170 The Elf Outcas (1/2)

Situated in the Northland, sparse of resources, Tassel Kingdom of the Elves was nevertheless a great place, which was hard to come by.

The renovated cliff and magic-crystal wall became the artificial barrier of the capital, Santander, the endless hardy old pine trees served as the best shelter from wind, the ancient spirit of the Elves contained magical water, which flowed into streams, bringing warmth and vitality in this land, and also turning it into one rare green vitality in Northlands.

Just as Humans in the north were getting upset of the winter beasts in hunger, the Elven natural priests and hunters had tamed them into tractable livestock. Just as all countries in the north were endeavouring throughout the year to prepare the winter rations, the fruit trees under the manipulation of Elven Ancient Tree, were able to produce fruits thrice a year, producing all sorts of the sweet and delicious fruits that grew regardless of the seasons. These fruits were not exported and traded for mineral resources. In time, they would rot away.

A centipede does not topple over even when dead, the Elven kingdoms which had inherited the legacy of the Elves were contemptuous of the Humans as they had the background of nouveau riches. For them, a hundred years was just an instance due to their longevity. Having tremendous time and skills, had they not improved their living environment, those wild Elves in the Knight novels who lived above the trees, were merely an artistic ornament.

Just when the main forces of the Tassel were galloping amongst the snow land, their territory was as peaceful as ever. The young unicorns and flying horses were playing in the forest, the Elven civilians still had the leisure time to carry out their winter ceremonies, so what about the battle at the frontline? They were confident that the mighty alliance of the four Elven Kingdoms would never fall to the ordinary Humans, not to mention their very elites were going all out this time.

The truth was so, the hundred thousands of Elven armies were a small number, but due to their very high average combat power, just an elite troop of theirs could match the royal guards of the other countries, even their ground force was of formidable soldiers and should not be underestimated.

This was the foundation of the Elves, even today, the weakness of the Elven kingdom, which had inherited the ancient magic and arts, was none other than their population. It took an Elf two hundreds to reach adulthood, and this period was enough for Humans who married relatively earlier to come up with six or seven generations.

A war was fought with comprehensive country power, the population and resources were one of the important factors, as casualties were unavoidable, for even the mightiest sorcerer, would perish in combat or under friendly fire, and such a loss would take almost two to three hundred years to be regained.

The Achilles' heel of the Elves was none other than their inability to fight in a war of attrition.

And this time, if the main forces suffered tremendous casualties, the Elves would have to undergo a very long time of recuperation. It could be said that the northern Elves would go to any length as they had cast all their lots on the victory of this battle!

In the absence of their main forces, the role of city border patrol was transferred to the rangers who had formed a second class army, or an adventure squad.

A Wild Elf ranger, two to three Centaur archers, one to two Elven warriors, were the members of a typical Elven patrol squad. If it was a first class battle squad, one to two Elven Ancient Trees, natural priests and flying horse knights would be added, and the strength of those units was certainly on another level.

Even amongst the Elves, there weren’t many Druids who prefer to live on trees, compared to the cities.

In any place, as long as there was the presence of intelligent beings, the trees would always be one of the most important resources. Not only they could achieve the basic functionalities of construction and furniture, they were also the basic ingredients of the artwork of the Elves. Furnished with precious forest regions which were unusual in Northlands, the exported exquisite wood produced by the Elves had earned a lot of foreign currency.

If the Druids who treated forest protection as the most sacred duty were easily amenable to reasoning, they would not be classified as terrorists by all the other countries. The Druids were bigoted, the Elves were bigoted too, it was inconceivable how bigoted the combination of both, the Elven Druids was capable of. Their extreme nature protection organisation was the origin and mentor of the other Green Terrorists, all sorts of their secret acts were even graced as the epitome to take an example from.

The moniker of ”Anti-Lumbering Little Bear Alliance” would sound adorable, but it had been there for more than ten thousand years. They had been referring to the Druids Terrorists which brought the Elves much headache, they had the esoteric bear transformation arcane and beast training arcane, perhaps any grey bears within the forest could be one of them spying on you, while you hummed a song, chopping wood.

