at him in a mysterious way.

Odin turned his head to look at Blaze and gave him a meaningful smile.

"Ah..." Blaze lifted his bangs hard, and the little fish in his left eye swam, reflecting Odin's appearance at the same time.

Clang——

Blaze pulled out the [Howl of Ares] from the arsenal and placed it in front of Odin. The metal behemoth flashed with a cold light.

"If I could, I really wouldn't want to do this, but the situation forced me to do it."

"So stop hinting and just say what you know. Is this your first day meeting me?"

When it comes to Marika, Blaze isn't so particular.

"This..." Odin's eyes twitched and his hair stood on end.

[Ares' Howl] itself is not scary. What is scary is the [people] that can be called after [Ares' Howl] is activated.

Although Blaze would usually threaten him with Gungnir, Gungnir could no longer lock onto him. In fact, Blaze was just joking.

But [Ares Howl] is different. Blaze is very serious, and Odin also realizes how much Blaze values ​​Marika.

"Okay kid, it's my fault. I didn't understand the situation."

"Is this a matter of occasion? It's wrong for you to be so mysterious." Blaze rolled his eyes at Odin and put away the [Ares Howl].

"Go ahead."

"Before that, I want to tell you something else." Odin's expression was relaxed, as if he hadn't been taught a lesson. He spoke casually about something else. "Have you ever wondered how the Dwarf Stranger was born?"

Blaze shook his head. Because the upper limit of the blacksmith was locked by Balder's curse, dwarves were very rare among foreigners, so he didn't know much about them.

"I went to look into it specifically. Do you know how shocking it was to me to find a dwarf walking in the sun?"

Odin raised two bony, wrinkled fingers.

“I learned two things.”

"One is the birth of the Dwarf Stranger. Dwarves are a race of gamblers, as Stranger says. They were inevitably born in an underground cave. If you're lucky, you can find high-quality equipment in the cave. But if you're unlucky, not only will you find nothing, but the cave's exit may even be blocked, making it impossible to exit."

"I specifically inquired about some details and found something worth exploring. It's terrifying to contemplate. That's the presence of stone flakes around the birthplace of the Dwarven Stranger."

"Do you know what this means?"

Blaze pondered for a moment and expressed his speculation.

"The Dwarf Stranger was not like other Strangers, whose souls constructed bodies in flames. Instead, they directly took the bodies of the Dwarves who had turned to stone."