Volume 1 Chapter 26: Steel alloy
If one directly calculated the distance, Master La.n.u.s’ dwarven tribe was only less than two hundred kilometers away from Banta City.
But if one calculated based on travel distance, it was close to three hundred meters.
The over two hundred meters in the beginning could by traveled by sitting in a horse carriage, only at the mountain the dwarves lived on in the end, there were only twenty kilometers that needed to be traversed on foot.
To Master La.n.u.s, this would only take a single day’s travel.
Xu Yi found after leaving Banta City in the morning that only when the sky turned dark could he see the dots of flames Master La.n.u.s mentioned in front of them.
“Do you see it? Each flame is a forge, the fires in the forges of us dwarves are never extinguished!” When he said this, Master La.n.u.s held his stomach that wasn’t that small and revealed a proud look.
It was a pity that Xu Yi already had no strength to talk to him after traveling for a day, but he also wasn’t interested in going along with him.
To Xu Yi’s sudden visit, the dwarves in the village were mostly surprised, but because Xu Yi came with Master La.n.u.s, they were immediately welcomed. There was a grand welcoming feast held for them.
The dwarves loved wine, so naturally they used wine to greet guests.
Xu Yi couldn’t remember how many times his bowl had been filled and couldn’t remember at all how he pa.s.sed out drunk, only when he opened his eyes after regaining consciousness, it was already bright out. It was already the morning of the next day.
Xu Yi shook his head and found that strangely it didn’t hurt, only he was a bit dizzy.
It seemed like the dwarves not only loved wine, they were very skilled in making wine. After drinking that much last night, he actually didn’t have a hangover the next day.
Of course, this was also thanks to Xu Yi’s tolerance being quite good.
On earth, as one of the best mechanical engineers of the country’s biggest mechanical engineering company, even if Xu Yi strictly controlled himself, he couldn’t avoid the various dinner appointments. His alcohol tolerance was also trained by this.
This wine fermenting technology of this world wasn’t as developed as on earth, so naturally the degree was far from being able to compare. This indirectly increased Xu Yi’s tolerance by a large amount.
“Hey, Xu Yi is it? Are you awake?” There was a thick voice that came from beside him.
Xu Yi turned over and saw a male dwarf with a rather large nose.
“You are……” Xu Yi scratched his head. He had an impression of this male dwarf, but he couldn’t think of his name.
“Ha, ha, just call me Camby.” The dwarf strongly slapped Xu Yi’s shoulder as he burst with laughter, “I thought that all humans couldn’t drink that much, but I never thought that you really could drink. You actually drank out two people before you collapse, not bad, not bad!”
Xu Yi laughed. The dwarves loved wine, so any man who could drink wine was a good person. The alcohol tolerance he displayed last night at the feast was a great stepping stone for me.
“Where’s Master La.n.u.s? Why don’t I see him?” Xu Yi asked.
“That brat La.n.u.s has gone to see the head, he said that he had something to discuss. That’s right, I almost forgot, he said that you could go see the head after you woke up. How about it? Are you going now? But you just woke up, it’s better to eat something before you go.”
Xu Yi rubbed his stomach, it was indeed empty, so he nodded.
Camby brought out two pancakes made of unknown ingredients that Xu Yi quickly finished. Then he asked Camby to lead him to the meeting with the head.
The dwarven tribe La.n.u.s came from was not especially big. According to what Camby said, there was only around five hundred people in the entire dwarven tribe.
Xu Yi estimated according to what he observed. There should be around one hundred adult male dwarves in the dwarven tribe.
This made him a bit disappointed. He planned on recruiting enough dwarven workers this time, but the adult males of this tribe only added up to around a hundred people. Even if everyone had the same level of skill as Master La.n.u.s, it was still a bit lacking.
“Who told you that only adult male dwarves could forge?” The dwarven tribe chief Siluka gave a snort at Xu Yi’s question, “Let me tell you, we dwarves learn winemaking and forging as soon as we’re born. Even the little kids in our tribe are much better than those human blacksmiths!”
Seeing Siluka’s proud appearance and the approval of Master La.n.u.s and Camby on the side, Xu Yi tactfully didn’t respond. He thought about it before saying, “Then respected sir tribe chief, can you allow me to hire some smithing masters from your tribe to help Master La.n.u.s complete the work I’ve entrusted him?”
