"It has been hundreds of years since something like this happened in Mahakam, and I haven't been in such a bad mood as today for hundreds of years. So I will only say this for the last time-"

"Put down your weapons!"

As if a drumstick hit their eardrums, all the Sieglin dwarves could not help but take a few steps back. Facing the order of the great elder and Barclay's angry face, the Sieglin dwarves no longer had the courage to raise their weapons.

They turned their heads together and looked at their leader eagerly, eager to hear the order they were expecting.

"We, we..." Chief Ziglin's eyes turned red as he stared at Barclay and Lane. The sound in his throat seemed to be squeezed out from his stomach.

It was impossible to kill the enemy, and even his own clan might be killed. However, Chief Sieglin refused to give up. He could not accept that the accumulation of the clan for centuries would be gone, and he would become a lone miner, or be driven out of his home as a stray dog.

"We can, we can..."

With a "bang", Chief Sieglin's head suddenly tilted and his body fell heavily on the snow.

Gabo slowly retracted the axe handle, looked at the unconscious patriarch and sighed.

Behind Gabo, a hidden passage appeared in the ranks of the dwarf warriors of the Sieglin clan. These Sieglin warriors spontaneously made way for Gabo, allowing him to approach the clan leader as if he were in an empty space.

"Let's lay down our weapons," Gabo said.

Then, the sound of steel falling to the ground continued to be heard.

…

Lane and his party stayed in Davor for two more days, waiting for the Carbon Mountain Legion to arrive and take over the conflict between Sieglin and Fuchs.

Barclay expressed his gratitude on behalf of the Great Elder for Lann's timely discovery of Sieglin's plot and for preventing the conflict from escalating to an irreversible point. But gratitude was useless, as Lann knew that this traditional and cunning old dwarf would not make any more concessions in terms of support.

Colonel Barclay himself expressed a strong liking for Lann, and also expressed his admiration for this Cintra army of only a few dozen people who dared to intervene in the battlefield of a thousand people. This was an unexpected gain for Lann. If this dwarf with high military literacy and great reputation would lead the volunteer army to rescue the North as in history, it would be convenient to have a good relationship with him in the future.

Barclay also invited Lane and his party to return to Tanshan, but Lane declined after careful consideration.

Although this happened between Fuchs and Sieglin, their previous promise to help the Ferenczi clan as lobbyists still remained. If there was a chance to get more support, Lann would always try - after all, they were Mahakam heavy infantry.

In addition, Lan also wanted to see the red dragon Keltulis in Mahakam.

Another person who had this idea was Sakia, who had been following Lann's team. She had been very excited since she knew that the team might go to the Ferenz clan. The reason why she chose to rest in Mahakam was because there was a red dragon here.

However, after the conflict between Sieglin and Fuchs, Saskia has been in a low mood.

"Lannister...Duke?" On the way, Saskia, who had been hesitant to speak for several times, finally couldn't suppress her desire and quickly walked to Lann's side.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Lann chuckled: "Your question is basically written on your face. I've been waiting for you to ask it all the way."

Saskia lowered her head, secretly reflecting on her own shortcoming of showing her thoughts on her face, and felt that she was still inexperienced and inexperienced.

But she quickly remembered her purpose: "I don't understand, Lord Lannister. Why did the conflict between Fuchs and Sieglin escalate to such an extent?"

"Mahakan is the spiritual homeland of the dwarves. It is also the home where the dwarves defend themselves from outside invasion. They should be united here. Don't they know how much damage their actions will cause to Mahakakan?"

Lan glanced at Saskia: "Why do you care so much?"

Saskia's eyes showed confusion: "My father has been looking for a country where all races live in peace and equality, and I also hope to find such a country. I have always thought that I only need to reconcile the conflicts between races, but now it seems that even horrific tragedies occur within races. I don't understand..."

Lan thought for a moment and asked, "You are from Zerekan, right? Hasn't this happened there? And you have been in the North for so long, don't tell me you haven't seen conflicts within your race."

