Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence

The First Dwarven Treasure

Everyone knows how important ancient relics are to dwarves.

But the location of this item was too sensitive; it was decorating the top of a dragon's head!

Clearly, this was a dragon who loved treasures and beauty; otherwise, such a comb wouldn't be left out in the open, used to adorn itself.

Hilde calmly advised, "Dogrin, this ancient relic isn't urgently needed for us. It's just an ornament, not a weapon or armor. We don't need to risk so much to get it."

"It's right on the dragon's head! Although Lord Su Li said that ordinary sounds wouldn't disturb it, climbing on it to take it is too much! Do you expect it to be completely unresponsive while you're on it?"

"Trust us, Lord Su Li will lead us to defeat this dragon. We can retrieve this treasure from the spoils a few months later. We don't need to take such a big risk now."

"It's not the same!" Dogrin exclaimed excitedly. "How could it be the same! If we miss it this time, we might miss this ancient relic forever."

"I believe your lord, my friend, may defeat this green dragon. But do you want to keep it around? Killing a dragon is not that simple. Every dragon is an army! Our dwarven history has seen us repel dragon invasions countless times, but in a few years, these dragons will come back, burning our cities and destroying our buildings."

"Besides, you don't understand how significant this ancient relic is."

Saying that Dogrin looked at the jewelry with fervor, excitedly introducing it, "This is a treasure crafted by the most outstanding dwarven artisans during our dwarven Golden Age. It's meticulously made from precious metals and inlaid with gems. The highlight of this ornament is the thumb-sized Aether Quartz in the middle. In the Golden Age, it was always kept by the most esteemed head of our Jewelers' Guild. This comb is not only an honor in itself, but it also grants the wearer deeper understanding and stronger abilities."

"Not only does the wearer's thinking become agile, but arcane arts and crafts become easier to understand and manipulate. Sleep will become a thing of the past; you will become someone who is always awake."

"You will also gain an almost photographic memory, and be able to immediately recall the most subtle details experienced while wearing the comb. For example, your sensory memories will be as vivid as the moment they are actually happening (which is both a blessing and a curse). After hearing or reading something once, you can immediately repeat a song's notes, the ingredients needed for a spell, or the exact wording of a passage from a book."

"You will also become obsessed with accumulating knowledge and perfecting skills—you will not only tirelessly improve your own skills, but you also cannot ignore any clues about lore and knowledge fragments, or refuse the opportunity to obtain exemplary artifacts in your beloved skills. This over-focus will make you unable to be distracted, alienating you from others."

"In the Golden Age, our oldest and longest-lived jewelry master, Karag, wore this comb to groom his braids, making him the strongest whitebeard among the dwarves. Before the Age of Lament came, Karag once single-handedly killed three powerful Chaos Greater Daemons, protecting our kingdom."

"Later, when the Age of Lament came, this ancient relic became a symbol of the Dwarven High King's identity. Before a new Dwarven High King is crowned, he must first recite the historical narrative. This ceremony lasts for several days, and the High King must live up to expectations, recounting every bit of history and the dwarves' deep hatred without error."

"This item can help the High King clearly remember every important moment in history. Then he can walk down a long road covered with a red carpet, directly to the supreme throne of power on a black marble-paved courtyard."

Hearing Dogrin say this, Hilde understood his excitement somewhat. This ancient relic might not be that important or powerful, but its history and background were unparalleled. It was somewhat similar to the Imperial Seal of the East.

Hilde had to appease this dwarf, lest he get too excited and wake the dragon.

Although Lord Su Li had instructed that ordinary sounds wouldn't wake the dragon, encouraging them to act boldly, which was why they dared to communicate with confidence and quickly pack up the treasures and gold coins.

But that didn't mean it was foolproof. Dwarves were notoriously loud, like subwoofers. If he got too excited again, and accidentally woke the dragon, it would mean that everyone was probably doomed.

"How did you dwarves lose something so important?"

