After the flames rose to their peak, they finally ignited new inflammable objects because they had no additional magic power to replenish them from the Lion-Eyed Demon Hunter. After burning the flesh and inorganic solids that were now attached, they gradually went out.

Geralt walked up to a Sharma, stretched out his leather-gloved left hand and gently broke off the Sharma's watch case.

With a "crack", the solid rock shell became as brittle as charcoal. I really don't know what the flame burned inside.

"But this is a bit wasteful." Although he had lived a carefree life in Cintra for a long time, Geralt still couldn't change his frugal habits of nearly a hundred years. "We can't even recycle the alchemical materials this way."

Lann shrugged. It was indeed a bit of a waste this time. The precious alchemical materials could not be exchanged for money. However, this time he also wanted to vent his anger. In the future battles, it would be better to use [Bone Freezing] instead of [Pyromania].

Geralt shook his head and strode past the shalmas to the front of the dragon lizard. The monster now seemed to have turned into a charcoal sculpture, its body covered in hideous charred black, its scales and flesh slightly melted, and its body twisted into a posture that made people feel phantom pain all over their body at the sight of it.

Even so, this huge corpse seemed to still carry the residual power of a top predator. The horrific death even intensified the invisible momentum, causing the dwarves who wanted to collect the spoils not far away to hesitate.

"This is truly an amazing monster." White Wolf exclaimed, "It is worthy of being the dragon beast that is closest to a real dragon."

"Real dragons are not so ugly." Sakia on the side suddenly retorted.

The new girl who joined the team didn't get much chance to fight just now. Apart from helping to resist Sharma at the beginning, almost all the kills afterwards were taken by Lann alone.

"Really?" Geralt looked at Saskia with his usual expressionless face, looking her up and down. The witcher's keen senses and erudite knowledge had already made him realize that something was wrong, and he had vaguely matched this girl with someone in his memory.

"Of course, real dragons are much more beautiful." Saskia nodded, "Real dragons are not so stupid."

…

Outside the "carbon sculpture group" formed by these monsters, Lann is trying to negotiate with the dwarves of the two clans.

"Kuba, this is the Duke of Lannister from Cintra." Seeing that the clan leader seemed a little frightened by Lann, and even that sunny smile couldn't make the other party come forward, Gabo, who felt a little embarrassed, couldn't help but step forward and introduce himself.

This is also his job as a guide.

"And he is my cousin Kuba Sigrin, the Duke of Lannister." Garber turned and introduced his clan companions to Lann.

The dwarves had not yet recovered from the scene of Lan's great power. They seemed to think that it was a great thing that Gabor could become friends with a person like Lan. For a moment, they looked at Gabor with admiration.

"You just said that this Duke of Lannister is the guest of the Great Elder, right, Gabor?" Before the people of the Sieglin family could respond, the dwarves from another clan came over, supporting each other, and interrupted their conversation.

The leader among them looked very smart. He quickly came out of the intimidation and began to think: "Based on the performance of this... Duke, he seems to be proficient in dealing with these monsters, and the warrior in his team seems to be a demon hunter."

As he spoke, he pointed at the white wolf not far away. It was obvious that the dwarf had seen a lot when he traveled in human society, and Geralt's amber cat eyes were too iconic. However, Lann's lion eyes were too different from those of traditional demon hunters, which made the dwarf difficult to speculate.

"It seems that the Great Elder heard our request and sent powerful reinforcements?"

"Hello, Lord Lannister." The dwarf leader greeted Lann politely, "Thank you for your help just now. I am their foreman, my name is..."

"Petrit Fuchs," Gabor interrupted the leader.

From Gabo's hesitant attitude towards the Fuchs clan before he arrived, and the behavior of the Sieglin clan in not helping the Fuchs clan in the battle just now, Lan could more or less guess the relationship between the two clans.

There is a feud, and it is possible that it is a lifelong feud.

Lann also had vague memories of their story. Perhaps it was because the dwarves had been isolated for too long, so there were always all kinds of messy conflicts within the clan, and these two clans would cause terrible disasters in the future.

Although the conflict does not seem to have erupted yet as it might in the future, the hatred accumulated over the years still makes it difficult for them to say a word to each other at this moment.

"Duke Lannister came to help us at the request of the Great Elder, and similarly, we must help him in the future." Gabor said to Petrit with a straight face, "This is the letter from the Great Elder."

Gabo handed over a rolled parchment tied with a string and stamped with the seal of the great elder. Since the help given to Lan En could not be put on the table, Lan En could not be allowed to communicate with the various clans. The great elder had already arranged Gabo to serve as a bridge.

Fortunately, the Great Elder wrote the letter, otherwise Gabo would probably not be bothered to communicate with the people of the Fuchs clan.

"Only the elders of your clan can read this letter, so don't touch it." Gabo snorted coldly, "And after he finishes reading it, he will probably understand what the great elder means."

"I'm not like you Sieglins, who touch everything." Petrit retorted without giving in.

Then Petrit took the letter that Gabor threw from afar. Fortunately, there was an iron block tied on it, which made the process possible.

After talking to Gabor, Petrit turned to Lann again, his expression softened:

"Since Lord Lannister has come to help us, he is our friend and should be treated well. And he just helped us a lot..."

"I brought Duke Lannister here. He is a guest of our Sieglin clan." Gabor interrupted Petrit again. "As for how to deal with the monsters, we can find a place to discuss it together tomorrow."

"Does this seem all right to you, Lord Lannister?"

It is normal for the two clans to compete for the first destination of the reinforcements, but this competition is suspected of personalization. Although Gabor knew that Lann might be closer to the Sieglin clan because of his own reasons, he still asked for Lann's opinion out of politeness.

