Divine Kingship

Chapter 600 The Contender for the Elven Throne is Off Work Today
Rand returned to town.

Not much time had passed between Rand's departure and return.

However, the atmosphere here has changed somewhat.

There is still a lot of hostility towards Rand, but it seems to be better than at the beginning.

Overall, it feels more...

If I had to describe it in one word, it would be "more goal-oriented and more organized."

It seems that a lot has changed during my absence.

Rand quickly found the vanilla.

Although many elves still don't feel particularly fond of Rand, at least they know that official business should be handled officially.

At least we know now.

Vanilla is now in a quiet courtyard.

The courtyard was filled with purple flowers.

Vanilla sits at her desk under the shade of a tree, sipping tea and working.

Vanilla originally disliked this strange leafy beverage.

However, later, the Holy Domain made some progress in the sugar extraction process.

Vanilla actually quite likes tea with sugar and milk.

Vanilla's face lit up with joy upon seeing Rand: "Your Majesty! I would like to request my annual leave."

Rand raised an eyebrow, and his previously gentle demeanor suddenly turned sarcastic: "A few days, let's get this straight first, my annual leave cannot be accumulated over the year. If it's not used up in the current year, it's forfeited. So your previous annual leave cannot be carried over."

"Yes, I know. I'll take my annual leave this year, two days off, and then the weekend, so it'll be four days off in total." Vanilla was quite familiar with Rand's sudden change to being thrifty.

Rand nodded. Although he was strict about the approval of leave, he was by no means stingy or rigid: "Vanilla Moonshadow, the Sanctuary forces grant 5 days of annual leave to employees who have worked for 1 year but less than 10 years. You haven't used any this year, so two days will be deducted from the 5 days, leaving you with 3 days."

"Is there anything wrong?" Rand asked.

Vanilla nodded, indicating that there was no problem.

"Then have a good holiday. If you don't have any urgent work to do today, you can leave early." Rand raised an eyebrow slightly.

Vanilla quickly tidied up the documents in front of her, bowed to Rand, and left.

She's very adept at getting off work.

Rand then sought out Nidhogg to find out what they had been doing during their absence.

Rand knew about the war, after all, he encountered remnants of defeated soldiers when he arrived, and the stench of blood beneath the town was easily detectable.

But what Rand wanted to know was not just that; he wanted more.

“What work has Vanilla been doing all this time?” Rand asked.

At this moment, Nidhogg was looking at the standard staff in his hand.

This staff is quite versatile, although its effects in all aspects are rather average, and it is far inferior to his own staff, which is close to being a divine artifact.

However, once Nidhogg considered the price of this thing, he found it incredible.

Is it really possible to equip a magic staff to a mage?

Upon seeing Rand's arrival, Nidhogg performed an elven greeting: "Your Majesty Rand, we have been working on completing the tasks we agreed upon at the original meeting."

Nidhogg thought for a moment: "If we had to say what extra thing we did, it would be that we explained the outside world to everyone, the distribution of power, the culture, the food, and so on."

It is possible that freedom exists in the nature of all intelligent races in this world.

That kind of thing can be suppressed for various practical reasons, but it's hard for it to truly disappear.

Although the elves of these fairy forests hate and are wary of humans outside the forest, it doesn't mean they have no interest in the outside world.

"As for Lady Vanilla's actions," Nidhogg stroked his beard, "I truly didn't expect Vanilla to have grown to this level, it's just..."

"Just what?"

“He has an extremely precise grasp of when to start and when to finish work.” Nidhogg stared at Rand.

This was clearly caused by Rand.

Rand was both amused and exasperated; it seemed that Vanilla was indeed significantly influenced by the power of the Sanctuary.

“Ahem, I don’t think this is a bad thing,” Rand said seriously.

Nidhogg actually felt that although it was somewhat unusual, it might not necessarily be a bad thing.

“I have another question. What are your plans next?” Rand asked again.

