Chapter 567 – Dwarf Iron Mountain
While the s.h.i.+p was sailing along Iron Warhorse River, they could spot three-masted and five-masted s.h.i.+ps sailing with them. These s.h.i.+ps had displaced a lot of water, showing people how much cargo they were carrying.
They were already not far from the pier for Dwarf Mountain. From the direction these s.h.i.+ps were heading, it seems like they were all packing a lot of iron and iron goods inside.
When people mention Dwarven ironware, they might think of weapons. But in reality, there were a lot of ironware that were from the Dwarves. Everything that can be made out of iron was also made by the Dwarves.
Moreover, Dwarves don’t only create things from iron, they also use a variety of metals as well. Their gold and silver items also held some fame in the continent, but not as much as their ironware.
Weapons that Dwarves produce might be crude and simple, but the products they make from precious metals were absurdly magnificent, looking like they were art. Even Elves cannot be compared to how innately skilled the Dwarves were in this aspect.
Like what was heard, the Dwarves had been hollowing out huge portions of Dwarf Mountain. At the same time, they also knew that the mountain would run out of iron eventually, so they also started to recycle some iron. Iron was easy to reuse, the Dwarves can just remelt some dscared iron products to make new ones.
Because of this, whether s.h.i.+ps were heading or leaving Dwarf Mountain, all of them had iron in their cargo.
Zhao Hai also knew about this practice of the Dwarves, but they don’t need a lot of people to bring them iron. Right now, they already have Merchants, specifically tasked to get them some sc.r.a.p iron. One could say that the development of the Dwarves were much better than the Beastmen.
Before long, the Haven slowly came to a stop at the pier. The pier was very big, the s.h.i.+ps that were moored along it were a lot. Zhao Hai also noticed that of the s.h.i.+ps present, almost all of them were owned by Buddha Empire n.o.bles, he couldn’t spot any s.h.i.+ps belonging from the other nations.
But what intrigued Zhao Hai the most about this pier was the pier managers. These people were very short, the tallest of them was only about 1.5 meters. However, their figures were very st.u.r.dy, they wore iron armor while everyone of them carried a hammer at their back.
This hammer wasn’t the same as the weapons of Ancient China. This hammer looks like it was used to hammer iron, but it’s very big, they seem to weigh a couple of dozen jins each.
In addition to the hammer, the Dwarves also wore iron armor. The amount of load that each of them carried was at minimum about 100 jin. But from their appearances, it seems like it didn’t bother them, showing how formidable their strengths were.
This was the first time that Zhao Hai had seen a Dwarf. These people had brown hair and a full beard on their faces, they also had a slight blush on their cheeks, probably from all the drinking that they had done.
After the s.h.i.+p stooped, Zhao Hai walked down from it along with Juno. Before long, two Dwarves approached them, the two bowed slightly to Zhao Hai and Juno and said, “Are you two doing business?”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “Dwarf friend, this one is Buda Clan’s Zhao Hai. I came this time to do business. Since this is my first time, I have been accompanied with the Hurricane Family’s Patriarch.
When the Dwarf heard Zhao Hai that the person beside him was the Hurricane Family’s patriarch, his face immediately changed to respect as he bowed to Juno and said, “So it turns out to be Patriarch Juno. We’ve been very rude, please come with us.”
It seemed like they had ignored Zhao Hai’s self introduction. Zhao Hai can only stare blankly for a moment before bitterly smiling.
The Buda Clan was now quite famous in the Continent, however, these Dwarves seem to not know about him. This had two possibilities, it might be because they really haven’t heard about Zhao Hai, or they might have taken a dislike towards him.
Juno looked at the Dwarf and calmly said, “This is Mister Zhao Hai, Buda Clan’s Patriarch, he is a friend of mine.”
Quite ordinary words, but these made the Dwarf stare. Then he turned to Zhao Hai with a look of unfriendliness and said, “Buda Clan? Rosen Empire’s Buda Clan?”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Is there a problem?”
The Dwarf looked at Zhao Hai and said, “It’s been a long time since people from the Rosen Empire has come here. The last merchant from the Rosen Empire sold us moldy bamboo rice.”
