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Chapter 64 Tail's Mission
🕑 Added 2023-02-25 08:00:02 +0000 UTCChapter 64
The meeting was over. It turned out the contents of the meeting were more serious than I expected. I wondered if it was appropriate for students. Still, Edelweiss assured us that the elves have nothing to hide. Hence, they were comfortable sharing them among the students in lords curriculum. I praised their honesty as Lily seemed pleased with the elves' behavior.
As we were given a task directly by the king, Lily asked if our curriculum in Hoeth would be interrupted, but our headmaster cryptically said, "You, as the lord, have obligation, duty, and freedom of choice. Being a leader is a choice. Duty is a choice. You are free to do so."
We left the cryptic message from the headmaster at the back of our heads and simply asked if there would be a penalty if we didn't attend. Surprisingly, she answered with a concise no. Now that we will not incur any penalty, we began our preparation to head for dwarven lands. We still had over 1 week of time to kill. Should I start recruiting retainers that will go to the dwarven lands?
The dwarves were known for their construction work. Their body was small, and their arms were strong, perfect for construction work. They could go into pipes as quickly as a rat while their strong limbs could climb mountains with ease.
"So, Lily, who are we going to bring?"
“Alith, Lhorne, Mattheus, Nora, and Sana I think?:" Lily answered. That's practically all our friends and retainers! Are we going to be okay leaving our territories without leaders? Well, we still had Anny, Lisey, and Hanna. The trio elf we saved as our Edenthal administrator. The region won't collapse that easily.
"Can we bring Mattheus?"
"Dwarves don't have problems with humans, I think. I don't remember seeing them on Lord Albert's lands." She replied. Although dwarves didn't have personal vengeance against humans, they allied with elves, right? Besides, we didn't know how they actually perceive humans.
"Well, I guess that's true. Let us consult Jona about this. Let us write a letter and march on toward their territory. Their kingdom was surprisingly closer to Edenthal. Just passing through the north forest and went inside a mountain pass." I muttered as I looked at the map the elves gave us. Over 80 percent of their entire kingdom was in mountainous regions. If this was a city-builder game, they would surely perish because of starvation.
"Lily, we should bring more rations. Preferably more than a week."
"Why? Our journey there were less than two days. Why would we need that much ration? Are we not planning to stay at their inn or something?"
"I think their food is going to be expensive."
"Aren't the elves going to pay for that?"
"Will they?"
"We are their ambassador, right? We already learn this in our etiquette lesson. They will arrange the inn we stay at."
"I see. Alright then." I relented after her careful explanation. It's been quite a long time since she refused my suggestion. The first time was when I asked her to hit Luigi with a sword. She was more intelligent that I no longer needed to babysit her anymore.
"Alright! With that settled, We shall depart next week!" Lily finished up her letters which explained everything to Lhorne and co.
The subsequent High council that was arranged in Hoeth Academy lord's curriculum went uneventfully. Apparently, our assignment was out of the norm as they usually talked about budgeting, taxes, and export commodities their region could sell. Three days before our scheduled departure, Jona arrived in Hoeth.
"Lily! My heart nearly stopped when a letter from Ghander, the general of the elves, arrived! What does this mean when you say you appointed me as your retainer! I am no noble and have not a lick of any elven cultures!"
"What about dwarven culture? That is primarily why we hired you."
"Let alone a dwarven king, I have no relations to any dwarven tribal chiefs! I am not some runaway princess, okay! I am just a regular dwarven mercenary."
"Huh? What are dwarven tribal chiefs?" we tilted our heads while puzzled.
Jona stared at me for a few seconds and started talking. "Oh, we started from there, huh? Did you seriously not know any of our political systems?"
Lily shook her head in refusal. Even when we asked Alith or Sarielle, they only told us the bare minimum, like what the dwarves trade with us, the king's name, and their kingdom's locations. We have zero knowledge of how their daily lives or their ruling government.
"So, a tribal chief is practically the same as lords in elven societies," Jona murmured, seemingly unsure. "Now that I have lived here for several years, I think we are more similar in nature than I thought."
"That doesn't explain anything, Jona. Even humans have lords. There are ranks, though, like dukes or barons." Lily explained.
"Well. I can't explain it very well. Dwarves don't separate their lords based on regions or places but on bloodlines. I think that's the main difference."
"Huh?" Lily looked at her, shocked. "How will you organize managing resources or your cities? Dwarves have several cities just like elves, right?"
"Others call them cities, but we call them settlements. We can build them anywhere we want inside the mountains as long as we don't anger anybody. Except for the western valley. And then, if they succeed, they will automatically be called a tribal chief!" Jona answered.
"I see. That's shocking." Lily answered.
"This is only for dwarves, mind you. If you tried to build a settlement on our lands, the dwarven king would purge you. Humans have tried that before."
"They lost?"
"Of course, when it comes to defense, we are the best! Our armor is the thickest and our axes the hardest!" the fact that they mentioned the hardness instead of toughness or sharpness spoke for itself. Still, I got curious about their lands now.
"Alright! Let us go then!" Lily shouted
"Remember, I am just a guide, okay! I will not be responsible or introduce you to some tribal chiefs!" Jona made her point clear.
We departed for Edenthal Region tomorrow and left for the dwarven kingdom afterward.
