Chapter 596 - 504 Xilan’s Preaching
For Kaelonde, who had fallen into a frenzy of war, Xilan’s emergence was truly untimely.
Everyone in Kaelonde, from top to bottom, was cheering for the recent major victory at the front lines. Now, not only had they recaptured the long-lost Helong Mountain Range, but they were also marching toward Golan. Soon, those humans who once looked down upon the Dwarves would grovel beneath the might of Dwarven machinery.
For the Dwarves, the submission of humans brought an indescribable pleasure.
The race of Dwarves had always revered human culture, learning from them technologies of textile, agriculture, trade, noble etiquette, and so on. The upper-class Dwarves took pride in wearing clothes woven by humans and Three-eyed Ape People, instilling the notion that closeness to humans equaled civilization, and distance from them equaled savagery.
Despite the Dwarves often loudly emphasizing the glory of their ancestors, the pride of their craftsmen, and the great faith of Hiris, they still felt an inevitable inferiority before humans. Humans were taller, more composed, and had more dexterous fingers than the Dwarves, and they had even defeated the once invincible Beastmen... apart from forging, it seemed humans bested the Dwarves in every aspect.
For these reasons, when the Dwarves heard of Kaelonde’s colossal victory, they were so ecstatic that every hair on their bodies trembled.
To make an inappropriate comparison, it was as if a short and ugly dwarf admired a beautiful, noble lady who scorned him, but one day, the tables turned, and the noblewoman, compelled by power, was forced to kneel before the dwarf, tearfully begging his forgiveness and mercy.
This was the mentality of the Dwarves of Kaelonde.
They vented their feelings and reveled all through the night, with taverns brightly lit until dawn, and offerings at the Craftsmen Temple reached a peak.
What the Dwarves wanted was not to stop the war, but to continue it. Some vile characters had even started fantasizing about buying several human female slaves after the war.
Like an Observer, Xilan saw the underlying currents throughout the journey.
He did not cheer or mourn, but often stayed behind closed doors, living a Hermit-like existence in the noisy and bustling Royal City, only advising those around him to refrain from their war hysteria.