Contrary to Master Marco's expectation of a scene where a few tribes barely scraped together, haphazardly piling up rough stones and frozen ice blocks, and then shamelessly calling it a city fortress.
While the team was still miles away, in the gaps where the wind and snow slightly thinned, Master Marco's gaze caught an abrupt spire on the horizon. After squinting to identify it for a moment, Master Marco judged it to be the tip of a high tower.
Marco wasn't one of those blacksmith apprentices who only spun around in their master's workshop and hadn't seen the world.
In his early years, he had traveled to the border fortresses of the human kingdoms, seen the outposts of the elves hidden in the forests, and even assisted in maintaining those ancient and complex defense systems in the dwarven royal capital.
Almost at a glance, he recognized that it was a magic high tower.
Moreover, it shouldn't be a standalone magic tower; otherwise, there would be no need to build it so high.
The team continued to advance following the Guide Puchi. Bypassing a bizarre petrified mushroom forest, that bizarre city Pollock called the Mushroom Fortress finally unfolded completely before everyone.
Just as Marco guessed when he saw the high tower, it indeed wasn't a standalone magic tower, but the core tower of an entire magic tower array.
However, Marco had no time right now to marvel at seeing a magic tower array in the Northern Territory. Looking at the Mushroom Fortress before his eyes, he momentarily had the doubt: "Is this really the Northern Territory?"
The outline of the Mushroom Fortress in the wind and snow was like a giant beast crawling on the ice field. The towering city walls had obviously undergone mana reinforcement; Marco could even see some magic runes carved on the surface of the walls.
The top of the wall wasn't a flat walkway, but had undulating battlements and observation platforms. One could faintly see the figures of sentries wearing leather armor, as well as squads of soldiers patrolling along fixed routes.
What was more peculiar was that at intervals on the city wall, some uniformly sized round holes were arranged at low positions. Through these holes, one could see round Puchis, taking uniform short steps, closely following behind the patrolling soldiers at every step.
Approaching the city gate, a bustle that was entirely incompatible with the desolate Northern Territory rushed to their faces.
Outside the city gate, a long queue was formed. This winding queue itself was the best proof of the vitality this city possessed.
What made Master Marco rather strange was that although the queue was long, the advancing speed was quite fast. Those soldiers guarding both sides of the city gate didn't seem to conduct cumbersome interrogations on those entering the city.
No rummaging through goods, no careful checking of identity documents, just occasionally talking briefly with certain people for a sentence or two, or letting their gaze pause for an instant on items someone carried.
If not inspecting, why make everyone line up in a single file to pass one by one?
There was also another discomforting point.
Although Pollock had indeed mentioned previously that there were many demon residents in the Mushroom Fortress, seeing it with one's own eyes was another feeling.
Except for Pollock himself, the other dwarves looked at those figures in the queue clearly growing horns and tails, still subconsciously tensing their bodies, hands quietly approaching the tools or weapons they carried, the atmosphere becoming somewhat stagnant.
Just then, in the direction of the city gate, a stocky and sturdy figure waved his arms forcefully toward their side, trotting all the way over.
As the newcomer's figure gradually became clear, Master Marco's eyes also widened more and more.
"Thorin?!" He involuntarily called out the other party's name.
The target person Marco originally thought would take a lot of trouble to gather news about just appeared so freshly in front of them at this moment!
He couldn't help thinking, they wouldn't even need to risk entering the city; just dragging Thorin away like this, their mission should be completed.
However, looking at the Mushroom Fortress before his eyes, Marco somewhat didn't want to leave immediately anymore.
The majesty of the Mushroom Fortress exceeded his expectations. That super-large forging factory Pollock introduced along the way, and even the war doll technology in Thorin's letter even earlier, could they also be real?
Gulp—
Since he was already here.
Having spent so much time on the road, going in to take a look was just taking a tiny bit more risk...
