Volume 10: Our Journey Chapter 327 Good Neighbor (Part 2)
After Gwendolyn was transferred, Evelyn's position was once very awkward... She was a native of Ananas, but her political stance was tied to Gwendolyn, the airborne faction. In other words, if someone wanted to suppress her and kick her out of the "elder reserve", they could just label her as a "traitor to the local faction, a surrenderist"...
Fortunately, in addition to teacher Gwendolyn, Evelyn also has another powerful teacher: Ayun, a sage of the Snow Wolf Clan who has brought endless business opportunities to Ananas City.
With the endorsement of Teacher Ayun, Elder Meli, the local representative of Ananas who stepped on Gwendolyn to get to the top, would definitely show a firm attitude to protect Evelyn... No one would go against the golden coins, let alone the reserve elders. It would be fine if Elder Meli kicked out an elder who was occupying a position and immediately offered Evelyn to the elder seat.
Evelyn was only over 200 years old and was still considered a young girl among the elves. No matter how innocent and pure she was, her worldview had to be refreshed after being with Xiao Yun for a long time, so... although she said nothing and showed nothing on the surface, she knew clearly what her current situation was: the more prosperous and flourishing the grassland kingdom was, the more stable her position in Ananas would be.
Because Huoyan City never eats alone! If Huoyan City can eat a pound of meat, Ananas can eat half a pound! How stupid would you be to have a bad relationship with such an ally who makes money with you!
An individual would have the foolish behavior of "being grateful for a little help and resentful for a little help", but an elven city led by a group of elders over 500 years old would never do that!
It was precisely because she knew what was going on that Evelyn had turned a blind eye to all the little tricks that her teachers had deliberately concealed from her over the years… secretly selling magic amplifiers to the southern continent, stirring up trouble in the southern continent, stealing the dark elves' mines, using hundreds of millions of kilograms of vermicelli exported every year to weave a collar for the Dwarf King's neck, secretly exporting the "color revolution" to the Far East... Evelyn had been with Xiao Yun for so many years, how could she not see it!
Even the political tactics that Xiao Yun intentionally or unintentionally let Evelyn get in touch with and be influenced by, Evelyn herself could guess the teacher's intentions... The orcs can only live to be 170 or 180 years old at most, and the teacher will definitely die before her; although it is a bit early to start preparations now, the teacher must want to support her to take the position of Elder Meili, so after the teacher's death, Evelyn will also be able to maintain peace with the grassland kingdom for a while longer...
"The relationship of interest is the purest relationship" is the teacher's motto. Over the years, Evelyn has been deeply influenced by it unconsciously and gradually agreed with this communication concept. Ananas, no, the forest elves need the vitality brought by the business opportunities on the grassland, and the grassland needs the forest elves as a reliable and good neighbor. As a forest elf, she can become a bond to maintain friendly relations between the two sides. For this identity, Evelyn also has a little pride and complacency in her heart.
And now, this letter from Ananas has created a huge crack in Evelyn's future plans for her life.
When Evelyn came to her senses, she found that she had been sitting at the table all night.
And the letter had been torn into pieces in her hands.
After staring at the pile of papers in her hand for a while, Evelin suddenly stood up and threw them into the dying fire as if she was throwing away something dirty.
In the following days, Evelyn continued to lead the magic application team's materials research work as if nothing had happened.
Evelyn, who was still hoping for the best, had to accept the reality a week later when she was having dinner at Daha's house and was asked by Daha why Ananas wanted to jointly mint coins with the Prairie Kingdom. As the teacher said, when people become greedy, they are like a snake trying to swallow an elephant and they don't care whether they can swallow it or not.
"I thought you were going to hold it in again and not say anything."
In the mobile home, Xiao Yun looked at his second disciple with a look of disapproval and concern for a fool.
Evelin looked embarrassed, and sure enough, this bastard guessed everything again: “Teacher, I…”
"Alright." Xiao Yun raised his hand to stop him. "You are the person with the deepest connection with the Flame Country. The second person is General Crest, and the third is Elder Meili. These two sent me a private letter three days ago and five days ago respectively. I knew you couldn't be completely clueless."
Evelyn was shocked: "General Crest and Elder Meili?!"
Xiao Yun looked at her with disdain and said in a long voice: "How many times have I told you that there is no love or hate without reason in this world, and there is no greed without reason. Ambition also needs soil to grow. If Carlisle was not the second prince of the Ferdinand royal family, but a farmer in the countryside, do you think he would have the idea of uniting the six countries?"
