"What's wrong, Morgan, have you thought of your lover in this village?"

"That's another story. What I laugh at is their conservatism.

"You know, Juan, the wild elves in the village said that they have been growing and tapping rubber here for generations, and it has been like this for thousands of years, haha, for generations, haha, for thousands of years, hahahaha."

"What's so funny about this?"

"But rubber trees were brought by humans. There are no rubber trees on this beautiful planet, hahahaha."

"This is indeed a bit funny, but elves are all long-lived species, how could they not know?"

"This village appeared after rubber planting. There are no indigenous elves, all the elves have been relocated.

"The first elves said this to the later ones, and the later ones also said the same thing to the later ones.

"Gradually, all the elves here believe this statement, so that the first elf who said it also believes it, or he has forgotten why he said it.

"So, this became their tradition."

"Then no one told them that rubber trees are not native to this beautiful planet?"

"I told them, guess what they responded?"

"If you don't want to guess, just tell me."

"Juan, this is boring. Let me guess."

"Okay, well, then I guess they will probably say: You are spreading rumors."

"Yes, yes, they said I was spreading rumors, and they told me very seriously: 'You must be honest and honest, you cannot create rumors, you cannot spread rumors, and you cannot believe rumors."

"And, to prove me wrong, they performed a rubber-tapping dance for me, which is a must-have dance at their annual traditional celebration.

"They said: Look, this is our traditional culture. It has been passed down for thousands of years and has never changed. Therefore, this is enough to prove that they have been growing rubber and tapping rubber here for generations."

"Haha, a group of elves with fixed minds."

"No, Juan, their thinking is not rigid, they are actually very imaginative.

"Just like old-fashioned humans, they will continue to create various traditions and rules to prove that they are right.

"They repeat this behavior until everyone, including the person who first told the lie, believes it is not a lie but the truth."

"Yes, that's right. Just like human beings, when the world is full of lies, it's hard to distinguish the truth."

…

When the setting sun dyed the white water vapor rising from the Meru Crater into rose red, Juan and his party arrived at the Dwarf Valley.

There is a wooden wall blocking the entrance of the valley, but the defense is not very tight.

After entering, there are logs and ores piled everywhere inside, just like a construction site.

At the end of the valley is a ten-meter-high cave entrance protected by a bronze gate.

But now the bronze door is open.

There were many dwarves waiting in a slightly chaotic queue at the door, waving small flags.

The leader is a dwarf with a maroon beard that almost reaches the ground. He is much taller than ordinary dwarves, he should be 1.6 meters tall.

After seeing the convoy of Juan and his entourage, the dwarf stepped forward to greet him with a loud voice:

"King of the hill, leader of the Bronzebeard dwarves, Muradin Bronzebeard, would like to welcome the head of state."

Juan saw that Muradin Bronzebeard, the dwarf leader of the Bronzebeard tribe, had his chin shaved cleanly.

However, it seems that he was busy shaving after receiving the notice of the visit, and there were a few small cuts that were still bleeding.

Huan followed Muradin Bronzebeard into the cave.

He found that this cave should be naturally formed, a bit like a magma channel, but there were also obvious traces of artificial carvings.

The floor covered with faded red carpet is very flat. It can be seen that it is paved with earth cement made from slag, broken bricks, calcined shale, lime kiln slag, etc. and mixed with a small amount of lime and gypsum powder.

I don’t know whether the dwarves invented this technology themselves, or whether humans taught them.

There are many side roads in the cave, just like the tunnels in the classic old movie "Tunnel War". After walking for a while, Juan couldn't tell the direction clearly. If the enemy attacked, he would definitely suffer a big loss here.

But with Muradin Bronzebeard leading the way, and there was a faded red carpet on the ground, Huan didn't have to worry about anything.

After turning a corner, Juan's eyes suddenly lit up.

It was a huge cave nearly 50 meters high, with many burning pine branches stuck on the cave wall to provide lighting.

The black smoke from the pine branches rose to the top of the cave and disappeared into several vents that seemed to be dedicated, so the whole cave was not stuffy at all.

There are many passages for dwarves to enter and exit on the cave wall, and there are also scaffolding-like stairs, and dwarves go up and down from time to time.

In the middle of the cave, on a flat earth and cement floor, there was a huge rectangular wooden table.

The table is covered with white tablecloths, decorated with flowers, as well as cast iron cutlery and black ceramic tableware.

Muradin Bronzebeard respectfully invited: "Your Excellency, please take a seat."

Juan sat on the main seat without hesitation.

Morgan accompanied Huan on his right, Muradin Bronzebeard sat on Huan's left, and the rest of the entourage, as well as the dignitaries among the dwarves, also took their seats one by one.

Juan saw that these dwarf dignitaries had also shaved their beards, leaving only Thorin's big beard on the whole table, as if Thorin was the dwarf king and the others were halflings.

After receiving permission, the dwarf attendants served everyone food and filled Huan's gold cup, Morgan's and Muradin Bronzebeard's silver cups, and all the other empty tin goblets with bubbling ale.

An impatient dwarf wanted to reach out for the cup, but was stopped by the elder beside him.

Juan knew it was his turn to speak.

He opened his mouth and said: "Give me a pair of chopsticks."

The waiter immediately brought a pair of brand new mahogany chopsticks.

The dwarves at the table looked at it, including Muradin Bronzebeard, and they all pushed the cast iron knives and forks aside and asked the attendants to bring them chopsticks.

Juan nodded with satisfaction, then raised his glass: "I did it, everyone is welcome."

After he finished speaking, he drank all the ale in the cup in one breath.

"Hiccup~, ah, so happy."

"Good! The head of state is indeed a cheerful man!" Muradin Bronzebeard praised loudly, and also picked up the wine glass and drank it down.

So everyone on the table picked up their glasses and drank, regardless of whether they could drink or not.

The atmosphere instantly became high.

A waiter brought Juan soup made from canned meat.

Juan asked casually: "Where did you get the canned meat?"

"Sir, it was left behind by the previous army."

Damn, can this still be eaten? Did you know that canned food also has a shelf life?

But Juan looked at the dwarves on the table, and they all ate happily.

And from the looks of them, it seems that this is a rare delicacy that they are usually reluctant to eat.

However, Juan then thought about it. After the army left, the dwarves should have no source of cans, and they would eat less cans. For them, this is indeed a rare food.

Moreover, dwarves have high poison resistance and can eat expired cans without any problem. Perhaps they think that human stomachs are the same as theirs.


Chapter completed!