When Zhao Hai heard the Dwarf, he stared for a moment before he faintly smiled and said, “Really? Is he from the Buda Clan?”
The Dwarf didn’t expect this to be Zhao Hai’s response. He also understood what Zhao Hai meant. The Dwarf couldn’t help but laugh and said, “I like you. Patriarch Zhao Hai, please.”
Juno nodded at the side in commendation. If Zhao Hai defended the Rosen Empire merchants, then it would become impossible for him to do any business with the Dwarves. It’s good that Zhao Hai’s answer made these Dwarves quite delighted.
Zhao Hai also discovered that these Dwarves aren’t the same as the Beastmen. Beastmen were direct, but they weren’t as smart as the Dwarves. Even if the Dwarves were also direct, they also had more contact with Humans and knew about how to read them.
Zhao Hai’s group left the pier along with the two Dwarves, then the Dwarves got the group some carriages. The carriage was fairly big, it was pulled by a Magic Beast that Zhao Hai has not seen before. This one looked like pangolin, however, their heads looked like a cross between a horse and a bull.
After the carriage arrived, the two Dwarves immediately invited Zhao Hai’s group to ride it. The Dwarves then talked with the group while inside. Naturally, the two were much more respectful towards Juno.
Seeing their conduct, Zhao Hai can’t do anything but just smile. From what he can see on the expressions of the Dwarves, it seems like Juno held quite a high standing in their hearts.
When Juno noticed that Zhao Hai was curious about the Magic Beast, he smiled and said, “This beast is called Iron Armor Beast, a unique Magic Beast of the Dwarven Race. It’s a great complement to them as it is very good at excavating earth as well as digging through mountains. At the same time, through proper training, these can also help the Dwarves find iron ore deposits. However, this Magic Beast also has its peculiarities. Other than the Dwarves, these beasts are unable to be trained by Humans or any other races. Because of this, the Dwarves had always believed that this beast was a gift to them but the Artisan G.o.d.”
Zhao Hai nodded, he didn’t think that this was false. After all, there were a lot of strange things in the Ark Continent. Maybe there were really G.o.ds looking at the continent from some other place.
The Iron Armor beast walked very steadily, moreover, it’s speed was not very slow. It didn’t take a long time before Zhao Hai and the others saw the mountain in the distance. This mountain was very different from the Hurricane Family’s territory. Back in the Hurricane Family’s place, bamboo rice and oil trees can be seen everywhere, but here, Zhao Hai can only spot a single plant that he hadn’t seen before.
This tree is very strange, it’s trunk was very straight and very black. However, it wasn’t very thick. On top of the tree were some branches, each branch had about five or six extensions on them. At the same time, there were more than ten leaves on each branch, each leaf was very big, about more than one meter long and were very thin. One could get an impression of a spear upon seeing the dark green leaves. The entire tree gives one a feeling of weight and sharpness.
For a tree to give a sharp feeling was very strange. At this time, Juno opened his mouth and said, “This is called a Spear Tree. It’s branch, leaves, and trunk can all be made into spears of high quality. They are also quite heavy, much heavier than average spears. However, they are also very tough, they are one of the specialty goods in Dwarf Mountain.
Zhao Hai nodded, but deep inside he was excited. He really felt that he hadn’t wasted his time in coming here. These unique things in Dwarf Mountain are very helpful. Even if they cannot upgrade the s.p.a.ce, he can still acquire them for future use.
Zhao Hai was now antic.i.p.ating his visit towards the Elven Forest. If the Dwarves, who were famous for the ironware, already had these unique plants and beasts, then what would the Elves, who were famous for their unique plants, have? It was no wonder that Zhao Hai looked forward to his visit.
Dwarf Iron Mountain was very tall, not worse than any other tall mountain in the continent. The mountain was part of a very long mountain range, comparable only to Hawk King Mountain.
Before long, the Iron Armor Beast carriage entered the mountain. Upon entering, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but gawk, the scale of this place simply placed the lake chamber back at Iron Mountain to shame.
