The nobles of Evta knew that the Duke of Angmar's right-hand men, the two guardian knights of Wellington and Titus, had been "suppressing bandits" all the time, which was a loss of identity for the two knights who had been famous for a long time, but it also fully illustrated the embarrassment of the lord who had no one to use and resources at this time...

Angmar, who had been sleeping for many years, had lost almost all of his allies in Ivta, and the first thing he did when he woke up was not to win over and repair relations, but to "absurdly" choose to send more troops to the border...

The nobles were laughed at by such behavior, and to this day, they have seen that Angmar has paid the price—the Rusiflon family is inevitably in decline, and instead of trying to help, they are secretly ready to rush up and eat it.

Invitations to the banquet have been sent, and the only indication of the theme or content is that the "Rosicrucian" sect will also participate in the dinner, which is called "collecting donations for the construction of the sect".

Perhaps Angmar wanted to use the might of the "Rosicrucifixion" as a final threat?

The nobles expressed their disdain for this bravado, but they each wondered whether to attend a grand banquet that had not been seen in the territory of Evta for many years - whether the Duke's power waned or not, he was still the most powerful person in Evta, and no nobleman would openly disgrace the Duke until the dust settled...

Even if they're always stumbling on Angmar.

While these lords, big and small, were pondering and meditating, Roddy, as the "captain of the Duke's Guard", had no worries, and was sitting leisurely on the second floor of the first wooden villa in Elsa Village, chatting with the village chief Brudi about the topic of business income.

"Money has started to be widely used in the village, and food, clothing, etc. have also improved a lot, I think... The decision to open Elsa Village to humans was probably the best decision I've ever made in my life - it's rare that all the children survived this winter and that no one was freezing or starving. ”

Brudy was overwhelmed with emotion, his coarse cloth clothes with torn leaves had been replaced by well-tailored robes, and what he held in his hand was no longer the pimple wooden staff, but a staff made of white and gold metal.

"This staff is good. ”

Roddy sat aside, and because he was under great protection, he also changed his thick leather armor and put on a simple cloth robe, rather like the descendant of the nobility that the bard called a wandering nobleman.

"It was Henry who brought it last time, and he said it was given to me by the Duke of Angmar, and I thought it was good, so I accepted it. Brudy didn't shy away from the origin of the staff, and with a simple remark, Roddy knew that he was not mistaken—the Duke of Angmar had taken him to the arsenal of the Roussiflon family's collection for generations, and the staff was among them... And to be a family collection, the quality of the staff speaks for itself.

Giving away such a valuable item at will, behind it naturally represents a little attitude of the Duke of Angmar.

"In the future, the development of Elsa Village will be more rapid, and it is estimated that more craftsmen will come here to build new buildings, which is all planned, but I still want to ask... What are your thoughts on this?"

Roddy looked out of the balcony at the village of Elsa: stables, warehouses, and simple inns had been built in the center of the empty clearing, and the caravan members were busy counting the goods, and occasionally there were wooden elves who came to trade with coins or items.

Farther away, with wooden elves with bows on their backs and caravans armed with crossbows, the village's defenses were strengthened several times over, and the vigilance was far greater than before.

"We're definitely welcome, as long as there is no coercion, of course, but there's one thing I want to tell you..."Brudy sat up slightly and whispered, "The other wood elf villages in the Silent Forest already know what I've done, but... They obviously didn't agree with me. ”

"Oh, I'm afraid the only thing they can think of is envy, jealousy, and hatred. You say they don't agree, but in fact, someone came over and said a lot of cool things, right?"

Roddy is not surprised by this, the Silent Forest is not only a village in Elsa Village, there are at least six Wood Elf villages of various sizes in the depths of the forest, but they are extremely cold towards humans, never trading anything, and even attacking players who come close - these elves' attitude towards Elsa Village has been clear since 590, so when the game is launched and players come to Elsa Village, the most received task is the errand task issued by Brudy to promote the village's trade...

