The dwarf tavern was bustling with people.

The rules and regulations of life in Mahakam are very strict. The young dwarves do not understand the Great Elder. Although the adult dwarves who have returned from traveling understand the Great Elder, most of them still find it difficult to tolerate those rules that make them itchy all over. Therefore, most of them prefer to leave the city and engage in mining, hunting, construction and other work in the mountains.

Therefore, the pub in this gathering place does very good business. Although it is only halfway up the mountain, it has more customers than the pubs in the capitals of other major countries.

The dwarves gathered together, drinking, chatting, discussing work, and complaining about the great elder. Some dwarves gathered in a corner to play their national "barrel cards"; some directly took a wine barrel as a stage and started arm wrestling to compare strength. The loser had to give the winner a glass of Mahakam beer.

At this moment, half of the people in the tavern gathered around the arm wrestling arena because one of the brave men had won dozens of rounds in a row and drank dozens of cups of Mahakam beer.

But as the game continued, the brave warrior's strength grew stronger and stronger, as if those she had just defeated were just children who could not diminish her strength at all.

She drank dozens of glasses of Mahakam beer without changing her expression, as if what she had just drunk was all mountain spring water.

There was a dwarf who was unwilling to accept the defeat and stood not far from her. For every cup of ale the hero drank, the dwarf also drank one. Now the dwarf was so drunk that he crawled under the table.

Stronger than a dwarf, and can drink more than a dwarf.

Incredibly, she is still a woman.

Even more incredible is that she is a human being - at least she looks like a human being.

"Sakia! Sakia!"

The dwarves who were watching spontaneously began to cheer for the winner. Being strong and having a good drinking capacity are the traits that are most likely to gain recognition from the dwarves. If one is also good at playing cards, he might be able to become the guest of the great elder right away.

Surrounded by cheers, Saskia defeated another dwarf. At this point, the dwarves were no longer pursuing victory. They were more interested in experiencing the woman's strange power as if they were checking in at a tourist attraction. After losing, they willingly offered a glass of beer and then watched Saskia drink it all up.

"Haha, another one!" Saskia drank a glass of beer and smashed the wooden cup on the ground. Then the dwarves cheered even more enthusiastically.

The bar owner also joined the revelry of the dwarves. He showed no pity for Saskia's action of smashing the wine glass. Instead, he began to prepare the next glass of wine enthusiastically.

"Sakia! Sakia!"

Amid the cheers, the trapdoor of the tavern was thrown open. Each dwarf's movements were so rough that the noise did not attract anyone's attention.

But then the dwarf's voice came in: "Then we'll see you in a few days, Lan!"

The tavern was extremely noisy and Yarpan's voice was barely audible.

Only Saskia's ears suddenly moved twice, and then her eyes lit up like a dwarf's fire.

"Lane?"

She turned her head.

The dwarf holding the money bag was stepping into the tavern excitedly, and the trapdoor was still shaking.

The figure of a knight in majestic silver-black armor was looming behind the constantly opening and closing wooden board, and beside him was a horse that was two heads taller than him.

"Golden hair! Lion eyes! Great griffin cloak! Lann Lannister Rhaanron!"

…

Yarpan held onto the wall, felt his arms and found his purse was still there, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Just now, the dwarf only felt a gust of gray wind blowing in front of his eyes, and then he was thrown out as if he was hit by a horse.

"Ah... sorry."

Yarpan also faintly heard an apology voice. The person who bumped into him seemed to be quite polite.

Then, an unquestionable force pulled him up from the ground. After making sure that he was not injured, the gray wind blew up again and went away from him.

With a "bang", the wooden door of the tavern groaned.

Yarpan scratched his head and looked into the tavern, and found that all the dwarves were looking at him for some reason.

Yarpan, who liked to be the center of attention, immediately put the previous accident behind him, raised his fist and shouted: "Hey, the dragon-slaying Yarpan is back!"

…

The servants all drew their weapons and wanted to step forward to stop the woman who had just appeared, but Lann waved his hand to signal them to stay calm.

