Two 'Princes'?

Chapter 25: Two 'Princes'?

The brutal battle at the Dwarf cave entrance had ended.

Some blood-soaked Dwarf warriors braced themselves against the walls and forced their way to the cave mouth. At last, they saw their saviors!

"Pure-Blood Elves? Elves from Blackleaf Forest?"

"Why are they here?" a Dwarf cried out.

"The Elves of Border Town. You haven't gone out on patrol, so you don't know that an Elven Prince has arrived in Border Town..." A short but lavishly dressed Dwarf warrior raised his brows as he spoke.

"A Pure-Blood Elf prince? How could he have come to a place like this?"

"He's already at the edge of Blackleaf Forest. This Elven Prince was far too careless. Isn't he afraid of being captured by evil people?" someone sighed worriedly.

"How would I know?" Odom explained, a hint of envy in his words, though he was not wrong.

Because in terms of bloodline—

William was a prince among the Black Leaf Elves!

The Royal Bloodline of Blackleaf Forest was exceedingly scarce, and many had died on the battlefield. Coupled with the Elves' long lifespans and painfully low fertility, they did not place much importance on generational rank. As long as the Elven King lived, every descendant with Royal Bloodline would be granted the title of princess or prince!

And every princess and prince had the right to inherit the throne!

But the deciding factors were still one's influence, level of support, and the Elven King's decree.

Unfortunately, William's father was human...

By blood, he was a prince of the Black Leaf Elves. Even with his five hundred personal guards, he barely received the treatment of a Little Prince.

Unfortunately.

He had no official title!

The reason Odom had determined that he was an Elven Prince—

Was because he had secretly observed him before and seen how the five hundred Elf guards treated William with exceptional respect. That alone was enough to prove that William was an Elf prince!

Only the noble status of the Elven Royal Family could make other Elves lower their heads in reverence.

"Wait, what did you mean by saying that he was too careless to come here?" Odom asked with an unhappy look, turning around with his hammer in hand.

The Dwarf warrior who had spoken earlier shut his mouth and stared at the cave wall with feigned interest, as if he wanted to scrape off some Mithril with his fingers...

Because Odom's bloodline was also royal. He was the last heir of the Lonely Mountain Royal Family!

The last king of Lonely Mountain, Odom Heavyhammer!

Perhaps the humans of this age had long forgotten the surname Heavyhammer, but once upon a time, its brilliance had not been inferior to that of the Elves. It was far beyond the surnames of the Seven Dwarf Kingdoms.

But after Audero Heavyhammer, the emperor of Lonely Mountain, fell, a Dwarf civil war broke out.

The Dwarves truly loyal to the descendants of the Lonely Mountain emperor suffered devastating casualties and could only flee with the sole young prince.

As for the Dwarves who had started the war, they claimed that they could not find the true heir of the royal bloodline, then regretfully declared themselves kings.

Who had started the civil war?

At least half of the current Seven Dwarf Kingdoms had been involved...

Yet the elegant and proud Elves, no matter how many fierce victories they had achieved, always gave Dwarves the feeling that they were too delicate and should not be in such a dangerous place...

As for the thick-skinned, tough-bodied Dwarves?

Of course they could go anywhere...

"Remember, don't reveal my surname. From now on, my surname is Ironhammer. Odom Ironhammer, Grandmaster Blacksmith!" Odom said decisively after seeing Lotner finally defeat the Pale Orc.

The other Dwarf warriors nodded one after another. The situation was obvious now.

Border Town's Elven Prince had come to rescue them, so what they would have to offer was certainly more than just the Mithril Vein. Besides, Odom had plans of his own...

While they were talking—

The one-on-one battle had also come to an end.

Using a vicious strategy of trading injury for injury, Lotner furiously swung his sword and cut off the Pale Orc's head.

"The leader's dead?" The Orcs were stunned.

