Viscount Helson stepped forward and bowed slightly: "I am Helson, and I have come on the orders of Marquis Paul Gleman of the Kingdom of Aldo, hoping to have a face-to-face meeting with the patriarch of the noble family."
"My father is unwell." The dwarf waved his hand. "I am Barash, the young chieftain of the Ironhammer clan. You may speak to me now."
Helson looked at the loud-voiced, straightforward young dwarf nobleman before him, slightly surprised, but he quickly composed himself and nodded:
"Then, please allow me to tell you the purpose of my trip."
"Wait!" Barash raised his hand. "That Marquis Gleyman, you just said you came on his orders, not on your own?"
"Exactly!" Helson nodded.
"So you've come with a political mission?" Barash's voice suddenly rose, making the hall buzz. "My Ironhammer Clan has never wanted to make contact with human rulers!"
He slammed his hand on the stone table: "If you were truly seeking help for someone, perhaps I could have given you a reward because of the token you have. But now it seems..."
Helson took a half step back, but still looked directly into the other's eyes: "Young clan leader, please let me explain." He raised the hand that was gripping the bone flute tightly, "I had to use every means at my disposal to make this meeting possible, and the ultimate goal was to prevent an even greater crisis."
"A greater crisis?" Barash sneered. "Humanity is in turmoil among itself, yet it comes to tell me about a 'greater crisis'?"
Helson was surprised; it seemed the dwarves were not as isolated from the outside world as he had previously imagined.
Looking at the red-faced, loud-voiced young clan leader in front of him, he knew he had to explain his purpose as soon as possible, otherwise he would likely be kicked out immediately.
So he took a deep breath and said directly, "Marquis Grylls wants to know why the dwarves, who have always lived in seclusion, have broken their neutrality in this war and helped the orcs pass through the Rocky Mountains."
As soon as he finished speaking, Barash's face turned bright red, his eyes widened, and his beard trembled slightly with anger.
"What did you say?!" His voice boomed like thunder, making the braziers in the hall flicker. "We dwarves would help orcs? Those barbarians?"
He slammed his hand on the stone table, pointing angrily at Helson: "This is impossible! This is you humans slandering the dwarves!"
As he spoke, he paced back and forth, his voice growing louder and louder: "We have never opened any passages to the orcs! You can't defeat the orcs, so you want to drag the dwarves into this mess?!"
Helson stood still, without interrupting him.
Barash became increasingly agitated as he spoke, finally pointing to the door and shouting, "You humans are always like this! Whenever you encounter trouble, you find someone else to take the blame!"
Helson watched silently as Barash's anger lingered, without interrupting. He waited until the outburst subsided before speaking slowly, his tone calm and clear:
"Young Chieftain, I understand your anger. But this is not an accusation, but a fact—during the first war between the Aldor and the Orcs, the Orc army crossed the Rocky Mountains in large numbers and suddenly appeared behind Watcher's Keep, catching us completely off guard."
He paused, looking directly at Barash: "If it weren't for someone familiar with the mountain paths leading the way, the orcs wouldn't have been able to bypass our outposts and appear so silently."
Barash frowned, but did not interrupt again.
"And after we counterattacked and defeated the orcs, their main force once again quietly withdrew from the Rocky Mountains," Helson continued. "There is no doubt that they could not teleport from one side of the Rocky Mountains to the other; it would have been virtually impossible without someone providing assistance."
The air in the hall seemed to freeze, and the sound of the flickering flames became exceptionally clear.
Helson slowly uttered the name: "We learned from the prisoners that the group of dwarves who assisted the orcs in their passage was a clan of stonemasons."
The moment he finished speaking, Barash's face darkened.
His expression, which had previously held a hint of anger, was now completely replaced by shock and fury, but the object of his anger was no longer Helson.
The young dwarf chieftain's lips were pressed into a thin line, and his thick beard trembled slightly.
He didn't speak, but stared intently at Helson, his eyes no longer filled with mere suspicion or hostility, but with a deep unease.
After a long silence, he finally spoke again, but his tone was much gentler than before, though still wary:
"We dwarves have thirteen clans scattered throughout the Rocky Mountains. The Ironhammer clan is one of them, and it has always adhered to its principle—never to interfere in the war between humans and orcs."
"As for the other clans…" He paused, his gaze sharp as he stared at Helson: "I cannot conclude that the Stonemasons Clan did such a thing based on your one-sided account."
Helson nodded in understanding.
"So," he pressed, "what would you do if that actually happened?"
Barash's expression darkened further, and he slowly said:
"If what you say is true, then it would be a serious violation of the oath made by the thirteen dwarven clans." His voice was lower. "I will unite with other neutral clans to put pressure on them and make them stop this act of betraying the interests of all dwarves."
Helson didn't let the opportunity pass, and immediately asked, "But what if they refuse? Would you take coercive measures?"
Barash abruptly raised his head, a flash of anger in his eyes, and he almost gritted his teeth as he uttered a sentence:
"We will not use force against our own people."
Although his voice wasn't loud, it carried an unquestionable tone.
After a moment's thought, Helson asked another crucial question:
"Then, shall we send in the Aldor army to stop them?"
Upon hearing this, Barash first gave a cold laugh, then shook his head, his tone clearly filled with contempt:
"Human armies? Fighting in the Rocky Mountains?"
He chuckled, a sarcastic smile playing on his lips:
"You can't even find the road, so what are you talking about attacking? The road we dwarves have traveled for a thousand years is just rocks and snow in your eyes. You can't even tell which way to go, yet you dare to say you're going into the mountains to attack the Stonemasons' Clan?"
He paused, his tone growing even colder:
"Then it's up to you. As long as you can survive in the Rocky Mountains and not freeze to death, starve to death, or fight among yourselves."
After he finished speaking, he turned and walked deeper into the hall.
Helson silently watched Barash's retreating figure, then spoke again:
"If Aldor really resorts to force against the Stonemasons..."
His tone was calm, yet it carried a hint of probing.
Will other dwarven clans, including the Ironhammer clan, lend a helping hand?