Dwarf Marquis, The Unforeseen Calamity of the Centaur Clan

The day after the gnolls left, the serfs hiding in the castle returned to the village. They cleared the traps that had been set and, under the knights' command, became busy working to shed their slave status.

The territory's army, under Belder's tutelage, trained even harder to improve their strength.

Numerous knight squires steadily improved their strength under the guidance of various knights.

Orlando and Hebrew spent their days training with their contractors, deepening their bond to form the war beasts described in the mysterious sphere records by connecting their Battle Qi in the shortest time possible.

Furthermore, the second phase of the castle's construction work commenced simultaneously, aiming for completion by March of the following year.

As the lord of the Lake of Praying Stars, Velin was not idle throughout December.

He woke up on time every day and trained to enhance his strength.

Compared to the peaceful Lake of Praying Stars, other parts of Carrod Province fell into turmoil. In the western part of the Kingdom of Isia, many monsters crossed the buffer zone and reached the border regions, engaging in battles with the kingdom's army and other noble private forces.

At the same time, the four allied territories' act of plundering the Mountain Copper mine was discovered.

In a magnificent and imposing castle in the southwestern region of the Ironforge Mountain Dwarf Kingdom, the Dwarf Marquis Dallag Ironforge sat on his iron throne, listening to his subordinate's report, his expression becoming extremely grim.

"My lord, according to the Griffin Knight's report, all over two hundred people escorting the Mountain Copper mine have gone missing. Using the search magic scroll you provided, their last trace was found two hundred li from the border of the human Kingdom of Isia. These are the items recovered from the search." The dwarf took out a Centaur warrior's token from his bosom and presented it with both hands.

Standing to the left of Dwarf Marquis Dallag, a Silver High-Tier warrior clad in silver-white armor descended the steps, took the token, and respectfully handed it to the dwarf marquis.

Dallag examined the token carefully and immediately recognized it as a token unique to the Centaur clan. Its material was made from the bones of powerful centaur warriors, representing the heritage of the centaur race.

"Did you find anything else?"

The dwarf kneeling in the center of the hall lowered his head and said, "My lord, besides this item, no other clues were found."

"It seems these rats are quite cautious, even using scent-removing potions."

His calm tone was accompanied by a bone-chilling coldness.

The more than ten Silver High-Tier dwarf guards guarding the hall felt immense pressure, as if they would drop dead at any moment.

The reporting dwarf, positioned in the very center and directly facing Dallag Ironforge's Soul Intent-level aura, collapsed onto the ground but dared not make a sound.

A moment later, a Gold Mid-Tier dwarf warrior entered the castle hall and knelt to receive orders.

"Karak."

"My lord." The Gold Mid-Tier dwarf warrior Karak responded loudly upon hearing him.

"I'm giving you three hundred Iron Hammer Warriors, one thousand Goat Knights, and three thousand Dwarf Warriors. Take back ten times my losses from the Centaur clan."

"Yes."

Karak caught the token thrown by Dallag, bowed respectfully, and then left the castle hall.

After a few more minutes, Dallag spoke again, "Monitor the human market. As soon as there's news of the Mountain Copper mine being traded, report it to me immediately."

"Yes, my lord." The reporting dwarf, after hearing this, scrambled away from the location.

Dallag rhythmically tapped the iron throne, making a "bang bang" sound, and said as if no one else was there, "A low-level frame-up. Don't let me find out who you are."

As for why he knew the truth, it was because he would attack the centaurs, and he had his own reasons.

After all, he couldn't suffer losses for no reason. If he couldn't find the culprit at this stage, he would take back ten times the amount from the most direct and obvious target.

This batch of Mountain Copper ore was excavated by him from a sparse and scattered copper mine in the wilderness, and it was transported once every month.

To avoid accidents, the person in charge of escort was only a Silver High-Tier dwarf warrior. Within his territory, every Gold-level combatant was the focus of attention from all sides, making it impossible for them to disappear for an extended period.

"In another ten years, His Majesty the King will launch a war to reclaim the lost territories from the Kingdom of Ilia. I must accelerate my pace, gather resources, forge weapons, and train the army to gain sufficient profits in the war."

Five thousand well-equipped soldiers left Dwarf Marquis Dallag's territory, heading west towards the Graylight Wasteland, directly towards the territory where the centaurs resided.

In a Centaur clan camp, over a thousand centaurs had their heads severed and were neatly piled in the wilderness.

The dwarf Gold warrior Karak held the Centaur clan chief, who was only Silver Mid-Tier, and slammed him fiercely onto the ground, stepping on his head. He took out the token and asked, "Tell me, which clan does this belong to."

"Filthy, lowly dwarf! This is the Graylight Wasteland. My god will surely punish you!" The Centaur clan chief glared fiercely at Karak, showing no fear of death.

"I have no intention of offending the Centaur God, Crown of Kairon, but that is no reason for you to disrespect me."

Karak waved his hand, and over twenty young centaur cubs were blown into mincemeat by a hammer explosion.

"As long as you tell me which Centaur clan this token belongs to, I can leave a seed for your clan."

"You wish."

Subsequently, the more than a hundred captured centaurs all died under the dwarves' hammers.

The arrogant Centaur clan chief also had his head smashed by Karak, who took a fang as a collector's item.

Next, Karak led his army to continue their advance, plundering centaur clans, seizing horses and other valuable items, searching for the centaur clan associated with this token.

After successively annihilating six centaur clans and killing over four thousand centaurs, Karak finally obtained the information he desired.

It was the Maglam Clan, a small branch of the Twilight Hammer Clan, one of the thirteen chosen clans of the Centaur God. With a population of fifteen thousand and eight vassal centaur clans, they were thriving in the border regions of the Ironforge Mountain Dwarf Kingdom.

Recently, the Maglam Clan chief, Mam, upon learning that his daughter Ariya's escort of the Azure Purple Horse had gone missing, directly stripped her of her status as a young mistress and imprisoned her, awaiting a marriage alliance with a neighboring clan next year.

Furthermore, Mam was also actively preparing, selecting brave centaur warriors and archers. Once they tested the withdrawal of the monster army at the human border, he would lead a large army to retaliate fiercely against the humans.

As for now, he could not and dared not go, fearing being used as cannon fodder.

At this very moment, the dwarf army led by Karak was also approaching the Maglam Clan. They were unaware that they were about to face a devastating blow.