Shixuan looked at the dwarf town chief, a bit surprised because the town chief had a rank he couldn't perceive! He was very sensitive toward the earth element, and the metal element, being a sister element should be something that wouldn't repulse his senses. Although it wasn't totally unusual, he could still pretty well feel that his big brother was low Essence Awakening Stage and that he Steward was of middle stage! He was sure that he could at most perceive the high stage, which meant that this town chief was at least peak stage!
'So, this was why brother didn't just send a servant to invite him, no wonder he's planning to advance this town to a city! Brother is really smart; this town chief is probably near his breakthrough and will naturally want to befriend a genius like big brother! Being the town chief of a large town is already the same as a Rank 7 official, but this town nearly being a city meant that he could go round about the authority of big brother, as his rank is the same… but brother knew all that and prepared for me to greet him personally and make sure he knows who has the calls.'
"I greet the Junior Eunuch; may the Emerald Tree shine the empire for all the years to come. Might I know what the envoy of the Imperial Capital has to say, for you to rush here so fast?" the dwarf town chief talked highly and seemed respectful, but he made clear that he was of higher rank when he pronounced the 'junior' strongly.
Shixuan didn't look any different and stepped forward as he took out the written letter he was supposed to bring. He only presented it to the town chief before he turned around and left. The steward, slightly stunned, quickly recovered his stature as he followed.
…
The town chief was left slightly stunned when he saw that the eunuch didn't talk at all, let alone pay his respects. He looked at the letter on his table before he looked around and saw that quite a few dwarfs had frowning expressions, so he calmed them "Well, let's first read the letter, it might tell us why he has the balls to be so pretentious!"
He opened the letter with a swipe from his hand and read loudly "Town Chief of the dwarf town 'Ferrarius' as your ancestors have called it. I, Intermediate Eunuch Ji Li under the banner of the Eunuch Ceremonial Hall, invite you to the humble branch yard you build prematurely." Then the letter ended, so short yet conveying so many things!
Clearly Ji Li presented his status when he mentioned that he was operating under the Eunuch Ceremonial Hall, which not only had the active support of two High Eunuchs but also the passive support of any and every eunuch that ever joined the ranks! Calling the branch humble meant that the town didn't revere the eunuchs enough while saying that it was build prematurely would hint that even though the town would become a city soon, it still wasn't.
"HAHAHAH" The dwarf chief laughed, while the other dwarfs looked somewhat confused and upset.
"Chief, how can we take that? We all are blacksmiths and might not understand fully what he meant, but he clearly insulted us! How can he be so wilfully in our town that stood for centuries? I thought that since the Eunuch Palace send a Giant, our brothers, they would try to work without together! Now this seems like it's just a farce!" one of the dwarves that sat close to the chief commented.
"Calm down Rong Tong, didn't you hear that he called our town 'Ferrarius'? He clearly knows the history of our Rong Clan Town, but still talked like that. Don't you know how the Eunuch Ceremonial Palace is? If he is really sent from there, then he has at least two High Eunuchs that support him. He is clearly telling us that his status isn't below that of a clan that previously served under the 'Ferra' kingdom. He is clearly inviting me, so I will just go there and drink tea with him, that's what they do normally, right?" Clearly the town chief was used to how the higher circles of the empire operated.
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…
The next day, early morning just after everyone ate breakfast inside the room which as then cleaned up by the servants, who then left, Ji Li commented "The food of this town is really good! But they are all so difficult to swallow without something to drink. I heard that the dwarves have a liking to drinking beverages, so it's no wonder their food is like that. Shixuan, tell them to prepare some juice or something the next time. I don't want to eat and have a dry mouth the whole time."
"Big brother, you clearly just ate too much! Look at you, we barely came yesterday, and you already ate so much and yet you are still eating so much today! I really don't know how you're shorter than me, you cat so much more-" before Shixuan could continue complaining, there was a knock at the door, to which Qianyu stood up and listened to what the steward outside had to say.
"Big brother, the town chief is here. Should I let him come in?"
"Woah, he's here so early, is he fearing that he couldn't attend the towns people if he came later and stayed for longer? We might not need the laxatives, but Qianyu, prepare them just in case and put them to the side. I heard that dwarves like to talk loudly, at least that will quite him!" Ji Li stood up from the ground as he continued "We will meet him on the second floor in the inner garden, I wanted to see it since yesterday, but I had no time. Maybe I did him wrong saying this is a humble branch, because even middle scale cities' branches look less appealing. Hmph, he's probably just ambitious!"
Qianyu went down while Shixuan followed Ji Li with the guards to the second floor, where there stood a large, closed door. Shixuan went ahead and opened the door to an indoor garden which was pretty large and went even outside, large enough to fit at least a hundred people. Ji Li looked around till he found a small table with chairs next to a small pond where fish were swimming around. He sat down at one end and waited patiently without saying anything while he admired the room.
Shixuan waited behind him while the guards stood at the entrance, not entering. A few moments later, Qianyu came in with a man no taller than a meter and a half, a vast difference to the two-meter tall Qianyu and the two and a half meters tall Shixuan. Even Ji Li was taller with his 175cm.
Qianyu went behind on the left side of Ji Li as he left the steward outside with the guards. The trio waited for the dwarf to introduce himself, and so he did with a light bow "Town Chief Rong Xi greets Intermediate Eunuch Ji Li" he said, while being a bit stunned as he just came to know that there wasn't just one Junior Eunuch but two, and the second was actually an elf! They were even rarer to find under the eunuchs than giants, as they had their own kingdom and their own large branch of eunuchs! Although all Eunuchs were united, they all still had other perspectives of harmony, and for the elf's harmony was to live deeply with nature and they didn't enjoy the destruction humans normally caused to nature.
Still, the empire was also very aligned with nature, so these were rather minor problems and just presented a new perspective to harmony among the eunuchs. They all equally cared for the empire, and it was the eunuchs first and foremost that wanted to accept all races into the empire instead of establishing slavery or mass eradication, making them the most liked among all races. The brotherhood thereby only stretched but didn't collapse.
"I have seen the town chief; you may take a seat." Ji Li acted very indifferently while he was thinking to himself 'Woah, they really are short and look just like dwarves from those MMORPG's I played! But look at him, just his eyes tell me that he's smart and not like the impulsive and anger-faced dwarf I expected! Well, maybe I went too soft. It's okay, when he sees the tea, he will be offended enou… why do I sound like some villain? I just wanna have my fun while doing my job!'
The town chief stepped forward and took the seat at the other side of the table while also thinking that there was such a young eunuch with that cultivation level! He himself needed over a hundred years to reach his current level, yet there was someone so much younger than nearly went above him. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, because this young eunuch was also so blessed! Just looking at his handsome face, he knew how many maiden would cry for they would never have a chance to interact with such a man!