After the holy sword is broken

The human territory is located in the south west of the New World, close to the hot mountains. Although it is cold in winter, it is not too difficult.

Now it is entering late spring, and after the continuous rainy season, the weather has gradually warmed up.

But as soon as they set foot on the territory of the dwarves, they could immediately feel the bitter cold of falling into the severe winter.

The Dwarf Empire is very close to the glaciers in the north. The permafrost does not melt all year round, and it snows all year round. In the real winter, it will fall into the polar night that lasts for several months.

"The entire continent is so vast, why did the dwarves choose such a difficult environment?"

Alger was wrapped in a fur cloak, barely protecting him from the cold.This was put on by Burgess before entering the portal.

Originally, Alger didn't pay much attention to the so-called severe cold until he came out of the portal——

The cold wind like a blade blew on his face, numb his perception, and made him lose the ability to speak for a moment.

When he finally got used to the severe cold, he asked Burgess a little depressed.

"Because of the mine veins." Burgess said indifferently: "The mountains in the south are occupied by giant dragons and beasts, so the dwarves had no choice but to come here."

In contrast, Burgess is in much better condition than Alger.It's not because his ability to keep out the cold is better than that of soldiers, but because of "the favor of the moon god".

This artifact, which has been passed down from ancient times to the present, can not only defend against magical and physical attacks, but also withstand extreme weather.

Argel sighed out a cloud of white mist, barely opened his eyes that were dry by the cold wind, but saw an extremely shocking scene.

"This is……"

The collapsed land, broken rocks, and frost-covered remnants stretch for thousands of miles, and you can't see the end at a glance.

"Collapsed dungeon. What did you do by accident, isn't it your poem of truth?"

"..." To be reasonable, more than 2000 years have passed.

Alger still didn't answer this sentence in the end, but just asked: "Are we going to cross this collapsed surface? I seem to have seen two goblins running through the cracks in the rock just now."

"Don't make trouble, how can there be goblins in the cold zone? The road is behind you."

Borgins turned and pointed to the distance: "See? That mountain range, which blocks part of the wind and snow from the north, gives the dwarves shelter. At the foot of that mountain range is the empire of the dwarves."

Alger followed the pointing of Burgess' finger, looked through the barrier of wind and snow, and vaguely saw a stretching mountain range, and at the foot of the mountain, the city made of metal and boulders.

Far, far away, the mountains are indistinct, and the city is just a small black spot. Alger, who has keen five senses, can barely make out its outline with all his eyesight.

"This is, the mechanical empire of the dwarves?" Alger narrowed his eyes slightly against the wind and snow, trying to see more clearly.

"Yes, after entering, you must remember to hide your identity. If you let them know that you are the person who wrote the poem of truth..."

Burgess drew his tone with a smile in his words: "I will probably drag you out and beat you to death in the street."

"Sounds dangerous."

"So, follow me closely."

Under the severe cold all year round, the vegetation here is very sparse. On the leeward side of the stones, some moss may grow, and occasionally a few clusters of low shrubs can be seen, and the branches and leaves are also dry and shriveled.

The river is frozen by ice, and if you want to get water, you can only dig through the ice on the surface.

"Let's talk about it now, why is it so urgent all of a sudden?"

The mountains were still far away from the city, and Burgess was also wrapped in a fur cloak, similar to the one on Alger. It was snow-white and blended in with this pale frosty world.

Alger thought for a while, and decided to start from the beginning.

"There are nine executors of the poem of truth. At present, three are stationed at the gate of hell, and two are in the royal city. I am here."

As soon as he opened his mouth, the water vapor brought out turned into white mist, blurring his vision.

"There are three more people." Burgess continued.

"They each carry out long-term secret missions, and we haven't heard from these three for a long time. Especially the chief executive, it has been about ten years since he left the headquarters of Poetry of Truth last time."

"I seem to have heard Ragal say that your boss is missing."

Alger smiled: "You actually said that... But there is nothing wrong with it, if the new chief executive hadn't been appointed, we would all have thought that something happened to him.

"But, just yesterday, he came back."

Burgess raised his eyebrows: "What shocking news did you bring back?"

Alger's face became serious, he shook his head: "As soon as he came back, he passed out, and we didn't have time to ask anything.

"We reported it to the Poetry of Truth Headquarters, and then I received an urging from the chief priest."

"You still don't know anything."

Alger was silent for a while, and then said: "You can't say that, Elvis is the chief executive, he was suddenly seriously injured, and he appeared in the camp at the gate of hell, which in itself explains a lot of things.

"He is the top stalker in the entire continent, and it is not impossible to lurk to the other side of the gate of hell."

Burgess thought for a while: "I seem to understand."

He suddenly laughed softly: "No wonder Ragal said that the remaining eight of you combined can't even touch a finger of your boss. It is indeed a gap in level."

Even with the suppression of the planes and the conflicts with the rules, Ives can still roam in the lower planes with his powerful stealth ability, collect information, and lay out deep plans.It was too easy for him to avoid the searches of several comrades.

