#38 - Chapter 38 The Dwarves’ Little Thoughts
Dwarven Royal Capital.
“Your Majesty.”
Aegis, the trade minister of the Dwarven Kingdom, took out a badge engraved with a certain lord's flag from his arms and handed it to the Dwarven King he served.
“The alliance target I'm talking about is a foreign lord.”
Upon hearing this, the other ministers exclaimed in surprise.
Sounds of ‘traitor’ and the like were endless.
But Trade Minister Aegis didn't care about these.
Because after so many years of working together, he had long known what kind of good-for-nothing people these loud ministers were.
“Silence!”
The Dwarven King shouted.
“Let him finish.”
The king sat on the throne symbolizing kingship, coldly glancing at the surrounding ministers who were in a mess.
Aegis glanced at His Majesty the King gratefully and continued.
“Your Majesty, I know that you have always harbored deep hostility towards everyone else who comes to our plane.”
“But is there a possibility that we can use other outsiders to fight against the outsider who has now occupied the passage to our kingdom?”
Hearing this, a dwarven minister couldn't help but shout.
“Nonsense!”
“All outsiders, whether lords or monsters, are just coveting our wealth!”
“Given the chance, they will devour our land and our people until there is nothing left, just as His Majesty predicted.”
Hearing what this minister said, the other ministers agreed.
It was as if they all agreed that all outsiders were as evil as Wu Wei.
But in fact, they all knew very well.
Among the lords who descended on the Trial Continent, a large proportion of them were not very aggressive.
On the contrary, they were happy to do business with these dwarves.
From food to ore, and from toys to weapons, were all within their trading range.
However, due to the illusionary effects brought about by the Endless Abyss impacting the Dwarven King, the Dwarven King had been rejecting all trade requests from the lords since these lords descended.
In fact, he had recently become extremely hostile to all new lords.
In this case, let alone doing business, even normal communication between the two sides had gone awry and misunderstandings had arisen.
Because all the new lords who had descended on the Trial Continent had begun to understand that there was a group of dwarves in the underground of this continent who were hostile to them.
Therefore, in the endless chain of suspicion, these lords also naturally began to guard against those dwarves.
The atmosphere between the new lords and this Dwarven Empire has become increasingly tense.
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“That's right!”
Aegis said loudly.
“These foreign lords will indeed devour us until there is nothing left, given the chance!”
“But I must remind everyone present of one thing.”
“That is, this will only happen if they have the opportunity!” Aegis looked around, looking into the eyes of every dwarf.
“And now, what we really need to do is not give them this opportunity.”
“Our Dwarven Kingdom must take action before their wings are fully fledged, strengthen ourselves, and weaken the enemy.”
Hearing this, the Dwarven King narrowed his eyes and looked at the loyal Trade Minister and said.
“So, your idea is to let our dwarves form an alliance with these foreign lords to strengthen our own strength?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, but it's far from that simple!”
Aegis explained patiently.
“Your Majesty, our Dwarven Kingdom is strong, but not that strong yet.”
“Although each of these foreign lords is not as strong as us, each of them can bring us a lot of trouble.”
“For example, the monsters that killed General Mace Copper Hammer are very likely to be backed by a lord.”
“Although he has not continued to advance after occupying the kingdom passage, and although he cannot break through our royal city at all, but...”
The Trade Minister raised his head, stared into the King's eyes, and said seriously.
“What if a second or third such lord appears? What will happen to our Dwarven Kingdom?”
Hearing this, everyone was silent.
The Dwarven Empire had already suffered heavy losses from just one lord leading an army to attack the Dwarven Empire.
Although Wu Wei was the most extreme and special among all the lords, the dwarves were not aware of this.
All they knew was that the lord who occupied the kingdom passage had a huge army and the ability to destroy an entire dwarven army.
And if a second or third such lord really appeared... then the Dwarven Empire would likely perish!
“What exactly do you want to do? Just say it, stop beating around the bush!”
The Dwarven King roared at Aegis.
Although the Dwarven King looked very angry on the surface, he was not actually angry with the other party.
Because he knew very well that since Aegis had raised this issue, he must have a solution.
“We will indeed form an alliance, but the main body of the alliance is us!”
“In addition to forming alliances with these lords, we must also form alliances with more other lords!”
“That is to say, we must fundamentally change our positioning.”
“Just like there are countless small towns outside our royal capital that provide various supplies to supply us.”
“We provide weapons, ore, and services to those new lords in exchange for food, luxury goods, and soldiers.”
“We dwarves are born artisans, and they will not refuse this.”
“As long as they can benefit from trading with us, they will not have any other thoughts about us.”
“Because even if they want to be detrimental to us, the other [allies] who want to continue trading with us will take the initiative to stop them!”
“The lords are definitely not monolithic.”
“So we must open our doors and absorb all the lords who want to trade with us to form a common collective of interests.”
“Only in this way can we continue to grow our Dwarven Empire as more and more lords descend into this world.”
“My King, do not forget the teachings of the Dwarven God.”
“Friends will betray you, relatives will abandon you, only gold and gems will not leave you!”
Hearing this, the Dwarven King nodded.
“Aegis, you speak very well.”
“But I don’t think you are suitable to be a Trade Minister.”
Hearing this, Aegis lowered his head, his face pale, while the other dwarven ministers showed mocking expressions.
“Because you are more suitable to be a Prime Minister!”
Hearing this, Aegis raised his head and looked at the King excitedly.
“All ministers, you have all heard it, right?”
“Do as Aegis says.”
“We will open our doors and resume trade exchanges with those lords!”
“However, all lords who want to trade and form alliances with us must first meet one condition.”
“That is, they must collectively send troops to help us clear out the demons entrenched inside the kingdom passage!”
The counterattack from the natives of the Trial Continent began in this way.
It came from chaos, and it will inevitably bring more chaos.
