Chapter 63
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He sat down without speaking, and everyone looked at him in awe. His body was still fit despite looking old. I wondered if he was a master swordsman like Ghander.
“I am sad to announce that the Northlangard expedition will be halted indefinitely. The discussion with the humans fell apart. However, please keep your soldiers battle-ready. The undead does not care about politics.” The king announced. Everyone was shocked, but Edelweiss and Lily felt this might happen, so we were not too surprised.
“Lord Lily. Will you participate in the Northlangard expedition?” The king bluntly asked.
“Huh? But didn’t your majesty say the expedition was canceled?” Lily asked
“It is not canceled. We merely halted it. When we find the opportunity, we will strike them.” The king repeated his word.
“Yes, we will participate. Undead threats are real, and we must be ready to fight them for our home,” Lily replied.
“I see. Thank you.” The king then looked at us again. ”Can I trouble you to go to dwarven lands as our diplomats? We would love to have their cooperation for this expedition.”
“Why us?” Lily tilted her head. I, too, was puzzled as to why the king ordered us instead of his more experienced subordinates.
“We don’t like their homes.” The king said bluntly. Lily tilted her head and looked toward Edelweiss. “None of the lords would like to visit their homes if possible.”
“They are a nice bunch. But how do I say this? Their homes are quite dirty.” Edelweiss put her hand on her cheek while feeling troubled.
“Huh? The world is in danger, but you guys are whining because the other party’s home was a little bit dirty? How stuck up are you guys? These rich, pampered elves!” I shouted in my mind. Lily likewise widened her eyes in shock. Were their homes that dirty? Lily was a slave, so no matter how messy their homes were, I didn’t think we would have trouble with it.
“Those cavemen. If it were not for the undead, we would not be friends with them.” The central assholes spoke arrogantly. I wondered why they had poor manners. Other elves and even the king seemed like a decent bunch.
“Lily will be our official diplomat for the dwarves.” The king announced. “We will tell you what needs to be discussed with the dwarves later.”
“Lily, ask for Jona to guide us in dwarven land,” I suggested to her. It would be best if we had some locals to guide us. We have fought together in Fort Soleil.
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“Your majesty, may I ask for something?” Lily asked directly. “We would like to have a local dwarf guide us there.”
“There is no need. You are our official ambassador. They will grant you their warmest welcome.” The king said. I can only spin my eyes in disbelief. I didn’t know about this world’s politics, but just because you were an ambassador and granted law immunity didn’t mean you would befriend them easily. We were going to ask them something, right? It would be nice to have a cordial relationship here.
“Your majesty, there was a dwarf named Jona in Fort Soleil. Could I ask her to accompany me when we visit dwarven lands?” Lily forced the issue now that she knew the elves were hopeless.
“Hmm?”
“If I recall correctly, Jona was just a mercenary, right? She is not a lord or nobility. Why would we need to bring her?” Alistar interrupted. Jona certainly wasn’t the most ideal for negotiations regarding these matters as she is just a mercenary. Still, we don’t have anyone else, right?
“Shiro…” Lily asked me. Apparently, she seemed to agree with lord alistar.
“Lily, while Jona might not be a noble. Just like Lhorne is not a noble, she might know the intricacy of dwarven culture.” I answered. Lily nodded to me at once, seemingly understood and agreed with me.
“Your majesty and Lord Alistar, Lhorne is not an elven lord. He is merely a forest ranger, but through him, I get to know Lord Edelweiss and then Master Ghander, which in turn allowed me to become the lord. Jona might not be a nobility of dwarven people. But I hope to be friends with them in the truest sense. I hope to know them just like I knew elves through Lhorne.”Lily pleaded with King Garme.
“Very well. We shall call this Jona into your service.” The king nodded.
“Wait, she is just a mercenary, right? Will he even know the proper etiquette befitting of our elven country?” Silvane asked.
“Let the tailfolk do whatever she wants. In the worst case scenario, we can even put the blame on her and send a proper and dignified elven ambassador.” The central nobles said delusionally. If they wanted to do it, they would. The fact that they hadn’t done so proved that they really didn’t want to mingle with dwarves.
“Thank you, Lord Alistar and King Garme.”
“We will send you the details, but we wanted you to discuss with the dwarves to send us their Titan ore and, if possible, their Golderite. If not, please increase the export of their iron ores and cement to us without increasing the budget.” Edelweiss noted. Whoaa! that seemed to be complicated. Sending more without raising prices was absurd.
“What is Titan ore and Golderite?”
“They had some secret technique of making gold into Golderite and silver and steel into titan ore. Golderite is primarily used in armors or chainmail due to their toughness while titan steel is an ideal weapon or arrowhead due to their hardness.” Silvane answered. Since he was in the metal industry, he knew about these things.
“No. We required these metals due to their unique properties in researching Leylines center. We have found some leads regarding the disruption of leylines on Northlangard.” The king answered.
“Huh?” Edelweiss looked at the king. Everyone also looked at him. Apparently, this news about leylines leakage was new to everyone.
“Yes. Our researchers show that the leylines have holes which the undead feed upon. We need to repair it using golderite and layered it with Mythril, which are made using titan ores.” The king continued
“Alright. We shall do our best.”
“This is a secret, though. I fear those dwarves might leverage their position should they know about this.” The king gave a final warning before we ended today’s meeting.