From Witcher to Lord of the Empire.

Chapter 265 Ordinary people can't play finance, so let's save money honestly

The Great Elder who has ruled Mahakam for centuries looks old, but his body is actually far better than the old wood in the deep forest: the skin is wrinkled, but the branches are still strong.

It is said that during the general cleaning this year, the Great Elder personally led the team with a battle axe, and his murderous aura was the best among the team.

The people of Sintra were quick to feel it.

His gaze was like a torch, sharper than the blade of an axe.

The other people present didn't know what happened, they just felt that the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Although in the dwarven territory, the guards on Cintra's side reflexively held their hands towards the hilt of their swords.

Even though they now know that the bravery of the Duke may not need their own protection, but on diplomatic occasions, these escorts are more to express their attitudes, to ensure that the majesty of the Lion of Sintra is not violated; and if it is necessary to sacrifice a If the guards came to show Cintra's "never back down" belief, they would die bravely.

But the outstretched arms of the Cintra guards stopped shortly after they saw Lane's no-go gesture.

The body of the Lion of Cintra emitted a bright emerald light, as if a sun had been born in the house; his pupils were also completely lit up, breathing out the blazing light that was as long as the blade, and his skin was hazy, not like a real person .

The people of Sintra are very familiar with this posture, which is the precursor of the Duke's [Flash] or [Teleportation].

But the light dimmed immediately afterward, Lan's position did not change at all, and no one present suffered any harm.It seemed that he just saw that the room was too dull just now, so he lit a lamp to enliven the atmosphere.

……

The dwarf guards did not react as quickly as the Cintra people, but they also raised their weapons at this moment.They looked at Lann, who was on and off, in amazement, and only waited for the order of the great elder to take down these humans.

They did wait for the voice of the Great Elder, but they laughed loudly.

The speed with which the great elder's emotions changed was astonishing. The dangerous look in his eyes just now seemed to be just an illusion, but now only the bold and laughing face remained in front of everyone.

The Great Elder showed admiration in his eyes: "I heard Gabo say that you showed a magical ability when you fought against Sharma, which is similar to a warlock's portal, and you don't need to chant spells, right? "

Lan En nodded with a smile: "Yes, after all, you also know - my name is Lei Anlun."

"Hoarfrost and the end of the era... the blood of the ancients."

The Great Elder muttered a few words indistinctly and shook his head.

He and Lann looked at each other for two seconds, and then turned their eyes to the drawings on the table.At this stage of the negotiation, the following opinions can be expressed without words.

So they looked at each other for another two seconds, making sure that both of them could see the emotional transformation.

The Great Elder put one hand on the blueprints of the equipment, and suddenly withdrew his smile: "What I just said has been made very clear. Mahakam is a completely neutral country, and the dwarves are a nation that abides by tradition. We will not A few words from a man can throw away our old way of life."

Lan En also restrained his smile: "Yes, you made it very clear."

"Even if I want to send troops to help you, Lei Anlun." The Great Elder shook his head, "Mahakan seems to be monolithic, but I am not a king, but a Great Elder, and I need to absorb the suggestions of various clans. They often give me advice. Opinion - especially lately, because they are so annoyed by the 'cleaning' not being clean, I even have to go to great lengths to appease them!"

"Oh? I didn't expect that an elder like you, who has ruled over several centuries, would have such troubles." Lan En showed a posture of listening attentively, "Which clans are they?"

"There are as many rocks on the mountain." The elder continued to shake his head, "The main big clans are still Ferencz, Fuchs, and Chis—including Ziegling!"

Gabo Ziglin was taken aback for a moment, but he didn't expect the elder to name his clan.He opened his mouth to defend, but suddenly fell silent, as if he had thought of something.

"These clans have wild tempers and are extremely warlike. They are also very curious about the outside world, and their hearts always fly to the human kingdom."

Lan En said sincerely: "That's really terrible. For Mahakam who values ​​tradition, they must have caused you a lot of trouble, right?"

After thinking for a while, Lann suggested: "How about I visit them, help them clean up the monsters that are troubling them, and prepare some gifts at the same time—they should also like the blueprints of the armor, right?"

Lann's consciousness reached into the inventory, and there were many equipment blueprints in it, which were themselves ready to be used as bargaining chips for negotiating with the dwarves.Moreover, Lan En has already printed a copy, so it is not considered a loss.

