"What's the matter, Morgan, do you think of your lover in this village?"

"That's another story, and I'm laughing at their conservatism.

"You know, Juan, the wild elves in the village say that they have been growing rubber and tapping rubber here for generations, and they have been like this for thousands of years, haha, generations, haha, thousands of years, hahahaha."

"What's so funny about that?"

"But rubber trees were brought by humans, and there were no rubber trees on the beautiful planet, ahahahaha."

"This is indeed a bit funny, but elves are all long-lived species, how could they not know?"

"This village only came into existence after the cultivation of rubber, there are no indigenous elves, all the elves have been relocated.

"The first elves and the later ones said so, and the later ones said so.

Gradually, all the elves here believed it, so much so that the first elf who said it did, or he had forgotten why he said it.

"So, it became their tradition."

"Then no one told them that rubber trees are not native to the beautiful planet?"

"I told them, guess what, how did they answer?"

"If you don't want to guess, just say it."

"Juan, that's not fun, guess."

"Well, well, then I'm guessing they're going to say: you're spreading rumors."

"Yes, yes, they said that I was spreading rumors, and they also said to me very seriously: 'Be honest, don't spread rumors, don't believe rumors'.

"And, to prove me wrong, they gave me a rubber tapping dance, which is a must-do dance at their annual traditional celebrations.

"They said, 'Look, this is our traditional culture, a culture that has been passed down for thousands of years, and it has never changed, so this is enough to prove that they have been growing rubber and tapping rubber here for generations."

"Hehe, a group of elves with solidified thinking."

"No, Juan, they don't think hard, they are very imaginative.

"Just like old-fashioned humans, they keep creating traditions and rules to prove them right.

"They keep repeating this behavior until everyone, including the first people who lied, believe that it is not a lie, but the truth."

"Yes, that's right, just like human beings, when there are lies around us, there is no way to tell the truth."

……

As the setting sun turned the white water vapor rising from the Meru crater rosy red, Juan and his party arrived in the Dwarven Valley.

The mouth of the valley is blocked by a wooden wall, but the defense is not strong.

Once inside, there are logs and ores piled up everywhere, just like a construction site.

At the end of the valley is a ten-meter-high cave protected by a bronze gate.

But now the bronze doors are open.

There were many dwarves waiting in a slightly chaotic line at the door, waving small flags.

The leader was a dwarf with a maroon beard that almost dragged to the ground, and he was much taller than ordinary dwarves, looking like he should be 1.6 meters.

After seeing Juan's convoy, the dwarf stepped forward to greet him in a loud voice:

"King of the Hill, leader of the dwarves of the Copperbeard Clan, Muradin Copperbeard, welcomes the Führer."

Juan saw that the chin of Muradin Copperbeard, the leader of the Copperbeard dwarves, was shaved clean.

However, it seems that he was busy shaving after receiving the notice of visiting, and there are several small cuts that are still bleeding.

Juan followed Muradin Copperbeard into the cave.

He found that the cave was supposed to be a natural formation, a bit like a magma tunnel, but there were obvious signs of artificial carving.

The ground covered with the faded red carpet is very flat, and it can be seen that it is paved with clay cement made of slag, broken bricks, shale, lime kiln slag, etc., which is finely ground and mixed with a small amount of lime and gypsum powder.

It is not known if this technique was invented by the dwarves themselves, or if humans taught them.

There are a lot of forks in the cave, just like the tunnels in the classic old movie "Tunnel Warfare", Juan has only walked for a while, and he can't tell the direction, if the enemy attacks, he will definitely suffer a big loss here.

But with Muradin's Brass whiskers leading the way, and a faded red carpet on the floor, Juan didn't have to worry about anything.

Turning a corner, Juan's eyes suddenly lit up.

It was a huge cave nearly 50 meters high, and the walls of the cave were lit by many burning pine branches.

The black smoke from the pine branches rose to the roof of the cave and disappeared into several vents that seemed to be dedicated to it, so the whole cave was not stuffy at all.

There are many passages for dwarves to enter and exit the cave walls, and there are scaffold-like stairs connecting dwarves up and down from time to time.

In the middle of the cave, on the flat earth-concrete floor, there is a large rectangular table of logs.

The table is covered with white cloths, decorated with flowers, and cutlery with cast iron cutlery and black ceramic cutlery.

Muraddin Copperbeard respectfully invited: "Your Excellency, please take a seat. ”

Juan sat down on the main seat.

Morgan sat on Juan's right hand, Muradine Brass sat on Juan's left, and the rest of his retinue and the dignitaries of the dwarves were seated one by one.

Juan saw that the dwarven dignitaries had also shaved their beards, and only Thorin was left with a large beard on the entire table, as if Thorin was the dwarven king, and the others were halflings.

After receiving permission, the dwarven attendants served food to the people, and filled Juan's gold cup, the silver cup of Morgan and Muradin Brass Whiskers, and all the other empty tin goblets with bubbling ale.

The anxious dwarf tried to reach for the cup, but was stopped by the elder next to him.

Juan knew it was time for him to speak.

He opened his mouth and said, "Give me a pair of chopsticks." ”

The attendant immediately brought a new pair of mahogany chopsticks.

The dwarves at the table, including Muradin's Brastacle, pushed aside their cast-iron knives and forks and demanded chopsticks from the attendants.

Juan nodded in satisfaction, then raised his glass: "I'll do it, everyone feel free." ”

After he finished speaking, he poured all the ale in the cup in one go.

"Hiccup~, ah, happy."

"Good! The Führer is really a cheerful person! Muradin's Brass beard praised loudly, and drank from his glass.

So no matter what they could drink or what they couldn't drink, everyone on the table picked up their wine glasses and drank wildly.

The atmosphere was instantly high.

An attendant brought Juan a soup made of canned meat.

Juan casually asked, "Where did you get the canned meat?" ”

"Lord Hui, it was left by the previous army."

Nima, can this still be eaten? Did you know that canned food also has an expiration date?

However, Juan looked at the dwarves at the table, but they all ate happily.

And looking at their appearance, it seems that this is still a rare delicacy that is usually reluctant to eat.

However, Juan thought that after the army left, the dwarves should have no source of canned food, and one can less can to eat, which is indeed a rare food for them.

Moreover, the dwarves have high poison resistance, and it is okay to eat expired canned food, maybe they think that human stomachs are the same as them.