Walking along the long forest path, the lone black-haired wizard was surrounded by a dozen elven war dancers, who, according to Luca, were heading to the Misty Moon Court.

As for the delegation that came with him, Lukka told him not to worry, they would be escorted to the Misty Moon Court in four days by the leader of the Morning Star Forest's War Dancers, that is, Leah herself.

Just thinking about it, Loren immediately understood that Luka was using a very clever way to help himself make a time difference.

The arrival of the Imperial Mission, of course, it was impossible for Morning Star Lin to conceal it, let alone pretend not to exist, but Lukka could let himself enter the Misty Moon Court first, and understand the situation before the other party could fully react.

Although there is no evidence, Loren is sure that Luka definitely heard his conversation with Leah.

The only question is, is this just his own idea, or is it a decision made by the entire Morning Star Forest after careful consideration?

Loren was very hopeful that it would be the latter.

After the southern forest was occupied by ogres, only the eastern forest was still struggling with ogres, and only the elves of the eastern forest had interacted with humans - they had the largest number of settlements, the largest area, and the richest forests, but they also had to face the invasion of the ogres from the south and the "threat of the human world" in the east.

In other words, they may also be the only elven colonies that have "feelings" for humans.

The remaining two areas - the elves of the western forest, led by the barren mound forest, are the "pure" ancient wood forest elves in the true sense, the least numerous and most scattered, and there are even many elven warriors who survive alone;

The western forests have the largest number of war dancers of the three places - the largest in proportion and number - and every time the ogres invade, the eastern forests call to the west, often as the main force and scouts.

It is worth mentioning that among the more than 100 elves who accompanied Loren on his expedition to the Eternal Night Forest, almost all of the young war dancers were from the west, or had traveled in the western forest.

The other is the elves of the northern forest, led by the Misty Moon Court.

The elves here are a little different from the settlements of the eastern and western forests - the elves of the northern forests are the only elven settlements with a coast and a port.

While the closed coastline kept them from having any contact with any of the Imperial ports, the sea gave the elves more of their wealth, allowing them to prosper by trading a small amount with the other two elven settlements.

Because they have table salt.

Brave elven war dancers can survive alone in the jungle, fight ogres, and don't need any goods from the outside world – but they can't live without salt.

There are no salt mines in the forest, so sea salt from the northern forest has become the only source of salt for all settlements, and the northern forest, which holds this important material, especially the Misty Moon Garden, has a very special position among all the ancient wood forest settlements.

It wasn't until the Eastern Forest began to come into contact with Deepwoodburg and Lothair, and refined well salt from Ellemont and East Sackland was imported into the Morningstar Forest, that their "monopoly" was slightly broken.

But with the closure of the Ancient Wood Forest, that status has returned.

Could there be some kind of connection between these two things?

"Loren, you're... Southerners, right?"

Walking on the path, Luca, with a mild demeanor, suddenly asked, "Leven of Deep Limburg once talked to us, and he said that your hometown of Byrne is a vast place, rich in a fruit called 'grapes', which can make the best wine in the world, and the most brave knights who are good at fighting, riding horses and wielding flag guns. ”

The black-haired wizard looked at him in confusion, wondering why he suddenly wanted to ask this.

"Don't get me wrong, it's just that walking is too boring, just ask. Lukka smiled again: "It's just a curiosity, why would such a rich and vast country be loyal to a leader from another land?"

"Lothair, Byrne... So many places, so many people, why would they all be loyal to a family and become a... What's that word called?"

"Empire. ”

"Yes, Empire. Lukka exhaled, "How did you become an empire?"

"There are a lot of reasons. The black-haired wizard paused and thought for a moment: "Because of His Majesty the Emperor of the Empire, his family once led resistance to the invasion of the north, they have great prestige, they have the most powerful army... They have dragons. ”

"A dragon can destroy a city, slaughter an army, raze a land... And there were twelve of them. ”

Lukka nodded thoughtfully.

"In other words, the reason why they were able to rule all the remaining lands with one piece of land......" The middle-aged elf turned his head and looked at the black-haired wizard meaningfully:

"Is it because they have the most powerful army, and the dragons—and the rest fear them to keep this empire alive?"

"Hmm... The same can be said. ”

Looking at each other, Loren shrugged.

"So is this unity, which is maintained by fear, threat, and force, a good thing or a bad thing in your opinion, Loren?" Lukka continued.

He's hinting at me something.

Loren remained as calm as usual, as if the two were really just talking, and their eyes moved elsewhere after only one touch.

"It should be... A good thing, right?"

"Do you really think so?" Lukka raised an eyebrow and smiled gently, "even if the price is that one of them has to give up his freedom and absolutely obey the other in exchange for the so-called peace?"

"Just like yourself, as the leader of the Byrnes, you have to obey the arrangement of the leader of the Sakran people, leave your people and land, and go to the ancient wood forest, which has nothing to do with you, and carry out his orders with trepidation, and dare not disobey in the slightest. ”

"Tell me, are you really willing and uncomplaining?"

This time Loren really smiled, the corners of his mouth grinning upward.

Really... Lukka was much more powerful than some upright elf.

"First of all, I was not forced, but voluntarily... Because I know what will happen next if I don't come. Slowly exhaling, Loren, who looked back, looked at him seriously:

"Secondly... Submission, for the most part, does not mean absolute obedience from one side to another, closer to a 'protocol' approach. ”

"Oh?" Lukka looked curious.

