Chapter 22: The Dwarf on the First Day of the Long Journey

The caravan, having doubled in length, moved much more slowly.

The main reason was that most people needed to travel on foot, which was quite different from the previous situation where everyone rode in carriages.

The maximum speed of the caravan was determined by the walking speed of the slowest person in the entire group.

Unfortunately, even though the Dwarves had made all sorts of preparations for the long journey, their short legs—a result of their race's stature—made them slower than Humans during normal walking.

This resulted in Jier's group, who were at the front, having to walk for a while and then wait for the Dwarf group following behind.

Fortunately, the route this morning was entirely within the Huitou Forest; as long as they passed through this forest, which no longer had any Mist, before the afternoon, there would be no problems with the journey.

Once the men under Jier's command discovered that the Dwarves were moving slowly, many of them began to mutter unpleasant things under their breath.

Things like "short-legged runts" and the like.

"Watch your mouths, all of you! I don't want to hear such talk in my group, ever! You must understand that the Dwarves will be following our group for quite a long time, and they can understand Human speech. If a conflict breaks out because of this, I won't be taking your side, understand? Hmph, when you get your teeth smashed in by enraged Dwarves and want to spend money to have a new set fitted, or beg the Priest masters of the Church to use Divine Art to grow you a new set, it will be very expensive."

Jier tapped his teeth with his finger, producing a solid *clack-clack* sound: "If you feel you have plenty of money in your pockets, then you can go ahead and do it."

Following Jier's warning, the gossip in the group vanished, at least for the time being.

Knowing this forest was safe, Jier had Xueya Site intentionally slow down the lead carriage, then let Tianxuecao walk slowly. His men passed him one by one, each greeting him as they went by.

Jier waved his hand casually, responding to the respect of these Warriors and the intentional ingratiation of the captured Soldiers.

Soon, he fell behind the last carriage of his own caravan, and behind that was the first ox-cart of the Dwarf group.

The two Dwarves sitting in the driver's positions stared intently at Jier, but Jier ignored them. After approaching the ox-cart, he began to speak with the old Dwarf who was also on the first cart.

"I've had the lead vehicle adjust the group's speed; this will ensure that your group and mine maintain a consistent pace, so we won't become disconnected during the long trek."

Jier gestured as he spoke: "This is a very dangerous situation. When I brought people through here before, I encountered Bandits on the road who took advantage of the caravan being stretched out and disconnected to launch an attack. We suffered some losses in that battle; otherwise, with the defensive personnel I had arranged, there shouldn't have been any casualties."

Although confident that his Dwarves could not be defeated by a group of Human Bandits, the old Dwarf still nodded in a friendly manner: "I understand. I will have my people keep an eye on the distance between the two groups at all times to ensure the caravan does not become disconnected."

"Is there anything else? If it's about our Dwarf walking speed, I can only say that after making perfect preparations for the long journey, this is the fastest speed we can manage while maintaining the best physical condition."

Jier knew the old Dwarf was telling the truth. Today was the first day of the Dwarves' journey home; even though many Dwarves had suffered from insomnia due to nervous tension last night, their physical strength was currently abundant. By tonight, however, they would likely be physically exhausted, with aching legs and feet.

The second day, and even the third—these first few days of a long journey would only become increasingly painful.

But after this situation persisted for five or six days, it would get much better. The body would adjust to this intensity of walking, spontaneously adapting to every aspect of the long journey.

Their legs and feet would become stronger, their breathing would become more rhythmic, and their efficiency would increase. At the same time, calluses would grow on the soles of their feet; they might not necessarily get blisters, but just as calluses grow thick on the hands after long use of hammers and Tiegao to protect the limbs and prevent skin abrasion, the same would happen to their feet.

While passing through a messy, foul-smelling clearing in the Huitou Forest, the old Dwarf and some of the higher-status Dwarves—those who held the old Dwarf's trust—silently looked toward Jier the Knight, who was riding his horse to the side.

Although they had never asked directly, the Dwarves generally knew that the situation here was caused by a battle between Jier and an enemy of astonishing power.

The final result was clearly Jier's victory, because among the traces left at the scene at the time, there were only the carcasses of various birds that had been drawn to the area, with no sign of Jier's corpse or his warhorse's.

At the time, they suspected that when fighting the Dwarves, this Knight Jier hadn't even used his full strength; at least, judging by the traces of where this place had been scorched by massive flames, Jier had not unleashed that upon them.

