Page 118
Flint: "He has gone travelling with his great dragon friends. Just like you, King."
The wizard was shocked: "Why, you are already screaming with fear when you ride a horse, and you dwarves dare to ride a dragon?"
"All it takes is a special dragon saddle." Flint paused, then continued, "It's not that special actually. After all, the biggest difference between a dragon saddle and a human dragon rider's saddle is that the stirrups are at a higher position."
The king could hardly tell whether the dwarf was making fun of himself or being humorous. Maybe it was both?
He continued to ask: "Is there anyone who can do this now?"
Old Louis: "It depends on what material you want to make it with. This is a dwarf neighborhood. If you want to make leather, then sorry, no one can make it. But if you want to make iron, then everyone can make it."
Wang was overjoyed: "That's great, I'll draw a diagram for you, and you can start working on it right away. I'll give you as many gold coins as you want!"
Elizabeth was already in a coma, so the king ignored her warnings and gave Langdon a large amount of money for the trip.
Chapter 125: Elegy for the Past
It took Wang just five minutes to draw the schematic diagram.
When Old Louis saw the diagram, his eyes widened: "Holy crap! Is this really a hand-drawn diagram? This scale... this perspective structure... this is a diagram that only a master engineer could draw!"
Wang: "Ah? Not really. This is just something I learned from the golem design class."
Old Louis: "Golem design class?"
Wang: “I even won the Best Creativity Award.”
At this time, the other dwarves came over curiously, and even Flint squeezed in to watch.
"Oh my God," he said, "I thought you were just drawing something, but the scale, the perspective, and the detailed breakdown... Wow... Do you have a talent for engineering?"
Wang: "I don't think I'm gifted, and it's called Golem Design. The professor who teaches it refuses to use the term 'backward people who don't know magic'. 'I absolutely don't admit that a group of primitive people who don't know magic can understand engineering better than me'.
"By the way, this professor said this, but he really likes to use the engineering products from the 'primitive plane', such as ergonomic chairs and engineering pillows..."
One of the dwarves who were playing cards exclaimed, "What kind of magical plane is this? Can we go and see it for ourselves?"
Wang: "It is said to be called Earth. It is a very boring plane. There is no magic, no superpowers, and even no magnetic field. The technology is not advanced, and there is not even a space elevator. The planeswalkers like to do one thing very much, which is to write the story of the plane they come from, and then make a lot of money in this plane.
"This plane is unique only in terms of enjoyment." (*)
Dwarf: "Is there such a plane?"
Wang: "The multiverse is full of wonders. Let's not talk about this. This is an emergency. Can this be built?"
"Yes." Old Louis nodded. "I originally thought that I could only see a child's drawing and then rely on my own skills and imagination to realize it. With such a simple and clear design, I can build it directly!"
Flint: "I think the design is better than that one."
Old Louis: “Yeah, sure.”
Wang: "How much deposit do I have to pay?"
Old Louis smiled evilly and said, "Give me 30,000 gold coins first."
Flint roared, "Why don't you just go rob? It's just some nails and iron blocks. Can't you just smelt them?"
Old Louis: "Haha, I'll drive..."
Wang turned the dimensional bag upside down, and the golden coins spilled out with a splash - this is not an adjective, it's just a splash, as if a floodgate had been opened.
The huge amount of gold coins directly submerged old Louis' legs.
Seeing these gold coins, the dwarves were all stunned. One of them muttered, "I thought they would give me pledge notes from a merchant bank or stubs from a mint. They just gave me gold coins!"
In this dimension, gold needs to be minted into currencies of various countries. Over time, everyone will deposit the gold in the mint, and ask the mint to mint gold coins when they need it in the future.
Over time, it was discovered that mint stubs, blessed with contract spells and guaranteed by paladins of Typhon, the god of justice, could function just as well as gold coins in transactions.
Then there are the major trading houses. They often use the reputation of the trading houses and the guarantee of the paladins of Typhon to turn gold coins into various bills. When trading, you only need to give the bills.
Originally, everyone was thinking, what if everyone came to demand payment of bills at once? That's why they stored a lot of gold coins at the headquarters of the merchant bank. Later, everyone found that there was no need to worry at all.
As a result, all the businesses began to quietly issue more bills.
Over the years, one trading company went bankrupt: its competitors collected all the bills on the market and redeemed them all at once, and then everyone discovered that the gold coins in the trading company could not pay at all, so more people came to demand redemption - and the trading company went bankrupt.
From then on, businesses were very cautious and used spies to find out who was collecting their bills - it was impossible to issue fewer bills, and how could merchants not do something that was equivalent to picking up money for free.
In short, in Minos, a country with developed commerce and prosperous economy, people were actually accustomed to various bill transactions.
The king directly paid out 30,000 gold coins, which was simply a foolish act. If Elizabeth was awake, she would definitely pay with futures certificates or other equivalent bills.
But the mage doesn't care. It's none of my business whether there are receipts or not, or whether it's difficult to collect or count.
Anyway, the 30,000 gold coins are here, you can choose for yourself.
Wang: "My dimensional bag will accurately give me the number of items I need. This gold coin should be 30,000. If you don't believe me, you can click on it."
Old Louis looked down at the gold coins that buried his feet and said, "Uh... no need to count. You can take back the 25,000 gold coins. It only takes 5,000 gold coins to make this thing. This is because the orcs are besieging the city now, and iron is hard to come by, so the price is overpriced."
