From Witcher to Lord of the Empire.

Chapter 292 If only all the dwarves were like you
"Your Excellency, Great Elder, are you okay?" Lan En's eyes stopped on the shallow wound on the old dwarf's chest.

"No, Duke Lannister, I'm not good." The Great Elder said in a calm voice.

"I'm freezing to death!"

The short, bare-chested old man suddenly started stamping his feet and shouting loudly: "Damn it, are you all asses? Where's my cloak? Where's my clothes?"

The members of the guard who had been watching the Great Elder reverently a few steps away suddenly panicked. They hurriedly caught up with the Great Elder's cloak in the cold wind, and quickly moved their short legs to put it back on the Great Elder's shoulders. Cover the blood that has clotted.

The anger just now didn't vent on the Scoia'tael, but now it exploded on the dwarven guards.The Great Elder kicked the ass of the dwarf warrior who put on a cloak viciously, then kept stomping his feet to keep warm, and kept spraying obscenities in ancient languages.

"I know what you want to say, Duke Lannister, but wait a moment—including the changes in the war in the North that I told you about. We will discuss these things under the witness of our ancestors and goddesses when we get to Mount Carbon, that way The result will be more reassuring for you.”

"If it's inconvenient, we can wait for Mahakam to deal with our own affairs first." Lan pointed at the Scoia'tael and said in a sympathetic manner.

"No, no need, they are not troublesome to me." The Great Elder shook his head, "Let's continue our journey."

The dwarves rested in place for a while, and soon a group of dwarves hurried over from the direction of Carbon Mountain to check on the situation of the great elder.

In the lead was Colonel Barack.The great elder jumped on his feet and reprimanded this respected general severely, and this brave warrior really remained silent like a junior, blaming himself for the loopholes in Carbon Mountain's defense that the Scoia'tael had just taken advantage of. Loophole.

When Barek wanted to send more people to join the Grand Elder's guard to protect the safety of the Grand Elder, Brovar's roar reached a peak:
"Do you think there are other enemies in Mahakam? Are you useless to this extent? Do you think I will be as useless as you and be killed in Mahakam?"

In the end, Barek, who was scolded bloody, returned to Carbon Mountain with the heavily tied Scoia'tael after confirming the safety of the Great Elder.

The Great Elder looked at the direction they left from afar.The Cintra people thought he would continue to curse and lose his temper, but the dwarf, even with his beard white, just stood there quietly, his old eyes half covered by his eyebrows like a thick forest.

There is no anger in it, only deep sorrow.

"Let's go." After the dwarf engineers reinforced the long bridge again, the Great Elder turned to greet Lan, "Go to Mount Carbon."

……

Like Carbon Mountain, Carbon Mountain is also a city built by dwarves who hollowed out an entire mountain using their architectural skills that can almost compete with nature.

However, compared with Carbon Mountain, which is the capital of Mahakam, the political color of the city in the mountain of Mount Carbon is much lighter.Just above the city gate is a huge goddess statue, which is the goddess of fertility and fertility believed by Mahakam. Her image was carved into an extremely plump appearance by the dwarves. It is said that she is one of the predecessors of the goddess Meritelli. .

No matter what nationality or country, it seems that there must be a goddess of related priesthood.

The man-made level of Mount Carbon is higher than that of Carbon Mountain. Except for the stone shell of the mountain seen from the outside, after entering the city gate, there is almost no rock wall to be seen.Riding on the horse, Lan looked up and looked around, almost appreciatively looking at the finely crafted zeniths, gilded walls, and majestic basalt reliefs.

But now is not the time for sightseeing, Lane quickly followed Broval into a huge meeting hall.The ceiling of the meeting hall is very low, but the historical and artistic atmosphere that spreads inside is much better than the human kingdom.There are also a series of reliefs around the meeting hall, with different shapes.After whispering, everyone learned that these were the ancestors of the dwarves, and Brovar Hogg would join them after his death.

When Lan and the others were seated, Broval was looking at the reliefs with his back to them, as if communicating with his ancestors with his eyes.

After he absorbed everyone's attention, the Great Elder said leisurely:
"Do you know, Duke Lannister. In the legend of our dwarves, the earliest inhabitants of the mainland were dwarves. Then we dwarves came, because of similar culture and living habits, we dwarves and dwarves have always gotten along well, which is also recorded in history. The only peaceful meeting between the two races. Until the arrival of the elves..."

"The colonial expansion of the elves lasted for ten centuries. We joined hands with the dwarves to resist those guys with long ears. They broke out conflicts with all the ancient races except us, but they have always maintained restraint, even in the end. On the surface, we have become the ruler of the mainland, but in fact we have never had a full-scale war, and the various ancient races can maintain basic harmony."

