Chapter 449: Chapter 342: Restless Dwarves_2
However, this incident has obviously intensified the dwarves’ dissatisfaction with the humans.
Long Yi believed that what Kirei did wasn’t wrong—if this was taking place in a modern society with advanced legal systems. But in this world, inter-racial mistrust could evidently lead to profound contradictions.
Therefore, Long Yi decided to personally visit Furnace Fortress. With his reputation as an honest person, he should be able to help improve the situation.
Since there are regularly scheduled airships between Imperial City and Furnace Fortress, there was no need to fly on his own this time. Bajie was definitely much calmer than during his last airship journey with its intense air sickness. Indeed, the difference between an adult dragon and a young dragon is night and day. After a long journey, the airship landed on a platform specifically constructed for them. According to the pilot, there’s usually an on-duty dwarf to help secure the airship to the anchoring hook. However, today, it was eerily deserted beneath. The unsettled atmosphere was palpable.
After disembarking from the airship and securing it, Long Yi led his group towards the entrance.
But he found that it was not the absence of staff, but rather, a staff member pretending to be asleep.
An airship, whether in flight or during landing, creates a significant amount of noise. There was just no way anyone could sleep through such racket. The only plausible explanation was that the staff member was pretending to be asleep.
"Good morning," Long Yi greeted as he approached.
The dwarf lifted his eyelid a crack to peek and upon recognizing Long Yi, immediately jumped up from his chair, his face full of guilt, "Good morning, Elder Long Yi!"
"Hmm, it’s okay, go back to sleep." The ever-honest Long Yi smiled and said. The dwarf dared not sleep anymore, he just awkwardly laughed, scratched his head, and watched as Long Yi and his group marched on.
It wasn’t Ai Lin’s or Little Zi’s first time visiting Furnace Fortress, but it was the first time for Isrile, who found the continuous clanging sounds rather fascinating. However, she did not enjoy the noticeably hotter temperature here.
Just as Long Yi made it to the central hall in Furnace Fortress, he saw a large group of dwarves gathered there. The dwarves were visibly upset, and the focus of their ire was three humans wearing the uniform of the White Dragon Empire.
In front of those three humans, an old dwarf with a big beard was shouting furiously.
"These bastards accused me of taking parts! Utter nonsense! I made those parts, what’s wrong with taking them back for some fine-tuning! All of the armor parts made for your White Dragon Empire were made by me, so what gives you the right to change rules now that you are here? If you’re so talented why don’t you do it yourselves? Asking us dwarves for help!"
The faces of the three humans were also filled with anger. However, one of them, who was relatively more composed, patiently explained, "Uncle, we’ve made it clear before. In order to prevent part loss, no one is allowed to take the parts back for modification. This was also agreed upon by you!"
"I agreed my ass! I have done this for more than ten years, but when you young brats showed up, you started making all these demands? Who do you think you are?"
The old dwarf retorted.
The surrounding dwarves were also chiming in support.
Long Yi just smiled, didn’t say anything, and quietly circled around them.
"Brother Long, aren’t you going to manage this situation?" Ai Lin asked.
"How?" Long Yi responded.
"Get them to stop arguing...." Ai Lin said.
"It’s pointless. Until their grievances are resolved, no one can stop them." Long Yi said.
"So, what should we do?" Ai Lin glanced at the ongoing dispute in the distance, look of concern on her face.
"There’s not much we can do, let them argue for now." Long Yi laughed, then whispered to Little Zi, "Leave an avatar here, and keep an eye out for anyone trying to stir up trouble."
Little Zi giggled, and a female demon stealthily flew out.
All along the way, Long Yi saw similar incidents, either conflicts between humans and dwarves or dwarves complaining about humans. Essentially, almost every matter talked about by dwarves involved humans.
Things seemed a bit unfavorable.
When Long Yi found Morton, he was also worried. Seeing Long Yi showing up, his eyes instantly brightened. Clearly, for the current issues to improve, Long Yi’s presence was indispensable. After all, tensions between dwarves and humans had reached a peak, and as a human, Long Yi was the most trusted person in the entire dwarf society.
"Uncle, it’s not that I won’t help, but right now, I don’t need to step in." Long Yi responded with a smile upon hearing Morton’s words.
"Why? Didn’t you see the situation outside? It’s already this serious and we still don’t need you?" Morton couldn’t believe it - he was flabbergasted that Long Yi could remain so cool. After all, the unrest among dwarves would assuredly impact the White Dragon Empire’s orders!
"I saw it, but I don’t have a good solution just yet. I need to understand the details first." Long Yi said.
"Details? There’s no need! Given your influence, a few soothing words from you and three rounds of ale would soon settle the matter! Everyone trusts you!" Morton said in haste.
"I know, and precisely because everyone trusts me, and I can solve this problem just by stepping in, I must not rush." Long Yi said.
"Why? Have you lost your mind?" Morton couldn’t believe Long Yi could say such a thing.
"Because, I don’t want this sort of situation to happen a second or third time," Long Yi said, "especially when I’ve discovered that there are some dwarves who are not Dwarves here."
"Dwarves who are not dwarves?" Morton repeated the awkward sentence and then widened his eyes, "You mean there are spies here?"
"At first, I didn’t know, but just now, I caught one." Long Yi said.
"Who is it! I’ll kill him!" Morton roared in anger.
"Don’t rush, who knows how many of them are here? Anyway, we’ve done what we came for, now I want to see what these guys are trying to accomplish."
Upon hearing about a spy disguising as a dwarf, oddly enough, Morton felt relieved. He was extremely worried about causing a rift with his White Dragon Empire relations, as the Dwarves had decided to gamble their fortunes on the White Dragon Empire — though ordinary Dwarves were not aware of this.
Long Yi’s selfless assistance had won the trust of all Dwarves, including Morton. Even the strictest of Dwarf Elders regarded Long Yi favorably. He had aided the Dwarves in improving their alloy formulas, implementing industrial standardization, and mastering complex machinery. Most importantly, Long Yi had permanently resolved a molten beast crisis that had plagued the Dwarves for many years.
Even the Dwarves themselves would have struggled to match Long Yi’s accomplishments in their own lifetimes! Moreover, fresh advanced knowledge from Long Yi seemed to emerge continually. It was clear that Long Yi had not shared all his knowledge with the Dwarves, a fact that Morton understood. Therefore, Morton proposed before the council to express the Dwarves’ utmost sincerity in exchange for Long Yi’s support and trust.
Naturally, all Dwarf Elders supported this proposal, which was even accepted by the mysterious Dwarf King.
This is one of the reasons why the Dwarves have shown such support for the White Dragon Empire. As the Dwarves were assisting the White Dragon Empire, Long Yi would obviously need the Dwarves to produce various things. To achieve speed and quality, Long Yi would devise ways to improve the craft and processes, which the Dwarves were pleased to see.
Only, the Dwarves didn’t know that what Long Yi had been thinking about all along was how to automate the entire production process. Of course, that might be many, many years in the future.
Right now, the only thing Long Yi was worried about was the matter of the spies. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to qidian.com to vote for a recommendation or monthly ticket. Your support is my biggest motivation. Users on mobile devices can visit m.qidian.com to read.)
