Extraordinary Rise: Starting Contract with the Silver Dragon Countess

Chapter 152 The tragic old chief!
Groin's words made Isabella frown slightly, with a hint of anger rising between her brows.

Considering that Cohen was nearby, he didn't want to lose his temper in front of him, but his tone was still stern:

"Didn't you swear last time that the chief of the 'Forging Tribe' was your relative? You've almost finished the talks and will soon be able to convince him.

Why is there no hope now?
So, are all the money, property, and land deeds I gave you in the early days also wasted?"

Hearing the name of "Melting Tribe", Cohen's eyebrows moved slightly, and memories floated in his mind.

This "Forging Tribe" has a great origin. They are descendants of the [God of Forging] Ornn, and the forging skills passed down in the tribe can be traced back to the Age of Gods.

The various weapons and armor forged by their tribe have always been highly sought after on the human continent.

In Cohen's opinion, the "Melting Tribe" is definitely the best choice to create the "Star Guardian Armor"!

He secretly planned that he must find a way to gain the support of this "Melting Tribe"!

Faced with Isabella's sudden change in attitude, Groin was also a little panicked and looked at Cohen next to him for help.

Cohen was speechless for a while, thinking to himself, you took my woman's money and didn't get the job done. It's fine if I don't settle the score with you, but you expect me to plead for you?

However, when he thought that he still needed to understand the situation of the "Melting Tribe", he gently touched Isabella's arm.

Isabella gave Cohen a hidden look, then softened her tone and said:

"Okay, consider those expenses as a failed investment. Now tell me what happened."

Groin looked at Cohen gratefully, breathed a sigh of relief, and said quickly:
“We were almost ready before, but something unexpected happened.

I just went to the meeting with the major leagues about this.”

Groin paused when he said this, as if hesitating whether to tell the human race the important secrets of the dwarves.

However, seeing Isabella's cold face, he quickly spoke:
"The old chieftain of the 'Melting Tribe', my distant cousin, failed to break through to the ninth level a while ago and unfortunately passed away.

Now the entire 'Melting Tribe' has fallen into great turmoil, and all qualified heirs, including the elders and priests, are forming cliques and fighting for power.

Intermarriage within our dwarven tribe is very frequent, and the value of the 'Forged Tribe' is there, so several large tribes have heirs supported in the 'Forged Tribe' and want to take advantage of the opportunity of the old chief's death to completely control the 'Forged Tribe'.

The turmoil over the chieftaincy will not subside in a short period of time.

Even if things finally stabilize and the Forge Tribe elects a new chief, I'm not sure what his attitude towards the human world will be.

Is the new chief willing to continue cooperating with humans without the knowledge of the Alliance?

Upon hearing the news, Cohen's face showed surprise.

Isabella was also slightly shocked. She didn't expect that such a big change would happen in the dwarf tribe in just a few months.

Without the "Melting Tribe", this is definitely a big blow to the establishment of cross-racial trade routes. At least the scale is much smaller than before.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but frown slightly.

Cohen gently rubbed Isabella's slightly furrowed brows, smiled gently, turned to Groin and asked:
"Chief Firehammer, does our Firehammer Tribe have any supporters among the heirs of the Forge Tribe?"

Groin was silent for a moment, then nodded slowly:

"The old chief's third son is related to our Fire Hammer Tribe by marriage. When I discussed inter-ethnic trade with the old chief, it was this third son who was in charge of the contact."

Cohen's eyes lit up and he said:

"Then we will support this third son to take the position!"

Isabella's heart trembled slightly, and she couldn't help but hold Cohen's hand.

Gloin smiled wryly:
"I certainly want to do this, but his third son has no advantages in the tribe. It's impossible to do it with the support of my tribe alone."

Cohen's eyes flashed with thought, and he suddenly asked:

“Why is there such a fierce fight?

Didn't their old chief leave any will before he died?"

Groin's face showed a solemn expression, and he said:
"There is a will. It is because of the will that we are in this situation. All the heirs are eager to take over the position of chief."

It seems that the key to the problem lies in this will, and Cohen is waiting for the other party's follow-up.

Groin said:
"The will he left behind did not point to a specific person, but listed three conditions.

As long as these three conditions are met, you can inherit the position of chief.

Moreover, this will has been blessed by the power of the [God of Forging] and has been filed with the Elders' Council of the Grand Alliance.

No one can go against the resolution.

The three conditions are:

First, obtain the approval of at least two of the three classes within the tribe;

Second, gain recognition from the inherited item, the 'Melting Hammer';

Third, secure an order worth three million gold coins."

