Northland Mountains, Beishan Country.
The dwarf king Morton Golden Hammer, who was inspecting the mine, followed the spiral steps dug into the stone wall of the passage to the top of the mountain. He took a deep breath, held his already protruding belly, and then turned to follow his followers. asked:
"I'm a little tired after only climbing three mountains. When I was young, I could run up and down the mountains day and night. Do you think it's time for me to resume exercise, Paz?"
"Huh... If your Majesty, you still feel a little tired... Huh..." The already somewhat elderly attendant gasped, "I think you don't have to worry too much about your physical strength at least, but if you want to resume exercise , I think it’s a good time to start.”
The King of the Golden Hammer has not held a battle ax for more than thirty years, and he has hardly exercised. He eats and drinks without restraint, and his figure quickly began to lose shape like an inflated balloon.
The king of the hill who once looked like a fortress of muscles has now become thicker than before, even to the point of being rounded, but most of his body has turned into fat.
But no matter what, he is still the most powerful legendary warrior among the North Mountain dwarves of this generation, and the great king who commands many dwarf clans in the North Mountains.
After Morton Golden Hammer became king, he did two major things. First, he pacified several dwarf clans that were fighting against the Beishan Kingdom headed by the Golden Hammer clan, and officially unified the dwarf clans in the North Mountains. The second is to choose to form an alliance with the empire and jointly develop alchemy and mechanical technology, which has greatly improved the military strength of Beishan Kingdom.
The Beishan dwarves also benefited a lot from the empire's war against Mu Xia.
"What you said makes sense." Moton looked at the remaining hills in the distance, "Then let's take two more steps today and inspect the remaining mining areas at once."
"Please be merciful and let my old bones rest for a while." The attendant was still trying to adjust his breathing. "At least let me take a sip of the flaming wine to save my life."
"You made me want to drink too. I have to call a messenger to get some wine!" Morton became addicted to alcohol and began to look around, looking for the sentry tower set up in the mining area.
This mining area is large and the people are scattered, but the distance is not a big problem. His war cry can send orders thousands of meters away.
When he turned his head, he didn't see the sentry tower yet, but he happened to find a dwarf cavalry riding a goat running along the ridge towards the top of the mountain.
The iron-horned goats specially tamed by the dwarves have strong limbs that ordinary goats cannot match. The hooves are equipped with special dwarf shoes, which can carry a fully armed dwarf cavalry on the steep mountain walls.
"That's right, what a coincidence!" Morton was very happy, and now he just asked the cavalry to help them get some wine.
"My Majesty, that goat is here to report to you. The goat is covered with a command flag!" the old attendant reminded.
"Oh, it's true!"
Morton was just thinking about the wine and didn't notice this detail. The golden command flag was embroidered with crossed war hammers and axes. Only heralds who issued orders for the king and went to report to the king were allowed to use this command flag.
"This way!!" He shouted directly at the cavalry several hundred meters away.
The herald was startled by the king's majestic roar, and then he found that the king he had been looking for happened to be on the top of the mountain ahead, and he quickly speeded up.
When the goat's front hooves climbed up the steep slope to the top of the mountain, Molton Golden Hammer said unhappily: "You'd better not bring a troublesome thing that will disturb my drinking."
"I'm really sorry, my majesty, but the matter is urgent..." The young herald got off the sheep's back in fear and saluted, "His Royal Highness Mora, who was sent to Xihe, escaped halfway!"
"Huh?" King Beishan stared, "Speak more clearly!"
"It's like this. Yesterday we went to the town of Xihe Principality and contacted the wedding team there. When Her Highness Mo La was about to leave with them, she said that her hair was loose and she needed to dress up again. She entered the house and then found an opportunity to climb through the window. Go out, knock out the guard, steal the horse and run away!" the herald reported in panic.
The attendants on the side took two steps away from the king with some worry after hearing this. Their king was very scary when he got angry. Although he rarely angered innocent people, when he broke things, others who were too close could easily be attacked. accidental injury.
"She still escaped? Doesn't it sound like you've caught her yet?" Morton glared at the herald and asked.
