Chapter 461 The Royal Family and the Elders

The current internal struggle within the Frost Clan is not complicated.

The Frost Dwarves are not fools. Ordinary, uneducated Dwarves may not know this, but the educated Dwarven Extraordinaries who have power know one thing very well: the Frost Clan is getting weaker over time.

Therefore, the extraordinary people of the Frost Clan began to explore and find ways to revitalize the clan, open up new land, reform, and increase investment in rune technology.
They tried many ways, but due to the harsh environment, the results were all very poor. However, after various attempts failed, a Frost Dwarf elder found records about the Kingdom of Clans and a map of the Dragon’s Back Mountains while reading ancient books.

After realizing how big the world is, he thought that instead of struggling in this broken place, it would be better to choose Run.

So, under his leadership, some extraordinary people in the Frost Clan hoped to find the blocked Dragon Spine Passage, open it up to reach the legendary Gate of the Far North, and then the entire clan would leave this barren land and go to a new land to build a new home.

This is not good news for the King of the Frost Clan. After all, all the previous reforms were still under their control and would not affect their rule.

Therefore, the king tolerated it as long as it did not affect his rule. But now he could not accept the fact that he was asked to leave with his people, especially since the Frost Dwarf Elders did not intend to take the king with them and planned to restore the glory of the Presbyterian Church.

The Frost Clan was once similar to other dwarf clans, with a chief and a council of elders, each holding certain powers.

But seven hundred years ago, due to internal strife, the patriarch was abolished and the Presbyterian Church became dominant. Three hundred years ago, the current royal family sounded the clarion call for reform, abolished the Presbyterian Church, and restored the position of the patriarch.

As the former pioneers of reform, the dwarf royal families, who had abolished the Council of Elders and established a dictatorship through centralized reforms, have lost the courage to charge against the corrupt Council of Elders. They have become more conservative and increasingly disgusted with various reform plans that bring changes and instability.

Now, as the royal family gradually became conservative and corrupt, the dwarf elders who had lost power and had nothing were making a comeback as reformists.

Simply put, the Frost Clan is now divided into two factions, the Elders who advocate the opening of the Dragon Ridge Passage and promoting reform, and the Royalists who advocate maintaining stability and conservative feudalism.

Listening to Hela’s summary report, Roland also looked calm.

Classic conservatives and reformists, not surprising.

“However, according to a guard’s dream investigation, the current dwarf king would stay in a secret room every once in a while and forbid anyone to enter. I sneaked into the secret room to investigate, and I sensed the breath of the water elemental world in the secret room.”

“Ok?”

Roland raised his head slightly, looked at Hela, and said.

“Did you record the breath?”

“some.”

Hela nodded, stretched out her right hand and held Roland’s hand, sharing with him the breath she had recorded in the secret room.

Although the breath was a little weak, Roland was still keenly aware of the traces left by it.

It’s normal that Hela hasn’t been exposed to it and can’t notice it.

However, as a high-level transcendent who has visited various elemental realms, Roland sensed traces of water elemental life forms in the aura.

The dwarf king is also hooking up with the water elemental life form?

Roland continued to ask as he thought about it.

“Any other news?”

“Ah.”

Hela nodded and told Roland all about the existence of the rune mecha.

Rune mecha? Never heard of it. Most likely it was destroyed in the cold disaster.

It seems that the Frost Dwarves have quite a lot of good stuff.

Listening to this unprecedented equipment, Roland had the same idea as Hela had before.

We can build one and have the machinists dismantle it and study it to see if there is anything they can copy.

“Seek out any information or design drawings. If you can find any, make a copy while ensuring secrecy and safety. As for the actual Rune Mecha, I’ll see if I can get one and study it later.”

Roland was not in a hurry for the Rune Mecha. He thought, after the committee’s army arrived and razed the entire Ice Stone City, he still couldn’t get a Rune Mecha?
Even if you can’t get a complete fish, at least some of the remnants will do.

Anyway, there is no rush for these.

Hela was naturally aware of this and nodded. Then, she opened her eyes and looked at Roland.

It was Roland’s turn to explain the situation to her.

Roland did not hesitate and spoke.

