The heavy knock on the door echoed for a long time, like a loud bell ringing.

Dead.

All the elven elders held their breath and stared at the main entrance of the longhouse.

The sudden knock on the door surprised everyone.

Middle, who had his back to the door, didn't say a word, his expression frozen.

The nervous little wizard didn't even dare to look back, for fear of seeing the most terrifying image in his mind, the female elf Lea, walked into the longhouse with a desolate face, holding the head of the black-haired wizard in her hand, and told herself in a trembling and painful voice: "I'm sorry, Ain, I can't betray my own people, I can't betray the Morning Star Forest ......"

No, no! She promised herself that she wouldn't hurt Loren!

Silence lasted a full minute.

"Who the hell is it?!"

The first to be held back was the elder of the barren mound forest: "Whoever it is, don't you know how sacred it is for the elders to deliberate? No one is allowed to open this big ...... until the deliberation is over."

"Knock...... Knock ——! knock ——!"

Three rough knocks on the door hit Elder Arazuka's face like a merciless taunt, causing the grumpy elder's cheeks to flush, and it took a lot of effort from his companion beside him to press him back into his seat.

Middell was still smiling, but not as gentle as he had been at the beginning, but a little more cold.

The Misty Moon Court War Dancers who guarded the Cloud Canopy Tree had all taken refuge in themselves, the Morning Star Forest War Dancers, who were the only ones who could ventilate the news, had also been placed under house arrest, and the warriors of the rest of the settlements had been transferred, and the Imperial Mission was being besieged by war dancers several times their size, and even those who were lucky enough to escape and break through would be blocked under the Cloud Canopy Tree......

So what's going on?

At such a time, it should be impossible for anyone to run out and bother themselves to "persuade" the elven elders to completely sever ties with the Empire and join the Kingdom of the Azores, whose blood relatives are.

What went wrong, and who ruined their plans......

"Bang ——!!!!"

There was a loud bang, and the door was slammed open.

The sound of heavy crashing echoed through the longhouse over and over again, and blinding light streamed through the door into the dimly lit hall.

Almost at the same time, all the elven elders in the room couldn't help but squint their eyes and turn their gaze to the door, and the little wizard and Middel, who were facing away from the door, also turned their heads in "tacitly", looking at them in horror or surprise.

A lazy and leisurely figure appeared outside the door and walked towards them step by step.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Ladies and gentlemen, I'm really sorry. ”

The lazy tone had no sincerity in wanting to apologize, but it made the whole hall silent, and there was no movement.

The leisurely footsteps stopped, and the visitor tilted his head, very calmly scanning the entire longhouse - the shocked and confused elders, the Azorean elves with blue faces... and Ain Rand, whose eyes were full of worry.

He said lightly: "I'm late." ”

"Loren ——?!"

The little wizard exclaimed, surprise flashing in her eyes - she had to do everything she could resist the urge to rush over and hold the other in her arms.

How many times, how many times did I really think he was ...... by Leah

“...... In any case, you are finally here, Lord Loren Turin, or... Imperial Emissary, Duke of Byrne. ”

When the longhouse was still full of confusion, or was dazed or still in doubt, the elder of the Morning Star Forest took the lead in getting up and bowed slightly to the black-haired wizard without humility or arrogance:

"But I must warn you that if the door of the Elders' House is closed, it will be a curse unless it is finished—and above all, a great disrespect to the customs of the elves. ”

The elder's voice was sonorous and powerful, as if the elder was reprimanding the junior, but Loren, who had his head down, had already heard the meaning of his words, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly.

The fact that you are late has already made the elders of the other settlements very dissatisfied, lower your posture, our Morning Star Forest will be on your side—this is the meaning revealed in Elder Morning Star Forest's words.

"Once again, I sincerely apologize to all of you, gentle... Although I have visited the Morning Star Forest before, I really don't know much about the customs of the elves. ”

Loren returned the salute without humility or arrogance, and at the same time blocked Ain behind him without a trace, and the little wizard who was completely in surprise was as well-behaved as a rabbit: "However, when it comes to customs, there is a special word in the empire that is used to express the ...... of different races."

