This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

Moreover, because they had suffered hardships and acted subserviently under the noses of humans for a thousand years, they were forced to relearn the pragmatism that had been forgotten for many years.

Thanks to this cultural heritage, the elves of the Emerald Crown Duchy may not be wealthy, but the people are of high quality, and their level of education still puts the empire to shame.

As the empire has developed to this point, although its higher education system for the aristocracy is relatively well-organized, its basic education remains a complete mess.

As for the less developed north, the situation is even more complicated.

Take Lagug as an example. Although it now has a population of over 300,000 and is expected to surpass 400,000 by the end of the year, the census data is making Dick quite nervous.

Chapter 93. An illiteracy rate of 5%! The population with basic reading and writing skills is less than 20,000!

In contrast, the elves, with their high level of education and mastery of one or two mid-to-high-end skills, are undoubtedly highly qualified talents, and they are readily available and can be used immediately.

At a time when local talent is still receiving basic education, these little sprites can solve Dick's urgent problem!

However, Dick did not accept the Emerald Duke's marriage proposal and deliberately ignored the butler Paul who came to negotiate, putting on an act of "I have absolutely no interest in you elves".

Dick refused the marriage alliance not only because of emotional concerns, but also because he considered that if he married the Emerald Duke's youngest daughter, the elves who later immigrated would become the Countess's "family." The Emerald Duke's practice of arranging marriages with human nobles was indeed motivated by this intention, making it easier for his former settlers to use this status to secure preferential treatment or even privileges for the community.

From the elves' perspective, their motives are understandable, but as the ruler of the territory, Dick's most important task is to treat everyone equally, rather than favoring one group. He must prevent such a thing from happening in the first place.

Deliberately leaving Paul hanging is a common tactic to gain the upper hand in negotiations. Dick wanted the elves to come to him, rather than him having to beg them.

Of course! Not giving them preferential treatment doesn't mean Dick will mistreat them. As long as you work hard and serve the lord in Lagug, whether you are an elf, a human, or a dwarf, Dick, as the ruler, will do his best to protect the legitimate interests of his people from harm.

In fact, while Dick was out inspecting the territory, Ruby Eyes, who was the main negotiator, had already begun negotiations with Paul.

The female demon queen not only has top-notch domestic affairs skills, but also first-rate negotiation skills, which make even Paul, who is confident in his thousand years of negotiation experience, unknowingly be led by the nose by her.

When Dick returned to the main city with Ayane, who was practically overflowing with moisture, they had already finalized a fairly comprehensive immigration plan. All aspects of the plan perfectly aligned with Lagug's interests and needs, yet Paul felt it was worthwhile and basically acceptable.

According to this plan, the Jade Crown Duchy will send 2,000 immigrants to Lagog by the end of the year, four times the minimum of 500 for Paul. However, the Lagog lord's mansion has put forward as many as 19 requirements for these immigrants, including the age distribution, gender ratio and type of talent among them.

The lord's manor will provide these people with a full range of basic living necessities, including food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, and grant them the official status of Lagug citizens, allowing them to enjoy the same rights as other citizens within the territory.

However, all the elves who immigrated here had to sign a labor contract with the lord for a period of one hundred years, and completely obey the lord's work arrangements for them.

A hundred years is not a long time for elves, but it's not unacceptable.

Dick carefully reviewed the proposal negotiated by Ruby Eyes, found no problems, and signed and stamped the document, thus officially approving it.

"Oh, by the way, Paul has also sent a lot of gifts these days, all of them expensive jewelry, which he said were on behalf of the Emerald Duke and given to the Earl."

As she spoke, Red Jade Eyes took out several jewelry boxes from the safe and handed them to Dick.

Dick casually opened one of them, revealing a ruby ​​necklace of exceptional quality. Its vibrant, blood-red color perfectly complemented the red-haired, red-eyed female demon, indicating that Paul had put thought into it.