The man who rushed out of the tavern like a hurricane looked so much like an assassin that not only the servants but even Lann himself was frightened.

With his current physical condition, he almost couldn't react. It was not until the person in front of him stopped that he could barely see the other person's face.

This is an extremely tall woman with semi-long golden brown hair.

Lann's height is now close to 1.9 meters, but at this moment he can only look at her at eye level; she is wearing a light brown traveler's jacket and leather suit, and the slightly tight design wraps up her muscular lines, which shows that the person in front of him is extraordinary.

She wore a headband on her forehead, and her hair was simply braided and hung on her neck. She had a high nose bridge, slightly thick lips, and her skin was not delicate but had a smooth and shiny look.

This slightly different appearance from the southerners and northerners made Geralt at the back of the team mutter to himself: "Zerrican?"

After the woman rushed out of the tavern, she immediately locked onto Lann. She showed a look of delight, straightened her appearance five steps away, and then stepped forward to introduce herself:

"Hello, Lann Lannister Rhaanron, my name is Saskia."

…

With this name, coupled with the outfit and the vaguely familiar appearance, Lan En instantly confirmed the identity of the woman who suddenly appeared.

Even with Lan's current status and the power he has mastered, he feels that he is surrounded by a sense of surprise. The name of this person is well-known to Lan.

Saskia comes from Zerekan, a country that worships dragons and regards dragons as totems. She doesn't know who her biological father is, but she has a great and powerful adoptive father.

If Lan remembered correctly, Saskia, who inherited her adoptive father's philosophy of equality and priceless freedom, left Zerekan and traveled in the north. In the later period of the North-South War, when most of the North was conquered by Nilfgaard, Saskia would raise a group of troops in Aedirn, which was close to extinction, and called herself "the Virgin of Aedirn", attempting to build a kingdom where all races could live in harmony. Even Iorveth, the leader of the Scoia'tael whom Lan had met before, was impressed by her and was willing to be driven by her.

[…Wait, all races living in harmony? I seem to have called out this slogan before. When was it?]

Lan thought about it, and finally gave up. If he couldn't remember it, it meant it wasn't important.

All in all, Sakia is a senior military talent who is highly consistent with the ideas proposed by Lann - at least the ideas that have been publicized to the outside world.

But what Lann values ​​more is another point - Sakia's powerful fighting ability.

The tall, heroic woman in front of him was not actually human, her appearance was a disguise created by magic. If she were to show her true form and fight with Lann's trump card, the ice giant, it would be hard to say who would win.

However, at this moment, Saskia did not take the initiative to reveal her identity, and Lann thought about it and did not expose her. Seeing the girl's face looking forward to communicating with him for a long time, it was really not easy to deceive.

Lane would rather keep this secret for now and then use it as a bargaining chip to greater effect.

…

At this moment, seeing the alert Cintra servants, Saskia seemed to realize how rude her behavior was.

"I'm sorry, Lannister... Lord Duke, I'm really too excited, because I have admired you... I have admired you for a long time, and today I finally see you in person, so I can't control my emotions."

As she spoke, Sakia bowed slightly to Lan.

Saskia has a very calm temperament, but paradoxically, she has a sense of awkwardness, as if she is "interacting with people for the first time." She is like a student who has learned a lot of knowledge in an ivory tower and comes to a social occasion for the first time. She has a lot of etiquette rules in her head, but she doesn't know which one to use on the spot, and she seems confused.

However, she does not have the timidity of those students who have little social experience. Instead, she exudes a sense of confidence from the inside out.

After seeing Lann's gesture to calm down, the servants put away their weapons, but their right hands were still tightly grasped on the hilts.

Having followed Lann for so long, the servants had developed a good eye, and the way this woman appeared on the scene showed that she was extraordinary. They could even faintly sense from her aura that could only be felt when facing a ferocious beast.

"Have you been looking for me? Are you planning to join me? How did you, a human, get to the dwarf's territory?" Lan asked deliberately.

