"Fen just wanted me to do this, so he made a deal with me. But I must make it clear that I am not doing this for the elves. I am doing this for my child who is far away in Roman, and for the benefactor who saved my life."
"Very honest. Elves like honest people. I believe you. After all, that poor little queen has no place to go in Roman, and Caparia will always be your home."
The old elf nodded, then he took out a dagger from his waist, cut off a strand of his long hair, and solemnly handed the dull golden hair to Yang Hao, who was full of confusion.
Then, the old elf put down his cane, bowed slightly to Yang Hao sincerely, and left the venue.
As if it was a signal, all the old elves left their seats in an orderly manner.
They walked towards Yang Hao, held his hands tightly, asked about his well-being or encouraged him with their eyes.
Each of them cut off a lock of their hair and handed it to Yang Hao solemnly. After doing everything, everyone bowed slightly and turned to leave.
It seemed as if doing this would help him get off work earlier and have dinner, but for some reason, Yang Hao always felt that there was some deeper meaning behind what they did.
Finally, the Archery Master was the last to leave.
He pressed a lock of his hair on the golden mountain of hair, then left laughing, saying something stupid like "I will wait until the gun is delivered to me before I go to sleep."
The only people left in the meeting were Yang Hao, Fen and Qinna. Yang Hao and his people looked at Fen in confusion, hoping to get an explanation, but Fen just smiled and said:
"Contact the tailors at Green Court. They know what to do. Now please leave for now. I will come back to you later."
"Then this meeting..."
"It has been successfully completed. The old stubborn people will do their best to support all your changes - please rest assured for the time being, you have won the recognition and respect of all the elves."
The man breathed a sigh of relief. After greeting Finn, he left with the nun and Arthur.
Finn and Qinna stayed there for a long time.
Finally, Qinna said with difficulty: "The ceremony of allegiance... They have never even done this ceremony to you... Finn?"
"Isn't this a good thing? The stubborn old elf recognized his ability and recognized the future reform of the elves. This is a good thing."
"But Finn - this means... this means that they will be more willing to accept orders from His Majesty the Regent than from you!"
“So this is a good thing.”
Finn stood up with emotion, muttering to himself - the old elves declared their allegiance to a foreign human, and this foreign human was invited by themselves, isn't this a good thing
She is not a stubborn human monarch. Finn is the king of the elves. And the responsibility of the king of the elves is to make the elves better.
Even if it means giving up one's rights as a Fen, if doing so can make the elves better and bring them to their peak, it is a good thing.
It's just like this...
Your Majesty, the Regent, you must... you must stay in Caparia.
Fern smiled. It was rare for her to have such big mood swings as she did now.
If at the beginning, she only regarded Yang Hao as a regent who would be worthwhile even if the positions of "king" and "husband" were exchanged, then this time, she had vaguely had the idea of regarding him as the eternal king of the Elf Kingdom and her eternal "husband".
Elves are very stubborn in their emotions.
Once the signs appear, the emotional consequences are bound to become extremely pathological.
At this point, Finn was already feeling a little… sour about the nun’s “preemptive strike.”
But she is an elf who respects His Majesty the Regent after all. She is not one of those lonely old ladies in the market who have lived in empty nests for hundreds of years. How could she possibly attack the nun
…
During this period of time, I still have to try hard to perform in front of him.
Fin sighed.
I was a little disappointed that I didn't put on my best clothes today.
Just as Fen Aisheng was sighing, suddenly an elven wizard broke into the meeting room.
He saluted Fen hastily, and then said in a panic:
"The parish seems to have taken action in advance! Now many natives of the Monster Forest have fled to the edge of the Elf Forest... They are begging for our protection. What should we do?"
The parish... took action in advance? But - why did they attack the demons in the Monster Forest? Aren't we their target
Finn blinked, but quickly gave the order: "Have His Majesty the Regent wait for me in the conference room. I need to talk to him. At the same time, the diocese's action of sending troops to the Monster Forest has violated the current promise, so the elves can also reasonably give up their oaths... Send our rangers to conduct reconnaissance in the diocese. I want to see what these beastly bastards are going to do."
She paused for a moment and added, "Let the rangers move freely as long as they are safe. If they break the rules first, their soldiers will pay the price first."
"yes… "
The war started early.
And Finn might not even think of it until the end.
The reason why the diocese invaded in advance was because their "Battle of the Demons" was in full swing.
Chapter 1: The Redemption Army, Oak Factory, Metal Golems, and Allies
[9K5 Big Chapter W]
It was the early morning of May 20th, 005 of the Imperial Calendar and 1404 of the World Calendar.
The Roman Empire Diocese's slave-catching team, or the "Redemption Army", is currently carrying out their daily work in the Monster Forest, which is to capture the demons.
