Warhammer in a box

Chapter 24 Trading
In the banquet hall built by hollowing out the mountain in Karak Horn Fort, Lord Alaric of the Horn Fort and his brother Elm were sitting together with Belegar, Ferrel and Bourne.

"Belegar, my friend, we meet again. How did you think of coming to me~" Alaric said to Belegar while holding a wine glass.

"Hahaha, my friend, I haven't seen you for a long time and I miss you so much~"

"Belegar, I know you too well. How could you come to me without any reason? Let's stop beating around the bush and just tell me!"

Belegar drank another glass of ale and replied, "I can't hide it from you, Alaric. I want to borrow some food and soldiers from you!"

When Belegar said this, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became quiet, and Alaric's face became ugly.

"Belegar, I'm sorry, I can only reject you my friend. You know your idea won't work! Stop being obsessed with Eight Peaks Mountain! If you keep going like this, your clan will disappear sooner or later!"

"Alaric, you can't do this. What about the covenant between dwarves? The Eight Peaks Mountain is the lifelong shame of our clan. If I can't take it back, I won't have the face to face my people and my ancestors! You must help me!" Belegar's emotions also became agitated.

"That's enough, Belegar! I can't let my people die with you just for you! Wake up! Aren't there enough dwarves who have shed blood for this?!
With your clan's current strength, it is impossible to retake Eight Peaks Mountain. There are not only those disgusting goblins, but also endless ratmen! Even if you can attack it, what can you use to defend it? !
The High King will not allow you to do such a thing again. Look at your people. How many of them are still with you? Two thousand? Three thousand? This is not the first time you have launched an expedition!" Alaric said mercilessly.

Listening to Alaric's words, Belegar also lowered his head. He knew that Alaric was right. When he first launched the expedition to retake the Eight Peaks Mountain, other dwarves were willing to contribute troops and manpower. However, after failing several times and paying the lives of tens of thousands of dwarves, no one was willing to help him.

His Angrand clan also began their own wandering, but he was unwilling to accept this. The Eight Peaks Mountain was once one of the most magnificent fortresses of the dwarves, but now it has become a lair of dirty goblins. This is a blasphemy!
As a bystander with a God's perspective, Zhang Heng knew that what Alaric said was absolutely right. It was impossible for Belegar to recapture the Eight Peaks Mountain. The ending of the plot was that he died in the endless siege of the ratmen after attacking the Eight Peaks Mountain, which was a pity.

"Okay, Belegar, don't let our human friends laugh at you. Now it's your turn, my human friends. What are you doing here this time?"

"Chief Alaric, this time we are here for a trade. I believe that this trade will be very beneficial to both of us." Ferrer stood up and said.

"Oh? What's the deal? Tell me about it."

"We brought delicious food and precious wine, and what we want in exchange is gold, weapons, and the assistance of the dwarves to help build the city." After saying this, Ferrel placed various types of wine in front of Alaric, even including cigarettes rolled with tobacco.

Elm picked up the wine glass and tried several kinds of wine. When he tasted the white wine, his reaction was exactly the same as Belegar's. Elm nodded.

"Brother, this wine is really great!"

"Interesting!" Alaric took the wine glass and took a sip. He was instantly attracted by the aroma of grain and the high alcohol content. He had never drunk such a strong liquor.

"Ferrel, your wine is very good. I am willing to spend gold coins to buy it, but weapons and equipment."

"Wait a minute, Chief Alaric, I think you need to try this." After saying that, Ferrer handed a cigarette to Alaric's mouth.

"What is this thing?"

"Put it in your mouth, light it with a flame, and inhale," Ferrer said.

Alaric curiously did as Ferrer said, and when he lit the cigarette and took a deep breath, he was immediately choked.

"Cough cough cough cough~"

"Brother, are you okay?" Elm asked nervously.

"I'm fine, Elm, this is a weird thing."

"You can try drinking and smoking again," Ferrer continued.

Sure enough, Alaric said immediately after trying it. "I can provide you with a certain amount of thunder rifles! How much of these supplies can you provide?"

"As long as you have enough gold coins and weapons, I will give you as much as you want!"

"Hahahaha, you are so arrogant. We dwarves are very expendable. I hope you don't deceive us. I am willing to pay a gold coin for a bottle of liquor and a cigarette! But I can only say sorry about the city construction. We don't want to get involved in your internal disputes for the time being."

Apparently Alaric did not have enough trust in this human force that suddenly appeared before him.

Bourne was stunned when he heard the price. He didn't expect these things could be sold at such a good price. You know, the annual income of civilians in the empire is only about 10 gold coins.

"Thank you for your generosity. These goods are our initial deposit. We will ship the goods over at regular intervals." After Alaric made the offer, Zhang Heng's voice asking him to agree sounded in Ferrer's mind.

Zhang Heng had seen the size of the dwarf gold coins before. Ten gold coins would probably equal one gram of gold in reality. This time he was going to make a fortune! !
The banquet ended soon after the deal was reached, but some people were happy and some were sad. Except for the unfinished task of hiring dwarves to help build Terra, everything else was successful for Ferrel and others. Belegar, on the other hand, had a worried look on his face.

The Hammer Warriors he brought were anxiously waiting for Belegar outside the city.

"Chief! What do you think? Are they willing to help us?

Looking at the tribesmen who were looking forward to it, Belegar said with an unpleasant expression: "Alaric rejected us."

"Ah! How could they do this! Shouldn't dwarves help each other? Chief! Now our people are homeless. If this continues, we won't even have enough food to eat."

"Hey, don't worry! I'll find a way!" Belegar could only say this reluctantly, but can food fall from the sky?
Eh? Don’t tell me it’s really possible!
"Chief Belegar, you are short of food and have nowhere to go?" Bourne came to Belegar with an innocent look on his face. Bourne's worry was real. He was really afraid that these new friends would have nothing to eat.

"To be honest, my people and I are in a wandering state. I wanted to ask Alaric for help, but now it seems that..."

"Chief Belegar! I can help you solve the food problem. We can provide a lot of the things you ate before! Even if you have thousands of people, we can satisfy them!" Ferrer said immediately.

"What?! Food and fodder for thousands of people? Free of charge?" Belegar asked in surprise.

"That's right, it's free! After all, we are friends. If you don't believe us, you can go to Holy Terra with us! Then you will know that we are not lying to you!"

"Lord Bellegar, seriously, Brother Ferrel didn't lie to you. We have more food than we can eat!" Bourne also said.

"No, even if it is true, I cannot accept my friend's help for free!" Belegar said hurriedly.

"Well, you and your people have nowhere to go right now, so why don't you come to us first? I know that dwarves are natural craftsmen, so you can ask your people to help us build our city, and we will use food and wine as compensation!
Don't worry! I know you are worried, I will not force you to participate in a possible battle, you can choose to leave at any time if you want to. "Ferrel added.

After thinking for a moment, Belegar knew that this was the only way now.

"Well, we and our warriors will go with you to the Terra you mentioned first!"

Zhang Heng, who was watching all this, was so excited that he almost jumped up.

As long as Beilejia arrives in Terra, other humans who want to attack the city will have to consider whether they will cause accidental casualties. And if the attackers are other races such as orcs and beastmen, given the character of the dwarves, they will help you even if you don't ask for it.

By then, you will be served with good wine and delicious food, and maybe even some magical equipment.

As the saying goes, it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. When the time comes, you may not be able to get rid of it even if you try.

(End of this chapter)