A few months ago, the Beishan Kingdom and the Principality of Xihe, which belonged to the empire, reached an agreement on a marriage. The King of Beishan, Moton, married his youngest daughter Mo La to the Duke of Xihe as a continuation of the marriage.
For this reason, the father and daughter had many disputes, and the old attendant was lucky enough to hear the two have a "friendly discussion" about marriage:
"Who wants to marry an old human man? Why the hell don't you marry yourself if you want that mine?" Princess Mora's roar at that time could be heard clearly hundreds of miles away from the palace.
"He is over fifty and you are over forty. Isn't that about the same?" Morton didn't care about his daughter's protest at all.
"Listen to your nonsense! I have just grown up, and he is so old that he can only live for twenty or thirty years at most!"
"So if you wait for twenty or thirty years at most, he will die. Don't worry, in ten years he won't be able to do anything to you."
"Not even a day!! Why should I suffer this?"
"Your two sisters are both married. You look like this and no one has ever proposed marriage except this Grand Duke. Do you really think you can get married?"
"I would rather not get married! If I couldn't beat you, an old ghost, I would have to eat you now!!"
…
Conflicts like this would break out every few days after the marriage was finalized.
In the last half month, Princess Mo La finally calmed down and seemed to have given up her struggle.
As a result, I didn't expect that something like this would happen when the time came.
"I'm really sorry. The teams sending off and welcoming the bride are all chasing each other now, and no news has been sent yet..." The herald reported apologetically, and then said as if he was walking on thin ice, "Well, Your Majesty, His Highness Mora also left a letter and A small package for you.”
"You brought it here, right? Show it to me." Moton frowned and waved.
The herald carefully took out a letter and a small cloth bag from the bag hanging on the goat's back and presented it to the king. The envelope of the letter read "To my dear father" in dwarf script. The same small words were written on the cloth bag.
Morton rolled his eyes when he saw this line. His little daughter had never called him that. With the relationship between them, he would only get goosebumps if the other party called him that.
He first tore open the envelope and read the letter. There was only one sentence on it:
"Go eat shit, old man!!"
A "friendly gesture" common to dwarf clans was also drawn underneath.
Morton glanced at the cloth bag still in the herald's hand. Based on his understanding of his daughter, he had basically guessed what it was, but he still opened it to confirm.
The cloth bag was opened, and inside was a crumpled paper bag. When the paper bag was opened again, there were several round balls of sheep shit inside.
"Throw it away." Morton ordered angrily.
The herald was eager to do this quickly and immediately threw the things in his hand down the mountain.
Then Morton clapped his hands casually, and the letter in his hand fell apart like dried leaves, turning into pieces and drifting away in the wind.
The entourage looked at the king's face and unexpectedly found that Morton seemed surprisingly calm, so he asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, what should we do now?"
"Nothing to do, just run away. We have already sent the person to the principality. What does it have to do with us if the principality doesn't take her seriously and lets her run away?" Moton looked indifferent, "Anyway, we have the mines. , let them chase it on their own, if they can’t catch it it’s because they don’t have the ability.”
The mine as a betrothal gift has already been handed over to the Beishan Kingdom. Even if the marriage fails and Grand Duke Dipu asks for it from the Beishan Kingdom, Morton Golden Hammer will not pay it back.
Moreover, marriage was originally just a political bridge. The principal reason why Xihe Principality and Beishan Kingdom have established such a relationship is because they have common interests in various aspects.
"But they can't save their face after all. If they suspect us of deceiving them, it may affect our alliance with the empire." Sui whispered.
"Oh, it's so troublesome!" Moton looked very impatient, "Then let's recruit a hundred people to help them symbolically. They don't want to make such a shameful thing a big deal anyway, right?"
"Would it be better to send more people to light the fire seriously? If the Principality of Xihe captures His Highness first, who knows what kind of treatment His Highness will receive?" the entourage advised cautiously.
"She can't die. I don't care about her? That dead girl is a ghost. Those people may not be able to catch her." Morton said and turned to the herald. "You go and get us some flaming wine first, and the rest Let’s talk about it later!”
(End of chapter)
