Mercenary Wars

Chapter 119 Red Beard and White Beard

“Hilgon is a nice man, but he hates talking about his time as a slave, especially ‘that’ kind of thing—you know. So if you want to get anything useful from him, you’d better bring a bottle of his beloved Lulabel wine,” Ryan added.

"Lurabel?" Gaugano frowned slightly. He didn't like drinking, and he had very few bottles of wine in his storage ring, let alone a famous wine like Lurabel.

Ryan: "It seems that some of the foremen at the Gavin Chamber of Commerce are wine lovers. You can ask them."

Gao Jiano nodded and then went to find some wine.

About half an hour later, he bought a bottle of Lulabel from an overseer for twenty silver coins.

A bottle of wine costs twenty silver coins, which is really unaffordable for ordinary people. Fortunately, Gaucano is quite wealthy now, so buying a bottle doesn't bother him much.

He then took the bottle of Lulabel and went to find Hilgon.

Hilgon was making arrows when his eyes lit up noticeably when he noticed the exquisitely packaged Lulabel in Gaugano's hand.

Gao Jiano came over and struck up a conversation. After some self-introductions and small talk, he got down to business: "To be honest, I have a few questions I'd like to ask you."

As he spoke, he poured Hilgon a glass of wine.

Hilgon drank one cup and stopped Gaugano from pouring a second one: "Thank you, one cup is enough. I have to go on patrol later. So, what do you want to know?"

Gaucano put down the bottle and capped it: "I'd like to know something about the Grey Dwarves. Specifically, I'd like to know if the Grey Dwarves have two colors of beard?"

“Redbeard Grey Dwarves, and Whitebeard Grey Dwarves,” Hilgon said casually. “Whitebeard Grey Dwarves are the grey dwarves you’ve heard of most often—dark, cruel, and infamous, they like to capture slaves everywhere… Redbeard Grey Dwarves, on the other hand, are a group of artisans focused on forging techniques, they have little interest in doing bad things, and they rarely appear on the surface.”

Gaucano nodded, then thought for a moment and asked, "How did this difference in beard color come about? The living environment of the gray dwarves should all be similar, right?"

Hilgon: "The color of hair is often associated with holy names. For example, people with blue hair are mostly associated with water element holy names, and people with red hair are mostly associated with fire element holy names. The same principle applies to the beards of dwarves."

He paused for a moment, then continued, “The red beard originated from the enslavement of fire elementals by the gray dwarves. They enslaved fire elementals for forging, which provoked the wrath of the Fire King… Of course, the high and mighty Fire King would not directly attack a group of lowly mortals; His target of revenge was the evil god worshipped by the gray dwarves.”

Gao Jiano suddenly realized: "So the gray dwarves are gradually awakening the holy name of the fire element?"

“That’s right.” Hilgon nodded. “Those grey dwarf artisans who lived and worked with the fire elementals day and night continuously gained the holy names of the fire elementals, their beards became redder and redder, and their personalities and beliefs gradually changed, turning them into the so-called ‘red-bearded grey dwarves’.”

Gaucano pondered, "Is there some kind of conflict between the Red-Bearded Gray Dwarf and the White-Bearded Gray Dwarf?"

Hilgon: "Of course, every race, nation, religion, and organization is full of internal conflicts, and the Grey Dwarves are no exception... For the Grey Dwarves, the most acute internal conflict is the struggle between Redbeard and Whitebeard."

Finally, he said, "Those who believe in Durag and those who believe in fire cannot live in peace. Sooner or later, the Redbeard Grey Dwarves will split off from the Grey Dwarves and become an independent subspecies of dwarves."

After listening to Hilgon's story, Gaugano couldn't help but have many thoughts.

He had originally thought that the grey dwarves were an untouchable race, but now it seemed that wasn't entirely true; at least the red-bearded grey dwarves seemed to be someone he could approach.

Of course, darkvision is essential for contacting gray dwarves underground, preferably advanced darkvision, otherwise you'll easily get ambushed.

There are many ways to gain darksight. Permanent darksight can be obtained through blessings, runes, and potions, while temporary darksight can be obtained through spells, scrolls, and elixirs.

But none of these are easy to obtain. After all, Darkvision is a second-circle spell, and Greater Darkvision is a third-circle spell, so the corresponding scrolls and potions are naturally expensive, not to mention the permanent acquisition methods. This reminded Gao Gano of the "Greater Darkvision" blessing he had seen when leveling up. He saw it almost every time he leveled up, and more than one holy name had this blessing, but he had never chosen it.

Unfortunately, while his permanent advanced dark vision is decent, it's still significantly inferior to his current blessings.

Gaucano decided to get a bottle of advanced dark vision potion.

After another conversation, he said goodbye to Hilgon.

On his way out, he noticed that Barons was happily digging and was in an unusually relaxed state, squatting down to rest every now and then.

"Barons, aren't you afraid the overseer will find out?" he asked casually.

“I’m not afraid anymore!” Barons said without turning his head. “My God is protecting me!”

Gaucano: "Your blessing isn't something like 'safely slacking off,' is it?"

"Haha, almost there." Barons continued mining without turning his head.

Just as Gaucano was about to say something more, Barons suddenly became very diligent, his work efficiency increasing tenfold. He swung his pickaxe vigorously, making energetic noises as he shouted, "Hey—"

Gaucano turned his head and saw that an overseer was walking towards them, but Barons, who had his back to him, noticed him much earlier, as if Barons had eyes in the back of his head.

"Well done." Seeing how diligent Barons was, the foreman immediately praised him. "Ten-minute break, here's your reward!"

"No need to rest, I can keep going!" Barons said. "Dedication is the smooth road to light, and gratitude is the ladder to nobility!"

The supervisor was even more satisfied, so he praised him a few more times and then left.

Once he left, Barons resumed his intense slacking off.

Gaucano was somewhat surprised.

He was curious about Barons' blessing, and Barons seemed to have become wiser, so it seemed he had indeed received a good holy name.

With the overseer gone, Barons finally had some free time and sat on the ground, saying leisurely, "Dedication is the path to light, and gratitude is the ladder to nobility. Edwin told me that this phrase can be used to please scoundrels because all scoundrels in the world like to talk about gratitude and dedication... I didn't think so before, but lately I've come to think more and more that he's right."

"I wonder how Edwin is doing now." He suddenly changed the subject and sighed.

Gaucano: "You seem a little worried about him?"

Barons did not answer: "Do you know who introduced Edwin to this mine?"

"Who?"

“He is his father.”

……

(End of this chapter)