The atmosphere in the conference room was very oppressive.

Among the elves of Ereber, from the administrators to the army officers, from the nobles to the commoners, all gathered in the city at this moment. It was originally a small indoor square, usually used when Prince Berlan had an important announcement to his subjects. But at this moment, the prince is gone.

The worst news came at dusk, and it was the worst news. The head on the execution pillar outside the Dark Elf camp has been identified by the Shadow Warriors. It was indeed Prince Bellan and his sons. There is no hope for this matter, and the only way to do it now is to fight and retreat.

If you choose to fight, you do have a certain amount of certainty, but there are also quite a few scruples. The first is the true strength of the Dark Elves, how many enemy troops are there outside the city, whether they still have reinforcements - and the most crucial question, where did they come from? The main forces of the Phoenix King and the Divine Elves have surrounded the Dark Elves who have invaded through the portal in a small area, and the elves' proud elite navy has always held the sea defense line tightly, enough to stop the Dark Elves from trying to use the naval transport force to land. Logically, it is impossible for the Dark Elves to gather an army of this size and suddenly appear in Ereb and prepare to attack.

If it's the kind of Dark Elf squad of thirty or fifty members, then they can naturally land in a clipper ship, or find a small patrol hole in the front line to get out - it shouldn't be surprising. But this is a medium-sized army of thousands of warriors!

Prince Berlan's death is actually the result of this rational reasoning. When he set out with his sons with the convoy, he had only a hundred or so guards with him. Although these guards were brave and loyal, courage could not replace overwhelming superiority in numbers.

The meeting quickly entered the agenda, and the red tape greetings were now completely superfluous. Soon, the presiding officer of several meetings introduced the situation, and then there was a core topic, how to face the current dilemma.

If Ashrufat had been there, he would have been surprised. In fact, there is no essential difference between elves and humans. Because after the issue was raised, the meeting room was quickly divided into two factions, the main battle faction and the main withdrawal faction (of course, unlike human beings, there is no main peace or main surrender faction, because the blood feud between the two sides has long been as deep as the sea, and there is no possibility of compromise). Most of the administrative officers advocated retreat, while most of the officers advocated a defensive battle and waited for reinforcements from the Phoenix King.

There are also good reasons for both sides. The main side of the battle made it clear that the difference in military strength between the two sides was not too great, emphasizing that with the help of the fortifications, the existing military strength alone would be enough to stop the enemy's attack. In addition, the Phoenix King could send reinforcements at any time. When the time comes, the front and back will be flanked, and those who are not good will become dark elves.

Of course, there are arguments for those who believe that retreat should be chosen. The first is that the enemy forces in front of you are most likely not equal to the full strength of the enemy. Now that the enemy was able to quietly send a force of several thousand men here, they could no doubt repeat the trick again. It is indeed difficult for the dark elves to capture Iribo with 3,000 troops, but what about 6,000 or 9,000? Ireb is a harbor city, and it can still retreat by boat, and once the enemy launches a siege, it is not too difficult to blockade the harbor with large weapons. Besides, the comparison of the strength and quantity of the main battle faction just now was not rigorous, because they simply compared the number of soldiers, but they forgot a key factor, at this time, Ireber did not have a general to command the soldiers.

In fact, it is not only elves or humans, but also any race. A man without a head cannot coordinate his limbs, and without a commander, an army cannot even fight at all. The death of the Greenskins usually means that the entire army collapses immediately, and humans or elves are not so exaggerated, but if the commander is actually killed on the battlefield, it is not uncommon for the situation to cause great panic and the good things to go down the drain immediately. Without Prince Berlan in charge of the overall situation, who can say that he will be able to rely on his existing military strength to withstand the onslaught of the dark elves?

"If there is another prince in the city at this time, he may be able to be elected commander. But Ereber had no other prince. An official who advocated retreat said loudly.

"Wait a minute," Suddenly, an officer emerged from the crowd and onto the podium. "We also have a prince in the city. He said loudly to everyone.

Someone recognized

"No way. There could be no other prince in the city. ”

"Not yesterday yet, but today a prince has already entered the city. Another voice came from the crowd. When he appeared, the elves around him unconsciously avoided it. Although he was unarmed, it was clear from his outfit that he was a shadow warrior.

Not every elf can accept these shadow warriors who are "not very reliable" and "have a connection to the dark elves", and although they can look at them without suspicion, they are really rare.

......

"Master, hurry up. In her mind, Carrie urged. "We have to finish reading these books on history, war, and customs as soon as possible. These are the guarantees of our future activities in the Elven Realm. The library is closing. ”

"I know what to say. Ashrufat picked up a new book. For Carrie, it may be to read and absorb new knowledge, but for him, it is just a boring flipbook.