In other words, these pagans are "welcomed" in the name of the God of Light, allowing them to atone for their past deeds in the "magic city" of the parish, while also allowing them to ascend to heaven peacefully.
In fact, everyone knows what this is doing. The newly organized "Redemption Army" of the parish is composed of a group of religious idiots. Before joining the army, they had attacked countless non-religious women in the name of the God of Light. This time, they can not only continue their old business, but also reach out to foreigners they have never touched before - isn't this a great joy
Of course, simply allowing them to touch women would not allow them to walk around in the dangerous monster forest with high morale.
The bishops offered extremely high salaries to each member of the "Redemption Army", and these salaries were kept in the diocesan bank in the name of the God of Light and could be withdrawn at any time.
Not only that, every member of the "Redemption Army" can receive leather protective gear in addition to weapons as a safety guarantee -
Although this leather armor looks to be of inferior quality and cannot compare to the ancestral leather armor of today's military soldiers, at least it is genuine equipment, isn't it
—So, driven by money, desire and equipment, the "Redemption Army" marched into the forest in a mighty force, shouting the slogan of the God of Light.
In less than ten days, they captured more than 10,000 demons and sold them to the "Demon City" at a high price.
The Demon City is a commercial competition city specially used for hosting the "Demon Fighting". Although it does not look grand enough now, its daily flow of people is comparable to that of the most prosperous capital and Drake Port in the Roman Empire.
And for some reason, there is an abundance of food in the Magic City. If tourists are willing to spend a little money, they can even eat fresh meat.
But the most attractive thing about the Demon City is indeed the arena competition based on "fighting the demon clan"!
People just like to watch others fight. Not only for the fun, but also to choose one side to show off.
After all, the fists are not hitting them, and they are not the ones who will be injured or killed, so naturally the audience will feel excited about the bloody battle between the demons. While clenching their fists, they hysterically shout incomprehensible slogans and jump up and down on the platform like crazy.
This was just the audience who paid to enter. The gamblers who used the words of atonement to gamble would have their hearts pounding with excitement because of the battles between the demons.
"I heard that the village chief of Shikuer Village went there to participate in the two-day battle with the demon tribe and directly earned hundreds of gold coins..."
A Redemption Army vanguard muttered quietly, looking warily at the green forest, his tone full of envy:
"Hundreds of gold coins, just because he bet on a skinny cat-man - hey! I thought the big bear-man would win! But... "
"The demons seem to have different abilities depending on their race. The cat-man is very agile, and the bear-man is strong but also very bulky. After the cat's claws opened several bloody wounds on his ankle, he could only lie on the ground and be slaughtered..."
"I heard that some beautiful demons were imprisoned in the underground court by priests... Do you think that place is a brothel?"
"It's very likely. I heard that some nobles are willing to spend thousands of gold coins to fuck a cat-man..."
"Compared to this, I heard that the Kingdom of Aresai sent us a lot of fish, saying that they hope to let their prince marry into the Queen's family in the second half of next year..."
"Our empire is thriving! As long as we survive the drought, everything will be fine!"
The demons earned countless profits for the parish.
The strong ones can fight in the arena and stir up a gambling frenzy, the thin and beautiful ones can welcome the huge cocks of noble masters in bed, and those who are thin and ugly - even babies - are also useful.
A member of the Redemption Army lowered his head and stroked the bone cross of the God of Light on his chest: This thing was carved from the skull of a demon. It is said that the younger the demon's skull, the more blessings the God of Light can accumulate.
The six-year-old demon skull cross he had purchased with all his savings should guarantee him more money after this operation.
And it's not just skulls.
The blood of the demons can be used as magical materials for priests to spend and research. The meat of some demons has a unique fragrance and is now the dietary trend of high-ranking people in the parish.
The meridians of the demons can be used to make bowstrings, and their skin can be used to make tents and blankets.
Not to mention their magical organs that are different from ordinary people - even the worst ones are worth collecting, and the better ones are even priceless! The demons are really full of treasures!
The demons, who were full of treasures, made the farmers in the central area, who were originally desperate due to the drought, choose to take risks. They also made the gamblers who were completely bankrupt and penniless in gambling take risks.
However, with the additional tens of thousands of "Redemption Army" conducting a carpet search of the Monster Forest... the number of demons that can be captured is really decreasing.
On the afternoon of the 20th, the members of the Redemption Army were all cursing. They found three villages in the forest that should be the tribes of the demons, but there were no people or even livestock in the three villages.
"Where did they all go?! Damn it! I was hoping to fuck Catwoman today!"
