Volume 1 Chapter 27: I am a child

"Xu Yi, actually even if you didn't add the five hundred gold coins compensation, the tribe chief would have agreed to your conditions." On the horse carriage ride back, Master Lanus looked at Xu Yi and suddenly spoke with a sigh.

"Oh? What do you mean?" Xu Yi asked back.

"You couldn't see it? The tribe's living conditions were already very poor." Master Lanus give a bitter laugh before shaking his head, "Actually I had suggested to the tribe chief long ago that we should let the tribe members wander in your human world. With the skills of us dwarves, it could greatly improve the living conditions of our tribe members."

"This suggestion is pretty good, so why didn't tribe chief Siluka agree to this?" Xu Yi asked in a curious voice.

Master Lanus looked at Xu Yi and after hesitating a bit, he replied, "Because we dwarves have been tricked by you humans many times before and the tribe chief doesn't trust humans at all."

This time Xu Yi was the one with a bitter smile.

"Then why did sir tribe chief agree this time? Could it be that he isn't afraid that I'm lying to him?"

"Because there is already no other choice." Master Lanus helplessly said, "The Sines Continent is completely controlled by you humans, almost all of the precious resources has been taken by you humans. Whether it is us dwarves, the elves, or the beast men, we can only stay far away from you humans and find a place to stay that hasn't been seized by you humans yet. But these places are devoid of any resources and we don't have the creativity of you humans at all, so the living conditions of my tribe members are getting worse and worse and there are less and less people. Xu Yi, do you know? When I was young, our clan had over a thousand dwarves, but now there are only around five hundred people left."

"When you were small?" Xu Yi looked over Lanus. He knew that dwarves lived longer than humans, so when Master Lanus talked about when he was young, that was over several hundred years ago.

Master Lanus didn't care about what Xu Yi was thinking as he continued to say, "Just last year, three people died of old age and not a single baby was born. That is a decrease in the tribe by three people. The tribe chief knows that like this, our tribe will gradually decrease until we disappear. But there is no other choice, we can't compete with humans at all. We can't fight a war with the humans for resources like thousands of years ago. But trying to integrate into human society isn't easy to talk about. You don't know this, but for me to continue living in Banta City, I've suffered quite a bit of hardships and have almost lost my life."

Xu Yi silently looked at Master Lanus and gave a soft nod.

Although he didn't know what happened specifically, he could tell just from his imagination. For someone from a foreign race like Master Lanus, to integrate into a human city and smoothly make a living, he needed to put in quite a bit of effort.

"The tribe chief actually wasn't prepared to send out all those adults, but he had no other choice since the conditions you gave were just too good. Not to mention everything else, just based on you taking out five hundred gold coins at once could help solve many problems that needed to be solved in the tribe. Not to mention that you agreed to give a high salary of eight gold coins each month for each worker. With this salary, their families in the tribe could live their lives without worry. Tell me, with this kind of conditions, could the tribe chief reject you?"

Xu Yi thought about this for a bit and he couldn't help asking, "Have the daily lives of dwarves already reached such a bitter state? What is the tribe chief basing on trusting me? Could it be that he isn't afraid that I'm lying to him?"

"You still don't understand? Even if you are lying to him, the fact that you have taken out five hundred gold coins is real." Master Lanus rolled his eyes and said, "Then again, you are someone I brought in the end. Although I haven't known a kid like you long, based on me living among humans for a long time, I can tell that you are not someone who lies to others. At the very least you try to fulfill what you say. Just based on this, I feel it's worth trusting you this time."

Xu Yi rubbed his head in embarrassment and said while laughing, "So I'm someone this worth trusting."

Master Lanus glared at Xu Yi, "Kid, don't be happy too soon. As for what happens, it still depends on how you treat my tribe members. Let me tell you, if you are tricking them in the end, I will use this old life to properly take care of you!"

