Divine Kingship

Chapter 597 Vanilla reigns over her not-so-loyal elven town

These revivalist elves have clearly realized the disparity in combat power between the two sides.

However, some of them kept their mouths shut, but unfortunately not all of the Restorationist elves kept their mouths shut.

To be precise, not all of these elves are revivalists; some are simply lowlifes. However, those who are loose-lipped and lack loyalty don't know much about it.

Rand gleaned some information from these loose-lipped elves.

The revivalists seem to be about some kind of sacrifice.

They traded elven slaves to gather resources.

This sacrifice was made for this very purpose.

Then they regained the attention of the Elf God.

To be honest, Rand didn't really understand the idea of ​​so closely linking the meaning of life to the divine.

But some revivalist elf fanatics clearly don't think so.

“It seems we won’t get any more information out of them for now,” Rand said. “Let’s try interrogating them slowly and see if we can find out more. For now, let’s leave it at that and continue on our way.”

The group then set off again.

Vanilla and wind chimes both harbored animosity towards these revivalist elves.

To be honest, they thought they were already traitors to the elves in some sense, and had no right to hate anything.

But when they saw these ruthless revivalist elves...

They also felt that they were relatively loyal to their own race, and that they would never do things like raiding villages, capturing elven slaves, and then selling them to humans.

The slave trade has always been a gray area, but if they were capturing elves and selling them to other elves, it might be relatively better, at least they wouldn't be labeled as elven traitors, but now...

At least vanilla and wind chimes were a source of great anger for these elven slave traders.

However, these elven slaves have now been settled by Rand.

Human slaves were also placed in Rand's care.

Without further complications, the group arrived at the Reformist stronghold town in the Elf Forest.

Ordinary elven villages in the Elf Forest are not much different from human villages.

Due to hunger, disease, war, and other calamities, the lives of ordinary elven villagers are not much different from those of human villagers.

But at the town level, differences arise due to cultural factors.

Before the morning mist had fully dissipated, the entire town appeared like an emerald bathed in moonlight, suspended above the canopy of spruce trees. It may have taken the elven architects decades to guide the vines to solidify into domed archways, and unique roses with changing vein patterns that shifted with the seasons clung to the bluish-gray stone walls.

It must be said that a town built on top of giant trees is truly breathtaking at first glance.

Rand was already quite knowledgeable, and had already learned a lot about the culture and architectural style of the elves.

But seeing it now, I still couldn't help but stare at it.

After entering the city, Rand soon saw Nidhogg again.

The elven elder looked somewhat haggard, his blue eyes fixed on Rand: "I didn't expect His Majesty to come in person."

“I still take this matter very seriously,” Rand smiled. “However, I am not your emperor; your future emperor is this man.”

Rand stepped aside, allowing the shorter vanilla plants to be seen by everyone.

Vanilla changed into a formal outfit, pursed her lips, and rode her horse to the crowd, truly exuding an air of nobility.

"Hello everyone." Vanilla didn't say much.

Meanwhile, Nidhogg had already led the reformists in bowing to Vanilla.

Not all of these people who rebelled against the Elven court believed in Vanilla, a member of the royal family whom Nidhogg revered, and who was also a student of Elder Nidhogg.

Everyone had great trust in Elder Nidhogg and wisdom, believing that Elder Nidhogg could lead them to resist the current chaotic yet stagnant Elven Forest.

But this obviously couldn't make them decide to follow a rather young-looking elf girl.

Their bows were solely out of respect for the Elven royal family and for Elder Nidhogg.

Although these rebels may no longer have much respect for the elven royal family, and some of them have never been to the resort, they are even more distrustful of Rand, this human.

The group walked through the streets of the elven town.

There wasn't a strong atmosphere of war here.

Rand was also able to clearly observe some of the unique industries of the elves.

For example, the picking of certain fruits from the forest that have special effects, and the brewing of potions.

