Chapter 563, Section 562: The Craftsman

When Ronan, the head of the mission, arrived at his lodgings with the dwarf soldiers who were leading the way, his face immediately turned grim.

The stone house was clean, but it was low and cramped. You had to bend over to enter through the door. The interior space was small, and the tall guards could hardly stand up straight. Even for the relatively petite Inanna, it felt unusually cramped.

“Isn’t this a bit inappropriate?” Ronan questioned the dwarf official in charge of reception, suppressing his anger. “This doesn’t seem like a suitable dwelling for humans.”

The dwarf official was expressionless and cold: "This is dwarf territory, and the buildings are all like this. If you feel uncomfortable about anything... please forgive us."

Ronan pointed to a human figure passing by at the other end of the alley: "And what about them? How do they live?"

The dwarves took in many refugees who had fled from the human world, and naturally, they were also present in Ashbringer City.

The dwarf official glanced at it, his voice flat and unmoving: "I don't know about that. In any case, the lord's manor doesn't have any guest rooms specifically for humans."

After saying this, he nodded slightly, turned and left, leaving the delegation to face this humiliating arrangement.

What's even more unbearable is that not far from this row of stone houses is the largest public forging area in Hearth Ridge City.

Even as night falls, the place remains brightly lit, with the huge bellows roaring and the clanging of forging never ceasing throughout the night.

On the first night, Ronan tried to go out and find a human merchant or prominent figure in the city to stay in, even if it cost a lot of money, to at least find Miss Inanna a place where she could have some peace and quiet.

But before he could act, Inanna called out to him softly.

“No need, Ronan.” The girl’s voice remained clear amidst the noisy background noise as she held the round and chubby No. 4 in her arms. “Little Four said it has a solution.”

The solution that Number Four suggested was to plug his ears, and surprisingly, it actually worked!

It extended two soft yet incredibly resilient mycelial tentacles, gently probing into Inanna's earlobe, completely filling every gap.

The next moment, Inanna's world sank into a deep, still silence. Apart from her own steady breathing and heartbeat, Inanna could hear almost nothing.

The only thing that bothered her slightly all night was Number Four herself.

When it's bored, it will unconsciously start playing with Inanna's hair, not making big movements, but doing it intermittently.

However, after getting used to it, this minor disturbance became a kind of reassuring companionship, allowing Inanna to quickly drift off to sleep.

The rest of the delegation managed to close their eyes amidst the noise, each relying on their own abilities.

But Knight Puji didn't sleep.

In fact, since turning into a mushroom, Lin Jun no longer needs to sleep.

The knight plopped down on the rooftop and, within his senses, spotted several dwarven sentries watching the delegation's residence.

However, they were just watching, and didn't seem to intend to take any further action.

They also noticed the knight puffing, since Lin Jun hadn't intended to hide it at all.

However, the knight just stood there and did nothing, so no dwarf stepped forward to intervene.

Lin Jun, meanwhile, was observing the public forge not far away through the knight Puji.

Or rather, observing the dwarves coming and going inside.

Upon closer examination, it becomes clear that Mushroom Castle currently lacks the ability to manufacture its own equipment.

The North is not without mineral resources.

While it cannot compare to the rich mineral veins of the mountains, it should be enough to supply the North's own needs.

Lin Jun is not lacking in mining methods. Mining mineral veins in the frozen soil is difficult for other forces, but not difficult for Mushroom Garden, which can mass-produce underground burrows.

What is truly scarce are forging talents who know how to smelt, forge, and temper rough ore into fine armor and sharp blades.

Needless to say, many of the tribesmen absorbed by the North have never even held a forging hammer in their lives, and even if they wear armor and weapons, they are mostly secondhand items that have been scattered from the interior of the empire.

Humans do have artisans who can forge weapons, but these artisans are prominent figures wherever they go, and the vast majority of them serve the lords.

Lin Jun couldn't simply take these kinds of craftsmen away like she would when recruiting "D-level personnel."

In human city-states, artisans are required to report to their guild or lord even when leaving the city for normal reasons. If they suddenly disappear, they will inevitably attract the attention of the authorities.