Nidhogg was already prepared, unfolding a map. "We have already surveyed the surrounding cities that can be conquered without force."

There are many red circles on the map.

"If the plan goes smoothly, we will start contacting these towns after things stabilize this year. We expect to gain the support of one-tenth of them within a year and half of them within three years."

“And if things progress quickly enough, the Elven Forest might enter a three-way standoff, a three-way balance of power, in three years,” Nidhogg explained the plan he and Vanilla had discussed.

Rand listened carefully, then thought.

“A very suitable strategy. I will set up a special department to handle your affairs and provide you with strategic and material support. Of course, if there are any disagreements, Vanilla's will shall prevail.” Rand was quite knowledgeable about the principle that a general in the field may not be able to follow orders from others and that one should adapt to local conditions.

Without Vanilla, one of their own, on their side, Rand might resort to some unwise tactics out of a need for control. But with Vanilla here, there's nothing to worry about.

Rand then parted ways with Nidhogg.

In fact, Nidhogg is a very interesting person to Rand.

Rand felt that Vanilla could squeeze more labor out of Nidhogg, as Nidhogg was currently too easy for him.

Rand returned to the streets of the elven town.

Then he got entangled with a human who looked like a slave.

There is a tradition between elves and humans of capturing and enslaving each other.

Among human nobles, elven slaves were considered a fairly good commodity.

Among the elven nobility, human slaves were certainly considered high-quality commodities.

Especially as the Elf Forest becomes increasingly isolated, and there have even been instances of purges against the elves at the points of contact with the outside world, the novelty brought by human slaves becomes even more valuable.

Rand glanced at the human slave.

A young man, with no obvious signs of abuse, but presumably poorly fed and dressed, showing signs of malnutrition.

He begged Rand to rescue him, and for some reason knew that Rand held a high position.

"I suspect some elven nobles are trying to test your intentions," Olina whispered in Rand's ear.

This was certainly not the young man's own decision.

Otherwise, a human slave in an elven town would have no chance to learn about Rand's identity, and even if he did, he wouldn't have the opportunity to run into Rand.

It must have been designed on purpose.

But whether it was planned or not, Rand's idea remained consistent. He was, of course, going through a gradual process.

Rand himself was a very large slave trader, and he would also buy slaves from other slave traders.

Rand was well aware of the disadvantages of slavery in terms of productivity development compared to other systems.

But it would be ridiculous to have Rand directly liberate the slaves.

This is out of step with the times, and forcibly pushing it forward will only backfire quickly due to the backlash from all sides.

Of course, as a modern person, Rand would certainly not think that slavery was a good system.

We can just take it slow and follow the historical precedent.

For example, after reaching a certain point, one is allowed to work hard to redeem oneself, which is similar to the labor reform system in a resort.

Slaves were allowed to purchase their freedom for a certain amount of money, and then the capture and sale of slaves were gradually restricted.

This will gradually curb the system to some extent and lead to a change towards a better system.

Rand knew he would live a long time, so he wasn't in a hurry and planned to achieve his goals in a way that carried less risk.

“I have a job for you. If you’re willing to give up the spirit that drove you to me, I’ll protect you and help you return to the human kingdom. How about it?” Rand blinked.

The human slave feigned ignorance and said, "I don't understand what you're saying. Please help me, Lord Rand."

“If you don’t talk, I have the complete interrogation procedure here, but you don’t think I’ll let you off so easily, do you?” Rand smiled, his expression inscrutable.

The human slave immediately realized the gravity of the situation.

He mentioned several names to Rand.

After hearing this, Rand summoned one of his own men and arranged for the human slave to be sent to the human world.

The names that came up were all unfamiliar to me; they were probably insignificant nobodys.

Rand had no interest in playing a slow detective game, finding all these people, and then causing them trouble.

