The court servant beside the Duke of Ella trotted all the way to Stola, took the handwritten letter from Glenn, Earl of Sheffield from his hand, and then silently turned around, climbed the stairs, and handed the handwritten letter to the Duke of Ella, who was sitting on the throne of the Duke. Duke Walker then tore open the dark green wax seal and unfolded it, and after glancing at it, his face became more and more gloomy.

To His Royal Highness Lord Walker, Duke of Ella, who is the owner of all the lands south of Mount Ella in the glorious Kingdom of Rinston:

On behalf of my King Sheffir I Wood, I would like to greet you, the Centaur King Alec has been besieged by evil creatures who have emerged from the shadows, the town of Goodbay has been lost, and in order to bring peace to our borders, His Majesty Shepher I of the Kingdom of Elvenia has sent the Second Cavalry Squadron of the Forbidden Army to support the Iron Mine Ridge and the Highland Mountains. Our strength alone seems to be unable to stop this evil force, and I hope that you will be able to jointly defend against it for the sake of peace on our borders, and our army will be waiting for your support on the Iron Ore Ridge.

Glenn, Earl of Sheffield

At the end of the month on August 40, 1031 in the Talke Continental Calendar-

Stora lowered her head, did she sneak a glance at the change in Duke Ella's face, and kept speculating in her heart about Duke Ella's next intention after reading the letter, thinking about what kind of resignation he should use to deal with it.

Walker, Duke of Ella, seemed to have a special feeling, noticing the sneaky glance of this Sheffield diplomat, Stola.

Stola's sneak peek met Duke Walker's brown eyes in silence. Duke Ella straightened his face again, and Stola speculated that Duke Walker might have deliberately feigned composure, but there was no trace of pretending on his face.

"My friend of the Wood Elves, Mr. Stola, can you tell me what Count Glenn means by being an evil creature?" Duke Walker got straight to the point, and he gently placed the handwritten letter of Glenn, Earl of Sheffield, on the desk, his words were appropriate and his tone was calm, showing his sophisticated diplomatic experience.

"Ah, Mr. Walker, I am a little rude, His Royal Highness the Duke of the Great Trian." Even though Stoladan was infected by the Duke's calmness, he felt that there was no substantial difference between meeting the Duke and visiting the Earl of Sheffield, but he soon realized that the title of 'Mr. Duke' seemed to have the courtesy of a state-to-state diplomacy, and he began to look a little embarrassed.

"Mr. Stola, after all, you are a wood elf, we are the Trian clan, you have your language, we have our vocabulary, we live in different regions and cultures, and the etiquette of natural races is different, so it doesn't matter what you call you, how you call your Count Sepher, you can call me whatever you want, at least 2 years ago I was just an Earl of Yafen. The Wood Elves are friends of our Trian kingdom. Even though Duke Walker kept his face up, he still didn't forget to half-joke, and he also joked at Stola, the wood elf messenger who spoke the lingua franca very standardly. But Stola realized that the joke was not a mockery of the other Trians, but a good step.

"Thank you for being so understanding, and Stola is very grateful. Your Royal Highness, as I introduce you to this wicked creature, I ask you and your noble friends not to take what I say as a distant legend or a fabrication. So I'll have to give you a brief overview of my career. Stola glanced around the courtiers under the Duke's seat, who were clearly interested in his words and looked at him, and he couldn't help but think of a saying that had been circulated in Elvenia, "Riddles always attract attention." ”

"Riddles always get attention, but I have to say that a riddle is a good riddle." Duke Ella seemed to read through Stola's thoughts, "Your fingers have rough skin, calluses that have been sharpened by holding a knife for many years. Sheffield's diplomatic envoys haven't changed in years, but this time it's you. Presumably this was specially arranged by Glenn Fahn. ”

"His Royal Highness the Duke not only knows the culture of our wood elves, but also knows so about our Earl Sephir." Stora nodded slightly, her words revealing a compliment to Duke Ella.

"My courtiers and I are taking great interest in your riddle." Duke Ella stretched out his left index finger and tapped lightly on the armrest of the throne.

"I was a Scout Captain of Sephil before I left for the Treasure Land, and I fought in many battles, and I have lost count of the number of times I have passed with the doom of death, but luck always comes at a cost, and even my dearest brother died in the Battle of Mount Hawk two years ago." Stora understood Duke Ella's small movements, and he also understood that the compliment just now had no effect on such a high-ranking Duke, and he began to think back to the past years, which was a collection of feelings of running, blood, anger, and loss.

"The Wood Elf Scouts of the Sheffield Border Patrol are always on the most dangerous mission. I deeply regret the death of your brother in battle. Walker, Duke of Ella, raised his hand slightly, motioning for Stora to continue telling what was about to be revealed.

