This Lich Requests More Remuneration-Chapter 142 - 131 Hoffman Ironfist Driven to

Chapter 142: Chapter 131: Hoffman Ironfist, Driven to Desperation_2

Chapter 142 -131: Hoffman Ironfist, Driven to Desperation_2

A Desert Dwarf found the Dwarf King and accused the Laine Empire of stealing his goods. This merchant was a relative of the Dwarf King, who, without any investigation and in a fit of anger, ordered his troops to attack.

In a surprise attack, the border outposts of the Laine Empire were breached, many humans were captured, and lives were lost.

Once the army invaded, the nature of the dispute changed completely.

From that day forth, the Laine Empire formally declared war on the Desert Dwarves.

Hoffman Ironfist had felt something fishy about the situation from the start. Although the humans of the Laine Empire were very arrogant and barely glanced at other races, their faith lay in the Lord of the Dawn. They would discriminate against other races but would not break their own rules out of discrimination.

The goods were unjustly taken?

Such an incident might seem plausible elsewhere, but happening within Laine’s borders, it was highly irrational.

Most Laine people held doctrine more precious than life; mere goods were not worth violating the teachings of the Lord of the Dawn.

At that time, however, Hoffman Ironfist was just a low-ranking soldier and lacked the capability to investigate.

The war between the two nations then began formally. Initially, by taking advantage of their terrain, the Dwarves taught the Laine people several harsh lessons and repelled their assaults numerous times. The Dwarf King was self-congratulatory, believing his decision was correct, as the Laine people could not defeat the Dwarves. The so-called Paladin Legion was nothing but a bunch of useless iron cans in the desert.

During that time, the spirit of the Dwarf Kingdom was high, and having defeated the Laine Empire, the Desert Dwarves felt invincible.

But the good times did not last long, as the Laine Empire abandoned their previous strategy of sudden strikes for a more steady and grounded approach.

When the Paladins set their sights on an incontrovertible goal, they became an unstoppable force.

The cities of the Desert Dwarves began to be conquered one after another; the Dwarf Iron Guards could not withstand the Paladin Legion, and even the desert could not shelter these children of the sands.

It was then that the Dwarf Kingdom changed their policy, beginning to massively absorb immigrants from different races. These foreigners, eager to fight against Laine, joined readily, significantly boosting the Dwarf Kingdom’s military forces, at least in terms of expendable troops.

However, this approach was merely a stopgap measure.

The open policy continued for over a hundred years, and the Desert Dwarves went from losing a city every three years to losing one every decade. The problems brought by multi-racial cohabitation were more than that, as they brought cannon fodder for the Desert Dwarves, but they also created an extremely unstable situation.

Different races, cultures, dietary habits, customs, taboos; the presence of these immigrants infringed upon the Dwarves’ living space.

Were it not for the external pressure constantly exerted by Laine, this kingdom would likely have already succumbed to internal strife.

It was within this era of turmoil that Hoffman Ironfist gained recognition on the battlefield, slowly rising from a mere foot soldier to a general, and eventually becoming the King’s Hand, tantamount to the prime minister of the country.

Alas, by the time Hoffman Ironfist had the power to investigate the original truth, everything was already over.

The Dwarf Kingdom was on the brink of collapse.

The border of the Laine Empire kept expanding, to the point where a new province could be established even within the desert region. The new Paladin Legions were trained in the sands. Given another two to three decades, these Paladins would be more accustomed to the desert environment than the Dwarves.

Only at this point did the Dwarf King finally admit his mistake.

He sent Hoffman Ironfist to negotiate peace with the Laine Empire, offering money and even the lands they had lost to Laine. But the Laine Empire presented only a list, which recorded the casualties caused by the Dwarves during their first invasion.

Hoffman Ironfist remembered clearly that after the Laine Empire’s envoy read out the names from the list, he introduced himself, saying, “My grandfather was a survivor at that time, he lost his family and one of his arms at that outpost.”