Saqiya was already happy to see that Lan was willing to communicate with her, and after hearing Lan's question, she immediately opened up.

"I heard of your name in the Pontar Valley. At that time, I heard that your country accommodated many races, and they were able to live in peace and respect each other."

"I have been taught about racial equality since I was a child, but I have never seen it in any country. So when I heard about you, I was very excited."

Saskia's eyes were blue, like a clear spring. "Since I heard the news, I wanted to see it with my own eyes. I happened to meet the local Scoia'tael, and they... had a friendly conversation with me and told me the location of Cintra."

Lann remained calm, but he was muttering in his heart: Could Pontar's Scoia's Party be Iorveth's gang? Saskia in front of him looked like a human, and the Scoia's Party hated humans... How did they communicate?

Saskia continued, "I looked at the map and found the path to Sintra, so I came all the way here and passed through the Mahakam Mountains."

"As for why I'm in the dwarven territory... it's because I'm tired from the journey and I plan to take a break. I just heard that there are dragons here, and I don't want to miss the opportunity to see dragons, so I plan to rest here for a while, and then find a chance to go to Cintra."

Lann silently drew a map of the route from Pontar to Cintra in his mind. It seemed that Saskia was going in a straight line, intending to cross the Mahakam Mountains. Normal people would not take this route. For example, when Lann attended the Northern Conference, he took the route through Temeria and Redania, taking a long detour.

The way Lan was thinking was seen by others. Sakia stared at Lan motionlessly with expectation in her eyes.

Seeing this, Gabor took the initiative to explain, "Sakia has indeed been in Mahakam for some time, and we all know her. It's just that we never knew her destination was Cintra - perhaps this is the guidance of fate, hahahaha."

Gabo laughed deliberately a few times to ease the atmosphere.

Helela frowned in the background and questioned, "But how could a traveler climb the Mahakam Mountains? She is not a messenger like us, or has the lead ring of friendship."

Gabo waved his hand and explained, "Mahakan holds a beer festival every twenty-five years, and even the great elders will agree to open the door to welcome travelers from all directions. Leila, I guess you weren't born during the last beer festival, so you don't know.

"It's just that not many people are willing to attend this beer festival because of the well-known Scoia'tael. Saskia is the first person to climb the Mahakam Mountains, and the only one so far."

"I cannot promise you anything, Lord Lannister, but Saskia is not a villain or an assassin. We dwarves have a good eye for people. She is a good person."

Lan looked at Gabo and then at Saskia. He knew that Saskia was not a bad person.

He was surprised that Saskia was able to gain the recognition of the dwarves so easily, even getting a prestigious dwarf like Gabor to vouch for her on a diplomatic mission.

As expected of her.

After a moment's silence, Lan pointed to the tavern and gestured to his team: "As you can see, my current team includes both humans and dwarves. We are willing to trust each other with our backs and lives."

"In my kingdom, there are tree spirits, elves, and other rare races that are difficult to mention. Cintra welcomes every like-minded person or non-human to join us. If you are willing, you can return to Cintra with us later, see it with your own eyes, think about it, and examine whether the scene there really meets your ideals."

Saskia breathed a sigh of relief.

She first showed a grateful smile to Gabo, then bowed slightly to Lann, and after thinking for a while, she saluted: "Thank you for your recognition. It is my honor, Your Excellency the Duke."

…

The atmosphere in Lann's team began to relax. Since the Duke had accepted this new female warrior, there was no reason for the servants to be on guard against her openly.

However, after hearing what Saskia said, Kolgrim's eyes lit up slightly. He looked around and came close to Leila, asking in a low voice: "Does Mahakam still have dragons?"

Leila glanced at Kolgrim's amber vertical pupils, which were similar to Geralt's, thought for a moment and nodded, "There is a red dragon here, named Kelturis."

"Legend has it that it was the last red dragon between the ocean and the Falre Mountains. It came to Mahakam hundreds of years ago to build its lair, and then a century-long conflict broke out between it and the dwarves. Later, the dragon got tired of fighting, and the dwarves understood that the red dragon would not go anywhere, so the two sides reached an agreement. It will not bother the dwarves, and the dwarves will try their best to meet its needs."

