Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 106 A Friendly Visit

"call!"

Rean sheathed his flaming sword and shook off the blood.

His calm gaze swept over the dark elves not far away.

No one dared to meet his gaze.

After all, there were already two burning corpses lying in front of him.

When faced with the Paladin's detection of evil, most of them glow red, and the Demon Slayer never knows what it means to show mercy.

"Clang." Ignoring those cowards, Rean sheathed his sword and silently turned to leave.

It looks like this shopping trip is going to be a bust.

He turned around and walked more than a hundred meters before returning to the inn called "The Unreachable Song of Silk".

The caravan's carriages were already parked nearby, and two spider-woman warriors were guarding the gate; they were more adapted to the local environment than the outsiders.

This inn, with its name reminiscent of the morbidity of dark elves, has only three floors and is quite luxuriously decorated. It has been booked out by a delegation of orc ambassadors from abroad.

However, most people remained in the lobby on the first floor because many were worried that they wouldn't wake up if they slept alone in their rooms.

After all, in just one night, they had already encountered at least four waves of assassins and countless thieves.

Rean's spare swords were all chipped and dulled, so he had to pick up the Hero's Sword again.

He finally understood the benefits of this supposedly indestructible holy sword metal, and it felt really satisfying to cut through it all.

Others encountered similar problems, not only due to the enemy's armor, but also due to various drugs and supernatural abilities.

Rean had already encountered several "Bombermen" with poisonous blood, and if he hadn't reacted quickly, he probably would have been injured.

"How's the situation?" the gatekeeper asked casually.

“Not good. They probably don’t want us to leave.” As Rean answered, he turned around and saw pairs of eyes watching him.

He walked back to the hotel lobby, where countless eyes were watching him through the drawn curtains.

From the moment I checked into this hotel, there were at least dozens of surveillance teams outside.

The hostility and the undisguised murderous intent were laid bare.

The group, which had shrunk to about twenty people, was quite nervous.

Dark elves are notorious for their expertise in poisoning and murder. Although no one in the troupe has died yet, they have already suffered too many attempted murders.

"Don't worry, don't worry, they are quite friendly."

Only the magical girl Purple Rose in the hall was happily playing cards with the others, seemingly completely unaffected.

"Two dark elf assassins, activate the poison and curse chain. Waaah, chain complete! Little Kuku, your red dragon is dead!" However, this card game itself seems a bit strange.

"This game is awful! The big red dragon in the late game! And you can still get poisoned to death by two petty thieves! I'm not playing anymore! I'm not playing anymore!" Kuku jumped onto the table, furious, perfectly demonstrating what it means to quit or not be able to afford to play.

Not only Purple Rose, but also Kuku, who has become too lazy to act, has completely let loose.

"How could this happen! I just bought this card! It's a local exclusive!" Purple Rose pouted, hurriedly trying to salvage her newly purchased local card.

"Overpowered cards! Terrible cards! Remove them from the card pool!"

They were playing "Heroes of All Things," a simple card game that simulates real-world professions, races, and monsters, and also includes cards representing cities and terrain. It's a long-standing battlefield simulation game.

In most slightly larger cities, there are shops run by hobbyists, and because the cost is very low and there are no copyright issues, many ordinary people love to play with it.

Because of the lack of copyright, each region has its own "local cards," such as the overpowered Assassin and Poison cards of the Dark Elf.

"Rean, you're back? Did you get the card? Come on, come on!"

"I encountered two groups of troublemakers before I even left the house."

Rean sat back down on the sofa, which was surprisingly warm.

The furniture and decorations of these dark elves are quite nice, both elegant and sturdy; my armor didn't even break down from sitting on it.

Rean went out under the guise of "going out to buy a gift card," but everyone knew he was actually testing the waters to see how far the other party would allow him to go.

He is genuinely interested in the local culture, especially the local shops and markets. He would be even more interested in visiting the monk's shop if he could.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to even leave the street, let alone get to the commercial street.

"Hehe, I can sell you a set. Look, this is 'The Destroyer' Solor Koven, the legendary Dark Elf hero who slaughtered seven great families in one night! This card is extremely rare here too."

Meanwhile, Purple Rose was still showing off her local hero card.

The official mark on this card indicates that it is officially recognized (by the Mainland China Wanxiang Card Association) and is not a local, overpowered card that is not recognized elsewhere.

Rean was speechless. Did you really think I was going to buy cards? Although I was indeed a card player in the past and did have some interest in collecting, I'm not so clueless about the current situation.

Rean ventured out to test the locals' attitude towards his group; some things can only be truly understood through personal experience.

But the result was quite bad. The worst part was that the local forces and organizations were hostile, but even the children on the street wanted to shoot themselves with crossbows.

This means that if an ambitious person were to start a war, the fire could easily spread with just a little instigation.
"This place is a bonfire about to explode. They might see the city's troubles as trouble caused by us. Well, that's not entirely wrong."

Beasts and orcs are destined enemies, a huge, intertwined problem.

These dark elves, "exiled" here by the dark elf society to guard the city, are truly unlucky souls affected by the troubles of their race.

During this period, the number of monsters outside has increased, and their city will definitely be under tremendous pressure.

With a little guidance, people will naturally develop hatred towards earthly people, and this hatred is logically consistent.

Rean lay down on the sofa, too lazy to think anymore. It seemed his group was stuck here, unable to go anywhere. After entering the city last night, he submitted a request to meet with the city lord, but had not received any response so far.