But there was no water in this mountain chamber, on the contrary, it looked just like a huge factory. Blacksmiths and their furnaces can be seen everywhere. s.h.i.+rtless Dwarves, were all hard at work, hammering their metals and producing some ‘ding’ ‘ding’ sounds along the way. The noise in this place would compel you to shout at someone beside you just to talk to them.
Inside, weapons and various products can be seen everywhere. All kinds of full body armor were also being made. Various Dwarves can be seen loading and unloading goods here and there, however, no Human merchants can be seen inside.
Zhao Hai was actually afraid of the noise inside, he felt like his head was about to explode. But fortunately, it didn’t take too long before the carriage went out of the other side of the mountain, bringing them back to the quiet atmosphere once again.
Zhao Hai let out a long breath and then said, “That was too scary. If I stay for a day inside there, then I might get killed by the noise. How can the Dwarves endure it?”
Juno smiled and said, “They don’t need for the Dwarves to endure, you didn’t notice, but all of them were wearing ear plugs. With those, they don’t need to worry about the noise. Inside the mountain, Dwarves wouldn’t even open their mouths, they only use hand signals to communicate with one another.”
Zhao Hai nodded and then said, “So it’s like this. But I find something strange. Why haven’t I seen any Human merchants in there?”
Juno smiled, “There are several places in the mountain that Humans can use to interact with the Dwarves clearly. After making clear about their transactions, the Dwarves would carry their orders out by themselves while the Humans would leave the mountain. Otherwise, Humans might become insane if they stay inside for a long time, .”
Zhao Hai nodded, then he turned his head to inspect the surroundings, they were now exiting the first mountain. What was in front of Zhao Hai were a chain of other mountains stretching as far as his eyes can see. On these mountains, Spear Trees can be seen growing with no end in sight.
Zhao Hai knew that this was the real Dwarf Mountain. The area of this group of mountains was very large, it was no less than the entire Beastman Prairie.
Juno looked at the stretch of mountains and said, “Everyone knew about the Dwarf Mountain, but there were only a few of them who knew about the real Dwarf territory. Only friends of the Dwarves can see this scene. If one wasn’t someone that the Dwarves trust, then they can only go up to that first mountain.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “I’m very lucky to have Grandpa Juno with me this time. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have seen such a scene.”
Juno smiled faintly and said, “You don’t need to be too polite with me. If I don’t see you as a good Merchant, then I wouldn’t be taking you here. Why did you think I accompanied you personally? If you’re not a good merchant, let along saving Kristen, even if you saved the entire Hurricane Family, I still wouldn’t take you here. I treat the Dwarves as my friends, and I can not do any disservice towards them.”
Zhao Hai nodded. Laura and the others were quite all this time. They were enthralled by the scenery outside. This time, Juno only brought a few people from his family, they were on the carriages behind. Shue and Shun were also present on one of those carriages.
It didn’t take a long time before the Iron Armor Beast entered a second mountain. This mountain was also very big, with a lot of Dwarves being busy inside as well. But there weren’t a lot of weapons that can be seen here, most of the things here were iron ores.
The carriage continued to go along the mountain range. Zhao Hai also felt that each mountain that they pa.s.sed, their alt.i.tude seemed to get lower. It seemed like the road that they were on was on a gentle slope.
Before long, the Iron Armor Beast stopped. Then Juno turned his head to Zhao Hai and said, “Let’s head out, we still need to ride a boat.”
When he arrived outside, Zhao Hai looked around for a moment. This place was beside a mountain. There were a lot of Dwarves present here, loading and unloading their goods towards other Iron Armor Beast carriages.
On the side of this mountain was a pier with boats moored at its side. These boats weren’t big, however, they can still fit quite a number of people inside.
The Dwarf that drove their carriage arrived at Juno’s side and said, “Mister Juno, please come with me.” Juno nodded, and then he led Zhao Hai and the others to walk towards the pier.
After looking at the boats on the pier, Zhao Hai noticed that some of them were loaded with iron ore while some had nothing in them. Naturally, these empty boats were meant for them to ride on.