Let’s look at it one by one. The first one is to obtain the recognition of at least two of the three classes within the tribe.

The so-called three levels is a name for the organizational structure within the dwarf tribe.

The dwarven tribes are divided into the following categories according to their status:
The highest level, where power is concentrated, is the chief.

The chief has the highest ruling power and has absolute decision-making power over major matters such as the development direction of the entire tribe, military operations, resource allocation, etc.

Under the chief is a council of elders, mostly composed of experienced and respected dwarves. They provide advice and decision-making support to the chief and have a significant influence on the decision-making of some important affairs. They are generally relatives or staff of the chief.

The main body of the tribe is composed of three classes: the warrior class, the craftsman class, and the civilian class.

It is the so-called three-tier system.

The warrior class is responsible for protecting the tribe, participating in battles, and carrying out military missions. They have all been carefully selected and rigorously trained, possessing strong combat capabilities and courage.

Most of them are extraordinary people, and this class is controlled by the general appointed by the chief.

The artisan class, taking the "Forging Tribe" as an example, their craftsmen are extremely skilled in forging, construction and other skills. They mainly create weapons and armor for the tribe, and play a key role in the tribe's material foundation and economic development.

Their leader is an organization called the "United Craftsmen".

The civilian class is the largest and most basic class in the entire tribe, including dwarves engaged in ordinary production activities such as agriculture, animal husbandry, and commerce.

They provide food, supplies and basic living security for the tribe and are the most basic component of the tribe.

They are managed and represented by the priests in the tribe. Every thousand dwarves vote to elect a priest, and these elected priests then jointly elect a high priest to be responsible for the management and division of labor among the priests.

The first clause of the old chief's will is to obtain the support of two of the three classes, that is, to obtain the support of two of the three people: the general, the president of the craftsmen's union, and the high priest.

The second is to obtain the recognition of the inherited item, the 'Melting Hammer'.

This is a test of the heir's own character and talent.

The "Forge Hammer" was left behind by the Forge God Ornn, the ancestor of the "Forge Tribe".

Originally a genuine artifact, but with the passage of time and due to being used too many times by later generations, the "Melting Hammer" suffered severe damage.

In particular, more than fifty years ago, the emperor of the Western Region Empire personally led an army to fight against the dwarves.

Under pressure from the Grand Alliance, the "Melted Tribe" was forced to use the "Melted Hammer" to fight the enemy.

In the end, three legends and a saint worked together to break the hammer, and it fell directly into an ordinary gold-level magic weapon.

Since then, the "Smelting Hammer" has had more symbolic significance than practical significance.

Fortunately, there is still a trace of spirituality left in it, which can be used to test the character and ability of the heir. Chiefs of all generations must be recognized by the "Melting Hammer" before they can succeed to the throne.

As for the third point, it is to attract an order worth three million gold coins.

This is the painstaking effort left by the old chief for the dying "Melting Tribe".

Today, the "Melted Tribe" is in a precarious situation within the Grand Alliance. It is under tremendous financial pressure and is unable to continue. It is even struggling to maintain the normal operation of the tribe and is on the verge of falling out of the list of the top ten tribes.

Otherwise, the old chief would not have followed Groin Firehammer's advice and considered cooperating with humans.

It stands to reason that with the top forging level of the "Forge Tribe", it should have a high status within the major alliance.

But in fact, the opposite is true.

Due to the dwarves' continuous wars, each tribe has a great demand for weapons and equipment, which cannot be supplied by the "Forging Tribe" alone.

Therefore, at the beginning of the establishment of the Grand Alliance, in order to solve this problem, the chief of the "Melting Tribe", who was also the chief elder of the Grand Alliance at the time, generously sent craftsmen teachers to various tribes in the alliance.

He taught the superb forging skills to various dwarf tribes free of charge, making the dwarves a famous forging race on the continent.

As time went by, almost every dwarven tribe had its own blacksmithing talents, and the demand for the "Forge Tribe" was not so great.

In addition, since marching and fighting only require ordinary weapons, the high-tech route of the "Melting Tribe" gradually became unpopular, and the orders it could receive became fewer and fewer, causing the situation within the tribe to become worse day by day.

Seeing this, the other tribes took advantage of the situation and used threats or bribes to drive away many excellent craftsmen from the "Forging Tribe". If this continued, the "Forging Tribe" would really become history of the dwarves.

The chiefs of all generations have tried, but they were always brushed off by the Alliance's words: "We are all members of the dwarven family, we must consider the overall situation and put the overall situation first."

It’s an interesting fact that when someone asks you to consider the bigger picture, you are usually not part of the bigger picture.