In the end, the Elves were not only the source of the Druids, but also made up most of the Druids, however, most of the Druids would still have an outward occupation which was acceptable by the world.

At this time however, within the temporary campsite, Tasia the Elven ranger who was humming her little tune while preparing dinner, was actually a hidden Druid master, and was also a member of the ”Little Bear Alliance”, but lately, she had not been fulfilling the sacred duties of ”natural protection”.

The feeds that those pets Tasia had domesticated cost money, she had thus put earning money first, sacred duties second.

To be recruited by the Elven Kingdom to carry out some not so perilous military tasks and fill the spot of Kingdom armies, was indeed a bargain. At this crucial moment, the Elven kingdom would no more be niggardly, the doubled recruitment fee during the war was alluring for countless mercenaries.

”Ha, this time we are really making money, to think that merely patrolling could make so much money, I hope the war would last longer, I still expect the cowards within the city to increase the recruitment fees. Should the war be elevated, the recruitment fee would increase threefold, or even tenfold.”

Tasia spoke something uncharacteristic of the Elves, but the Centaurs amongst her troops had already gotten used to her personality, and on the contrary, they who held a lower stand in the Elven kingdom, would prefer her straightforward and amiable character, compared to the other arrogant Elven aristocracies.

”Don’t speak such a thing in the city, those self-important Elves would be displeased.” Centaur Boll chucked after counting his recent soaring stipends, he was in a good mood.

”In the past few years, the army on duty was not so relaxed, they had to venture into the wild across the mountains in pursuit of the slave hunting groups, it was not an easy task, in the case of running into any sword saint or senior magic automaton instructor sent by the big Human countries, the pursuer might become the prey. Also in that time, quite a number of patrol squads have gone missing.”

Tasia laughed even more happily.

”Indeed, those slave hunters will bother me no more, they created so much trouble… Pitiful, Princess Suana. How pitiful, how could a good person not end well?”

Recollecting her figure which was as tender as water, even Tasia, who was sick of the Elves, had nursed a grievance.

”...About that matter, I heard a rumour. Erm, just a rumour.”

Grover, the silent Elven warrior popped out, but his words had caught the attention of the comrades.

After a moment of hesitation, Grover finally spoke up.

”The rumor says, there a few doubtfulness about the kidnapping of Princess Suana, the Elven troops who were supposed to safeguard her was pulled over for military training, and the rangers had started to undergo a closed training, even the Moon Glaive royal guards was transferred to the border to take care of some disputes, all of these had given the chance for the slave merchants, who were not particularly strong, to capture the Princess Suana…”

Hearing this, members of the small squad had sunk into a peculiar silence, of course, they knew this rumour, for the past few weeks, this topic had been circulating around any restaurant or market.

The implication behind the rumour was quite evident, the demise of Princess Suana was but within the scheme of Elven King and the Council. Rather than saying that Suana was dead in the hand of Humans, in fact, she was offered by the ruthless Elven King as the sacrifice of war.

”Let’s avoid words without proof, or else we would get into trouble.”

To think that Tasia who had just spoken uninhibitedly, turned out to advise Grover to tread carefully, and just when her words faded, the amiable Elven warrior cracked a laughter.

”No proof? The two legendary warriors in royal guards were suddenly transferred, isn’t that proof? Anrode the ”Hand of Kashmir” who had an intimate relationship the princess, even created a havoc in the army because of this, he had allegedly smashed the signboard of the army.”

Grevor was obviously one who supported the Peace-pursuing faction of Princess Suana. They who went through an outrage, in the beginning, had now cooled off to think about the root cause of the death of the princess, and also discovered the few dubious points.

”According to what that was spoken by the Humans, the brains behind the political schemes are always those who would benefit the most from these events, and in this event, the Humans had derived no benefit at all, the only one who benefited from this were none other than the War-pursuing faction of the Elves. That man is incredibly ruthless, Princess Suana was his daughter…”

Alright, these words were blunt enough, when it came to rebuking the Elven king directly.