"It has been lost many times, and recovered by our dwarves many times. Emperor Dragon Kaladrak stole this treasure when he destroyed our capital."

"The last record of it was when the legendary Rune Lord Kardrin Redbeard found it in the Black Mountains. At that time, there were catastrophic earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the Black Mountains, and many members of his family died in the disaster."

"But the disaster also led to the emergence of many precious Vibranium mines and sealed dwarven secret treasures on the surface. He and his followers discovered this treasure while mining the surface layers, and used the ore to create several excellent armors."

"However, when they were sending a batch of ore and this ancient relic to the High King, he and his army were ambushed by Greenskins on the banks of the Blackwater River."

"Kardrin Redbeard used his last breath to throw this treasure into the water to prevent it from being taken by goblins."

"Since then, the name of this ancient relic has resounded throughout the continent. Dwarves seeking revenge and human adventurers trying to retrieve this treasure have all unanimously called this treasure Kardrin Redbeard's Comb, to commemorate its history and location."

After hearing the legendary and turbulent fate of this treasure, Hilde couldn't help but sigh.

This treasure was like the history and fate of the dwarves, full of ups and downs, full of twists and turns, from the brilliance of the Golden Age to the bloodshed of the Age of Lament, to several times of revival, several times of decline, and finally the artifact changed hands and disappeared.

Now it reappeared, already in the hands of a green dragon.

No!

It was already in the hands of Lord Su Li of Black Forest!

Looking at the shiny treasure in Ashfield's hand, Hilde and Dogrin widened their eyes at the same time, looking at him in disbelief.

Hilde couldn't control her shocked mood and asked, "How... when did you take it down?"

Ashfield shrugged, simply throwing the golden comb to Hilde, saying indifferently, "Just in the few seconds you two were arguing. You know, we halflings always have some 'coincidences' that allow us to obtain some magical items and bring them back to our territory."

To say that the halfling's talent for stealing was so upright was really something.

Dogrin slapped his thigh, how could he forget about this.

It is said that the halfling's level of theft is so high that even legendary knights can't prevent it or notice it.

Ashfield, as a halfling hero, had an unparalleled talent for this.

Even if the green dragon was awake, it might not be able to detect that its things were stolen. Not to mention that the green dragon was still asleep.

Dogrin said excitedly, "My friend! The Dwarven High King will remember your contribution. You have gained the friendship of all of us dwarves."

Hilde directly inserted the comb into her braided hair and said calmly, "Whether or not this treasure should be returned to your Dwarven High King is not something you can decide. We still need to return to the territory and let Lord Su Li decide. But no matter what, our first priority is to evacuate from here immediately. If we can't evacuate from here, whatever we say now is useless. We will all become corpses in the dragon's nest."

After saying that, she decisively turned around and quickly evacuated. With the ancient relic of the dwarves in hand, she was not afraid that Dogrin would not follow.

At this time, Dogrin didn't have any more nonsense to say, immediately his eyes lit up, picked up two bags of wealth, and strode after Hilde with his short legs.

The importance of this ancient relic exceeded all gold and jewelry, and his greed was enough to make him make the wisest choice. As long as he sent this treasure back to the High King, the High King might even grant him a fortress and countless wealth.

At this time, what did he need gold and gems for? Being able to escape was the most important thing.

They ran at full speed, unimpeded, and soon left the Emerald Ring.

Just as they escaped, the huge body of the elemental bear was returning violently, blocking the passage tightly. And at the corner of its mouth, you could still see a lot of blood. The splashing blood stained the fluff around its mouth. A large amount of thick blood stuck its fur together, and blood was still dripping down, leaving a trail of blood behind it. Obviously, it had just carried out a cruel massacre and devoured a large amount of flesh and blood.

This made Dogrin couldn't help but gasp and said, "Hilde, it's a good thing you reminded us early, otherwise we would have been blocked inside. I don't know if Fandral is still alive. He may not be able to save us again."

