Chapter 447 – Robbery

Chapter 447 – Robbery
After negotiating the payment with the dwarf named Imar, Stanford only slightly put his heart down. After all, a stranger who suddenly wanted to come and help you for no reason, and took on a certain amount of risk, how could one feel that there were no good intentions? But if he was claiming a certain amount of benefit, it was conversely reassuring.

Stanford returned to the camp and announced the good news of finding a guide, causing the team to cheer. Seeing the situation, Stanford immediately warns them never to leak the news.

He then ordered an inspection of the equipment, polishing swords and chambers, drying gunpowder, checking the fuses of grenades, and preparing fire-starters in an effort to be foolproof.

The necessary vigilance still needed to be present.

In the meantime, the orc caravan led by Eugene left. Stanford sent off Finn, who was already considered a friend, and gave him a porcelain bowl, and the young orc rejoiced and strongly invited Stanford to be his guest if he had the chance to go to the grassland.

Finally, after five days, the members of the expedition waited in excitement and nervousness for word from Imar the Dwarf – to leave the following morning.

At the appointed moment, Stamford led thirty members of the team, leading their ten reindeer, loaded with the supplies exchanged in the Blood Cow Tribe to embark on the road to the south.

The road was actually a narrow strip of forest with a low density of trees, and they stepped on the snow and thick gray dead grass, struggling to move forward among the trees.

“Take care to be vigilant! There could be a beast scurrying out of here at any moment, and I don’t want to have to go back to anyone if they turn into a stinking pile of feces.”

Stanford was afraid that these few days of recuperation in the Blood Bull Tribe had made the team members lethargic, so he reminded them at intervals.

As the team advanced, the woods began to grow thicker and thicker. Stamford held his compass and glanced at it every now and then to make sure he was heading straight south.

Three pines, one tall and two short, appeared in front of them, the one in the center grew luxuriantly, with dense pine needles forming several umbrella-like canopies independent of each other, while the pines on the left and right appeared very low against the tall one in the center. Around the three pines there was a not-so-small flat area that stood out in this densely wooded area.

“We’ve arrived, let’s rest here for a while first.”

Without the need for him as the captain to explain, no one in this group that had already experienced a long period of adventures on land wandered off, and those that did go to relieve themselves did so in groups of three or four.

Stanford circled the pines to observe the surrounding area and found nothing out of the ordinary.

The group waited for over an hour and had not yet waited for the guide to arrive.

Vice-Captain Matthew found Stamford, “That dwarf isn’t lying to us, is he?”

Before Stamford could answer, he heard a loud noise coming from the patch of trees to the west.

The vegetation in that direction was very dense, even in such a cold winter and spring. The thin gray branches sticking out of the mass of shrubs were so intertwined that it was hard to see what was going on in the distance.

“Be on the lookout!” Matthew shouted.

Ten crossbows were aimed in unison in that direction, and the others each gripped their weapons.

A moment later, the thick branches of the shrubs were parted by a pair of hands with stubby fingers sticking out from them, and then a round head poked out.

“It’s me! It’s me! I am your guide Imar.”

Imar the Dwarf shouted at the top of his lungs, “Bloody hell! Someone have the kindness to come over and give me a hand.”

“It’s our guide coming!” Stanford gestured to the crowd to de-alert them.

He ran forward, took hold of the other man’s wrist, and with all his might yanked out Imar, who was stuck in the bushes.

The dwarf rubbed his aching arm, “Oh, my arm! It’s almost dislocated. I’ve suffered a lot to get out of sight, you’ll have to pay extra.”

Stanford shook his head, “I say man, dwarves may not have the same concept of time as we do? This is over an hour late.” “To hell with your time? How dare you talk to a Dwarf who has only ever used the sun and an hourglass to keep time about time that is only measured in what you call hours? That’s just unrealistic.”

He eyed the pocket watch on Stanford’s chest hotly, extending his stubby index finger toward it, “If you can give me this timepiece when we get there, perhaps you’ll have a silver coin or two left for yourself in that bag of yours.”

Stanford had shown him the pocket watch when the rendezvous time had been agreed upon, and his bloodline from the dwarves had made him intensely curious about the contraption. The even graduations on a glass-covered flat surface forming a circle, along which three coaxial hands rotated at varying speeds, appealed to him more than the porcelain.

Imar knew that there was a profession among humans called the odd mechanic, specializing in odd mechanics, and while the things made were often neither practical nor durable, the timepiece in front of him was clearly not one of those.

“I’ll think about it!” Stanford hid the pocket watch in his arms.

This action caused the dwarf to bellyache to him – hmm, it’s going to end up in my hands anyway.

“Then, as promised just please bring us …… Hey! I say man, you’re a bit tightly dressed today.”

Stanford was surprised at the dwarf’s dress.

Imar wore a pair of chainmail that wrapped himself up tightly, a helmet decorated with the horns of an unknown animal, and a nailed hammer on his back, the whole thing gleaming with a metallic sheen in the sunlight.

“What a fuss!” The Dwarf said in a nonchalant manner, “I don’t want the beasts here to treat me like a snack.”

He waved a hand, “Hurry up and get on your way, I’m going to take you on some out of the way ‘paths’ that will take a little longer than the normal way in order to avoid my kind.”

Stanford then ordered the party to set off again, traveling south right behind the dwarves.

……

“I say, why haven’t I seen any dwarves south of the Rocky Mountains?”

On the way, Stanford and Imar had a conversation.

“Human, you’re my employer, and I don’t want to say anything too harsh to your face, but the old people have repeatedly warned us that it’s better not to come into too much contact with humans, and that’s what the various clans have been doing since the beginning of time.”

“Uh …… that’s totally prejudice. So how come you guys can do business with orcs?”

“Their heads are simpler, they don’t have too many twists and turns in their hearts, and they don’t lose out by exchanging things with them. And they’re not interested in our mountains, they won’t keep thinking about prying into the secrets of getting into the mountains.”

Stanford frowned, “But as far as I understand, in the eastern section of Rocky Mountain, from time to time, there are small groups of orcs roaming to human villages and towns to loot, the bottom of the Nerodan Valley is heavily guarded, and it’s obvious that they came down from the Rocky Mountain, and isn’t it also your Dwarf territory? How can there be orcs appear?”

“What orcs? Don’t know.” Imar shook his head, “The eastern section of the mountains is too far away from our Hammer Clan.”

Stanford thought to ask again when he suddenly heard a disturbance in the distance behind him.

He immediately looked back, only to see a large swath of flying birds rise from the dense forest in the north.

“Everyone pay attention oh! There might be some large animals foraging for food.”

Imar said thoughtfully as he touched the handle of his nailhead hammer.

(End of chapter)