Gray Dwarf's Wine

The Dark Moon Elf Prisoners in the mine quickly gathered together.

These Dark Moon Elf have hardly suffered in the mines over the years. Every Dark Moon Elf has become an excellent assassin in this dark environment. The only thing they lack is weapons and armor.

After they submitted to Roy, they continued to mine for Gemstone Mine in the mine.

Recently, Roy has not made things difficult for the Dark Moon Elf in terms of food supplies. He even provided them with thirty simple tents and some cooking pots so that they could drink Lemon Tea in the mine.

The Mine Owners had never offered such benefits before, and the prevailing belief in the power of the strong also made the Dark Moon Elves exceptionally obedient to Roy's orders...

With so many Half-Elf miners gone, the mine suddenly felt empty.

The Dark Moon Elf led Roy along the mine for quite a distance, but they didn't encounter a single miner.

The Mine Road continued downwards, and the further down you went, the colder and darker the mine became. A pale purple moss grew in the crevices of the surrounding walls, and in some places, milky white umbrella-shaped mushrooms grew, adding a touch of life to the mine.

The caves here are distinctly different from the mines; a faint, warm aura even emanates from them.

The cave did not occupy the Gemstone Mine, but deviated downwards from it. The rock strata here were shale, and water droplets were constantly dripping from some of the rock interlayers.

The Dark Moon Elves stopped at the entrance of a cave ahead and turned to introduce themselves to Roy:

"Lord Roy, from here we have entered the territory of the Gray Dwarf! These Gray Rat have set up many traps and mechanisms in this Mine Road. We tried several times, lost a few elves, and haven't come here since."

Roy could tell that the Dark Moon Elf had suffered some hardships in this cave.

The cave was very low, and the elves had to bend over and stoop to pass through it, while the Gray Dwarf could move freely in and out of this low-ceilinged mine.

Roy remembered something the Half-Elf and Dark Moon Elves at the Second Mine had said: if they were short of food, they would bring some pickaxes, ropes, and the like and come here to trade with the Gray Dwarf for some food.

The Gray Dwarf here are skilled at making dried mushrooms and Moss Cake, which, although extremely unpalatable, at least ensure they won't starve...

"So how did you conduct the transaction with them?" Roy asked.

A Dark Moon Elf pointed to the cave entrance and said, "It's here!"

A hemp rope hangs down from the cave entrance, extending from the cave ceiling all the way into the depths of the cave.

The Dark Moon Elf continued in a low voice:

"Just pull it, and soon Gray Rat will come out. They have dried mushrooms, Moss Cake, or some daggers made from pickaxes."

Roy nodded.

Only when Roy stepped over and grabbed the rope did he realize its weight.

I don't know how far it extends, but it's very heavy to hold.

Roy pulled hard on the rope, and a clanging sound came from deep inside the mine.

It was faint, but still audible...

Roy then carefully examined the cave, and indeed it was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

At least for now, Roy has no way to deal with these Gray Dwarf.

Not long after, a Gray Dwarf wearing only a pair of tattered shorts was seen swaggering out of the Mine Road. He was barefoot, his large feet calloused, and he ran like the wind as he stepped on the sharp gravel...

He had a pouch tied around his waist, and his bare upper body looked very strong, with muscles that looked like lumps of iron.

The Gray Dwarf had three braids in his beard and two deep nasolabial folds on his dirty face. It was hard to tell how old he was, but he didn't look very old.

What would you like to exchange for?

The Gray Dwarf saw many Dark Moon Elf standing at the cave entrance, stopped about ten meters away, and asked warily.

He was speaking Elven Language, Roy could understand.

The Dark Moon Elf all turned to look at Roy, Roy was observing the Gray Dwarf and remained silent for a moment.

The Gray Dwarf had a rather short temper and spoke in a very firm tone, "Hurry up, don't waste time..."

Roy took a few steps forward, and the Gray Dwarf immediately shouted, "Don't come any further! Just stand there and talk!"

"Alright, I'm ready to make a deal with you. I'd like you to help me mine the Spinel Ore in the mine..."

