Eboton coast, early morning.

As the spring sun turns the icy waters into golden waves, another warship flying the flag of the Azorean elves anchors in the graceful shoreline harbor of Ebden.

The beach that used to be unobstructed has a lot of simple docks made of logs and bricks for ships to dock, and a dozen gravel roads connected to the city gate avenue.

The walls on the harbor side were almost completely demolished, leaving only the towers and fortresses, and all the building materials were moved to the coast and turned into warehouses, docks, watchtowers, and various port facilities.

And the castle that was destroyed in the war, across the river from Ebolden, the Ebotden dockyard, the large warehouse... It only took one winter for the elves to complete the entire port facilities, and to add a bit of "Azores".

Not only that, but the port of Ebotden is now livelier than even in any previous generation.

Thousands of samurai lined up in loose but neat formations, leaving their warships and stepping onto the shore, converging like a trickle along the stone path in the direction of the city gates;

On the dockside, the elven warriors, wearing only thin overcoats, dragged the warship into the harbor with rough ropes and shouted neat trumpets;

The elves carrying the shelves, lifting the trailers, and holding the slings kept unloading the wooden boxes full of goods from the warships entering the port, and carried them on the trailers to push along the wooden rails on the docks, and quickly ran to the small warehouses close to the docks, and then the next group of elves were responsible for transporting them from the small warehouses to the distribution warehouse at the city gate, and then transported to the city, and so on;

After the ships were transported to the docks, some of them were sent to their homeland, some were scavenged along the Gem River and the Empire's coastline for looting supplies, and some were dismantled and turned into building materials for the construction of docks, ports, and various facilities in the city;

Relying on the original reserves in the city of Ebolden, plus the logistics of the ocean-going fleet, several large-scale raids on the coastline of East and West Sackland and the Empire... At this time, the supplies in Eberden were already abundant to the point that there was no shortage of anything, and even if it was completely blockaded by the Empire, it could still maintain a stable supply for the time being;

The ruined city has been transformed into a "barracks" of crossroads and brick and wood houses—training grounds, central squares, camping, restaurants, canals, sewers... The city, where thousands of noble wizards and tens of thousands of poor people lived, was enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands of Azorean elves when the space was arranged as rationally as possible.

And the Azorean elves did not stop there, they wanted not only a gathering place to settle down, but a brand-new, capital of the Azorean kingdom... Even under the premise of scarce materials and tight land, the original Ebolden Council was still the core, and the Eagle King Court was built first.

The towering five-story castle, the octagonal triple observation tower of the castle, the red wall of the colonnade built around the city, the pond courtyard with autumn leaves... The Court of the Eagle King, built in full compliance with the specifications of their homeland, shows the ambition of the Azorean elves, who vow to rebuild their kingdom and raise the flag of the Azores on this land.

Ebolden was the beginning of that ambition.

And the lowest level of the royal court hides the darkest corner of this ambition.

The heavy and cold stone walls are decorated with delicate wooden panels, hung with bright fluorite chandeliers, tables, chairs and coffee tables, and the clever drainage technology of the Azorean elves turns the originally cold and damp underground space into a cool and pleasant living room.

The only thing that can't be changed is the deathly silence.

After retreating to Ebolden, the elven prince began to like the underground living room that he had carefully built—the atmosphere was extremely quiet and slightly oppressive, allowing him to calm down and think calmly.

"The information that has just been sent is news about negotiations, Your Highness. ”

The young elven attendant knelt at the coffee table, carefully opened a blood-stained note, and turned his gaze to the other end of the living room, where the elven prince was sitting against the wall, casually flipping through a book left over from the Nine-Pointed Star Wizard's Tower by the light of the wall lamp overhead.

Beside him, all the turned books and parchment were piled up in a haphazard manner, like a hill.

"The Imperial Crown Prince... Or rather, Brandon de Salion, who is already the de facto Emperor of the Empire, agrees to your proposal, and the two sides will use the current Ebolden Line as the boundary, and will not engage in unnecessary fighting before the official start of the war, and the other side will not make any other demands, but ......"

