Today marks the day when the dwarven refugees migrate to Norton, and Wen Xian has eagerly awaited their arrival for a long time. Dwarves are a humanoid race, short in stature but impressively muscular. They have lived for years in the northern forests and mountains, with their greatest court being the Lonely Mountain. This fortress kingdom is built into an entire mountain, almost completely hollowed out. Except for the crisscrossing paths and the lavish palace in the middle and upper levels of the mountain, the rest is a maze of mining tunnels. Their exquisite blacksmithing skills, mastery of smelting high-quality iron ore, and accumulation of precious minerals led the Lonely Mountain Court to its peak. With their mass-produced, full iron-armored armies, the dwarves swept across the northern continent, unmatched by any force. At one point, they even considered marching south to challenge the then-powerful human empire, hoping to further cement their leadership in the northern realm. However, the impenetrable Lonely Mountain Court experienced a terrifying disaster known as the "Great Fire."
Very few living beings today still know about this event—only a few long-lived races still remember it. Of course, this mysterious "Great Fire" is also recorded in history books because it was a supernatural fire that destroyed an entire mountain. The records describe a massive fireball streaking across the night sky, lighting up the night as bright as day, before the entire Lonely Mountain vanished in a white blaze. What remained was only bare land, smoldering lava, and a wildfire that ravaged the northern forests. Countless beings became deaf in the aftermath of that night. Since then, the dwarves declined rapidly, forced to migrate as the area around the Lonely Mountain became uninhabitable. The mountain once shielded the region from the harsh northern winds, but now, those bitter winds poured through the gap where the mountain once stood. The once-seasonal northern realm saw endless snow, and the ruins of the Lonely Mountain were covered in a thick blanket of snow within just five days.
Most of the wandering dwarves settled in the northern borderlands. They found it hard to integrate into human society due to their different lifestyle, so only a few ventured south to make a living among humans. The rest began building new towns amid the icy winds, with Bronzehelm being one of the cities established during that period. Though located in the far north, it remained one of the major cities thanks to the mountain ranges that protected it. However, this year the north has become even colder, and the terrifying winds and snowstorms have breached the gap where the Lonely Mountain once stood. The snow around Bronzehelm built up to a breaking point, and finally, avalanches buried the entire city. Countless dwarves succumbed to hypothermia in the snow and cold nights that followed, while others were suffocated in mines or killed by the avalanches' force. Bronzehelm sent out calls for aid to neighboring cities, but they too had suffered severe snow disasters. Left with no other choice, Bronzehelm appealed for help from across the entire continent.
Ivy was the first to respond. Upon receiving the news, she immediately contacted Norton merchants who conducted cross-border trade with the north, transporting dwarven iron goods back to Norton in exchange for food. The ruler of Bronzehelm, upon receiving the news, quickly organized a group of women and children, along with a guard unit and several dozen blacksmiths hired at great expense by Norton. In total, a thousand dwarves set out for the south.
When the dwarves entered the city, soldiers from Norton's First and Third Corps lined the streets to maintain order. The city's residents poured out of their shops and homes to watch, making the already bustling streets even livelier. The citizens warmly greeted the stout newcomers. The dwarf guards, despite their circumstances, maintained a dignified presence, reflecting their once-great heritage. Each member of the small guard unit wore full iron armor and carried heavy weapons. But the women and children were in a much more pitiful state—some children, too young to walk, were held by their mothers, with little more than rags to shield them from the cold. Most of the dwarves' clothes were worn and tattered, making the scene resemble a column of fully armored soldiers escorting prisoners to their doom.
Among the onlookers were a few dwarven adventurers who had made their way to the human world. They ran alongside the dwarven procession as it marched down the streets. One of them, a bowman named Clark Fireforge, was from Bronzehelm.
"Ofu! Ofu! Over here, it's me, Clark! Ofu!" Clark shouted as he weaved through the crowd, calling out to a robust dwarf in the front row, dressed modestly but with a strong build.