Evelin had no time to deal with Xiao Yun's sarcasm. With her quick mind, she quickly figured out the real origin of the letter and took a deep breath on the spot: "So, this matter is..."
"Ananas has become a problem because he eats alone." Xiao Yun said calmly, "It's true that the closest city to Huoyan City is Ananas, but there are several other elven cities that are also very close to the southwestern part of the grassland. It's been almost ten years, and Ananas has been eating meat in front of others every year and not sharing a single sip of soup with others. He can endure it until now before making trouble, which shows that you forest elves are really picky people."
Evelyn: “…”
"The letter you received was from Elder Meili, right?" Xiao Yun asked again.
“Yes.” Evelin looked a little reluctant. “The wording in the letter was a little… impolite, so I thought…”
"You thought that Elder Meili was greedy and deliberately destroyed our stable cooperation relationship for many years, forcing you to choose between Ananas and your teacher me, so you refused to reply to let Elder Meili know your position, saying that if the other party does not restrain himself, you will take any possible means to fight back..." Xiao Yun dragged out his tone again, "There is nothing wrong with this response, but you don't even understand Elder Meili's true intentions, and you don't even know who the enemy you are going to deal with is... Tsk tsk!"
Evelyn: “…”
Xiao Yun shook his head and looked at the silly disciple with sympathy: "What misunderstanding do you have about a mature elf politician who can gain the trust of the queen? Why do you think that someone like Elder Meili can do something as unskilled as robbing people with a knife?"
Evelyn: “…”
Xiao Yun took out the letter from the folder beside him and pushed it forward: "The letter I received from Elder Meili was also quite impolite. Just by looking at this letter, I can guess with my knees... Elder Meili has been controlled."
“?!” Evelin jumped up in shock and said in a lost voice, “How is it possible?!”
"When a person who is particular is determined to do dirty work, he is much more ruthless than a person who is not particular." Xiao Yun was very calm, as if he was not the one involved in the internal fighting between the elves. "Your elven cities are not hostile to each other. You tell me for yourself, if General Crest led a team of soldiers and pretended to pass by a city adjacent to yours and stayed in the city, when the elders of the city met General Crest, would they be on guard against Crest as if he were an invading enemy?"
Evelin opened her mouth wide: “…”
Xiao Yun pushed General Crest's letter to Evelyn again: "General Crest, who is stationed at the port, received the news three days late. Considering the distance between Ananas and the Elf Port, this is unreasonable. What does this mean? It means that the people who controlled Elder Meili also controlled Ananas. In other words, there is a thief in Ananas."
Evelin looked horrified: “…”
Xiao Yun drank his tea slowly and suddenly smiled: "General Crest is fine... Based on my understanding of Elder Meili, I find it hard to believe that this elder has fallen into a desperate situation and has no power to resist. But she pretended to be 'forced' and obeyed others' coercion to do 'the forest elves invite the grassland kingdom to jointly mint coins' and sharpen her knife against us... Your fear and suspicion of Elder Meili are not without reason."
The currency in this world is not the credit notes that come out of the assembly line of a and have such low cost that it can be ignored, but real gold and silver!
What does it mean for the powerful forest elves to invite the grassland kingdom, which is less than one-tenth of their size, to jointly mint coins? It's the same as a powerful neighbor suddenly knocking on your door and asking you to "help" with your accounts...
This time, Evelyn's expression did not change much. She picked up the letter from General Kleist, glanced at it, and gently put it down, revealing a lonely and helpless bitter smile.
The city of Ananas is one of the most remote cities among the dozens of cities in the Forest of Elves. Before the Snow Wolf Clan emerged and Xiao Yun's disciple Carlisle proposed a multi-party cooperation strategy, Ananas was an unknown and remote place that was the "place of exile" for people like Elder Gwendolyn who failed in the central political struggle.
Over the past decade, Ananas has been rising rapidly on the momentum created by the Snow Wolf Tribe, which is like spreading enough fertilizer to support the growth of ambitions in this originally barren city... It is not difficult to understand why Elder Meli took the opportunity to take the first step tentatively to ask the grassland to give up more interests.
Of course, neither the grassland nor Ananas thought this would work, but Ananas would make the grassland people give up some of their interests (the so-called broken window effect also applies here). Elder Meili can still put all the blame on the people who "forced" her, and she herself is still a reliable partner, friendly ally, and kind neighbor of the grassland people - but this can only deceive outsiders, not Evelyn, let alone Xiao Yun.
"Let's pretend we didn't see Elder Meili's probing behavior. Now... let's first deal with the problem of the grassland finances being coveted." Xiao Yun put down the teacup and looked directly at his disciple, "Evelyn, I need you to do something for me."
