The dwarven king and his daughter

 
 We headed deeper into the tunnel with Eph. As we continued on, the sound of iron being struck ahead of us reached our ears. Nevertheless, the inside was really hot. Humid. As expected, it’s probably because there’s a blast furnace nearby?
 
 ”Muu, it’s somehow extremely hot-noja! Keon feels nice-noja~”
 ”Kyupi~”
 ”Unyu~”
 ”””””Mo~gu~te~”””””
 
 Seems the Bamboo Princess is also annoyed by this heat. She’s trying to ease the heat by hugging Keon. Because Keon’s body is nice and cool, huh.
 Uni is also cuddling up to Keon. The moles are also squee~zing themselves against Keon. THey really are saved by Keon’s coolness.
 
 ”Kobelco and Kani, are you alright?” (Wirk)
 ”Go-!”
 ”Koo~”
 
 Somehow seems that they’re fine. Kani seems surprisingly strong against the heat.
 Kani can put up a barrier, so maybe that’s how she’s keeping the heat out.
 As for me, there are some times where I work in hotter places. This much isn’t a problem for me.
 Then, as we went further in, the metallic clang gradually got louder.
 Continuing on like that, the place opened up a lot. There, dwarves were wholeheartedly striking iron. Very typical, huh.
 The dwarves’ eyes were sharp as they struck the glowing-red iron. To the point that the smithy seemed hazy due to the dwarven mens’ gazes.
 
 ”Papa, got a moment?”
 — Klang! Klang! Klang!
 
 Eph called out to a shirtless dwarf. She called him “Papa”, so this person is probably Jay, the king of the dwarves.
 He was certainly short, just like the other dwarves, but the amount of muscles he had was overwhelming. The look in his eyes was sharp like a magic beast’s.
 He raised the struck iron up and checked the result. Looking at the shape, he’s making a sword?
 H~mm, but that…
 
 ”Hey, Papa! Listen to me!”
 ”…what’s up with this seriously noisy guy. I’m busy working here.”
 
 Eph called out to him repeatedly, and Jay finally responded.
 
 ”So what the h**l is your work…” (Eph)
 ”That’s something a woman wouldn’t know.” (Jay)
 ”What kind of work is this where you year in and year out strike iron, and throw it away every time it’s a failure, huh?” (Eph)
 
 Eph folded her arms in front of her chest, her mouth twisted into a slight frown.
 Then she pointed her finger and told Jay her business.
 
 ”Anyways, visitors came, so stop for a moment and hear what they have to say.” (Eph)
 ”— visitors?” (Jay)
 
 He stopped swinging his hammer, and gave me a glare. Then he suddenly stood up and threw some iron ore toward my feet from a huge pile next to him.
 
 ”Let me see you hammering. I won’t give my daughter to some b*****d that can’t even hit iron.” (Jay)
 ”Papa, what are you talking about all of a sudden! You’re an idiot!” (Eph)
 
 Eph’s face turned deep red. B-, but that’s a really sudden, grand misunderstanding.
 
 ”Mu-, b*****d, you’re human, huh?” (Jay)
 
 Then Jay’s eyebrows rose and he looked at me suspiciously as he asked.
 
 ”Eh? Yes. That’s right. Nice to meet you, my name’s Wirk.”
 
 So I responded accordingly. The other party is the king, so I have to behave in a respectful manner.
 
 ”Hmph. A human has some nerve to put his hand on the daughter of a dwarf. You hear me? I have no intention of giving my daughter to a human!”
 ”Giving me or not giving me, that’s completely different from what I’m talking about, idiot!” (Eph)
 
 Eph repeatedly hit his back while complaining. It was a serious misunderstanding, yet somehow that’s cute.
 
 ”What, you didn’t grab the guy?” (Jay)
 ”That’s not what I said!” (Eph)
 ”Then what is this guy? Why’s there humans on this island?” (Jay)
 
 He took an imposing stance and glared at me. This wariness of humans is strongly different from Eph’s…
 
 ”Uhm, there’s actually some circumstances.” (Wirk)
 ”Wait — that’s a brownie over there, isn’t it?” (Jay)
 ”Uni-?” (Uni)
 
 Jay commanded with his hand, and turned his attention to Uni right next to me.
 
 ”This child is Uni-nanoja!”
 ”Huh? There was a human child here too?” (Jay)
 ”Not human! I’m the Bamboo Princess-nanoja!”
 ”Bamboo Princess?” (Jay)
 
 Then the Bamboo Princess picked up Uni and joined the conversation. The dwarven king was blinking in surprise.
 
 ”That’s why I said, listen to my explanation first, urgh.” (Eph)
 
 The frowning Eph told him so, admonishing him. Then the dwarf snorted and replied.
 
 ”…hmph. Can’t be helped. I’m busy here, but I’ll give you a moment of my time.” (Jay)
 
 Thus, the dwarven king was willing to listen. However, Eph said that he didn’t do anything as a father for her, yet listening to their conversation, he seemed to care about Eph as a father.
 However, just as rumoured, Dwarves seem hard to please. Well then, let’s see if we can have a proper talk…

 [TL: I would like to petition to shorten the Bamboo Princess’s name, but the obvious abbreviations and acronyms don’t seem good. Any ideas?]