"Let's not talk about any more customs!"

The Elder of the Misty Moon Court, who had recovered from the shock, hurriedly got up, and stared at the black-haired wizard with a tense face: "Please tell us first, how did you enter the Misty Moon Court, and how did you bypass the guards of the Misty Moon Court War Dancers outside the door?!"

The longhouse fell silent again, and the elders with different expressions all frowned in unison—especially the elders of the Misty Moon Court, who felt a little difficult to breathe.

"Guards? I don't see any guards. Loren deliberately bypassed the first question and replied lightly, "If you mean those guys who rushed up to me and wanted to kill me when they heard my name... Well. ”

Loren, with a leisurely demeanor, thought back a little about what had happened not long ago.

He had planned to find a way to rescue Leah, who was under house arrest, but the female elf was still as smart as before, and she took the opportunity to run away after putting one down.

I helped her put down the second one.

Then there were the few war dancers who stood on the cloud crown, and pounced like mad dogs at the sight of their names, but they were lucky, because this time there was no need to limit their means.

The will of the rock destroys the terrain and divides them one by one, and then the spiritual horizon determines the coordinates of each one and cleans them up one by one...... The war dancers who encountered magic for the first time were completely caught off guard.

Really... Infiltrating openly is the most suitable for you, and it is really dangerous to set up an ambush and sneak attack; anyway, as long as no one sees you and no one stops you, no one will know that you have infiltrated.

Well, that's it.

"I've made them pay the price they deserve. ”

This answer made the elders' expressions even more ugly.

The price due... What is the price to pay?

Could it be that all the Misty Moon Court War Dancers who were guarding the Cloud Canopy Tree were given by this Duke alone......

The elven elders wanted to exclaim, "This is impossible!", but the fact was that the other party was standing in front of them intact, and there was not even a guard wardancer outside the door.

Inside the longhouse, there was a dead silence again.

Until the irascible Elder of the Barren Tomb Forest broke it again.

"And what about the Empire's army?!"

Standing up suddenly, Elder Arazuka Forest pointed at the black-haired wizard's face and scolded angrily: "You keep saying that you are here for friendship and peace, but you have quietly mobilized thousands of troops to gather on the border of the Ancient Wood Forest, is this also a manifestation of the friendship and peace of the Empire?!"

The frightened little wizard shrunk his neck and pursed his lips.

This is the only question that absolutely cannot be avoided from the past.

She knew that the matter of mobilizing the army had nothing to do with Loren, and it should have nothing to do with Ruwen, it was probably at the behest of Duke Lothair and His Majesty Eckhart II of the Heavenly Dome... But this is not the case in the eyes of the elves, who will not distinguish the "Duke of Byrne" in front of him from the empire behind him.

In their view, the elves were deceived by the Empire, and they also took advantage of their unilateral "trust" - using the so-called "peace and friendship" to deceive them, but in fact they secretly wanted to eradicate the elves of the entire ancient wood forest.

It sounds ridiculous, but that's what the elves think, and as for His Majesty the Emperor of the Heavenly Dome Palace... He probably will, too!

"Let me answer your two questions separately - first of all, the mobilization of troops by the Empire to gather in any corner of the Empire's territory belongs to the internal affairs of the Empire, and has nothing to do with the elves of the Ancient Wood Forest. Loren looked around and smiled in response:

"Just as the Empire does not interfere with how the Elves hunt, the Elves should not ask how the Empire will mobilize their armies - this is a sign of friendship and mutual understanding, and a prerequisite for peace. ”

But although the elders of the barren mound forest are irritable, they are not stupid, and they don't eat the black-haired wizard's "foolishness" at all: "Yes, then if we put thousands of warriors on the edge of the forest to 'hunt', will the empire also ......?"

"Secondly, I have a very detailed message for you about the troops that Lothair has assembled this time. Loren suddenly replied in a loud voice, not forgetting to glance at the Elder of the Barren Tomb Forest who had been interrupted by himself:

"I'm sorry, you asked me to answer the question, at least let me finish. ”

With a cold snort, Elder Arazuka Forest, who had clenched his steel teeth, sat down suddenly, his face full of anger after being "humiliated".