The elven attendant paused suddenly, his expression changing.

"It's just... What?" the little elven prince did not raise his head, as if he did not care:

"Yes. ”

"Ahh Obey, obey!" The awakened elf attendant hurriedly got up, and there was a tremor in his voice: "It's just that the two adults who are in charge of the chief of the Wei court and his adjutant who went to negotiate were killed by the other party, and the methods are extremely cruel!"

Looking at the description on the letterhead, the blood stains left on the paper, and the smell of not knowing what it was, the elven retinue was so frightened that they couldn't even speak.

"Peeling... Beheading... Cremation in public...... The letterhead of the reply was tied to the heads of two adults, and was thrown into a barbed trench by two Imperial cavalrymen, and was only found early this morning... Hmm!"

The elven attendant with a twitching expression covered his mouth, his eyes wide open, and tried his best to suppress the urge to spit out.

"That's right......" Brandon's tone was still very calm, and he quickly turned the pages of the book without raising his head: "The process of execution... Have you been seen by our warriors?"

“...... Yes, counting those who heard and saw, there were almost ten thousands. The elven attendant nodded in a panic, still not recovering from the fear just now.

"Then bury the heads of both of them, well... He was buried under the three-storied pagoda on the side of the royal gate in the direction of the port. "Rodria Azore tilted his head:

"The funeral should be beautiful enough that all the samurai should be present and have a ceremony, and then I will go to the funeral myself... Do they have relatives or children?"

"Uh, like... Yes, there is. ”

"Make sure they are there, especially if they know them. I have a good relationship with them... Well, gather all the remaining samurai of the Four Courts. ”

"Yes. ”

The elven attendant bowed and took the second letter from the coffee table beside him: "Next is the information about the battle of Lothair, brought by a court warrior beside His Highness Sicotus, he ......"

"Stop, don't read it. ”

"Smack!", the elven prince casually threw the book in his hand on the "hill" beside him, interrupting the words of his entourage: "What happened to Lothair, I have probably guessed it." ”

"Your Highness?"

"Don't understand, it's okay, I can explain it to you. Looking at the bewildered expressions of his entourage, the little elf prince said happily as if he had suddenly become interested:

"It's actually very simple, do you think the one opposite... Isn't it inconsistent that Brandon de Salion agreed to my proposal and at the same time killed the messenger I sent in front of me—willing to be peaceful and yet madly provocative?"

The elven attendant nodded in a daze, looking at the little prince's increasingly playful smile.

"The answer is simple... There was no contradiction at all - and there was only one reason why he dared to do so, and that was the outcome of the Battle of Lothair. ”

Only the victory in the Battle of Lothair could give the opposing Emperor the courage to do so.

The venerable brother Sicotus was wiped out, even killed, and the Azorean elves on the front line of Lothair were wiped out... Only in this way can Brandon de Salion feel free to boldly provoke himself, and he does not have to worry about being stabbed in the back when he retaliates against him.

As for the reason why he agreed to his proposal... It would be simpler, he had to wait for the army that had gone to Lothair to come back and join him, bet the last chip on the scales of victory, and take advantage of the high morale of the great victory at the Battle of Lothair, and push himself in waves.

Probably... That's what it is.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that he is also gambling, believing that the army he sent will definitely be able to win in Lothair, at least it must be a miserable draw, and he will dare to do so only after ensuring that there is no danger behind him, otherwise......

Although he has seen how impulsive and crazy this "new emperor" can be, the elven prince still doesn't think that he is the type who is keen to seek death.

And the commander who can be trusted by the other party will definitely win the battle of Lothair... Well, nine times out of ten, it should be Loren Torino.