Leila spoke loudly, and Gabor, who was not far away, heard it. He snorted coldly, "It's not 'we meet its needs', we have reached an agreement with the giant lizard. We provide food and shelter, and it stops killing our compatriots and helps us resist the monsters nearby. This is an employment relationship!"

…

Gabor seemed to want to explain in more detail the relationship between the Mahakam dwarves and the red dragon Keltulis, but he was speechless the next second.

Because in this topic, besides the dwarf, another protagonist appeared.

——A loud roar resounded through the sky.

At that moment, it was as if a bronze horn sounded in everyone's ears, and apart from it, people could hear no other sound.

“Ahhh——”

Lann looked up quickly and saw a huge shadow sweeping over his head, like a brick-red fortress floating in the air.

A beautiful creature spread its wings and flew lightly into the depths of the Mahakam Mountains.

Only one word came to everyone's mind - dragon!

…

Gabo's ears were still ringing with the deafening roar of the beast. He shrank his neck, smiled at the astonished eyes of the Cintra people, and greeted them in an exceptionally loud voice, as if he wanted to dispel the shock that the red dragon had just brought.

"Impressive, isn't it? That is Keltulis, the red dragon of Mahakam."

He seemed to be introducing the red dragon to everyone as a tourist attraction: "I know that Yarpan once killed an albino red dragon in Quartz Mountain, but Kelturis is much bigger and more difficult to deal with. Only we dwarves can calm it down."

"Luckily, there is only one dragon in the entire mountain range. If there were another one, Mahakam might not be able to hold on."

"But don't worry. Although this giant lizard is scary, it won't hurt anyone - at least not in the past hundred years."

The demon hunters who followed Lann all showed longing in their eyes, especially Coen. The pride of the Griffin School was the legendary demon hunter George who slayed a dragon alone. Even in Kaer Morhen of the Wolf School, there was a collection of George's portrait of slaying a dragon.

However, demon hunters know better how to act within their capabilities. They are all pragmatists and will never fight for glory or wealth against an opponent they cannot defeat 100%.

But before everyone could react to Gabo's words, a second horn-like roar suddenly came from the sky.

“Ahhh!!”

In the crowd, Saskia's expression suddenly changed.

The demon hunters also became confused and their pupils began to shrink. They first looked at the roaring dragon in the distance, and then suddenly began to look around, at the snow and the rocks.

“Gabor, no offense.” Geralt said coldly, “Although I have no way to communicate with dragons, you know what we witchers do for a living. The emotions conveyed in the roar of the beast don’t sound like those of a ‘harmless’ creature.”

Kolgrim's pupils also began to shrink. "Instead, it feels like 'I want to find something to beat, tear, and burn.'"

Lann shook his head, looked at Cohen, and suddenly drew the sword from his back.

"It doesn't seem to be doing a very good job of its mission of 'helping the dwarves fight against monsters' - be careful, something is coming!"

The cold wind howled between the mountain peaks, and in addition to the roar of the dragon far away in the sky, there were many more roars that it brought to the ears of everyone.

Rock-like figures rolled out from behind the rocks. They seemed to be disturbed by the movement of the giant dragon and ran towards the defense line of the gathering place in panic.

The dwarves in the tavern had already run out.

After watching the giant dragon flying through the sky and the monsters attacking, a small number of dwarves immediately ran back to the tavern. Soon they brought out a bunch of hammers and axes, distributed them to their companions, and prepared for battle.

It was obvious that the dwarves were very experienced in such situations. In addition to being residents, miners, and bar owners, they could transform into experienced axemen and hammermen at any time.

Gabo spat into his palm and stretched his arms which were stiff from the wind and snow.

"They're not ice trolls, they're Sharmas... Damn it, we've already cleared out quite a few of them during this year's 'spring cleanup', so how come there's still such a large group of them? You know, they almost tore one of my arms off!"