Dick took out the necklace, walked behind Ruby Eyes, and personally put it on her fair neck.

"Yes, you're a perfect match."

"You want me to wear this to negotiate with the elves? Paul is probably misunderstanding."

"I don't think he misunderstood."

As Dick spoke, he reached out and adjusted the position of the gem pendant on Ruby Eye. Then, his not-so-clean little hand naturally slipped into the open collar of Ruby Eye's knitted shirt and began to stroke the snowball on the right side of Ruby Eye.

Red Jade Eyes merely uttered a coquettish "You're so annoying," but did not stop Dick from taking advantage of the situation. Her increasingly rapid breathing indicated that she also enjoyed this intimate contact between lovers.

"No...this is my office!"

"I know, but don't you think it's exciting to do something indecent in a respectable place?"

"You rascal, you really did plan this all along."

"You're the one who's seducing me, okay? White shirt, pencil skirt, black stockings, and high heels, plus those rimless glasses that are the perfect finishing touch. You've worn every single one of the dress codes I casually mentioned last time. I'm not that clueless about romance."

Dick pushed Ruby Eyes' voluptuous and alluring body onto the desk and pounced on her like a tiger, using his hands and mouth to adjust her into a shape that better suited his fantasies. Then he rewarded Ruby Eyes for her successful negotiation.

How could he not get a promotion? He absolutely deserves a huge promotion!

Meanwhile, Paul was unaware that Dick, who had just returned, had already approved the plan and was even considering expanding the scope of the gifts to include the beauties at the hospital and the private cavalry, who were also supposedly the lord's mistresses, in order to increase the level of influence on Dick's bedside.

But just as Paul was planning his next move, an elven maid suddenly rushed in from outside, bringing him devastating news that was like a bolt from the blue.

Miss Ferrina has unexpectedly disappeared!?

Chapter 179: The Professional Yet Careless Kidnapper

The young lady of the elves has gone missing. She disappeared in the market in the eastern part of the main city, in the busiest part of the city at noon, right under the noses of her maids and guards.

According to the account given by her accompanying maid, someone deliberately created chaos nearby, causing the maid and guards who were originally following closely behind Ferrina to be separated by the chaotic crowd. The maid then vaguely heard the young lady scream, but when she and the guards separated from the crowd to look for her, the young lady was gone.

Upon learning of this news, Dick immediately dispatched a large-scale search throughout the city.

Kidnapping a living person in broad daylight on the street is a heinous crime that hasn't happened in Lagug for some time since Dick launched his campaign to suppress bandits and riots. Moreover, the location is the main city of the territory, and the kidnapped person is a "foreign guest." It's practically a direct slap in the face to mock Dick.

These are no ordinary kidnappers; we must strike hard!

As the head of the intelligence agency under Dick, Tia quickly took over the case. Dick ordered her to find the person as quickly as possible and bring him back intact. For this, the military and political departments in the territory would fully cooperate with "Forget-Me-Not"'s operation, and Dick himself would also obey her orders.

Professional matters should be handled by professionals. When it comes to investigation and solving cases, Dick is far inferior to Tia, who has received professional spy training.

Tia first went to the crime scene herself to investigate. Although the incident occurred in a busy area, there were many permanent vendor stalls on both sides of the street. The kidnapped Felina was an exceptionally beautiful half-elf girl, someone who would definitely leave an impression on most people.

She also sent a special "middleman" to contact local underground forces.

Dick used an iron fist to wipe out the original gangs and criminal organizations in Laguge. Those gang members are now in labor camps, either farming or sewing.

However, some "gray" underground forces have been intentionally preserved, such as intelligence brokers and black market merchants with particularly extensive connections. Intelligence brokers often act as informants, and when the lord's mansion needs to purchase contraband that cannot be sold openly on the market, they will send intermediaries to place orders with black market merchants.

Based on the intelligence gathered, Tia discovered that the kidnappers were a team, well-trained and working closely together, and were definitely not thugs or human traffickers who were driven by lust.

