Chapter 589 - 499: The Slave Who Endangers the Kingdom (Extra)
The words spoken by the Sage before his departure had left a profound impression on Maxwell, and this dedicated Earl, who guarded the frontier, resolved to shift his attention towards their neighboring countries.
Due to limited transportation and poor information flow, Maxwell hadn’t paid much attention to the steam technology mastered by the Dwarves before he was reminded; after all, he was human, and from a human perspective, Dwarves were inherently a race fond of tinkering with machinery, and whatever novelties they came up with were not worthy of much attention.
Moreover, although there had been frictions between Golan Kingdom and Kaelonde, the two had always had envoys and stable trade. Golan exported textiles, grain, timber, and other human-world goods to the Dwarves, who in return brought their ores, machinery, and steel to Golan, maintaining peace between the two nations for a full century—with almost everyone believing that this peace would continue indefinitely.
For this reason, even the battle-hardened Maxwell had let down his guard towards Kaelonde.
But the Sage’s words could not be taken lightly, and after some reflection, Maxwell sent some trusted guards to conduct a two-month reconnaissance in Kaelonde.
The Earl dispatched six of his personal guards across the border to Kaelonde. One of them died en route due to an accident, two surveyed Kaelonde’s borders, and the remaining three, disguised as merchants, infiltrated deep into the Dwarves’ Royal City. Two months later, they brought back news that utterly shocked Maxwell.
"Steam Trains? Steam Hydraulic Forging Machines? And ships with stoves? What are all these?!"
Initially, upon hearing about steam machinery, Maxwell felt only surprise and no sense of danger—for he had never seen a steam engine, nor had he lived in Kaelonde. However, a report from a guard who had investigated the border showed that the output of coal from Kaelonde’s coal mines had significantly increased.
Yes, Maxwell didn’t understand steam engines, but he knew the importance of coal. Having been on battlefields, he was well aware of how much weaponry could be forged from a ton of good coal. The news from his guards revealed that the Dwarves had begun undergoing revolutionary changes, with enormous machines appearing that were gradually replacing the work of Dwarf Craftsmen.
Maxwell felt deeply troubled by this, although he believed that it was unlikely for the Dwarves to wage war on Golan, the possibility wasn’t non-existent. Even if Kaelonde’s Dwarves did not invade the Helong Mountain Range, who would want a powerful neighbor emerging near their kingdom?