Volume 4: How big is the heart, how vast is the earth Chapter 117 Cooperation Goals
Ms. Evelyn is going to stay overnight in the tribe, and where to arrange her to stay is a big problem...
The last time I came, the tribe had plenty of empty rooms. Now, although the number of dormitories has tripled, there are really no empty rooms... The houses added from the back row haven't even been roofed yet. We can't let a (looking) delicate elf girl live in an open-air house, can we?
As for asking her to squeeze into one room with the tribe members... uh... this involves a somewhat troublesome problem. Family members know their own business. Xiao Yun knows how the tribe members sleep. If she is asked to squeeze into a large bunk bed with the tribe members and see a few bird walkers, wouldn't it be very rude...
After much thought, Xiao Yun could only make some special arrangements for Evelyn. He found a room with fewer male residents and moved the one with the bird out to squeeze into other rooms, letting Evelyn live with several females from the cat and snow wolf tribes... These females didn't actually sleep well and liked to sleep naked, but at least they had no birds to play with.
So Ms. Evelyn came to Room 7-9 that Xiao Yun had specially "vacated" for her. When she looked up, she was met with Dahe's incredibly handsome face.
"I'll light the candle for you here, ha~ yawn~" Dahe brought over a candle specially made for Sal, lit one and placed it on the windowsill, "If you don't like the dark night, just keep it lit. If you want a darker night for better sleep, just blow it out."
"Well... okay." Evelyn stared at Dahe, trying to prepare herself mentally... She wouldn't scream at the sight of this handsome guy who didn't look like a Snow Wolf at all, but it was still a bit too exciting to sleep on a bunk bed with Dahe.
"Oh, this is for you." Da He thought for a moment and took out a small bowl of meat floss from the cabinet next to the stove. "If you can't sleep, eat some snacks. You'll feel sleepy after eating."
“…Okay, thank you.” Evelin took it stiffly.
"Then I'll go to sleep first. I have to get up early tomorrow." Daha could hardly open his eyes. He couldn't bear it anymore after taking care of the guests. He turned over and lay on the kang, undressing at the same time.
Evelin stared in shock as Dahe stripped down to his bare bottom, climbed to the head of the kang, moved the other person who had a terrible sleeping posture away, and then lay down. His sleeping posture was also particularly heroic...
"..." No matter how well-mannered she was, Evelin couldn't help but move her gaze towards the person's lower abdomen... Then she didn't know whether to say she was relieved or sighed with regret. It turned out to be a female...
There were already more than ten people lying on the kang, some as bold as Dahe, without covering themselves with anything, and some curled up in a ball with blankets. The kang, which was about twenty meters long, was not crowded for so many people to sleep on, and there was a large empty space in the middle. Evelyn looked to the left at the Snow Wolves, whose sleeping posture was obviously bad, and to the right at the Cats, whose sleeping posture was also bad but at least not as big. Without much hesitation, she chose the kang on the right.
The spellcaster was required to have travel experience. Evelyn was not allowed to leave the Elf Forest due to her relatively young age, but the Elf Forest was large enough for her to run around. She had plenty of experience sitting outdoors, so she was naturally not too picky about the living environment of the Snow Wolf Tribe.
She slept on a kang with a clean straw mat and a blanket, her head resting on a pillow filled with wheat bran and reed fluff, and the brand new blanket given by Xiao Yun covering her feet and stomach. Evelyn let out a long sigh of relief and soon fell asleep.
I don't know how long I slept, but there was a very penetrating sound of metal knocking "clang, clang, clang". Ms. Evelyn, who was sleeping soundly, felt as if someone hit her head hard with a sledgehammer, and she opened her eyes suddenly.
“Ah~~~~ It’s dawn—”
As a strange, coquettish voice sounded in her ears, a sturdy arm suddenly appeared in front of Ms. Evelyn; the female elf mage's mind went blank for a moment, and she slowly tilted her head to find that it was the snow werewolf sleeping on her right who was stretching and yawning.
