Ralph's eyes widened after hearing Wang's report: "Has the caveman problem been solved?"
Wang: "If my guess is correct, while we are sleeping and resting, mercenaries should be returning one after another."
Ralph nodded: "Yes, there were about seven or eight mercenaries who returned after you went to bed. They reported that they did not encounter cavemen. I thought they were just lucky."
"No, all the cavemen are dead because we cut off the connection between Lamashtu and the evil Lich creation, and the fetal palace where the creation was stored collapsed. These cavemen were all created by the power of Lamashtu , the native cavemen are almost dead.”
Ralph: "Understood. We will organize an expedition team to confirm the situation when dawn comes. If the underground threat is really lifted..."
Wang: "You can continue mining."
Ralph held up his forehead: "Yes, I can't believe that our family's long-cherished wish, which started with my grandfather, is actually going to come true. You must be Lancelot's envoys!"
Flint shouted dissatisfied: "It's Kailin's messenger. There is only one attendant of God in our team, and that is me, Kailin's chosen one!"
Ralph shrugged: "The main feeling is that Kailin is not a god who would care about such things."
Wang: "Based on my observation of the priest's promotion this time, as long as you guys tell Kailin that there is fun down there, Kailin will happily send his priest down there."
Ralph had an expression of "What the hell are you talking about?" It seemed that as an ordinary person, he could not accept Wang's attitude of treating gods as beings equal to himself.
It should be said that mages are an absolute minority. If he really sees Kailin, he might even find ways to conduct a quantitative analysis on Kailin.
Ralph excitedly picked up the quill, scribbled something in the book on the table, then tore out the page and handed it to the messenger: "Go back to town and tell my dad that the caveman thing may be possible." It’s settled, invite him to come and witness tonight.”
Wang: "Witness?"
"Yes, we will also arrange to resist the cavemen tonight. If the cavemen don't come, it will prove your speculation to a certain extent, and we can start celebrating in the evening. At this time, of course, we have to call my father, Earl Ximu.
"Don't you still want him to send troops to overthrow Stoker, who now calls himself Duke? If he comes here, it will be easier for you to discuss things."
The king nodded: "What you said makes sense, so please inform your father."
**
That night, the old Duke personally waited for the arrival of the cavemen in the fortifications underground with the fortress defenders.
Even the mercenaries who survived yesterday's operation came to prepare to witness this legendary moment.
Especially the bards in each mercenary team, these people are going crazy. This is an opportunity to experience the legend in person. Every bard dreams of one day writing a song for the legend in person.
Time passed by minute by minute.
Elizabeth looked super nervous and kept pacing back and forth on the platform where the team was.
Wang: "Don't be so nervous. There is a high probability that the caveman won't come."
"You only said high probability!"
"I am trying to make the statement more accurate. In fact, the reason why low-probability events are low-probability events is that they generally do not happen. Therefore, when we do experiments, we must use statistical methods to filter out the results that are too outrageous. ."
Elizabeth: "I don't understand what you are saying! In short, what you are saying is that it is very likely that the cavemen will not come, but you don't dare to guarantee it, right?"
Wang thought for a while and nodded: "Semantically speaking, that's the case. Mathematically speaking, not. But you don't understand mathematics, so it doesn't matter."
Elizabeth turned to Xiao Bai who was chewing ham: "How is it? Did you hear the footsteps of the caveman?"
"No." Xiaobai answered simply.
The elf echoed from the side: "There is no sound of cavemen at all. The mage is right, he probably won't come tonight."
At this time, Ralph came over: "Because it has passed the usual time for cavemen to attack, I was planning to withdraw, but my father insisted on continuing to wait. The old man seemed very excited and couldn't believe that the moment he had dreamed of had finally arrived."
Wang: "Then when he is sure that this moment has really come, remember to thank us again. Oh my, why are you stepping on my toes?"
Elizabeth smiled awkwardly: "I'm sorry, he's just so unobtrusive."
Ralph: "Of course we will thank you very much. However, our county is very poor and has basically no magic equipment. We do have some scrolls and wands, but they have been used up in the war with the cavemen. We also use a lot of assets I bought poison, but the poison is almost used up.”
