Two carriages and a group of riders were marching on the road. Except for the knight in the lead who had his face exposed, the twenty or so riders behind him were all wearing black cloaks, which covered their heads and faces. Only when you got close could you see their gray skin and white hair.
This is exactly Evelyn and her twenty dark elf immigrants. Dark elves are a race with outstanding talents, and the proportion of them becoming mages and warriors is much higher than that of humans. In addition, the immigrants sent out this time were selected by Evelyn, so there are two mid-level and six low-level dark elves among the twenty dark elves. Half of them are warriors and half are mages, and the rest are all warrior apprentices, and they are all very good archers.
Xiao Chen was sitting in the carriage at the front of the team, having just finished a meditation session. The carriage behind him, which belonged to Elena, had turned into a truck.
Xiao Chen stuck his head out of the car and asked, “Silla, where are we now?”
Xi Luo and Roger, who were leading the team, rode to Xiao Chen's window and said, "We have now entered the territory of the Duke of Green Forest City. Green Pine Town is ahead. We can stay there tonight."
"The Duke of Green Forest City? Seems like he's our new neighbor?" Xiao Chen asked.
"That's right. According to the territory allocated to you by the king, the town of Arano is adjacent to the territory of Greenwood City. But the Duke of Greenwood City is definitely not a good neighbor." Xiro said.
"Why, this duke has a bad reputation?" Xiao Chen asked curiously.
"You have to know that before this generation of Duke Parsa Solanas inherited the title, the territory under the jurisdiction of Green Forest City was not that large. However, after he conquered an earl and three barons, the territory became larger. After he forcibly married the only daughter of Viscount Buigas, he merged the Viscount's territory into his own name. Including the map connected to the town of Alano, he got it after killing a baron." Since Xiro followed Xiao Chen, he has been very careful to collect a lot of information. The anecdotes seen by these nobles are not rare news, but it also shows his efforts.
"This sounds very aristocratic. Isn't this how lords deal with each other? Wars or marriages of annexation nature like this are not uncommon, right?" Xiao Chen has also read a lot of history of the continent. To be honest, 50% of the content of a chronicle of the continent is about these things.
"You are right, but other lords would at least find a better reason to go to war with others. The Duke of Greenwood City always likes to fight without declaring war, or to launch a surprise attack first and then declare war afterwards. And even if he declares war, the reasons he finds are often very far-fetched. For example, a baron was attacked by the Duke just because he glanced at the Duke's wife at a banquet.
The same is true for marriages. It is said that the viscount had two nephews who could inherit the title, but both of them died suddenly before the Duke married the viscount's daughter. So the viscount's territory and title naturally fell into the hands of his wife. "
"So, he is a man who will do anything to achieve his goal?"
"Yes, sir, so we'd better be careful."
"I'm curious about what the nobles in the capital would think of such a person."
"It's hard to say. At least he doesn't have a good reputation among the nobles of the kingdom. You have to know that most nobles don't like people who break the rules like this. The reputation of the Duke of Greenwood City is generally described as simple-minded, greedy, and a reckless man." Xi Luo laughed, "If it weren't for the remoteness of his territory and the king's poor health in recent years, I'm afraid that the irritable king would directly drive his army to the territory of Greenwood City and force him to spit out all the land he has eaten."
The neighbor is a nasty duke, which may be an opportunity for the school. Xiao Chen thought to himself, if this person is unpopular, it would be even better. If the king really dies and chaos breaks out around him, the Tower of China may find the right opportunity to stabilize the situation and go to other people's territory to "save the humanitarian disaster."
He thought of this and said, "Since this duke is so unique, we should pay more attention to him. It would be a pity if we didn't bring back some intelligence after coming here. We can collect information about roads, cities, landforms, hydrology, and people's lives."
Xi Luo nodded.
"Sir, I just found something wrong. We met two groups of messengers along the way today. Judging from the way these two messengers were dressed, I'm afraid they were not delivering ordinary letters, but military intelligence." Roger recalled.
"Why do you think so?" Xiao Chen asked.
"They are all experienced soldiers. It would be a waste to use them to deliver ordinary letters. Moreover, they are equipped with weapons, which are very similar to the equipment for going to war. So I guess they are going to report a military operation to the Duke's vassals. They want them to gather troops in their respective territories and then participate in a war." Roger hesitated for a moment and said, "There are two small towns behind us. If the baron needs troops from such places, it means he is going to fight a large-scale war."
"But there are no other opponents around here who are worth his fight... except us." Xiao Chen narrowed his eyes and said, "If this is the case, we must get things clear."
Xiao Chen's team finally arrived at Green Pine Town ahead before dusk.
Green Pine Town is an ordinary town located on a plain, with its back to the forest and facing the river. The only difference is that the main road in the duchy passes through it, so it is a major node in the transportation network.
The town has a population of only 500 to 600 people, and more than 100 houses are scattered along the river bank. From the perspective of scenery, it is quite unique. The ruler here is a baron under the Duke.
This was the first time the team approached a human town since leaving the Elf Kingdom.
Evelyn and the other dark elves were very interested in this town. They had been very quiet along the way, but now they started to talk about it.
There were no special guards in the town, only a few militiamen patrolling the town.
When Xiao Chen's team entered the town, they came up to inquire about the identities of Xiao Chen and others. Since Xiao Chen had some doubts, he naturally could not reveal his true identity. They said that they were a dark elf caravan and were preparing to pass through here for the first time to go to Suero to do business.
The militia saw that there were indeed many dark elves and could not find any flaws, so they allowed them to enter the town. Perhaps because dark elves were very rare in the human world, the people in the town were quite curious when they saw them, and often people looked at them from a distance.
Xi Luo walked around the town, picked out a hotel, and let the entire team stay there.