In the face of Xing Huo, who approached with a smile, Bard showed no pleasant expression.

As a true Dwarf who started fighting against the Empire’s Demon Race even before his beard grew, how could he have a good impression of the Demon Race?

Moreover, one of the missions of this diplomatic task was to confirm whether these Demons in the Northern Territory were friends or foes.

In other words, these smiling fellows in front of him might actually be enemies.

Bard squinted slightly, scrutinizing the demon patterns on Xing Huo’s body, as well as those Half-demons and Lizardmen behind him.

Finally, his gaze rested on the two human subordinates of Xing Huo. Like other soldiers, their expressions were serious, but there was no fear in their eyes.

It seems they weren’t being coerced—Bard made an initial judgment in his mind.

The envoy master boldly scrutinized the other, so the deputy envoy of the Dwarf delegation had to quickly step forward to engage with Xing Huo, barely easing the awkwardness.

The route Xing Huo planned for the delegation bypassed the warzone, so the journey was uneventful, except for a minor incident.

During their first rest at the Puki relay station, invited by Xing Huo, the Dwarf deputy envoy ate some fast-growing mushroom stew taken from the station’s warehouse and then started making "oh oh oh" sounds on the ground.

Bard, munching on his own dry rations, thought the deputy envoy was poisoned and swung his weapon, the sheer wind overturning half of the station.

Fortunately, the deputy envoy, whose legs were still trembling, grabbed Bard in time to explain the misunderstanding.

Since then, no one dared to touch any food from the station again.

After all, they were representatives from the Mountains. Twisting on the ground making such ungraceful "oh oh oh" noises once was enough.

And Bard recalled the taste of the No. 4 sliced tentacle...

...

"Is this... Fungus Castle?" The deputy envoy widened his eyes, tugging at his beard in amazement.

Although the mercenaries had described the magnificence of Fungus Castle, the Dwarves had tried their best to envision the cities built by these Northern tribes as impressive.

But upon actually seeing it, they realized they had underestimated the city!

Standing in front of the tall city gates, gazing at the dense magic arrays upon it, the knowledgeable deputy envoy cursed the extravagance of the Fungus Castle’s owner in his heart!

In his view, in pursuit of perfection, this city had reached a level of wastefulness.

Just the visible parts alone had many overlapping functions of magic arrays. Using them together consumed so many resources, yet only brought a small improvement.

Spreading out the resources used to build this city could fully arm four to five large cities!

At the same time, he realized two things.

First, the owner of Fungus Castle was really wealthy, at least not lacking in resources, otherwise just maintaining such a grand city would bankrupt those with less wealth.

Second, this Fungus Castle was unlikely to be a bait set by the Demon Race.

Fishing uses worms, who would use gold bars to fish?

Such a grand city built in the Land of the Far North would be meaningless if not to resist the Empire.

He didn’t think any Duke from the Empire would be willing to waste so many resources just to plot an uncertain conspiracy.

To welcome the delegation, the gate was specially cleared today, with no queues.

Upon entering Fungus Castle, Bard and the others’ strongest impression was of prosperity!

The streets, three times wider than those in a typical large city, were filled with Fungus people leading their Pukis back and forth.

If you had to talk about numbers, Fungus Castle might not have significantly more population than a large city, but everyone was accompanied by a crowd of Pukis, and the "puki puki" footsteps echoed from all directions.

It didn’t seem like a city of the Demon Race, more like a Puki nest.

Yet, oddly, whether they were passing citizens or those stopping to observe the delegation, everyone in Fungus Castle remained silent.

Only the countless eyes staring over made the delegation shiver with goosebumps.

In fact, had they connected to the Fungal Network, they would have realized that everyone was enthusiastically discussing them, just like the crowds in any other city witnessing an event.

This made the deputy envoy, who had just dismissed his suspicion of Fungus Castle, once again filled with doubt.

As they were about to enter the administrative hall, a "click" sound came from above.

Subsequently, a magically amplified, long, mournful scream emanated from the bell tower.

Bard, peering through the open trapdoor, saw the fangs of a Vampire inside, wailing.