Erebo's library was open to anyone - but because he wasn't a resident of the city, Ashrufat couldn't borrow books.

It must be said that the elves really have a lot of books. Their written origins are very early, and since the elves were freed from ignorance, they have been recording history in writing. Although Ereber was a port city that lived for trade and was not known for its scholarship, knowledge and art, the library had a very impressive collection. Now Carrie is no longer as hungry as she used to be to read all the books, but rather selectively.

"Master, the book over there, 'On the Difference in Language and Art Style,' take that book down. Carrie reminded.

"The difference between language and artistic style ......," Ashrufat muttered as he plucked a book from the top of his stomach. It seems that the elves are really too long-lived and idle, and they even write a book about such a boring thing?

With the cooperation of Eshurufat, Carrie finished reading this book in three times and dividing five by two.

"Very good, master, please take down the 'customs, laws, and dynastic bloodlines' over there. ”

Ashrufat sighed, put the book back in his hand, and did as Carrie had told.

At this time, more than one elf was watching him. Because the war was looming at this time, the number of guests in the library was very small, so their attention was also very noticeable.

They were initially curious about Ashrufat's size and dress (because Ashrufat found it difficult to buy a dress that fit his body type and had to be made to order), and then began to whisper about what he was doing. Probably the elves had never seen a single visitor flipping through a book in the library in this way. In fact, their curiosity was quite normal, and if Ashrufat had taken a different stance, he would have been curious to see such a strange-behaving guy.

A tall elf came to Ashrufat's side. He was dressed in the everyday attire of an elf - that is, a white robe that hung down to his heels, and although there were no other ornaments on this robe, this shiny spotless white cloth had a beauty in itself that was simple and unadorned. The elf had long blonde hair and a silver-white headband on his forehead.

"Friends. The elf spoke. To Ashrufat's frustration, he couldn't tell if the elf was male or female. In fact, he is not to blame, in the eyes of humans, the appearance of these elves is a kind of neutral beauty, and the gender characteristics are not particularly obvious, if it cannot be analyzed from the difference in clothing (after entering the city, Ashrufat found that the elves are very similar to the men and women), it is really difficult for a human to judge the gender of the elves.

"Is there anything I can help with?" replied Ashruphat in the most polite tone.

"Friend, do you have a fancy for any books here?" asked the elf.

"I'm looking for. Ashrufat replied. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the other elves—who could see clearly because there were few guests at this time—were leaving their previous positions and walking towards the exit of the room.

Did anything happen?, but no suspicious signs were found, and no suspicious figures were seen outside the window, at least not a single armed warrior was seen in Ashrufat. But that doesn't mean anything, there are many magicians among the elves......

"It's time for the library to close. The elf replied politely. "It's time for you to leave!"

......

"Master, you're too nervous!" Carrie seemed to laugh in her mind. "Elves are very polite and won't search you so easily—even if you're very different from a normal elf. ”

He walked down the streets, covering his figure somewhat with his cloak (the one seized from Karl). Although the clouds of war are already thick, there is nothing special in the city at the moment. In the bazaar, there are also some elves selling goods. Before, Ashrufat had tried very hard to buy a piece of clothing that the elves wore every day, but in the end, he failed because of the difference in size. In the parks and fountains along the streets, poets are reciting their own compositions or playing a song. The best of them often attracts a crowd of tourists to stop and watch. Occasionally, a group of soldiers would walk through the streets, but it didn't create the atmosphere of facing a great enemy.

Ashrufat guessed that this was because the news of Prince Berlan's murder had been blocked in time.

"Let's go back. Carrie said in her head. "We have gained a lot today. ”

"Big gains?"

"Well, that's right, I've got a plan...... Carrie's voice stopped abruptly, as a whole group of soldiers was walking towards Ashrufat. This was not a group of patrolling soldiers passing by, but it was directed at Ashrufat.

"You should be Ashrufat?" asked the soldier in the lead. Ashrufat knew that it was useless for him to deny it, because his body, which was very different from ordinary elves, was the best evidence. So he nodded.

This group of soldiers...... About twenty or so. Ashrufat was sure that if he tried to escape, the soldiers would not be able to stop him. It would even take him a few minutes to wipe out all of these elven warriors who were clearly not ready for battle.

However, Ashrufaat didn't think the elves had seen through his true identity - he felt that there should be nothing suspicious about him other than his size. And since the elves who had acted together before had all embraced his unusual size, the elves of Ereber should be able to accept it as well. Didn't he just get past in the city?