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Anders was about to respond, but upon seeing the curious looks of the elves around him, he abandoned the prepared set of words he had in mind.

Instead, he honestly stated, “We are the vassals of a Count stationed at the Borderlands of the Holy Maniya Empire. This time, we were fortunate enough to be employed by Lord Black Dragon to help transport his livestock. We just didn’t expect to encounter those mercenaries on our way back.”

“They found out about Lord Black Dragon and targeted him… It really wasn’t our idea!”

“Borderland Count?”

“Holy Maniya Empire?”

The players exchanged puzzled looks.

However, the nearby Demacia player brightened up and quickly said, “I knew this actually! I heard from the E—”

“Cough, cough…“

Li Mu cleared his throat twice.

Demacia:” …”

He refrained from using the term “elves” and chuckled, before continuing, “I heard from an NPC who returned… that it’s a human empire in the north, and the Borderland Count’s domain is the closest human settlement to the Elven Forest.”

“I see!”

“A new map! This is definitely a future map!”

“Are we finally going to interact with the human faction!?”

Excitement filled the players as they listened to Demacia’s explanation.

Anders, however, was slightly surprised by the enthusiasm showed by the elves around him.

Hmm?

They didn’t know the empire?

The Holy Maniya Empire was the most powerful human nation on Saigües, and it is also where the headquarters of the Eternal Church is located. Its reputation stretched from the southern continent all the way to the far northern tundras, known mostly by all inhabitants living within this continent.

How could these elves not heard of it?

Not to mention that Holy Maniya Empire was the biggest proprietor of elven slaves!

While Anders felt puzzled, Li Mu asked another question,

“How far is the Borderland Count’s domain from here?”

Anders reluctantly replied, “Follow this road and head northeast for over fifty kilometers, and you’ll reach the empire’s border. If you’re aiming for the nearest human city, then you might need to cover several tens of kilometers more.”

Li Mu, upon hearing Anders’ words, checked the system’s minimap.

If what the other party said is true, then the Borderland Count’s domain is probably about four hundred kilometers away from the center of the map, and even the Black Dragon Castle, stationed on the edge of the elven territory, is still likely more than a hundred kilometers away!

That was nearly a hundred kilometers beyond the map’s current maximum range of activity…

Seeing this seemingly leader of the Elves fall into silence, Anders grew more anxious.

He cautiously asked, “U-Um… Lord Mu, do you… have any more questions? If not, can you finally let us go? We’re just some poor townsfolk.”

Yet Li Mu remained silent, just standing there, pondering something to himself.

Anders became even more fearful.

After some thought, the butler said again, “A-Are you worried that we’ll reveal what happened here when we return? You can trust us! We’ll keep our mouths shut. If you don’t believe us, then we can even swear upon the gods we believe in!”

Just as Anders was feeling anxious, Li Mu asked another question.

“How strong is the Borderland Count?”

The Count’s strength?

Anders was slightly taken aback.

Then, when he saw the expectant eyes of the elves around him, he suddenly felt a sinking feeling…

Wait…

These elves…

They couldn’t be planning to target the Count’s domain, could they!?

Anders’ face turned ashen pale in an instant.

Thinking back to what the elves had done to the mercenaries earlier, it was entirely possible!

However, facing a life-or-death situation, Anders hesitated for a moment before responding with honesty,

“The Count… holds the esteemed title of a Golden-ranked Paladin and is among the seven princes of the Empire. His strength is formidable… Furthermore, the Count commands his own Order of Knights, boasting a hundred knights who all hold the rank of Silver…”

These were actually not some classified secrets and just about everyone living within the Borderlands knows about this fact.

At least…anyone wouldn’t have much difficulty finding out about this if someone wanted to inquire about it.

So, Anders gave a straightforward answer.

But the elves’ reaction was somewhat unexpected.

“Well fuck!”

“Damn!!”

“Yeah well, we still can’t mess with that…”

“Golden rank? and over one hundred Silver knights? Isn’t that too overpowered?”

Huh?

Could it be… these elves weren’t as powerful as he initially thought?

Anders felt a twinge of relief.

However, before he could entertain any further thoughts, the words of the elves that followed sent shivers down his spine.

“Shouldn’t we just kill these people? It wouldn’t be good to attract retaliation, you know…”

Anders: “…”

“N-No! We promise not to say anything! I impore you, please spare us! We promise!”

His heart sank.

But Li Mu simply waved his hand and said, “Release them, let them go.”

The rest of the players hesitated.

Seeing their reluctance, Li Mu quickly explained via the party chat,

– This Count’s domain is outside of the map, and since these human NPCs are from there, releasing them might actually trigger some potential storyline developments in the future, or even unlock a new playable map!

– Killing them here would only yield a few hundred experience points, and keeping them captive serves no purpose. It’s a waste of resources. Frankly I think it’s better to just let them all go.

– As for the possibility of human retaliation… wouldn’t that outcome be even better for us? It would give us chance to gain EXP and equipment! Plus, If there’s an enemy we can’t handle, then we have a Godwarden and the Goddess herself to back us up!

Upon reading Li Mu’s explanation, the players were taken aback.

Right…

That makes sense.

