Chapter 008: Confrontation

“Second brother, think about it. When we first called the dwarves to enter the Divine Ruins, why didn’t anyone show up for so long? That’s not like your dwarves at all. You dwarves have a strong sense of honor; in such a situation, many of your people should have volunteered to join.” Du Fan said.
“Didn’t Cousin Karu bring a group of experts later?” Basha replied indifferently.
“That’s right! And that’s what’s even stranger! Why wasn’t anyone here for half a day, and when they did show up, it was a whole group—plus, all of them were brought by your dear Cousin Karu?” Du Fan gradually guided Basha to think deeper.
“Isn’t that better? Cousin Karu brought so many candidates for me at once, so I don’t have to pick them one by one.” Basha said.
“But my speculation tells me that your Cousin Karu wants to enter the Divine Ruins and do something harmful to you!” Du Fan said.
“That’s impossible, impossible.” Basha shook his head.
“That’s exactly it! Think about it—how long has it been since we left the Divine Ruins, and yet they quickly organized a protest campaign against us! If they hadn’t planned this from the start, how could they mobilize so fast and so efficiently?” Du Fan said emphatically.
Basha was stunned. It seemed these actions were indeed very timely and well-organized.
“Right? If they hadn’t planned it from the start, how could they start a protest so quickly? If they’ve had plans all along, it proves they’ve been plotting against you since the beginning!” Du Fan said.
“Is Cousin Karu really trying to harm me?” Basha murmured. After thinking for a while, he realized that the dwarf leading the protest was indeed one of Karu’s men—he had seen that person a few times at Karu’s house.
“Basha, after we move out, you need to be careful. Also, I’ll leave the three magicians around Naixiu with you. That way, the four of you at the Sacred rank can handle anything that comes up. And we’ll station troops near Grass—inform us immediately if anything happens!” Du Fan said.
Just then, there was urgent knocking at the door. Basha hurriedly opened it, and an elf archer rushed in.

“Elder Du Fan, many dwarves have gathered at our campsite and are causing trouble! You should go and take a look quickly!” said the elf archer, out of breath.

So fast! Du Fan was shocked. It seemed those people couldn’t wait for him to leave!

“Let’s go; I’ll go with you,” Bashaa said, rushing out as soon as he heard the news.

“Come on, let’s all go take a look. Oh, and you three stay here first,” Du Fan said to the three magicians.

By the time Du Fan and the others arrived at the elf camp, the situation was already in complete chaos. Tens of thousands of dwarves had surrounded the two thousand elves!

The elves had been preparing to go to bed, but before they could lie down, they were awakened by the noise from outside.

“False elves! Get out of our Gras!” many dwarves shouted.

As a result, the elves who wanted to sleep were forced to run out of their tents due to these shouts.

Outside the tents, more and more dwarves gathered!

Soon, seeing so many of their companions arrive, the dwarves grew bolder. Many picked up stones from the ground and threw them at the elves’ tents.

Soon, other dwarves followed suit. In Gras, everything was scarce except stones—there were an endless supply of them!

Under these attacks, many elves’ tents were destroyed. The elves valued their race greatly, and upon seeing this, many of them quickly packed up their tents.

Realizing the situation was chaotic, they sent elves to Bashaa’s house to report the news.

By the time Bashaa, Du Fan, and the others arrived, the dwarves were at their most violent, even throwing stones at the elves.

At this point, the elves could no longer hold back. They drew their long elf bows, loaded arrows, and aimed the shiny arrowheads at the dwarves!

“They’re going to kill us! They’re going to kill us! Brothers, these elves are aiming their bows at us—they want to kill us!” a loud voice rang out among the dwarves.

The dwarves were simple-minded creatures. Hearing that voice, their anger flared up instantly.

These elves really dared it—aiming their arrows at the dwarves right in Gras!

What kind of place was Gras? It was the dwarves’ largest underground city, their greatest gathering place!

How dare these false dwarves draw bows and aim at them here?

At that moment, seeing the elves aiming their bows at them, and then stirred up by those with ulterior motives, the dwarves immediately lost their heads. They had already lost the battle against the forces of the magical beasts at the Divine Ruins, which was a heavy blow to these lovers. Moreover, it seemed that failure in that battle was related to these hypocritical elves. With all this resentment piled up, many dwarves drew their weapons and rushed forward!