"I know about the invasion of Nilfgaard and the various frictions between the northern countries - those are much larger than here." Saskia whispered, "But I always thought that only humans were special..."

"Since you said that all races are equal, why are humans special? Humans are so 'special' now only because of their large population. Do you believe that if any race had the same number and dominance as humans, they would also start fighting for their own interests every day?"

"Elves can't do that." Saskia retorted seriously.

The elves are indeed a strange race. After they ruled the continent, they began to live in peace and prosperity. In the early days of human development, they retreated again and again, hoping that humans would be satisfied with the territory they had gained. But everyone knows the result. Now humans have replaced the elves as rulers, but the elves do not have an official country or even a city-level gathering place in mainstream society.

Lann sneered: "Don't forget that the elves are also outsiders from another world. Before the elves came, dwarves and gnomes lived here. Can you guess how the elves gained and consolidated their rule under such circumstances?"

It can only be said that the long-term peace paralyzed the elves, and this is only the Ain Sidi elves in this world. You should know that there is another Ain El elves in the other world, and their actions are even more bloody, definitely beyond the imagination of the girl in front of her.

Saskia was silent again. It seemed that for the first time, she began to think about these issues realistically. Her views had always been too idealistic, and she only discovered the sharp points now.

"Why is this so, Lord Lannister?"

Lan thought for a while and replied, "If it were an older guy, he might answer you, 'Where there are people, there is struggle,' and this 'people' includes all races. It's really powerful to say this, and it gives you a feeling of seeing through the world and even transcending your own biological level."

"But this is not the kind of detachment we want. We can't just let things go after saying something that sounds impressive. After all, we have to do things down to earth." Lann sighed, "In fact, I haven't reached the level to answer this question. That is not knowledge that can be obtained from books. I still need to find the answer to this question and come up with a solution from my own rule."

"But the reason I came to you is because I heard that there are multiple races living in harmony in Cintra. It seems that you have achieved this?"

"That's right, but Cintra's situation is special." Lan nodded. "Cintra has the current atmosphere because everyone is a comrade-in-arms fighting side by side. At the same time, Cintra has also abandoned malicious slanderous rumors between different races and created a clean public opinion environment. And the most important thing is..."

Lan pointed at himself and said, "... and I, the one who allows all this to happen and who will not be restricted by my own racial stance... at least not too much. Only when these elements are combined can we establish the prototype of a country where multiple races can live in peace."

"And the reason I did all this was not driven by idealism: I just needed the power to rebuild the country in the beginning; and those races needed a clean, peaceful land. This allowed us to fight for the same goal to some extent, so we could live in peace."

Saskia lowered her head, thinking: "So such a country can only be built from scratch, without changing the status quo of the people in a certain area, right?"

Lan nodded: "It is much easier to re-establish a concept than to change an existing solid concept."

Saskia found something wrong: "In this case, perhaps the first generation of Cintra can live in harmony, but what about after that? Especially since humans have a short lifespan, won't such a change cause turmoil in Cintra after a few generations?"

"I can't see how to maintain this kind of kingdom except to have an emperor who is powerful enough and long-lived enough, or even immortal."

Saskia seemed to be stuck in a dead end, but this statement made Lann laugh.

"I think it is very irresponsible to tie a country's thousands of years of heritage to one person. It's just..."

…

The topic these two people were talking about seemed a little too profound, and Geralt on the side looked at Saskia in surprise.

This girl has not been in the team for long, and Geralt doesn't know her very well. It's hard to imagine that such a girl who seems to be not good at socializing actually thinks about such a lofty ideal all day long. And Lann seems to be particularly patient with Saskia.

Even though Geralt had a strong political sense, this kind of topic was beyond his level to participate in. He even felt that it would be impolite to listen for a while longer.

He tapped his horse's belly and moved a little further away from the two men. As he glanced around, Geralt saw a few more dwarves in the team.

