From Witcher to Lord of the Empire.

Chapter 272 The lesser of two evils

The blizzard that roared like a dragon roared out from the left palm covered with steel gauntlets, and the cloak of the great griffin fluttered in the opposite direction.

A group of multi-legged arthropod monsters could be vaguely seen coming from the cave in a panic.

The dwarves shouted their names the first moment they saw them: "Qiqimo!"

Qi Qimo, classified as [Insect-like creatures], belongs to alien creatures that came to the mainland after the celestial sphere converged. It has organization, discipline and class that are rare among monsters.

Some scholars believe that Qiqimo should be an ant-like creature from another world. A Qiqimo community is ruled by [Qiqimo Queen]. Qimo Warrior].After dissection, it was found that Qiqimo's brain was very small, and scholars even suspected that these monsters might have a common consciousness.

This kind of monster is a creature that demon hunters absolutely don't want to encounter, and it is also a creature that demon hunter mentors warn apprentices never to hunt alone. The degree of danger is even higher than some [dragon-like creatures] and [remnants] - because Not only do they form groups like water ghosts, they are as big as calves or even horses, they also have hard shells, and they are even poisonous.

But now, all of these dangerous, deadly monsters that caused headaches to human soldiers, dwarves, and demon hunters have all been turned into ice sculptures, and their lives are frozen at the moment they rush out of the tunnel.

Because it was the first time he encountered a creature like Qiqimo, Lan couldn't help but take a second look.But soon he turned around and accepted the greetings from his soldiers.

"Lord Duke!"

Lan nodded towards them: "Thank you, soldiers."

"For Cintra! For Lannister! For the Duke!"

"After the battle, remember to collect the materials of these monsters. I specially used freezing instead of burning." Lann instructed, "Of course, all actions must be done under the premise of ensuring your own safety. You are the most precious asset of Cintra. .”

"Yes! Your Excellency the Duke!"

Lann nodded again to the dwarven leader, turned around and disappeared into the bright emerald light again.

The leader of the dwarves looked at the ax in his hand, then at the cold and hideous ice sculptures, and finally at the high-spirited Sintra cavalry, and suddenly felt that these people were a bit redundant.

……

The dwarves have deployed teams at every exit of the Bottomless Pit of Davor, and each dwarf team has a Cintra follower.Using them as coordinates, Lann visited every corner of the battlefield, and truly demonstrated his combat effectiveness in front of the Fuchs clan.

The dwarves in these bands probably didn't know that half of them would then go to live and fight for Cintra.At this moment, let them plant the seeds of Lann's powerful back in their hearts. Later, when Tomor announces orders and selects fighters, the resistance will be much smaller.

Even these short-legged and bearded people will actively sign up.

Lann [Teleportation] returned to the edge of Davor's Pool for the last time. At this moment, the inside of the mine has completely turned into a vast ocean, and the artificial reservoir behind the dam is almost dry.

Facing the gap in the dam that he created, Lan En cast the spell for the last time.

[Alder's Seal · Bone Biting · Magic Power Explosion】

Patriarch Tomor has not left here, waiting anxiously for Lan to come back.At this moment, his eyes widened in anticipation as if he was witnessing Lan En's seal for the first time, and he witnessed Lan En's left palm whizzing out dozens of blizzards of breath, forcefully filling the gap in the dam. The solid ice stopped the torrential flood.

"That's fine, it's convenient for the Fuchs clan to repair the dam later."

Tomor Fuchs nodded again and again, Lan has already helped to this extent, what else can he say?
Lan added: "However, Mahakam is now in the beginning of spring. Maybe my seal will not last long. You still need to start repairing the dam as soon as possible."

"Don't worry." Tomor patted his chest like a war drum. "We know the weather in Mahakam very well. Your strength is definitely enough to last for more than a week. This time is enough for us to wait for the flood in the mine to recede." , and recount the property inside."

If the Fuchs clan wanted to migrate, they naturally needed to pack all the clan's luggage.The mine was suddenly occupied by monsters due to a sneak attack. Apart from the explosives warehouse, there were many unprocessed raw ore and mining tools, etc., which were still underground in the mine and had not been transferred out.

After the flood subsides, these can be salvaged again to contribute to the construction of the new family land.

"After all these things are counted, we will build the dam together to prevent any damage caused by us. After that, the whole family will move to the Poluo Mountain Pass." Chief Fuchs shook his head, "Originally we planned to use the It will take more than a month to complete this plan, and it will take even more if guys from the Chiegelin family are involved."

