"Great Elder, are you okay?" Lan's gaze stopped at the shallow wound on the old dwarf's chest.

"No, Lord Lannister, I'm not well." The Great Elder said in a calm voice.

“I’m freezing to death!”

The short old man hunched over and began to stamp his feet, shouting and cursing: "Damn it, are you all stupid asses? Where is my cloak? Where are my clothes?"

The guards who were originally looking at the Great Elder with reverence a few steps away suddenly became panicked. They hurriedly caught up with the Great Elder's cloak in the cold wind, and quickly moved their short legs to put it back on the Great Elder's shoulders to cover the blood that had already coagulated.

The anger that had just been vented on the Squirrel Party was now directed at the dwarven guards. The Great Elder fiercely kicked the buttocks of the dwarven warrior who had put on his cloak, and then kept stamping his feet to keep warm, constantly spewing out dirty words in the ancient language.

"I know what you want to say, Lord Lannister, but wait a moment - including the changes in the war in the North that I told you about. When we get to Mount Carbon, we will discuss these things in the presence of our ancestors and the goddess. That way, the results will be more reassuring to you."

"If it's not convenient, we can wait for Mahakam to finish his business first." Lan pointed at the Scoia'tael and said with pretended sympathy.

"No, no need. They are not a problem to me." The Great Elder shook his head. "Let's continue our journey."

The dwarves rested for a while, and soon a group of dwarves came hurriedly from the direction of Carbon Mountain with their short legs to check on the condition of the great elder.

The leader was Colonel Barak. The Great Elder jumped up and down and severely reprimanded the respected general, but this brave warrior really kept silent like a junior, blaming himself for the loopholes in the defense of Tanshan Mountain that allowed the Squirrel Party to take advantage of it.

When Barak wanted to send more people to join the Great Elder's guard to protect the Great Elder's safety, Broval's roar reached a peak:

"You think Mahakam has other enemies, right? Are you useless to this extent? Do you think I will be as useless as you and be killed by someone in Mahakam?"

In the end, after being scolded severely, Balek, after ensuring the safety of the Great Elder, took the tied-up Squirrel Party back to Tanshan first.

The elder looked far away in the direction they left. The people of Cintra thought he would continue to curse and lose his temper, but the dwarf with a white beard just stood there quietly, his eyebrows like a dense forest half covering his old eyes.

There was no anger in it, only deep sadness.

"Let's go." After the dwarven engineers reinforced the long bridge once again, the elder turned around and called Lann, "Let's go to Mount Carbon."

…

Like Carbon Mountain, Carbon Mountain is also a city built by the dwarves using their architectural skills that can almost compete with nature to hollow out an entire mountain.

However, compared to Tanshan, the capital of Mahakam, the political color of the mountain city of Kabenshan is much lighter. Just above the city gate is a huge statue of a goddess, the goddess of fertility and fertility worshipped by Mahakam. Her image was carved by the dwarves to be extremely plump. It is said that she is one of the predecessors of the goddess Meliteli.

No matter what ethnicity or country, it seems that there must be a goddess with relevant divine duties.

The artificiality of Mount Carbon is even higher than that of Mount Carbon. Apart from the stone shell of the mountain seen from the outside, the rock wall is almost invisible after entering the city gate. Lann looked up and looked around on his horse, almost admiring the finely crafted ceilings, gilded walls, and majestic basalt reliefs.

But now was not the time for sightseeing, Lann quickly followed Broval into a huge meeting hall. The ceiling of the meeting hall was very low, but the atmosphere of history and art that emanated from it was much better than that of the human kingdom. There was also a series of reliefs around the meeting hall, with different shapes. After asking in a low voice, everyone learned that these were the ancestors of the dwarves, and Broval Hogg would join them after his death.

When Lann and others sat down, Broval was looking at the reliefs with his back to them, as if communicating with his ancestors with his eyes.

After absorbing everyone's attention, the elder said leisurely:

"You know, Lord Lannister. In our dwarven legends, the earliest inhabitants of the continent were dwarves. Then we dwarves arrived. Because of similar culture and living habits, we dwarves and dwarves have always gotten along well. This is also the only time in history that the two races met peacefully. Until the arrival of the elves..."

"The elves' colonial expansion lasted for ten centuries. We joined forces with the dwarves to resist those long-eared guys. They had conflicts with all the ancient races except us, but they always remained restrained. Even though the long-eared guys became the rulers of the continent in the end, we actually never had a full-scale war. The ancient races were able to maintain basic harmony with each other."

At this point, the Great Elder turned around and looked at Lann meaningfully: "Later, humans appeared... and now there are only a few ancient races that can still hear the sound."