This Dwarf war hero, for the first time since embarking on the mission, smiled.

The Empire would never handle the Blood Race like this; even for a Blood Race criminal, they wouldn’t be treated this way. This was an outright humiliation to the entire Blood Race.

He patted Xing Huo on the shoulder: "Who built this? Really good taste!"

...

After entering the administrative center, Tolin and Master Marco also arrived upon hearing the news.

Upon seeing Bard, who had beaten him before, Marco’s face initially turned dark, but then he remembered why he came and forcefully suppressed his resentment.

He and Tolin repeatedly emphasized to Bard and the deputy envoy the importance of maintaining good relations with Fungus Castle.

The most crucial thing was to bring more people back later to assist them in researching the Combat Puppet!

Since Marco joined, the analysis of Combat Puppet technology had sped up significantly.

However, although much theoretical knowledge had been studied, they lacked helpers who could meet the demands of this advanced forging work in practice.

After familiarizing themselves with the situation at Fungus Castle, they gave up on selecting local helpers and could only pin their hopes on the Dwarves.

"Master Marco, this involves many issues of profit distribution. We can’t decide on our own," said the deputy envoy in embarrassment.

Marco couldn’t help but shout: "What profit distribution? Xing Huo promised me that any developed technology would be shared, and anyone could leave whenever they wanted. You just need to bring people over to help me finish the Combat Puppet research and then take the technology back. It’s a sure-fire deal; what kind of profit distribution is needed?"

Tolin chimed in: "Exactly! Let me tell you, the Empire is currently attacking Fungus Castle. If Fungus Castle can’t hold out sometime and they develop two city-destroying Combat Puppets and attack the Mountains, can you bear the consequences?"

The deputy envoy, beaten back repeatedly, could only say, "We’ll try, we’ll try."

Bard wasn’t paying attention to their quarrel; his attention was on the other side where there was a Puki wearing a blue cloak.

That was No. 2, responsible for negotiating the specific establishment of diplomatic relations with them.

Originally thinking that staying in the Mushroom Lord’s headquarters, Fungus Castle, would give it a great advantage and surpass No. 1, who was sent to the forest.

But reality was cruel.

As the Mushroom Lord’s headquarters, with many core members handling various affairs, it was named the Northern Territory Manager, but in reality, it was just a powerless figurehead.

Looking at it all, it wasn’t as good as the externally assigned No. 1!

This made No. 2 anxious.

This time, after actively volunteering, it finally got the job of liaising with the Dwarf delegation as a diplomatic representative.

Being able to represent Fungus Castle, No. 2 was very invested in this mission, even mimicking the Mushroom Lord by getting itself a cloak, albeit a blue one.

Its appearance here was naturally to make contact with the Dwarf delegation before the official negotiations, showcasing its heroic demeanor.

It faced Bard, puffed up its mushroom hat, and took a step forward!

Then it stepped on the cloak it wore for the first time, slipped, and tumbled down the aisle, eventually stopped by Bard’s outstretched foot.

Under Bard’s slightly puzzled gaze, No. 2 nonchalantly got up, pretending to be an ordinary Puki, stuck to the wall as it passed the delegation’s room, and disappeared around the corner of the hallway.

The next day, before the official negotiations, Lin Jun arranged for No. 2 to take the Dwarf delegation to participate in Fungus Castle’s military parade.

The battle strength aside, the neat formations, coupled with the vast sea of Pukis, were still visually impressive.

While the delegation members were secretly contemplating Fungus Castle’s strength, Bard glanced at No. 2 beside him: "Didn’t we meet yesterday?"

No. 2’s mushroom body trembled: "No... no, you outsiders think all of us Pukis look alike, you probably mistook me."

Seeing No. 2 starting to sporulate, Bard rubbed his chin and nodded: "Then I must have mistaken it."

...

Lin Jun sent the prestigious No. 2 as a fungal substance, allowing the Dwarf delegation that recognized Fungus Castle’s value to bring it back to the Mountains, in exchange for official diplomatic relations and the legalization of recruiting Dwarf blacksmiths.