Chapter 451 – The Hammer Clan

Chapter 451 – The Hammer Clan
The deep and dark passageway could not be seen at a glance, the burning torches made crackling sounds, and the sound of the soles of shoes on the ground could echo for a long time before disappearing.

The air was very turbid, mixed with the scent of earth, and sometimes it was necessary to take a big breath to ensure that the body needed it.

Stanford and his men were walking in such an environment, they were passing through a tunnel in the mountains made by the dwarves.

Many were jittery and their bodies shivered uncontrollably, the atmosphere was as if they were walking on the road to hell.

Many were afraid that the tunnel would suddenly collapse and bury them all underneath.

“Humans, I’ll say it again, if you’re afraid, you can go back out the way you came.”

Barash said somewhat smugly, dwarves have loud voices, Barash especially so, because of the deep tunnels, his voice was now even louder like a bell ringing.

Stanford shook his head. Going back? A joke.

One night two days ago, the dwarf Barash had promised to help them through the Rocky Mountains. After a night’s rest at the dwarven encampment, Barash himself would lead them to Furnace Keep, the settlement of the Hammer Clan.

The climb over the mountains that Stanford had expected did not happen, and the dwarf led them by a shortcut – a tunnel.

Dwarven tunnels are essentially a maze of twists and turns, winding, walking a few steps to encounter a fork in the road, but also up and down, not to mention that some sections of the road without torches, relying on the rock walls can emit fluorescence of certain unknown fungi to provide a little light, which makes remembering the route is even more difficult to greatly increased.

If there is no guide, in such tunnels in the mess, from time to time passed a pile of white bones may be the end of most people it.

The tunnels they walked through were not continuous, although each one was very long, but eventually they would come out, the exit was often in a valley, and then after continuing to walk through a section of the mountain, they entered into another tunnel.

“We’re here!”

Finally, they arrived in the middle of one of the most open valleys since they entered the mountains.

As they were about to come out of the tunnel, Barash once again kindly reminded them to squint.

Stanford half-covered himself with his hand and squinted into the distance.

The first thing he saw was a patch of land that was irregularly distributed but clearly showed signs of tending; it appeared that the dwarves in the mountains also practiced farming.

Continuing further into the distance, a massive, looming structure stood in front of the valley’s stone wall.

It seemed to be a castle, but the style was extremely rough.

“Welcome to Furnace Castle.”

Barash pointed remotely at the huge building on the stone wall.

“In your human parlance, this is the ‘royal capital’ of our Hammer Clan, and soon you will meet my father.”

“An honor!” Stanford thanked him.

The group continued on to the massive castle.

As they got closer, Stamford could see that the main body of the original castle was actually carved out of the rock wall in a raw manner, with some localized areas using masonry to build up.

Once again, he marveled at the dwarves’ ingenuity.

“Are we the first humans to visit this place?”

“Haha, Mr. Stanford, I’m sorry you won’t be able to claim that achievement.”

Barash grinned widely.

“In the long history of the Dwarves, there have been a number of Fae friends who have visited this place, Orcs and Humans alike, and they have often done our people some sort of favor, and all of them have been loyal, trustworthy, and true to their word, but it may be decades before there is such a fortunate one.”

From the sidelines, Imar interjected, “And the wars that took place in the distant past ……”

“Shut up, Imar!” Barash interrupted, “Enough about that, let’s go inside.”

The dwarven warriors guarding the castle gates saw that the young patriarch had actually brought a group of humans over, and each of them opened their eyes wide.

But they didn’t stop them, they just kept casting curious gazes, after all, humans were a rarity even for certain dwarves who didn’t go down to the mountains much. Stanford and his men entered the castle while enduring the uncomfortable feeling of being viewed.

It was then that they realized that there was something else inside the castle, the building wasn’t just a shallow layer carved into the stone walls, but was very deep and not cramped like the tunnels they had walked through before, the space was extremely large, making it seem as if one was in the middle of a town – even for a human’s height.

The roads inside the castle were well-connected and well-ventilated, without the dreary feeling of the tunnels.

Along the way, Stanford saw taverns, bazaars, stores, residences, and other building areas with different functions, many of which were bustling with people, just like the human world.

Yes, a city, this was a city embedded into a mountain.

A wide main road led straight to the clan patriarch’s residence, and they followed it to its end.

The place where the clan leader lived wasn’t as imposing as a human king or lord, only the gate was larger than the rest of the dwarven buildings.

Barash led them straight inside, again without being stopped.

The patriarch of Clan Hammer received Captain Stanford in a wide hall.

Barash’s father was a dwarf with a beard that could almost drag to the ground, but his face was very red and full, and his body was extremely strong, dressed in clothes made of linen and draped in a shawl made from the skins of unknown beasts.

It seemed that apart from his beard, the Lord Patriarch was no different from his people.

“My son, why did you bring a group of humans to Fireforge Castle?” The Dwarf Patriarch looked at the group with a stern gaze.

“Father!” Barash stepped forward to explain, “These humans saved Imar from the orc bandits.”

“Oh?” The dwarven patriarch glanced at his nephew.

“Tell me the story carefully.”

Imar immediately stepped forward and “painted” a picture of the process, interspersed, as always, with outrageous boasts about himself.

But his boasting was a good cover, and the Dwarf Chief, knowing his nephew’s character, didn’t question the premise that the humans had saved him.

“So, are you looking for some kind of reward?”

“We want to return to our homeland in the south through the Rocky Mountains.”

Stanford pleaded with him and told him a little about where he had come from.

“And I ask the great Dwarf King to accept this ungrateful gift.”

He offered the gift lightly.

“King of the Dwarves? Hahaha!”

The patriarch laughed, “Humans, you sure know how to say compliments. Alright, I’ll take these exquisite trinkets of yours.”

“For the sake of the gifts and the saving of my people’s lives, as well as your courage, I will allow you to travel through our territory, but you will swear to your gods that you will not disclose the details of your journey along the way to anyone else.”

“I swear to do as you ask!” It wasn’t like they remembered anything anyway.

The patriarch looked at his nephew.

“Alright! Imar, it’s getting a little late today, so go ahead and lead the human guests to rest. Tomorrow get someone to guide them to the south, you know what to do.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

Stanford let out a long breath of relief that things were finally coming to an end. He followed Imar out the door. Behind him came the sound of the Dwarf Clan Chief talking to his son.

“Barash, later you inform the elders to come over, we have to confer, certain orc cubs are too arrogant to hit the dwarves with their ideas.”

“Yes, father.”

(End of chapter)