“This can’t do! Even the elves are so good to Grandmaster Abel. I thought we, the dwarves, were much better with him than them! How can we call ourselves brothers if we don’t give something better to him?”
These were things that Wizard Cyril was thinking to himself. Soon, he connected his power of Will to the large-sized teleportation circle. Right now, Abel had permitted all to access his magic towers. Since he trusted Wizard Cyril, he wasn’t bothered if he did anything to use any of the magic tower’s functions.
“Sorry, Grandmaster Abel. I’ll be back to my clans for a while. I’ll come back shortly.”
After bowing to Abel, Wizard Cyril disappeared on the teleportation circle. In a few seconds, he teleported himself back to the Goff Family.
At the same time, the Goff Family elder still had a hangover. The next thing he knew, a white light suddenly flashed in front of him. Before any person showed up, two of the dwarven knight’s commanders already thrust their blades. As soon as they realized that it was Wizard Cyril, they quickly turned their blades away from him.
“Cyril!” Old Goff shook his head as he placed his wine bottle on the table, “You really need to stop scaring me like this! And don’t give me that excuse again! Are you sure that you aren’t the only wizard that doesn’t use a door?
“Wel, I guess I am in a rush,” Wizard Cyril smiled. He then started sitting in front of Old Goff. Without anyone offering to, he started pouring himself a cup of the Master’s wine. He wasn’t wrong about him being in a rush. That was one second for him to swallow the whole cup down his throat.
A threatening glare emerged on Old Goff’s face, “You didn’t come here to steal wine from an alcoholic, did you?”
“No, no,” Wizard Cyril said as he was already done with his second cup, “You know, Old Goff, It’s been two days since I’ve stayed at Grandmaster Abel’s place. The food’s great. I can drink an endless supply of wine. If I didn’t have to, I would have just stayed there the whole time before coming back.”
When Wizard Cyril reached for the wine bottle, he realized that Old Goff was holding it in his hands.
Old Goff said impatiently, “Hurry up and state your business, you lousy wizard! I’m busy! I don’t have time to have a long conversation with you!”
Wizard Cyril finally behaved himself, “Right. I’m sure you didn’t know about this, but I ran into some elves when I was at Grandmaster Abel’s place. They are probably there to help him build his magic tower.”
“So, he invited us and the elves?” Old Goff raised his chin dubiously. In his mind, Abel would prefer it if there were a lot of people who knew about his construction work. Yet, if that was the case, why did he call for so many people to help with him?
“What, is he better with the elves than he is with us?” Old Goff asked.
Wizard Cyril explained, “I don’t think so, Master. When the elves came in the morning, Abel and the rest of his castle was very surprised. They must’ve not expected such a visit.”
“Go on. Why did you come back?” Old Goff asked.
“Yes, about that,” Wizard Cyril suddenly stood up and stretched his arms out, “This, this is the size of the fine gold wood the elves gave Grandmaster Abel! They’ve brought down an entire tree just for him!”
“And it hurts for you to see that, I guess,” Old Goff sat back in his chair. Obviously, he knew how precious fine gold wood was. If Wizard Cyril wasn’t exaggerating, the amount the elves gave to Abel was the same as the entire family’s stock supplies.
“Yes, but that’s not the point!” Wizard Cyril was stomping on the ground like a child, “It’s not just the fine gold wood! The elves also gave him more precious wood! They are insane! All the stuff they sent out is the best there is!”
Old Goff finally understood what Wizard Cyril was trying to say, “So the elves think very lightly of us.”
At this stage, there wasn’t a single person that didn’t know the connection between Abel and the Goff Family. In fact, the Goff Family was the only family that could receive the Master’s wine directly from Abel. The other races might not understand, but to the dwarves, the Master’s wine was already a very crucial resource.
Most dwarves only cared about two things: Wine and forging. That’s pretty much all they cared about. If Abel made the decision to only let the Goff Family handle his Master’s wine, it would mean that the Goff Family had his utmost trust from the start. They were very tight, basically. Whenever someone mentioned the Goff Family, they would almost always remember the grandmaster blacksmith that they had such a good relationship with.
Wizard Cyril looked down in shame, “You weren’t there, Old Goff, but I was there to see everything. All these exquisite materials. The elves were trying to slap us in the face, I tell you! Do you know how I felt back then? I felt like digging a hole and bury myself in it!”
“Alright, alright, just relax now,” Old Goff said, despite the displeased look on his face, “I’ll still need you to watch for me, alright? Right now, Grandmaster Abel’s tower is still not complete. This is why we’ve sent you to help him out for ten days. We need you to be our good diplomat with him.”
Wizard Cyril couldn’t contain himself, “I’m not done talking yet, Old Goff! Do you know how good Grandmaster Abel’s food was? As the rumors have it, it’s even better than the dishes that are sold in Liante City! Can you believe that? The dishes in Liante City cost five hundred points each!”
“That’s the food that he’s serving me and the ten workers! And it’s the same quality food every day! And wine! Every meal, we’d have a giant barrel placed right next to the dining table! It’s all-you-can-drink! ALL YOU CAN DRINK! And what! WHAT have we given him back? The materials we’ve sent. Even a piece of fine gold wood is more expensive than all of these combined!”
“Okay, okay! I get it! I get it, so just hear me out, okay?” Old Goff rolled his eyes, “Come on, Wizard Cyril, that’s why you’d have to go back as quickly as you can! Before you leave, though, pay a visit to our family storehouse. Bring everything of value to Grandmaster Abel. I don’t care how expensive they might be. If we can’t give more than the elves can, the entire Holy Continent will laugh at us.”
“That’s what I want to hear,” Wizard Cyril said, then quickly disappeared from the scene.
“So much for being an advanced wizard,” Old Goff lay on his sofa exhaustedly, “That temper of his! Geez, I should’ve tried to become a wizard when I was younger. I’ll probably do better than he’ll ever be.”
Actually, Wizard Cyril could’ve had this talk with Bernie. In his mind, however, while Bernie just started handling some of the family’s important businesses, it was still Old Goff who had the real power. Basically, it was just a lot faster if he was asking from the family’s head.
Anyways, the most important thing for him was to get back as early as he could. The faster he could bring the gifts to Abel, the earlier he could make it before the construction work finishes. Most importantly, he wanted to have something to argue with the elves with.
When Wizard Cyril went to the big storehouse, he took out his portal ring and stuff in everything that he found useful. Of course, he had a scribe beside him to write down everything in record, but the speed he was moving everything away… even the scribe had a shocked look on his face.
Finally, when Wizard Cyril made his way to the “finished product” section, he started preparing the one hundred iron puppets and giant ballistas that Abel ordered from him. Contrary to what Abel had asked, he didn’t take the ones that were made for industrial purposes. He was picking the small-sized war puppets which, were not only harder to make, but the prices between them and the industrial puppets were also very, very different.