One or two might be able to be concealed, but once the number increases, the secret becomes extremely difficult to keep.

However, a few craftsmen are merely a drop in the ocean compared to the current scale of the mushroom castle.

For this reason, Lin Jun has never been able to successfully "recruit" a sufficient number of craftsmen from the human side.

But the situation was quite different for the dwarves.

According to the knight Puji's observation, among the dwarves bustling about the public forge were simply dressed commoners as well as well-dressed wealthy people, men with thick beards and hair, and also quite a few sturdy women.

It would be an exaggeration to say that all dwarves are skilled in forging, but more than 70% of dwarves clearly possess basic forging experience and skills.

This means that among the dwarves, "craftsmen" are not a rare or special status.

This undoubtedly gave Lin Jun an opportunity, allowing her to confidently recruit a group of people from here.

Of course, legendary artisans among the dwarves who possess exceptional skills and can craft enchanted equipment or even skill weapons will still be closely watched and protected.

But they weren't Lin Jun's targets in the first place.

Lin Jun needed soldiers who could be armed on a large scale, as well as ordinary craftsmen.

However, how to recruit people and how to transport them to the North still requires careful consideration, since there is an empire between the two sides.

...

The next morning, Inanna, carrying Number Four, bent over and stepped out of the stone house. She stretched in the crisp morning light, breathing in the air that carried a hint of coal smoke. Her face showed no sign of fatigue; on the contrary, she was radiant.

However, the others in the delegation were not so lucky.

Most of them had noticeable bluish-black eyes and looked listless.

Of the entire delegation, besides Inanna, the most energetic were Number Four and Sword Saint Puji.

On the night of the 4th, he dutifully plugged Inanna's ears.

As usual, Fourteen practiced his sword all night.

Now, Fourteen increasingly feels that being a Puji is truly a blessing. No need for sleep or food, just a bottle of magic potion can restore all her energy.

If he didn't have to travel during the day, he would love to immerse himself in swordsmanship practice all day long.

He even felt that if he had become a Puji earlier, his strength would have reached an even higher level.

...

The dwarves sent someone to the delegation again, and this time it was not an unknown nobody, but the son of the local lord, young Badley.

Although he was described as "small," his size, which was a size larger than that of an average dwarf, was by no means small.

As soon as he arrived, he demanded a re-examination of the identities of everyone in the delegation, and even proposed using various specialized detection spells, claiming it was to prevent spies from infiltrating the group.

The first thing we need to check is Inanna!

How can this be done?

Ordinary soldiers, even Ronan himself, would be fine with being checked, but what about Inanna? What magical items and methods does she possess that she holds as trump cards? How could she possibly reveal them all?!

However, no matter how Ronan explained, Baddeley Jr. adopted a tough stance, insisting on either undergoing the inspection or returning the way he came, clearly looking for trouble.

Since entering the city yesterday, he has been subjected to inexplicable harassment. Even with Ronan's composure, veins were bulging on his forehead, and he was seething with anger.

"You're making things difficult for allied delegations in private. How are you going to explain this to your superiors?"

Little Badley chuckled: "Don't make baseless accusations. You've made peace with the demons, but we dwarves are still fighting ahead. Naturally, we have to be very careful with spies. How can you call that making things difficult? As for allies... hehe."

Ronan gritted his teeth, but there was nothing he could do.

Conflict must be avoided, of course. They are here to negotiate. If a conflict breaks out, regardless of who is right or wrong, the mission will be largely ruined.

Entering the mountains doesn't necessarily require passing through Ashfurnace City; you can simply take a detour and enter the mountains from other border cities.

However, this caused a delay.

Just as Ronan was in a dilemma, Inanna, who was behind him, first nodded to herself, then took two steps forward, came to Little Badley, stared at him with her pink eyes, and said, word by word:

“I feel you are insulting me, therefore, I challenge you to a duel of honor! According to the tradition of the mountains, you must either apologize to me and stop your harassing behavior, or accept this challenge.”

"Of course, as a nobleman, I will send a representative to fight..."

As she spoke, Inanna scooped up the Sword Saint and carried him to the bewildered little Badley...

(End of this chapter)