“Regarding your request, I’ve already discussed this with La.n.u.s.” Siluka nodded, “Speaking logically, I don’t have a reason to stop you. But human, have you considered a problem? If a large group of people leave the tribe, it will greatly affect the lives of our tribe members who remain. Not to mention, how can you guarantee that the tribe members who work in your human factory will be able to live a good life and will obtain the rewards they deserve?”
Xu Yi looked over at Master La.n.u.s and La.n.u.s gave a slight nod.
Master La.n.u.s had already mentioned this problem to Xu Yi on the way her, which is a problem that many dwarves tribes faced.
Although the races of the Sines continent lived in relative peace, they were still different races in the end and various kinds of problems will occur when living together.
For example, even if Master La.n.u.s was a master blacksmith recognized in Banta City, because he is a dwarf, there are many difficulties for him living in Banta City.
Although this problem was only brought up by Siluka, these were the worries in the hearts of many dwarves.
It was because of these worries that caused the dwarves to gather together in little villages instead of choosing to live together with humans.
Xu Yi had long considered this and casually said, “Sir tribe chief can be a.s.sured, since I want to invite the dwarven friends to work for me, naturally I will solve all their problems. As for their daily needs, I have already discussed this with Master La.n.u.s and I believe that Master La.n.u.s has already mentioned this to you.”
“Un, he said that you want to a.s.sign a special area for the tribe members to live near your factory and you will take care of their board and daily necessities, this is very good. But what about the other aspects? Are you certain my tribe members won’t be disdained and oppressed by humans?”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “Sir tribe chief, I’ll tell you something I’m not willing to admit, which is that we humans care quite a bit about race. As long as the other side can bring benefits to us, then we can be friends with them and won’t have any scruples with them. I think you would agree to this point, right?”
Siluka gave a cold snort, “Of course I know this.”
“Since it’s like this, what scruples do you have? Look, Master La.n.u.s is a very good example of this. Although he is a dwarf, because of his exceptional blacksmithing skills, he can bring many benefits to the people of Banta City and that naturally gains him the respect of many people in Banta City. Perhaps there are some difficulties with his life, but those don’t really inconvenience his life at all, right?”
Master La.n.u.s laughed at the right time and said with a nod, “It is indeed like this. That group of fellows in Banta City don’t dare offend me. There are many things the human blacksmiths in Banta City can’t do and only I can do, so how could they possible cause trouble for me?”
Siluka considered this for a bit before saying, “Then that’s good, let’s not discuss this matter for now. You are taking a large group of our adults away, so what can the rest of the tribe members do? You have to know, even if we dwarves love wine and forging, we still need to keep living. Whether it is hunting or farming, we still need quite a few tribe members. If you take them away, it will greatly affect our tribe.”
“Sir tribe chief, I have a suggestion that I hope you will listen to.”
“Speak.”
“I am planning to build a research lab here and I hope the dwarven friends can help me research something. Of course, I will also send a set amount of research funds each month. As for the amount…..let’s set it at five hundred gold coins for now. If the lab comes up with and significant results, there will still be corresponding rewards. Sir tribe chief, what do you think of this suggestion?”
As his voice fell, the three dwarves on site were stunned.,
“Five hundred gold coins?” Master La.n.u.s’ eyes popped out, “Xu Yi, why didn’t you tell me you wanted to build a research laboratory here before?”
“Research laboratory? Human, we dwarves only excel at forging, what do you want us to help you research?” As the tribe chief, Siluka was worried about something else.
“Please be a.s.sured, the things you are researching is related to forging, it’s mainly related to researching some forging materials. I’ve bought a research plan today, sir tribe chief, please take a look at it.” Xu Yi took out a piece of paper from his chest.
Siluka looked it over and was a bit stunned, “Steel allow? What is this thing?”
“The concrete details have all been written, sir tribe chief can slowly look it over.” Xu Yi replied with a smile, “Now, sir tribe chief, do you have any other questions? If there is anything you still aren’t satisfied with, please speak. As long as I can do it, I will definitely satisfy your request.”
Siluka and Master La.n.u.s, as well as Camby looked at each other a few times before giving soft sighs, “Alright, human, I admit that I have been moved by your words. I basically agree with your condition and agree to you recruiting people in the tribe, but as for the concrete details, we still need to properly discuss them.”
Xu Yi revealed a happy smile and replied, “Of course.”