A contemptuous smile slipped through the black-haired wizard's eyes.

"First of all, the matter of mobilizing the army itself is true, and it is indeed an order from the Heavenly Dome Palace. Putting his hands behind his back, Loren said in a deep voice:

"But the fact that a fortress is being built on the border and that thousands of troops will be stationed is nothing but nothing!"

"How do you know?!" Elder Arazuka Lin still couldn't hold back his temper.

"I just know. Luo Ren's eyes swept over coldly: "Because I am the plenipotentiary envoy appointed by His Majesty the Emperor of the Heavenly Dome Palace, and among my entourage, there is also a guard from the Heavenly Dome Palace. ”

"If you still don't believe us, then you can detain us in the Misty Moon Court and wait until three or five days later to see if there is an army of thousands of people who have crossed the border of the Ancient Wood Forest and launched an attack on the elven settlement!"

In the face of Loren's extremely confident "declaration", the voice of rebuttal in the longhouse suddenly weakened a lot.

"But I'm curious—the transfer of Lothair's army is a fairly confidential information even within the Empire, and apart from the Grand Duke of Lothair and the knights who have been transferred, even I know about it through His Majesty's bodyguards. ”

Loren stepped forward, ignoring the Azorean elves beside him, and deliberately looked at the elven elders in the longhouse with a confused expression: "May I ask you... How do you know?"

The atmosphere suddenly became eerie.

Ain, who was standing behind Loren, and all the elven elders, all silently cast their eyes on Tie Qinglian, who was still silent.

Feeling that the Azorean elves who were locked by all eyes were still calm on the surface, but their hearts were completely overflowing with inflated anger.

He finally understood what was going on.

This "Duke of Byrne" named Loren Turin, he first infiltrated the Foggy Moon Court under the name of "Edward" and obtained the information he wanted from his own hands, and then deliberately released the Imperial Mission, and let himself mistakenly think that he had found his sore feet and attacked aggressively, and when he was about to make a final decision, he stood up and ended the battle, and completely shattered his plan.

This is an adversary more cautious than a snake, more cunning than a wolf... It's my own carelessness.

But as smart as you are, you're only pretending to be smart - the War Dancers gathered in the Misty Moon Court have begun to besiege the Imperial Mission's camp, and the seeds of hatred have been planted and will never be plucked out.

No matter how reluctant these corrupt, cowardly, and inactive elven elders were, they could not avoid the war with the Empire, and could only turn to themselves and the Kingdom of the Azores.

The winner of this game... It's still yourself!

"It's me. ”

Putting his hands behind his back, Midl calmly raised his gaze: "It's the news I found and told the elders." ”

Loren turned his head, his eyes were still full of confusion and curiosity: "I'm sorry, I'm here for the first time today, may I ask if you are ......?"

"Do you still need to be so pretentious among friends? Dear Lord 'Edward'?" Middel deliberately lowered his voice, squinting his eyes and meeting Loren's eyes:

"It's a great move, it's unexpectedly exciting—but unfortunately, even if you have the ability to go against the sky, you can't do it right now. ”

"You mean ......"

"Your little 'Imperial Mission' is now besieged by war dancers who are several times or even a dozen times more enthusiastic, and they will all be dead in less than a quarter of an hour. ”

"These corpses, this hatred... It's a declaration of war from the elves to the Empire!"

"Really?" Loren chuckled, "But why didn't you think that since I knew about this, why could I stand here and talk to you calmly?"

Middell looked up, a look of surprise in his stunned gaze, and the fear of some kind of bad premonition.

"I am Lord of the Thirteen Lords of Byrne, Duke of Turin, the fortresses of the dwarves have crumbled at my feet, the tribes of centaurs have fallen before my eyes, I have broken the armies of ogres and torn apart the apostles of the gods, my armies have conquered the steppes, crossed the glaciers, swept the hills, and leveled the land. ”

Loren retracted his smile, raised his head slightly (which he also learned from Charlotte), and glanced at Middell with contempt:

"Dare to ask... Who do you think I am?!"