Divine Kingship

Chapter 610 The Shadow of the Vanilla Archon is Looming Over the Elf Forest!
The Moon Kingdom and the Dwarf Kingdom have many collaborative projects.

In addition to the key project of parallel research on magical materials and mechanical engineering and forging techniques in alchemy experiments.

There are also some routine livelihood projects, such as the use of hydraulic ore washing machines, the technological prospects of mine ventilation, hydraulic forging hammers, and the optimization research of mine structures, etc.

In short, both the Dwarf Kingdom and the Moon Phase Kingdom will benefit from this cooperation.

Of course, His Highness the Dwarf Prince had no choice but to slink back to the Dwarf Kingdom.

However, thanks to the dwarf prince's strong advocacy, he was allowed to come to the resort for three months of relaxation every year.

This is already a very lenient offer, considering that a round trip from the Moon Phase Kingdom would take several months.

After resolving the cooperation issues related to the Dwarf Kingdom, Rand will set off for the Elf Forest to rescue Archon Vanilla.

Of course, the real reason wouldn't be to so casually solve the problem of Vanilla working overtime without pay and without a break all year round.

This is indeed a big problem, but the real problem is that the war in the Elf Forest is about to officially begin.

The influence of the Vanilla Governor is growing stronger, and it is clear that the people of the Elven Forest are not without discontent, but rather suppressing it, in the face of the long-standing stagnation of the Elven Forest.

Now, a leader has emerged who advocates opening up to the outside world, developing itself, and pursuing improvements in the quality of life and productivity of ordinary people, which has led many elves to decide to flock to the Vanilla Archon.

Now, the other two factions of elven nobles have had to send soldiers to patrol the border to deter the elves who are constantly trying to sneak into the vanilla governor's territory.

The two factions of the elves have now realized the potential of the elven reformists. They clearly understand that if they do not launch a war to annihilate this faction as soon as possible, the war will be unnecessary once the elven reformists have fully developed.

And at such a critical time.

Rand, the benefactor and mastermind, is going to the Elf Forest to secure his own interests.

And in the Elf Forest, there are secrets that Rand wants to know.

"Then it's time to set off again." After bidding farewell to the dwarf king and queen, Rand glanced at the aggrieved dwarf prince with pity before turning back to the high-ranking officials of the Holy Land.

Elsa and Lysa will be accompanying Rand to the Elf Forest this time.

……

At this moment, the Champs-Élysées Kingdom is discussing countermeasures against the Moon Phase Kingdom.

This issue was discussed five months ago, and also three months ago.

Five months ago, several days after Elsa, the terrifying assassin, left the Champs-Élysées Kingdom, the kingdom's top professionals finally dared to report the matter to the ministers and the king.

The king of the Champs-Élysées was furious and incredulous about this.

The king believed that it was merely a consequence of the highest-ranking professionals being afraid of death.

However, the king and ministers of the Champs-Élysées Kingdom soon realized from the attitudes of several top-level professionals that the Moon Kingdom might indeed have terrifyingly powerful individuals.

It's possible that top-tier professionals are afraid of death, but for a being to instill fear and deter many top-tier professionals from different professions from resisting must possess something extraordinary.

Therefore, the related retaliatory actions were dropped.

Three months ago, the Kingdom of Champs-Élysées learned that the Kingdom of Lunar Phases had defeated the ships of the former naval fleet of the Kingdom of Bolun.

This put the Champs-Élysées Kingdom's idea of ​​repurchasing the former naval fleet of the Bolen Kingdom on hold.

The reason this issue is being brought up again today is naturally because there are new considerations.

That is, when they learned that a considerable portion of the Bolun Kingdom's naval fleet was still roaming around, they wanted to take over these fleets, but now they no longer wanted to continue being hostile to the Moon Phase Kingdom.

So now their problem is how to take down the Bolen Kingdom's fleet without escalating the conflict with Rand.

The Kingdom of Champs-Élysées is located near the Endless Sea to the south, and is plagued by mermaids, fishmen, naga, and human pirates from the Endless Sea.

They urgently needed a fleet to guard their territorial waters. The existing, well-organized fleet of the Kingdom of Bolun was too large for them, which was why they had been hesitant.

