Under the pleading of the victim, Thorin, Master Marco only squatted in the mushroom cell for one day before coming out.
As for that group of audacious dwarven mercenaries who attempted to kidnap someone right at the gate of the Mushroom Fortress, Lin Jun's handling this time was uncharacteristically gentle.
He rarely didn't bring out that standard processing flow of "mycelial parasitism, contribution point debt, forced labor repayment," but merely detained them for a few more days.
This also had considerations.
If the Mushroom Fortress wanted to continue developing, it would inevitably be gradually observed by other factions; this was unavoidable.
In fact, the closest Empire already knew of the Mushroom Fortress's existence, just that they didn't understand enough yet.
Since stepping onto this stage was inevitable, the Mushroom Fortress must find its own positioning.
If possible, Lin Jun preferred to play a completely neutral role aloof from the world: build high walls, accumulate grain extensively, and slowly claim the title of king.
But the Empire obviously wouldn't be willing to have another uncertain factor added to the north.
Therefore, looking at it currently, joining the anti-Empire alliance was the best choice for the Mushroom Fortress.
In that case, the first formal contact with the dwarven faction appeared particularly crucial.
If a mercenary squad commissioned by the Deepforge Clan was all turned into mushroom-growing coolies and then sent back, that would be tantamount to a bad start.
Lin Jun could only suffer a bit of grievance, merely confiscating all their equipment except for the warming stones, plus locking them up for a week, and then deporting them.
When the mercenaries walked out of the mushroom cell, they had long lost the imposing manner of kidnapping people outside the city gate previously.
Although Lin Jun didn't impose more severe punishments, the capture process itself had already made them suffer enough.
Because the internal security of the Mushroom Fortress had always been surprisingly good, with only some trivial disputes daily, the sheriffs rarely had opportunities to perform meritorious deeds.
Rarely encountering a major case like "armed kidnappers attempting to commit a crime at the city gate" this time, the dispatched sheriffs all acted as if they had been cast with Berserk!
The mercenary captain who resisted most fiercely was buried by swarms of Puchis and almost suffocated to death in the Puchi pile. Now, recalling the eyes of those sheriffs still made him feel lingering fear.
Although still rejoicing in his heart that he could come out whole, the mercenary captain hadn't forgotten his duty.
Bringing Thorin back was impossible, but this unexpected situation at the Mushroom Fortress couldn't be blamed on them either. They were a mercenary squad, not an army capable of besieging a city.
Besides, it was Thorin himself who was unwilling to go back. Learning Thorin's specific situation this time could be considered enough to report back.
The problem now was...
The dwarven mercenary captain walked up to a soldier responsible for urging them to leave the city, pleading submissively: "Sir Soldier, we are still missing one person here. You see..."
If it were in the past, he would have had to slip over at least two gold coins. But now, his equipment and gold coins had been confiscated; he could only try his best to pile up a smiling face.
"Tsk." That Lizardman directly rolled his eyes. "Primitive using mouth to speak."
He didn't understand what the dwarven captain was saying at all, only judging from the other party's expression and gestures that it was probably a request or inquiry.
He turned his head to look at the teammates executing the escort mission together beside him. They were either fellow Lizardmen with vertical pupils or Half-Demons carrying miscellaneous traits. Everyone's face had the exact same indifference and blankness; obviously, no one understood either.
The Lizardman soldier did remember that in another patrol team, there was a human named Jeff. Unfortunately, under the current situation, he couldn't find him temporarily.
This made a trace of envy involuntarily well up in his heart. Those guys with A-level permissions were much more convenient. They enjoyed the permission to conduct remote telepathic communication in the mycelial network. Whoever they wanted to find, just contact them remotely in the network; no need to be flying blind like he was now.
It was said that those core members had even higher permissions and could even achieve real-time communication with screen sharing anytime and anywhere, just like using an image transmission crystal.
Of course, that level was too remote for him. In this life, if he could work hard to muddle up to an A-level permission and make remote calls in the mycelial network, he would be completely satisfied.
Ultimately, a human Mushroom Citizen who happened to pass by was stopped and temporarily acted as a translator.
After reporting the dwarven captain's request and receiving instructions, the Lizardman soldier, carrying teammates with faces full of reluctance, fully armed and accompanying this group of dwarven captives, tossed and turned to a workshop located in the inner perimeter of the Mushroom Fortress.