“Everyone, stop!” Seeing this, Basha became anxious and shouted loudly.

“Lord Basha, look at those elves! They’re aiming their bows at us! Do we have to endure this any longer?” an angry dwarf said.

“Weren’t we already agreed? They’ll leave Grass tomorrow. Who, who told you to come here and cause trouble?” Basha said angrily.

As soon as Basha asked this, there was silence underground.

It seemed some people didn’t want to reveal themselves.

“Second brother, let’s give up. I think we should leave tonight,” Du Fan said with a sigh.

“No, even if I bring the Black Panther Knights here today, I’ll make sure you spend the night safely here,” Basha said firmly.

“That’s not it. In my opinion, those behind the scenes just want to use this as an excuse to create trouble. By doing so, they can put you against the ordinary dwarves and isolate you within the dwarf race. I think that’s their real goal. So, for your sake, we have to leave today,” Du Fan said.

“Basha, your third brother is right. These people are targeting us openly, but what they really want to deal with is you. So, this time we must leave immediately. Otherwise, these dwarves will be used against you, and you’ll be isolated among the dwarves. That’s their true goal,” Moses also said.

Finally, after the decision of several people, Du Fan and Mosesinaixiu led two thousand elf archers out of Grass City.

Outside the huge cave were two thousand archers, along with a pair of dwarf knights from the Black Panther Knights guarding the cave entrance.

In the evening breeze, Basha kept thinking about what had just happened.

“Who, who wants to isolate me?” Basha murmured.

“If I’m not mistaken, it’s your cousin Karu. So after we leave, Basha, you must be careful of your cousin Karu,” Du Fan said.
“I think they don’t have the courage to attack me in Grass yet,” Basha replied.
“You might think so, but not everyone shares that view,” Du Fan said.
“In that case, I’ll stay with you tonight,” Basha said.
“No,” Du Fan said with a smile.
“Why not? You’re worried about my safety yet don’t want me to stay with you. What’s the reason?” Basha asked in confusion.
“Since someone wants to harm you, we’ll wait for them to strike first. Once they do, we can confront them directly,” Du Fan explained.
“What if we set off now and leave the Dusk Mountains to go to human society?” Basha suggested tentatively. “I really can’t bring myself to fight my own people.”
“Hehe, third brother, you’re too kind-hearted. You should know that the sooner such matters are resolved, the better. If we delay, they’ll have more time to prepare, and dealing with them later will cost more in terms of sacrifices,” Du Fan said with a smile.
“By the way, where will the five thousand cavalry assigned to us by the Dwarf King be handed over?” Du Fan suddenly asked.
“Our Black Panther Knight Order’s base is far from here—about three days’ journey.”
“Good. Send someone to lead the way and take our two thousand archers to your Black Panther Knight Order base. Brother, you should go with them too,” Du Fan said to Moses.
“Why do we need to separate the archers from me first?” Moses asked in confusion.
“I’m worried that if something really happens, having large forces on both sides could easily lead to heavy casualties. Besides, as you know, your father only gave me two thousand archers. These archers are precious to me—I can’t afford to lose even one. Moreover, archers rely on long-range attacks, and in a battle against a unit that counters them, they’ll suffer greatly. So it’s better for you to go to the Black Panther Knight Order base and join them. If anything happens, we’ll go there too,” Du Fan explained.
“What if you all get into danger?” Moses asked worriedly.

“Haha. Big brother, with our limited strength, if we can’t defeat them, can we really escape?” Du Fan laughed heartily.
“If that’s the case, we’ll do as you say!” Moses nodded firmly.
“Second brother, send someone who knows the way to take big brother and the archers to the Black Panther Knight Order’s base,” Du Fan said.
“You, take a small team and lead them to our knight order’s base,” Basha said, pointing at one of the knight order’s squad leaders. A squad leader of the Black Panther Knight Order had ten cavalrymen under him, a squadron leader had a hundred, a brigade leader had a thousand, and the head of the knight order commanded the entire Black Panther Knight Order.
“Yes, Lord Basha,” the selected squad leader immediately led a small team to stand in front of the group of archers.
“Big brother, set off at night. The sooner we reach the Black Panther Knight Order’s base, the better,” Du Fan said with a smile.
“Then I’ll set off at night right away,” Moses said. “Remember, if anything happens, head towards the Black Panther Knight Order’s base!”