Witch Monastery

Feeling that this made him look a bit bad, he quickly added: "Otherwise, if we are blackmailed by these mountain people when we discuss cooperation later, it will be a huge injustice."

An Nuo lowered his eyes, looking somewhat frustrated: "It is indeed possible. These short-sighted guys..."

When there were demons in the mountains, they attacked the Rockseekers first. She had already labeled these mountain people as short-sighted.

霍桑

Without saying anything more, he continued to wash up with her, and then had a simple breakfast. A moment later, a graceful figure floated over, accompanied by Willow's concerned voice: "Who is injured? Is it serious?"

Hawthorne took a step forward, grabbed Willow's wrist, and in her confused expression, dragged her and An Nuo into his tent where he was resting. Then he said, "The injury is not too serious. An Nuo can take care of it later."

"Aren't we going to have a meeting to discuss cooperation soon? We actually want to ask, what difficulties is the alliance facing now?"

"This way, if we discuss it in advance, it will be easier to help the alliance solve the problem. This will save a lot of meaningless arguments and save everyone's time."

An Nuo glanced at him and thought, isn't it for the purpose of better controlling these people?

And Willow really fell into the trap. She was immediately moved: "You are all so selfless. In fact, the main difficulty the alliance is facing now is that there is not enough time to build enough buildings to survive the winter."

"Even if we fully mobilize the Tauren, we still have laborers from all tribes and ages, but metal tools like woodcutting axes are still somewhat scarce..."

As she explained this, Hawthorne nodded repeatedly and gradually formed an idea in his mind.

Finally, Willow couldn't help but sigh: "Mr. Hawthorne, you are really considerate. Even at this time, you are still thinking about us."

"As for those people in the alliance..." She suddenly felt a little worried when she said this, "They all take their tribes too seriously, so the negotiations may not go smoothly. It will take a long time to reach a result that both sides can accept."

She said this from the bottom of her heart, because she had encountered many such bumps and bruises when she first formed the Mountain Cleansers Alliance.

An Nuo glanced at Hawthorne's face, held back his laughter, and said nothing.

The latter also sighed: "I would like to sit down and talk patiently, but unfortunately, time waits for no one."

"Okay, Madam, let's go. I hope that today, at least we can reach some consensus."

Upon hearing this, Willow stood up, took the two of them, and called Nidalee, and walked towards the meeting tent together.

At this moment, Ilarod, Toren Highling, Luger Stoneskin and Danqi Owlbeast also gathered here, sitting around a huge square conference table, and while Willow was away, they were discussing the negotiation strategy later.

However, compared to the tender and affectionate conversation on Hawthorne's side, the conversation here was much more straightforward, and the greedy faces were not concealed at all.

"Let me be frank first," said the tauren Torun Gaoling. "The elders of our tribe believe that these people have impure motives. They say they want to destroy the demons, but they actually want us to lead the charge and consume our strength, so that both we and the demons will suffer losses."

“We can’t be blinded by their hypocrisy just because they helped us uncover a mole last night,” he concluded.

Luger agreed with this: "That's right, since they want our military force, we have to show enough sincerity."

Chapter 367: Turning against each other

The two were silent for a moment, and then Toren made the decision: "Then Ruger, you and I will get angry, and then Your Excellency the Archdruid, you will explain the pros and cons?"

Ilarod nodded, indicating that he had no objection to this. Luger Stoneskin grinned and said, "Oh, look, I will tell you everything they have done and scold them to pieces!"

The more Danqi listened, the more he felt something was wrong. He frowned slightly and said, "Will this lead to a failure in the negotiations?"

Ruger squinted at him and said, "Do you think we really want to make this deal? Ha, with the blood feud between our ancestors, and the people of Libel Port wanting to use our powerful fighting power to fight the demons, who would agree to this without some benefits?"

Danqi had no choice but to lower his head and stop expressing his opinion. He also felt guilty for breaking his promise, and his tribe was already divided into two factions with different opinions, so he was not sure what he should do to be right.

He was just analyzing it rationally. If he continued to test the other party's bottom line under such circumstances, it was very likely that he would get out of hand and make this cooperation impossible to achieve.

Snow and demons are fatal problems that all tribes must face this winter. From a personal rational point of view, he very much hopes that this cooperation can be achieved.

