Chapter 007: Withdrawal

Upon seeing the appearance of the Black Panther Knights, the leading dwarf’s expression immediately changed. “Lord Bashar, are you planning to use force again to crush our people’s just demands?” he shouted loudly upon spotting the Black Panther Knights of his clan.
“Who are you? How dare you spread rumors in Glass City! And how dare you threaten the city lord!” The dwarf knight leader snapped at the leading dwarf in response.
It would have been better if this group hadn’t appeared. Things were almost calming down when their arrival stirred up new tensions. If they hadn’t shown up, the crowd could have dispersed once Du Fan proposed leaving. But with the Black Panther Knights present, the atmosphere instantly changed. It seemed as though, in the face of the people of Glass’ legitimate demands, Bashar was using the Black Panther Knights to suppress them by force! This situation was highly unfavorable for Bashar.
“Alright, alright. I’ve already said I’ll leave Glass soon. You can disperse your people now. I’ll be gone by tomorrow at the latest. It’s getting late, so let’s stay for the night and set off tomorrow,” Du Fan said, waving his hand.
“And second brother, send those cavalry back to their posts too,” Du Fan added to Bashar.
Although Bashar didn’t understand why Du Fan was doing this, he trusted him greatly after spending so many days together.
“Ario, take your men back to the camp. Things here are basically settled; you don’t need to worry about them,” Bashar said to the knight leader.
The captain of this dwarf Black Panther Knights unit was named Ario. Hearing Bashar’s words, Ario immediately bowed respectfully in a knightly salute, mounted his Black Panther, and led his thousand-strong cavalry unit away with a loud roar.
Seeing this precise military posture, Du Fan nodded inwardly. This group clearly consisted of strong and capable warriors! It was undoubtedly a highly combat-effective cavalry unit!
“I’ll be leaving tomorrow. You should all disperse too,” Du Fan shouted at the still-observing dwarfs.
“I hope you’re telling the truth,” the leading dwarf said, his eyes gleaming strangely.
“Of course. As you wish. Tomorrow, you won’t see me, Du Fan, in Glass City again,” Du Fan replied with a smile.

“Let’s go. I hope this human won’t deceive us,” shouted the leading dwarf, then led everyone away.
“Third brother, are you really leaving?” Basha asked, his expression filled with reluctance.
Seeing Basha’s expression, Du Fan felt a surge of emotion. He could clearly see that the son of the dwarf king was looking at him with pure, sincere brotherly affection—a look and expression he had often seen in his own two brothers as well.
“Second brother, don’t worry. Even if I do leave, I’ll take you with me,” Du Fan said with a smile.
“Then, third brother, what do you mean by saying you’re leaving?” Basha asked.
“In a situation like this, if I don’t help you make a decision, I’m afraid second brother will provoke public outrage,” Du Fan said with a smile.
“I think they won’t go that far, right? After all, I’m still the lord of Glass City,” Basha said.
“Even though you’re the lord, you can’t openly oppose them in front of over ten thousand people. Over time, you’ll be labeled as someone who prioritizes outsiders over his own people. And worst of all, if your cavalry suddenly appears, things will only get worse. If they don’t show up, it might still be manageable, but if they do and you still confront the people, you’ll inevitably be seen as using force to suppress them,” Du Fan explained to Basha.
“Still, second brother, your cavalry is truly formidable. What kind of force is that?” Du Fan asked, immediately showing interest in the dwarf cavalry.
“That cavalry was created by my father himself. It’s called the Black Panther Knights, and it has a strength of ten thousand men,” Basha replied.
“Ten thousand!” Du Fan was shocked at that number. Initially, he thought it was just a small special forces unit, but hearing that it had ten thousand members shocked him greatly.
Even with just a thousand men, Du Fan was sure that such a force could stand up to twenty or thirty thousand human cavalry without falling at a disadvantage. In his eyes, that force was extremely powerful!

