Xiao Chen and others waited in the reception room for about an hour before Ansaldo hurried back.
He lowered his head, walked to his seat, and was silent for a while before looking up and saying to Xiao Chen: "Okay, I agree to cooperate with you. But I am only responsible for sending you inside to meet the high priest of the Forge Temple. Anything that happens and any action afterwards has nothing to do with me."
"Don't you think you will be safest only if we successfully achieve our goal?" Xiao Chen asked back.
"No, you don't understand. It's not that I don't want to help you, but even if I really want to do something, I can't do it. For people like me, the ruins of God are something I have only heard of but never seen. Although I am an important figure in the Fire Crystal Family and the Governor of Crowell Port, I am not qualified to go there." Ansaldo said.
"You should be considered a big shot in the Dwarf Kingdom, right?" Luo Ling asked.
Ansaldo said: "The qualification to enter the ruins of God has little to do with worldly power.
Only three types of people can enter that place. The first type is the members of the royal family, because the first key to enter the ruins of God is in the hands of the king. The second type is the high priest of the Forge Temple, who has the duty of going to the ruins of God from time to time to pray to the God of Forge. The third type is the masters among the court forges who have broken through to the level of Grand Forge. When they break through, in addition to getting the title of Court Grand Forge, they will also get a chance to go to the Forge Temple to comprehend forging skills. It is said that there is a forging wall in the ruins. By observing that wall, it is possible to comprehend various magical skills, but if you do not reach the level of a master and cannot bear the content on it, you will soon become a madman. "
Farrell's eyes widened as he asked, "How come I never knew about these things? I only heard about the ruins of God and knew that it was a very sacred place and few people were qualified to go there. But no one ever told me that I could learn forging skills in the ruins, and I never heard of any walls."
Ansaldo said: "This is limited to blacksmiths recruited by the royal family. A master like you who comes from a small noble family has no chance to know these things."
Xiao Chen asked: "In other words, in addition to the high priest of the Forge Temple, there are two other ways to enter the ruins?"
"No, actually, it is one. Because the Great Forger still used the king's key to enter." Ansaldo said: "But since the War of the Two Kings, the king rarely opened the ruins of God again, and even the Great Forger and other royal family members have no chance to enter again. As far as I remember, only the king himself has entered twice, and the reason was to pray to the God of Forging for the fate of the Dwarf Kingdom."
"Why would the king reduce the number of times he enters the ruins of God? There can't be some rumor circulating among you nobles, right?" Luo Ling asked.
Ansaldo said slowly: "I don't know the real reason, but I heard some rumors that the king came to power illegitimately and was hated by the gods. He was afraid that other people who entered the temple would be favored by the god of forging, so he cut off the possibility of others entering."
Hearing this, Xiao Chen felt a little strange. Because at least in the human understanding, the dwarf god of forging or the orc god of beasts were not real gods. Unlike the fallen ancient gods, most of them were fabricated false gods, imagined by races without the protection of gods.
These tricks could often fool the common people at the bottom of society, but he found it hard to believe that a king would be afraid of an illusory being interfering with his throne. This should not be the real reason.
While Xiao Chen was thinking, Luo Ling asked, "But can the high priest of the Forging Temple still go in?"
"That's different. Dwarves who serve as priests in the Temple of Forge are not eligible for worldly titles and power. Whenever a disaster such as an earthquake, landslide, or flood occurs in the Dwarf Kingdom, the High Priest will go inside to pray on behalf of the entire Temple, hoping that the God of Forge can help the entire Dwarf Kingdom survive the disaster. Therefore, their most important task is to ask the God of Forge to bless the Dwarf Kingdom, that is, to bless the major families in this kingdom. If the High Priest of the Temple is unable to go to pray, it will definitely cause dissatisfaction among the nobles.
What's more, the king who won the battle of the two kings, that is, the second prince back then, originally came to power with the support of the temple. The teacher of the current high priest of the temple was the king's most staunch supporter back then. And the current high priest was also a good friend of the second prince back then. So the king will not and cannot stop the high priest of the temple from entering the ruins of God. "
Xiao Chen was keenly aware of the other party's choice of words. He said, "It's really interesting that this word cannot be used. It seems that there is still some rift between the king and the high priest in these years?"
Ansaldo sighed, "Yes, this happened after the death of the previous high priest. The previous high priest died the second year after the king ascended the throne. When the second prince won the throne, many nobles in the kingdom were still dissatisfied, because the eldest prince was the one who should have inherited the throne. But the eldest prince was defeated and died, and the second prince had the support of the distinguished high priest. Although those nobles were dissatisfied, they had no choice. But after the death of the high priest, those nobles who originally supported the eldest prince could not sit still, and some even thought about controlling the dwarf kingdom on behalf of the royal family. The king at that time and these nobles started a lot of open and covert struggles, which later even developed into rebellion and riots. Many nobles died at the hands of the king, but the new high priest's position at that time changed a little. He no longer stood on the king's side. He spent a lot of effort to save some nobles who were originally going to be executed by the king. From that time on, the relationship between the royal family and the temple was not as good as before."
Farrell snorted and said, "In the Dwarf Kingdom, having two more strands of beard means a different world. The different worlds are like separated by an impenetrable wall. I have no idea what you are talking about."
Ansaldo said, "What's the point of knowing this? It's just something that some great nobles know, but no one will say it directly."
"Sure enough, playing politics is a game that every intelligent lifeform likes." Xiao Chen sighed, "So your plan is to go the high priest route?"
Ansaldo nodded and said, "That's right. The high priest goes into the ruins of God much more frequently than the king. The temple's siege is not a public activity, so persuading the high priest to open the ruins of God under the pretext of a disaster and then secretly take you in is the most feasible method now." (To be continued)