Wang: "I understand what you mean, just do what you can. In fact, as long as you help us bring down the false duke and help us restore the rule of the duchess in the valley territory, we will be satisfied."
Elizabeth added: "I think the duchess's husband, my brother, will commend you for your achievements. Maybe you can have the title of steward of the valley leader and fully lead the work of reopening the mine."
Ralph laughed loudly: "It would be great if that were the case. Not a fool knows now that reopening a mine means a lot of oil and water. After all, many of the nobles who owned the mines went bankrupt. Only our family firmly believes that there will be a future." The aristocrats who would one day reopen the mines insisted on acquiring the title deeds and planning for the future.”
As he spoke, Ralph waved his hand: "You may not be able to imagine how big our family's territory is now. No one wants the former mines, and all the villages have disappeared. These lands are extremely poor, but when the mines no longer Open...I don’t even dare to think about it!”
Flint suddenly said two lines from the famous dwarf song "Song of the Lonely Mountain": "We must set off immediately, at dawn, to find our lost gold coins."
Ralph: "Yes, we must set off immediately. The territory was already ruined when I was born, and people kept laughing at my grandfather as a lunatic and a dreamer. My grandfather finally died in depression, leaving the only admonition: we must regain our territory. mine.
"I think this is the same as the dwarves who have always been obsessed with the wealth occupied by the dragon."
Flint: "We were robbed of our home and wealth by a dragon, and you were robbed by a fish like a caveman. How can that be compared?"
At this time, Earl Ximu came over with his entourage.
He solemnly saluted everyone: "Thank you very much for lending a helping hand."
Wang: "You're welcome, we just solved the problem incidentally."
Earl Ximu: "I heard that Her Royal Highness the Princess also used the funds from the mission to pay the mercenaries. The total expenditure exceeded 40,000 gold coins. Although we wanted to pay it on our behalf, we cannot afford such a huge amount. Excuse me Does Your Highness the Princess have any other requests?"
Elizabeth: "We are just solving the problem incidentally. You don't need to pay. It will be convenient for us to pass by your collar in the future."
However, Earl Ximu insisted: "We must pay because we are the beneficiaries, and the people of the entire Earl of Ximu are the beneficiaries. We have to express our opinions. Just make your demands."
Wang: "Sometimes free help is the most expensive help. You'd better ask them for some benefits to save them from being suspicious."
Elizabeth thought for a while and said: "Well, you don't have money now, so just use the futures certificates of the mine to pay. In this way, when we get to Minos City with the futures certificates, we can also help you promote the mine in the valley. It has been restored, so miners who come to make a living will immigrate to you."
Earl Ximu beamed with joy: "Very good, very good! Let's do it like this. We will issue you a futures coupon valid for five years. When our mine resumes work, anyone who comes with a futures coupon can trade it."
At this time Nini said: "Aren't we losing money in this way? These coupons can only be used after the mine is restored. And doesn't our journey have to continue along the Mashunya River?"
Wang: "The commerce in the Elf Kingdom is probably underdeveloped, so you have never seen futures. In fact, these futures coupons can all be converted into money when they arrive in Minos City, the capital of Monrovia. Even if we are not in a hurry to pay back the money, when we arrive in other places and Minos had commercial trade cities, and it could also be sold to local chambers of commerce.”
Nini looked confused.
Wang patted her shoulder: "I'll tell you about futures when I give you the arcane lesson."
Nini nodded: "Yes, I'm waiting."
**
In the next two days, Ximu Town hired adventurers who survived underground to search for cavemen underground.
It is said that Earl Ximu learned new operations from paying remuneration to the princess team, and decided to issue a mineral futures coupon and use these to purchase the services of mercenaries.
Most of these mercenaries often travel from Minos City to Langdon City, and they are not afraid that Count Ximu will not fulfill his promise.
After careful investigation, it was found that there were no traces of cavemen in the shallow underground of Ximu Town. Most of the caves in the deep underground had collapsed. A new underground structure has now been formed. Even if there are cavemen who survived, they have been sealed. Underground.
It is basically certain that the underground threat in Ximu Town has been basically eliminated.
Then the only thing left is to send troops to help the princess overthrow the rule of the "Duke".
By the way, as what happened in the Earldom of Ximu spread throughout the valley, the lords everywhere fell into a state of shock.