Because Ferrina's maids and guards are all warriors trained in martial arts, and she herself possesses strength equivalent to a mid-level mage, and is said to carry more than one magical amulet, even if she were to be ambushed at close range, she wouldn't be someone an ordinary person could take down silently.

It's worth mentioning that, in addition to conventional investigative methods, Dick also used some mystical skills. Lucoa tried to find Ferrina's location through divination, but could only confirm that she was still alive and currently in the city. However, when Lucoa wanted to further confirm her exact location, she was interfered with by a mysterious force.

In other words, the kidnappers even had methods to deal with divination.

"I think I've figured out who the kidnappers are. It's most likely that it's the Dead Tree Gang terrorists causing trouble again. Looks like they really want to fight me!"

When his opponent displays strength above average, Dick almost immediately thinks of the Dead Tree Gang, with whom he has a grudge. The curse incident a while ago was clearly their doing, and it can be said that they have been trying to find ways to cause trouble for Dick.

Upon learning that his young mistress was likely kidnapped by the Dead Tree Gang, Paul panicked and begged Dick to rescue her as soon as possible. Miss Ferrina was a half-elf, and in the hands of those "elf-supremacist" lunatics, her life was in constant danger.

The Duchy of Emerald Crown and the Deadwood Party also have a considerable grudge. The Deadwood Party thinks that the former are a bunch of spineless surrenderers who want to merge with humans and have no right to call themselves noble elves.

The principality, on the other hand, believes that the reason it has completely sided with the human race is because you, the group of restorationists, have betrayed us and almost caused our country to perish!

Back then, the second-generation Jade Grand Duke was tricked into launching a rebellion against the Empire. As a result, the Dead Tree Party, who promised to come and fight alongside them, did not send a single Dead Tree Party reinforcement until the Imperial army had been relentlessly harassing the Duchy for almost three months. Therefore, the rebellion failed as expected.

Later, the younger brother of the second Grand Duke ascended to the throne, becoming the current third Grand Duke. The Dead Tree Party shamelessly sent envoys again, attempting to repeat their old tricks. Feeling insulted, the new Grand Duke immediately beheaded the envoy who came to persuade him, thus completely severing ties between the two sides.

Interestingly, after the two sides broke off relations, the leaders of the Dead Tree Party originally planned to send Hammuradi, the "King of Assassins," to kill the third Grand Duke, just as they had done with the first Grand Duke. However, Hammuradi never made a move, allowing the third Grand Duke to live to this day.

According to Hammuradi's diary, he did go, but discovered that the Duchy had already laid an ambush. The third Grand Duke anticipated that the Withered Tree Party would assassinate him, so he sought help from the Empire in advance, borrowing three Saint-level experts and a highly targeted artifact. Unfortunately, Hammuradi discovered this in advance and did not walk headlong into the trap.

Having confirmed that Ferrina was still inside the city, Dick did not immediately order the city gates sealed. He feared that alerting the elves would provoke them into taking desperate measures. However, taking no action at all would also arouse suspicion. Therefore, he had missing person posters with Ferrina's portrait posted, treating it as a simple kidnapping case.

However, to the surprise of everyone in the lord's manor, the day after the missing person notice was posted, a concerned citizen took the initiative to go to the city garrison to report that he had seen the elven girl in the portrait.

The person who reported the incident was a five-year-old girl whose family runs a hotel in the western part of the city.

She claimed that last night, while feeding stray cats in the alley behind her hotel, she heard someone calling her. Following the sound, she found a beautiful blonde woman inside a basement ventilation window. The woman asked her to deliver a message to the lord's manor and gave her a handkerchief as a token.

However, after receiving the handkerchief, the little girl did not immediately report the incident to the police. Instead, she went home and told her parents about it.