Before Roy could finish speaking, the Gray Dwarf interrupted him, "There's no room for discussion on this. We stopped Spinel Ore a long time ago, and we have no plans to do so in the future! If you have nothing else to say, you can go back now!"

After the Gray Dwarf finished speaking, he waved impatiently at Roy.

"Aren't you going to ask me... what I'll use to make a deal with you?" Roy wasn't angry. He simply took out a water pouch from his Magic Pouch, pulled out the sheepskin-wrapped stopper, and a faint aroma of wine wafted out.

Roy smiled and turned the water sac upside down, and the clear liquor immediately flowed out.

'Whoosh whoosh whoosh'

The entire bag of rum was poured at Roy's feet, filling the mine entrance with its faint aroma.

The Gray Dwarf was so angry that his beard stood on end, and he pointed at Roy, speechless.

"What are you doing? Stop right now! How could you pour out such good wine? Stop right now!"

After saying that, the Gray Dwarf ran two steps toward Roy.

Then he stopped, gritting his teeth and jumping up and down in frustration, shouting at Roy, "You really are... You want Spinel Ore? We don't have any! The Dark Moon Elf control the entire vein. With them around, we don't dare to venture out to mine. The Gemstone Mine we dig out aren't even enough for them to steal."

"So, if I can keep these Dark Moon Elf in check, would you be willing to come out and mine?" Roy asked, seizing the opportunity.

"I can't make that decision myself, I have to go back and ask everyone for their opinions..." the Gray Dwarf roared in response, his eyes wide.

He then asked, "If it's settled, are you going to trade us rum?"

"Only high-grade Spinel Ore can be exchanged for rum; ordinary Spinel Ore can be exchanged for fruit wine and ale," Roy said.

"That... isn't necessarily a bad thing!"

As the Gray Dwarf spoke, he kept sniffing the aroma of wine in the mine.

Roy then pulled a large ale mug from his pouch, filled it with bubbling ale, and tossed it directly at the Gray Dwarf.

At a distance of ten meters, some of the wine spilled from the glass while it was still in the air.

The Gray Dwarf's eyes widened as he stared intently at the goblet. The moment he took it, the Gray Dwarf inside splashed all over his face...

"Sorry, we're too far apart, there's really nothing I can do!" Roy waved to the Gray Dwarf, then said, "If you want to trade for ale, bring your Gemstone Mine to the well tomorrow. Ten barrels of Spinel Ore for one barrel of ale. I'm talking about the ore, not those scrap stones. I can guarantee the Dark Moon Elves won't rob your ore. Whether you dare to bring it over is up to you!"

Why not trade here?

Seeing Roy turn to leave, the Gray Dwarf shouted loudly.

"You made the Dark Moon Elf withdraw from the North Mining Area, leaving the northern part of the mine to us. Also, the trading location has to be here. I don't trust those Dark Moon Elf!"

Roy turned around and said, "The price will be different then, twenty barrels of Spinel Ore for one barrel of wine!"

"Deal! You can send the rum over tomorrow! We're not going to waste time mining ordinary Spinel Ore. Also, do you have any sausages or barley bread? If so, we'd like to exchange some..."

"No, these aren't here yet. A batch of salted fish will probably arrive in a few days," Roy said, looking at the Gray Dwarf at the cave entrance.

"Salted fish is fine too, bring us some if you have any, we can discuss anything... By the way, has the owner of this mine changed? The old owner didn't have this kind of boldness..."

The Gray Dwarf carefully took a sip from his glass; only half a glass of ale remained, and he had to sip as little as possible.

Roy turned around and glanced at the Gray Dwarf, pursing his lips without saying a word.

He turned around and led a group of Dark Moon Elf away from the mine.

Unable to force his way through the cave, Roy's plan to capture the Gray Dwarf Bandit was thwarted. He had no choice but to temporarily back down and establish a cooperative relationship with the Gray Dwarf, leaving other plans for later.

Unlike the Bronzebeard Dwarf and Dark Iron Dwarf of the Dwarven Kingdom, these Gray Dwarf are cunning and greedy by nature, and they have the inherent nature to become bandits.

They had been trapped in the mine for too long, and were usually bullied by the Dark Moon Elf to the point of not daring to show their faces, which was why they hadn't caused any trouble underground...

