When it came to toying with his enemies, Rino was a master second to none. Everybody was beneath him in his previous world, and he had to balance his mental health somehow. It was just cold efficiency when he vented his frustrations by messing his enemies up mentally while on an extermination job by the king's order. Humans were genuinely disgusting creatures, preferring to sell family out rather than finding a way to survive together.

He might not know how earth gnomes behaved, but Rino had a feeling they would not disappoint him like his enemies. If there were two kinds of idiots in this world, he had a feeling these earth gnomes would be the likeable kind. The other brand of idiot is reserved for a lifetime's worth of overtime work without rewards.

​​

With steel in his eyes, the oldest earth gnome looked back at his comrades and placed a small hand on the youngest of the lot.

"You're the fastest. I'm counting on you to tell the others to start packing and relocating to the outside outposts. This new settlement is too dangerous. There is no chance of taking them out or protecting the mines either."

The youngest earth gnome wanted to protest, but everyone else did not allow him to speak, telling him things that he had to do once he returned on their behalf.

"Tell Martha I love her!"

"Give my younger brother that antique smithing hammer he always wanted."

"Please take care of my sister."

One by one, the earth gnomes prepared for what would be their final battle. They would either recover their captured brother or die trying. However, they couldn't all perish here. The gnomes had to still survive somehow, and it was best if the youngest of them lived for a little longer.

"Fifty years is a good life," the oldest earth gnome smiled and sent the youngest gnome away. "There's no looking back. We're going to distract them while you tunnel out. Be sure to make fake loops as you escape. We'll catch up once we get Deezer back."

Ah, so the earth gnome in his captivity had a name. Rino tried to remember it as much as he could. He had a feeling he would forget it soon enough as his focus turned to the tearful parting from Mutt's point of view.

Acht and the spectres were getting ready for their part in this staged play. While these ex-bandits were not strangers to killing, it wasn't in their nature to act as crazed serial killers. Killing was a business, not a show. They did it with efficiency, and it came with a lot fewer lines to memorise.

Normally when a bandit had to kill someone, they apologised and prayed for their victims after death. The murder was done efficiently, mostly by slitting the throat when they had all the information they needed. However, in this situation, Acht had to constantly terrorise the gnomes with empty talk, big words, bigger drama and meaningless actions.

"You can run, but you can't hide! Didn't you know? Running only fuels our excitement!"

Zeven cackled madly and swept through the tannery like a dark cloud, sending the gnomes scurrying from one hiding spot to another. Well, at least someone was enjoying the role of a terrorist.

Even from his study, Rino had to cringe. He knew what he told Acht and the spectres. However, he did not think that they would come to enjoy this very much. Only Acht was slightly stiffer in his acting and more silent. However, the rest of the shadow spectres acted like low-levelled hoodlums, bullying the terrified earth gnomes who tunnelled everywhere beneath the tannery.

One brave gnome tried to fight back but soon discovered just how outmatched they were when the stone bullet went right through the shadow spectre and hit the post behind.

In the face of a crisis as such, any spark of hope they had was dashed. These spectres were definitely mocking and toying with them. Even if Deezer was still alive, nobody could escape this place. The spectres had the upper hand with their cheating spectral bodies. No physical attack worked against them. However, they could easily grab gnomes with their shadow tendrils.

"What should we do?" an earth gnome asked their leader, who narrowly dodged a shadow tendril.

The earth gnomes were getting exhausted. These shadow spectres were tireless and did not seem to be weakened despite the strong sun. They might have the advantage of the day, but even so, they would not last long without a way to get rid of the spectres. These spectres continued to play a deadly game of hide and seek with Deezer as the stake neither side could afford to lose.