"Well, it's like a relationship between a single person and a settlement—but magnified to the level of territory and empire, she has a set of rules. Loren spoke eloquently:

"The empire provides protection, equal and respectful treatment to each realm, and the realm provides the empire with material resources and manpower to enable the empire to continue this protection, and both sides have their own rights and duties, because the title empire belongs to all, not to one direction. ”

"If the empire were to break the old rules and set up a ...... that would be more beneficial to him"

"Then there is no need for us to obey the rules;" replied Loren at once, "and then there will be three choices before each chief." ”

"The freedom to be independent, to overthrow the present ruler and get the empire back on track, or... Assemble a new empire on your own. ”

"But you said, the empire has dragons, how can you ......?" Lukka still wanted to ask.

"So, you have to be cautious when making these choices. Loren smiled and glanced at him, smiling even more happily: "The most important thing is that there can't be just one person. ”

"Because one person's complaint is just a complaint, and everyone's complaint is condensed to become a force – we respect the opinion of the very few, but if we want to push something, of course, we have to follow the idea of the majority. ”

"Conversely, if the ideas of a very small number of people become the ...... of the majority"

The majority has become a very small minority—so the key is how to accomplish this transformation.

“...... I understand. ”

After pondering for a long time, Lukka breathed a sigh of relief.

He turned his head and looked at the black-haired wizard with a solemn and serious expression, "Thank you, Loren. ”

"No thanks, really. Loren looked at him, a hint of slyness squeezing out of the corners of his eyes: "We're just chatting for a while, aren't we?"

Lukka smiled too.

Finally, one evening on the days of traveling north, when he finally passed through a dense forest, an elven war dancer walking in front suddenly stopped and turned his head to look at Luca and Loren behind him:

"Foggy Moon Court, we've arrived. ”

Lukka looked up with a smile, and Loren followed his gaze as he looked out of the woods, his gaze frozen.

It's the sea.

Behind a towering cloud canopy tree, not inferior to the Morning Star Forest, is a calm sea.

The steaming water on the shore shrouds the entire settlement like a thin veil, and the layers of treehouses are clustered together, one ring after another as messy and neat as a street;

It's not as natural and casual as the Morning Star Forest, nor like Ebolden or the Red Blood Castle, which are neatly organized like a free town, like a gradually expanding free town, full of life.

There is a wide open space around the cloud-canopy tree in the center, like a deliberately set aside "square", and not far away is a large salt pan, on which many elves are toiling.

Next to the humble dock, a group of elves who had just returned from fishing were pushing their small sampans to the shore, their spearguns still wrapped in rattan and twigs to make hemp rope, and a fish cage full of harvest.

The children running barefoot on the beach, shouting and picking up the conch and shells that washed ashore with the waves, shouting and screaming, are no different from the elven boys chasing butterflies in the Morning Star Forest.

It wasn't until this moment that Loren really understood why the Misty Moon Court was called "Misty Moon Court", instead of using the local woodland as the name of other elven settlements.

"Luca?"

On the periphery of the Fog Moon Court, an elven warrior who looked like a guard stepped forward and looked at the middle-aged elf with some surprise: "The elf of the Morning Star Forest, why did you come so soon?"

"Something happened and I had to go early. No matter who he faces, Luca seems to be as gentle as ever, not at all different from the other person's attitude:

"The situation is urgent, we must make a decision as soon as possible with the other elven elders of the Misty Moon Court!"

The elven guard first glanced at him inexplicably, and then immediately reacted: "From the east, are you talking about ......?"

"To the east... Something is wrong. Lukka nodded, looking at the young elf solemnly.

"I see!"

The elven guard nodded with a straight face, turned his head to his back, and shouted to his companions behind him: "Lift all the guards, and let the elves of the Morning Star Forest enter the Misty Moon Court!"

"Thank you. Lukka smiled and nodded.

However, just as the group was about to leave and walk towards the Misty Moon Court, the elven guard, who had just been "polite" to them, suddenly raised his spear and lay it in front of them.

Almost at the same time, the surrounding elven guards also swarmed up, surrounding the Wardancers of the Morning Star Forest in the center, stopping their steps.

"Wait a minute!"

The elven guard frowned, squinted his eyes at the end of Luca's group, and said in a solemn tone: "Please please tell me before you go in, who is this?"

Well?

All the elves turned their heads in unison, turned behind them in unison, and then ......

Nothing.

The War Dancers of the Morning Star Forest looked at each other, while the guards of the Misty Moon Court were confused, and a big "?" came to their minds at the same time.

What about the people, what about the Loren people? This is the spirit of the Morning Star Forest.

Human, what kind of person? This is the spirit of the Foggy Moon Court.

The elven guard's eyes widened, and he shook his head desperately, wiped it again, rubbed his eyes, and was completely stunned when he looked at it again.

What about people, what about a person with such a big goal?!

Right in front of him, with black hair and black eyes, he was particularly conspicuous and recognizable, standing at the back of the Morning Star Forest Elf team, and beckoning to himself!

I saw it just now, why did it disappear in the blink of an eye?!

Only Luca raised his eyebrows, and a subtle smile flashed at the corner of his mouth.

"Excuse me... Any questions?"

Lukka asked politely.

The frowning elven guard seriously looked at every Morning Star Forest elf in the team, and the confusion in his heart grew.

Don't... Am I really mistaken?

Finally, the elven guards with a "ghost" expression lost their souls, and in a trance, they got out of the way, and let the elves of the Morning Star Forest enter the Foggy Moon Court.

Although the dancers of the Morning Star Forest War with different expressions were also puzzled, they remained silent after being reminded by Luca.

As he was about to enter the door, Luca's gaze "inadvertently" swept to a corner outside the gate - a certain "elven guard" who had just stood there was now nowhere to be seen.

In the end, the young Misty Moon Court Elf didn't even notice that one of his companions was missing.

Smiling lightly, Luca, who no longer looked left and right, pretended to be unaware and strode towards the Foggy Moon Court.