Chapter 342 Audience with the Dwarven King
They were quickly led through the capital and to the palace in the center.
This was a palace that could be seen from far away with how big it was, but it almost seemed wrong to call this place a palace.
That was because...it looked more like a fortress rather than a palace.
This was a building that was made completely of hard ores.
Instead of being a complete building, it was a mishmash building that had different parts to it.
There were several different buildings that were made of different ores that all seemed to be put together to form one large fortress.
But there was no doubt that this was a powerful fortress with the different ores that it was made of.
Iron, cold steel, and even mithril.
These were all powerful metals that only the dwarves would be able to bring out in large amounts like this because of their natural ability to find metal.
If this was placed in a human country, it would be ripped to pieces in an instant to be scrapped for all kinds of different things. That was just how lacking in ores the human countries were.
Or at least that was what Shaka told me.
He had been looking at this fortress with a look of regret and amazement after seeing it.
It was clear that he was thinking about the forces of our kingdom and their lack of proper equipment.
After arriving in the fortress, we were led right to the throne room by the captain of the guards.
When we arrived in the throne room, we found that there were many dwarves that were gathered. However, they were not gathered because of us...they were gathered because they were discussing the issues of the Dwarven Kingdom.
"The humans to the south tried to infiltrate and steal some of the iron from our mines."
"There's an infestation of mine bats to the west that's been giving us quite a bit of trouble."
"I heard that the bread lady on third street came out with a new recipe, want to try it later?"
The last one didn't seem related to the Dwarven Kingdom, but the rest were all important matters for the Dwarven Kingdom. These things normally wouldn't be told to outsiders, but they had no problem discussing it even though they saw us enter.
Humans to the south...luckily that wasn't us.
Our kingdom was to the north of the Dwarven Kingdom, so they shouldn't be talking about us.
But since they were talking about humans, would that sentiment spread to us?
I couldn't help being worried as we were led in.
Once we fully entered the throne room and stood in front of everyone, the dwarves inside stopped talking and turned to look at us.
There was one gruff looking dwarf who was sitting right on the throne in the center of this room. He had been sitting there with a bored look on his face as he put his cheek on his left hand.
With the way that he was sitting, it almost looked like he was dozing off.
But when he saw us enter, his eyes immediately lit up and opened wide.
Even though they had already stopped talking, he still raised a hand as if he was stopping them before looking at us to say, "Vela, are these the ones?"
The captain of the guard gave a nod before saying, "Your majesty, these are the humans that you requested." Then as if it was an afterthought, he added, "Lord Silvermine is also here."
The Dwarven King gave a nod, but it was clear that he was more interested in us than in Ivar.
I didn't know what to do at first, but then Haley suddenly gave a bow and said, "Your majesty, it is an honour to meet you."
The rest of our group also did the same except for me who reacted a bit slow, but I quickly followed them and bowed to the Dwarven King.
The Dwarven King just waved his hand and said, "There's no need for any of that. We don't like that kind of formality here."
All of us slowly stood up again with awkward smiles on our faces.
We knew that, but he was still a king...so at the very least, we should show a bit of respect.
The Dwarven King just ignored the awkward looks that we had and said, "I heard that one of you was quite good at forging. That you had techniques that even we didn't have."
When the other dwarves in this room heard this, they couldn't help revealing surprised expressions before turning to look at us with curious looks. It was as if they were trying to find the person that the Dwarven King was talking about.
But I couldn't help being surprised to hear this.n--0velb1n
How did the Dwarven King know about all of this?
The Dwarven King saw that none of us answered, so he slightly knitted his brows as he said, "Did that one not come with you? I heard Dorin mention that this was a person that used techniques that we had never seen before and that it was much better than anything we currently have."
At this, the dwarves in the room couldn't help slightly knitting their brows as a competitive look appeared in their eyes.
At the same time, there was a bit of displeasure that also appeared.
Better than anything they currently had?
Wasn't that an insult to them?
Saying that a human could forge better than them, this was like a slap to their face.
Sensing that the atmosphere in this throne room was becoming strange, I quickly stepped out and said, "Your majesty, that is me."
Dorin...that was the name of the captain of the guards at the border.
So it was all because of him that we had been summoned like this.
The Dwarven King raised a brow to look at me when I stepped out, almost as if he was doubtful of this.
But then he said with a wide smile, "Alright, have a forging duel with me."