Section 4 Message

Karenfu carried a large vat of ale into his counter.

It is a standard oak barrel, huge and heavy, with a simple but impressive mountain icon painted on the barrel. If it were human, it would have to be two or three young men working together to carry the barrel. But as a dwarf, Karenfu didn't have much effort to carry it. Although the dwarves are not as tall as humans, their bodies are unusually strong, and their weight and physical strength are much higher than those of humans.

"Don't send it to the cellar?" suggested one hostess to the owner.

"No need. Karenfu replied. A barrel of wine can be sold out in a day, and there is no need to put it in the cellar at all. During this time, business was a bit too good. Despite being a normal dwarven tavern owner, Karenfu consumes a barrel of this ale every day. This special ale is now selling so well that although it costs twice as much as other ale, drinkers come to drink it by name. There was also a new type of beer, but the tavern had always had a penchant for ale, so he didn't stock much of it.

It was still early, so after putting the barrels away, Karenfu began to do some small cleaning work. Since hiring two hostesses, Karenf's job has been lightened a lot. In a sense, he should be thankful for this new kind of good wine, because it sparked a drinking spree in the city of Karaz, Karak, which made his turnover soar and he had the money to hire helpers.

Of course, there are troubles. Because it appears to be in abundant supply, this makes it necessary for other wines – including those in the Karenf cellar – to be sold at a discount. I heard that these new wines had caused some commercial disputes, but those things had nothing to do with him, the tavern owner. He has always been regarded only as a legend.

The door to the tavern was suddenly pushed open, and the first guest of the day walked in from the outside.

Karenfu was not surprised to recognize it as Nix, his old friend and customer. Since Nix's job is to be a soldier of the High King, he often works night shifts. The day after his night shift, he would be the first to appear in the tavern and be served a large glass of delicious ale. But the Knicks haven't been around for a long time.

"A glass of ale?" Karenf asked. By the time the question was asked, he had already started pouring the wine.

"Of course, it's the 'Mountains' card. Knicks sat down, and the first thing he saw was the big barrel.

"Strange, I remember you haven't been working night shifts lately......" Karenfu asked casually as he delivered a large glass of ale to the guest.

"I've been out on a long journey as a messenger and have just returned. Have there been any rumors in the city lately?"

"Nothing special. It's just that the engineers from the Society of Engineers are preaching all over the city. I heard that the Society of Engineers intends to initiate a war to regain lost territory on its own initiative. ”

"War?Society of Engineers?" the Knicks nearly choked on a sip of wine. "Really?"

"Of course it's true. Isn't it the selection of the great foundry of Zhilu Dao?"

"Zhilu said, when I left, they hadn't selected a result. But what does this have to do with war?"

"They've chosen a new Grand Forge, Ashrufat," Karenf gestured to the side of the barrel. "It's the big wine merchant. When he was chosen, the first thing he did was to advocate that the Society of Engineers should have its own city. To this end, he believes that the engineers should take the initiative to step up and start a war to reclaim one of our lost cities. He sighed and shook his head again.

Nicks knows what the tavern owner means. For centuries, the dwarves have exhausted their strength in the endless tug-of-war with the greenskins. Despite the fierce fighting of the dwarven warriors, all they could do was keep the situation as it was, even if they tried their best. It's too reluctant to say that the reconquest is too much. A few years ago, the High King had his son, Prince Hogar, lead an army to recapture Karak-Grom occupied by the Greenskins. Although Prince Hoga regained the city for a time, winning a brief victory. But in the end, this effort to regain lost ground ended in a sad end. The vampires and nezumi colluded to defeat the dwarven defenders with superior forces, and once again captured Karak-Grom. Prince Hoga was killed in battle, and most of the 50,000 dwarven warriors who set out on the expedition were killed.

At this moment, anyone who is sober-minded knows that Karaz-Karak does not have the strength to expand outward. Her army has suffered heavy losses and is tired of defending against the Greenskins. Right now, just supporting the Dwarven Strongholds that have been attacked by the greenskins is already the limit. There is really no talk of reconquest. Dwarves may never admit this on their lips, but many people know it in their hearts.

"The engineers are going to start a war?" Knicks muttered to himself. "Is this just propaganda or has it already entered the action phase?"

According to the human point of view, the dwarves are a bunch of cowhide kings. In the dwarve's own opinion, "moderate exaggeration" in speech is a normal phenomenon, just a way of communicating, nothing special. It is really normal to say that a newly selected great foundry has put forward some shocking views in order to show his status. But listening to Karenf's tone, things are far from that simple.