The lords first discovered that there were indeed no traces of caveman activities in their ancient mines. Then the lords discovered that the cavemen had made holes in the ground, and their ancestral mine map no longer worked.
So the special envoys of the lords from various places rushed to Langdon City upstream and Minos downstream, preparing to hire geological exploration talents in these two cities where a large number of talents gathered, re-determine the location of the mineral deposits, and formulate an excavation plan.
The originally lifeless Valley Territory became vibrant.
And all of this is the result of Duke Langdon's sister, Elizabeth Langdon's adviser, and the legendary mage disciple Wang!
Then, there is no doubt what the remaining lords have to do, and that is to offer their loyalty to Duchess Langdon's husband!
**
Another four days passed.
"I will never admit it!" Stork slapped the table, "I am the Duke! How dare these rebellious nobles disobey me! The reopening of underground mines must be a scam made by that damn evil mage. ! You can’t believe a word of what this evil mage says!”
His son, Little York, turned to look at the windows of the castle and said, "But there are already all the princes' coalition forces outside."
Stoker: "They were bewitched by that witch! That woman must have slept with them! Otherwise, the duchess came over and slept with them in person! Otherwise, there is no way to explain why they suddenly changed their minds and supported Langdon's outsiders! I am from an orthodox River Valley family!"
Little York said coldly: "My cousin too."
"That's enough! Please think of a way to make these damn rebels retreat!"
Little York: "There is no way. According to the intelligence we have determined, they also have dragons to help them. Once they start to attack the city, that dragon alone will be enough for us - no, we can't deal with that dragon at all. We only have so much A scroll of common protective energy. And the report mentioned that the dragon also likes melee combat and is immune to the finger of death."
Stoker: "This is a tactic to bully the enemy!"
Little York sighed: "That's enough."
"What did you say?" Stoke stared at his son angrily, "Why are you talking to daddy!"
Little York raised his voice and roared angrily: "I've had enough of your stupidity and nonsense! Guard, 'The Duke has gone crazy, take him down and put him on death row!'"
None of the guards moved.
Stoker laughed loudly: "You think I don't know that you are cultivating the brotherhood with these guards? I am your father. I have eaten more pepper than you have ever eaten salt! Guards! My son is crazy Come on, take him down!"
Several guards glanced at Little York hesitantly, and one of them took a step forward with an ax gun——
Soon enough, a huge black shadow blocked the doorway of the room and blocked all the windows on the same side as the door.
"Hello/?" shouted a majestic voice outside, "I am the Black Dragon, and I am here to give you an ultimatum! If you don't want to die, surrender the city and release the agent sent by the husband of Duchess Ruth. , otherwise I will start demolishing the tower!”
As he spoke, the dragon flapped the tower with its wings.
Lakeside City has not been maintained for many years due to the decline of the River Valley Territory. With the dragon's wings, the ceiling of the huge study room crackled with dust and was crumbling.
Although Stoker looked frightened, he still laughed and said: "They used dragon transformation. Come on, prepare defenses according to the plan. We have to wait until an hour passes. After the mage turns back to a human, we will all Destroy them and arrest that damn Princess Langdon..."
Puff.
It took Stoker a long time to understand what the sound meant.
Little York slowly pulled the sword out of his father's body: "No, you don't have that chance. I've had enough of your shitty mind without any wisdom, and I've had enough of you talking about it every day for thirty years.
"No, you are not a duke, you are just a pathetic, imbecile clown. Don't worry, offering your head to the duchess should give me a good ending. This is the only way I can save my wife and children."
Stoker stared at Little York with an unwilling face: "You damn traitor! Everything is going to go as I want..."
"No, it won't be as you wish. Those are all hallucinations produced by your stupid brain. I even wonder if you have eaten too many hallucinogenic mushrooms, so you are hallucinating." As he said this, Little York pulled out the The sword plunged into his father's stomach again.
Stoker twitched and looked at the ceiling: "Is this...death? This feeling is so...special..."
The death of "Joker" Stoker ended the civil war in the River Valley Territory. He served as "Duke" for a total of 31 days.
In all official records, the Duke is mentioned in quotation marks.
(End of chapter)
