Chapter 352
Chapter 352: Stone Men
After three days, the five chiefs of the mountain people once again met in Brettel City. Apart from the aged Adleman, the other four comparatively young leaders actually all agreed to Han Shuo’s demands.
Eventually, even Adleman who lacked the others’ lofty ambitions, agreed with the four young mountain leaders to bring down the majority of the mountain people in the mines to join the army. Adleman would be responsible for extracting ore from the five nearby mines and a portion of the ore would be allocated to the four young leaders.
Brettel City was now brimming with life. Eight thousand people came from the five mines to join the city’s burgeoning populace. Dorcas, called back by the news, decided to reorganize his troops. He broke up their traditional formations to form four large units, placing Han Shuo’s people as their commanders.
Even though the mountain people had previously acquired a smattering of weapons and armor, Brettel City didn’t have the equipment to fully arm eight thousand new recruits.
An armaments workshop funded by the Boozt Merchant Guild was quickly set up by Jack and Dorcas. It began operating at the site of the former workshops on Mount Silk. In addition, Brettel City also allocated funds to purchase smelting facilities, while the Boozt Merchant Guild was put in charge of hiring skilled metalworkers.
Since Han Shuo still had the assistance of the dwarves from the Dark Forest, he instructed the weaponsmiths at Mount Silk to focus on forging armour. The dwarves’ ability to forge weapons was far superior to anything a human could make, but in return, their armor weren’t as refined compared to those forged by humans.
Dorcas sent every one of the four mountain people units into harsh training, a regimen of his own devising. A former student of the Lancelot Imperial Academy, Dorcas was definitely a talented field commander. Under his training, the eight thousand mountain people saw a noticeable improvement in their strength.
After Faulke returned, he began instructing the mountain people in the proper usage of combat wagons, ballista wagons, and catapults. This type of powerful defensive weaponry required strong people to operate them, and the mountain people were perfectly suited to this task. Under the auspices of Faulke, the mountain people learned how to properly operate Brettel City’s gates and the combat wagons.
As the days passed, Dorcas found Han Shuo one day, and proposed a suggestion. “My Lord, the moat outside of Brettel City’s gates is full of shallow sewage. Now that we have the eight thousand mountain people at our disposal, we can spend some time making the moat even deeper. This way, even if the seven grand duchies decide to invade, the moat will cause them to lose a lot of men.”
Delia radiated her beauty along the way, dressed in light armour. Her arms and legs were bare, and she wore sparkling silver armor covering the “important places” on her chest. She glistened beneath the sun. It complimented her wheat-colored skin, mesmerizing and attracting the gazes of Adleman’s young escorts.
In Brettel City, Delia was known as the number one beauty amongst the mountain people. But by the same token, her strength was also something extraordinary. Due to her previous position, nobody dared to be impudent. Delia was now a mere captain, but since her strength was enough to suppress both Jack and Kent, ordinary mountain people had no way of catching her attention.
On the way to Mount Silk, Han Shuo thought about the stone men in the mines with a heart full of suspicion. Not knowing where the mountain people had come from, he didn’t pay attention to Delia’s infatuated fans.
Halfway up Mount Silk, Delia asked Han Shuo “My Lord, how do you plan on dealing with those stone men?”
Han Shuo was in deep thought. He turned his head and gave a dazzling smile, saying “We’ll see after we arrive there. We won’t know how to deal with the stone men before we see them.”
“If it’s like this…if the stone men attack us in the same way that our enemies attack us, then what do we do?” Delia continued to inquire, looking at Han Shuo with shining eyes.
“Then we’ll turn them into stone forever.” Han Shuo casually replied.
Hearing Han Shuo’s words, Delia nodded, saying “They dared to kill people from my tribe. I won’t let them off the hook. Damnable stone men, I’ll make you pay!”
It seemed as if Delia really cared about the ten or so miners who were killed. From this, Han Shuo deduced that Delia was a person who really cared for her subordinates. Even though she was no longer responsible for Mount Silk, upon hearing that there was a crisis, she had immediately requested to go investigate with Han Shuo. This proved that Delia was indeed kind to her subordinates.
After Han Shuo had made his stance towards the stone men clear, Delia appeared more relaxed around Han Shuo, later excitedly inquiring about Han Shuo’s experiences, especially his challenge of various experts in the Lancelot Empire and the corpses that lay behind him because of then. She also inquired about his conflict with the Brut Merchant Alliance, Cain, and the like-minded. Delia expressed a strong interest in these things.
There were many merchants in Brettel City who had come from Ossen City. These merchants were very familiar with some of Han Shuo’s exploits. Due to their reverence of Han Shuo, they exaggerated stories of Han Shuo’s heroic deeds, and relayed those to the citizens of Brettel City.
This unconsciously resulted in the citizens of Brettel City all coming to know Han Shuo’s past experiences. Combined with his previous battles with the four bandit groups, Han Shuo’s prestige in the city was beyond imagination. In the eyes of the citizens of Brettel City, a city lord who could provide safety and prosperity was far more trustworthy than that king in Ossen City who had abandoned them.
Responding to Delia’s excited questioning, Han Shuo didn’t say much, only elaborating a few sentences. However, the more Han Shuo appeared remote, the more interested Delia became. Delia spent the whole journey asking about Han Shuo’s duels with other strong figures.
After a headache inducing talk, the group finally reached the entrance of the mines. There was already a group of miners, with dust-coated faces and muddy clothes, waiting for them. These young miners were pleasantly surprised upon seeing Delia, joyfully shouting “Boss!”
From the miners’ genuine delight in seeing Delia, Han Shuo could tell that Delia was a good leader in their eyes. He looked a bit askance at her. When Delia saw Han Shuo look at her with surprise, she stuck out her well-rounded bosom with a bit of pride, seeming to say that, “See that? I’m actually quite good!”
Han Shuo laughed involuntarily at Delia’s behavior and didn’t excessively voice his opinion. When Delia asked about the miners using the tone of a leader, Han Shuo released the yin demon while listening to the content of their conversation, slowly flying toward the area said to have problems.
“Let’s go inside and see what’s going on.” Delia instructed to a group of miners as Han Shuo used the yin demon to look inside.
“Hold on. Mister Adleman, you shouldn’t go inside.” Han Shuo suddenly said. “It’s cold and wet inside. With your advanced age, you should wait outside for a bit.”
Adleman didn’t persist, knowing that with his body’s condition, he would only be a nuisance if he went inside. He smiled and agreed, saying “Thank you for My Lord’s understanding.” Smiling and nodding his head, Han Shuo looked at Delia and her group, and led the group into the dark caverns of the mine.