The girl's parents initially didn't want to get involved. Even though Dick had wiped out most of the criminal gangs and greatly improved local security, the ingrained mindset of ordinary people couldn't be changed overnight, and they were still subconsciously afraid of being retaliated against by bad guys.

It wasn't until the next morning that they saw the missing person notice on the bulletin board and the reward of two hundred gold coins for information leading to their arrest.

Upon seeing the handkerchief the little girl produced, Ferrina's maid confirmed that it belonged to the young lady. Dick immediately mobilized his most capable and elite troops to prepare for the rescue of the hostage.

Chapter 180: Should I fight a Saint-rank opponent?

"Boom, boom, boom."

In the old streets and alleys of the western district of Laguge's main city, a seemingly honest and unremarkable man, carrying a large sack in each hand, kicked the door at the deepest part of the alley.

After a while, the door slowly opened a crack, and a wary eye appeared from the shadows inside. It sized up the man several times before speaking in a low, clearly displeased tone.

"You're typing it wrong, you bastard."

"Look where I have any spare hands, open the door now!"

Before the person inside could speak again, the man outside impatiently rammed the door open and entered the house. He then casually threw the two sacks he was carrying on his shoulder onto the ground, making a clear metallic clanging sound from inside.

The person inside the door appeared to be an old man with a white beard, but he was upright, had sharp eyes, and held a cane like a warrior carrying his sword, exuding the aura of a martial arts expert.

Looking at his careless and unruly companion, the old man hesitated, but ultimately didn't say anything, only silently complaining to himself.

Since Hammuradi died, the organization's new recruits have become increasingly incompetent.

The old man carefully closed the door, hung up the alarm bell, and touched his bracelet. His appearance quickly transformed into that of an elf. The man who returned carrying the goods was also an elf in disguise, but his true form was a brown-skinned elf, also known as a grassland elf. This type of elf mostly comes from the Stream River Principality in the southern grasslands of the continent.

The two went down the stairs to the underground, where two other elves were resting. They were spies planted in the main city of Lagug by the Dead Tree Party. The leader of the squad was the elf who had turned into an old man, named "Azwara". His squad only had six members in total, and two of them were still out and had not returned. The remaining members had to take turns keeping watch.

Azwara walked up to the sleeping elf and called his name several times without waking him. Finally, in a fit of anger, he kicked the elf off the bed. The elf then got up from the ground with a bewildered look on his face. The elf's stupid expression, as if his brain had crashed, made Azwara's blood pressure soar.

The Dead Tree Party has been having a run of bad luck lately. First, their two Red Sticks, Han Muradi, were caught off guard and suffered a major setback. Then, last year, the Empire launched a targeted sweep that resulted in heavy losses for them.

Normally, after suffering such a heavy blow, the organization should hide and lie low for a while, at least to replenish its lost personnel. But the higher-ups insisted on carrying out some kind of "revenge operation" with the organization's few remaining people under these circumstances, which truly shows they don't treat these lower-ranking elves as human beings.

Azwara couldn't help but curse under his breath at the thought of the task assigned to him. He was to avenge Hammuradi by assassinating Count Dick Best of Ragug.

Upon receiving the order, Azwara's expression was just like that of Benboerba when he heard "Go and eliminate Tang Sanzang and his disciples"—a silence tinged with grievance and an indescribable sense of collapse.

Am I supposed to fight a Saint-rank character? Huh! Really?

However, not only was the mission a mess, but the support was also inadequate.

Azwara's action team, at full strength, should have twelve members. Previously, they were operating in the capital, but faced the empire's iron-fisted suppression. By the time they withdrew from the capital, more than half of their personnel had been lost.

Even so, half of them had to be separated to form a new action team, and then four rookies who seemed unreliable and were actually quite untrustworthy were added to the team.

The Dead Tree Party generally recruits members in two ways: "internal recruitment" and "external recruitment." Internal recruitment refers to elves who grew up in island settlements in the outer seas. They have received rigorous training and a complete "Zionist education" from a young age. They are both powerful and loyal to the organization. Azwara and another of his old teammates are of this background.