When he said this, the Great Elder turned his head and looked at Lan En meaningfully: "Later, human beings appeared... and there are not many ancient races that can still hear the sound today."

This kind of words from a dwarf's mouth is really not friendly to humans, but the elder didn't seem to think about Lan En's response to his story, and laughed directly after seeing Lan En's hesitant expression A voice blocked his words:
"I know what you are thinking. The history education you have received is definitely not written like this. Every race has a very different interpretation of history, and you humans are even more chaotic." The Great Elder shook his head, "I can guarantee you Every country has a different history."

Lan smacked his lips, a little embarrassed: "In this case, Niubao's history books are generally more authoritative. Scholars who study history tend to agree with the records there."

"That's also the record of human beings." The Great Elder said harshly, "You collect and revise the rumors from other villages, but we have indeed experienced that period of history."

There is no way to refute this, and Lan can only shrug his shoulders: "I don't think we gathered here to tell a historical story. I remember that you hoped that all this would end soon."

The great elder sat down sullenly, and slammed the table hard, and a guard at the side handed over a large glass of Mahakam ale.

The Great Elder drank it down, covered his beard with intoxicatingly fragrant foam, and wiped his mouth rudely: "I tell you this because you are the son of the ancient blood, Lannister."

"That's the blood of elves. From this aspect, you are also one of the ancient races, and you can barely be regarded as your own."

Lan frowned: "I am very happy with this recognition, Your Excellency the Great Elder. But now I am sitting here as Duke Lannister of the Human Kingdom."

"Your father is Calanthe's younger brother, so the current 'Cintra Cub', that is, your princess, also has elven blood." The elder turned a deaf ear to Lan's words, "Hey, this is interesting gone."

"You can't escape the fate carried in your blood, Duke Lannister." The elder shook his head.

"Could it be that this bit of elf blood flowing in my veins can strengthen your favor?"

"Of course not. Even if it was a [-]% purebred with long ears, we would have kept them out of Mahakam's door. Let alone you."

"So..." Lan En's eyes began to gather a smile, "You want to find yourself a step down? Would it be more acceptable to support a friend with the blood of an ancient race than to support a purebred human?"

"That's why I don't like you, Duke Lannister." The Great Elder shook his head, "Where are all the euphemisms of your human aristocrats' diplomacy?"

The Great Elder slammed the table hard and got his second glass of ale.

"We in Mahakam remain neutral, but this does not mean that we will not fight back when we are beaten—on the contrary, we need to express our attitude." The elder drank the ale again, "Especially Nifoga De, this time, really annoyed me!"

With a "snap", Broval smashed the wine glass directly on the table, and the smile on Lane's face grew dizzy.

This is not simply a matter of the Great Elder's will, to avenge himself for being attacked - there is a deeper consideration in it.

The original plan of the dwarves was to stay in a corner, retreat into the mountains and let the outside world kill them. They believed that no matter who was in power in the end, they would not be able to attack the difficult terrain of Mahakam, and humans always needed a huge supply of weapons.

Mahakam is now taking orders from Nilfgaard even before today.

But now it is a big problem for Nilfgaard to extend its hand into Mahakam through the Scoia'tael. Even if the strategy fails in the end, Brovar still needs to express his attitude towards this matter-absolutely cannot calm down .

"The people who will support you are all young men with little experience, and I believe that you don't have any generals who can command heavy infantry." The elder said solemnly, "So I will send Barclay as the coach to help you. You can Arrange some of his own deputies for him, and learn how to command our dwarven soldiers!"

The Mahakam heavy infantry can be used as an ace unit no matter which country it is placed in. Soldiers of this quality, even the royal families at the level of the four major countries, can only support a few thousand people as a standing army.But at the same time, if such a soldier is handed over to someone who doesn't know how to command, he may only be able to exert six or seven points of his full strength.

And Barclay can be said to be one of the few military generals in Mahakam, and he is definitely the best candidate to command this heavy infantry.Gabo, Petrit, and even Yarpan can all learn from him. Even after Barclay returns to Mahakam, Sintra will have several more senior generals who can command the legion under the precepts and deeds.

"In addition, your soldiers also need to be replenished. I will make the Ferenc clan more people and replenish your volunteer army to 3000." The elder snorted coldly, "The good things their young people have done !"

The youths of Ferenczi freed the dungeon's prisoners without authorization and cooperated with Scoia'tael.Although it was only the actions of a few young people, the Great Elder obviously decided to make an example of others.

"I don't want those young people who cooperate with the Scoia'tael, they are already hostile to humans." Lane emphasized.

"They don't have a chance to leave Mahakam either, they have already been assigned to mine by me!" the Great Elder laughed.

