The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (english readers txt) 📗

“Yes, it sounds funny even to me when I say it, but we have yet to find a way to grow wheat, barley, and hops underground consistently.  We Dwarves can live without alcohol, of course – but that’s not really living, is it?  In fact, the shortages of anything good to drink has been attributed to the drop in both our population and the number of us willing to actually leave the safety of the mountains to fight back against the dungeon monsters out there.  We’ve kept a fairly stable supply line out to the few farms we have left, but without the biggest farm near Nurboldar being there – if those undead overrun it – then that’ll be another massive blow to our people’s morale.”

* How do you know so much about the whole situation?  Is it common knowledge to all of the Dwarves? *

Gerold laughed shortly, before saying, “Oh, no, not at all.  My mother is on the King’s council back in Grandhall, one of the biggest mountain strongholds still existing today.  She tended to tell bedtime stories that were politically and economically based, so I kind of grew up with that stuff.”

Hmm…now this is an interesting development.

* So, what do you think about my invitation from earlier?  Do you think your people would be willing to live here in safety while we attempt to destroy the dungeon threatening them?  At this point I can’t guarantee that even if we succeed in eliminating that threat that the Golem and Goblin dungeons won’t take advantage of your absence, but I’ll do everything in my power to try to get your land back if that happens.  I don’t particularly want to spend all my time and Mana destroying Core after Core, however, so if there is a way to maintain the status quo that has already been established I will try that route first.

* As far as your farm and what you need for your…alcohol…goes, you’ve already seen that I can grow things down here that aren’t normally meant to be grown.  Perhaps we can come to some sort of arrangement that will allow that to continue, as well as possibly brewing and distilling your drink. *

Gerold definitely looked interested, though he tried to appear as if he was thinking it over.  Despite looking quite different from a Human, years of working with her father as a merchant let her see signs in his face and posture that indicated she had him hooked.  Now all she needed to do was complete the transaction, getting as much as she could out of him – and his people, of course.  She generally didn’t like to take advantage of those with a less-than-stellar negotiating ability (like Gerold obviously had), but the Dwarves had something she wanted.  All she had to do was wait for him to initiate the conversation—

“What kind of arrangement are you talking about?” he asked when she didn’t elaborate.

There it is.  Sandra had initially proposed that the Dwarves in the village come take refuge in her dungeon while she dealt with the Undead Core with nothing expected in return; now that she was proposing putting in some work to continue their farming and even start crafting beer—Ale, apparently—and other alcoholic drinks, she wanted to get something in return.  Secretly, she was excited to learn about new brewing and distilling techniques from them – but Gerold didn’t need to know that.

* I can safely house all of the Dwarven villagers and even your Shieldmen here, provide a place to grow your food and ingredients for your spirits and whatnot, and even create a large distillery and brewery so that you can create it here instead of having to deliver it back to your strongholds and hope that you’ll get some product in the future.  Not only that, but I can even provide a quick transport system for your people to bring everything that is produced here back to the rest of your population – and I’ll even throw in some Energy Orbs for whoever wants them.

* Like I also said, I will eliminate the Undead Core threatening your people, but whether or not it comes too late to save the land your village is sitting on from being overrun by the other dungeons nearby is another matter; regardless, I’ll pledge to do everything I can to get it back to you.

* And I’ll do all of that for two relatively simple things; the first is a promise to cooperate in the future with the other races on something important.  I already have a tenuous agreement with the Elves and I’m working on getting help from the Gnomes, but I need all the races around here to be on board or it won’t work.  The second…well, the second thing is something that only your people can provide. *

Now he started to look a little worried, especially after hearing all that Sandra was laying out to him.  Gerold had looked down at his hands at the mention of Energy Orbs, but now his eyes appeared to be unfocused.  “I…think my people might agree to some sort of future cooperation – if it isn’t something that will endanger our people or strongholds, but what is it that only my people can provide?  You want to rule our Kingdom?  Do you want to make every Dwarf your slave?  I can’t think of anything else, since it seems as though you can just…create everything you want to here.  What could you possibly want?”

* Oh, it’s nothing material, I can assure you of that.  No, what I want is something completely different…I would like to learn how your Blacksmiths make your armor and weapons absorb your elemental energy to make them more powerful.  And unless you know precisely how it’s done it’ll probably entail having one of your Master Blacksmiths come here to teach me. *

Gerold’s face seemed