Among them was Petrit, a messenger sent by the Fuchs clan to Lann and his party.

Besides that, there is Gabor.

He looked troubled, walking in the middle of the queue with his head down, no longer as bold as when we first met. But it was understandable if you think about it, no one could look so bright and cheerful after such a big incident.

"What are you thinking about?" Geralt asked as he rode forward. He and Yarpan's team had known each other for many years, and he had a good impression of Zigrin. After entering Mahakam, he also liked Gabor's character. Although the previous incident happened, Geralt knew it was not Gabor's fault.

Gabor looked up at Geralt, and guilt appeared in his eyes again. Some dwarves care more about honor than human knights, and Gabor is one of them. That is why he felt particularly guilty for hiding the truth from Lann and his group.

"I... was wondering what Cintra is like. After all, that's where the Sieglin boys will live."

…

The Sieglin clan - or part of the Sieglin clan - will move to Cintra later. This is another huge gain for Lann in this event.

The punishment imposed on the Sieglin clan by the great elder Brovar Hog was: "All Sieglins who participated in this action will be forced to work in the mines for 500 years; those who refuse to do the labor will be expelled from Mahakam and will not be allowed to set foot on the land of the mountains for the rest of their lives."

So which dwarves will go mining in the end, and which dwarves will be expelled from Mahakam for "refusing to work"?

Rann didn't know who was doing the labor, but the dwarves who were to be expelled from Mahakam had been identified: Gabor, the young and strong dwarves led by Gabor, and the dwarf warriors who were unwilling to attack Geralt and were pushed to the back of the team, and who finally made way for Gabor to attack the patriarch.

This list was definitely not chosen by Lann, and there was no unspoken tacit understanding between them.

These dwarves were expelled from Mahakam through normal procedures, in accordance with tradition. Even now, all the dwarves except Gabo are being detained in Carbon Mountain awaiting trial. Lann just knew the result a little earlier.

As for why these dwarves who were expelled from Mahakam eventually went to Cintra, that is another matter.

Hearing Gaber's worries about his future life, the taciturn Geralt rarely began to comfort him.

"Believe me, witchers are even less popular in the North than dwarves, but even so, I have fallen in love with Cintra." Geralt raised his lips slightly, "And Yarpen should have told you more than once about his life in Cintra, what do you have to worry about?"

“As for Lann…” Seeing Gabor cast a worried look at the lion in the team, Geralt shook his head, “Believe me, he has no problem with you. As long as you lead the warriors of the clan to obey orders on the battlefield, you will definitely get what you want.”

"Perhaps you can even build a new, more powerful Sieglin in Cintra."

…

The long journey passed quietly during their respective conversations.

Soon, there was a hint of civilization in the distance, with smoke rising above the snow.

What appeared before my eyes was another obvious dwarf-style building. Each house seemed to have grown out of the mountain wall and the ground, and most of the houses were integrated with nature.

"This is the 'Witch's Lair', the town where the Ferenz clan lives." Gabor forced himself to fulfill his duties as a guide. "I know the name is strange, but this is the land that the Ferenz clan seized after exterminating a group of harpies. They think this name can engrave their glory."

"I know you must be wondering why it is not called 'Banshee's Lair', but this is their own territory after all, and no one has ever asked Chief Ferenczi why he chose this name." Petrit took over Gabor's words and shrugged.

The two dwarves looked at each other and turned their heads at the same time.

"What I care about now is not the name of this town, but the people..."

Geralt pointed to the edge of the town, where a group of dwarves in various clothes were gathered, looking forward to the wind and snow.

"They are... welcoming us?"

Lann shook his head. "We didn't tell the Ferenz clan about our coming. And..."

"And I don't think that people who greet foreign guests will have such a worried expression."

Dozens of dwarves were seen gathering at the edge of the town of Ferenz Clan named "Witch's Lair". They looked expectant and worried, and each of them was holding a basket filled with dry sausages, soft and fluffy rolls, and bubbling beer cans.