Chapter 304: Dwarf

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

While Lasorick was not all that smart, he knew what being a Smithing Guru entailed. It meant forging skills that were out of this world and an incomparable status that commanded great respect. In the 1300 years after the Dark Ages, there had only been two Smithing Gurus, and they had godlike status amongst blacksmiths as they could both achieve the impossible like a god. No doubt that a piece of scrap metal could be transformed into a weapon in their hands!

“… ” Lasorick was stunned. He could not believe that the machete he called a fake had been forged by a Smithing Guru; he gulped as he thought of this. “What do I do, Master Garza, what do I do, will he be angered by what I said at the shop…”

It was no child’s play to offend a Smithing Guru. He might not have much influence, and might not have anything apart from his forging skills, but the consequences of offending him were terrifying as there was no saying how many legendary and powerful individuals were waiting to get into his good books…

“Don’t worry, a blacksmith who has achieved a guru status would not be angered by your words. You are only a child who’s throwing a tantrum in their eyes, do you think an adult would be angered by that?” the middle-aged blacksmith comforted him before frowning again. “But Kaman would be a bit of a problem…”

“Kaman?” Lasorick paused before showing his disdain. “What problem could that old fatty be, he is only a businessman with a bit of power. I’ll have Father issue an order to keep his mouth shut or we’ll close down his shop and banish him from Doland…”

“Fool!” The middle-aged blacksmith almost exploded in anger, and he nearly stabbed Lasorick with his finger. “Can’t you use your brains, Lasorick?? Think about it, how did Kaman get the machete?”

“How…” Lasorick pondered with a blank look before covering his mouth suddenly, then his face started becoming white. “Ma… Master Garza, you’re saying that Kaman got the machete because he knows the Smithing Guru?”

“What else do you think…”

“My god…”

“People like Kaman are the most troublesome, if he can fawn over you because of your father, he can also bear a grudge because of what you did to his shop…”

“Yes, Master Garza, I know what to do…”

The Smithing Guru was not aware of the pair’s conversation. To be honest, he was pulling out his hair in frustration in Kaman’s shop. If not for the carriage of Ice Crystal Metal, he would have gone on a rampage…

It was Lin Li’s first encounter with dwarves since he came to Anril, and so he only realized today that they really lived up to their reputation of being difficult. To put it bluntly, the dwarves from Danmod were as difficult and stubborn as a bull!

According to Kaman, this bull— no, this dwarf had some status in Danmod. His grandfather or his great-grandfather had once led an army to go against the High Elves’ Magic Legion during the Dark Ages, and thus, this fellow’s full name was ridiculously long. It would take a minute to recite it in its entirety. Well, this was how the dwarves were—the more impressive their history was, the longer the names of their descendants were as they liked to add their achievements into their descendants’ names. Andoine had once said that to know the history of the Dwarf Kingdom, one need not visit the library, for all they had to do was to ask a dwarf of high status to recite his full name…

Of course, if his name took a minute to recite completely, he could not use it on a daily basis. In the following conversation, Kaman addressed him as “Mr Sturn”. As “Sturn” translated to “forge” in Khuzdul, the language of the dwarves, it seemed that the Sturns were a family of blacksmiths.

“No, no, no, my father said that humans are crafty creatures, and I will not fall for this. My ore will only be sold in exchange for food, no amount of money will suffice!” Sturn spoke with a thick Danmod accent, and Lin Li had to use the same amount of concentration he used when memorizing spells to decipher a bit of it…

This was all because of Sturn’s accent.

No choice—his accent was really too strong, and even Kaman who had spent years dealing with various races could not understand him. Yes, the carriage of Ice Crystal Metal cost one million gold coins, but he wanted one million gold coins’ worth of food…

Lin Li was incredibly angry when he thought of this. Damn it, I don’t know anyone here in the Breezy Plains, how am I going to get you one million gold coins’ worth of food? Even then, how would I dare to? One million gold coins’ worth of food would pile up higher than the walls of Doland, and require an army of hundreds to transport. If I did that, wouldn’t I be charged for colluding with other countries? If the Sky Knights and the Three Guard Army came for me, are you going to help me explain this mess?

“I can’t do that, Sturn, one million gold coins’ worth of food is too much. I can’t get you that much now. Why don’t you give me some time, say, three to six months, and I’ll send it over to Danmod in batches?”

“No, no, no, my father said…”

“…” Lin Li was hopping mad, and would have slapped him for wasting his afternoon away if not for the Ice Crystal Metal. All he did was say “no, no, no, my father said”… Damn it, since your father already said so, why are you here in Doland? To waste my time?

The worst part was that Lin Li could not do anything about it even after trying to persuade him the whole afternoon; that fellow refused to budge. Lin Li had no choice, and so he stood up as he said helplessly, “Alright, Sturn. You’re staying in Doland for some time, aren’t you?”

“Yes, my father said that if I can’t exchange the ore for food, I can’t return to Danmod, either.”

“What about this, Sturn? I don’t have so much food right now, so can you give me a few days? Just a week. Keep the ore for me for a week and don’t sell them to anyone else. In a week, I’ll get you million gold coins’ worth of food.”

“No, no, no, my father said humans are crafty, what if you don’t return to me after a week?”

“… ”

“What are you looking at me for, this is what my father said…”

“I’ll give you 50,000 gold coins first, and if I don’t return in a week, you can take that as compensation for your time!” As Lin Li said this, he really wondered which idiot had said that dwarves were honest people. Damn it, this fellow even knows you have to compensate for defaulting a contract… Honest? I must be a saint, then…

“Deal!” Sturn had agreed very quickly this time.

Lin Li held in his anger again and again so as not to land a slap on the damned dwarf. His face had darkened from his anger as they walked out of the shop. It terrified Kaman, who panicked internally as he smiled carefully at Lin Li while reminding himself to watch his words lest Lin Li’s anger was taken out on him.

“Kaman, what do you think of this?”

“Well, Mage Felic…” Kaman watched him carefully. “Those damned dwarves are naturally stubborn, and won’t change their minds easily after they have decided on something. I’m afraid we’ll really have to get one million gold coins’ worth of food before we can get the Ice Crystal Metal…”

“I know that…” Lin Li shook his head, frustrated. “What I want to know is, do you have any solution to this?”

“Well, to be honest, Mage Felic, I can think of something if it’s a few thousand gold coins’ worth of food, but one million is really too much… Why don’t you give me a few days, I’ll call up a few friends…”

“Ok, then…”

It was already evening when they returned to Black Clouds Town. Lin Li felt increasingly upset the more he thought about what happened in these few days as they did not achieve anything despite all the trouble. If he had known earlier, he would have stayed home to study the core magical mantras.

“Strange, why are there so few people…” Lin Li alighted from the carriage at the entrance of the town, and walked back to the house he had been staying at, but found something was amiss as he did. Black Clouds Town was too quiet today, and he did not see a single familiar face along the walk. While Black Clouds Town was in a remote area, it was home to a lot of people, and many would come out for a walk after dinner every day. Even foreigners like Lin Li had come to know a few familiar faces in town in the past month.

Black Clouds Town was strange today, however. It was unusually quiet, just as if everyone had disappeared all of a sudden.