Since he had decided to stay in Shield City for a while, Lin Gui planned to bring Eve, who was still waiting outside, into the city.
To his slight surprise, the dwarf leader, Grom, followed him out as well.
“I'll open the gates for you!” Grom boomed, offering a perfectly reasonable excuse.
But his shrewd eyes darted toward Lin Gui from time to time.
He seemed terrified that they would vanish in the blink of an eye.
Lin Gui did not notice this subtle concern.
Returning to the hovering raft, they found Eve standing quietly upon it.
Before, when he was up on the iron gates, the distance had been too great for Grom to see her clearly.
But now, seeing Eve's somewhat holy face up close,
his thick eyebrows instantly knit together, and he spoke in a gruff voice.
“Human girl, have I... seen you somewhere before?”
Eve lowered her eyes slightly, offering a warm yet distant smile.
“It is likely just your imagination, Mr. Dwarf.”
“Is that so?” Grom muttered suspiciously, scratching his beard hard.
Grom occasionally left Shield City with the transport teams.
For some reason, he felt as though he had seen her in some human city-state before.
He didn't press further, turning around with a sweep of his massive hand.
“Let's go! I'll show you the true 'hospitality' of our Shield City!”
He led Lin Gui, Theia, and Eve back across the massive gateway.
Instead of heading toward a tavern or lodging as they had expected, they plunged straight into...
a bustling tunnel carved into the mountainside.
After a few steps, a massive portico supported by a rugged iron frame came into view.
Hanging above the portico was a wooden sign blackened by soot.
On it, four large characters were branded with a hot iron:
The Thunder Tavern!
Even before they stepped inside, a deafening wave of noise washed over them.
Boisterous laughter, the sharp clinking of heavily clashing mugs,
drunken singing in the dwarven tongue, and the loud thudding of tables and chairs being slammed...
All sorts of noises blended with the heavy scent of ale and roasted meat,
creating an almost physical shockwave.
Lin Gui's lips twitched slightly as he looked at Grom.
“Shouldn't you take us to our lodgings to settle our luggage first?”
Grom slapped his chainmail-covered chest hard, making a clanging sound.
Then, he tilted his head back toward the smoke-filled upper floors of the tavern.
He let out a loud shout in the dwarven tongue.
A younger-sounding voice called back from above.
Soon, an equally stocky but younger-looking dwarf
scrambled down a metal ladder on the side with heavy, huffing steps.
Grom pointed to Lin Gui's raft and instructed the young dwarf,
“Baggins! Send all of our honored guests' luggage to Council Hill!”
“Yes! Right there! The most luxurious lodging in Shield City!”
The young dwarf named Baggins
sized up the two humans and one elf before him with a strange expression.
But he didn't ask any questions. He simply nodded and blew a sharp whistle.
Several other short, stocky figures hurried over at the sound.
They effortlessly hoisted the heavy raft onto their shoulders and walked away with steady steps.
Lin Gui's heart skipped a beat as he watched his raft and all his belongings being carried away.
There weren't many valuables on it, but it did hold the reply letters he needed to deliver upon his return.
Surely... nothing would go missing, right?
After all, these were dwarves, renowned for their integrity and stubbornness.
They weren't like those light-fingered gnolls.
Before he could think further, Grom had already slung a warm arm around his shoulder,
half-pushing and half-guiding him into the incredibly boisterous tavern.
“Don't worry about those trifles! Come, come, let's have a drink first!”
“This is the highest form of etiquette for welcoming friends in our Shield City!”
The moment Lin Gui was ushered into the tavern under Grom's arm,
the eruption of noise inside ground to a sudden halt.
Every sound—the roaring laughter, the singing, the clinking of mugs, the bickering—vanished instantly.
It was as if someone had suddenly choked the throat of every dwarf in the room.
Dozens, even hundreds of eyes shot toward them from every smoke-filled corner.
Their gazes were like physical nails, pinning themselves firmly onto the two “humans,” Lin Gui and Eve.
Those eyes were filled with unvarnished wariness, scrutiny, and even intense hostility.
The air in the tavern seemed to freeze,
becoming so heavy it was suffocating.
But when their gazes shifted to Grom, who was warmly wrapping his arm around Lin Gui,
the fury in their eyes instantly transformed into sheer disbelief.
“Leader Grom!”
A dwarf with a flushed face and a beard that flared out like a wire brush suddenly stood up.
He pointed a thick finger at Lin Gui, his voice trembling with rage.
“You! Why are you acting so friendly with these shameless humans who drove away our heroes?!”
This roar was like a massive boulder thrown into a still lake,
instantly shattering the oppressive silence.
“That's right!”
“The Stoneheart Clan was driven away because of them!”
“Not a single human is any good!”
A torrent of curses and demands washed over them, all aimed directly at Grom.