The dwarf being called was Ofu Ironforge, the youngest master blacksmith of Bronzehelm. Hearing the familiar voice, he turned to see his childhood friend Clark struggling to make his way through the crowd. "Clark! I'm here! Clark!" He waved his arm to signal Clark that he'd heard him and tried to leave the group to meet him, but an iron-clad soldier stopped him. "Please don't disrupt the procession; it will cause confusion. Return to your place." Ofu had no choice but to continue walking, though he kept looking back.
"Ofu! My mother! Have you seen my mother? Is she okay?" Clark shouted desperately from behind the human soldiers, who had formed a wall. He even tried to rush forward, but was stopped by a human soldier. "Citizen! Please maintain order! Rushing into the procession could cause chaos and even trampling. Please step back."
Clark was forced to continue weaving through the crowd, shouting, "I don't know, Clark! I didn't see your mother—Clark, I—" His voice was gradually drowned out by the noise of the crowd, and Clark eventually had to stop. He couldn't move any further, and when he heard that Ofu hadn't seen his mother, his legs gave out beneath him. A pair of strong hands lifted him—it was the same soldier who had stopped him earlier. "Brother, don't lose hope. This is just the first group entering the city. Your family might be in the next one." The soldier handed Clark off to his companions and returned to his post.
…
"Honorable rulers of the ancient empire, esteemed Princess Ivy, the great student of the sages, and the legendary Wen Xian, Commander of the First Company of the Bronzehelm Guard salutes you," said the dwarven officer as their group approached the royal palace, where Wen Xian, Ivy, and Li Xian were waiting.
"No need for formalities, Captain. You will set out tomorrow. We will assign guides to take you to your new homes in Norton, where we will meet again. For now, we've prepared temporary accommodations in the city. They may be modest, but we hope they will suffice for tonight's rest," Ivy said. After she finished speaking, Li Xian stepped forward to discuss logistics with the captain, helping to organize the dwarves for their stay in the palace.
"Are you sure it's alright for them to stay in the palace?" Li Xian asked as he lounged on a sofa, munching on an apple and pear after a long afternoon.
"There's no other suitable place. We can't inconvenience the citizens, and the city's inns have businesses to run. The palace has plenty of empty rooms, so staying for one night won't be a problem. The first group of dwarves was brought here to show the public. Although we posted notices nationwide, it's good for the citizens to see them firsthand. Later groups will travel directly to Mangshan by river," Wen Xian replied, feeling a bit tired as he looked at his two companions sprawled out.
"That soldier who stepped out of line during the procession was impressive. We should keep an eye on him. The dwarven captain also seems worth watching. Hopefully, they won't develop any of the bad habits I'm wary of." Wen Xian patted the sofa, to which Li Xian lazily replied, "Got it."
"How's the progress on Mangshan's construction?" Wen Xian turned to ask Ivy, who replied in a similarly relaxed tone, "The basic road from the mine to the city's industrial zone is finished, so we can transport ore by ox cart. We've stockpiled plenty of raw ore, and coal from the open-pit mine has been piling up too. But the distance is still too great, and the roads won't be completed anytime soon, so we'll need to find another solution in the future. The blast furnaces are also built and ready to be fired up once the masters arrive. For now, the military governs Mangshan, and the elite guards are stationed there. We've also selected some managers from the refugees and given them a bit of 'training.'"
"Good, it's finally on track. Now we just have to wait for those scholars to arrive." Wen Xian listened as Ivy reported while unrolling the blueprint for Mangshan's development from his storage ring and hanging it on the wall of the main hall.
"Brother, I must remind you that we've already gone over budget. You're planning to renovate the advanced academy, and the cost of that is astronomical. Norton's treasury can't handle it anymore, and even my personal funds aren't enough. You'd better start thinking about how to deal with this financial crisis first." Ivy turned away from the blueprint, unwilling to look at it. Every mark on the map represented real gold and silver, and she found it painful to see how much had already been spent. Throughout her long years, she had never felt money slip through her fingers so quickly.