The elders of the Stonehammer tribe quickly used the grandest ceremony in the tribe to welcome the Dwarves and prepared a sumptuous dinner to welcome them. The forthright dwarves were really good at chatting. The tribe leader, who spoke the common language well, chatted with the Dwarves until late at night. The two leaders representing the Stonehammer Dwarves and Oditore had reached an agreement, but the details still needed time to be discussed.
…
A week later, the Dwarves' team embarked on the journey back to Oditore.
After the Dwarves' negotiation with the tribe leader, the entire team expanded by several times. The reason was obvious. The Stonehammer tribe had made an equal exchange with Oditore with excellent warriors and blacksmiths.
The teleportation circle built by Madam Vasaki allowed the Stonehammer Stronghold to establish a "direct train" between the Stonehammer Stronghold and Oditore's territory. Including excellent iron armors and weapons, a large number of excellent products would be transported directly to Oditore through the teleportation circle. At the same time, in exchange, the dwarves had a few blueprints. These blueprints would become a powerful secret weapon for the dwarves to arm themselves. Thirty percent of these weapons would be sold to Oditore's military system at cost price.
The rest of the business issues were all handed over to Elena's Kratos Trading Company. This huge trading company would make more effective use of the Stonehammer Dwarves' resources!
The resources of the Stonehammer tribe were truly frightening. It could be said that if one didn't see it, they wouldn't know, but once they saw it, they would jump in fright. Following the Kargath Mountain Range, there were actually four large and small iron mines, and one of them even contained Thorium!
Thorium was different from mithril. Mithril had excellent magic conductivity and was perfect for making magic equipment because it could be engraved with complicated magic circles and embedded with magic crystals. Thorium, on the other hand, had another name — "Insulating Ore"!
It was completely insulated from magic!
If a fireball was used to bombard the armor, the power of the fire element would continue to work on the surface of the armor and explode, causing damage. If the armor was made of Thorium, the moment the fireball came into contact with the Thorium, it would quickly dissipate. In a short period of time, it would quickly evaporate into drifting elements. It would not even explode!
Just like magnets of the same level repelled each other, Thorium could be said to repel any element. It was a natural anti-magic metal!
The Stonehammer Dwarves did not really mine this mine because the fine iron armor had already made them invincible. The icing on the cake was unnecessary. In this land, the dwarves had lived for countless years and had almost no "natural enemies". There were very few magical beasts that they could not defeat. Also, because of their extremely long lifespan, non-combat casualties were basically caused by accidents in the snow mountains. This caused them to gradually reduce the intensity of iron mining after countless years of accumulation. Therefore, the abundance of the ores was enough to amaze the Lord of Sibor, Victoria.
Many trade routes were opened to the Stonehammer Dwarves, but the Stonehammer Tribe did not open all of the ores to the public. They only agreed to send a mining team to mine one of the ores. The Thorium still belonged to the dwarves, and if they needed it, they would still need to pay a high price.
There was no objection to this. If the dwarves took out all the benefits of their tribe just for a few blueprints, it would be unrealistic. After the teleportation circle was built, because of the high cost of teleportation, there was no need to teleport an entire team of almost two hundred people back. They simply prepared to go back the way they came.
This team included the Odietore soldiers who came with Daugen and Noda, many accompanying troll troops, and a new team of dwarven warriors and blacksmiths!
Under Daugen's lead, fifty dwarven blacksmiths set out on the road to Odietore. Each of them was a brave warrior with extraordinary strength and had the traditional forging skills of their tribe. Each of them could be called an elite.
In addition, the girls who were captured by the slave trading team also set foot on the road to Odietore as they wished. However, most of them were residents of the western part of the empire, which was near Sibor. Daugen decided to bring them back to Odietore first and then directly through the teleportation circle. After all, the undead were now eyeing them covetously. The painful lesson left by the Khlim Forest made them not dare to walk around in Saint-Rames easily.
The reunion of Katherine and Noda made the talkative elf ruffian no longer have the worries of the past. Now, he seemed to be happier than anyone else. He drank and teased loudly every day, mingled with the bearded dwarves who loved to drink, and bragged to Yuna and other trolls about the various strange demonic beasts he had seen in the Dark Moon Forest. This guy was really popular. With his presence, the relationship between the dwarves and trolls was much better than expected. When these two non-human races chatted with each other, they used the common language of Saint-Rames, which was really interesting.
In contrast, the guards of Odietore were also convinced of their Sir Lord. Looking at the entire Empire of Saint Reims … even the entire continent, they had never heard of a lord who could gather so many races with strong differences to live in harmony in one territory … This was really a bold lord. Many of them had nothing to say about his position in their hearts.
※ ※ ※
Passing through the corpse-strewn forest, the team quickly returned to the territory of the Empire of Saint Reims along the original route.
The snowy mountain that trapped Karolina was still standing there, far away and intimidating.
Things were still unhurried in Winrichton's territory. Many of them did not meet the person who could not remember his appearance in the inn they stayed at previously. Madam Vasaki was also quite helpless about this. She knew that the other party was probably a ruthless character, but since the other party did not say anything, and she could not find him, this matter was gradually forgotten by many.
Lannie suggested to rest for two more days when they were resting. Many asked the reason, but the astrologer only said that it was the conclusion she got through astrology. Many of them remembered the words of Elder Warrentz and Madam Vasaki, so they agreed to Lannie's request.
As if Lannie's words were true, from the second day onwards, the northernmost region of the Empire suddenly experienced a strong snowstorm. Many of them who were sitting peacefully in the inn sighed. They did not know if they were sighing at Lannie's ability to predict the weather or her ability to predict the future.
Sitting in the inn, Many took out the animal skin bag that Elder Warrentz gave him before he left. He had been busy dealing with various matters recently, and only when he was free would he sigh at his empty right leg. At this moment, he suddenly remembered the words that the elder said before he left.
"Look at this. I think you will need it, but it's best to wait until it is safe around here."
The small bag was simple in design, not heavy, and Many could not feel any special magic waves from it.
Many reached into the bag and took out a small book.
A book?
In Many's impression, the Trolls did not seem to use this kind of thing. Apart from Elder Warrentz who had written in the Trolls' language, Many had not seen any tribe writing anything. Occasionally, the pictures were pictographic, which was far from a complete system of writing.
So, what was this book?
Many touched it. It was wrapped in a layer of animal skin that was very hard. The entire book was about the size of two palms. It was not exactly square, but it had a rough shape.
Many did not rush to open it. Many brought the animal skin book closer and sniffed it. A faint fragrance wafted over. It did not smell like the intoxicating fragrance of a woman. Instead, it was somewhat similar to the medicinal fragrance in Elder Warrentz's room.
The lines on the animal skin seemed to have been there for a long time. The spine seemed to be very smooth from frequent rubbing. The fur in that area had disappeared, leaving it bare.
Many turned to the first page and saw that the middle part of the book was made of parchment paper. However, this kind of parchment paper seemed to be different from normal ones. Although it looked old, it seemed to have been processed in the later stages. The color did not look old at all. It did not look like something from the same time period as the cover!
Many of them frowned and shifted their gazes to the densely packed words written on it.
The moment they recognized the words, their pupils shrank. Because what they saw was the orthodox Elven language!