"Fortunately, I have your help, Duke Lannister." Tomor said sincerely.

Lan En nodded slightly, accepted the other party's thanks, turned around and brought the topic back to the business: "How long will your action take. In other words - when can I get the agreed soldier."

"The soonest it will be in seven days." Tomor said without hesitation, and he was not ambiguous about the business, "At that time, those slow-moving guys from Zigrein definitely hadn't finished cleaning, and you must have not left yet, so there will be no delay of your time."

"We don't need so many young men to build the dam. When the time comes, I'll gather everyone and let you choose. Those who can go to the battlefield will definitely be the best young men!"

Lan En nodded in satisfaction, and looked at the dam: "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Tomor laughed, first thanked Lane again, and then declined: "You have helped us the most, and if you need to protect us like a nanny in the future, we will all look down on ourselves !"

……

Now that Fuchs' matter is settled, Lane plans to go back to the Ziglin clan to see how their "cleaning" progress is going.

Just because the mine residential area was flooded together, the Fuchs clan could only live in tents, and there was no way to keep Lane and his party for a long time.So they were ready to go back to live in the territory of the Chiglin clan under Tomor's apologetic eyes.

However, Tomor's basic thinking is still very simple. He thinks that this way of "driving" people away after just asking them to help is very unkind, especially when he still owes the other party, it seems a bit shameful.

So he sent Petrit to follow Lane as a liaison to ensure that Lane would not be caught blind when he wanted to contact Fuchs again.

"Petrit also served in Carbon Mountain before, with the highest rank of captain." Tomor said proudly, "But he didn't want to stay in Carbon Mountain, so he came back to mine. He is a member of our clan. The best fighter, and he will lead the boys when they are sent to Sintra."

Lane nodded. In the previous battle, he saw Petrit commanding the battle. He was indeed a trustworthy soldier.

"Moreover, Petrit is also our clan's diplomat." Tomor added, "I also promised to help you contact the Ferenc clan and use favors to help you get more reinforcements. I haven't forgotten."

"Leave this matter to me, Duke Lannister." Petrit said loudly.He looked at Lann, who had witnessed the heroic appearance of the lion many times, and his eyes were shining with admiration, "I have always been in charge of communicating with the Ferenc clan. When the matter with Ziglin is over, I will bring You go there!"

Lane stroked his chin.He also sent a small team to the Ferenc clan, but he didn't know how their work was going.And if he can get more support, he is also happy to see it.

"I'm looking forward to it." Lann said with a smile.

……

When Petrit was with Lann, he attracted the attention of many Ziegling dwarves. As a clan that had been hostile for many years, Zieglin was no stranger to the celebrity Petrit.

But after all, he was by Lann's side, so the Ziegling dwarf didn't say anything, but silently looked away.

Lan frowned slightly. He noticed that there were more dwarf warriors here than the last time he came here.Lan even suspected that Ziglin had brought back all the people who went hunting and mining.

Is this the hunt just over?Impossible, I and others used a tricky method in Fuchs to complete their work. The monsters scattered around Ziglin are very scattered, and they will definitely not be cleaned up so quickly.

Then they are preparing to launch a general attack on the monsters?
"Lan, something's not right." Geralt's first words after seeing Lan made people involuntarily serious.

"I went out to hunt demons with the Chieglin clan, but their reactions were very abnormal." Geralt frowned, "They either only killed about two-thirds of the monsters in a lair each time, or wiped out only one Two-thirds of the nests in the area."

"In short, they will choose to leave a small part of the monsters untouched, even if we have the ability to wipe them out."

Inside the huge tent, Lan listened to Geralt's words, his eyes were deep in thought.The candle flame kept flickering with the gust of wind brought by Geralt's walking, but it was far less than the uneasy swaying in the white wolf's heart.

"When I wanted to destroy those lairs, Luca Zigrin stopped me many times, talking to me about natural balance and food chains." Geralt said absurdly, "He is a qualified fighter, but Not a qualified liar. He hesitates when he speaks, and he doesn't even believe it himself."

"You mean, the 'cleaning' here is over?"

Geralt nodded: "It was over yesterday, I have been waiting for you to come back."

"But the soldiers here are gathering more and more. It doesn't look like the cleaning is over, but it looks like the war is about to start." Lan sighed.

"I asked Bowser. According to them, this is to establish a sentry nearby to prevent the cleared area from being occupied again." Geralt sneered, "But this is better than they stopped me from cleaning up before. The behavior of the monster is full of contradictions."

