Chapter 23 Part 2

Xia Xifeng said, “Seizing every spare moment to read and study.”

Amuruo laughed. “Good, very good. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask Suer… ask Damon.”

Damon, who was acting as a water-pouring attendant, looked bewildered. “??”

With Mr. Suer absent, Uncle truly didn’t treat him like a nephew, only as a laborer.

Damon smiled wearily and nodded. “Mm, ask me. I’ll teach you.”

He absolutely did not want to tutor the lovey-dovey couple in their studies. It was far too awkward.

“Qin Lang, according to Perila, your combat skills have greatly improved. It’s as if, like him and Leo, you’re not a true novice but wearing a Power Suppression Rune,” Amuruo said. “Today, you and Xia Xifeng will stay at the castle. Tomorrow, I’ll test how much your strength has grown.”

Qin Lang thanked him. “Alright. Thank you for the guidance, Mr. Amuruo.”

After some idle chat, the large mirror in front of Amuruo finally lit up.

The connection was established.

Before the figure in the large mirror even materialized, Amuruo sneered. “Hail the great Dwarf King Firebeard VII. You truly are a busy man. Even when your own subjects are in trouble, you still make me wait half a day before responding.”

In the mirror, a burly Dwarf with a long red beard braided along his chin, glowing faintly like flames, snorted coldly: “If I didn’t care about my subjects, what right would a mere City Lord like you have to contact me directly?”

Amuruo raised an eyebrow. “By the right that before you became Dwarf King, I stripped you naked and hung you from a cliff?”

Firebeard VII gripped the golden great-hammer in his hand—the symbol of his authority—tightly.

If Amuruo stood before him right now, he would smash Amuruo’s head to pieces with this golden great-hammer!

Ever since becoming King, he had secretly vowed to kill Amuruo and destroy Green Sand City.

But the Dwarf Kingdom and Green Sand City had signed a permanent peace treaty. To secure his position as Dwarf King, he couldn’t initiate hostilities and could only bide his time in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity.

Amuruo had always dismissed the wildly ambitious Firebeard VII, whose abilities never matched his ambitions.

Firebeard VII’s sole virtue was that no matter how much ambition and selfishness he harbored, he would never place it above the entire Dwarf Kingdom.

If it were just a conflict between Green Sand City and the Dwarves, Firebeard VII might seize the chance to disgust Amuruo, trying every possible method to escalate the conflict with Green Sand City, creating disputes to seize the already-cultivated land within the “Wastelands” belonging to the Free Alliance.

But Firebeard VII didn’t care about the deaths of one or two Dwarves. Seeing monsters that couldn’t be identified in the recordings and could replace already-slain Dwarves—his intuition as Dwarf King immediately sounded alarm bells.

Firebeard VII detested and loathed Amuruo, but he also acknowledged Amuruo’s immense strength.

If they hadn’t luckily saved a survivor and obtained the Recording Stone, even Amuruo couldn’t have discovered the Dwarves had been replaced by monsters.

If Dwarves replaced by monsters returned to the Dwarf Kingdom… Firebeard VII didn’t need to think deeply to recognize the danger.

The reason he hadn’t responded to Amuruo’s contact immediately this time wasn’t the usual posturing, but because he’d been in a long meeting.

Firebeard VII had summoned his trusted confidants to discuss how to defend against this unknown monster threat.

Should they inform the Human and Elven Empires? Did they need to send envoys to Green Sand City? If so, whom should they send?

Firebeard VII didn’t want Amuruo to look down on him. He had to present a viable plan before meeting with Amuruo to prove he was a wise King.

The moment Xia Xifeng saw Firebeard VII, even though he tried to keep a straight face, undisguised disgust and fury flickered in his eyes.

To avoid being noticed, Xia Xifeng lowered his head and stared fixedly at the book spread open on his lap.

Qin Lang: 【In reality, he might not only not be an enemy but could even be an ally.】

Xia Xifeng: 【Don’t say any more. I already feel sick.】

After feeling sickened by Qin Lang’s words, the hostility towards the Dwarf King in Xia Xifeng’s heart actually subsided somewhat.

He couldn’t let matters from another world prejudice him against people in this one. He couldn’t let prejudice blind him. Xia Xifeng admonished himself.

Amuruo also noticed Xia Xifeng’s loathing for the Dwarf King.

As he’d anticipated, this mission of Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang’s involved a future where Leo and Perila met their deaths.

If Leo and Perila were dead, the two Suns in the sky were probably in danger too.

(Beep)—world-ending Apocalypse.

Dwarves replaced by monsters caused trouble in Green Sand City or Sunflower Valley, leading to Leo and Perila’s tragedy. Knowing the Dwarf King as Amuruo did, the Dwarf King surely deliberately shielded the Dwarves just to disgust him, adding fuel to this tragedy.

He was debating whether to advise Xia Xifeng, as a senior, that he mustn’t be blinded by prejudice from another world—that would mean he couldn’t control the future but be led by it—or whether he should first use this as an excuse to vent for these other children and give the Dwarf King a good beating, and then, in his capacity as a senior, offer advice.

Such a perfect excuse. Even if he beat the Dwarf King and caused political trouble, Suer surely wouldn’t be angry.

While Amuruo was still deliberating, the disgust in Xia Xifeng’s eyes towards the Dwarf King faded.

Xia Xifeng had adjusted his mentality on his own.

As expected of the Little Prophet. Amuruo regretfully shelved his plan.

The content of the meeting was very important, but the entire process was tedious and dull.

