Inside the brass palace, fire dwarves played brass instruments while imperial officers and soldiers drank to their hearts' content.
"Ten thousand victories to Your Majesty Cassius!"
"Great Red Dragon!"
"Invincible!"
Everywhere seemed brimming with a boisterous atmosphere, filled with the mellow scent of fine wine and the savory aroma of roast meat. Fire dwarves and imperial soldiers sang and danced together, celebrating the defeat of their common enemy—the efreet.
Beside Cassius, the fire dwarf noble Shalin raised his goblet and spoke in a low voice:
"Your Majesty Cassius, you destroyed half of the City of Pig Iron and killed the efreet Emir. Your might leaves me in sheer awe."
"Only..."
Shalin hesitated for a moment, letting out a bitter smile before continuing, "You did your work too well. I fear it may draw the attention of that Great Sultan of the efreet."
Cassius also raised his goblet, took a sip, and smiled in reply. "Lord Shalin, I do not fear him.
"As long as the Great Sultan does not intervene in person, no one can defeat me.
"That Prince of Sacred Fire still roams the lands. The Great Sultan would not risk his life to make an enemy of me over a petty Emir.
"Since you brought it up, I'll be direct..."
Cassius set down his goblet and looked down at the fire dwarf with pale-gold pupils, his gaze loaded with meaning. "The ones truly in danger are you and your Brass Fortress."
Shalin's pupils constricted sharply, and the flames atop his head dimmed noticeably.
"The Emir dispatched by the Efreeti Sultan is dead, wounding his prestige, yet he has no way to retaliate against me.
"So then... who will become the outlet for the Sultan's wrath?"
"You mean..."
The hand with which Shalin gripped his scepter trembled slightly, his tone hesitant.
"The Brass Fortress," Cassius stated with absolute certainty.
"You must realize that the Empire's troops have garrisoned inside the Brass Fortress, and we fought side by side to repel the efreet forces.
"The Empire can withdraw from the Elemental Plane of Fire at any time, but you cannot. The Brass Fortress cannot run away, nor can the fire dwarves abandon their homeland.
"Lord Shalin, I simply could not bear to see the fire dwarves enslaved, which is why I came specifically to warn you.
"It is a pity I did not wipe out every last one of those efreet back then; otherwise, word would never have reached that Great Sultan's ears."
Looking into the fire dwarf's eyes, Cassius gave a gentle shake of his head and sighed with an expression of "deep sorrow."
Aided by his extraordinary Charisma and Silver Tongue, every word he uttered carried profound credibility.
"Th-This..."
Shalin's brass body trembled slightly. In his mind's eye, he seemed to see the fortress breached, the fire dwarves dragged into slavery and whipped.
In truth, Shalin had already vaguely suspected this possibility, but hearing it spoken aloud still filled him with dread.
In reality, across the Elemental Plane of Fire, the number of fire dwarves enslaved by the efreet far surpassed the number of free ones.
Yet Cassius abruptly asked a seemingly unrelated question.
"Lord Shalin, one thousand years ago, how many fire dwarves were in the Brass Fortress?"
Puzzled, Shalin pondered for a moment before answering truthfully, "Approximately... four thousand."
Because the casting process constrained their rate of population growth, fire dwarves were quite rare; the community here was already considered large.
Cassius pressed on:
"And now? How many fire dwarves reside in the Brass Fortress today?"
"Three thousand seven hundred forty-one," Shalin answered without hesitation.
Cassius feigned confusion. "You fire dwarves have long lifespans. Has no new life been cast over the past thousand years?"
"Of course there has, only..." Shalin's expression turned bitter as he continued, "Every so often, the efreet send raider forces to abduct my people."
Cassius stated the harsh truth in a calm voice: "So you see... Lord Shalin.
"The sole reason the efreet permit the Brass Fortress to exist is because you provide them with a steady supply of fire dwarf slaves."
Shalin could not help but retort, "The efreet once tried to enslave our entire race, and they failed!"
"Because once enslaved, you refused to forge new kin, didn't you?"
Cassius took a sip of wine and continued, "They abandoned full-scale enslavement because they wanted an endless supply of slaves, isn't that right?"
He chuckled softly.
"Lord Shalin, do you know of a plant in the Material Plane called chives? Every time a crop grows, human farmers harvest it, ensuring a continuous supply of food..."
The fire dwarf noble's beard quivered uncontrollably. Deep down, he refused to believe it, yet what the dragon stated was chillingly close to the truth.
"And now..."
"Under the Great Sultan's towering wrath, do you think they will still permit the Brass Fortress to exist?"
Cassius's words struck like bolts of lightning, every syllable hitting Shalin directly in the heart, shattering his mental defenses.
After a long silence, Shalin stammered,
"Then... Your Majesty Cassius, what should we do?"
An imperceptible smile instantly surfaced on Cassius's face. He knew his goal had been achieved.
As long as he swayed this fire dwarf noble, the rest would fall into place naturally.
"The Cinder Empire," Cassius said nonchalantly.
"You mean..."
The fire dwarf lowered his head in thought, his expression fraught with hesitation. In the end, however, he looked up and gritted his teeth.
Shalin stared nervously at Cassius, speaking with utmost caution: "If that is the case... I can only thank you for your goodwill, Your Majesty Cassius.
"Please allow me to refuse. Fire dwarves will never become anyone's vassals or slaves. That was true thousands of years ago, and it remains true thousands of years later."
By the end, the flames atop his head flickered and trembled, yet his tone was resolute.
Fire dwarves had always been stubborn; few could ever sway their decisions.
SLAM!
"Insolence!"
Hearing this, the half-red dragon Serkan, who had been listening from the side, slammed his hand onto the table and rose to his feet, shouting in fury.
"His Majesty grants the fire dwarves such a precious opportunity, yet you dare fail to appreciate it!
"To dare refuse His Majesty Cassius—that makes you our enemy!"
Instantly, all the imperial officers and soldiers in the hall stood up, leveling their rifles at the fire dwarves with hostile glares.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Fire dwarves will never be slaves!"
The fire dwarves grew furious as well, grabbing bronze hammers and iron shields from the ground to face down the imperial soldiers.
The air in the hall turned thick with the reek of gunpowder; under such tension, a single spark would ignite an explosion.
Yet Cassius waved his hand, commanding in a calm voice, "What is this nonsense? Lower your guns."
At the Emperor's order, the imperial officers and soldiers hastily lowered their firearms.
Cassius patted the fire dwarf noble's shoulder with easy nonchalance and said with a smile, "Lord Shalin, I believe you have misunderstood.
"What I meant was... our Cinder Empire can become a steadfast ally of the fire dwarf city-states."
Chapter 450