It was not friendly for a dwarf to say such words to humans, but the elder did not seem to want Lann to respond to his story. Seeing Lann's hesitant expression, he laughed and stopped him from saying anything:

"I know what you are thinking. The history education you received is definitely not written like this. Every race has a different interpretation of history, and you humans are even more confused." The elder shook his head, "I can guarantee that the history of each of your countries is different."

Lan smacked his lips, a little embarrassed. “In this case, the history books in Niubao are usually more authoritative. Scholars who study history tend to agree with the records there.”

"That is also a human record." The Great Elder said in a rough voice, "You collected rumors from other villages and revised them, but we actually experienced that period of history."

There was no way to refute this, so Lan could only shrug. "I don't think we are gathered here to tell historical stories. I remember you hoped that this would end soon."

The great elder sat down sullenly and pounded the table hard. Then a guard at the side handed him a large glass of Mahakam beer.

The elder drank it all in one gulp, leaving his beard covered with foam with an intoxicating aroma. He wiped his mouth roughly and said, "I tell you this because you are a son of the ancient blood, Lannister."

"That's the bloodline of the elves. From this perspective, you are also one of the ancient races, and you can barely be considered one of us."

Lann frowned: "I am very happy for this recognition, Your Excellency the Great Elder. But now I am sitting here as the Duke of Lannister in the human kingdom."

"Your father is Calanthe's younger brother, so the current 'Cintra Lion Cub', your princess, also has elven blood." The Great Elder turned a deaf ear to Lann's words, "Hey, this is interesting."

"You cannot escape the fate carried in your blood, Lord Lannister." The elder shook his head.

"Could it be possible that the little bit of elven blood flowing in my veins can strengthen your favor?"

"Of course not. Even if they were 100% purebred long-eared, we would have kept them out of Mahakam. Not to mention you."

"So..." Lann's eyes began to condense into a smile, "Are you trying to find a way out for yourself? Would it be easier to accept supporting friends with the blood of ancient races than supporting pure humans?"

"So I don't like you, Lord Lannister." The Great Elder shook his head. "Where have all the euphemisms you human nobles used in diplomacy gone?"

The great elder slammed the table hard and got his second glass of beer.

"We Mahakam remain neutral, but that doesn't mean we won't fight back if we get beaten - on the contrary, we need to express our attitude." The elder drank the beer again, "Especially Nilfgaard this time, it really pissed me off!"

With a "bang", Broval smashed the wine glass directly on the table, and the smile on Lane's face grew bigger and bigger.

This was not simply an impulsive act by the Great Elder, seeking revenge for the attack he had suffered - there were deeper considerations involved.

The original plan of the dwarves was to retreat to a corner and hide in the mountains, leaving their fate to the outside world. They were confident that no matter who was in power in the end, they would not be able to capture the strategically located Mahakam, and humans would always need a huge supply of weapons.

Mahakam was now accepting orders from Nilfgaard even before today.

But now that Nilfgaard has extended its hand to Mahakam through the Scoia'tael, it is a big problem. Even if the plan fails in the end, Brovar still needs to express his attitude towards the matter - he absolutely cannot let things go.

"The guys who are going to support you are all young men with little experience, and I believe you don't have any generals who can command heavy infantry." The elder said in a deep voice, "So I will send Barclay as the commander to help you. You can assign a few deputies to him and learn how to command our dwarven soldiers!"

Mahakam heavy infantry can be an ace force in any country. Even the royal families of the four major countries can only support a few thousand soldiers of this quality as standing troops. But at the same time, if such soldiers are handed over to people who can't command, they may only be able to exert 60% or 70% of their strength.

Barclay can be said to be one of Mahakam's most outstanding military commanders, and he is definitely the best candidate to command this heavy infantry. Gabor, Petrit, and even Yarpan can all learn from him. Even if Barclay returns to Mahakam, Cintra will have several more senior commanders who can command the legion through his teachings and deeds.

"Besides that, your soldiers also need to be replenished. I will have the Ferenz clan send more people to replenish your volunteer army to 3,000 people." The Great Elder snorted coldly, "What a good thing their young people have done!"

The young men of Ferencz arbitrarily released the prisoners in the dungeon and colluded with the Scoia'tael. Although it was only the actions of a few young people, the elders obviously decided to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

"I don't want young people who cooperate with the Scoia'tael. They are already hostile to humans." Lan emphasized.

"They have no chance to leave Mahakam. I have sent them to mine!" said the Great Elder with a laugh.

Lan nodded in satisfaction.