Danger was already right before their eyes, yet the Dwarf King and his trusted ministers still had to consider things like public opinion, ally impact, friendly nation impact.

The world was about to end, and you’re still considering impact? This world wouldn’t even last until your son inherits the throne.

Amuruo’s face was full of disgust as he suppressed his impatience while discussing politics with the Dwarf King.

Thankfully, the Dwarf King still recognized the severity of the situation. He had already dispatched the Dwarf race’s sole Great Sage to Green Sand City to handle this batch of monsters alongside Amuruo.

The Dwarf race generally wasn’t adept at magic, but there were always magical geniuses born among them with high natural affinity for the Magical Network. These magic-talented Dwarves were inducted into the Dwarven Sage Academy.

The development of Dwarven Magitech was all led by the Sage Academy. The Great Sage was the head of the Sage Academy, his status second only to the Dwarf King.

Dwarven Sages were all inherently academic and tech nerds, completely unconcerned with Dwarf Kingdom politics. Barring academic or technical exchanges, they almost never left the Sage Academy.

That the Dwarf King had persuaded the Great Sage to personally come to Green Sand City showed he took this matter seriously enough.

If Firebeard VII weren’t decisive on the big picture, Amuruo wouldn’t have stopped at just stripping him and hanging him from a cliff.

After reluctantly reaching a consensus, Amuruo agreed not to inform the Elven Empire or Human Empire until the Great Sage arrived.

Amuruo hadn’t planned to involve more forces anyway, before gaining sufficient information.

Doing so would not only risk alerting the enemy; like the Dwarf Kingdom, the Elven and Human Empires had enjoyed peace for too long. Whenever they opened their mouths it was all politics. Unless the Apocalypse was right at their doorstep, they always sought personal gain first—truly detestable.

The Dwarf King breathed a sigh of relief.

This time, he’d narrowly scraped by within Amuruo’s bottom line.

“You’re named Lana, yes? Good child. I will definitely avenge you. Wait peacefully for our Great Sage to arrive. Everything will be alright.” The Dwarf King’s tone towards Lana was rather gentle. “You are very strong, worthy of our Dwarven name.”

Lana bowed excitedly towards the Dwarf King.

The Dwarf King then turned his gaze to Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang. “Amuruo, aren’t you going to introduce these two to me?”

“Xia Xifeng, Qin Lang. Race: Human. New Pioneer Knights of Green Sand City,” Amuruo said. “Their surnames come first, given names last. They’re from a distant island nation in the Illusory Sea. They happened to save Lana. Xia Xifeng is Suer’s disciple, not mine. When he travels to the Dwarf Kingdom, look after him.”

The Dwarf King snorted coldly. “A disciple of Mr. Suer, of course I’ll look after him. The way you phrase it, as if I’ve made things difficult for your disciples? Our grudge wouldn’t extend to the younger generation.”

“Oh.” Amuruo responded dismissively.

If he hadn’t seen Xia Xifeng’s hateful eyes towards the Dwarf King, he might actually have believed it.

But from the Dwarf King’s standpoint, his reason for shielding the Dwarves probably wasn’t to target the “younger generation,” but complex political considerations.

Tsk, damn politics.

Once the official business was done, given their terrible personal relationship, there was nothing left to chat about between Amuruo and the Dwarf King.

They exchanged a few perfunctory pleasantries and ended the communication.

“Alright, matter settled,” Amuruo said calmly. “Lana, stay safely in the City Lord’s Mansion. When the Dwarven Great Sage arrives, I’ll take you to see your father’s remains.”

Lana wiped her tears. “Yes, City Lord!”

“You two go to bed early today. No need for you to worry about this matter anymore. Study well and do your duty as Pioneer Knights.” Amuruo said, “With the Dwarven Great Sage arriving this time, you can conveniently borrow some manpower to help build your Pioneer Domain. Dwarven craftsmanship is still decent.”

Going to the Dwarven envoy delegation to help build their city? Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang exchanged glances.

Alright, if Mr. Amuruo said so, they’d give it a try.

As Amuruo said, conspiracies are conspiracies precisely because they can’t be exposed to sunlight.

Now that everyone was vigilant, the Dwarf Merchant Caravan was very well-behaved, acting just like normal Dwarves and causing no conflict within Green Sand City.

Amuruo had Sunflower Valley find a casual excuse to close its entrance, barring outsiders from entering.

Xia Xifeng remembered that the trigger for this conspiracy was the Dwarf killing Roxie. He hinted to Leo to send Roxie to accompany Lana.

“Lana is all alone; she definitely needs a friend her own age to keep her company.” Xia Xifeng thought he’d found a flawless excuse.

Leo cheerfully agreed.

But as he turned away, his expression darkened.

Perila patted Leo’s shoulder, offering silent comfort.

Leo deeply cherished his family, especially doting on his little sister. If anything happened to Roxie, Leo would surely go mad.

Was it because Leo went mad over Roxie’s death that he and Leo ended up destroying each other? Perila’s imagination ran wild.

He shook his head vigorously. “We were truly lucky to meet Feng and Lang. It must be the Sun protecting us.”

Leo took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. “Yeah. My luck’s always been great. Yours has always been terrible.”

Perila: “???”

I comfort you, and you insult me?!

Perila raised his staff.

Amid the ensuing ruckus, Xia Xifeng stuck his body out the window. “Qin Lang, Leo and Perila are fighting again. Do they have to fight every single day? Aren’t they bored?”

Qin Lang: “Very bored.”

Xia Xifeng sighed. “Seeing them so lively every day, I can’t even stay sad anymore.”