Ants that could spit acid.
On earth, these sorts of ants existed. However, they weren't the size of a dog, and their acid could not melt through trees.
These ants could. They were about as big as the normal worker ants and thus smaller than the towering warrior ants. Their body was longer though, with an added compartment to the body where the acid was stored.
They could launch an acid glob about 40 meters. This glob was slightly bigger than an apple but extremely lethal.
Mafu was pleased with the addition to the ant forces, as they now had two different ways to deal with the Hollow. Taressa proudly added two acid spitters to her royal guard troop.
Meanwhile, the third dungeon had proven very useful for the blacksmiths. The fluid harvested from the lava slimes could be dried. The dried form was rubbery and elastic in texture, almost like a bread dough.
Mafu had not thought about it, but the slime fluid still kept the same flammability in its dried form. In fact, since it had compacted quite a lot, it now almost exploded when ignited.
Then Akro asked if they could make explosives. Akro had been helping Ula with her experiments, and one concept Mafu had described had been explosions as a means to power an engine.
But that was far away. For now, simple hand grenades could maybe be possible, so Mafu had put the blacksmiths on a project to design a hand grenade. Mafu gave them the basic concept of a fragmentation grenade, explaining that an explosion in an enclosed space would fling iron spikes or balls at high speed, but the rest would be up to them.
He had urged caution and insisted that the slime fluids would be stored safely and not used without safety precautions. There was very few healers in the orc settlement, and if there was an explosion, many would die.
Healing magic was apparently hard to come by according to Jod. Mafu had a theory about it, that since the concept of the body restoring itself was harder to understand than for example the concept of fire, it was thus harder to become a healing mage.
The system rewarded knowledge with the appropriate skills, after all.
The orcs had some herbs and leaves that they used with their makeshift bandages, but Mafu had analyzed them and the best effect he had found among them was "anti-bacterial" on one of the leaves.
A healing mage was needed though. As the population grew, not only would war be coming in this world and the next, but diseases were more likely to spread.
Mafu was not as eager to try to make a healing mage from the orc women volunteers though, as he had no real experience in the medical field. A normal earth human could explain the basic idea of blacksmithing to a medieval human.
But explaining about cells, muscle fibers and white/red blood cells would be really difficult.
If it had been about plants or mushroom cells, Mafu could explain in depth. But human anatomy and how to heal it was still a step too far.
---
Jod stood outside the settlements northern exit. The dwarven guests they were expecting had been spotted to its north-northeastern direction.
Alongside him stood the three orc dukes and Taressa. They had decided that bringing Taressa and her royal guard troop was best, since that way the dwarves were less likely to react badly to the random ants who skittered around the settlement.
The dwarven party was 30 dwarves, and they had two wagons with them. The wagons were built out of wood and metal, but it was almost more metal than wood.
The dwarves had plate armor on, but the one in the front wore a more decorated plate armor. It was interspersed with patterns that shone in silver light. The patterns flowed like water around the armor, and all of the patterns eventually ended in a circle around where the heart would be.
The dwarf in the beautiful armor had no helmet on, letting his long gray hair and beard flow freely. His hair and beard was decorated with braids made of metal with gemstones laid in.
The dwarf leader looked to be in his fifties to sixties agewise, but had sharp eyes. He scanned the environment as they emerged from the forest and started walking towards the settlement. His eyes stopped only for a moment on Taressa but showed no emotion.
As they came close enough to hear each other, Jod signaled to the rest of the group to stay back as he stepped forward alone. The dwarf leader did the same without signalling, and the other dwarves stayed put.
"Welcome to the orc settlement. I am King Jod, and behind me are the three orc dukes and the ant queen, Taressa." Jod spoke in a formal tone, as Mafu had instructed that it would be best to do so when meeting new groups of people.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Jod normally was very casual in his manner and way of speaking, but as he had now been crowned king, Mafu had tried to teach him to be more imposing and formal.
The dwarf leader looked Jod in his eyes and stood in silence for a few seconds. Then he spoke up:
"Greetings. I am Tudain, the general of our dwarven city of Grend. Normally the councillors themselves would come for this kind of meeting, but they were all cowards. Thus, I am here."
Jod yet again felt that the dwarves did not hide anything. As he did not know how to respond, he simply continued with what he had planned to say.
"We invite you to have a meal with us before we go into to our meeting, as you must be hungry after your travels."
"Aye, famished even. I heard from Gwarth you eat a lot of meat? That'd make my warriors happy, as we ration our meat."
Jod smiled, yet again disarmed by the dwarves honest speech.
"If you want meat, we have an endless supply. Our best hunter, Oran, travels to the Great Plateau regularly to hunt the great beasts."
The dwarf leader had waved his warriors forward but stopped in an almost comical pose and looked at Jod in disbelief.
"But you are also imprisoned by the Gray? How do you have access to the Great Plateau?"