"What about you, Mr. Archdruid? What do you think?" Toren suddenly turned his head and asked.

Ilarod nodded with a smile: "All right, you young people can discuss and decide. The alliance will be yours sooner or later."

Toren immediately made the decision: "That's settled."

Danqi frowned slightly and asked again: "Do we need to tell Madam Willow about this?"

Luger shook his head. "No, she will definitely disagree. She will say something like we should be sincere to others... Alas, she is so kind that she is bullied by the people of Libel Port. We have to protect her."

Toren felt the same way, and they all nodded and smiled in tacit understanding.

Soon after they reached an agreement, the curtain of the huge tent was lifted, and Hawthorne, Anno, Willow, and Nidalee walked in. Ilarod, Torun Highmountain, Luger Stoneskin, and Owlbeast Denchi immediately greeted them and sat down on both sides of a huge square table.

In this way, the scene looks

Going there, it was like a four-on-four duel.

When he saw the four of them, Ilarod couldn't help but have a complicated expression, his eyes fell on his daughter, and then kept falling on Hawthorne and Anno: As an experienced person, he had a feeling that the two of them were a pair, and his daughter was more like a follower;

It was hard for him to imagine what his proud daughter had gone through to be willing to follow this man.

Toren's eyes instantly turned red, and they kept moving back and forth between Hawthorne and Nidalee. His fists were clenched tightly, and veins bulged.

He was not at the scene last night, but he also heard about these things. He couldn't imagine how many people would laugh at him behind his back when the news that his original fiancée ran away with someone else spread throughout the tribe!

It may be hard to say for others, but his younger brothers who have always been at odds with him and covet his position as heir will definitely spread all kinds of rumors behind his back!

He was angry and hateful, but helpless for the time being.

Next to him, Ruger Stoneskin, who was also responsible for suppressing the opponent with harsh words, suddenly had his pupils contracted when he saw Hawthorne, and then his expression became surprised and uncertain.

The sword that struck directly at his soul with a terrifying blow, and the explosion of magical energy that almost turned him back to his original form, really left him with a big psychological trauma, so when he saw Hawthorne now, he couldn't help but feel nervous.

Before the negotiations even started, he was already feeling a little timid.

Danqi's expression was the most complicated. It fell on the calm faces of Hawthorne and Anno. Finally, he looked away with some guilt and shame, not daring to look him in the face.

He felt that he had betrayed the other party's trust.

Hawthorne's eyes swept through the crowd, and his mood was inevitably turbulent. But he hid it well and nodded slightly to Ilarod: "I am Nigel Hawthorne, this is Anno Amkasla, we are here on behalf of the Black Rod Tower, hoping to conclude a covenant to fight against the devil."

As he said this, he suddenly felt An Nuo holding his hand with a little force. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and saw that the girl's eyes were fixed on Ruger, with red eyes.

Before he could think about it, Ilarod said, "I am Ilarod. I represent the Mountain Cleaners Alliance and welcome everyone."

As he spoke, he introduced Torun, Luger, and Danqi beside him one by one. In fact, both parties already knew each other, and then they sat down one after another.

"Your Excellency Archdruid, we came here with sincerity this time." Anno spoke first, "Demons are the public enemy of the material world. After receiving the request for help from the top leaders of your alliance, we immediately put aside everything and came to help."

"I hope that in the face of this threat that can destroy us all, everyone can put aside their past grudges and join hands to fight the enemy!"

She said this, but just as she finished her words, she saw Toren's face was indignant: "It's easy to say, what are you going to do?"

Anno took out five drafts, which were basically the agreement with the dwarves, and then abridged versions, and handed them to the four of them and Willow: "This is the preliminary plan for the Black Rod Tower. We can discuss the details. Please take a look."

Toren opened the draft and started to find fault after reading only one line: "Five thousand soldiers to exterminate the demons? Are you trying to kill us?"

Willow looked up and advised softly, "There's more to come. Don't worry, Toren."

An Nuo frowned and suppressed his anger: "Please continue to watch. The Black Rod Tower has shown enough sincerity. We will also send twice the number of soldiers to participate in the joint elimination."

"And from what I've observed, your alliance should have more troops than these. It shouldn't be difficult for your alliance to send out these troops, right?"

She was referring to the battle at Rockseeker Town, which included all sorts of kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, and so on. It was a motley crowd, probably tens of thousands in total.

