"What is this?" Richard suddenly noticed that the steppe elves' carriages were loaded with huge wooden crates, emitting a very strong and greasy smell of pollen.

The elf girl who took care of the wooden box was very shy, and when she heard the strange man's inquiry, she ran away like a fluttering butterfly.

"A type of bee called the Pagani bee. Anne came over and said, she lifted the lid of the box for Richard to look at, "Now these little things are sleeping, and they won't come out until the spring when the flowers are in full bloom." ”

"This ......" the lord looked at it with a chill, goosebumps on both arms, and cold hairs stood on the roots.

If Anne hadn't told him, Richard would never have thought that the thing in front of him was a bee - all of them had dark and shiny shells, and they were generally as long as the first two knuckles of his index finger were added together, and they were lying motionless on the plank one by one. Behind the buttocks was a long bee sting, like a pin, that shimmered in the winter sun.

Richard estimated that small animals like rabbits and mice would die if they were hit properly. Having this configuration and going to be vegetarian is simply a waste of creation.

"What are you doing with this?"

"Elves love honey, and although the Pagani bee looks like a wasp, it actually produces a lot of honey. Anne reached out and fished out a dark bee from the hive and put it in her hand, and the bee only flicked its wings twice before it quieted down again and let her fingers brush.

Richard wanted to reach out and touch it, but the bees clearly didn't know him as a lord. Before they met each other from afar, they began to buzz and flap their wings, preparing to take off and fight.

"Pagani bees not only do not harm the elves, but they also help the elves attack the enemy when needed. Anne put it back in the box and closed the lid of the box, "Half-elves like me just can't be stung, and the pure-blood elf girls in the tribe can also use their body fragrance to command swarms and attack enemies."

"That's pretty affordable. The lord nodded pretendly, with the style of an expert in the industry, "You should expand the scale of breeding, raise tens of millions of them, monopolize the honey business in Pompeii, and send bees to bite him if they dare to find fault." ”

"That's exactly what we did during the Empire of the Old Elves. Melissa shook her head slightly and smiled helplessly, "But today's elves don't have this ability for a long time." ”

"Why?" asked Richard rhetorically.

"Although the Pagani worker bee feeds on all kinds of species, the queen bee, who is responsible for reproduction, is very picky and only eats nectar made from Naxi daffodil pollen. This time, it was an ordinary middle-aged elf who responded to him.

"The ancient water elf prince Narcissus was so handsome that he fell in love with his own shadow when facing the lake. In the end, he drowned in the lake, and the tribe was very sad when he found out, but in his burial place, he found a delicate and beautiful daffodil, which is the Naxi daffodil. ”

The lord couldn't help but feel that the elven race was quite sad.

They have a very illustrious history - in the long process of the elemental tide going all the way down, the Titans were the first to be eliminated by the environment. So as monkeys who lost the suppression of tigers, the elves established an ancient elf empire between the Titan era and the human era.

It was once a great country that dominated the entire continent and ruled over hundreds of millions of living beings. As the darling of the Titans, the elves have been taught the most, and their magical strength far surpasses that of other intelligent races. At its peak, the edicts of the Elven King traveled all over the world, and the unicorn cavalry dared not obey wherever they went.

But if he had to condense the fate of the country into one sentence, Li felt that it was most appropriate to say that "its rise is also vigorous, and its demise is also sudden."

The Ancient Elven Empire lasted only three thousand years before it turned into rain and wind blowing away - compared to the general long lifespan of elves, three thousand years can indeed only be described as short.

Their decline must be related to the continued decline of the elemental tides. After all, the magical talent that elves are proud of has no meaning in the face of a sluggish elemental environment. And the disadvantage of their slow fertility is thus more and more obvious - when quality is difficult to improve, quantity is critical.

Although not like the Titans, they cannot survive without the element of magic. But sometimes the mere loss of superiority is enough to decide the fate of a race.

However, in addition to the environmental impact, the stubbornness and antiquity of the elves undoubtedly played a role in the collapse of the entire elven empire.

When the absolute superiority in force did not exist, the arrogant elves looked around, and suddenly found that it was difficult to find even one ally around them.

Dwarves, giants, orcs, druids, and even dragons all sided with humans, fed up with the elves' endless arrogance and contempt. So the wall fell down, everyone pushed it, and the drum was beaten by ten thousand people. The vast empire is falling apart, and the glory of the past is reduced to dust.