Roddy remembers that Brudy did not shy away from saying that he had been ridiculed by the chiefs of other villages, and he was not convinced, so he wanted to use the rapidly developing village of Elsa to slap the faces of the chiefs of other villages - the wood elves never beat around the bush when they spoke, and they were always truth-seeking, so the players were happy to run errands for this village chief in exchange for a handsome reward.

At this time, Brudy naturally didn't know what Roddy was thinking, he just smiled bitterly: "It is true that there are some ugly things to say in the villages of Buta and Zara, but I think I did the right thing, the children have better food, better clothes, and now they don't even have to face those dangerous prey in the forest all the time... A few words from them are nothing compared to these. ”

"Aren't they in the northernmost part of the forest?

Roddy, who hadn't intended to say anything, replied with some surprise. "Zara Village" is the farthest wood elf village from Elsa Village in the Silent Forest, and even in 597, it doesn't seem to have any connection to Elsa Village...

"Do you know the village of Zara?"

Brudy glanced at him in surprise, but then nodded: "Elson City can be handled by you, and this is really nothing." ”

"Just know the location, the rest is not very clear. ”

Roddy knew about this village because in 596, a player received a hidden quest here called "being able to meet with the dragons", at that time, many people were extremely curious about the mysterious "dragons", and they took the quest in the way shared by this guy, but in the end, they never heard of anyone completing it, but the large amount of money and props they spent on the quest accumulated into an astronomical amount, which made Roddy feel that some people really have a lot of money and have nowhere to spend.

"Forget it, leave them alone. I think it's good to continue with the village as it should be. Brudy turned his head and asked, "But I want to know... What will become of Elsa Village in the end?"

Brudy has his own philosophy of life, but no matter how high his ideological level is, he can't hide his lack of knowledge - Brudy has never seen the prosperity of a truly top city, and naturally he can't imagine how much potential Elsa Village has for development.

"According to the plan, it will first develop into a town about five times larger than it is now, and the permanent population will increase by about 10 times. Seeing Brudy's surprised expression, Roddy continued, "In order for a commercial town to survive, it must have enough infrastructure and construction personnel, and the benefits of Elsa's village are far greater than any other town in Evta, so it must have enough defense troops to ensure that it is resistant to any possible invaders. ”

"But then a more complicated problem comes to the fore: the Wood Elves will be diluted, which means that there will be more and more humans here, and you... They will feel 'isolated' and find it difficult to accept that their home is 'occupied' by a group of aliens. ”

"If that's the case, what then?"

Brudy's fingers brushed the staff, his eyes tingling with concern.

Luo Di exhaled slightly, and said a little helplessly: "In terms of human methods, there is only one best way left: marriage. ”

It was the most direct way for the nobility to obtain benefits or land, and it was also the most common means of maintaining alliances - but everything that the word denotes was the complete opposite of Roddy's view of love.

Although Roddy was never married, he obviously would not accept a marriage that would be interfered with.

However, thinking about it from another angle, he has to admit that "friendship" is still the most effective way to "form an alliance" - not only in the current medieval-like era, but even in the era of "free love" in the 21st century, the children of the top gate lords still cannot have any autonomy over their marriages, and they are basically "arranged marriages".

"Do you want the wood elves to unite with humans? I know about the marriage between humans, but..."

Brudy hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Can this really be exchanged for stability?"

"It may not be possible at first, but once we have children, the relationship between humans and wood elves will really change... Because a half-breed offspring means that the boundaries between the two races are beginning to blur, and both sides will gradually let down their guard," Roddy continued to deduce based on the background he knew: "There are too few wood elves, if you just continue to live like this in the Silent Forest, the final result will be destruction." ”

"There are only about three hundred wood elves in Elsa Village, and counting all the villages in the Silent Forest, the total number of wood elves is not more than 10,000, and if you want to continue the bloodline, you can only choose to combine with humans. ”

After saying this, Roddy closed his mouth, and the atmosphere in the room fell silent.

Brudy frowned and pondered, while Roddy quietly waited for him to make a decision - but after a moment of thought, the Wood Elf Village Chief said something that made Roddy completely dumbfounded:

"Roddy... If you choose a marriage partner, is Nata the right one?"