"The crushing defeat at the Battle of Lothair was not only the loss of an army of tens of thousands of samurai, but also the loss of a direction of attack, a reinforcement that could cover us and distract the enemy. ”

"Having lost Lothair, we will have to face attacks from all directions in a small battlefield like Ebotden, and we may win the first, the second, the third... But as long as the tide of the war doesn't change, as long as we're still stuck in this tiny port of Ebotdon... Failure is only a matter of time. ”

"Even if we win in the end, we have lost the chance to destroy the empire once and for all, maybe a hundred, two hundred, three hundred years... We will continue to confront the enemy until one of them is destroyed. ”

"This is the situation that we, the entire Azorean elves, are facing right now - the hope of victory is very slim, and what we need to grasp is the hope of the last to survive and ensure the survival of the entire race. ”

"For the sake of this hope, we must win, we can only win... Unscrupulous, unscrupulous, gambling on everything... Victory!"

The crazy tone echoed in the dead space, making the already somewhat frightened entourage look at the back of the elven prince even more nervously.

Nearby, Rodria Azores faced the wall, desperately suppressing the frantically rising corners of his mouth and his increasingly twitching expression.

Gambling on everything, a fateful battle, the ultimate gamble... That is, the final game.

Only he knows best how long he has been waiting for this day!

The fight for his life has long been unable to make him feel a trace of blood, and the gushing blood plasma has long been unable to stimulate his nerves... Rational judgment, the game of victory, has numbed him for too long and too long, so that the slightest variable, or even a losing game, can make him feel a little excited.

And now... The fate of the entire Azorean elves, the fate of the Azorean royal family, and the future of this world... In their next game, they decide that their victory or defeat is no longer about the next 100, 200 or 300 years, but the survival of a race and a country......

What could be a more fun game than this?!

No, this is not a rhetorical question, because of course there is none!

Picking up the book that he had left on the "hill", the elf prince smashed it into the corner of the living room with his backhand.

"Bell!"

The sonorous sound seemed to have touched some mechanism... The elven retinue couldn't help but guess.

In the next second, the suddenly opened "wall" verified his guess.

"Knock ——!"

With a loud bang, the original walls opened to the sides like sliding doors, and a cold iron fence appeared on the wall, and there was darkness in pitch black.

"Ahhh————!!!!hhh

With a terrible scream, a black shadow slammed into the iron fence with a "bang!", and the startled elf attendant trembled.

Not because of the figure, but because of the face.

The Chief of the Overseer..."Idealistic Celestial Phenomena"... Eugen!

He's alive?!

Eyes glittering with gray-blue light, beastly looks, without the slightest hint of sanity, frantic movements, head-to-toe chains and shackles......

But there is no doubt that the former Chief of the Overseer Eugen appeared in front of him, the samurai who should have died in the Battle of Eboden a long time ago!

Why is he here, why is he still alive ... No, he didn't die in the first place but was kept here, so why did His Highness Rodria do this?!

The elven retinue's mind was in a state of confusion, and he had no idea what he had to do.

"Quite simply, you don't have to do anything. The elven little prince, who looked back slowly, glanced at his entourage who was almost stupid: "I walked you here for the last insurance." ”

"Sure... Insurance, insurance?!"

The elven retinue stammered as he looked at His Royal Highness the Prince.

"That's right, that's why I'm going to share my plan with you, my... Triumphant... Plan. The leader shoved Eugen's head into the cell, and the elven prince tilted his head to look at his entourage:

"As you can see, I resurrected our Overseer with the help of a second seat of the Imperial Court; Guess what I've come back to life - hint, there's a reward for guessing right. ”

What was resurrected... What is there to be resurrected... In the city of Ebolden... The secret weapon... Belch......

"Dragons?"

The attendant asked tentatively, "You... Resurrected... The dragon you slain?"

The elven prince's eyes lit up.

"Oh, you're smart!" Rodria Azore nodded, looking at him meaningfully:

"So the last question... Guess what... I'm going to go to great lengths to even use the construction of the royal court to conceal the plan to open up the underground transportation network at Ebolden......"

"And for what?"

。 m.