The "Forge Tribe" is facing this desperate situation, which can be regarded as an alien version of teaching the apprentice to starve the master to death.

Therefore, the old chief's last statement could almost be called an overt conspiracy. He deliberately did not designate a clear successor, knowing that after his death, many foreign tribes would intervene in the succession dispute and attempt to control the "Melting Tribe".

He set this last condition to tell them directly that if they wanted to control the "Melting Tribe", they had to show their sincerity of three million gold coins first!

He believed that with the injection of three million yuan in funds, the "Melting Tribe" would be able to breathe a sigh of relief. This was also the last bit of strength he could contribute to his tribe as an ordinary chief.

As for whether the "Melting Tribe" would become a vassal of other tribes and fall under the control of others after obtaining the three million gold coins, this was not something he could control.

Each generation has its own mission, and with his ability, he can only do this much.

The rest can only be left to the "God of Melting" who is watching all this in the dark. I hope that our ancestors will not sit idly by and watch their descendants become vassals of others!

After Groin Firehammer's explanation and Coen's reasoning based on the plot of the previous life game, he almost came to the above conclusion.

Cohen exhaled lightly and said calmly:
"If it were just these three conditions, we wouldn't have no chance.

First, tell me which of the current contenders for the throne are the most promising, which tribes are backing them, and what advantages do they each possess."

Groin's eyes widened. If the other party was not the lover of the Golden Winged Girl, his hot temper would have exploded long ago.

What does “just these three conditions” mean?
Why would the daughter of the Golden Wings fall for a man who talks big?

However, what shocked Groin even more was that Isabella, who was standing next to him, was not surprised at all when she heard Cohen's words. Instead, she acted as if it was a matter of course and whispered:
“If there’s a risk, forget it.

Even without the Forge Tribe, there are other tribes we can cooperate with. There's no need to force it just because of me."

Cohen smiled faintly and said:
"It's not a big deal. Besides, I also need this 'Forging Tribe' to help me with something."

Isabella stopped insisting and turned to look at Groin, saying:

"Then Mr. Chief, please tell us about the situation of these heirs?"

Groin felt that his brain was not enough, but the other party was the noble "Golden Winged Girl" after all, and she held the lifeline of his tribe's rise, so he could not offend her.

I had to hide all my emotions and said in a deep voice:

"There are currently three people with the greatest hope of succeeding to the throne.

One of them is the old chief's eldest son, Rockheart Ornn, who is also the most popular candidate.

Because he has another identity, he is the nephew of the general of the 'Melting Tribe'. At least he has achieved half of the first condition of "obtaining the support of two of the three levels".

Behind this person is the 'Wildhammer Tribe' who secretly supports him.

The chief of the Wildhammer Tribe currently serves as the chief elder of the Grand Alliance, and is also the most powerful tribe in the entire dwarven tribe.

In addition, Rockheart Ornn married the daughter of the general of the Wildhammer tribe."

"The second one is the chief of the tribal elders' council, Elder Brook Steel Axe. He has always been a close confidant of the old chief and is very prestigious among the common people. He can also gain the support of the high priest of the common people.

Behind him is the 'Dark Furnace Tribe', which was previously separated from the 'Forge Tribe'.

In terms of bloodline, Elder Steel Axe is actually half a member of the Darkforge Tribe."

“Finally, there’s my third son, Tieyan Orn, who is also the one I’m closest to.

To be honest, of the three conditions of the old chief, Tieyan can probably only meet the second one.

Tieyan is the youngest of the three. He often follows the old chief to secretly travel to the human continent and rarely stays in the tribe.

It is almost impossible to get support from the three classes.

So I said, if you want to support Tieyan to take the top position, it will be very difficult."

Cohen closed his eyes and went over the information about these three people in his mind.

The eldest son, Ornn, has the support of the general representing the "warrior class" and the "Wildhammer tribe" behind him.

Elder Brook Steelaxe has the support of the high priest representing the "common people" and the "Darkforge Tribe" behind him.

The third son, Iron Rock Ornn, does not have the support of the three estates, but is backed by Groin's "Firehammer Tribe".

He slowly opened his eyes and said softly:

"So, the most intense competition right now is between the eldest son, Rockheart Ornn, and the elder, Brook Steelaxe. And the key they need to win is the support of the Artisan Union, which represents the 'artisan class', correct?"

Groin nodded and said:

“It can be said that the two factions are now willing to do whatever it takes to win the support of Tolkien Quench, the president of the Craftsmen’s Union.

Tolkien also knew his own importance, so he was always waiting for the best price, just waiting to see which party would offer the highest price.

Also, the meeting we just had at the Major League Baseball was about this matter.