This is undoubtedly a terrible development. The key person is nowhere to be seen, and our side is also vaguely being held here, with the surrounding local residents watching us like hawks.

Sallyman sighed and glanced out the window; she was almost frail.

Purple Rose looked completely relaxed. Was she really indifferent?

"No, no, no, this is actually the best possible outcome." But Purple Rose had a completely different view on these things.

"Is now the best?" Rean fell silent, not believing that Purple Rose would deceive him.

If we consider her conclusion as a premise, and look at the issue from a different perspective, is there something we haven't seen before?
"It really is true that not meeting is the best way to meet."

Driven by overwhelming hostile public opinion, both among the people and the upper echelons, what kind of pleasantries could be expected when meeting with envoys from the opposing side? The two, hot-tempered, meeting in full view of everyone would only escalate their argument, eventually leading to a physical fight amidst the cheers of onlookers.

If she were truly received by the city lord, what response could she offer? A promise of no war? If they exchanged harsh words, any future cooperation would be impossible.

The fact that the other party did not immediately meet with the envoy, nor did they angrily rebuke him to boost public opinion and prestige, nor did they directly order his arrest, strongly suggests that they intended to conduct a private deal or cooperation.

Purple Rose is right; this lack of reaction is indeed the best outcome.

"Here you go, this is your deck. It's a local player's starting pack, full of overpowered local cards. It's a shame you can only find people to play with here."

The real hint came from the unopened card holder that Purple Rose offered with such eagerness.

She was always in the hotel, so how did she buy the local card pack, and how did she buy it several times?

Rean immediately understood; it seemed that her clone or some kind of proxy was currently active outside.

The real deals and negotiations often take place in the shadows.

The arrival of the delegation and their willingness to talk are enough; the fact that they are here is sufficient.

The rest? Let those who want to talk sneak up on their own.

"Great! Come on, count me in."

So, the cheerful card player Lee Eun-suk returns, let's continue today's card game.

To be honest, the design of this card game is quite similar to some card games I remember. It has both hero units and regular units. Although the balance is terrible, it's actually quite fun.

He was surprised to find that the card designs of his Heroic Soul cards were quite similar to those of these Hero cards.

After relaxing, Rean can also experience the local customs and culture.

If this were truly a tourist city, it would be quite nice. The streets are clean and well-designed, without the animalistic smell or rotting garbage of other cities. Everywhere you can see statues and decorations of goddesses holding water bottles, making it a clearly theocratic city.

The interior furnishings are also quite tasteful, after all, they are elves. But Rean has heard that dark elves are a short-lived species of elves, with a maximum lifespan of no more than two hundred years. However, their ability to reproduce and grow is also in line with the standards of short-lived species, so it is hard to say whether it is a degeneration or an evolution.

Incidentally, Rean has begun to suspect that the Underworld is a matriarchal society. The streets here are still predominantly inhabited by female dark elves, and most of the noble dark elf priests are also high-ranking members of their respective families. In particular, the head of a family is invariably their matriarch.

In a sense, this is also a problem with the former chief god, Lolth, but among the current seven dark elf gods, only one is male and one is of unknown race (supposedly a slime monster).

As a theocratic society, priests and nobles here are considered equivalent.

The dark elf priests looked at Rean with displeasure, as if he were some rare collectible.

To avoid causing any additional trouble, it would be best for Rean not to go out unnecessarily.
"Tsk, I could clearly sense that the two little black dragons were right here."

But now is clearly not the time to create unnecessary trouble.

The delegation's fishing tactics did have some effect; in the dead of night and early morning, some locals sneaked up.

But the first friendly visitor who rushed to the door was quite subtle.

"Fellow Arks, have you come to liberate us?"

The leader of the slave rebellion has secretly come to us, and at least 70% of the local slaves are beastmen from various branches.

They had been enslaved by the local dark elves for a long time and had never given up resisting. Now that they heard that people from their homeland had come, they were naturally anxious.

This is undoubtedly an unexpected "trouble." If we really agree to their rebellion, we might have to consider how to start a war between the two cities.

Purple Rose spoke after the resistance leader left in disappointment.

"They are used for fishing. Dark elves are a very cruel race, and their slave-taming techniques are quite sophisticated. Properly training a resistance force and regularly 'relieving stress' can effectively alleviate the slaves' will to resist."

She paused for a moment, then revealed an even crueler reality.

"Perhaps the dark elves sent them here to test our attitude."

This is just the beginning.

Then more visitors, some real and some fake, came to her door, and Suliman was exhausted from dealing with them all.

Some came to sell their counterfeit goods, some came to threaten to hand over all your goods, some came to express their racial superiority, and some were swindlers who claimed to have connections to get the envoys to meet the city lord.

Ninety-nine percent of them were meaningless, and Rean had witnessed the diversity of the Dark Elves.

But finally, just before dawn, a woman wearing a cloak came to the door.

"This is the city lord, 'Daughter of the Black Blade' Verna Talabal." The figure, who had just put down her cloak as introduced by the servant, had white hair, red eyes, and a beautiful face, but her expression was icy.

Behind her, her attendants were carrying plates on which were placed the heads of all the visitors that night!

The real envoy, Suliman, was already deathly pale.

"Welcome, welcome." The cheerful Purple Rose greeted them directly, as if she hadn't seen this bloody intimidation.

(End of this chapter)