“I found the location where the cold disaster broke out. It’s on the top floor of the Frost Forge Core.”

Roland briefly and clearly introduced the deep pit, the frost forge under the deep pit, and the various problems encountered.

After hearing from Roland that the Frost Forge had turned into a bomb, Hela frowned slightly.

After listening to Roland’s words with a frown on her face, Hela looked up at him and asked.

“Is it dangerous?”

Hela didn’t care about the Frost Forge, which Roland mentioned was extremely valuable. She only cared about Roland’s safety. If there was any danger,
“Don’t worry, even if the Frost Forge explodes, I’ll be fine.”

Roland stretched out his right hand, rubbed Hela’s head, and said with a chuckle.

“We are all high-level transcendents. You have also seen the silver forge, right? Don’t worry, you won’t die.”

Hela did not reject Roland’s right hand. She lowered her head obediently and let Roland rub it, speaking softly.

“It’s hard to say. We don’t know what the cold disaster is yet.”

“Don’t worry, if there is any danger, I will definitely be the first one to run away.”

Roland gently pinched Hela’s face and spoke softly.

Hela curled her lips, clearly not believing it.

If a cold disaster really broke out, Roland would definitely be the first one to rush over to stop it.

Thinking of this, Hela took the Crown of Domination from her right hand, put it in Roland’s left hand, and said, “Here, take it.”

Before Roland went to the North Pole, he gave the Crown of Domination to Hela. After returning safely from the North Pole, seeing that Hela had been promoted to a high level and was able to master the Crown of Domination, Roland chose to let Hela take the Crown of Domination.

After Roland was promoted to the ninth ring, he no longer needed the Crown of Domination. Even without the Crown of Domination, Roland could fight against legends.

Moreover, during the period of shaping [Authority], the Crown of Domination will instead hinder Roland. For Hela, who has already shaped the authority of death, it will not have much impact, and the effect will be even stronger. In addition, it will not affect Hela’s shaping of the authority of life to complete the final [Authority].

Roland looked at the Crown of Domination in his hand and smiled helplessly. He did not reject Hela’s kindness. Under Hela’s gaze, he put the Crown of Domination on his right hand.

After putting on the Crown of Domination, Roland looked at Hela, kissed her forehead, and spoke in a gentle tone.

“Don’t worry.”

“not worried.”

Hela nodded and said.

Afterwards, Roland also formulated the next plan. Hela continued to stay in Ice Stone City to collect intelligence, and asked the Gray Crow to monitor the Dwarf King. If the Dwarf King tried to cause a cold disaster, the Gray Crow would take action immediately, kill him and terminate the ceremony, while Roland himself continued to squat in the Frost Forge to make arrangements.

Although Roland’s [spirituality] and prophecy spells were reminding Roland that the Dwarf King had a great connection with the cold disaster, Roland was not ready to strike hard immediately. He still hoped to make all preparations before taking action.

Moreover, Roland did not completely believe in the results of [spirituality] and the prophecy spell. As the king of the Frost Clan, the cold disaster must be related to him, but this did not mean that he was the one who triggered the cold disaster.

In addition, according to Hela’s investigation, the Dwarf King is stronger than the Elders both in name and in actual combat power.

If a real fight breaks out, the Dwarf King can easily suppress the Elders. So, the question is, under such circumstances, why can the Elders still fight the Royals until now? What is the Elders’ trump card?
Therefore, Roland hoped that Hela would go and confirm the situation of the Elders. After confirming the news of the Elders, she would come down to the Frost Forge to help Roland set up the position.

As for when to take action against the Frost Clan, they would just have to wait until the Legion entered the Dragon Spine Passage and Roland and Hela made all the arrangements in the Frost Forge.

After making the plans, Roland and Hela separated again and went about their own business.

While Roland and Hela were busy again, in the Ice Stone City, the Dwarf King also passed through layers of defense and calmly opened the secret armory.

He walked skillfully to his rune mecha and stretched out his right hand to touch it.

After touching it calmly for a while, he withdrew his right hand and his expression became a little ugly.

He looked at his confidant beside him and gave a quick order.

“Activate the backup arsenal and transfer all rune mechas immediately.”