By only asking them to send out 5,000 men, Annuo had already made a huge concession.

"That was a hundred years ago. The Alliance can't send out that many people now!" Toren said, "The number of mountain people has been reduced by more than half in the past hundred years!"

After saying this, he looked repeatedly at Ruger beside him, signaling him to say something quickly as well, instead of speaking alone, which would seem unconvincing and unsupportive.

Forced by his colleagues, the sturdy bear man took a deep breath and forced himself not to glance at Hawthorne's face. He mustered up his courage, suppressed the fear boiling in his heart, and said with a stiff upper lip: "With just this little effort, Libel Port wants to wipe out the blood debt of the past? This is too simple!"

Willow hurriedly advised: "I know that everyone has hatred in their hearts, but it is not too late to settle these past events in the future. The most important thing now is to fight against the evil!"

Ruger ignored her and continued, "Think about it, how many innocent mountain people did you kill? How many of our ancestors, women and children died in your indiscriminate attacks, and how much wealth was looted by you?"

"Now you want to buy our lives with just a little bit of money and let us fight the demons? Do you think that the mountain people are not born by their parents and we are all fools?"

A strong anger suddenly surged in Annuo's heart. She wanted to yell at Ruger for being shameless. It was obviously you who started the war first, but now you are saying that the people of Port Liber are not reliable. This is simply putting the blame on others!

But she held back. For the sake of the overall situation, she knew she had to

Be patient and don't be impulsive. If you quarrel with each other, then the devil will be arrogant for who knows how long...

She was thinking about how to resolve the conflict, but the next moment, Hawthorne beside her suddenly slammed the table, stood up, and cursed: "How ridiculous! It was obviously you who raided the Rock Seeker Town, which caused the situation to deteriorate to this point, but now you are biting back and blaming us?!"

"Anno, Nidalee, let's go back to the headquarters of the Dwarven Mining Company. The Griffin Knights are strong enough, and the Second Captain has already promised to support us. There's no need to talk to these short-sighted guys!"

Chapter 368: The Humble Minotaur

An Nuo was stunned. She never expected that Hawthorne, who was always calm and composed, would suddenly become furious and out of control and say such irrational words!

Although this scolding was very satisfying and made her say what she wanted to say but had been holding back, they were now seeking cooperation, not confrontation!

She was a little flustered and was passively pulled by Hawthorne to stand up and turn around. After the initial confusion, Nidalee immediately put on a face full of disappointment, glanced at her father, then stood up, turned around, and was about to follow Hawthorne out.

This made Willow, who was sitting next to them, a little anxious: "No, Mr. Hawthorne, please calm down... Ruger, apologize quickly, you shouldn't have said that just now!"

She tried to save the situation, but Luger Stoneskin looked up at the sky with a nonchalant look on his face.

He was just following the plan and fulfilling his duties. Given the other party's reaction, it was time for Ilarod to use gentle words to save everything.

After all, his daughter was sitting right across from him. She had already infiltrated the enemy, right?

He thought so, but before Ilarod could speak, Toren suddenly looked up, his face anxious: "Can you get into the dwarves' headquarters?"

Danqi also stood up, with a look of astonishment on his face: "Griffin Knights, are you familiar with them?"

Hawthorne paused, his mouth curled up slightly. He then turned his head and showed a mocking expression: "Everyone should update your intelligence. If you take the initiative to pay attention to the movements of other forces in the mountain, you should have discovered that the dwarves have signed a deep cooperation agreement with the Black Rod Tower."

As he spoke, he pointed at Anno with a proud expression, "And now, the Black Rod Tower's communication ambassador stationed at the headquarters of the Dwarf Mining Group is her, Anno Amaksla! The second captain of the Griffin Knights is here, and we have to give her face!"

Annuo thought, isn't the real candidate for this position actually you? Although the Black Rod Tower designated me as the liaison officer, the dwarves basically only give you face.

The main reason for this situation was that when they were at the headquarters, Hawthorne always spoke kindly and got along well with the dwarves, while she had to argue at the negotiation table while frantically urging the dwarves to complete the draft quickly, resulting in the dwarves generally having a low opinion of her and privately calling her "a crazy woman who can't eat hot pancakes."

