197: The King's Gaze

The Dwarf Emissary's angry gaze swept across the Gold Guards and the Court Nobles in the hall.

"Your Majesty, the Assassins Court assassinated one of our King's favorite young grandsons. You should know about this. You also know that human merchants have repeatedly deceived the honest dwarf commoners."

"Furthermore, you humans covet the great rune technology of the dwarves, constantly attempting to infiltrate the Hall of Runes to steal the Primal Runess. For us, this is a crime that touches our bottom line."

"These crimes have enraged our King. If not for the clan elders' mediation out of consideration for past friendship, our King would have long ago ordered the Blood Axe Guards to step onto human territory for revenge."

Bjorn did not respond to the Dwarf Emissary's words; instead, Marquis Heinz, standing to the side, began to explain.

"Respected Emissary, you should be aware that the Assassins Court has nothing to do with the Kingdom; they are an illegal organization. His Majesty has already ordered their elimination. Any assassin from the Assassins Court found will be killed on sight."

"The merchants who deceived the dwarves are not regular merchants under the Kingdom's jurisdiction either; they are all smugglers. And those thieves—they have absolutely no connection to the Kingdom."

"The relationship between the Kingdom and the dwarves has always been friendly. Our trade has been stable, and both sides have been satisfied. The dwarves sell the weapons and equipment you craft, as well as specialties from within the mountains."

"We provide the dwarves with delicious human-made food, premium wines, and a large number of human handicrafts. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement for both of us."

"To end our friendship now because of the misdeeds of some outsiders or even enemies is far too arbitrary. Please explain this to His Majesty the High King."

The Dwarf Emissary directly interrupted Heinz.

"Marquis, I only have one question for you: are those assassins, merchants, and thieves human?"

Heinz paused for a moment and said, "Yes!"

"Since they are human, then you have failed to manage your own people. They committed crimes—if I don't come to His Majesty Bjorn, who else would I go to?"

"Stop with the useless talk. I have delivered my King's royal decree. From this day forward, the sons of the mountains will no longer trade with humans. The alliance between dwarves and humans ends here!"

After saying his final word, the Dwarf Emissary bowed slightly to Bjorn, then turned and left without looking back.

Bjorn sighed deeply as he watched the dwarf's departing figure.

"Your Majesty, these dwarves are truly unreasonable. Why should the actions of the Assassins Court and those wretched scoundrels be blamed on us?"

"I think that High King has drunk too much and ruined his brain. They actually want to use force against the Kingdom? Since when did the bloodline of the star shatterer become so mindless?"

Heinz was in a terrible mood after being rebuffed by the Dwarf Emissary. As one of the five Great Marquises of the Royal Capital and the chief government affairs officer in charge of the capital's daily administration—as well as a Legendary Expert himself—it had been a long time since Heinz had encountered someone who disregarded him so completely.

"It's normal for Barbos to be in a bad mood after his beloved young grandson was assassinated. Those merchants deceived others for profit and ruined the Kingdom's reputation, and some people indeed went too far by sending people to steal Primal Runess—something that touches the dwarves' bottom line."

Bjorn did not speak of the dwarves' faults but instead brought up their own issues.

"Your Majesty, the dwarves' Primal Runess are all hidden within the Rune Halls of the major clans. Only the clan elders know the locations of the Rune Halls. How could we outsiders possibly steal them?"

"I don't think it was necessarily done by us humans. The dwarves' sudden change in attitude is very strange. Could there be another power intentionally guiding the conflict between us and the dwarves?"

As a veteran politician, Heinz keenly sensed the underlying issues hidden in this incident.

"There are followers of the Lord of the Devious Path active near Eight Peaks Mountain. The dwarves' change should be related to them."

Bjorn also sensed something fishy about it.

"However, matters have reached this point, and we cannot change the High King's mind. Let's first do our best to minimize the losses. Once the Kingdom's current affairs are handled, I will personally visit Eight Peaks Mountain when I have time to clarify these matters with the High King and sign the alliance treaty again."