Hilde's heroic eyes scanned the surroundings, not paying attention to Dogrin's praise.

She was a follower of the Goddess of the Sun, and had already considered all the tactics before taking action, so that she could complete the task with overwhelming advantage.

She had already considered that with the dwarves' greedy nature, they would not easily leave after encountering so much gold.

So she intentionally brought forward the time to remind them to evacuate by a few minutes, because she knew that the dwarves would definitely clamor to collect more for a while.

Regardless of whether or not there was this ancient relic, she had enough time to take the dwarves away.

If she reminded the dwarves a second time and they still refused to evacuate, she would decisively grab Ashfield and evacuate on her own, without wasting any more words.

She had to ensure that she would never let down Lord Su Li's entrustment, and complete this task smoothly, and would definitely bring back a large amount of treasure.

However, the final outcome was very perfect. The discovery of this golden comb allowed the dwarves to follow the team and evacuate in time.

What surprised her even more was that, as she searched with her eyes, she found the Great Druid Fandral struggling to climb out from under this green ocean.

She immediately led Ashfield and Dogrin over, holding his arm and pulling him out of the branches.

"Fandral, are you okay? Are you injured?"

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Fandral was pulled out of the dense branches in the middle of the canopy. He patted his body, removed the branches and leaves sticking to his body, and said with some heartache, "I'm fine, I used vine technique to hide here. But the Great Grazing Deer has left us forever. After it quietly put me down, it continued to run forward, helping to attract the monster's attention, but it was controlled by the monster's foot binding technique and was cruelly killed. I saw with my own eyes that the terrible monster held down its body with its giant palm, bloody tearing it apart, and devouring it."

Hilde breathed a sigh of relief and comforted him, "Take it easy, they are all sacred beasts of the forest, followers of Tar's wild dominance. Even if you don't ride it over, they will still fight and eat wildly in the forest. This can only be regarded as the Great Grazing Deer returning to Tar's divine kingdom."

Hearing Hilde's comfort, Fandral's solemn and painful mood was finally relieved a little.

As long as it has not been eroded by demons, this kind of hunting in the wilderness still belongs to Tar's divine ecological power, and ultimately everything returns to the wilderness.

In this regard, the Tar Church and the Rhea Church are still different. Although these two churches are a cooperative alliance and usually stand on the same front, there are also tensions in places where Tar believers tend to dominate the Rhea Church, rather than treating each other equally.

For example, on a spiritual level, as long as a domestic animal is preyed upon by a wild beast, these two churches may conflict. However, because both churches tend to sympathize with each other, most of the time this conflict only stays at the level of harmless jokes.

After all, the wilderness god Tar is a male, so his nature is more violent and wild, and predation in the wilderness is allowed and encouraged by him.

He composed his mood and immediately followed Hilde and Dogrin and others to quickly leave the dragon's nest, and set off towards the territory under the starry night.

Dogrin and Ashfield used wild wood to make a simple combat ram chariot. It would not be stronger than the Greenskin's Looted Wagon, and it would be just as easy to fall apart, but at least it could carry Fandral and a full six bags of wealth to return to the territory as quickly as possible!

Just as they were returning to Black Forest, Su Li was facing the dwarves' endless complaints.

The messenger from the Dwarven Redbeard Fortress had arrived in Black Forest. The Redbeard clan chief demanded that the Dwarven army commander immediately send troops to solve the demon army in the Gray Mountains.

The Lord of Redbeard Fortress believed that the Dwarven Legion should have replenished its state after these ten days of rest, and that the training was over, and the men were strong and the horses were fat, and it was time to take the initiative to attack.

The reason why they were so anxious was also because the demon army was advancing towards the transportation hub of Redbeard Fortress!

Su Li had to repeatedly tell Muradin the truth that "generals abroad are not bound by the orders of the monarch."

