"Looking for the Emerald Queen?" Carrie suddenly appeared in front of him, dressed in an elven maid's costume at the moment, but still wearing his rabbit-eared hat on her head. "Master, but you're not a real elf. You're not an elven prince, and if, as said, the Jade Queen holds all the records of the elven bloodline, then you won't be able to fool you. ”

"Well, if I can't get by, I'm going to confess. Ashrufat replied.

It is already a serious crime for an ordinary elf to pretend to be a prince, and a vampire to pretend to be an elf, I am afraid that the Emerald Queen will directly order Aerufat to be killed - for some time, Aerufat has gained a better understanding of the elves' conservatism.

It is no exaggeration to say that going to meet the Emerald Queen is a life-threatening operation.

"I've decided!" said Ashrufat. "Unless you can come up with a better solution. ”

"But elves are very conservative......"

"They're not fools either. Ashrufat replied. "Remember when they embraced me as a prince...... At that time, it seemed that many of the elves present noticed that something was wrong, but they did not make a sound to stop it. ”

"It's because of the will and fanaticism of the crowd ......"

"No, I'm sure they've sensed my suspicions, but under those conditions, instead of stupidly following 'tradition' and failing, it's better to shut up for a while and let me, the 'suspicious prince', fulfill the role of rallying the people. They are not so conservative, at least, quite a few of them are very sensible and realistic. ”

"Do you think the Emerald Queen fits the bill?"

"I don't know what to do. Ashrufat simply denied it. "But since she is one of the supreme rulers of the elves, she should be able to understand the value of my proposal. ”

"But there are also a lot of risks. Master, how sure are you that you will convince the Emerald Queen to trust you and be willing to put an army in your hands?

"I'm not sure about anything. Ashrufat replied. "But I knew I had to do something...... If I don't do anything...... There is no hope for Mimilu!"

Before Carrie could reply, the door to the room was opened. Dinethor walked into the room. Eshuruphat now knew that the elves who called themselves "apprentice mages" were also from noble backgrounds, and it was the full push of several of them that led the other elves to believe that Ashruphat was a prince.

Of course, the main reason why Ashrufat became a prince was because of what Carrie said - the elves really needed a prince at that time, so they tried to believe what they wanted to believe.

"Your Royal Highness. Dinether saluted with impeccable grace. "The Phoenix King has sent the relevant order. He glanced at Ashrufat's expression, and at least for the moment, the prince looked very calm and unwavering. "He ordered you to intensify the search for the remnants of the enemy and ensure that the remaining Truuzy did not pose any harm. Personally, I recommend that you leave this task to the Shadow Warriors, who are well suited for this. There must be no more than ten of our evil cousins left. ”

Eshufatra nodded, but said nothing. This task was expected for a long time. He waited for a long time, and found that there was no follow-up to Dinethor.

"Anything else?" asked Ashrufat. Dinethor didn't seem to understand what Aerufate meant, but his expression made it clear that these were all the orders of the Phoenix King.

"Well, while it's appropriate to say that the Shadow Warriors are appropriate, consider that almost all of the remaining Duruzies have mounts. Ashruphat immediately came to his senses and realized that his impersonation of the prince had not been realized by the Phoenix King at all. Either the Phoenix King was too busy with military affairs to take care of such trivial matters (in the Elven concept, Ereb was a new city, medium in size and valuable in terms of navy, but by no means an important place), or he had not considered the possibility of a "fake prince" at all. This is really incredible for an elf. "It would be better to send some cavalry to assist them. ”

"Your Royal Highness...... Knights of the Silver Helmet...... He was reluctant to fight in concert with the Shadow Warriors. ”

"So I didn't force them to go, but I asked for volunteers. After all, this task doesn't require too many people. Ashrufat said. "In that case, there shouldn't be any problems. I'll leave that to you. ”

"As you wish, Your Highness. Dinethor saluted again, then withdrew.

"These elf things are handled very well. In her mind, Carrie said. "Actually, I'd like to make the most of my 'management' expertise, but it seems difficult to find an insertion point. ”

Ashrufat agrees with this completely. When he was the ruler of Sivania, he had a strong sense of the lack of suitable and competent subordinates, and there were many things that he had to deal with himself. In fact, even with Carrie's full assistance and all the trivial tasks that waste time and energy, some things still have to be done by himself. On the other hand, Ireber's side is completely the opposite, and his administrative officials keep everything in order, even when facing the threat of the dark elves. Being an elven prince is far easier than being a human lord, and it's no wonder that princes are versatile and have so much free time to spend on poetry, music, and other arts.