Otherwise, that battle with the Dwarves would not have resulted in zero deaths, with only injuries.

This matter made many Dwarves feel uncomfortable; a sense of stifling powerlessness hung over these once-proud Dwarves. Only Shishou, who had clashed most intensely with Jier, had no complaints about it: "Perhaps it is a good thing to shatter such false perceptions early."

The old Dwarf naturally understood this logic, and later he had spent several days helping the Dwarf confidants who knew the news regain their spirits.

Because the old Dwarf came from a great Dwarf family, he knew that Dwarf civilization and the Dwarf Kingdom naturally possessed powerful methods and formidable Dwarf Warriors—those far stronger than a young Knight like Jier were more numerous than the stars in the sky.

Their small group of Dwarves was not the last of the Dwarves, so there was no reason to compete with others in strength here, right?

It was normal to be unable to compare.

After walking for a little over an hour, Jier accelerated his horse, leaving the hard-packed road in the forest to catch up with Xueya Site at the very front.

"Jier, it's time to let everyone rest, right? I felt it was about time before you even came over." His good partner said this, and then he had the Herbalist beside him shout to the group behind them to prepare for a rest.

The Herbalist Zuojigela cleared his throat, stood up from the driver's position with some embarrassment, held onto the sturdy canopy of the carriage, and shouted to the vehicles and walking Warriors behind: "Uh, Mr. Siter asked me to tell everyone that, uh, it's time to prepare for a rest."

"Is that what you said?" He lowered his head and asked Xueya Site in a low voice, but his wife tapped the Herbalist's calf: "No need to ask, that's exactly it. You have to ask again for such a simple thing."

Jier and Xueya Site looked at each other and both burst into laughter.

"It's fine. Having someone who doesn't usually shout at many people do this, it's about the same for the first few times," Jier said.

Xueya Site shrugged, pulled lightly on the two Jiansheng, and let the two horses pulling the carriage gradually slow down. The second carriage following behind also slowed down skillfully, and subsequently, the entire caravan slowed and stopped on the forest road.

Since the Dwarf hard-packed road here was located deep in the forest, the ground beside the road was soft and thick forest floor. Firstly, there was no clearing nearby for everyone to rest, and secondly, there was a height difference between the forest floor and the Dwarf road; while people and horses could easily cross it, it was not very convenient for carriages.

Therefore, the entire group's rest had to be resolved by stopping the caravan and having everyone rest right where they were.

A cry of surprise came from the back of the caravan. Jier tossed the Heavy Crossbow from the Weapon Rack behind him to Xueya Site, telling him to be careful, then spurred his horse to turn around and rode straight through the forest to reach the place where the cry had originated.

Fortunately, there was no major problem; it was just that when the order to prepare for a rest reached the Dwarf group, the Dwarf drivers hadn't realized the words were meant for them. Therefore, when the Human carriages in front began to slow down, the Dwarf ox-cart did not, and it nearly collided with the carriage pulling the Mao Maos.

Fortunately, although the driver hadn't reacted in time, the Plowing Ox pulling the cart had reacted on its own. It turned in time, and aside from the ox-cart rushing into the soft forest ground beside the road, no major issues occurred.

"A bunch of idiots, a bunch of idiots! The front already shouted to prepare for a rest, yet you let your minds wander when you should have slowed down. Hey, what are you all staring at? Come over and help lift the ox-cart back onto the road!"

The old Dwarf jumped off the ox-cart, angrily criticizing his own drivers, and then asked the Dwarves who were watching the commotion to come over and lend a hand.

Because the Dwarves' luggage was all over their bodies, but their hands were free, moving the ox-cart was not troublesome.

Plus, the Dwarves' strength was several times that of Humans, so just five or six Dwarves exerted their strength together and lifted the heavy ox-cart, along with the Plowing Ox pulling it, back onto the Dwarf hard-packed road in one go.

Afterward, the Dwarves imitated the behavior of the Humans in front: those who needed to drink water drank, and those who had prepared snacks began eating the small snacks they carried.

And the Dwarves who finished drinking water would go to the ox-cart carrying the large water barrels, unscrew the metal water valve at the bottom of the barrel, and refill their half-empty Wooden Water Bottle.

Unlike the Humans, every Dwarf had prepared a lightweight folding metal stool on their Backpack. Because it was mounted on the back of the Backpack, it was inconvenient for one person to retrieve it alone, so the Dwarves helped each other in pairs to take down the folding chairs and sat down to rest.

