Chapter 353 Trading with the dwarves (2)
As they watched Haley walk over, all of the dwarves couldn't help licking their lips.
But of course, it wasn't out of lust.
It was because they were looking at the bottle that was in her hand.
This was the bottle that the smell of alcohol was coming from.
Based on the smell that came out, they could tell that the alcohol that Haley was bringing in was very good alcohol.
Even for people of their position, this was alcohol that they rarely had the chance to drink.
After all, there were few humans that could even trade in the Dwarven Kingdom in the first place.
It wasn't that there weren't humans that came, it was just that few humans brought quality goods.
The humans thought that they could trick the dwarves with inferior products, but of course the dwarves had sharp eyes as craftsmen. Even when it came to wine, the dwarves had such sharp noises that they could tell the difference with a single sniff.
That was just how much dedication they had with both.
So it was rare for them to have quality products come into the Dwarven Kingdom.
Of course, the other side of the coin was…the humans didn't want to give the dwarves good products.
There was still the matter of racism between the two sides, so the humans never treated the dwarves properly…
It was different when the humans brought quality goods, but the humans didn't learn from their mistakes and kept looking down on the dwarves.
Sincerity begets sincerity, but it's hard to have sincerity when one's eyes are clouded with bigotry.
They all seemed like they wanted to rush at her to take the bottle out of her hand, but they were able to keep this bit of restraint.
But the look in their eyes…were putting pressure on her, like they were telling her to go faster.
With a secret bitter smile, Haley started moving a bit faster.
However, as she came closer, the dwarves suddenly realized a problem.
There were only so many of them, so…how would they split it?
They knew that it was impossible for them to get the entire bottle, but even a cup might be hard with how many there were.
Half a cup or a quarter of a cup was just too little for them to enjoy themselves, so they all looked at each other as if they were plotting on how to get more alcohol for themselves.
The Dwarven King was no exception, but he did have the advantage of being the Dwarven King, so he was less worried.
It was those that had lower positions that had to worry about how to claim their cup of alcohol.
After glaring at each other for a bit, one of the dwarves made their move.
"As the minister of trade affairs, how about I have a taste first? Since we will be trading for alcohol with the humans, I should make sure that it's up to standard."
This dwarf tried to come forward, but the moment that he did, he was immediately stopped by the two beside him. At the same time, there were several other dwarves that had come forward to block him.
"Minister of trade affairs? All you do is count the ores we trade each year and you're trying to make yourself sound so important. You think that we'll let you get ahead of us?"
Another dwarf then said, "Ahem, since I am the minister of foreign affairs, I think that I should be the one to test this since this will determine our future relations with the humans."
Once again, he was immediately stopped by the dwarves around him.
It seemed that none of them would yield a single inch when it came to this alcohol.
While they were still civil, it seemed like they were about to start fighting with what they said.
"What foreign affairs? All you do is sit around and check the borders once in a while. You don't even go to the human countries to talk to them."
"Agriculture? How is that even related to this?"
"Finances? You think that we don't have enough money to buy the alcohol ourselves?"
As Haley came closer to the table they were all around, she really couldn't help revealing an even more bitter smile. She didn't even bother hiding it this time since she knew that it didn't matter.
They were just too focused to even pay attention to her.
But…she also knew that she was in trouble.
Since she was the one that brought the alcohol, it would fall onto her to divide it.
It was clear that the dwarves wouldn't be able to figure this out themselves, so in the end…they would rely on her.
She of course couldn't take one side over the other since that would mean offending people and that was the last thing that she could do as a merchant.
So this really put her in a bad position.
The captain of the guards had followed her in with cups in hand.
He didn't need to come, but he had thought that he would be able to scrounge a bit of alcohol if he came with her.
But now…that seemed like a futile thought.
There was no way that he would be able to get any with so many of them competing.
The Dwarven King had been silent the entire time, as if what they were saying didn't bother him at all.
It was only when Haley reached the table that he suddenly slapped his hand down and directed their attention to him.
In a firm voice, he said, "Enough!"
All of them fell silent when he said this.
Seeing that they were all silently looking at him, the Dwarven King calmly said, "There's no reason to fight over this. We'll solve this the old way."
When the dwarves heard this, they all couldn't help revealing smiles before looking at each other with competitive looks.
It seemed that they were quite used to this already.
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