...Just looking at his sturdy upper body, it's hard to believe that this person is of the same gender as me...
Evelin felt her body was very heavy, and it seemed that something was rubbing against her left arm. Because she was not fully awake yet, Evelin did not feel panicked. She slowly withdrew her gaze and looked to the left side of her body...
A... no, a, uh... a fluffy lynx that turned into a cat in its sleep had fallen asleep on top of her at some point, with most of its body pressed against her legs, curled up, its two paws hugging her waist, frowning, eyes tightly closed, its head nudging the position of her left elbow, as if trying to lift her arm up to cover its ears...
Evelyn: “……???”
"Get up, it's hot, it's time to start working——"
Dahe's voice sounded, and the naked and handsome female Snow Wolf appeared in Evelyn's sight with a dazed face. She crawled over her legs in a half-kneeling position, waking up everyone who was still struggling to stay asleep, and pushing the cat who was sleeping on Evelyn off.
Evelin's body relaxed, but for some reason she felt a faint sense of regret...
"Why are you sleeping like a cat again? What if you scratch someone in your sleep? Hurry up and wash your face and brush your teeth."
"Hey, have I become a cat?" The lynx rubbed his eyes with his big furry paws in a daze, and his body turned into a slender boy...er, it should be said that he turned into a girl, without the bird...
Ms. Evelin, who was about to sit up, said: “…”
Dahe woke everyone up, then walked past Evelin and returned to the head of the kang to get dressed. He did not forget to remind the guest, "You can sleep a little longer, Evelin. You can have breakfast in the cafeteria later."
The cats who had just woken up stared at Evelyn curiously.
“No need, I’m used to getting up early too.” Evelin didn’t feel comfortable continuing to sleep, so she quickly sat up.
Each room has a heated kang. Except in summer, everyone eats breakfast in their own room. Dormitory 7-9 has Dahe, the former canteen chef and current welfare director. He makes simple breakfasts deliciously. Evelin, who is not used to eating in her sleeping area, gets her share. After drinking the warm spicy mutton soup and taking a bite of the crispy and soft wheat cake baked on the inner wall of the stove, she can no longer feel disgusted.
What she was not used to was that the lynx, who had used her legs as a cushion for a night, was so close to her. Even after turning into a human form, he still liked to rub his head against her. When she was drinking soup and the soup got on the corner of her mouth, Evelin was about to take out her handkerchief, and the lynx came over and licked the corner of her mouth with its tongue...
Evelyn: “…” She finally understood why Ayun didn’t allow the cat tribe to lick others casually.
——But why do I feel a little happy and joyful?
——The elves are more reserved in expressing their emotions, so it’s nice to be loved so directly by others through their actions!
When Xiao Yun saw Ms. Evelyn again, the female elf wizard was mingling with the cats with an auntie smile on her face. She appeared in the pickle processing area with a stronger smell together with several cats who lived in the same room with her.
Xiao Yun: "..." Is it true that women can't resist the charm of cats? !
No, he is not so despicable as to make the cat tribe sell out their bodies!
But then again, it's a good thing that this female elf mage who has a say in Ananas is willing to get close to the grassland tribes... Never mind, just sell your sex appeal. Morality is something that can be eaten up, and the lower limit can be adjusted at any time.
Because of the previous incident in which Asumu Mu was injured, Xiao Yun was more reserved in his attitude towards the forest elves. He did not dare to be as open and honest as he was with the snow elves. Even if Ms. Evelyn expressed an obvious tendency to get closer, Xiao Yun had to make more estimates; first, he had to test how much say this female elf wizard had in Ananas City, and secondly, Xiao Yun also had to find out what her backer, the elder of the council, thought of the Snow Wolf Tribe.
At lunch time, Xiao Yun brought the cute manul cub to Evelyn and said casually, "Evelyn, you came to the grassland alone with so many gold coins to trade with us. Won't others worry about your safety?"