“Okay, teacher.” Evelin perked up and immediately agreed without even listening to the request.
She doesn't want to be treated as Elder Meli by the teacher, so now is the time for her to do her best~!
Three days later, in the sky square outside the Queen's City, the core of the Elf Forest, a fat, colorful bird circled half a circle and landed at the edge of the bird farm.
Several patrolling soldiers trotted towards this flying mount that did not belong to the Queen's City. One of the military officers recognized the elven wizard who got off the bird's back and his eyes lit up: "Good day, Ms. Evelyn!"
"Good day, everyone. Thank you for your hard work." Evelyn adjusted the hem of her robe, smiled, and gave a slight wizard salute to the military officer and patrol soldiers who called out her name.
As a well-known author of "Travels in the Mainland", Evelyn also has fans...
"You have worked hard. Are you here to meet the queen?" The elf military officer enthusiastically stepped forward to lead the bird for Evelyn.
"Yes, but before that I would like to meet my good friend, Elizabeth Crest, a member of the Knights." Evelyn smiled and nodded in thanks.
Not long after, Evelyn, who had a certain fan base among the younger generation of forest elves, was enthusiastically escorted to the headquarters of the Queen's Knights by the military attaché on duty at Sky Plaza.
Elizabeth, who inherited her good looks from General Crest, was training on the horse farm. When she saw Evelyn, she immediately rushed over and hugged her warmly.
"Long time no see Evelin, how is Hongye? Did she come?"
"If you want to see Hongye, you have to go to the grassland to find her. She is a very busy person. Even if I live in Fire City all year round, I can only see Hongye a few times a year." Evelyn slapped Elizabeth's sweaty and dusty paws away and said angrily, "Are you still my friend? When you see me, you only want to ask about Hongye, not something else?"
"Okay, I care about you too. Look, I can tell your belly has become a little thicker just by touching it." Elizabeth said with a grin.
"Hey! I'm not fat!"
The two elf girls who grew up together played and laughed for a long time. Elizabeth then called her close friends in the Queen's Knights and introduced them to Evelyn one by one.
Evelyn, who seemed to be laughing along, observed for a long time and confirmed that her good friend, who was placed in the Queen's Knights by Elder Meli, was completely unaware of Ananas's misfortune. She then deliberately mentioned the two travel notes she had co-authored with Teacher Ayun, and attracted as many young knights who were training on the horse farm as possible to gather around her.
Not to mention the identity of a gourmet hunter, the gossip and secrets about the two prototype characters, General Crest and the snow wolf Hongye, in the Elf Ranger's Travels are very popular among young people today. General Crest receives countless letters from admirers every year, and Hongye is no exception... Before long, Elizabeth, who was originally a prominent figure in the Knights (thanks to her father), and Evelyn, the author of the travels, were surrounded by young elves with sparkling eyes...
Elizabeth, a young talent who is good at both cavalry and combat, had to be promoted by Elder Meili before she could join the Queen's Knights. Naturally, the other members of the group would not be weak and frail little flowers with a thin background. When the popularity was almost gathered, Evelyn pretended to let out the secret and revealed the task assigned to her by the teacher...
So… before Evelyn even met the queen, the queen had already heard about her purpose.
After listening to Lady Gina's report, the Elf Queen Otilia, who was enjoying afternoon tea in the greenhouse, smiled on her pale face: "This is really a big deal."
"That's right. The entry threshold starts at 500,000 gold coins. What a terrifying talent number that requires," said Gina, smiling. "But the grassland people are indeed good at making money. I guess they are so bold to act because they are sure that they can get even more amazing returns."
The Queen tilted her head slightly and said amusedly: "So, Gina, you are quite tempted? Have you started to convince me?"
Gina smiled shyly and bowed slightly respectfully: "You once arranged for me to go to the grassland. From what I saw with my own eyes, the once barren cursed land has been managed by the Snow Wolf people to be comparable to a prosperous place with at least hundreds of years of civilization history. It is amazing. In my shallow knowledge, it is impossible for someone who talks big to achieve such an achievement. I naturally yearn for the grassland people to take the lead in advocating such a grand event."
The Queen nodded and smiled softly. "Okay, Gina, I know what you are worried about. The Queen's City is losing its luster. Is there a certain supporter of this view among the cities?"
Gina's smile was a little stiff, and she whispered hurriedly: "Your Majesty, I am not..."
