Chapter 127: Bothersome Politailic

----------------------------------------

"Have you heard of the dwarven fairy tale about greed? The one that we tell our children and even Lord Alistar knows about?"

"Yes, I know of it," Alistar nodded.

"Before we met with the elves, we traded with humans and tailfolk too. It was long before your country was destroyed," Sig looked at me.

"At that time, trade flourished because of the mines. We mined jewels to be sold to human royalties and nobles."

"I've never heard of that one…" Alistar murmured.

"At that time, we chose to isolate ourselves," Edelweiss interrupted Alistar's thoughts. "Norhtlangard was safe, and with Silvane's mining territory, we did not lack any resources."

"Yeah. We named your land the wasteland back then because anyone who got into it rarely returned, and we called you savage elves back then," the dwarves said.

"It must have been so long ago that none of my friends even talked about it. An elf's normal lifespan was about 250 years," Alistar muttered. Now I'm curious. How old are Edelweiss and Alistar? Perhaps they might be younger than I expected. Appraisal never told me their age.

"Lord Ghander knew a little about it," Edelweiss said. "But he was a mere elven soldier back then, and he was stationed around Silvane territory and Hoeth. He never went to Edenthal or Regoia."

"Back then, Edenthal wasn't even your territory," Sig muttered. "We called it the forest of no return. A dwarf got lost there and returned to us ten years later. His family still tells a tale about it."

"I would prefer you didn't spread any rumors about our homes, but it was already a long time ago that we may have to dig into our library for its records," Alistar said.

"Back to the topic. Our primary export was polished and cut diamonds, fire and water jewels."

"Is that true, Mattheus? Mark?"

"I didn't know about that, but I know several jewels that nobles bragged about from dwarves. It was ordinary. Other humans could have made it. It was just for novelty's sake," Mattheus said. The other tailfolk shook their heads. A tailfolk's lifespan was merely fifty years old. And because our country was destroyed by humans, we never knew about dwarves except from a human or an elf's mouth.

"That's rude! Well, back to the topic, that was the beginning of our legacy. However, because of greed, we kept mining and mining," Sig said.

"Did the mountain get polluted?" Alistar asked.

"No. Our technique was exemplary. It was both human and our greed that almost doomed us. We mined as much as possible, and the mountain gave it to us. We built a vault even larger than our capital. By the way, our capital right now was one of those vaults. It was silly that our capital right now was a vault.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"There were factions and wars for greed. That is the beginning of our conflict with humans. However, we didn't fault humans entirely since we love to hoard treasure too. The humans accused us of monopoly. It was not only humans but also other factions of dwarves who did the same. We started dividing our mining rights into several families, but they started stealing from each other.

"My ancestors were from Lefty and Righty clans, who lived in the Western Valley. At that time, we were lowly dwarves in charge of farming, a job reserved only to mock us. When starvation hit, it became the only food source for our kingdom, and we protected it with all our might. Unfortunately, when starvation hit the other dwarves, we let it happen."

"Huh? Why? Did you seek revenge against the other clan? Why did you let them die?" Lily asked, astonished.

"Well, I suppose the timeline coincides with when starvation hit us too," Alistar answered. Edelweiss nodded in agreement, "It was also when we enacted our food control law, which happened in other countries as well. Since dwarves rely on food imports, they were left to die."

"Yes, the other clan relied on food imports and their mining techniques. Only a fourth of the dwarven population survived during that starvation time. Thanks to the Western Valley, nobody wanted a slave from other races at that time if it meant more mouths to feed. So they died off, and ever since then, we have done what we do now."

"Wow…."

"That still doesn't explain your insistence on not mining," Mattheus interjected.

"Well, when we flourished with the trade of precious ores, there were a lot of skirmishes because of our greed, and naturally, we put a lot of investment into soldiers. However, right now, we don't do that. We have farmers, craftsmen, seamstresses, etc. We have limited our miners."

"Why?" everyone tilted their heads in confusion. Even I perked up my tail as I listened to him. It was odd.

"Hmm… How do I say it… right now, there are no special quality of us dwarves, right?"

"Umm… Yes?"

"A long time ago, we were the best miners and craftsmen. We did not make finished products, but everyone bought steel and iron bars from us. This raised conflict among humans and fellow dwarves alike. If we brought every titan ore upstairs, everyone would come to us and possibly raid us. Even if we don't, other dwarves may simply steal it and sell it to others, just like what Lord Lily did."

"Well, they were hungry and needed food."

"Yes, they did. That's why I allowed it. Our alliance with the elves is still short, and although cumbersome, we like it since there hasn't been any betrayal in the past fifty years."

"The mere thought of us betraying you is an insult to us, King Sig. We elves will not betray others except if they did it first," Edelweiss said while puffing her chest.

"Well, humans have done it countless times in the past. We fear such a thing will happen. Tell me, if I theoretically have unlimited Mithale in my storeroom and sell it to you for five thousand a gram, will you pay for it willingly?"

"Well, I suppose we could trade it for food," Alistar suggested. "But if you refuse, then we could take a loan or ask you to help shoulder the undead force at Fort Soleil."

"I find it curious that you are currently better than your fellow dwarves," Sig said with a smile. "What sort of magic prevents you from simply stealing from others, even from peasant elves?"

"That doesn't make any sense," Mattheus frowned, struggling to keep up with the conversation.

"He means that dwarves purposely limit their population and capable miners," Edelweiss clarified. "If humans were to invade dwarven territory, they would have to mine the gems themselves, which would be costly and dangerous. However, if the dwarves had a vault, the attacker could simply kill the dwarves and take the vault and leave."

"I understand now," Mattheus nodded.

"Our caves are dangerous and infested with monsters," Alistar explained. "We have had some ambitious humans try to invade us, but we have been able to repel them so far. The real danger comes if other dwarves were to side with the humans. Then we might be reduced to a vassal state. However, looking at our history, it is more likely that we would become elven vassals rather than human ones."

The conversation about dwarven politics continued.