Ilda's body was brought back to the Silvercrown Forest, where she would find her resting place—the dead half-elves were buried in Ash Ridge, their tombstones with a cracked maple tree, or a bush of firethorn, or a plume of Linnaeus grass, all but Fenway, whose body had been reduced to uncollectible ashes, mixed with the charred remains of trees and the white, lifeless dirt.

"Cremar," said the keeper of Grey Ridge, "Ilda has told me that you are her friend," he said, "though your time together is so short...... But I think you have the right to choose one from her relics as a proof of remembrance and remembrance. ”

Ilda's dwelling was miraculously not sacked by the giants, and although it had lost its shelter from the fissure maple tree, which had fallen from a height of fifty feet like the rest of its companions, crashed into flames, and was torn apart, the elves had found a lot of things that belonged to Ilda—her spare bow and arrows, her dagger, Trinkets with magic fluctuations, Mithril chain mail, and various small crystal bottles, Cremar picked one up, uncorked it, and sniffed the inside, this is a bottle of healing potion, of good quality, it should have been made for her by Fenway.

The black-haired spellcaster silently put down the bottle, he had seen everything, a Mithril box containing some long-withered dodder flowers, and a small note with the words "Wrong, but lovely gift" in Elven language. ”

The administrator thought he would choose this, but Cremar put it down anyway.

In the end, he chose a simple astrolabe, the kind of five hundred and seventy-six, with exquisite carvings and smooth surfaces, but without inlaid mythril or embellished with precious stones, and even the rose compass in thirty-two directions was only made of extremely common brass. If there's anything special about it, it's that it can be folded to a quarter of its original size, and the bottom layer is empty, so it can be opened and put into all the pieces, making it easy to carry around without incurring the envy or covetousness of others.

It was probably what Ilda wanted to take with her, and it occurred to the administrator bitterly—when she and Fenway left Greyridge and settled elsewhere—that they could open the astrolabe in the warm sunshine or the bright starlight, flick the compass, and lazily cast the piece of their own.

They could have been so happy.

The other elves each took a small item that reminded them of Ilda, and the administrator left Ilda's Mithril dagger on Kerryben's behalf, which Ilda often took with her when she traveled with them.

But in any case, as a manager, he can't always indulge in his emotions for long - and that's probably a good thing, because busyness can make you forget your worries.

There is still a lot more to do, the most important thing is to rebuild their dwelling, and it needs to be noted that it is not the same place, the land that has been eroded by negative energy needs to be purified and re-injected with the power of life. The priests who served the god of life among the elven gods were sketching the emblem of the goddess of mercy on the black, scorched earth, a triangle with three overlapping rings, each side of the triangle had to walk fifty paces, each line was three inches wide, filled with Mithril powder and stone powder, so that this sacred symbol shone in the quiet sunlight and could not be looked at. The three priests each occupied three endpoints, and the mages from the Silvercrown Forest stood on their periphery, chanting incantations, making gestures, and manipulating a rune disk they had brought with them that could lead to the water elemental plane, causing it to descend in the middle of the priest - the rune disk looked like a colorless, transparent, shallow-mouthed disc filled with pure water.

The priests silently shouted the name of the god of life, praised her, prayed to her, and removed the Mithril emblem from her neck and threw it into the rune plate.

As soon as the emblem entered the water, it dissipated into bright points of light, and the mages raised their arms, and the pure water in the rune plate began to overflow the disc, seeping into the dust, and soon, the latter became moist, warm, and full of life.

The elf broke off the branches from the maple tree and inserted them into the ground, and the branches instantly became small trees, and in the blink of an eye, the small trees became adults, and the green branches and leaves stretched out, holding every ray of sunlight that could be touched.

It may take many years for them to grow into their original form, and the elves can certainly restore this place to its original state, but they are more respectful of nature, and it is their duty and right to expel undue negative energy, and planting branches to compensate for the land, but this does not mean that they can further affect the course of life.

The elves and half-elves of the Grey Ridge are building their new homes further down the Grey Ridge, and the elves of the Silvercrown Jungle are helping out, which greatly speeds up the work, but the lich can still detect the Administrator's anomaly.

He was worried and irritable.

- The White Tower, the Lich believes this is the right answer.

The connection between Ash Ridge and the White Tower has been cut off for three full days.

From the night when the fire of negative energy flowed and raged everywhere, until today, the Elven Winged Ship has brought the Lord of the White Tower, the object of Demon's brother's admiration, a female half-elf.

Her face was haggard and her expression was frightened, and the manager of Grey Ridge brought her a cup of tea mixed with snow honey, which she drank at once.

"The White Tower has changed the archons. She said.

"The original consul," she said, "is my uncle, who died and fell from the inner walls. ”

"Who is it?"

"I don't know," the lord shook his head, "I don't even know if he stumbled on his own, or if someone deliberately murdered him...... The White Tower was in chaos that night - many people were suffering from madness, not even the guards and my uncle's attendants, who had lost their minds and were only thinking about hurting and killing, and some despicable fellows had taken advantage of the opportunity to loot everywhere - fire and blood ...... everywhere. ”

"My uncle fell from the inner wall," she said, clutching her cup as if she could draw strength from it, "he lost his life instantly, but the White Tower was the one who needed the Archon the most......"

"Someone took his place. ”

"Demon, my cousin. ”

"Demon," the manager repeated in surprise, "but he is the second son!"

"My uncle's eldest son also died, at the hands of his youngest brother," said the young half-elf, wearily, "and his sword pierced him in the abdomen, and the hilt was held in the hand of Adel - they said that Adel was also mad, and they did not kill him, but he was locked up. ”

"Then no one but Dermon can become an archon?" asked the administrator of Greyridge, who had never liked Mage Demon, who knew that this human was ambitious and would not mind using any means to achieve his ends.

"My uncle has only three sons," said the lord of the White Tower, "because I promised him that the consuls of the White Tower would always be chosen only from his bloodline—that the Grand Duke would be our witness." ”

"Demon is not a man to be trusted. ”

"The problem, I know, is that the people of the White Tower believe in him - it is he who has single-handedly stopped the spread of madness, eliminated the threat of riots, and come up with a potion that can cure madness...... He had the support of merchants, nobles, and commoners—he had become the true ruler of the White Tower before I reached it, and all I could get was a brief briefing. ”

"What about the priest in Rosada?"

"Some died, while others were locked up, not just for madness, but also for blasphemers - the garrison found a cursed ball of water in the sanctuary of Rosada, which was the source of madness. ”

The administrator of Grey Ridge closed his eyes: "This can't be. ”

"And," said the lord, "Dermont told the people that he had asked Grey Ridge and me for help, but received no response, and that the people of the White Tower were now quite hostile to me and Grey Ridge. She smiled slightly wryly: "That's why I'm in a hurry." ”