"I'm more proficient in wind magic. I can't say I'm good in combat, but I'm very good at escaping." Evelyn joked with a smile.
This answer clearly showed that she had no defense against Xiao Yun, or maybe she was bewitched by the cat tribe...
Xiao Yun's eyes flashed. The fact that the person in charge of Ananas let Evelyn go out with nearly ten thousand gold coins without worrying about it, and Evelyn's indifference to this trip, were enough to prove that Evelyn herself, or her backers, were very strong in Ananas City. Before Evelyn took the lead in this transaction, she must have successfully carried out many tasks that were no less important than transactions of ten thousand gold coins, proving that Evelyn did have a certain say and her attitude carried weight in Ananas City.
The gold coins in this world are not just brass coins that are used to make up the numbers. They are of great weight and have purchasing power. In the human kingdom, a thousand gold coins can even buy the royal family of a small country, a few hundred gold coins can buy a powerful warrior slave, and dozens of gold coins can bring a young and beautiful woman home as a concubine - when Dan Claudy took out a bag of hundreds of gold coins to try to seduce Uncle Ashan, that was already the entire fortune of that noble young master.
Among the impoverished nobles who followed Prince Carlisle, some families even sold their houses to collect gold coins to board the ship. If they couldn't make money from a voyage, they would have to sleep on the streets. It can be said that they were taking a gamble...
After confirming that Evelyn was worth cooperating with, Xiao Yun began to ask about her background indirectly, that is, the elder of the parliament with a strong presence. Evelyn, who was not wary enough, did not think too much and said with honor: "My teacher Gwendolyn is an amazing spellcaster. She served the queen in Stephens. After coming to Ananas more than 40 years ago, she did a lot for Ananas..."
"Airborne faction!" Xiao Yun immediately understood...
Xiao Yun, who had made certain contributions to the company's southwestern branch, understood best how annoying it was to be parachuted in... The black-faced supervisor from the head office before he traveled through time had always caused him trouble.
Since Evelyn's teacher belongs to the airborne faction, there must be a local faction in Ananas City that is at odds with her. Xiao Yun stroked his chin while asking for information about this elder Gwendolyn, and a storm started in his mind:
Generally speaking, there are two types of parachuted people. The first type is those who go to local places to gain experience, and when they have made their presence felt, they will be transferred and promoted. Evelyn's teacher is obviously not one of them. After all, no matter how different the elves' concept of time is, twenty or thirty years would be enough for them to gain experience. They have stayed there for more than forty years without moving, which is very obvious... Evelyn's teacher belongs to the second type. He offended the core power of the central government and was sent to local places for demotion.
Xiao Yun had never been to Ananas City, but he had heard a lot of information from Hailin and other elf warriors. From a geographical point of view, Ananas City was located on the outskirts of the main mountain range of the Elf Forest, close to the west coast of the grassland. The core area and power center of the forest elves were in the main mountain range of the Elf Forest. According to this power distribution, Ananas City was definitely on the edge...
An airborne faction that was demoted to the local area, and is in an awkward position with no hope of returning to the core of central power, no matter how many words Evelyn said of her respect and admiration for her teacher, Xiao Yun could guess with his knees how much this former member of the Queen's Mage Corps and current elder of the council of a small border town wanted to "return home in glory", and he must have not given up on keeping in touch with the central government - Su Dongpo was exiled but still wrote a letter to the emperor saying "I miss you, please let me go back, muah", how could a spellcaster with extraordinary means of communication not try his best to keep in touch with the central government?
Last year, Evelyn sold the sauce to Ananas City. This year, she proposed to expand the transaction volume, and she did not hide the transaction with "other cities". Xiao Yun knew that it was definitely Evelyn's teacher who was pushing for this matter without even having to kneel down...