The Thorin opposite obviously also recognized this master blacksmith who had quite a deep friendship with the Deepforge Clan.
"Master Marco?! Is it really you?!" Thorin changed his steps originally running toward Pollock, arriving in front of Master Marco. He grabbed the Master's hand wearing a thick glove, shaking it forcefully, his voice somewhat distorted due to excitement. "You... you came because you received my letter, right? I knew it! I knew not everyone would treat me as talking nonsense! I sent so many letters back, to all the masters and craftsmen I remember... Only you, Master Marco, only you were willing to believe me, willing to personally come here to take a look!"
His tone carried a grievance and being moved that finally found vent after long-term suppression; tears were almost really about to roll down.
Master Marco, having his hand pulled by him and feeling the other party's unfeigned excitement, let his gaze wander away.
He opened his mouth, throat somewhat dry. That sentence "I came commissioned by your eldest brother to take you back" rolled on the tip of his tongue but ultimately couldn't be spoken.
Just then, Pollock on the side coughed heavily, taking a step forward: "Thorin, Master Marco was invited by me. I was fortunate to meet the Master in the Blackrock Tavern and introduced the opportunity of our Mushroom Fortress to him in detail; only then did the Master decide to come."
Although his relationship with Thorin was considered not bad, since it concerned a massive amount of contribution points, there was no reason to modestly decline.
The flush of excitement on Thorin's face instantly faded a bit. His grip on Master Marco's hand loosened. He took a small half step back with a dazed look, looking at Pollock, then looking at Master Marco, an obvious trace of disappointment flashing across his face.
But this disappointment only lasted for a short while. No matter who invited him, having a Master come to help him was good!
He stepped forward again, this time changing to pull Master Marco's arm, the force so great it almost dragged the other party forward, tone unable to wait: "Master, let's not talk about those first! Since you're here, hurry! Hurry come with me! I'll take you to see those war dolls. I guarantee, you will definitely be interested!"
"Really... really have war dolls?" Marco didn't even notice his voice was trembling slightly.
"You're still doubting this?" Thorin had a face full of disbelief. "Forget it, come come come, you'll understand completely after seeing it!"
Thorin pulled Master Marco and wanted to enter the city, but didn't expect to be stopped by those few dwarven mercenaries.
Marco was attracted by the possible large-scale forging factory and war doll technology inside the Mushroom Fortress; these dwarven mercenaries were not.
Right now, they just wanted to take Thorin back to complete their assignment, not take the risk to continue exploring this bizarre city that was mostly demons.
"What do you mean?" Blocked by the mercenaries, Thorin finally realized something was wrong.
The leading mercenary captain explained: "Young Master Thorin, your family misses you very much. Your eldest brother commissioned us to take you back."
"Eldest brother? Go back?" Thorin's expression went from doubt to understanding, finally leaving a face full of resistance. "No, I'm not going back. You guys go back and tell my brother I'm living very well now, that's all."
The dwarven mercenaries exchanged glances with each other, saying no more, and directly lifted Thorin up by the arms.
"You... what are you doing? Let me go! Let me go!" Thorin, with only Silver-rank strength, was completely unable to resist.
Marco stood aside, not knowing what to say for a moment. Pollock had a face full of anxiety but didn't know what to do.
Pollock, after all, had only stayed in the Mushroom Fortress for two months; he wasn't familiar enough with this place.
But Thorin, who was familiar with this place, had already sounded the alarm in the mycelial network by now.
Here, the dwarven mercenaries were still trying to make Thorin give up struggling—due to Thorin's identity, they dared not hit hard.
On the other side, a public security management team had already surged out from inside the Mushroom Fortress gates. More than ten sheriffs in uniform cyan uniforms, leading a mighty group of several hundred Puchis, rushed toward this side with "puchi ji" sounds.
...
Master Marco never expected that his first day arriving at the Mushroom Fortress would be spent in prison.
(End of Chapter)
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