But now, that's exactly what they need.

"So what should we do now? Our people have already made contact with the remaining fleet of the Kingdom of Bolen, but obviously we can't afford to provoke Rand Nicholas too much right now." The King of the Kingdom of Champs-Élysées looked at his ministers.

“I think we can first contact the Kingdom of the Moon and try to establish friendly relations. We can pay some price to ask them to handle this remaining fleet on our behalf,” said the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Champs-Élysées.

"Do any of you have any other suggestions?" The King of Champs-Élysées looked around at his ministers again.

The kingdom's ministers either remained silent or expressed their support for the Foreign Minister's proposal.

In fact, after Lanta and Chad sabotaged the cooperation between the Bolen Kingdom's fleet and the Champs-Élysées Kingdom, the number of nobles in the Champs-Élysées Kingdom who were hostile to the Moon Phase Kingdom increased.

When personal interests and national security are involved, people start to think rationally again.

The same applies to the king of the Champs-Élysées; in such situations, one should not be too concerned with saving face, but rather with practical interests.

Perhaps only some young and impulsive kings would try to salvage the situation when they are on the verge of death.

If the Kingdom of Champs-Élysées can help Rand deal with the remaining pirate resistance forces of the Kingdom of Bolen, it will be advantageous for Rand.

Because Rand can't handle so many fleets right now, and it also doesn't have much energy to deal with these pirate rebels.

So as long as they can offer Rand benefits, Rand will probably be very willing to hand over these matters to them.

It would be a win-win situation. The Champs-Élysées Kingdom would gain a fleet to handle territorial waters issues, and Rand would no longer need to expend energy chasing down these escaped pirates.

According to the analysis of the national minister, the Moon Phase Kingdom's current development focus should still be on the land.

However, if they continue to be hostile to Rand...

Rand's army certainly couldn't reach the Champs-Élysées; the distance between them was ridiculously long.

This does not mean that Rand is helpless against the Champs-Élysées Kingdom.

It now seems that Rand is holding a lot of troublesome cards in his hand.

For example, those two troublesome people, Ranta and Chad, or the terrifying assassins who instill fear even in the highest-level professionals.

Compared to these troubles, the king and ministers of the Champs-Élysées Kingdom felt it was much more worthwhile to give Rand some benefits in exchange for the opportunity to deal with these fleets.

...It was another rather long journey.

Rand finally arrived at Giantwood City, now the capital of the reformists in the Elf Forest.

This enormous elven town, built before a giant tree, exudes prosperity and grandeur at first glance.

Only with the assistance of elven druids who can communicate with plants can an elven city be protected by trees, thus creating such a magnificent city that coexists harmoniously with nature.

Rand was quite interested in these elven features, but he didn't stop to look at them.

Rand was about to queue to enter the city.

Here, in this day and age, the city's rejection of humans is not as intense as it used to be.

The elven reformists advocate not limiting their vision to the elven forest, but looking towards a wider space, such as the vast ocean or prosperous human settlements.

Thanks to the human technology and resources touted in the propaganda, at least the elven residents of Giantwood City have begun to experience some of the superiority of the outside world.

Not all elven residents can feel this, nor do all elven residents like it, but at least some elven residents have already felt it.

Even if this feeling is very faint.

This subtle change in perception led to a significant shift in the elves' overall view of humans.

At least now, when unarmed humans enter this magnificent wooden city, people are more likely to assume they are there to transport supplies rather than to plunder slaves.

And now the human slaves in the city are being treated better than before.

These changes are still quite preliminary, but Rand sees them as a very good start.

I showed my ID and then entered the city.

Vanilla had already arranged for someone to wait here, so Rand was recognized after only queuing for a short while and then entered the city through a special passage.

There are many elves queuing to enter Giantwood City now. Many of them look like they have fled from other places. They are ragged, emaciated, and hesitant.

Rand also observed that many elves had determined looks in their eyes, and some were even eager to try, perhaps to join the reformist army to defend the current vanilla governor's ideals.

After climbing hundreds of steps, I arrived at the upper floors of the city, the residence of the administrators.