How can there be any race today that takes legends and stories seriously as history? There are only elves, only elves. This is the sorrow of the elves, but it is the luck of mankind.

"What Naxi daffodils are extinct?"

"Nope. Melissa nodded to Richard and motioned for him to come over.

The lord followed Melissa to a carriage and saw a dozen clay pots the size of a millstone. The elves' taste in art is indeed unquestionable - such a humble clay pot at first glance, but the more Richard looks at it, the more comfortable it is for his eyes, the rounded arc and the few decorations are just right, not obtrusive or dull.

These clay pots are half clay and full of water,

I don't know what insulation measures have been taken, but the temperature around me is extremely low, but the water inside has not frozen. Each clay pot is soaked in a large daffodil with a small arm's length and roots rooted in the mud, the bulbs are snow-white, and the green leaves are fresh. Narcissus blooms in early spring, and now that flowering is approaching, the top bones have cracked slightly, revealing a hint of goose yellow.

"It's good-looking. Richard found that these daffodils were growing very well, and they all had a lot of flower bones on their heads.

"But there are so few of them that we can barely maintain our current colony. Melissa looked at these daffodils with a soft and kind gaze, "Naxi daffodils are magical plants that are very picky about their growing environment. We, the descendants of the down-and-out, have limited skills, and we can't cultivate them in large quantities like our ancestors. ”

"The priests of the Ancient Elven Empire were able to build moon wells and collect moonlight to promote plant growth. Anne whispered to Richard as she explained, "But now that the moon well has long been lost, it has become extremely difficult to cultivate Naxi narcissus. ”

"Oh. The lord nodded knowingly.

Regardless of the lofty name, it is clear that the role of Yuehua can basically be equated with chemical fertilizer.

It just so happened that he also had such a country in his previous life, and after losing the import channel of fertilizer, agricultural production avalanche, and that chubby leader could only call the people to march in misery, which was generally similar to the situation of these elves, so it was easy to understand.

With the crunching of the wheels, the elf's convoy drove into the mountain fort. The addition of a new group of residents also means that many new problems arise that can only be solved by Richard and Melissa.

"The elves don't seem to be as arrogant as the legend says, and they're quite enthusiastic. Gunther smacked his lips as he looked at their distant backs.

"Alas. Buckland shook his head and sighed, "How can the current elves still have the capital to be arrogant. ”

"Did you notice, a third of the members of this elven tribe are half-elves. It shows that in order to avoid inbreeding, they had to start intermarrying with humans. If it weren't for the point of life and death, how could the elves do this. People like to sigh when they are old, and Buckland is obviously no exception, babbling: "In the face of harsh reality, it is already very difficult to survive, and everyone is not qualified to be willful. ”

"But if this continues to be intermarried from generation to generation, won't the elves disappear sooner or later?" Hurt was shocked.

It's very simple – if you add water to a drop of ink, the ink will eventually disappear.

"Not really. As a naturalist, Buckland said that "elves are more resilient than humans, and the offspring born of two half-elves will be closer to pure-blood elves than their parents." If they can multiply and grow, and then actively intermarry with each other, it only takes a few generations to restore to a very close to pure-blood elves. ”

"That's good. The difficulty of giving birth is also the lingering pain of the Sgar lizardmen, and Abu is full of empathy.

"However, I don't think they'll be able to integrate into Alpine Castle. The old white tiger said coldly, which surprised everyone present.

"Why?" said Gunther, confused, "the leader is now worried that he can't find a good warrior, isn't the elf the best archer?"

"When an archer needs strength, otherwise no matter how good the head is, he won't be able to shoot armor!" Buckland closed one eye and compared a posture of aiming and shooting, his chubby body and thick clothes made the whole person almost shrink into a ball, "The size and muscles of a centaur are good archers, did you see it when you pushed the cart just now, those elves are simply weak, how can they be archers?"

"That's right!"

With these few pieces of goods present, the enemies that have been slashed can fill a town together, and it is common sense for archers to need strength. I didn't think much about being deceived by the traditional impression that elves are good at shooting before, but now after being reminded by the old white tiger, I immediately reacted.

"What then?" said Gunther, grinning.

"Cold salad!" Buckland rolled his eyes.