As for other industries with elven characteristics, such as textiles, metallurgy, and blacksmithing, they are basically just unique features, not exclusive to this place.

After going around in a circle.

Land and Nidhogg arrived at the meeting room where they were to discuss matters.

"Let's get straight to the point. I must require Vanilla to be your leader, otherwise I will not continue to support you." Of course, Rand was not saying this to Nidhogg. Those elves who had been to the resort, including Nidhogg, were well aware of Vanilla's excellence.

This statement was directed at the other elves who followed Nidhogg but did not know the Holiday Lodge.

In fact, these people not only don't understand vanilla, but they also don't understand Rand.

For Rand, if this was just the leader of the Elven Reformation and not Vanilla, then there was no point in him supporting this Elven faction.

Nidhogg is an elf who is close to the forces of the Sanctuary.

Vanilla is a member of the Sanctuary forces.

These are two completely different concepts.

Some of the elves present looked slightly grim, but none of them dared to embarrass Rand. It seemed that Nidhogg had already given them a lot of lessons beforehand.

At least these elves knew that Rand was not only a benefactor, but also possessed terrifying potential military power.

Although they may not know the extent of Rand's military strength, or rather, they know it but have no clear concept of it.

"So why are you willing to support Nidhogg and his group?" Rand asked this question, of course, also to the elves who had never been to the resort.

“Our former elven lord was a foolish and insane man who demanded that the elves stop farming and enjoy the fruits of nature,” an elf explained to Rand.

No further explanation was needed from the elf; Rand already understood completely.

Of course, there are some druids among the elves who can accelerate the growth of plants, and even some tree spirits in the elven forest have a friendly relationship with the elves.

But this obviously doesn't mean that these powerful beings will provide any thoughtful services to ordinary elven villagers.

Then it's easy to imagine what will happen next.

As for their contact with the outside world, the reformists who received RAND funding did have some insights into food cultivation. At least they wouldn't demand that food cultivation be stopped in favor of accepting nature's bounty.

“I understand.” Rand then looked at Vanilla in her seat.

After hearing these things, Rand already had a plan for the next action, but since Vanilla was going to become the leader, it was natural for Vanilla to make the decision.

It can be considered a small bit of training.

Rand has firmly guaranteed Vanilla's position, becoming its solid backer.

But Rand also has his own kingdom to govern, and he can't handle everything in the elven forest forever.

So now vanilla needs to have some of its own shrewdness and wisdom.

Of course, Rand will be assisting during this time.

Rand actually trusted Vanilla quite a bit; he had always seen Vanilla's intelligence and abilities.

Vanilla knew, of course, that she would have her turn to speak here.

She was ready.

She sat in her seat, watching the elves present.

Most of these elves looked tired, and some even had injuries.

Clearly, fighting against the Elven Royal Court will come at a great cost.

“I know many of you don’t trust me. I represent Rand, and I also represent myself. Our ideals are actually the same. I will lead you to victory and make life a little better,” Vanilla said, stating her thoughts first.

Vanilla's expression then turned serious, and her cute face hardened: "Of course, some of you may not want to think this way, but at least for now, you have no right to object."

This is a combination of kindness and severity.

"Next, I will conduct some education and propaganda in this town. First, I will reform agriculture, and second, I will provide some basic strategic and tactical training. Trade and exchanges with the outside world, especially with our Holy Domain forces, will also be further expanded and developed."

This is the next step.

Vanilla is, in a sense, a product of Rand's style, which favors gradual progression, and Vanilla is no exception, which is also suitable for the current situation.

If Vanilla were to immediately demand the consolidation of the army to begin further expansion, or purge internal opponents.

These things can easily provoke internal resistance.

Vanilla, of course, wouldn't do that.

Now, we should prioritize some relatively gentle but impactful work.

For example, agricultural reform and the teaching of strategy and tactics.