Just talking about the Black Panther alone—despite being at the level of a third-tier magical beast, even a regular ten-man cavalry unit might not be able to handle them. Coupled with the cooperation of elite dwarf warriors, these Dwarf Black Panther Cavalry units possess an incredible combat strength! What’s more terrifying is that dwarves have extremely long lifespans, and so do magical beasts. These Black Panther knights have maintained a long-standing friendship with their mounts for hundreds of years. The synergy between such mounts and knights is far beyond what human cavalry can match! “Not bad—ten thousand, and the number is still on the rise. Back then, my father personally requested ten thousand Black Panthers from the Great Leader of Magical Beasts. After all these years of breeding, their offspring have grown up and can now be used as mounts,” Basha said with a smile. What limits the development of the Dwarf Black Panther Cavalry units isn’t the number of knights, but rather the number of Black Panthers! Although Black Panthers are only third-tier magical beasts, they are still very precious to ordinary people. Perhaps only the Great Leader of Magical Beasts in the Dusk Mountains has the power and resources to gather ten thousand Black Panthers at once! “It can even be expanded! So, when your father said he would send five thousand cavalry, did he mean these Black Panther knights?” Du Fan asked quickly. “I think so, because among our dwarves, there is only one cavalry unit like the Dwarf Black Panther Cavalry,” Basha replied with a smile. Hearing this, Du Fan’s heart started pounding wildly! Five thousand members of the Dwarf Black Panther Cavalry unit could probably wreak havoc across the entire continent! Even those Sacred Knight Units would be no match for them! “But I think my father won’t assign those older knight units to you,” Basha said. “Why?” Du Fan asked, feeling a chill in his heart. “Because, as it stands, these Dwarf Black Panther Cavalry units are stationed in various parts of the dwarf tribes, each undertaking very important tasks. So I think my father will instead assign those reserve forces to you. After hundreds of years of development, our reserve force for the Dwarf Black Panther Cavalry also numbers over ten thousand,” Basha explained. “There are still over ten thousand in the reserve force!” Du Fan asked in surprise. “Yes, but those reserve forces are slightly less powerful than the experienced Black Panther knights, though not by much,” Basha said.

“It’s not too bad; the difference isn’t significant,” Du Fan thought. “Thankfully, these Black Panther Knight Corps grow very slowly. It’s taken hundreds of years for them to reach over ten thousand members again.” He couldn’t imagine the shock such a hundred-thousand-strong Black Panther Knight Corps would cause in the human societies of the continent! With that many members, such a force would be virtually invincible in human society! “Being able to raise another ten thousand Black Panther recruits is already the limit for our dwarf race. You know, these Black Panthers consume an astonishing amount of food every day, and as magical beasts, they only eat meat!” Basha said. “Each adult Black Panther needs fifty pounds of meat per day! With over twenty thousand of them, that’s more than one million pounds of meat daily! Over the years, to feed them, we dwarves have had to produce a large number of weapons and exchange them for cattle and sheep with you humans. Twenty thousand is the limit for us dwarves; we can’t support any more.” Basha added. Hearing that each Black Panther needed fifty pounds of meat daily, Du Fan’s heart sank—five thousand Black Panthers would require two hundred and fifty thousand pounds of meat per day! These Black Panther Knight Corps were truly kept on a mountain of wealth! It seemed that to maintain a five-thousand-strong Black Panther Knight Corps, he would need to open more farms once he returned, Du Fan thought. While he was still pondering, Moses, Naixiu, and three elves magicians also rushed down. “Third brother, are we moving out of Grass tomorrow?” Moses asked as soon as he arrived. “Of course. We can’t put Second Brother in an awkward position. We must leave tomorrow. But before moving out, we need to discuss things thoroughly tonight. Today’s situation is quite complicated,” Du Fan said. At that, everyone fell silent. Even a straightforward dwarf like Basha could tell something was wrong. That evening, in Basha’s city lord’s residence—a larger house in Grass City—Du Fan, Naixiu, Moses, Basha, and the three elf magicians sat in the hall of Basha’s house. Du Fan stretched out his hand, recited a few spells, and soon, a soundproof barrier was created in the hall, preventing any sounds from leaking outside. “Third brother, why do you need to set up a soundproof barrier here too?” Basha asked in surprise.

“Exactly. I just created a silent barrier. Second brother, what you’re facing this time isn’t a trivial matter, so we must be careful!” Du Fan said.
“What could I possibly face? This is Grass! I’m the lord of Grass City. What could happen to me?” Batha asked in surprise after hearing Du Fan’s words.
“On the surface, this demonstration seems aimed at us, but second brother, have you ever thought that by doing this, those people are actually targeting you?” Du Fan said to Batha.
“That’s impossible. How could our dwarf race target me?” Batha shook his head in disbelief.
“It’s not only targeting you; I also suspect that behind this is your cousin, Young Master Karu!” Du Fan added another guess.
“Cousin Karu?” Batha asked cautiously.
“That’s right, your cousin Karu!” Du Fan emphasized.
“No, it can’t be Cousin Karu. You know, he’s been playing with me since we were kids! He’s always taken care of me and loved me dearly! It can’t be him. Third brother Du Fan, you must be wrong!” Batha said, clearly unconvinced.