Xu Yi waved his hand, "How could that be? Master Lanus, you and your clansmen are treasures to me, I will use everything to protect you all, how could I lie to you. Actually, I'll be honest with you. Master Lanus, the work and your clansmen will be doing will be very important work that will change the entire Sines Continent. In the future, it is very likely you dwarves will play a very important part in the history of the Sines Continent. When the time comes, you will become masters welcomed all over the continent, will you need to worry that you can't afford your daily necessities?"

Master Lanus glared at him, "Kid, don't make it sound good! What changing the continent, what written in history, I don't care about this at all. The thing I care about most now is, where are the houses that you promised my clansmen?"

Xu Yi laughed, as he thought it really wasn't realistic to let Master Lanus believe this.

But he was certain that as long as everything went smoothly, Master Lanus and his clansmen will become the most important driving factors to changing the history of the Sines Continent.

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When he came back to Banta City after three days, it was already time for the night lights to be lit. When he came into the city, Master Lanus said a few things to Xu Yi before jumping out of the carriage.

Xu Yi ordered the driver to return to where he lived. When he jumped out of the horse carriage, he found that there was someone sitting on the ground in front of his house and this figure looked a bit familiar.

When he came close, Xu Yi couldn't help being stunned

"Still? It's this late, what are you sitting at my door for?

Still had been sitting there hugging her legs with her head between them. After hearing Xu Yi's voice, she slowly looked up.

After seeing her face, Xu Yi was shocked.

Under the lights, Still's face looked very pale and her face was much thinner. Her face had already completely lost the previous youthful beauty it had before. A pair of big eyes and no figure at all, it was like her entire person had collapsed.

"Hey, Still, what happened?" Xu Yi leaned over in worry and looked into Still's eyes looking up, asking in a deep voice.

Still opened her mouth, but she couldn't say a single word. After a while, she slowly shook her head.

Xu Yi knit his brows and didn't think too much. He helped Still up by the arm and opened the door before walking in.

When he came in, the light from Vivian's room lit up and Vivian's timid voice rang out.

"Who.....Who is it?"

"It's me! You keep sleeping, there's no need to get up." Xu Yi replied before supporting Still over to the couch to sit down. He turned to pour a cup of water for her before sitting in front of her. After a while, he asked in a soft voice, "Still, tell me, what happened? Could it be.....you were.....bullied by someone?"

Still suddenly revealed a bitter smile and looked at Xu Yi before taking a big gulp from the teacup on the table.

Because she drank too fast, she choked and gave several strong coughs.

Xu Yi deeply knit his brows.

Even if he dind't understand much about girls, based on Still's expression, she must have suffered a strong hit. Otherwise for a lively and naughty young girl like her, she wouldn't easily become like this.

"Still, did you....give the gift?" Xu Yi tentatively asked.

The last time he saw Still was when she came to his place at night last time to thank him, but she was chased off in anger by Xu Yi saying "you are still a child".

But in their talks before this, Still had said that she finished the model piano she had Xu Yi help build and the birthday of the person she liked was approaching soon. She was going to take a trip to the Lampuri Kingdom's capital of Anvilmar to personally give the gift to that person.

Now after several days, Still had come back looking like she had lost her soul. It was very likely the problem came from this.

Hearing Xu Yi's question, Still put down the teacup and looked at Xu Yi for a while before suddenly asking "Xu Yi, tell me, am I a child?"

Xu Yi was stunned. Could it be that Still still cared about what he said last time?

But it didn't seem like it based on her appearance.

Xu Yi seriously thought for a bit, but he still didn't know how to answer.

Still clearly wasn't in a stable mental state right now, so if he answered wrong, it was very possible it would have an unexpected effect.

"This.....That depends on what aspect you mean. Based on my aspect, you....."

"Alright, you don't need to say anything! You are right, I am a child! A child who is incredibly dumb!" Still suddenly raised her voice and shouted out.

"Why do you say this?" Xu Yi asked with knit brows.

"If I wasn't an innocent child who didn't understand anything, how could I have liked that kind of trash!" Still suddenly cursed out in a rough manner.