Rand soon met her rivals for the Queen's throne in the Elven Forest, including Vanilla Moonshadow, the governor of 12 cities, including Giantwood City.

The residence of the Herb Administrator is located at the highest point of Giantwood City. It is a palace that is far more elaborate and luxurious than the Royal Palace of Land.

Morning light filters through the layered canopy of leaves, gilding the frosty white palace with gold. The pointed arches with silver relief carvings and the icicle-shaped columns supporting the crystal dome all highlight the ingenuity of the palace's designer.

Sunlight, refracted through multiple facets, transforms into countless silver threads that cascade down to the central fountain. The emerald-painted pool ripples with amber liquid, floating with morning dew. Looking up, one can see the flowing relief on the dome—living silver vines are slowly growing along a predetermined path, and light spots filtering through the openwork drift across the glazed tiles, like scattered diamonds carelessly dropped by the gods.

As Rand walked past these exquisitely designed palace buildings, he soon came across Vanilla, the elven governor, lost in thought before the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows.

Vanilla, dressed in a moonlit silk robe, gazed calmly down at the entire city of giant trees outside the huge French windows in front of her, where her will was embodied.

Rand saw the shimmering light in the vanilla-blue eyes, as if the essence of the sky and clouds had converged there.

Upon their first meeting, Vanilla already possessed the aura of a future queen.

Then, noticing Rand's arrival, Vanilla's expression instantly faltered.

The dignity befitting a ruler vanished in an instant, and Vanilla's face fell. She cried out, "Your Majesty! Save me!"

At first glance, it might seem as if Vanilla came here not to be the ruler above all elves, but to serve her sentence.

Rand gave a haughty snort: "Now you know how good our Holy Land is, right?"

Vanilla nodded vigorously, deeply agreeing with Rand's words.

In the past, when she was working as an elven slave in the Sanctuary and being exploited by Rand, Vanilla often suspected that Rand was an evil lord who liked to exploit slave labor.

For Vanilla, that period meant frequent overtime work, and even precious days off were often spent working.

Although Rand tries her best to make up for the lost vacation time, there are times when she can't make up for it and her vacation time is eaten up like that.

However, Rand will definitely pay her overtime pay, and unless it is a particularly urgent matter, Rand will not ask Vanilla, who has already finished get off work, to come back to work outside of working hours.

Moreover, Vanilla's office and residence are very close to the entertainment and rest areas of the Sanctuary. After get off work, Vanilla can go to the bar for a mixed juice, or go to the restaurant for a big meal, or watch or take photos of some plays to relieve work stress.

Now Vanilla must repent for her past doubts about His Majesty Rand, who was great, kind, wise, tolerant, and benevolent!
Indeed, His Majesty Rand is so kind and benevolent. Under His Majesty Rand, one only needs to work 10 hours a day and has precise working hours and fixed holidays.

Then, after leaving the protection of His Majesty Rand, the cruelty of the outside world bombarded Vanilla.

Vanilla witnessed firsthand what it means to work 24/7 and to work without ever having a holiday.

This is a nightmare!!!
Although saving and changing everything in the Fairy Forest was indeed Vanilla's choice from the bottom of her heart.

Vanilla does want to learn from what she sees in order to change things.

The Elf Forest was once a frozen amber, a silent tomb, and Vanilla wanted to bring some life to it.

But working 24 hours a day is really not something a normal elf can handle, right?
Whenever something happened, a servant would come to report it. Even things that could be decided by the subordinates would be reported to Xiangcao for a final decision.

There are also frequent instances where elves deliberately cause trouble just to catch a glimpse of Archmage Vanilla's dignified appearance, so that Vanilla will personally handle the situation.

Not to mention that there are always some elves who want to test Vanilla's bottom line, or who really want to fight for some immediate benefits or power.

Besides finishing your own work, having to scheme against some dim-witted people is really exhausting.

And every now and then, some incredibly incompetent people would try to assassinate her. Didn't they know that her teacher was the black dragon mage Nidhogg?

The work is never-ending, the enemies to be defeated are everywhere, the political process is flawed, and the training of the army is unregulated.

Vanilla felt like she was going to develop dementia.

"Help! Your Majesty!" Vanilla said again.

(End of this chapter)