"Heinz, you handle the negative impacts following the severance of ties with the dwarves."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, when will you summon those elves?"

"The day after tomorrow. You go make the arrangements. I will receive them in the Golden Glow Hall the day after tomorrow!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I understand."

After Heinz and the others left, Bjorn summoned Carol alone.

"Your Majesty, the auras of four newly ascended Legends have appeared in the Northern Border, four in the Western Border, five in the Eastern Border, and the most in the Southern Border, with seven."

"That's quite a bit more than expected. It seems the scope of this spatial tide is very large, and many treasures like law crystals have appeared."

"With so many Legends appearing at once, the landscape of the four borders is going to change again."

Bjorn felt that there had been far too many changes recently; the incidents of the past hundred years combined didn't amount to those of the last year or so.

"Four Legends appeared in the Northern Border. Where are their locations, and are there any estimates on who they are?"

Carol took out the intelligence report for the Northern Border and said, "Four Legends in the North. One is in Cold Wind Territory, likely someone from the Cold Wind Family; there is currently no estimated candidate."

"One appeared in Stag Territory, suspected to be an offspring of the late Grand Duke of Stag, Duke Federico. Exactly which one has not yet been determined."

"The other two are a bit strange. They both appeared in the northern part of Rage Bear Territory near the border at Red River Valley. Furthermore, Eagle Eye sensed that the auras of these two Legends are not human."

Bjorn raised his head curiously.

"Neither is human?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. One should be a magical beast, while the other doesn't seem like a magical beast. Its aura is very unique, possessing the breath of nature."

"Interesting. A magical beast is understandable; those Northerners have always liked raising magical beasts and are quite skilled at it."

"The other one isn't even a magical beast and has the breath of nature. Truly interesting. The newly ascended Legends are not in Rage Bear Fortress but in the border region of Red River Valley, and two appeared at once. It seems Rage Bear Territory is in for some changes as well."

Carol interjected, "Your Majesty, there's another strange thing. Eagle Eye detected that the new Legend with the nature aura in Red River Valley left the valley shortly after breaking through, entered the Black Mountain Range, and has not come out since."

"Entered the Black Mountain Range and has the breath of nature... it seems this new Legend is either an elf from the Secluded Valley or a fairy from the Fairy Forest."

"Besides the Eagle Eye probing for Legendary fluctuations, do we have any other forces near Red River Valley? Who does that territory belong to?"

Bjorn was now somewhat curious about the Lord of Red River Valley. To be associated with elves or fairies meant they were no ordinary person.

"Your Majesty, we have no other Eagle Eyes or Patrollers there. The Lord of Red River Valley is the recently promoted Viscount of Red River Territory, Reyn Derrick."

"Because this Viscount's family and he himself are not very famous, we don't have much information on him."

"I see."

Bjorn originally wanted Carol to send some Patrollers to Red River Valley to take a look, but then he remembered that to monitor the spatial rifts, the Patrollers and Eagle Eyes were already at full capacity, with no extra strength to spare for this.

"Your Majesty, should we warn the Grand Duke of the Raging Bear?"

"No need. While two Legends might pose some threat to Rage Bear, a single newly ascended Legend won't affect the overall situation. That demonic bear has awakened an ancient bloodline, reaching the Middle Legendary Rank, and has evolved into a long-lived species. He can live for at least another eight hundred to a thousand years!"

"As long as that demonic bear is there, the Raging Bear Family's position is unshakable!"

"These lucky ones who awaken long-lived bloodlines can really live. They can live longer than even a King like me."

Between the lines, Bjorn felt a hint of envy. For short-lived species, lifespan was a massive shackle. Even if one's strength broke through to the Extreme Realm King level like the Golden King, their lifespan would only be around five hundred years.

Whereas long-lived species could live four or five hundred years even if their strength was only at the Gold Rank. Once they broke through to Legendary, their lifespan would be a thousand years at the minimum, and some could easily live for several thousand years.