Deciding that the gnomes were terrified enough, it was time to wrap this play. Rino told Mutt to grab Deezer, who was still sleeping soundly and run towards the study that he was waiting in. He also called for Rina and the genesis fairies to get into position in case negotiations with the earth gnomes broke down. The young gnomes were rather sneaky, and Rino did not want to play hide and seek in the abandoned dwarven mines. It was better to secure a hostage that they could not abandon and get their clan to pledge loyalty to his magic tree.

Just when the earth gnomes thought things couldn't be worse, a huge shadow wolf jumped out from the shadows and snatched Deezer up in its jaws, running away.

"Deezer!"

Immediately, the shift in priorities made the earth gnomes forget about combating the deadly 'butchers'. They wanted their brother back, and with an admirable earth fortress defence, the leader bought some time to distract the spectres from following his brothers, who burrowed away, chasing after Mutt's trail.

The use of earth magic to create animated gnome dolls was creative. Rino had to admit, even he might have fallen for that trick on the first try. It took Acht and his spectres a while to realise that the gnomes had escaped and that they were playing with animated mud dolls.

"Let them go," Rino told Acht and opened the study vault so that Mutt could run over and hand him Deezer.

The fairies were already on standby inside the study, concealing themselves in corners behind the bookshelves and furniture. They were ready to cast paralysing spells on the seven earth gnomes the moment they showed up.

Rino temporarily used the teleportation pad to return to his stone cottage. The floor needed some repairing, but he could do that later. For now, he listened to Rina's report and Mutt's status. The earth gnomes could burrow quickly with the help of earth magic, but they were nowhere close to Mutt's speed of short teleporting.

Getting into position, Rina and the fairies waited for Mutt to burst through the study vault with Deezer. The gnome in Mutt's jaw was shaken so much that the sleep spell started to wear off when Mutt dropped him onto the ground.

"Restrain him quickly!" Rina cried and looked over to the earth gnomes tunnelling straight their way.

Dumping a powerful sleeping spell on the disoriented earth gnome in their captivity, the fairies quickly got in position as Mutt bared his fangs with Deezer in between his legs in a defensive stance, daring the gnome party to proceed.

Unfaltering, the gnome leader ordered his mobile earth fortress to run straight through the shadow wolf monster. Underground, nobody could win them. All they had to do was split up and distract the dumb wolf while snatching Deezer from underneath.

With all four legs trapped in earth shackles, Mutt howled, trying to break free and putting on a compelling show in Rino's opinion as the gnomes tried to snatch Deezer away from underground.

Thankfully, Rina acted quickly and countered their burrowing skills using the mana web array in Rino's study to capture anyone approaching Deezer from beneath.

The first gnome yelped when the trap triggered, firing him into the air, and the genesis fairies shot at him with blow darts laced with paralysing poison. Kragami's fairy weapon invention worked very well, and Rino had to thank Rina for bringing his teacher's newest invention over. He could now tell Kragami that the fairy blow darts should be mass-produced to arm every fairy in Noir Province. He wasn't convinced that a thousand fairies armed with poisonous blow dart guns couldn't take down a dragon.

When all seven rogue earth gnomes were paralysed and tossed onto the ground like potatoes, Rino teleported back to look at them. The paralysing poison would wear off after a while, so he had to act fast and put a temporary obedience curse on them before they tried to escape again.

It was time to negotiate after toying with them. At least now, these gnomes should know who had the upper hand. It might be annoying for Rino to deal with them in the abandoned dwarven mines but not impossible. That much, they should understand by now.

The look on the earth gnomes' faces made Rino feel slightly bad. He did not want to make them his enemies and had to kill them to make them his subordinates. Seeing how stubborn they were and how unwilling to bend their wills despite the threat of death, Rino knew that not all these gnomes could be resurrected if he killed them. Souls that did not fear death and remain strong-willed to the end cannot be brought back against their wills.

"Greetings," Rino projected his thoughts and placed a subtle curse of obedience on the earth gnomes. "I hope you received my invitation. Thank you for coming on such short notice, and apologies for the rough handling of my subordinates. Do you drink tea?"