Jod talked as they walked closer to the group waiting for them:
"Through stealth skills. Oran and his friend Otek both use stealth and throw out some of the meat on the way back to distract the Hollow."
The dwarf leader nodded, Jod could see new plans forming in the dwarf's mind.
It did not take long to get to the spot prepared for the visiting dwarves. A sort of wooden deck had been prepared close by to the refugees tents in an open square. In designated places some of Mafus firecaps had been grown.
They were there for safety if the dwarves would prove hostile, but also as a way to quickly ignite the bonfires they were next to. Some of the orc chefs were standing by, and as they arrived with the dwarves the firecaps quickly set the bonfires alight.
Mafu was everpresent inside of Jod's mind, looking through his eyes. The dwarves were shown to the seats that had been prepared. With the help of the new leatherworking and tailoring workshops new cushions had been made and fastened to chairs.
The dwarves removed the plate armor on their torsos, revealing their bulky and muscular upper bodies. They all wore a simple shirt underneath, made of a brown and white fabric. The sleeves were short, barely reaching below their biceps.
The dwarves placed the plate armor down behind their chairs and stood beside their chairs waiting for the command of Tudain.
Jod gestured for the dwarves to sit down and then sat down himself. Tudain soon followed, and after that there was a quick shuffle as the dwarven warriors sat down.
Demeter and Athena had not quite managed to get a lemon or an orange to grow yet. But they had grown something close to a citrus fruit, although it did have a slight bitter aftertaste.
Drinks made of this prototype citrus fruit was now served to the dwarves.
"What is this?" Tudain asked as he had drunk a sip of it.
"Mafu, our benefactor, can make new seeds for different plants. This is the juice of one of them, although it is still being perfected."
Tudain drank a bit more.
"Well, it is refreshing. Can't say I like it more than alcohol, but after travelling, this one might be better."
Honest to a fault. Jod smiled slightly as he felt that the dwarves would be easy to get along with. If they didn't want to get along, then at least he would hear of it directly.
Parek, who had now sat down next to Jod, laughed heartily and exclaimed:
"That is true! We have sometimes had different sorts alcohol, but we have not found any fruits good enough for it these past few years."
The dwarves had already been introduced to the orc dukes, and Tudain and Parek now started to talk about alcohol, meat and hunting. They both were talking enthusiastically, each with their deep booming voices.
The atmosphere seemed to relax because of it, as Tudain and Parek seemed to be peas in a pod. It felt less and less like a formal event and more like a party.
Then the meat started to be served. There were vegetables with the meat, but Jod had ordered for double the meat on the dwarven plates as he arrived to the venue.
The dwarves had all kept a strict warriors attitude from the beginning, but the sight of so much meat made them lose their posture. They all dug in quickly, and the talking subsided.
Jod spotted a few dwarves who were making sure to chew all the meat off of the bone.
He called for an orc chef and ordered more meat for the dwarves. Then he addressed the table with the dwarves.
"You can eat as much meat as you want, friends. We have enough so that you can eat your own weight if you so wish."
The dwarves looked at Jod with awe. Jod had only meant to grease the wheels a bit, making sure this diplomatic meeting would go well, but it seems the way to the dwarves hearts was through meat.
After the dwarves and the rest of the people had had their fill, the meeting was to be started. Tudain and Gwarth, who was one of Tudains warriors, followed Jod to the council tent.
Seats had been set up so that the orc dukes, the dwarves, and Jod all sat at the same elevation. Mafu had stressed that point excessively. No one could be seen to be above another.
The dwarves sat down, and the meeting started.
"As Gwarth must have told you, in this settlement we do not have access to iron and thus are woefully underequipped. We mined the vein in your mountain because of that reason but had the good fortune to meet Gwarth at that point. So, what we wish to talk about is mainly two things."
Jod took a pause and then continued.
"First, do the dwarves hold any interest in an alliance with us against the Hollow? Second, is there something we can trade for weapons, armor, and iron ore with the dwarves?"
Jod scanned the faces of both Gwarth and Tudain. Gwarth looked slightly ashamed, but Tudain had anger in his eyes. Jod felt confused, as the dwarves had been very friendly up to this point.
Tudain then spoke:
"No, the dwarven city of Grend will not ally with outsiders. The dwarven city of Grend will not trade with outsiders. The dwarven city of Grend will attack any outsiders mining its mountain." He spoke with an angry tone, and his anger seemed to be growing the more he spoke."
After a slight, uncomfortable pause, Tudain continued.
"But the dwarven city of Grend is ruled by fools. The council, and a lot of the people, have adapted to hiding in their caves. But not all of us are so foolish. Me, along with near two hundred of my warriors and their kin will exit the cave."
Tudain closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and looked straight into Jod's eyes.
"We wish to build our homes here and join you in the fight with the Hollow, as you call them. All in all, 650 of the five thousand dwarves of Grend wants to fight instead of hide. Will you accept us?"
