After that, King Gazel told many secrets of various countries.
Draco was greatly surprised after listening.
The Falmuth Kingdom was simply the most brainless country he had ever seen.
The Dwarf Kingdom is located in the north of the continent. Although the Eastern Empire to the east is vast and wealthy, it not only has a developed industry but also an extremely strong agriculture.
But their control over grain is very strict, and it never flows out to other countries.
Even if some unscrupulous merchants secretly sell grain, the quantity is far too small for a country and has no effect at all.
Therefore, the Dwarf Kingdom has conducted grain trade with the Western Nations since ancient times.
As the gateway to the Western Nations, the Falmuth Kingdom naturally became the Dwarf Kingdom's preferred trading partner due to its natural geographical advantage.
The two countries signed a trade agreement to sell grain to the Dwarf Kingdom at normal market prices every year.
Although the price was often a bit higher, compared to transporting grain from further countries, the cost was actually negligible.
But now, the desperate Falmuth Kingdom had actually unilaterally torn up the agreement and started to hike up prices.
Due to the lack of information, the Western Nations don't know much about the situation in the East.
Coupled with the fact that most merchants had abandoned the Falmuth Kingdom stop, information became even more scarce.
Falmuth's confidence in hiking prices was that the Dwarf Kingdom couldn't find another supplier.
They never would have imagined that a small country with a population of less than a million could actually produce such a large amount of grain.
Its ending was destined to be a tragedy.
Draco also didn't expect that his bond with this country would be so deep.
In the room, King Gazel had already explained one of the reasons for the alliance, and he continued.
"This is the problem our country faces. Of course, an alliance exists because both sides have needs; there is no doubt about that."
"You have the guts to establish a country on the mandatory path of the Eastern Empire. I admire this courage, but have you thought about the consequences?"
Draco smiled at the words. "Staying at the center of the storm is dangerous, but it also offers enough opportunities."
After a pause, Draco continued, "There's a saying in my hometown: wealth is found in danger."
After a moment of silence, King Gazel suddenly burst into laughter.
He clapped his hands and said, "What a 'wealth is found in danger.' I like your personality."
"Gazeru, you asked me here this time because you want to form a war alliance, right?"
"Correct. Both our countries are neutral, and both are multi-racial coexistence countries."
"If the Eastern Empire sends troops to attack Nazarick, our Dwarf Kingdom will definitely provide support."
"Forming an alliance should be entirely beneficial for you."
Although King Gazel's words were logical and it was the truth,
the threat of the Eastern Empire to Draco was not as great as King Gazel imagined.
Draco shook his head. "I appreciate King Gazel's kindness, but instead of a war alliance, what I want more is technology sharing."
Gazeru's eyes darkened. "Technology is the foundation of the Dwarf Kingdom's survival. It's not something that will be easily shared."
"Oh-ho~~"
Draco smiled playfully. "But I heard that the former forging master of the Dwarf Kingdom seems to have left with a Slime."
Hearing this, King Gazel's mouth twitched.
"You even know about that?"
"That Slime is my brother."
King Gazel:...Can we still play together happily?
"I miscalculated. I should have killed Kagali back then."
Although Gazeru said this, there was no killing intent in his eyes.
"What's done is done. Since it's already settled, then it's a deal."
"Don't be in a hurry, Gazeru."
Draco waved his hand. "I happen to have a gift to give you."
"A gift?"
"Clang!"
A long sword was thrown onto the table by Draco; it was an excellent weapon forged by Kurobe.
"Ding-ling!"
Draco took out another strangely shaped item. If it weren't for the magic imprint carved on it, one would have thought it was a piece of scrap iron.
"Look at the level of these two items. Compared to the equipment forged by your country, which is superior?"
Gazeru's eyes lit up as he picked up the long sword and examined it carefully.
"Exquisite craftsmanship. Who made this? It's not much worse than our master smiths."
"Don't be in a hurry, look at this one too."
He pushed the magic tool shaped like scrap iron over.
"This is..."
"You can call it a Magic Core, a core containing powerful energy."
"What do you mean by this?"
"Have you ever heard of... Gundam?"
...Inside the Goblin Town.
Eren's group of three and Shizu stayed in the town for two days. Today, they were preparing to continue their journey.
During these two days, Shizu learned that this Slime gentleman was her fellow countryman.
And after seeing the current state of her hometown from the Slime's memories, she felt very happy.
At least before her death, she had let go of the concerns in her heart.
Before leaving, the four prepared to say goodbye to Rimuru.
Just as they walked out of the wooden house.
"Boom!!"
Shizu found that she could no longer suppress the Ifrit inside her body.
She knelt on the ground in pain.
"Miss Shizu, what's wrong?"
Eren's group of three quickly ran over.
"Crack!"
The Anti-Magic Mask, reinforced with the power of time and supposed to be indestructible, cracked at this moment.
A terrifying aura began to rise from Shizu's body.
A powerful hurricane spread out, blowing Eren's group to the ground.
Shizu's consciousness could no longer hold on, and her body was now controlled by Ifrit.
She slowly rose into the sky, flames burning fiercely around her.
Hearing the commotion, Rimuru and Rigurd hurried over.
Seeing this scene, Rimuru couldn't help but exclaim, "Miss Shizu!?"
"What happened?"
"We aren't sure either," Eren and the others shook their heads.
"Boom!!"
Terrifying flames shot up into the sky, and dark clouds suddenly filled the air. A powerful sense of oppression swept across the area.
"Rigurd, evacuate everyone from the scene immediately."
"But, Great One, you..."
"That's an order, go now!"
Rigurd bit his lip and turned to leave.
Meanwhile, Eren's trio stayed behind.
They couldn't bring themselves to abandon a companion.
After the flames gradually subsided, a Fire Giant appeared before everyone's eyes.
-------------------------------
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