Some hot-tempered members of the Redemption Army kicked over the cooking utensils that they hadn't taken away in time. They hadn't caught a single demon all day, so it looked like they were going to be empty-handed today.
If you don't want to be left with nothing, then it's best to see if the friendly forces around you have captured a few demons. If they are willing to share some with you, that would be great.
If they are unwilling, and their strength is equal to ours... then we will have no choice but to ask these fellow believers to shut up forever in the forest.
The members of the Redemption Army cursed and then returned as quickly as possible while searching for possible traces of friendly forces.
In the dense forest, long-eared elves followed behind with longbows in hand. They waited for this small group of humans, whose equipment was better than that of the militia, to leave the forest, and shot arrows at their backs the moment they appeared on the plain.
Within a distance of 100 meters, the elves' longbows easily penetrated the leather armor made of the demon skin and killed all the human soldiers at the fastest speed.
But these elves who rushed back from outside did not rush out to check the corpses and kill those humans who pretended to be dead.
They just lurked in the trees patiently, and an old ranger in the lead explained to the younger ones: Human soldiers will definitely come to check the bodies later, and if nothing unexpected happens, they will have to bury the bodies in the woods far away from the camp to avoid the occurrence of plague.
"This is the knowledge I learned from the military books of the Bayerzas Empire... Humans cannot allow corpses to appear in places close to the camp and with dense traffic. Otherwise, it will not only cause a plague, but also cause a blow to the morale of the marching troops along the way.
So kids, be patient and wait. We'll catch them by surprise when they bring the bodies in to bury them. Maybe we can even catch them alive... Look! Here they come!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a patrol team came from a distance.
When these patrolmen, who were wearing better protective gear, discovered that the dead were riddled with arrows, they immediately raised their shields towards the forest.
The old ranger could clearly see that those who had not raised their shields were examining the bodies and loading them all onto carts pulled by mules.
And they seemed to have found someone who was pretending to be dead... But I don't know whether it was because "there was no hope" or what, the patrolman raised his knife and stabbed the survivor to death on the ground.
They put all the bodies on a cart and covered them carefully with black cloth.
The old ranger thought that he should head towards the forest to bury the bodies, but he saw the group of humans driving the carts full of bodies towards the Redemption Army camp.
"What's going on? Did they dig a grave of bodies in their own camp? Or are they planning to burn it? Are they going to waste vital fuel for some cannon fodder?"
The old elf was puzzled. He ordered the younger ones to stay where they were, and then he quietly chanted magic, allowing the forest to grant him an almost invisible "membrane". He secretly followed the patrol and arrived at the Redemption Army camp soon after.
This is a large wooden camp that can accommodate nearly 10,000 people. There are priests guarding the camp, and one can even vaguely see some elite crusaders wearing the most solid and gorgeous armor.
Those crusaders protected the camp's command building, the forage and equipment warehouses, and there were even many patrolling what should be the kitchen.
In order to avoid being discovered by these elites, the old ranger had to climb the wall secretly, bypassing the eyes of countless sentries, and finally climbed to the top of a sentry tower and observed under the cover of the flag.
Because of his rock climbing, he lost the cart - but for some reason, he did not find any graves or crematoriums related to "disposing of corpses" in the entire camp, and the soldiers who were eating dinner did not seem to be in any depressed mood, and there were even several pieces of meat in each person's bowl...
Isn't the Roman Empire now in a period of drought and famine? The farmers in the central region can't even afford to eat bread mixed with sawdust. The fish caught by those people is probably difficult to transport from Drake Harbor. Even if it is transported, it won't turn from fish into pork-like meat, right
What's more, the nobles of the Roman Empire's western ranches seem to have had conflicts with the central region... This meat should be more scarce, right
Even if it is the meat of the demons, as these barbarians call it "expensive", can these soldiers really afford it
What is going on? Has the Roman Empire solved the drought problem
The old ranger was extremely confused. He was searching for the marks of the cart shafts on the ground, and suddenly he saw a group of cooks wearing masks carrying large basins of meat from the kitchen to the camp.
"There's meat to eat! There's meat to eat!"
Some of the Redemption Army soldiers who had just returned cheered, and after returning to their respective tents, they put down their weapons, picked up their bowls and spoons, rushed forward, and then lined up obediently under the watchful eyes of the cook.
A cook is more dignified than a legionnaire? Isn't this... a little too weird
The old ranger frowned. He realized a lot of problems... Could it be that the meat there was all the meat of freshly captured demons? Impossible... Wait
…
The corpses of demons are not the only ones that can provide meat...
"No, it's impossible?"
The old elf stared with a grim face at the kitchen in the distance which was protected by well-equipped Crusaders.
By the standards of a kitchen, how could it be qualified to receive the same level of protection as the command building?!