The queen waved her hands and sighed softly: "Since the crown of the elves flew out of the Elf Forest, those accusations will not reach my ears directly, but it does not mean that I know nothing. The tragedy of the giants has been too long. The people who were once shocked by the tragic scene are once again blindly pursuing power beyond their needs and unnecessary wealth that they do not actually need..."
Otilia stood up from the rattan armchair with soft goose down cushions, walked to the greenhouse window, raised her hand and gently stroked the slightly steamy glass surface, and said sarcastically: "They need a king who always shows his presence. They hope that their king is powerful and rich... A king who walks on golden and stone stairs and lives in a palace made of gold is the spiritual support they are looking for. A king like me who does not have the 'image of a king' is not enough to give them enough sense of security."
"Your Majesty..." Lady Gina called softly with a wry smile.
Queen Otilia raised her hand to stop Queen Gina's persuasion, turned around, and said calmly: "Compared to those who tried their best to avoid war, those 'heroes' who bravely charged and dyed the land red with the blood of young people are more memorable and admired. Since the beginning of written history, such farces have been repeated countless times. I am just repeating the experience of my predecessors."
Lady Gina hung her head in silence. She knew very well how much pressure the queen's weak shoulders were bearing... To this day, there are still war hawks in the Elf Forest who "will fight the Snow Elves even if tens of thousands of elite warriors die", as if the meaning of the lives of those young people in the tribe are not important as the crown on the Elf King's head.
Sitting back on the wicker chair, the queen picked up the teacup again and said, "A brave and aggressive king should not appear among the elves. A rich and luxurious king is harmless. Gina, let Evelyn come to see me. No need to go to the main hall, just bring her to the greenhouse."
Evelyn, this clever young woman, knew how to convey the invitation of Snow Wolf Sage Ayun through the mouths of the Knights, so the Queen would certainly not let the efforts of this young wizard go to waste... If such a major event involving the flow of funds in the entire Queen's City were to be discussed in a formal setting, it would take who knows how many years to drag it out, so it would be better for her to make the decision on her own.
"Sage Ayun is a very interesting person." Thinking of Evelyn's way of conveying the message, Queen Ottilia smiled gently again.
Gina knew what the Queen was praising, but it was better to just understand it, there was no need to talk about it...
Well, to put it simply, Xiao Yun asked Evelyn to spread the news in an informal setting first, which actually left room for both parties to choose... If the queen is not interested, then Evelyn will keep her mouth shut and not mention it when she formally visits the queen, so as to avoid the embarrassment of both parties if she is rejected in person in a formal setting.
If the queen is interested, Evelyn's behavior can be understood as helping the queen who is not strong enough to be strong and iron-fisted to build momentum in advance... ahem!
Xiao Yun had respect for the queen. The reason was simple. Just looking at the fact that the entire forest elves could live in peace and tranquility for hundreds of years after the crown of the elves' common leader was lost, it was clear that without some tricks, dozens of elven cities that had armies and could fight any way out would be forced to obey orders.
Xiao Yun adopted this kind of euphemistic invitation which gave both sides room for maneuver with the Queen. As for the Dwarf Kingdom of the Western Continent, Xiao Yun did not spend so much time on it... When the Queen met Evelyn and took the initiative to inquire about what the "International Joint-Stock Commercial Bank" advocated by the Grassland Kingdom was, the Dwarf King also received a letter from the grassland.
The content of the letter was very simple. Apart from the greetings, the rest of the words could be summarized in one sentence: Prepare 500,000 gold coins, and let's make a fortune together.
The dwarf king, who had been a demigod for decades, held the letter with an indifferent expression.
"Five hundred thousand! Gold coins! Are these grassland people crazy?!" The Minister of Finance of the Dwarf Kingdom, an old dwarf with a red beard, jumped up from his seat and said, "Your Majesty, such an impolite request must not be granted!"
"Calm down, the grassland people are not asking us for money." Another minister said, "Your Majesty, can the grassland people explain in detail what the money is used for?"
"No matter what you do, this money must not be given! Not a penny! This time it's 500,000, who knows how much it will be next time?!" The Minister of Finance jumped up and down and shouted.
"Okay, be quiet." The Dwarf King raised his head. "The letter from the grassland people clearly stated that they don't want us to give away 500,000 gold coins for nothing. Instead, they intend to integrate the liquidity of the entire northern continent and make money from money..." After a pause, the Dwarf King looked unhappy, but he had to try his best to control his emotions. "Besides, does our country have the right to say no to the grassland now?"
As soon as these words were spoken, all the ministers in the meeting hall fell silent.
It’s really not possible... So many people rely on the imported vermicelli that arrives once a quarter to make a living!