Besides, for demon hunters, the enchantment on the equipment is the priority. For Lan, the equipment recorded in these blueprints is far inferior to the griffin armor that Geron bestowed on him, and even inferior to the armor on Colgrim. snake pie set.

"They really like equipment blueprints, and there is no dwarf who doesn't like steel." The elder said in a rough voice.

As he spoke, the Great Elder patted the stack of equipment blueprints on the table with his left hand, and pulled his arm into his arms.

"However, it is limited to the equipment of the dwarves." The elder said solemnly, staring into Lan's eyes, "Those blueprints condensed with the dwarf's ancient forging wisdom allow us to recall the glory of our ancestors and figure out the thoughts of our predecessors—as for other races No matter how rare we are, we don’t want the equipment blueprints.”

Lan En was taken aback, and his tone slowed down involuntarily: "I understand. This is admirable, Great Elder."

The Great Elder nodded, turned around and jumped off the table, shouting as he walked.

"I don't want to talk to you anymore, Lannister. You are as secretive as Wizmir and Folterstadt."

"I have accepted these blueprints. Since Sintra does not require money, we can provide you with ore and equipment. Others will discuss the specific quantity with you." Gabo will take you around to experience the customs of Mahakam. You can get all the help here except military assistance——Lei Anlun!"

……

Lan En watched the Great Elder take the heavy armored guard away, tilted his head and called his attendant: "House."

"My lord." The sword servant bowed his head and stepped forward.

"It's up to you to negotiate with the equipment supplier in Mahakam, you know what we need."

House nodded.Before he inherited Sward's lion head and silver sword, he was trained as a steward of the royal family of Sintra. Even now, when he was in Brokiron Town, he would help the old steward Ens from time to time. He knows a lot about affairs and understands what Sintra needs now.

Seeing that the great elder disappeared from sight and there were no more dwarves in the room, Geralt took a step forward with a hesitant expression on his face.

"What are we going to do next, did you have something to say with Brovar Hogg just now?"

Lan En nodded: "I originally planned to be emotional and reasonable, but I didn't expect to use a little bit of threat in the end... But fortunately, we have achieved our goal."

Colgrim also came closer: "Our goal has been achieved? When? I don't quite understand what happened."

……

There were no other dwarves around, Lann began to explain after thinking for a while.If the witcher's political sense can be sharpened and he can play more roles in the future, that's what he would like to see.

In the previous conversation, Lane and the Great Elder expressed their pros and cons: If the Nilfgaardians invaded the northern border, they would never let the dwarves continue to live like they are now. This is a certainty.

This is also the reason why the dwarves sent troops to support the northern border under the normal historical development.

And the Great Elder's use of "tradition" to prevaricate Lann is farting from the perspective of God—otherwise, why would you send troops in the future Civil War?
But Lan would not tell the witchers this analysis, he analyzed this issue from another angle.

The dwarves seem to be a simple and straightforward race, and Mahakamne's policy is also based on adhering to tradition, but the system of this ancient race is far from being as simple as it appears on the surface.

The most important of these is the experience system of the dwarves.

Whenever the dwarves grow up to about 55 years old and become adults, they will get a chance to leave Mahakam to go out for experience. Some dwarves, like Gabo, will choose to return to Mahakam to continue building their hometown after seeing the dangers of the outside world. Dwarves like Yarpan, Zoltan, and Machete would remain in human society.

For Mahakam, this is actually a kind of infiltration of dwarves into human society.Compared with the elves, who have a blood feud with humans, dwarves are well integrated in human society.

Even better, because human society has always rejected the dwarves, which is neither weak nor strong, Mahakam has always had a high status in the hearts of the dwarves who left home.Although they chose not to return to Mahakam, they only praised their former hometown, and even faced their descendants who had never been to the dwarf gathering place, they would shape Mahakam into a fairy-tale kingdom.

In the words of the poet: "Mahakan is the spiritual hometown of every dwarf outside."

That's the problem, the dwarves have infiltrated every aspect of human society, but their hearts are Mahakam's.It can be said that if one day the dwarves of Mahakam get tired of life in the mountains and go out to raise their arms, they will be able to summon a terrifying country from human society immediately.

The jobs these dwarves do in human society are not the same craftsmen in other literary works, but all-encompassing: blacksmiths, adventurers, pharmacists, merchants, and the most important thing Lane mentioned just now - dwarf bankers .

As early as the eighth century of the Anthropocene—that is, almost 1000 years ago—some dwarves had become leaders in the economic industry.