"It is glorious to die in battle, and his soul will sleep peacefully in the bosom of the forest of Forrester, never to be disturbed." The corners of Stola's mouth twitched slightly, and after blinking her eyes, she continued, "After the Battle of Hawk Mountain, the goblins of Hawk Hill were slaughtered by us, and in the past two years, although I have been receiving reconnaissance missions from the Earl, there has never been any hidden danger in a radius of dozens of miles around Butselfil, until the reconnaissance mission to Goodbay not long ago. ”

"Oh, you're also watching the Highlands, the Iron Mine Ridge, and the Gilberg family of Goodbay?" Under the duke's seat, the nobleman in the costume standing in the front row on the left side snorted, "The wood elves are indeed untrustworthy beings, and I want to say that you really regard us Trians as friends?" Your Sheffield entry and exit are all high customs duties, and we Ella legitimate merchants are hitting walls everywhere in your forest country! ”

"My dear assistant, George Landmark. Now is not the time to talk about trade, and this envoy may not be able to solve your troubles. Walker, Duke of Ella, smiled and looked at his treasurer, George Landmark.

"My lord. Now that these Wood Elves have come to us for help, we will spend a lot of money to send an army, and now that the stronghold of Sharp Mountain has been destroyed by Segal Saxon, and the Wood Elves do not make much money on their side, and it takes a lot of gold to renovate various military facilities, the only way for us to make money is to rely on the trade routes maintained by the one-eyed dragons of Perland and the dwarves of the Ain Dynasty. George Landmark, the treasurer, held a thick stack of ledgers in his hand, flipped through them page by page, and pointed line by line, "Trade with Sharp Mountain, earned 220 gold coins last quarter, which means that there is no harvest this quarter, Earl of White Town provides 30 gold coins a quarter, Earl of Jarfen Colossius provides a quarter of 80 gold coins, and Perland provides 100 gold coins for Jarfen, of which 20% is used to pay tribute, and our city trades directly with Elvenia, Earning only 80 gold coins is equivalent to the trade of a wealthy barony, and the rich merchants in the city say that the return trip to Sheffield is 100 gold coins! It cost us 200 gold to expand the small castle! And then there are many necessary expenses of the Entre that require money. ”

"Your Excellency George? You seem to be a tax collector, but I don't think this is the time to talk about our trade friction with you. Stola looked at George Landmark, "There is no point in saying this now, and I have not come to the Duke to discuss the taxation issues that arise in trade. ”

"Heh, of course you're going to avoid that, because you know you're in big trouble in Erwinia, evil creatures? What are evil creatures? There's an evil creature that wants us to help you out, or do you want to solve some tough problems? Yes, yes, but on what basis? Don't expect too much, you poor mouthpiece, that we'll agree to your attempt! George Landmark was almost thunderous, staring at Stola in his excitement.

"We have no intentions, but only to bring you unfortunate news. If I hadn't risked my life to come to see His Royal Highness the Duke, you would still be kept in the dark, and when the backyard would catch fire, I don't know what the hell is going on! Your Excellency the Tax Collector should really thank me Stola, I saved you a lot of the Memorial Pension, if you Trians have a pension if you have one! "Stola was so bent on fulfilling the mission given to him by Glenn, Earl of Sheffield, that he didn't care about so much etiquette.

"George, your argument is a headache for me, if what this Wood Elf Emissary says is useless to us, I will let him return to Sheffield on his own! Let him continue. Walker, Duke of Ella, rose from his throne, and his stern voice suddenly silenced the entire council chamber.

"First, I need to clarify the matter of the Goodbay reconnaissance, which we are on a reconnaissance mission that Earl Glenn was invited by His Excellency Alec, the Centaur Chief of the Highland Mountains! Isn't it that Your Excellency George said that we are spying on our allies, and don't we need to invest money in conducting reconnaissance? This is one of them. Second, this is the point, I was very unfortunate to participate in this reconnaissance, originally thought that it was just a goblin invasion and plunder from the Black Temple Mountain, but not long after we went, we encountered the invasion of these evil creatures. All of my colleagues were killed, including the Gilberg family who escorted me away, and they were killed in the Minotaur on the way. By that time the town of Gudebai had fallen. "It's hard to understand that we have never seen two minotaurs the height of Lord George, but they are on the same side as the goblins and the lizardmen, as if they had formed an evil alliance. They ate the dead, passed by a place of crumbling ruins, and they were not plundering their possessions, but destroying whatever living thing they saw! ”

The sonorous and powerful answer echoed in the council chamber of the small castle of Entre for a long time. The ominous truth seems to gag everyone's mouth.