If they can win, then the players will handle it themselves.

But if they can’t, then they’ll just seek the Goddess’s help!

After all, with the Goddess supporting them, she wouldn’t permit anyone to seize their faction’s territory, wouldn’t she?

Thinking of this, the rest of the players no longer opposed the idea of releasing these human NPCs.

Over the past few months playing the game, Li Mu had made almost no mistakes in predicting the NPC’s behavior and story developments, which solidified his position as the leading figure in this field.

In this regard, no one’s judgment was more convincing than his.

Following their discussion, the players finally released the dozen or so ordinary humans, much to their relief.

“Go! Get out of here!”

Anders was overjoyed, feeling as if he were a convict on the guillotine who had miraculously received a royal pardon at the very last moment. He hurriedly led his subordinates away, as if afraid the elves might suddenly change their minds.

Having let the humans go, the players continued to clean up the battlefield, even starting to draw an offering circle to offer to the Goddess some of the salvaged equipment they had found.

“The Borderland Count?”

Evé watched as Anders and the others fled in haste from the perspective of the players.

This time, Evé didn’t seized the opportunity to steer the plot towards future map expansion, nor issue any new quests regarding the humans.

Since the players still need to deal with the impending religious war against the Orcs, expanding the playable map into human territory would be a distraction and should be temporarily put on hold for the time being.

After all, once they made contact with humans, it meant becoming entangled with more powerful divine forces. Considering the current strength of the players, Evé didn’t believe they could contend with the human faction, which was significantly stronger than the Orcs.

Furthermore… the deities that humanity worshiped are the most formidable enemies of the former World Tree!

Currently, Evé still wasn’t prepared to confront them directly nor send any of her incarnations right into the territory controlled by the Gods of mankind…

But of course, just as Li Mu had mentioned, if the humans were to indeed send an army to attack the Black Dragon and the elves, then Evé wouldn’t be afraid to defend her territory.

In fact, she would even welcome it.

After all, Evé had not yet revealed herself to the general public, and if some impudent humans dared to come to her territory to defeat the Black Dragon and the elves, it was likely they had been lured by the treasures of the Black Dragon and the temptation of capturing the elves.

Small-scale incidents like this didn’t necessarily indicate a full-blown war between the Elves and human factions.

Unlike taking the initiative to attack, Evé had no fear in a defensive battle right on her own territory.

If the players still couldn’t handle it, then they could be lured into Eve’s Celestial domain, where any enemies without full divinity could be easily wiped out…

So, Evé had no objections to letting these humans go.

While the majority of players were currently busy cleaning up the battlefield, Meryer on the other hand, decided to flew back to his Castle.

And as soon as he returned to his castle, he immediately saw Little Salty Cat, coming out from the teleportation circle after being resurrected.

Of course, by now, Little Salty Cat was no longer decked out in her usual golden gear but had transformed into an intermediate purple epic-class mage robe she used to wore beforehand.

Seeing the Black Dragon who just returned, Little Salty Cat smiled to him and said, “Oh! You’re back so soon?”

Meryer didn’t say anything.

Instead, he simply widened his eyes and stared at her intently, motionless.

Little Salty Cat: “…”

This made the pink-haired mage feel rather uneasy.

“W-What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing.”

Meryer muttered and turned his head away, seemingly disinterested.

After hesitating for a moment, Meryer glanced at Little Salty once more and in a seemingly casual tone, he asked,

“Your resurrection… didn’t have any side effects, did it?”

“Of course not! We’re the Chosen Ones of the Goddess. I mean, just look at me! I’m in great shape!”

Little Salty Cat gracefully turned her body around on the spot before flashing a faint smile.

Subtly, she noticed that Meryer seemed to finally relax a bit.

Then, the Black Dragon reached into his body and pulled out a pile of golden legendary equipment, before tossing it to the elven girl.

“Here, your equipment. I brought it back for you.”

Salty Cat’s eyes immediately lit up, and she eagerly took the gear, while saying,

“Wow! Thanks! Hehe, it seems that the days I’ve spent raising you weren’t in vain!”

Meryer: “…”

“Too bad it got stained with blood…Now I’ll have to clean it first.”

Holding the golden legendary mage robe that Meryer had brought back, Little Salty sighed with a hint of regret.

Then, she looked at the Black Dragon and impishly squinted her eyes before asking in a playful tone,

“By the way I remember just before I died, I vaguely saw you charging over angrily…Was it because of me?”

Meryer: “…”

He turned his head away stiffly and said,

“Hmph! How could I, the noble Meryer get angry over such a trivial matter? This lord knew you would resurrect! You’re just one of my servants! I only did it for the barbecue.”

“I see…well don’t worry, there’ll definitely be lots of barbecue for you later on the party! I know you’ve worked hard this time!”

Little Salty Cat laughed while comforting Meryer.

However, upon hearing her words, Meryer’s expression grew somewhat gloomy.

After a moment of silence, Meryer spoke in a low, muffled voice that startled Little Salty Cat.

“…Actually, it wasn’t just for the barbecue alone. I knew you would come back to life, but for some reason, I couldn’t stop myself from charging out subconsciously when I saw you get killed earlier…”

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