Now these dwarves outside have established several banking families, including the Giancardi family, the Vivaldi family and the Zion Vannelli family.From Vizima, the capital of Temeria, to Wengerburg, the capital of Aedirn; from Keweier, the northernmost point in the north, to Toussaint, which has touched the south, all these places have set up branches of the dwarf bank.

From the economic point of view of this era, there seems to be nothing, and the kings seem to be happy to let these dwarves do what they like, because they can provide a steady stream of taxes.

But from the perspective of Lan En, a modern person, even if he doesn't study economics, he can still feel a sense of horror-how terrible is it that the largest bank in a country is in the hands of other countries, or even other races? .

Lan didn't even dare to think about it, he just felt that those bright gold coins were buried under the ground of various countries like gunpowder, just waiting for a little heat from the lava hidden deep in Mahakam, and then completely detonated.

Compared with those elves with long ears, dwarves are too intelligent.

Lann was very sure that although the dwarves of Mahakam kept the tradition in name, they said that the dwarves who went out would never return to Carbon Mountain.But secretly they definitely still have a way to connect with each other, that is, a fool like Yarpan and a stubborn guy like Zoltan will take this "tradition" seriously.

Didn't the machete contact the elder with Lan's blueprint?They are now thriving in Novigrad, the first city in the northern border.

So when Lan just pointed out the point of "dwarf banker", the aura of the Great Elder suddenly changed.

For dwarves, this is a layout for thousands of years.If Lann were to reveal it, I believe the kings of the Northern Kingdom would be happy to confiscate the homes of these financial families for "treason" to enrich the treasury; and under such hasty conditions, the dwarf bankers could even fight back, but the damage to human society The damage caused will definitely not be large.

Absolutely no good for Mahakam either.

That's why Lan En said that he used threats against the Great Elder.

……

"This is roughly the case with dwarves," Lann concluded.

Colgrim was terrified when he heard that, and suddenly felt that it was better to be a simple assassin... No, it was a demon hunter, and it was better to be a simple demon hunter.

Geralt was also thoughtful: "So just now Brovar's momentum has changed. He actually wants to keep us all here. And Lane, you have mastered the ability of the ancient blood, because you want to express your uniqueness. the value of?"

The dwarves are an older race than the elves, and the Great Elder is the oldest group of the dwarves. He is definitely no stranger to the prophecies of "Ancient Blood" and "Hoarfrost".

Lann shook his head. It's okay to use the ancient blood to fool the elves, but it has no effect on the dwarves.

"Look around, and look at our feet, Geralt." Lane kicked on the greaves, "The dwarves hollowed out an entire mountain to build their 'Carbon Mountain', here is a warm Underground fires, safe cave dwellings, and mushrooms that can be harvested without sunlight. The hoarfrost that freezes the earth poses no threat to them."

"They might be looking forward to the arrival of Hoarfrost, so that they can clean up the surface of the earth, and after the cold winter passes, they will be able to get a world without humans and elves."

Lan En sneered: "—if the cold winter will pass."

Cohen lowered his head in disbelief, his eyes seemed to see through the rock to the billowing lava below.

"You also know the news about the dwarves through the power of the ancient blood?"

Lane nodded noncommittally: "So I just showed the power of the ancient blood, but I just told the other party that I have the ability to leave here in an instant like a warlock, and I don't need lengthy spells-I believe Gabo has already told Boo about the scene of my battle." Roval."

"That's why he gave up his plan to keep us here, and started to negotiate a deal with Sintra, hoping to shut your mouth." Geralt thought deeply.

Lane's analysis almost overturned their worldview. Fortunately, the only parties involved in the negotiation were the dwarves and Sintra, and Layla of Aedirn did not follow.

Otherwise, the other party would have to rush out desperately to serve his king with his life. Geralt didn't want this girl to die, and he liked this little fan who wished himself, Yennefer, and Ciri from the bottom of his heart.

As for Cintra... Cintra doesn't have a dwarven banker, because Calanthor doesn't like it.Before Lann became the speaker, only humans lived in the lion's country, and the only special thing was the druid Mossak.

……wrong!
Geralt woke up suddenly, so if the negotiations broke down and the dwarves detonated the economic bomb of human society, throwing the entire north and half of the southern empire into chaos, would Cintra be able to profit from it instead?
No, now that Nilfgaard is watching, and the dwarves have penetrated far more into the north than the south, if this happens, the north will be completely over, and Cintra will not be able to please.

What if we wait for Nilfgaard to retreat?
(End of this chapter)