The king opened the dimensional bag and shouted, "Twenty-five thousand gold coins!"
The dimensional bag immediately burst out with a strong suction force, sucking back another 25,000 of the gold on the ground.
Looking at the significantly reduced gold coins, old Louis said, "Can you use a bill of exchange? This is very difficult to collect."
A gray-bearded dwarf among the card-playing dwarves said, "We'll help you and make money together. But there were so many gold coins just now. To be honest, my soul is almost sucked out. I want to sing that song now."
The dwarf with a Y-shaped beard began to clap: "Far over the misty mountains cold~"
The other dwarves immediately joined in, singing the next words in a deep chorus.
The owner of the shop next door pushed the door open and came out. He didn't sing along, but made a low roar with his mouth to harmonize.
Then there is the shop next door——
All the shop doors opened, and the dwarves came out and joined in the low chorus.
The windows on the second floor were also opened one by one, and the female dwarves stroked their beards and looked at the chorus of men below.
Wang looked at the scene with a surprised expression.
Xiaobai climbed onto his back, hung around his neck and whispered, "What's wrong with you?"
Wang: "I...seem to feel something. Is it tragic? Or courage? Maybe both."
Tears welled up in Nini's eyes. "Yeah, I felt it too. So this is what dwarves are like. The elders are very prejudiced."
At this time, the dwarves finished singing the last line, and someone proudly said: "Look, we dwarves have made the long-legged elves cry!"
Nini: "Is there any story behind this song?"
King: "The current capital of the Kingdom of Mountains is not the capital of the Dwarves. The capital of the powerful kingdom that built the Shield Road in ancient times was located under the eight central peaks of the World Mountains. The Dwarves have always wanted to restore the royal family and return to the old capital."
Old Louis: "You are wrong, wizard. The ancient mountain kingdoms are regarded as legends by long-lived dwarves. We have our own lives now, and no one lives in the glory of the past.
"but……"
He paused to take out his pipe, filling it with tobacco as he said, "But when we think of the kingdom that once flourished for our ancestors, we feel melancholy."
Someone in the chorus said, "Isn't this something that humans, who are on the road to prosperity, cannot understand? Whether it's the dwarves or the elves, their former prosperity has declined. The protagonist of the Third Age is humans."
Another said: "I've always felt like this was our elegy to ourselves."
"Yes."
"Ah."
The dwarves nodded.
King: "Has any of you ever thought of retrieving the old capital of the dwarves?"
"Before this became a legend," Flint said, "when my grandfather's grandfather was born, there were still many dwarves who wanted to regain their former glory. But they all disappeared. Some said that it had become a paradise for the Balrog, some said that a group of evil dragons lived there, and some said that it was now a city of the Mind Flayer."
The king's eyes lit up: "The city of the Mind Flayer?"
Flint was shocked: "No! I don't want to die! If it is really the city of the Mind Flayer, I don't want to go there! I'm not like you, who can be fine after eating the Divine Power!"
Wang: "I'm just curious, where is this... dwarven city? Under which of the eight peaks?"
Old Louis: "Every one. The city is huge. There are underground passages underneath the Eight Peaks. There are eight branch cities in total, each with different responsibilities."
Xiao Bai: "I heard him rubbing his fists."
Wang: "How could that be? This is the opposite direction of our travel. We should go to Yisongzuo, the state of the River Kingdoms, and catch the tail of that cult! But you see, one of our former team members chose to cross the Shield Road, right? So it makes sense for us to go find her after we complete our mission to save the world, right?"
Xiao Bai was shocked: "Are you not going to eat anymore?"
"It's all goo underneath, and the goo is starch," Wang replied.
Xiaobai: "Yeah, that's fine. Let's go to Isonzo, kill the cult, and then go the other way!"
Old Louis was shocked: "You want to... go find Bafeng?"
Wang: “Looking for?”
Flint: "Because all those who wanted to restore the glory back then have died, we don't know where the Eight Peaks are or how to get in. We only know that it's down there."
Wang: "Doesn't the Shield Road pass by?"
"Yes." Flint nodded. "But it's just a few tunnels and winding mountain roads. You can see the towering mountain fortress, but it's the defense facility of the Shield Road, and now there are dwarf legions stationed there. But everything in the Old Kingdom is deep underground."
As soon as he finished speaking, one of the dwarves around him shouted, "Maybe the old capital has been submerged by lava. My grandfather said that lava submerged everything. He swore that our ancestors evacuated the old capital at that time."
Wang: "That's possible. Anyway, I'll make a note of it. Now that I've paid the deposit, let's get started!"
"Okay!" Old Louis turned around and handed the schematic diagram drawn by the king to the other dwarves. "We want to build this thing, but we are short of manpower. Who is free to work?"
The dwarf who got the blueprint unfolded it and said, "Holy crap! This is a great blueprint! Seeing such a good blueprint makes me want to build it. Can you count me in?"
"What kind of picture is this? Let me take a look. Holy shit! Come and take a look at this!"
"My grass!"
After a moment, the dwarves present unanimously decided to build this saddle together!
Wang: "You... now that we have so many people, how long will it take to finish it?"
"Tonight will do!" Old Louis patted his chest.
King: "No, we don't have any spells tonight. It will be troublesome if we encounter the orcs' tracking troops after landing. Let's do it tomorrow night! You guys build it first. Flint, if you don't want to go see Annie, you can stay and supervise..."
"It's Jenny," Flint corrected, "No, I'd better go and see. After all... No more talking, let's go!"
**