External recruitment refers to elves who are attracted by elven restorationist ideology and actively join the Dead Tree Party. These mainly come from the three "puppet kingdoms" under human control, but also include some elven slaves who have "awakened" to their own power.

The new recruits from outside the company not only vary in quality, but also lack strong willpower.

Some young people in the new generation are just having a fit of teenage angst, thinking that joining a resistance organization is cool. But when they actually see blood, they're lucky if they don't wet their pants from fear.

Azwara's action team now has four of these recruited "newbies," none of them particularly skilled, and none of them have even received complete training, yet they were added to the front-line team to accompany Azwara on the most difficult assassination missions.

It makes one sigh that the Dead Tree Party truly has run out of troops!

As a veteran who had faced countless life-and-death situations on the front lines for hundreds of years, Azwara had long lost the youthful fervor with which he was willing to sacrifice his life for the organization. Reason told him that the Dry Tree Party's ambition to restore their kingdom was nothing but a pipe dream, and the mission that had once filled him with immense pride had become just a job. If betraying the organization didn't trigger the curse planted within him, Azwara would have quit long ago.

Left with no other choice, Azwara, who neither wanted to go to his death nor was afraid of being discovered slacking off by his superiors, inexplicably figured out the ingenious use of "outsourcing".

Perhaps the higher-ups also felt that it was a bit too much to ask him to assassinate a Saint-level mage with only six people, so they doubled the funds allocated to him for his mission.

Azwara used the money to hire a human assassin to kill Dick.

Their going is equivalent to Azwara going too.

Just recently, Dick left the castle to inspect the territory, and Azwara tricked those "stinky outsiders" who had just arrived in Lagug into assassinating Dick by taking advantage of their incomplete information.

These assassins thought they were just going to kill an ordinary person. They set off with the address provided by Azwara, only to find out when they arrived at the location that their target was Count Ragug himself.

Dick was quite puzzled for a while. What were these assassins doing? Didn't they know they were Saint-level?

Yes, the assassins who were tricked into coming here really didn't know.

However, things took an unexpected turn yesterday. Azwara was shopping for supplies at the market with another of his men when they unexpectedly encountered the youngest daughter of the Emerald Duke.

Azwara had visited the Emerald Duchy decades ago and seen Felina's true face at a celebration. He had also heard that the Emerald Grand Duke, who was keen on marriage alliances with the imperial nobility, had sent an envoy to Lagug. So when he saw Felina strolling around, he was suddenly struck by a bold idea.

He planned to kidnap Felina, take her as a trophy to his superiors, and try to use this achievement to get himself another mission.

The kidnapping of Felina was effortless. Azwara and another experienced companion worked together to ambush and knock Felina unconscious. They then took advantage of the commotion to quickly leave the scene, taking her back to their hideout. Using anti-tracking witchcraft tools, they concealed Felina, thus influencing the divination results.

Everything was going smoothly up to this point, but Azwara and his companion made a foolish mistake. Instead of leaving the city before the gate guards received the news of the blockade, they planned to lie in wait in their hideout inside the city while another experienced companion went out first to set up false trails to attract and mislead their pursuers.

This is what is known as "openly repairing the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang pass!"

Unaware that he had been exposed, Azwara was waiting for another experienced teammate to draw the attention away from the lord's manor so that he could lead his men out of the city.

As Azwara was pondering his next move, he saw his subordinate, who was carrying a tray to deliver food to Felina, fly backwards out of the inner room in an extremely exaggerated manner.

"What's going on? The woman's awake?"

Startled by the sudden turn of events, Azwara slammed his fist on the table and stood up. His first instinct was that the anesthetic on Felina had worn off, and he was about to go check on her when the ceiling above him suddenly cracked open, and a female knight in full black plate armor descended from the sky, blocking their path between them and the dungeon.