Hoffman Ironfist realized that the Laine Empire would never accept peace talks, otherwise they wouldn’t send a young man filled with deep-seated hatred as their envoy.

Hoffman Ironfist thought the Laine Empire was too extreme. In the years of warfare, the Dwarf Kingdom had already paid with lives a hundred, even a thousandfold. Yet to the Laines, it seemed still insufficient to compensate for the initial injuries sustained.

Whoever dares to invade Laine and kill its people, the likely outcome is annihilation. That is the extreme human supremacy of the Laine Empire.

But it was precisely this extremism that made the Laine Empire extraordinarily united. Despite the enormous cost of war, the Laine People cheered on the national conflict, eager to donate everything they had for the cause.

After visiting the Laine Empire, Hoffman Ironfist knew that the war was undoubtedly a losing battle. How could you stand against hundreds of millions of united Laine People whose collective strength even Deities would avoid?

Returning home with this message, Hoffman Ironfist only received humiliation from the Dwarf King.

Useless!

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This was the Dwarf King’s favorite expression, ready to loudly roar and angrily blame everything around him whenever things didn’t go his way.

Fortunately, the years of defeat had exhausted the Dwarf King physically and emotionally, lately he didn’t even have the strength to scold anyone.

But the old man had no intention of restraining himself; the ambush on the Elf Tribe was actually his idea.

Alchemy City was the Desert Dwarves’ last chance. The Dwarf King, his eyes reddened with greed, wanted to claim the entire territory of Alchemy City. And from various signs, Hoffman Ironfist deduced that there must have been internal issues within the Elf Tribe that spurred this abnormal war.

The Dwarf King then began to fantasize about the complete failure of the Elf Tribe. He wanted not only to swallow Alchemy City but also to make the Silvermoon Tribunal pay a hefty price to compensate for the great withdrawal losses of the Dwarves.

Hoffman Ironfist thought the Dwarf King had gone mad. It would have been sufficient to fairly divide Alchemy City. Although that might still not be enough for the Dwarf Kingdom, it would at least allow them to catch their breath. Why make an enemy of the Elves as well? That would surely cut off their own retreat.

However, he was just the King’s Hand, not the true King. Within the Dwarf Iron Guard at Hoffman Ironfist’s side, only one-third were completely loyal to him; the others only obeyed the King’s commands.

Hoffman Ironfist had no choice but to act according to the King’s orders.

Because Amberser regarded the Dwarf Race as a partner and the Elf Tribe as a hypothetical enemy, naturally, he divulged more information to the allies, so Hoffman Ironfist easily learned of the Elf Tribe’s route.

Then, Hoffman Ironfist passed the intelligence about the Elf Tribe to the Hell Believers.

The Cerberus Family didn’t want the peace talks to succeed. A chaotic battle was their stage of choice, so they readily agreed with Hoffman Ironfist’s plan, leading to that precise ambush. They just didn’t expect Amberser to intervene and show such terrifying power; the Hellish Army was routed before they even deployed their plans against Katherine.

As for Hoffman Ironfist, using Hake Stone to egg on Amberser to deal with the Hell Believers, was actually meant to clear his own involvement early. When the time came, he could claim that it was Amberser’s move against the Hell Believers that triggered their retaliation and led to the ambush on the Elf Tribe.

Who would have thought that Hake Stone would completely forget this arrangement, almost causing Hoffman Ironfist to slip up.

Now the Dwarf King was pressuring Hoffman Ironfist to continue acting against the Elf Tribe. Although reluctant, Hoffman Ironfist had no choice but to once again contact the Cerberus Family.

The glow of the Magic Array lit up once more; it was the previous communication beacon with the Cerberus Family.

But this time, the figure appearing on the Magic Array wasn’t someone from the Cerberus Family, but a Half-Dragon with a ferocious appearance.

What kind of monster was this? Could it be a hellish creature created by the Cerberus Family?

Before Hoffman Ironfist could speak to ask, the Half-Dragon spoke first, “You are the Desert Dwarf? This time you’ve come to find someone to deal with the Elf Tribe, right?”