Alger smiled: "Eight...Even if you can't touch them with your fingers, you can still touch the corners of your clothes."

The location of the portal, which is next to the ruins of the dungeon, has not gone far into the north, and only the cold wind is screaming around.

When he could vaguely see the shape of the mountains, and saw huge machinery turning faintly on the city of metal and boulders, there were already snowflakes flying around.

The falling snow came from the front, and the angle was almost parallel to the ground. The cold wind was blowing, and the fur cloak was fluttering, and the whining wind sounded like thunder.

"Walk behind me." Alger said to Burgess.

As soon as the voice came out, it was drowned in the wind, and instead it took a mouthful of cold air.

Covering his mouth and coughing twice, he pulled Burgess, who hadn't heard anything, directly behind him, barely shielding him from the wind.Although the effect is minimal, it is better than nothing.

After finally being able to clearly see the simple carvings on the huge city gate, the wind and snow calmed down.

Like walking into the embrace of the mountains.

Step by step approaching the mechanical giant city, Argel's heart was filled with shock.

Beyond the city wall, machinery, gears, and steam can be vaguely seen.

Familiar and unfamiliar things merged into a vast picture that he had never seen before, nor could he imagine.

"This is... the empire of the dwarves." Argel stood at the locked city gate and murmured.

A rough voice suddenly came from above: "Who's down there?"

It is the common language of the mainland, the pronunciation is a little twisted, with a thick accent, as if there is something in the throat.

Hearing this voice, Burgess took off his hood, raised his head, and said with a smile, "It's me, Burgess."

A row of heads suddenly appeared on the city gate, with red faces, big rosacea noses, messy hair and a big beard, looking down with staring eyes, shouting something in a hurry.

It was probably in dwarf language, Alger didn't quite understand it, so he could only vaguely recognize Borgins' name.

There was a rumbling sound from the door, which opened a crack, but enough to let them through, and warm air blew out from the door.

Before they lifted their feet, a solid-built dwarf ran out from inside, hugged Burgess with a big laugh, and kept talking.

Burgess also bent down and hugged him back, smiling in response to the other party's words.

After embracing, the dwarf patted Burgess' arm vigorously, looked him up and down, and cursed a few words with a smile.At the end, he turned his gaze to Alger and asked a question.

Burgess suddenly changed his language, and said with a smile, "Let's use the common language, he doesn't understand dwarves very well."

"When you come to the dwarves' territory, you still need to speak the common language. Even if a dwarf businessman comes here, you must know a few words of the dwarf language..." The dwarf muttered a few words, then switched languages, and asked in a substandard common language: "Who is this human?"

"He—" Burgess slightly elongated his voice, and looked at Alger with some malicious intentions.

Alger felt vaguely ominous in his heart.

"She's my wife." Burgess said with a smile.

"..."

Alger hesitated to speak.

"Oh!"

The dwarf's eyes lit up all of a sudden, and he swayed over on his stubby legs, walked around Alger twice, and looked back and forth.

Then he wrinkled his big nose and said to Burgess, "You have a bad eye for picking wives. Why are you so thin and not strong? You can't pick and carry them, just like you."

Shaking his head: "Okay, okay, come and eat more with us, so that you can grow strong."

Burgess suppressed a smile, and continued to say to the dwarf: "Don't look at him as thin, he is very strong, and the weapon on his back is heavier than a sword."

"Oh?" The dwarf glanced his head and became interested: "Not bad, let's break the wrist with the uncle."

As he said that, he lay down on the ground and made movements.

Alger opened his mouth, not knowing how to respond.

Burgess suppressed a smile and urged him: "Hurry up, Uncle Singer wants to wrestle with you."

Argel, the third executor of the Poetry of Truth, the first thing he did when he came to the Dwarf Empire was to lie on the ground and break his wrist with an uncle dwarf.

Won.

So, "Burgens came back and brought a daughter-in-law, a white-haired human, looking like a mother, she is very energetic, and she is very good at arm-wrestling." The news spread throughout the entire mechanical city.

Regarding this, Alger was speechless for a long time, and finally smiled helplessly.

"Didn't they find something wrong?"

He and Borgins are both men. Even in the royal city where male pets are prevalent, the nobles will only have same-sex lovers, not formal partners of the same sex.

Burgess didn't take it seriously: "Can you tell the difference between a dwarf's male and female?"

Female dwarves also have beards.

"So, they have no concept at all."

After finishing speaking, his voice suddenly dropped: "If you don't like it, I'll clarify with them, saying that you are just my friend, and you were just joking."

"..."

It has to be said that being good-looking is an advantage, and it is the other party who is at fault, but looking at that handsome face full of disappointment, Alger really can't bear it.

"Forget it, I'll leave in a few days anyway."

Alger turned away, not seeing Burgess's sudden bright smile.

And the consequence of being soft-hearted for a moment is that the dwarves who came to join in the fun with Wenfeng broke their wrists for several days.

... What kind of strange folk customs are these?