"So when you're sleepy, the Drow come along and deliver a pillow. We've finally got the stage we need to demonstrate our strength at this point."
Li Wei grinned as he looked around at everyone. He flicked a paw at the Duergar messenger and announced another arrangement that caught them off guard. "Let the Drow messenger go back first. Have her tell their Matriarch that we'll pay them a visit in three days to discuss joining forces against the Underdark Beast Tide."
"But why wait three days?" Fischer quickly played along, having already given up on trying to understand the reason himself.
Li Wei gave Fischer an approving glance for being so quick on the uptake, then grew serious. "There's an old saying from the distant grasslands where I'm from: know each side's strengths and weaknesses, and you won't be at a disadvantage in battle. I can roughly estimate the Beast Tide's severity from the losses you suffered last time, but I need a clear picture of the actual strength of this makeshift honor guard you've assembled. Isn't that only fair?"
He began calling them out one by one. "For example, of the three thousand Duergar troops, how many are veterans who've actually fought other people on a battlefield, rather than miners and smiths who've spent their lives working underground?"
"About six hundred." The Old Dwarf, who'd started the military parade, lowered his head in shame and gave a figure with all the padding removed.
To be fair, since Zelandia had stabilized, the most these Duergar had done was fight monsters in the mines. The only ones who'd truly seen battle were probably the six hundred veterans who'd escaped the Drow's purge alongside him and survived to this day.
"Another example: of the Hundred-Man Battle Mage Corps, which looks so