In the office where Ashrufat was at the moment, a series of paintings painted by his predecessor, Prince Berlan himself, hung on the walls, all of them to the level of a master artist.

"No wonder Prince Berlan can leave the city with his sons and go to the front to meet the Phoenix King," Ashrufat said in his mind. "Because even if he's not there, there's nothing wrong with everything in the city. As for the sudden invasion of the Dark Elves, it was a sudden accident beyond any calculation. ”

Ashrufat thought for a moment and called outside. A servant entered.

"Call Valinor. "Now Ashrufat knew that Valinor had been an important officer when he was under Prince Bellan. Prince Berlan entrusted Valinor with almost all of the human defenses, and he lived up to the prince's expectations, and the vigilance defense was done perfectly. When Ashrufat and Valinor first met, Valinor had only one ship and fifty Marines at his disposal. But in reality, Valinor commanded six ships, and a full 280 Marines were under his command.

However, in the previous battle with the Dark Elves, these soldiers did not fight. They were not in the city because they were on patrol duty with the navy.

After a short time, Valinor appeared in front of Ashrufat.

"Your Royal Highness, what do you command?" Valinor was not dressed in casual clothes, but fully armored, looking like he was about to leave.

"You're going on a cruise?" Ashruphat asked.

"Yes, Your Highness the Prince. It's my duty. Valinor replied.

"Valinor, I would like to say that in the previous battle with our evil cousin, our soldiers suffered great losses. Ashrufat said. "Although we won in the end, many fighters were killed or wounded. If the information we have is reliable, our evil cousins may be using their portals again in a month or so. I think there's a good chance they'll send the army to Irebura again. ”

"I completely agree with you, Your Highness the Prince. I suggest you ask the Phoenix King for a reinforcement army. ”

"No, I'd like to be able to figure this out on my own if possible. Ashrufat said. "I think that routine patrols against humans should be able to be paused for a while, or reduced in intensity. Ashrufat said,

"Your Highness, I beg your pardon for offending. But while our evil cousins are the main enemies, the threat from the human side cannot be ignored. Valinor replied. "It's no secret that humans have tried to invade us many times. ”

Eshuruphat remembered what he had heard from Kosbodi, about an elven warship sinking many pirate ships. What Cosbody said is true, and it should not be a lie.

"Those are pirates. Ashrufat replied. "The scope of piracy's influence is limited, and I think two warships are enough to contain human infestation. ”

This is not a lie, because as far as Ashruphat knows, it is difficult for human navigation skills to be a real threat to the elves. Elves have been able to cross the vast seas in boats, and humans are far from that extent. Sailing is not simply a matter of boating skills, but how to fight storms, avoid reefs and turbulence, how to position yourself on the endless sea, how to find the right direction on the vast ocean, etc., these are all problems that must be solved, but difficult to solve.

Based on what Ashrufat now knows, there is actually only one narrow waterway between the realm of humans and elves. Beyond this safe waterway are complex reefs, chaotic currents, and unpredictable and dangerous marine life. And if that wasn't bad enough, there's the Dark Elf's pirate fleet, which is usually afraid to enter the Elven naval defenses, but often wanders around the periphery, looking for gaps in the defenses.

Strictly speaking, the pirates attacking the elves by boat were an act that bordered on suicide. Even if you succeed, you can't escape afterwards. Elven warships are far faster than human ships, and it's easy to catch up with the fleeing pirate ships. So this kind of behavior is only done by the most daring and stupid pirates - and, of course, never succeeds.

"Your Royal Highness, I have to remind you...... Humans have dragons. ”

"Dragon?" Valinor's solemn expression made Ashruphat stunned.

"If it's just a small fleet of human beings, we're really going to have just two warships. But with dragons, it's not that simple. Their dragons are ready to fly close to our shores and attack whenever they wish. For example, the town of the Shadow Warriors has always been under the threat of dragons. As long as the dragon flies into our control and moves down, the magic we use to guard the dragon is null and void. There's a lot of danger involved. That's why we have to sail to the headland every time we sail. With the exception of Ireber, a number of other coastal realms are also under the threat of dragons, so each of the elven princes in the coastal region must invest enough strength to defend against the sea. ”

He paused and continued.

"Your Royal Highness, you may not have spent time in a coastal city in the past...... There's one thing you may not know. If the human dragons invade, there is a good chance that they will cross our cordon. In order to prevent such things from happening, it is necessary to strengthen the ...... Cruising at sea. Originally, we had nearly twenty warships to undertake this task, but because of our evil cousins, Prince Berlan had to drastically reduce the amount of defense involved. ”