Lane nodded with satisfaction.

"Barclay himself will also lead a bodyguard corps, and guarantee that those who can fight are all veterans. The young people entrusted to you by Fuchs and Ziegling can also learn more-of course, after this bodyguard corps They are going back to Mahakam, they are 'volunteers'."

Lane nodded.The 3000 people originally planned were a mixed regiment of veterans and young people. The quality was mixed, and it could only be regarded as a "dwarf infantry regiment."But now Mahakam has brought this volunteer army to join, and after excluding those young people who have little combat experience, this is a complete "Mahakan Heavy Infantry Regiment".

As for those young people, they can form a reserve army such as the logistics force, and learn from their predecessors.

After explaining all this, the Great Elder tilted his neck behind him, and a dwarf warrior immediately presented a box, "And the last one, I promised before."

The box was opened, inside was a piece of red velvet cloth wrapped in a lead ring.

Behind the great elder, the eyes of the dwarf ancestors seemed to be focused on this ring.

"This also adds a sense of ritual. Afterwards, the person who wears this lead ring can enter Mahakam by himself after applying. It will also be more convenient when negotiating weapon orders in the future."

Lan En was disrespectful, and this was regarded as the formal establishment of a long-term cooperation with Mahakam.

Afterwards, they signed a series of agreements, discussing cooperation in wartime, Lane's guarantee of equal treatment of dwarves, and so on.

"Elder, you said before that one of the reasons for the rush to end the process is the change in the war in the northern border." After talking about everything, Lann's attention returned to this matter, "Can you explain in detail? "

The Great Elder nodded: "Although you are going back soon, you should be prepared."

"as far as I know……"

……

Mahakam, all the supplies agreed in the agreement to support Sintra have been packed.

Lan En stood in front of various steel creations like hills, patted upwards with his left hand, and then these materials disappeared as if they were erased by a huge eraser at the spatial level.

All of them were received by Lann in the 【Inventory】.

The watching dwarf quartermaster couldn't help showing a look of amazement.

Just at this time, there was the sound of rumbling horseshoes in the distance, and Cohen and his team arrived late.

"I'm late?" The Griffin school demon hunter couldn't help but feel embarrassed when he saw the crowd who were all ready to go home.

【Task-Cleaning-Completed】

【Character level +1】

There seemed to be a whole choir singing the holy sigh in unison, Lan En shook his head slightly to turn his attention back to the real world, and smiled at Cohen: "I'll just wait for you, how about your actions there? "

"I brought back none of your escorts for you. The operation went smoothly and there were no setbacks. After the blueprint was given to the team leader of the Chiss clan, they decided to send [-] dwarves to assist us."

Cohen analyzed solemnly: "If our four teams can achieve this kind of performance, we can gather together a heavy infantry force of 1000 people, with them as the center and some human fighters, it is also a force that cannot be underestimated... ...why are you all looking at me like that?"

The Griffin school demon hunter scratched his head: "Is the situation in your place not going well?"

Colgrim pulled away Cohen, who had been offline for a long time, and added to him the knowledge points he had missed during this period.Lane briefly explained to Barclay that the dwarf colonel would assemble a large army, and then set off for Sintra for support.

Because if the information provided by the Great Elder is true, he must take his own cavalry unit to go first and deal with the emergency first.

……

Mahakam, halfway up the mountain.

Yarpin sat at the door of the tavern with Sharma's head under his buttocks.The monster's head covered with a rock shell was actually used as a stool by him.

After the big battle that Lann participated in, the owner of the bar was very insightful and compiled that battle into a toast song, and the corpses of the monsters were used as much as possible. After being disassembled and processed, they became decorations for the tavern. The dwarves of the mine now like to gather here to pass the time.

The sound of horseshoes rumbled, and Yarpan stood up suddenly when he heard it.

He finally found the person he was waiting for. Mahakam's ale was delicious, but he missed the days of carrying an ax in Sintra even more.

"Lan, you are finally back, and Gabo! And..." Yarpan jumped up excitedly, but his expression quickly changed as if he saw something dirty, "Petrit Fuchs ? Why did you come here too?"

Gabor gave a wry smile.

Lane shook his head.Looking at Gabo, in an instant, all kinds of dwarves I met during the days I spent in Mahakam came to my mind.

The lion of Cintra sighed: "Yarpan... I really hope that all the dwarves in the world are as simple and bold as you; but when you think about it carefully, that seems too cruel."

Yarpan tilted his head in doubt, not understanding.

"Forget it." Lann chuckled, "Have you rested yet? We're going to deal with the Nilfgaardians with us later."

Yarpan laughed loudly: "Isn't that what I came here for?"

(End of this chapter)