In addition, Evelyn mentioned expanding the trading volume, but did not mention the vermicelli that is extremely suitable for military rations. Evelyn's teacher has a bad relationship with the military forces that control the forest elves' army, or wants to curry favor with the military, but the military does not allow it. This speculation is almost obvious... General Crest at the port bought a lot of vermicelli from his own family with his own money. Even if the elf warriors did not say it, it is obvious that the vermicelli they bought in the first half of the year were not all used for Ananas. It is like Dahe who is mixed in with the snow werewolves. In other words, Evelyn's teacher, who has considerable say, is likely to have taken some or even most of the vermicelli as a "stepping stone" (the premise of no profit is that no money is asked, it is purely given), but the other party did not appreciate it...
It was so pitiful... Xiao Yun couldn't help but shed a few bitter tears.
In short, with the information provided by Evelyn, Xiao Yun's speculation about the image of the power representative of the "Airborne Faction" in Ananas City was completed. The next step was whether Xiao Yun should choose to cooperate deeply with this faction.
Obviously, although she was an airborne faction that struggled hard to return to the central government but failed, this elder was no ordinary warrior - her disciples could conduct transactions involving huge amounts of gold coins on behalf of Ananas, and could also snatch food from General Kleist, one of Ananas' military representatives, making Kleist dare not speak out. This showed that she had not been idle at all during the decades of decentralization, and she had grasped Ananas' power tightly and defeated the local faction.
Then the question is... Elder Gwendolyn, who is gentle, kind, wise and benevolent in Evelyn's words, is a strong man who is an airborne faction but completely suppresses the local snakes. Would she look down on the Snow Wolf Tribe? Even if they can cooperate, how sincere can they be in the cooperation?
Xiao Yun dealt with Evelin verbally, but in his heart, he was really a little undecided for a while.
The political goal of this paratrooper must be to return to the central power center. This is a conclusion that can be reached without thinking. This will be the strongest driving force for her actions. She will be extremely eager to achieve results, which is a definite plus point - the Snow Wolf Clan also hopes to expand the scale of its business for its own purposes. On this point, the interests of both parties are common.
But there is the problem… The one who is leading the business with the Snow Wolf Tribe now is Evelyn’s teacher, Elder Gwendolyn. They have the initiative whether they want to make a move or not. The Snow Wolf Tribe is in an absolutely weak position right now, and they really don’t have any bargaining chips to suppress the “scales” of cooperation… There is no position for equal dialogue, so what is the point of cooperation? Is it necessary for them to negotiate with you?
If we don't choose this powerful airborne faction, to be honest, judging from General Kleist's performance of holding his nose when someone cut him off, the local faction of this term is really not up to par...
After thinking it over, Xiao Yun could only come to one conclusion: "The time has not come yet."
Xiao Yun was not sure whether the powerful man in Ananas City who had extended his hand to the Snow Wolf Tribe and had sent Evelyn away from the previous transaction right under the nose of Evelyn's teacher was an "airborne faction" or a "local faction"; and the current size of his own tribe did not allow Xiao Yun to take risks, act rashly, or rush for revenge.
A single man can gamble and place bets casually, but Xiao Yun cannot. He has to be responsible for the entire tribe, the Snow Wolf Clan and the cats, gray dwarves, and goblins that follow the Snow Wolf Clan.
You can be reckless in tactical choices, but you must be as steady as an old dog in strategic choices.
Having made up his mind, Xiao Yun continued talking to Ms. Evelyn with a smile as if nothing had happened, inviting her to stay in the tribe for two more days. Ms. Evelyn was very tempted by the proposal, but after struggling for a while, she regretfully declined... She also had to take the goods in the space props back. Normally, she should have left in the morning, and she was already very eager to play by staying until now .
Xiao Yun looked at Evelyn, who was feeding the caracal cubs subconsciously like everyone else, and suddenly an idea flashed through his mind: working with Evelyn's teacher is too challenging, but Evelyn herself seems to be a good partner?
This idea seems good. Xiao Yun pondered the feasibility and his eyes began to light up - there are indeed more solutions than problems. Isn't this a ray of hope in the dark?