But she naturally wouldn't expose her boyfriend. She puffed out her chest and nodded seriously: "It is true, but it has nothing to do with what we are going to talk about today."

As she spoke, her eyes fell on Ruger: "We are very disappointed with your alliance's attitude towards cooperation. We don't feel any sincerity, so we are leaving now."

After she finished speaking, she looked at Willow again and said, "I'm sorry, Madam Willow, thank you very much for your hospitality these past few days. We will report Ines's matter truthfully, and I hope we can still maintain peace when we meet next time."

Having said this, she turned around resolutely and followed Hawthorne out.

Ilarod was about to speak, but at this moment, Toren became anxious. He suddenly stood up and stretched out his big hand like a palm leaf fan: "Wait a moment, Ms. Anno!"

Hawthorne didn't stop, and Annuo followed him and walked out resolutely. Toren didn't dare to delay, and hurriedly said: "I apologize to you on behalf of Ruger. He was quite aggressive in his words, please don't take it personally."

Ruger turned his head away without saying a word, feeling somewhat confused. He didn't understand why Toren suddenly gave in. This was not the original plan.

Huo Sang paused, and An Nuo also stopped. Before they turned around and spoke, Willow suddenly rushed over from behind, opened her arms, and hugged her from behind: "Don't go..."

"Please, Ms. Anno, Mr. Hawthorne, sit down and talk more..."

Her voice was almost pleading, and in an instant, the atmosphere in the entire account room became a little subtle. Ruger glanced at Willow's back and suddenly his heart skipped a beat. He thought, could this mistress be serious?

After this incident, wouldn't she hate the Stoneskin Tribe as well?

Hiss, should I apologize too? Toren suddenly gave in. It seems that I am the only one who has to take the lead...

He weighed these, his eyes wandering, but suddenly his eyes met Hawthorne's.

Meeting that cold gaze, he immediately shrank his head in fear, not daring to say a word.

Over there, being hugged by Willow, Annuo's heart softened. She then turned around, stretched out her hands, hugged Willow's soft body, patted her on the back, and then looked up at Toren, saying: "I hope this is the last time. Mutual respect is the basis of our cooperation."

Toren was angry, but now it was his turn to hold back: "I hope we can have a fair chance to cooperate."

Annuo pulled Hawthorne's hand and

He advised, "They have also apologized for this, let's stay and talk."

Hawthorne sat down next to her again with a dark face, saying nothing, as if he was still suppressing his anger. Nidalee held back her smile, and with great difficulty maintained her disappointed expression, continuing to look at her father.

However, after that, there was no need for him to say anything more. Toren stopped nitpicking and began to read the draft carefully, then discussed the many details with Anno in a low voice.

As Annuo was thinking, he kept making marks on the draft, listing new plans in many details. After preparation, he would send it back to the Black Rod Tower for further discussion by the top management.

As for Willow, she wiped away her tears, with a relieved smile on her face, and listened quietly to their conversation, occasionally asking some questions of her own, or making some supplements - such as what the goats could do with natural magic, and so on - to contribute to the cooperation plan.

More than an hour passed, and the entire draft was basically revised. At this time, Toren was like an honest man, saying frankly: "After being attacked by demons, many small tribes in the alliance have lost contact. Up to now, 5,000 soldiers are indeed all the regular forces of the alliance."

"If we send so many people out to fight the evil, we won't have any troops left at the headquarters. We won't even have logging axes or metal saws, and all construction work will have to stop."

"This is our difficulty." He sighed and suddenly changed the subject, "In fact, Gaoling Tribe is a large tribe of 10,000 people, and most of its adult members, both men and women, have received combat training."

"So, if you two can help purchase some heavy metal weapons, it won't be a problem for our tribe to send out 3,000 warriors at once."

Next to him, Danqi wanted to make some requests of his own, but he looked at Toren and then at Hawthorne's dark face, and swallowed the words back.

Calculating various numbers, proportions, details, etc. in his mind, Anno was dizzy from thinking. Just when he was about to agree, saying that there was no problem with this matter, we can get a discount when buying weapons from the dwarves, he heard Hawthorne suddenly say: "Then we will sponsor some more money, and you can go to the dwarves to order some, right?"

Anno stopped talking immediately, and Toren looked embarrassed: "Uh... due to some historical reasons, there may be some misunderstandings between the Alliance and the dwarves..."