"I...have a bold guess, Lane."

Lan En sighed: "I have it too."

Lane knew that in the original history, there was a battle between the Fuchs and the Ziglin clan that shocked Mahakam.

At that time, although there was no celestial and sphere convergence caused by Lan, there were a large number of monsters in Davor's bottomless pit itself.The Fuchs clan failed to resist the monsters many times, and almost lost all the dwarf warriors who participated in the battle at that time. Their vitality was severely injured, and they almost migrated back to the Poluo Mountain Pass in the form of fleeing.

The Zieglin clan took advantage of this moment to sneak in. They gathered a large number of dwarf soldiers and attacked Fuchs, who was licking his wounds, and completely exterminated him.Later, a large number of underground monsters were attracted to eat the corpses of the Fuchs dwarves, creating the illusion that they were attacked and killed by monsters, and deceived the elders of Carbon Mountain.

Although after a series of twists and turns, the truth of this bloody tragedy finally came to light, the dead could not be revived, and the Fuchs clan was finally expelled from Mahakam.

Unexpectedly, now that all kinds of changes have gone through, the Chieglin clan still seems to have made the same choice as in the future.The rioting monsters made them see an opportunity, just like the future.

"My judgment is that the dwarves of the clan that Ziglin gathered were not to destroy the monsters, but to drive them away, and then raid Fuchs together with them."

Geralt said emphatically, at this moment he showed a keen intuition, which was almost indistinguishable from the truth: "It's just that I can't think of it now, why does Zieglin think that they can control these monsters, and they can control these monsters without losing clan members?" Eliminates Fuchs in too many cases."

Lan rubbed his eyebrows: "No, I don't think they want to kill Fuchs together with the monsters, but just use the monsters to cover up the traces of their killing Fuchs. As for how to kill Fuchs without causing too many losses among members To eliminate Fuchs under the circumstances, I think I probably know..."

Lane quickly told Geralt how he cleared the monsters in Davor's bottomless pit in the past three days, and then gave his guess.

"If it's really what you said." Geralt took a deep breath, and he, who was always expressionless, was also moved at this moment, "That would be terrible."

So, now there is a problem in front of Lane and Geralt.

Is he going to help Fuchs, who has already decided to send half of the young and middle-aged people to support him, or is it Yarpan's relatives, and Zigrin, who already has a certain emotional foundation with Cintra?

"If it was before, I might have hesitated." Lann took a deep breath, "It's a pity now, but we have to give up Ziegling."

"There is no bottom line for internal fighting to this extent. Even if these dwarves are brought back to Sintra in the future, there will be endless troubles." Lan said firmly.

The lesser of two evils is an act of desperation.If possible, Lane actually would like to try a method that has the best of both worlds, but time is running out now.

"Then, next we will..." Lan En was about to say something when he suddenly paused.

Sensing something, Geralt immediately turned his gaze to the door of the tent.

"Your Excellency, Mr. Garbo is visiting."

The guards standing guard outside reported.Then a stout dwarf came in with familiar short legs.

"Lannister...Duke." The corner of Gabo's mouth was raised politely, but no matter how you looked at it, it seemed that he was forcing a smile.

"We heard that you are back, and it seems that Fuchs' problem has been resolved. Ziglin is very grateful to your team for your efforts. Geralt has helped us a lot. I will not trouble you in the future, we are very happy Sorry... no, thank you for your help."

Gabo is Mahakam's diplomat, and his language is much more fluent than Kuba's, but he is still hesitating at the moment, and the guilt on his face is almost visible to the naked eye.

"Any questions, Gabor?" Lane asked softly.

Gabo was silent for a while, then shook his head vigorously: "Please take care, Duke Lannister. I'm just worried about the... life after the clan."

"If there's a problem, I can help."

"No. We don't want to trouble you anymore, and we don't want to involve you, Duke." Gabo said in an almost begging tone, "The patriarch wrote a letter to the Ferenc clan, hoping to lend you more There are many young men. However, the situation there seems to be not very good because of the Red Dragon recently, and I hope you can leave as soon as possible."

Lan didn't go to pick up Gabo's words, he looked at the dwarf who had been with him for a long time, and said unabashedly: "I really plan to lead the team out, and the Ferenc clan is indeed behind me. It's in my itinerary. But that's not where I'm going right now."

Gabo's lips twitched a few times, the smile on his face gradually faded, he lowered his head and didn't dare to look at Lane anymore.

(End of this chapter)