Lann looked between the two clans, and finally agreed to Gabo's plan in the face of Petrit's regretful eyes.

Whether it was Gabo, who had always served as a guide, or Yarpen, who now worked under him, Lann had a natural affinity for the Sieglin clan.

But if the situation is allowed to develop in this way, it might become like what Gabor said, and when heavy infantry is recruited, only one of the two clans can be chosen.

Is there a way to have the best of both worlds?

…

Although the Mahakam Mountains are covered with ice and snow all year round, the ecology is quite rich. After leaving the mine near the battlefield, everyone passed a huge dam and a reservoir that was almost enough to meet the daily needs of all the residents of a kingdom's capital.

The rushing river water seemed to be tamed here, appearing stable and harmless, wholeheartedly nurturing the dwarf clans living nearby. Lan even felt that this reservoir was more like an artificial lake, and the connected river could be used as a port, where the dragon boats driven by the Skellige chieftain could dock more than a dozen.

Generally, naturally formed mountain canyons may not be of this scale, let alone artificially excavated water storage areas. I am afraid that only the dwarves can perform such a miracle on behalf of nature.

"It's spectacular, isn't it? This is the pride of our Sieglin clan - the Davor Pond!" Gabor laughed loudly, and then muttered a few words in a low voice, "Although Fuchs' people also contributed a little to the construction of this reservoir."

Lann suddenly began to understand the reasons for the feud between the two clans, although it might only be one of the causes.

The group soon arrived at the gathering place of the Sieglin clan. This is a small town built on the mountain. All the houses are built of stone or even carved directly in a very tough and rough style. Entering here does not feel like living in a house, but living directly in the "mountain" in a physical sense.

Due to the environment and the season, a thin layer of ice formed on the surface of these stone houses, making them look even colder. This was completely different from the words that people imagined to be associated with dwarves, such as "furnace", "forge", and "warmth".

However, the people living there do have a signature laugh. Gabor is the pride of the Sieglin clan, and when the Sieglin clan leader saw him coming back, he came out and opened his arms to embrace him without being called.

And when he saw the letter from the Great Elder, learned about Lann's identity, and especially the fighting ability displayed by Lann, his laughter became even louder.

"Thank you, Lord Lannister. If you hadn't acted in time today, we might have lost several good guys. Several families would have cried because of this, including Yarpen's relatives!"

"That's exactly why I'm here." Lann accepted the thanks and expressed his humility. "I just hope to help the Sieglin clan end this as soon as possible."

"I understand what the great elder meant. Don't worry. Sieglin will never be stingy with gratitude for the friends who helped him!" Sieglin said solemnly, "At the beginning, we closed the door tightly and gained peace, but many clans actually felt guilty towards the elves. It is not the behavior of true dwarves to watch people in danger without helping them... Now the choice is once again before the dwarves, and we will not let history repeat itself."

Lan expressed his heartfelt gratitude for the dwarf chief's promise.

Since this "clean-up" needs to support two clans at the same time, the specific action plan and team deployment will have to wait until the next day to discuss with the Fuchs clan. Although Lann's team is more professional in hunting monsters, the information about the monsters' habitats, distribution, and habits still needs to be provided by the locals.

And maybe they could have more constructive suggestions, saving Lane and the others some effort?

Night fell quickly. Since the town's architectural style was designed to provide housing for dwarves, Lan and his party could only live in tents.

The Cintra people, who were used to military service, didn't think much of it, as they had experienced even more difficult times when the country was destroyed. But Gabo felt very rude and kept apologizing to Lann, because according to tradition they were supposed to stay overnight in the capital, Carbon Mountain, where there were special residences for receiving human diplomatic guests.

…

“I think there’s something wrong with these two clans,” Geralt said.

Lan's tent was very big, and it was big enough to accommodate all the senior officers in the army. At this moment, all his attendants and confidants gathered here, and even Heifeng came in because he was afraid of the cold.

"They definitely have problems." Lann confirmed Geralt's words, then rubbed his head with a headache, "I just hope I can quickly deal with the monsters here and not get involved in the conflicts between them."

Geralt frowned. "But if they send troops to Cintra, the conflict between the clans will still affect you."

White Wolf's worry was justified, but Lann shook his head: "No, that was a conflict I could reconcile, but it's different here. The two clans are enemies for generations, and it seems that Broval Hog has not been able to reconcile this conflict for centuries. I'm worried that our arrival will become a fuse, breaking the balance between the two clans and causing an unprecedented disaster."

White Wolf was worried at first, but he smiled after hearing what Lann said: "Lann, are you worried about too many political issues in the North? This is Mahakam, and they are dwarves. What I mean is - they are dwarves, no matter how much they feud, aren't they still dwarves?"

Lann just shook his head again when he heard this. "Fighting among one's own kind is not exclusive to humans, Geralt. Not every dwarf has the same brotherhood as Yarpen or Zoltan."

Geralt frowned, and this action highlighted his slightly vicissitudes and melancholy temperament. Fortunately, Yennefer was not in the tent.

"What are you thinking about? Is there something wrong?" Lan asked curiously.

White Wolf nodded. "I was wondering, if the two clans are so incompatible, why would they fight monsters together during the day? Given the upright character of the dwarves, shouldn't they do their own things?"

…

"Because the brain-smacking Sieglin has set his sights on our Fuchs mine and wants to add to his bandit exploits!"

The next day, the Lann clan, the Sieglin clan, and the Fuchs clan gathered around the Davor Pond.