Faced with the surging crowd, Grom did not show the slightest hint of panic.
He let go of Lin Gui and raised his hands, pressing them down to quiet them.
“Quiet down, all of you!”
His booming voice easily drowned out the din.
Then, under everyone's watchful eyes,
he nimbly vaulted upward and stepped firmly onto a heavy wooden table nearby.
He looked down to scan the entire room.
Reaching into the inner pocket of his dirty leather armor, he pulled out the letter from the borderlands.
He held the letter high and waved it forcefully, the paper snapping loudly in the air.
“Look closely, all of you!”
“Open your eyes wide and see what this is!”
His voice was like thunder, echoing powerfully through the silent tavern.
The dwarf closest to him squinted and leaned in to get a better look.
“It's a letter!” he shouted in a gravelly voice.
“It seems to be... a letter from Copperhammer Stoneheart to Orse!”
“It even mentions that stupid stunt Orse pulled.”
“Exactly!” Grom stamped his foot on the table, rattling the mugs.
“It's the very same Orse who tried to sneak a peek at a dwarven wife's backside and got chased down three blocks by her husband!”
“This is the letter Copperhammer wrote to you!”
Before he could even finish, a dwarf burst out from the crowd.
His face flushed, he jumped up and snatched the letter from Grom's hand.
The surrounding dwarves immediately crowded around, craning their necks curiously to get a look.
Orse quickly scanned the paper, and a bizarre expression came over his face.
“That's right, this is definitely the tone of that gambler Copperhammer.”
“But he hasn't sent a word in years. Why the sudden letter? Does he even have the money for that?”
“Leader, did the transport team bring this?”
“But the North Wind caravan isn't supposed to arrive for another half a month, right?”
“No!” Grom swept his hand toward Lin Gui.
“This human friend of Copperhammer delivered it in person!”
He surveyed the room and announced in a resounding voice:
“And it's not just Copperhammer's letter! He brought letters from our other Stoneheart brothers scattered across the borderlands as well!”
“This friend braved countless dangers and crossed ten thousand miles to deliver them here!”
A collective gasp instantly echoed through the tavern.
Every dwarf stared at Lin Gui in utter shock.
With their sharp perception, they could easily tell.
This human mage only possessed the strength of a Mid-tier High Rank.
For someone of this level to cross the peril-ridden wilderness alone was simply mind-blowing.
And the two girls beside him were only of the Low-tier Transcendent rank.
With this kind of strength, they could barely traverse moderately safe wilderness areas.
Yet, as residents of Shield City, they knew all too well how terrifying the surrounding wilderness was.
To the north lay the Wall of Sighs, while the Silent Sea stretched to the west and south.
And although the Giant's Canyon to the east was not a Forbidden Zone, it was still not a place that a Transcendent could easily cross.
How on earth did this weak group make it here?
Lin Gui took a step forward at the right moment and calmly corrected them:
“To be precise, these are letters from dwarves in New Covenant City, Caran City, and the Carter Royal Capital.”
“They are not only from the Stoneheart Clan, but also from other clans.”
Lin Gui had checked the covers of those letters; some of them indeed belonged to non-Stoneheart dwarves.
Lin Gui was absolutely certain of this.
He looked around at the astonished faces and spoke clearly:
“My name is Lin Gui, and I am a messenger.”
“If any of you have letters that need to be delivered to other city-states, you can commission me.”
“If they are located in the city-states along my delivery route, I will deliver them.”
“It only costs seven copper coins per letter.”
With that, Lin Gui retrieved a stack of posters from his travel pack.
These were not the discriminatory flyers from the Carter Royal Capital.
Rather, they were the version he had personally designed back in Caran City.
He began distributing the posters to the surrounding dwarves.
He believed that, given the dwarves' natural love for spreading news,
the post office's reputation would soon sweep through Shield City.
Even though the number of letters he would ultimately receive might not be huge—
after all, the number of dwarves in the borderlands was limited—
every little bit counted for Lin Gui.
The dwarves took the posters with curiosity.
When they clearly saw the seven-copper-coin fee listed on them,
as well as the delivery route that spanned the entire borderlands,
their eyes widened one after another, expressions of sheer disbelief washing over them.
Even Grom, who had been somewhat prepared mentally,
fell into a long silence after carefully reading the poster.
His thick fingers holding the poster trembled slightly.
Could there really be someone... risking their life to deliver letters across the wilderness for such a low price, practically doing it for free?
And through Copperhammer's letter, he knew better than anyone.
The human mage standing before them was not just making empty boasts.
He had truly accomplished it.
Gasps echoed one after another throughout the tavern.
The dwarves exchanged stunned glances, completely speechless, thoroughly shaken by this unbelievable price and promise.
Rate on N.U.