"It's time for action. The entire Association of Engineers has taken action. Their emissaries traveled far and wide, recruiting volunteers from among the members of the guilds in various places, and asking for support from the kings and patriarchs. ”

"Don't they know that everything is in vain?" Nicks looked at the barrel to the side. It's hard to imagine how a businessman with such a shrewd business acumen could do such a stupid thing. But that's just a toss-up. He was well aware that engineers would eventually succumb to reality. They could not put together an army strong enough to take on such a heavy task. In fact, even if the High King were to use all his remaining armies to support the Engineers, they would be too few to sustain such a war. You must know that the cruel fact that Prince Hoga led 50,000 soldiers to the expedition but was defeated is still in sight.

On the contrary, they seem to be confident. Karenfu replied.

As he said this, the taverns were pushed away again, and a group of raw and regular customers entered one after another. The tavern is gradually ushering in the peak period of business. The owner of the tavern, Karenf, was so busy that he didn't have time to talk to Knicks for a while. When his busyness was finally over, and his barrel was half empty, he returned to his old friend. Karen noticed that the Knicks weren't busy drinking, but were listening carefully.

"What's the matter, old man?"

"See that table?" Nicks gestured to the distance. "Hear what they're saying?"

"What table?" Karenfu recognized that the table was full of strangers, several of whom wore the insignia of the Society of Engineers. It can be seen that they are members of the Institution of Engineers. Of course, it's not a big deal. It is very easy to join the Society of Engineers, and the doors of the Dwarven Engineers Guild are always open for anyone. Whoever it is, as long as he is a dwarf, as long as he has a clean net, he is eligible to apply for membership in the Society of Engineers. And such applications, at least Kalenv has never heard of any cases of rejection.

They were really talking about something. Karenfu also sounded attentively. At this very moment, several of the guests at this table are making impassioned speeches, saying that the Association of Engineers is fully committed to promoting this large-scale operation.

Others questioned that their statement was exactly what Karlen and Knicks were talking about, that is, the lack of strength. And the passionate speakers answered clearly. The Society of Engineers must complete this historic task, and if the strength is really not enough at the end of the world, then they will go to the Anthropocene realm to find suitable mercenaries.

It really doesn't feel like a dwarf would utter it. But Karenf also has to admit that this may be a more feasible approach relatively speaking. At least when it comes to dealing with the Greenskins, humans and the Greenskins are on the same page.

They discussed a number of topics again. When the other dwarves expressed doubts about the strength of the Engineers Guild, the members of the Engineers Guild were furious. They stressed that the Institution of Engineers would go "all out" to promote the initiative. Moreover, the Guild of Engineers was far more powerful than others thought, relying on all kinds of powerful machinery, relying on the enormous power of gunpowder, artillery, helicopters, and airships, they did not need a lot of troops to defeat a staggering number of greenskins. The newly promoted Grand Foundry had already offered to bear part of the cost, and for this, he did not hesitate to break the bank and take out all the money.

Anyone who knows anything about the dwarves will understand that such statements are often not taken seriously. Especially when a dwarf has drunk wine, everything he says must be heard as a myth. That is, you can listen to it, but you can't dig deeper, and it's not suitable to find logical loopholes. At this time, there were quite a few empty flasks on that table.

But the Knicks did get caught up in the topic and even forgot that he should have another drink after his beloved ale. Since the news of Prince Khoga's defeat came back, there has been a pessimistic atmosphere everywhere in the city of Karaz-Karak. In this overall atmosphere, the craftsmen of the Society of Engineers offered to try to reclaim their homeland once again, which was unprecedented. And it's not just rhetoric – if he's not mistaken, a rumor can't possibly hold on for so long. Especially when these engineers proposed to go to the Anthropocene realm to find mercenaries, that attitude full of despair and anger made Nix suddenly feel a certain emotion in his heart was touched.

He left the bar and walked to the table. The drinkers sensed the arrival of an uninvited guest and looked up at him.

"Excuse me," Nicks tried to keep himself polite. Although his beard was longer than all of these guests, he had no intention of using it as his own capital at this time. "I hear you talking...... You say, the Society of Engineers is looking for troops and soldiers?"

"We are the army ourselves!" a dwarf with the Engineers' Guild logo on his clothes stood up angrily. What a dwarf who gets excited after drinking is what he is. "I myself am the best musketeer in the world! We have the best cannon! All the warriors of the association are willing to go to war......"

"No, no, no, you misunderstood. Nix replied. "I'm just here to provide a message...... I know that there are a group of extra soldiers in Langdao, and I wonder if you are interested. Without waiting for the other party to answer, he immediately continued. "After the defeat of Prince Hoga, a large number of wounded in his army were recuperating in the barracks near Karaz-Karak. And now they're mostly recovered, ready to go back to the battlefield at any time - I can guarantee that the news is reliable, because I just came back from there. ”