The powerful dwarven ranger had not yet returned, the dragon's wealth had not yet been brought back, and the coalition forces were still integrating the legions, honing their formations and tactical coordination, and were obviously not fully prepared.

At this time, being forced to listen to the demands of the monarch in the rear and launching a hasty attack, wasn't that repeating the mistakes of Ge Shuhan and Sun Chuanting's Battle of Tongguan?

Su Li was a devout follower of the Radiant Sun Goddess. He, along with the two Knights团团长 (团长 is a military rank, similar to regiment commander), the military commander, and the church's priest of the territory, took turns promoting the doctrine and explaining tactics to the dwarven army commander. He wholeheartedly introduced the core essence of this god of tactics – how to use the most excellent tactics to win battles with an overwhelming advantage.

Su Li, Orstein, Constantine, and Priest Ron all unanimously agreed on the same tactic: wait for the demon legions to arrive at Redbeard Fortress and launch an attack on this magnificent and sturdy city. Then, while the demon legions were attacking the fortress and suffering heavy losses, the allied forces would launch a fierce attack from behind the demon legions, coordinating from the inside and outside to defeat this demon army in one fell swoop.

As the saying goes, 'Morning air is sharp, midday air is lazy, and evening air returns.' Therefore, an excellent general should avoid the enemy's peak momentum and defeat them when their morale has declined.

Throughout history, countless armies have suffered crushing defeats and lost a large number of elites because an enemy force suddenly appeared behind them during a siege.

The 'Chariot God of Gaoliang River' earned his infamous title under the city of Youzhou for this very reason.

It can be said that this tactic basically guarantees that the human and dwarven allied forces will defeat the demon army with the greatest chance of victory and the lowest casualties.

Moreover, Su Li also had a selfish motive. He had no real connection with the dwarves in Redbeard Fortress.

He felt no burden using them as an iron wall to face the sharpest blades of the demon army.

However, these dwarves from Blackwood Territory had countless ties with him. He wanted to ensure the highest possible survival rate for these thousand-plus dwarves in the allied forces. The more of them that survived, the more likely they would come to the territory in the future to help him fight against the red dragon.

His plans were well laid.

But!

But!

The stubbornness of Muradin, the commander of the dwarven army, was truly like a stone in the outhouse – smelly and hard.

As the commander of the dwarven army, he was a very orthodox and typical dwarf. He was stubborn, conservative, and highly valued loyalty to his clan and king.

While this characteristic was beneficial in preventing them from being easily manipulated and falling into infighting, it also led to their almost complete inability to listen to the advice of others.

No matter how many champion-level or even god-chosen knights from the Radiant Sun Goddess Church took turns trying to persuade him until they were hoarse, they couldn't shake his stubborn insistence.

Today was the dwarves' final deadline for deployment. He stormed into the Violet Blossom Manor and slammed the table with a deep and resonant voice, saying to Su Li, "Lord of Violet Blossom, are you deploying troops or not? If you don't deploy troops, I will lead the army alone to face the demon legions! No one can stop a stubborn dwarf!"

Su Li clearly felt his determination. At this point, without a perfect reason, no one could stop this stubborn iron lump.

Anyone who stepped forward to stop him would be directly knocked away by his strong, iron-hard body. Forcibly stopping him might even provoke this extremely stubborn and extremely irritable dwarf, incurring his hatred.

As for continuing to painstakingly explain tactics to him, it would only provoke him to slam the table and curse, complaining about the territory's nagging. This dwarf's cursing was truly foul; his little mouth was like it was smeared with poison. Su Li didn't know how he could come up with such vicious words.

But fortunately, before Su Li could reply, Phyllis, acting as the chief of the territory's high-level guards, strode into the meeting hall. Her eyes were somewhat fearful, yet also somewhat disgusted and evasive, avoiding the stubborn and irritable dwarf. She said to Su Li, "Lord, good news! Hilda has returned safely from the dragon's lair with her adventure team!"