This not only allows the elves here to experience the superiority of outside knowledge, but also enables them to understand vanilla's personal abilities and tactical thinking through strategic and tactical instruction.

In such interactions, vanilla will be accepted and understood to a certain extent.

Rand was very satisfied with the solution proposed for vanilla.

It seems that Vanilla is as qualified as imagined, so he can go and do some things on his own now.

After leaving his personal guards and some of the men he had brought with him to Vanilla, Rand set off with Olena and Lysa.

Rand came to the Elf Forest, of course, with some personal matters of his own.

It's not really a personal matter; I'm just interested in the history of elves and plan to learn about it in order to try and find a way to deal with the current situation.

Lysa said that perhaps the Elf God had already descended, and Rand actually believed it.

While the idea of ​​a god descending to earth long ago is too incredible, there are still many strange things in this world that Rand doesn't understand, so it's not the stomach, it's completely impossible.

Rand could roughly guess that Lysa, this ancient elf, had some connection with the Elf God, such as Lysa being the Elf God's messenger or something.

In Rand's view, this probability is actually quite high.

Otherwise, it wouldn't explain why Ryza knew so many secrets.

Of course, it's also possible that Lysa is some kind of Emerald King, powerful and knowledgeable due to her long life. Rand couldn't be sure, nor did he have any interest in investigating further.

In any case, isn't Lysa on his side?

Now, Rand, Olena, and Lysa plan to go and ask Luca, the captain of the Sunrise Adventurer Team.

……

Luca is currently working with his squad of half-elf mages and dwarf berserkers to study the natural ecology of the elven forest.

This is also a mission from the Adventurers' Guild of the resort.

Doing quests is in the nature of an adventurer's party.

The Adventurers' Guild has a permanent mission to collect rare geological soils and special plant and animal materials.

The alchemy workshop of the Holy Domain was, of course, the one that issued these tasks.

Rare geological soils may aid in metallurgy or create magical effects, while special plant and animal materials may lead to breakthroughs in the potion or materials industries.

These collected items may not be of any use for a long time, but if they can be used to achieve a technological breakthrough at some point, the entire investment will be recouped.

Rand understood the importance of accumulating small gains over time, which is why such tasks were consistently being issued.

However, since the rare soils and special plant and animal materials in the regular areas have already been collected, Luca's Sunrise Adventure team, now that they have come to the Elf Forest, will naturally not let go of the quest materials here.

The relatively knowledgeable half-elf mage in the team accurately identified which materials might be more valuable.

Dwarf berserkers use their height advantage to hide in relatively low bushes, which prevents them from being noticed by the enemy immediately and allows them to launch surprise attacks at the right time.

Luca, the team leader, was responsible for collecting plant and animal materials.

Luca's flashing sword slashed down, knocking to the ground a charging bull with mushrooms growing on its back.

This magic sword was originally intended to be given to Rand as payment for His Majesty's healing of his companions, but His Majesty Rand did not accept any payment from them.

Luca still remembered that Rand had initially provided them with funding, but they now knew that there was no such thing as a starting bonus for new adventurers.

The members of their Sunburst Adventurer Squad were all extremely grateful to Rand, even the half-elf mage.

Elsewhere, there wouldn't be such a good living space for half-elves, these hybrids.

"The mushrooms on this mushroom cow seem to have some special effects. We can pick them and see if the Adventurers' Guild is willing to raise the price to buy them." The half-elf mage poked the mushroom cow's meat with his standard staff.

"As for the meat of the mushroom cow, it is recorded as a very good cooking ingredient. We can try a soup made with this ingredient for dinner." The half-elf mage was relatively knowledgeable about cooking, but the reason why he was relatively knowledgeable was unclear.

That's because she was apprenticed to Emerald Feather, a half-elf mage from the Burning Steel Adventurers' Squad.

"So, if you mind having some soup for dinner, would you like to add one for the three of us?" Rand appeared before the Sunshine Squad with Olena and Lysa.

(End of this chapter)