News of the public announcement made by Chaos City quickly spread across the entire continent, drawing attention from all sides.The inhabitants of Chaos City weren"t opposed to this development. Their city had always been a diverse and multicultural one, so they didn"t oppose the notion of having more elves join the city.
However, this was a sensitive time period right before the re-signing of the peace treaty, so this piece of news naturally created quite a stir among those in power across the continent.
In a grand palace in Rodu, Andre looked at the memorial[1] in his hand with furrowed brows, and murmured to himself, "What is Michael thinking here? Is he preparing to acc.u.mulate power already? Heh… Interesting."
"Your Majesty, do we need to do anything now?" an official standing off to the side asked in a respectful manner.
"Just watch things unfold for now; the elven race will definitely react soon." Andre set down the memorial in his hand before picking up another one.
…
On an island enshrouded beneath gray mist in the Demon Islands, there was a ma.s.sive cave that was dimly lit by a few oil lamps. A few sinister-looking demons were gathered in the cave. Bones littered all over the ground, while a few elven slaves held jars of off to the side with horrified expressions on their faces, trembling uncontrollably as they huddled together in a corner.
"How dare those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from Chaos City release such a statement! They"re going to ruin our business!"
"Exactly! I don"t think they know their place anymore; looks like they need to be taught a lesson!"
"We"ve gotten a lot of spirit stones and resources from those elven idiots during these past few years, and it also gives us an excuse to hunt down elves; we can"t just give up on such a profitable business. If Chaos City wants to intervene, then they"ll have to ask our Steel Bull Race for permission!"
Within the cave, all of the demons were bickering among one another with vehement expressions on their faces.
"That"s enough!" The tiger-like demon sitting on the main seat let loose an enraged roar, and everyone gradually fell silent before turning toward him.
"It"s getting harder and harder to find wandering elves nowadays as half of them are in Chaos City, so we"ve had our eyes on them for a long time anyway. Seeing as Chaos City has released such a statement, there"s no need for us to hesitate any longer. Surround Chaos City and capture all of the elves seeking refuge there; we"ll capture a few from within Chaos City as well while we"re at it." The demon chuckled coldly. "The peace treaty most likely won"t be re-signed in three months, so the Norland Continent will inevitably be plunged into chaos again. Let me see just how Chaos City will continue to survive when another war among species arises!"
"Haha! That"s a brilliant idea! I"ve heard that there are women from all races for us to sample in Chaos City…"
All of the demons guffawed in unison.
The elves huddled up in the corner could only look on with horror and resentment in their eyes.
…
In the Wind Forest, all of the elves gathered in the Sette Family mansion again.
"Master Borg, Chaos City has made a public announcement extending an invitation to all of the traitors of our elven race. If they all seek refuge in Chaos City, then it"ll be very hard for us to continue to receive traitors from the demons," an elf said in an urgent manner as he looked at Borg.
All of the other elves also wore fl.u.s.tered expressions on their faces. This piece of news had undoubtedly dealt them a heavy blow. The issue surrounding Irina still hadn"t been resolved yet, and Chaos City was now further compounding their predicament.
Chaos City had always been known to be quite diverse, but during the past century, they"d already developed to become a major city that wasn"t inferior to Rodu.
They"d evolved to become a prominent power that the Norland Continent could no longer ignore, and due to beings entering and leaving the city, no one even knew just how many powerful 10th-tier beings there were in Chaos City at present.
After all, there were even many powerful beings from the dragon race who liked to live in Chaos City from time to time, and proclaimed themselves to be citizens of the city during that time.
"Stop panicking! So what if Chaos City has made a public announcement? Do they think they can offer refuge to the elven traitors as they please?" As opposed to the uneasy expressions on the faces of all of the elves present, Borg wore a derisive sneer on his face as he said, "Three months from now, the century-long peace treaty will have run its course. With things as they currently are, it"ll be very difficult for the eight major races to come to an agreement and re-sign the treaty. Even if another war among species won"t eventuate, there will inevitably be a few large-scale wars that take place on the borders, and the configuration of the entire continent will be transformed as a result."
Borg chuckled coldly as he continued, "When that time comes, the symbol of peace that is Chaos City will appear completely superfluous. They won"t even be able to protect themselves, let alone offer refuge to others!"
All of the elves were elated to hear this, but panic soon set in again.
"Master Borg, is our elven race going to refuse to re-sign the treaty as well?" an elf asked in a hesitant voice.
A sinister smile appeared on Borg"s face as he replied, "That"s not something that I can decide. However, I"ve heard that the neighboring goblins have quite a few large-scale underground mines in their territory…"
All of the elves" eyes lit up with greed upon hearing this.
…
A jug of brine was peacefully fermenting in a corner, awaiting the moment when it would be able to reveal its unique fragrance to the world.
Having sent Babla away to the employee dormitory, Mag was finally alone with Amy again.
It was just as Mag had said: living in a house with only Amy and himself was a lot more comfortable. At the very least, when he got up at night to pee, he didn"t have to worry about whether a princess would be sitting on the toilet bowl.
After taking a bath, Amy was skipping on her bed in her pajamas while appraising Mag with a curious expression. "Father, do you miss Big Sister Irina?"
Mag turned to Amy with a smile, and answered her question with one of his own. "Do you miss her, Amy?"
"A little." Amy nodded with a reminiscent look on her little face as she replied, "I want to sleep in her arms. It"s so warm and soft and comfortable."
Mag"s heart sank ever so slightly, but he still maintained the smile on his face as he said, "You"ll be able to see her again soon."
"Where is Big Sister Irina right now? Can"t we go and see her right away? Why do we have to wait?" Amy turned to Mag with a perplexed expression.
A pang of guilt surged through Mag"s heart as he sat down on Amy"s bed and patted her little head. "That"s because… she"s living somewhere very far away, and she"s very busy, as are we. We have to wait until both of us have time before we go and see her."
Amy nodded with a contemplative look on her face, and then turned to Mag with a serious expression as she said, "Alright, but even if you get together with Big Sister Irina, don"t forget about Mother. We still have to get Mother down from the moon, and after that, the four of us will live a happy life together with Big Sister Aisha, Big Sister Miya, Big Sister Babla, Teacher Luna, and Big Sister Gloria."
"Er…"
Mag"s expression immediately stiffened upon hearing this.
[1] Back in ancient China, messages were given to the emperors in the form of "memorials", which were basically letters folded in accordion form.