"Oh, shit!" Seeing the Elves closing in, a Berserker Orc decisively tossed aside his weapon, skillfully picked up an iron pickaxe from the ground, swung it a few times, found it quite handy, then pretended to start digging again.

Seeing this, the other Orcs immediately dropped their weapons and looked around, as though the Pale Orc from earlier had nothing to do with them.

William could not help wanting to laugh at the sight...

But the proud Elf guards did not allow him to laugh...

So he shut his mouth and slowly walked over to Lotner, who had his back to them.

Lotner's longsword touched the ground, his hands resting lightly on its hilt. His icy gaze swept across every Orc, his bearing overwhelmingly domineering, his badass aura practically spilling out...

"Resist, or submit!" William said in a deep, expressionless voice, loud and clear!

"We submit!"

"We submit..." The Orcs fell to their knees one after another, declaring their surrender!

Based on the Orcs' past battles against Elves, they knew that Elves usually did not kill Captives. They only killed enemies who fled or resisted. At worst, the other Captives would become miners!

And the best treatment?

Becoming the foreman of their fellow miners...

But there was nothing bad about being a miner.

There was a chance of escaping.

And they could eat and drink well... That was probably impossible, but as long as they were not immediately killed, that was enough.

Most importantly—

Lotner put far too much pressure on them.

The Pale Orc they had once looked up to had been easily cut down by Lotner. Its head, still unable to rest in peace, lay beneath his foot.

That scene alone was enough to put enormous pressure on the Orcs.

Especially since Orcs liked submitting to the strong, just as they were willing to become a Dragon's clan despite the constant threat of death.

After all, even if they wanted to run, they needed the chance. This was a forest...

"Disarm every one of them. Make them remove all their upper-body armor, then take them to the Iron Ore Vein first!" William waved his hand, and Nock directed the Elf guards to lead the group away.

Afterward—

He turned toward the Dwarves at the cave entrance and grinned. "Friends of the Dwarves, I hope my rescue came in time!"

Odom Heavyhammer Favorability +188

Pete Boulderstone Favorability +230

Rona...

William saw the string of favorability increases and could not help raising a brow, a pleased smile appearing on his face.

No matter what—

If he had not led the Elf troops here to rescue them, the Dwarves would inevitably have been trapped in the mine and brutally slaughtered by the Orcs.

The favorability gained from that went without saying.

Unfortunately—

The faction favorability William had been most looking forward to was nowhere to be found!

William twitched the corner of his mouth. He carefully checked the refreshed information, and there really was no faction favorability...

What did that mean?

While this Elven Prince without an official title was still guessing, he suddenly noticed the first person whose favorability had increased...

Odom Heavyhammer had only given him 188 favorability points. For saving his life, he had only given him a measly 188 points??

Didn't he know that the maximum favorability for ordinary NPC friends was one thousand?

"Heavyhammer???" William's eyes suddenly widened. He carefully checked the information again, then glanced at the slightly taller figure among the short Dwarves.

Golden hair, a handsome and resolute face, a height of one meter fifty-five, and a strangely familiar hammer in his hand, with faint currents of electricity swirling around it...

"Hiss..." William sucked in a cold breath. He had no choice but to admire the creators of Gods. Weren't they afraid of receiving a lawyer's letter from Marvel?

But he still walked over with a beaming smile, slowly placed the hand that had been about to pat William's head onto his own shoulder instead, and said, "May I ask who among you is the leader?"

Odom Heavyhammer glanced at the slender hand on his shoulder before looking up at him. "Odom Ironhammer. I am their leader!"

William pondered for two seconds. "William Blackleaf. Is there anything you need help with?"

"The Orc attack has dealt us severe losses. I have decided to lead all the Dwarves under my command to join Border Town and seek protection. Would Your Highness welcome us?"

"Of course. Welcome, eternal friends of the Elves." William narrowed his eyes and smiled.

Your Highness?

Just those two words.

He was taking this underling!