"Go back? Not going back!" Master Marco raised his head abruptly. That head wearing goggles shook like a rattle-drum in a gale. The meticulously braided long beard swung left and right accordingly, slapping pa pa onto the blueprints on the workbench.
"Exactly, go back for what!" Thorin also chimed in from the side.
This categorical refusal completely exceeded the mercenary captain's expectation. He got close to Marco, lowering his voice to ask: "Wh... why, Master? Could it be they coerced you, or did something to you..."
"Why?" Master Marco immediately got excited, turning back to hug a section of a war doll arm from the table behind him in front of the mercenary captain. "Look, look carefully! Know what this is? War doll! Genuine ancient war doll component! The style is even different from those old antiques in the clan's treasury; obviously another independently developed war doll craftsmanship!"
He was so excited that his spit almost sprayed onto the captain's face: "Moreover, here there are not only relatively well-preserved physical war doll components but also some supporting design blueprints! What's better is that they actually provide high-tier magic crystals for drive testing here!"
Speaking of this, Master Marco couldn't help smacking his lips, lowering his voice, as if sharing a massive secret: "The master here is simply unbelievably generous! Every time conducting a war doll joint linkage or energy transmission test, actually allows an attrition quota of three standard A-grade magic crystals! This generosity... I suspect that beneath the Northern Territory, there might be a previously undiscovered high-quality magic crystal vein buried!"
Master Marco spoke very excitedly, but these weren't so understandable to mercenaries who didn't understand war dolls.
The captain had a face full of difficulty: "Master Marco, these things you said... we don't quite understand. But if we leave you alone in this place and go back by ourselves, the Deepforge Clan over there... we really have no way to explain it! The Eldest Young Master specifically instructed to ensure your safety."
"Explain? Why no way to explain?" Master Marco glared. "Me staying here, isn't that also watching that kid Thorin for them? Lest he, being young and aggressive, messes around blindly in this unfamiliar place. I'm staring from the side to prevent any accidents!"
The dwarven captain's eye corner twitched. He really wanted to say, if Young Master Thorin really had some accident here, you would highly likely get accidentally involved along with him.
Fortunately, Master Marco didn't intend to truly make things difficult for these mercenaries executing orders. He grabbed a charcoal pencil stained with oil and a relatively clean piece of parchment from the workbench and wrote rapidly.
A moment later, he stuffed a clearly organized letter into the mercenary captain's hand.
The mercenary captain looked at the Master before his eyes who obviously had made up his mind to stay here, then glanced at those Mushroom Fortress soldiers by the workshop door with crossed arms and cold eyes, and finally could only leave helplessly.
When this group of dejected dwarven mercenaries was "politely escorted" out of the Mushroom Fortress's tall city gates, Xinghuo, who had been waiting at the city gate for a long time, stepped forward.
Under the somewhat dazed gaze of the dwarven captain, Xinghuo handed an official document stamped with a mushroom pattern sealing wax into his hand:
"Please hand this diplomatic document over to the Deepforge Clan together. We, the Mycelium Bouncing Puchi Fortress, sincerely hope to coexist peacefully with the dwarves, and even find space for mutually beneficial cooperation. Hoping next time the Mountain Kingdom can dispatch a formal diplomatic mission."
...
Master Marco was completely an unexpected pleasant surprise. Hoped he could play some role in analyzing the war doll technology.
On the other side, the dwarven blacksmith apprentices who went out to recruit people returned one after another. Several of them even participated in the Blacksmith Association's assessment during their return to the Mountains and became official blacksmiths.
And the other dwarven blacksmiths they brought back quickly experienced the joy they had when they first arrived—high-grade forging furnaces available at any time and inexhaustible ores!
Although the ores used would all be recorded in debts, look at those guys who brought them over; almost all of them paid off their debts in one trip.
Not to mention Pollock, who brought back a Master. Estimated he could let go and swing his hammer for the next year.
These early comers could recruit people; they could recruit people too!
Holding this mentality, this batch of dwarven blacksmiths quickly began a blacksmithing carnival in the forging factory.
There were also some dwarves, family members of the first batch of blacksmiths, who might not be blacksmiths themselves.
A portion of them who were good at excavation and mining were also quickly recruited.
And after signing a non-disclosure agreement, they were taken to the location of the subsidiary space.
Thanks to some of these experienced miners, the excavation progress improved greatly in a short time!
And the things that came out made Lin Jun somewhat surprised.
(End of Chapter)
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