Actually, there was something else Roy had never understood: the Mine Owners of these two mines simply threw the elves and dwarves into the mines and left them to fend for themselves. Didn't these Gray Dwarf and Half-Elf ever think of digging a tunnel to the surface and escaping the mines?

He went down into the mine twice and observed it carefully, but he didn't see any other mine shafts extending upwards.

When he came up from the mine, he saw Walker chatting with several Half-Elf in the courtyard. These Half-Elf wanted to do some restorative exercises in the courtyard at night.

Upon seeing Roy emerge from the mine, the Half-Elf straightened up and greeted Roy.

"Lord Roy!"

Roy stopped and looked at the training weapons on the wooden shelf, then casually asked, "Are you guys starting your recovery exercises now?"

The Half-Elf quickly replied with a smile, "If we don't move around a bit, our bodies will rust..."

Roy looked at Walker, pulled him aside, and whispered to him, "Walker, I'm asking you... after living underground in the mine for so long, did you ever think about digging a Mine Road upwards to escape?"

"We thought about it more than just that! We even dug two Mine Road leading to the surface, but both times they were discovered by the Highland Headhunters. Many of our companions died in those two incidents, so we never had that idea again," Walker answered honestly.

So it was because of those Highland Headhunters; that makes sense now.

In fact, those Highland Headhunters were also experts at burrowing. When the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment was chasing the Highland Headhunters, once they ran back into the mountains, they would disappear in the blink of an eye.

Roy suspected they had hidden in a secret cave...

Thinking about how to get the Gray Dwarf to obediently mine in the mine, Roy went back to his room on the third floor.

There was a letter in the most prominent place on the desk. Roy walked over and saw the neat handwriting on the envelope, and knew that it was written by Moira.

A while ago, Roy wrote three letters and asked the Commander Berkeley to mail them for him.

The first letter was addressed to Ms. Belinda, mainly introducing his life in the Pattington Plane and telling her not to worry. In fact, Roy didn't know how long it would take for Ms. Belinda to see it, since she should still be traveling in Darnassus.

Another letter was addressed to Moira, Sabrina, Woods, and Miss Tiffany, mainly because they were about to have a new holiday and Roy planned to invite them to visit the Pagisto Plateau.

The third letter was written to Xavier, the Dark Moon Elf assassin. Roy was in Castleton City and needed to write a letter to Xavier every month. However, in the Pattington Plane communication was extremely inconvenient, that letter was the first letter Roy had written to Xavier in the two months since he arrived in the Pattington Plane.

In fact, Roy wrote another long letter to Xavier the day before yesterday, filled with the names of Dark Moon Elf Prisoners. He wanted Xavier to help him verify the accuracy of this information about the Dark Moon Elf...

The first letter Roy received was a reply to Moira and the others:

'Dear Roy, perhaps by the time you receive this letter we've already set off, or perhaps we're actively preparing for our trip. In any case, we've all decided that we'll be visiting you on the Pagisto Plateau during our vacation. Please wait for us there.'

In addition, the four of them wrote down some trivial matters about their lives to Roy. Moira said that the Goddess of Freedom Temple was in a terrible state of disrepair, and Woods told Roy that he had grafted the mainmast of the Black Pearl onto the keel of the ship, and now the keel and mainmast of the Black Pearl were alive.

The names of Moira, Sabrina, Tiffany, and Woods were signed at the end.

Roy leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and reminisced about the wonderful days in Castleton City. He put down the letter in his hand and decided to take a good bath...

Tomorrow we'll see if those Gray Dwarf Gray Dwarf can resist the temptation of rum. Hopefully, they'll come out and start mining.

Roy saw that the second letter on the table was from the Valley Camp; it was probably a battle report from the Silver Pegasus Legion in the past few days.

I opened the envelope, and sure enough, it was the right letter.

Unexpectedly, in just half a month, the Silver Pegasus Legion had already invaded the heart of the Pagisto Plateau, Earl Swynborne had even seized seven mines in one fell swoop...

Upon seeing this news, Roy was somewhat dumbfounded...

If this expansion continues, he won't be able to return to school in Castleton for at least two years...