“Yes.”

Although the confidant didn’t know what was going on, seeing his ugly face, he didn’t hesitate, responded, and turned around and ran away.

The confidant ran to mobilize the guards, and according to the king’s order, he led the guards to activate the spare armory. Under the king’s supervision, he pushed the trailer containing the rune mecha through a secret passage to the spare armory.

At the same time, some of the guards pushed out the fake rune armor from the spare arsenal and replaced the previous rune mecha.

While his guards were busy, the dwarf king looked at the fake rune mecha in front of him, his eyes filled with coldness.

Did the spy they planted in the palace even know the location of the armory? It seems that we must clean up the palace and teach them a lesson!
The dwarf king, who thought Hela was a traitor from the Elders, made a decision.

Setting his sights on the Rune Mecha? This is no longer an ordinary elder, we must strike hard!

After completing the transfer of the rune mecha, the dwarf king left the armory, dispersed his confidants and guards, and came to the secret room alone.

He closed the door of the secret room, took out a high-quality teardrop from his arms, placed it on the small altar in the center of the secret room, and activated the altar.

As the elements poured in, the altar began to operate, and the breath of the water elemental world poured out of the altar.

The Dwarf King gazed calmly at the altar until a voice sounded in his ears.

“It’s not the agreed time yet.”

“One of the Lord’s names is the Lord of Wisdom and Change, who controls all changes. Order and hope are one of the Lord’s powers. The Lord teaches us.”

On the dark and desolate plain, a church rose from the ground, emitting a faint blue light, and the voice of a priest came from the church.

Inside the church, a missionary wearing the robes of the Four Saints and the medal of the Lord of Wisdom and Change was spreading the doctrine to the frost dwarves around him in a soft voice.

Around him, frost dwarves were sitting on earthen chairs, listening to the missionary’s teachings with pious looks.

Except for Icestone City, the Frost Dwarves in other areas are basically abandoned. Except for collecting taxes, Icestone City completely ignores the situation in these areas.

Therefore, compared to the still civilized Ice Stone City, the marginal areas here have degenerated to the level of tribes, and have forgotten all the writing. As for faith? They have long forgotten the dwarven faith, and evolved primitive dark worship from their fear of darkness.

How could the primitive dark worship defeat the mature Church of the Four Saints? Therefore, after gathering the frost dwarves from all over the place according to Roland’s orders, some explorers who were part-time priests of the Four Saints began to preach with the idea that they had nothing to do anyway.

With the help of their strange machines and the free pancakes they gave out at the end of each missionary work, these part-time explorers quickly converted the Frost Dwarves’ faith to the Four Holy Ones.

Originally, the other explorers were not very happy about it, but these priests who believed in the Lord of Wisdom and Change took out the latest version of the [Golden Law], pointed out the laws in it, and successfully convinced them one by one.

You are right, but the spread of faith can only be done in designated church districts. This is the limitation of the church’s missionary work within the committee’s territory. The law does not contain any restrictions on teachers preaching in foreign territories.

The War Council has not officially declared this section of the Dragon Ridge Mountains as its territory, so their missionary work is completely legal.

So, after convincing other explorers, the belief of the Four Saints spread rapidly and wildly in the marginal areas, defeating all kinds of messy primitive beliefs and dwarf variant beliefs.

At the Far North Gate, a large number of soldiers originally stationed at the foot of the mountain moved up. They followed the explorers into the Dragon’s Back Passage, assisted the explorers as human scouts, and accelerated the clearing of the Dragon’s Back Passage.

At the cost of nearly thirty soldiers being sent back to the Fountain of Life for resurrection every day, the various traps and dangers in the Dragon Spine Passage were being quickly cleared. At the same time, the space spellcasters transferred from the committee were constantly trying to break through the space restrictions left behind by the Frost Dwarves and try to open the space gate.

Try one distance at a time to locate the approximate location of the obstacle that is hindering space teleportation.

With the committee’s full efforts, the Dragon’s Back Passage is being cleared at a speed visible to the naked eye.

According to the calculations of the spellcasters stationed inside the camp at the Far North Gate, it will take 13 days to open the passage.

(End of this chapter)