In the interests of fairness, the Grand Alliance has decided to dispatch a supervisory team to oversee the leadership change of the Forged Tribe and ensure the old chief's will is implemented."

Cohen frowned slightly. It seemed that the old chief also had connections in the upper echelons of the Major League. This so-called supervisory group should have been arranged by him in advance to ensure that his will could be implemented smoothly after his death.

Cohen breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes gleaming with confidence as he spoke in a serious tone:

"I know everything, Chief Firehammer. Now I need to trouble you for one thing. Please help me call the Third Young Master, Tieyan Orn, over. I have something to tell him."

Groin moved his lips, wanting to say something, but seeing Cohen's serious expression, he looked at the Golden Winged Girl next to him, who also looked like she had unconditional trust in Cohen.

The words in his mouth were not spoken after all. He sighed and said:

"Okay, I'll bring him here to meet you two tomorrow."

……

The conditions in the mine were simple. Although Balin Hammer's wife had tried her best to clean it up, it was still a bit shabby. The room arranged for the two of them only had a bed and relatively clean bedding.

Although Cohen and Isabella are extraordinary people, everyone below the level of a saint is an ant, and they still need to rest to replenish their physical and mental strength.

Cohen originally thought that the pampered Miss Wen Ze would definitely find it difficult to tolerate this kind of environment, but he didn't see any resistance from her at all.

Her next words filled Cohen's heart with an indescribable feeling of emotion:

"As long as I have the right person by my side, external material conditions are not important to me."

Cohen held Isabella's body tightly in his arms, hoping that his embrace could help her fall into a peaceful sleep.

……

Cohen looked at the young dwarf in front of him.

He has a sturdy build, not tall but full of strength, with thick, messy brown hair that stands up stubbornly like steel needles.

His face was broad, his skin was bronze, and his dark brown eyes were as bright as gems stuck in the cracks of the rocks.

Tieyan Ornn, the third son of the old chief.

Tieyan has lived in the human continent since he was a child and is very familiar with the customs and habits of humans. Therefore, he clearly knows how unattainable the other party's identity is to him.

Grand Duke Roland of the human empire was already putting their dwarf tribe under great pressure, not to mention the superpower "Pale Wings" whose influence spread across the entire human continent.

This feeling became even stronger after meeting Isabella.

Even though they were not of the same race and had different aesthetic tastes, Isabella's goddess-like and unattainable aura still made him lower his head and dare not look directly at her.

There was a flicker of panic in his originally determined eyes, his rough hands rubbed the corners of his clothes nervously, and his feet twisted unconsciously.

He doesn't have the bearing of a young tribal chief at all.

God have mercy on him. When Tieyan walks on the human continent, he is usually scared when he sees an urban management officer who is in charge of city security.

I was afraid that I would be locked up in a dark room because I didn’t have a legal residence permit, and that I would be deported if I couldn’t come up with the bail.

What's more, he is facing Isabella, whose status is almost equal to that of an imperial princess.

Even when facing Cohen wearing a mask, he was a little afraid.

Because he had heard from Gloin Firehammer that this mysterious man was the lover of the Golden Winged Girl and did whatever he said.

Tieyan could only use their dwarven thinking to understand the relationship between Isabella and Cohen. If a woman could obey a man's words, it only meant that the man's status was higher than that of the woman.

Therefore, when Cohen greeted him, Tieyan's breathing became much more rapid, his chest heaving, his mouth slightly open, he wanted to say something but no sound came out.

The common human language that he was once fluent in became difficult to speak, and in the end he could only purse his lips tightly. For a long time, he felt like a stone that was suddenly moved to a strange place, full of anxiety and discomfort.

Cohen chuckled and switched to the dwarven language that the other party was familiar with, saying:
"Don't be nervous. We are the human merchants that Chief Firehammer mentioned, who want to cooperate with your tribe."

Hearing the familiar language and gentle tone, Tieyan's nervousness eased a lot, and he finally spoke:
"I...I know you are great nobles and distinguished guests."

Cohen's tone became unusually calm, his voice neither too fast nor too slow, making it very comfortable to listen to:
"Master Tieyan is wrong. Here we only have equal partners. There are no nobles or guests."

Cohen's voice calmed Tieyan down a lot, and he spoke more fluently:

"I'm sorry, but I'm no longer qualified to work with you.

Unfortunately, my father passed away, and the things I had discussed with Uncle Groin before could no longer be fulfilled.

Without my father's support, the Forge Tribe would not listen to me."

Cohen smiled gently and said:

"It doesn't matter. I'm here to help you qualify to work with me!"

(End of this chapter)