Xiao Yun immediately started thinking about ways to win Evelyn's favor. Obviously, relying on the cats to act cute was not enough. Although this female elf wizard was young, she knew what was important. If he wanted to attract Evelyn's attention, he had to find another way.
Xiao Yun made up his mind quickly, and immediately... shamelessly pretended to be young and embarrassed: "Evelyn, can I ask you some questions about magic? Although we Snow Wolves cannot perceive magic, I also had some ideas when I watched Balk use magic. But Balk couldn't explain clearly how he used magic, so I have always wanted to seek answers from a powerful spellcaster like you. Do you think I am being presumptuous?"
The young Evelyn immediately showed a sympathetic expression... This kind-hearted female elf was quite considerate. She did not directly question Xiao Yun, a member of the forbidden magic race, for arrogantly claiming to have ideas about magic. She said politely, "I'm worried that what I've learned is not enough to answer your questions, but I will try my best."
Xiao Yun's face immediately changed, and he said seriously: "When Balk uses offensive magic, he manipulates magic power to capture elemental energy, aggregate wind elements or fire elements for his use, and form unnatural wind or fire power. When using non-offensive magic tricks, he uses it by materializing magic power to form a certain kind of magic power collection. The magic power that does not belong to the actual material is transformed into an object that imitates any mass, thereby affecting the material world. This is my superficial understanding of magic through observation. Is this understanding correct or wrong?"
Evelyn opened her mouth wide...
She was very calm in the first half, which was indeed a common understanding of the use of magic. But the second half was too jumpy, wasn't it? How did it connect to the first half?
Xiao Yun's expression changed in a second, switching to shy mode: "Evelyn? Did I say something wrong?"
"Uh... no, although I've never heard anyone describe magic in this way... but from this perspective, it's not wrong to understand it this way." Evelyn was at a loss for words and stammered.
"Is that so? I thought it was all my imagination." Xiao Yun touched his head shyly, and then his face became serious again the next second: "If that's the case, then I wonder if we can understand magic as a kind of energy? For example, when we burn firewood or black stone, we can generate flames and heat energy. When we place food in the heat radiation area, we can bake raw wheat cakes into cooked wheat cakes. This is the manifestation of heat energy affecting material changes. Although magic is everywhere when it is not used by a spellcaster, it does not affect the material world. So can we say that magic is a form of energy that exists in a different form from heat energy?"
"Known energy exists in many different forms, classified according to the different forms of motion of matter. We, the Snow Wolf Clan, divide the energy that we can perceive and observe with the naked eye into mechanical energy, thermal energy, electrical energy, light energy, etc. There may be other forms of energy that we don't know about, but I think the principles should be similar. Am I right to speculate in this way?"
Evelin looked dazed: “…”
She felt something was wrong, very wrong. She was the spellcaster with more extensive experience and knowledge, so why did she need to think so hard and seriously to understand what Ah Yun was saying? !
"Evelyn? Did I say something wrong again?" Xiao Yun shamelessly switched to a shy face.
"It should be...that's right...right?" Evelyn said stiffly. As a spellcaster, how could she say that she couldn't be sure?
"Then I'll continue~" Xiao Yun changed his expression and became serious again, "Considering that magic power is not as intuitive as heat energy that we, the Snow Wolf Clan, can perceive intuitively, then I think that magic power should be closer to light energy in terms of existence than heat energy. Light energy also has the characteristic of not directly affecting the change of matter when it is not concentrated or not directly exposed for a long time. In our understanding of the Snow Wolf Clan, it is a relatively mild radiation energy in terms of frequency and continuity. For example, if you put a piece of bark paper in the sun, it is not easy to burn, but a convex mirror made of ice or glass can concentrate the light energy radiation to one point, and then the bark paper can be ignited. Then I wondered, is the way the caster uses magic power also based on a similar principle?"
Evelyn: “…”
Although she was indeed listening very carefully and trying very hard to understand...she no longer understood when Xiao Yun started mentioning terms such as frequency and continuity that involved the field of physics.