"Barclay will lead a regiment of guards himself, and ensure that those who can fight are veterans. The young people that Fuchs, Sieglin and others have entrusted to you will also be able to learn more. Of course, this regiment of guards will return to Mahakam in the future. They are 'volunteer troops'."

Lan nodded. The 3,000 troops originally planned were a mixed group of veterans and young men, with varying quality, and could only be considered a "Dwarf Infantry Regiment." But now that Mahakam had joined with this volunteer army, and after eliminating those young men who had little combat experience, this was a complete "Mahaakam Heavy Infantry Regiment."

As for those young people, they can be organized into reserve forces such as logistics troops and learn from the experience of their predecessors.

After explaining all this, the great elder tilted his neck behind him, and immediately a dwarf warrior presented him with a box, "And the last thing, I promised before."

The box was opened, revealing a lead ring wrapped in a piece of red velvet.

Behind the great elder, the eyes of the dwarf ancestors seemed to be focused on this ring.

"It also adds a sense of ceremony. After that, those who carry this lead ring can apply to enter Mahakam on their own, which will also make it easier to negotiate weapons orders in the future."

Lann refused, which meant he had officially established a long-term cooperation with Mahakam.

Afterwards, they signed a series of agreements, discussed future cooperation in war, and Lann's guarantee to treat the dwarves equally.

"You said before, Great Elder, that one of the reasons for rushing to end the process is that the war in the north has changed." After everything was discussed, Lan's attention returned to this matter. "Can you tell me more about it?"

The Great Elder nodded: "Although you are going back soon, you should be mentally prepared."

"As far as I know..."

…

Mahakam, all the supplies agreed upon in the agreement to support Cintra have been packed.

Lann stood in front of various steel structures that were like a small mountain. He gently clapped his left hand upwards, and then these materials disappeared as if they were erased by a huge eraser in the space level.

All of them were received by Lann in the [Inventory].

The dwarf quartermaster who was watching couldn't help but show an expression of amazement.

Just at this moment, the sound of horse hooves was heard in the distance, and Coen and his team arrived late.

"Am I late?" The Griffin School witcher felt embarrassed as he looked at the people who were already dressed and ready to go back home.

[Task - Spring Cleaning - Completed]

[Character Level +1]

It was as if there was a whole choir singing in unison. Lan shook his head slightly to turn his attention back to the real world, and smiled at Cohen: "I've been waiting for you. How are you doing?"

"I brought all your guards back to you without missing a single one. The operation went smoothly without any setbacks. After I gave the blueprint to the leader of the Chiss clan, they decided to send three hundred dwarves to assist us."

Cohen analyzed seriously, "If our four teams can all achieve this kind of results, we can gather together a thousand heavy infantrymen. With them as the core and some human warriors, we can also be a force that cannot be underestimated... Why are you all looking at me like that?"

The Griffin School Demon Hunter scratched his head and said, "Is it possible that things are not going well over there?"

Kolgrim pulled Coen, who had been offline for a long time, away and gave him the knowledge he had missed during this period. Lann briefly explained to Barclay, and the dwarf colonel gathered the troops and then set off to Cintra for support.

Because if the information provided by the Great Elder is true, he must take his cavalry troops and go ahead to deal with the emergency first.

…

Mahakam, halfway up the mountain.

Yarpan sat at the door of the tavern, with a Sharma head under his buttocks. He actually used this monster head covered with a rock shell as a stool.

After the great battle in which Lann participated, the owner of the bar was very insightful and made a toast song about the battle. The corpses of the monsters were put to good use and were decomposed and processed to become decorations for decorating the tavern. The dwarves from the nearby mines now like to gather here to kill time.

There was a rumbling sound of horse hooves, and when Yarpan heard it he jumped up.

He finally got the person he was waiting for. Although Mahakam's beer was delicious, he missed the days when he carried an axe and acted recklessly in Cintra even more.

"Lane, you guys are finally back, as are Gabor! And..." Yarpan jumped up excitedly, but his expression quickly changed as if he had seen something dirty. "Petrit Fuchs? Why did you follow me?"

Gabe gave a wry smile.

Lan shook his head. Looking at Gabo, all of a sudden, the days he had spent in Mahakam and the various dwarves he had met came to his mind.

The lion of Cintra sighed and said, "Yalpan... I really hope that all the dwarves in the world are as simple and generous as you; but when I think about it carefully, it seems too cruel."

Yarpen tilted his head in confusion, not understanding.

"Forget it." Lann chuckled, "Have you rested well? You will join us to deal with the Nilfgaardians later."

Yarpan laughed: "Isn't this why I came here in the first place?"