After that, just have Vanilla keep an eye on it. If it were before, Rand could have brought in Detective Karin to investigate, but now, because of the Torch Goddess Oracle, the Torch Church people are busy studying the situation in the south, so Karin probably won't have time.

That's alright, though. Rand can issue a mission for Luca of the Sunbeam Squad to investigate. With Vanilla's help, Rand feels that the secret hidden behind the scenes shouldn't be too difficult to uncover.

Moreover, Rand actually has a very high opinion of Luca.

Rand felt that Luca must have some good qualities.

After the recent suspected crisis in the south, Rand had spoken with Marcus, and it seemed that Marcus's Thorn family did indeed have some records about the birth of human heroes.

Rand certainly wouldn't be certain what kind of person Luca was, but even disregarding those possibilities, just looking at Luca's current abilities, he was quite a talented individual.

A little while later, Olena received a letter from the magic carrier pigeon. After reading it, she whispered in Rand's ear, "It seems there are cultists causing trouble in the territory. Should we hurry back and deal with it?"

"It's almost time. Let's leave this to Vanilla and head back to our territory." According to Rand's original itinerary, it was almost time to return.

The Moon Kingdom cannot be separated from Rand for too long.

I've already had a lot of fun experiences during this trip to the Fairy Forest.

After that, we just need to proceed gradually.

"Also, His Majesty Berlan said that his affairs can be temporarily put to rest. He should be able to come to the Moon Phase Kingdom in a short time to help you deal with some issues... such as the former king of the Bolen Kingdom, who has already gone into exile overseas but is still plotting to make trouble for us."

Rand indicated that he understood.

……

Meanwhile, Vanilla was on vacation.

However, Vanilla's vacation encountered some setbacks.

Since that precise battle, Vanilla has gained a group of supporters.

Although Vanilla's decision to defend the roads instead of the city walls resulted in the loss of many elves, some elves still harbor resentment towards her.

However, most of the elves are still clever; they know why vanilla did this and understand how amazing it is that vanilla can win at such a low cost.

Furthermore, Vanilla has now held two public lectures on tactical thinking.

This has earned vanilla some fans.

Then Vanilla was recognized as she walked down the street.

He could be considered a student who is eager to learn and has a thirst for knowledge?

They gathered around Vanilla, hoping she could tell them something about the outside world to ease their curiosity and offer some tactical insights.

but!

It's vacation time now.

Vanilla pursed her lips.

She worked as a teacher for a long time and later served as the vice principal of a church school.

This professional instinct makes it quite difficult for Vanilla to refuse to answer students' questions.

But it's vacation time now.

However, there are only 5 days of annual leave in a precious year.

She had already meticulously planned how to spend her vacation time.

Therefore, Vanilla adopted a compromise.

Vanilla adopted the posture of a super tired teacher who had taught seven or eight classes in a row, and looked at her followers with a serious gaze.

Then she picked some students who were walking in front and answered some questions.

Then he covered his forehead with his hand to indicate that he was exhausted and needed to rest.

Sure enough, everyone felt embarrassed to bother Vanilla any further.

Vanilla successfully escaped before the ever-growing encirclement could form.

Once away from the crowd, Vanilla transformed from a tired and aloof middle-aged teacher into a determined vacationer.

As a working person who finally got a vacation.

That's how determined she is! She absolutely cannot let work interfere with her vacation!
She has many things she wants to do after returning to the Elf Forest.

As for those admirers and supporters, they flock around.

What does this have to do with her being a part-time worker?
Vanilla desperately wants to change the current state of the Elf Forest so that her kind can live a better life.

But that doesn't mean she's going to become some kind of elven politician who always has to put on airs to win the support of her own kind.

Vanilla also knew that she had been alienated by Rand's oppression.

But this is the life Vanilla loves.

She doesn't see herself as a puppet of Rand; she has her own things she wants to do and things she wants to change.

But going to work is going to work, leaving get off work is leaving get off work, and taking a vacation is taking a vacation.

(End of this chapter)