"This thing is quite convenient; it keeps everyone's pants from getting dirty and reduces the number of times they need to be washed." Jier curiously borrowed a Dwarf's folding metal stool to examine it, and after looking at it for a while, he continued enviously: "And because it's metal, even if we suddenly encounter an attack, it's quite convenient to either swing it for combat or hold it in your hand as a shield."

It was just that this thing required a blacksmith to forge some lightweight, thin, and sturdy metal rods, and metal objects with such requirements were not cost-effective to use just for making a folding chair.

Of course, wooden ones would be much more convenient.

Without spending much money, one could prepare a small wooden folding chair for every subordinate.

But wooden ones had problems too; unless they were square wooden chairs capable of bearing weight, folding wooden chairs might not be able to withstand the impact and pressure of an armored Human Soldier sitting down on them.

Not to mention himself; if all his weapons and equipment were held in his hands or worn on his body, the weight would be no less than two hundred kilograms, and a small wooden chair could not support that.

It still had to be a chair made of metal.

Steel chairs were sturdy enough, but they were too heavy, and the ordinary Human blacksmiths here did not have the skill to make hollow thin steel tubes. Jier did have metal materials that were both light and sturdy—a type of Elf Metal originally used by the Elves to make storage racks, which he had obtained from ancient Elf Ruins. That material was very light and had high strength, but was it perhaps the wrong use to make it into a chair?

Jier let out a laugh, glanced enviously at the Dwarfs' folding stools, and called out to the old Dwarf, "We'll likely rest for about half an hour. When it's time to set off, I'll notify everyone from front to back in order. Don't miss it next time."

The old Dwarf blushed; it was only the first day and they hadn't been on the road long, yet he had already made such a fool of himself, which truly filled him with frustration regarding this journey home.

It was still not too late for them to turn back now, but words once spoken were like excavated ore; no matter what, they could never be pressed back into the ore bed as they were before.

Just past noon, the group, having rested twice, finally walked out of Huitou Forest and arrived completely in territory the Dwarfs had not stepped into for a hundred years.

"This forest of yours that provides cover and protection is quite large; it makes my caravan travel for half a day every time. At this speed, it's impossible to reach the nearest Shichui Village by tonight."

Jier said this to the old Dwarf.

The old Dwarf was also looking at the open, low hills and the gentle, expansive wilderness outside, his heart filled with a complex mix of emotions.

Many Dwarfs even stopped in their tracks at this moment, looking timidly at the vast world outside.

They even saw the horizon, which they had almost forgotten in their memories; in Babotali Valley, no matter which direction one looked, there were either continuous forests or towering mountains, and one could almost never see such a thing as a horizon.

Some wanted to shrink back into Huitou Forest, but were called out by other brave Dwarfs who grabbed their shoulders, locked arms with them, and together stood tall, chests out, looking at this open world outside.

"Don't go back! You cannot shrink back."

After a stalemate, the emotions of the originally panicked and frightened Dwarfs stabilized, and they sat down in silence.

"It seems you can't leave now, so let's rest a while longer."

Jier came over and asked, "How is your hunger level? I heard that you can't do without three meals a day? Since we have to make time on the road, there's no time to set up camp and cook at noon. If you want to eat, you'll have to wait until it's almost dark tonight. I hope you all ate your fill this morning."

The old Dwarf took some people to ask his subordinates in the group; many were indeed a bit hungry, but the situation was not too serious, and they were certainly not hungry to the point of being unable to walk. Many had only eaten a little something in the morning because they were about to set off, and the Dwarf Chef didn't have much of a mood to cook a proper meal either.

But at the time, the old Dwarf had still insisted that everyone eat as much as possible; now it seemed they had eaten too little in the morning, and after a morning of digestion, everyone was feeling hungry again.

However, Jier had also said that during the short temporary rest, it was impossible to specifically cook, and there wasn't enough time to eat. So everyone could only eat some small snacks carried by a few people, which caused the Dwarfs who had prepared snacks for the road to suffer greatly; the snacks they had prepared for themselves hadn't been enjoyed much before they were snatched away by everyone one after another.

Having rested enough, Jier announced that they would continue on their way.

Amidst a string of departure calls from front to back, the temporary combined group of Humans and Dwarfs once again took messy steps forward.

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