Pillars of Ita

Facing the questioning of the elven female knight, Fang He did not respond immediately, nor did he express any objection. However, the momentary hesitation in the other party's eyes still made him certain of one thing: the elves were indeed hiding something.

After coming down, Tianlan immediately asked: "Brother Ed, is it really time to retreat?"

She described it vividly, "But I think those gray tree people are easy to deal with. They move slowly and are weak. Even I can beat two of them, not to mention... even if there are one or two disaster creatures, it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Fang He shook his head. This was not what he was actually thinking about.

"That's not what I'm worried about, Tianlan," he said. "They are indeed not a problem at the moment, but that's for us. But the elves know it's a trick, why do they insist on carrying out this plan?"

He added: "Even after we reminded the lady knight, she obviously took this into consideration but still persisted."

The poet may be good at interpersonal relationships and calculating expenses. But she was still immersed in the joy of killing two tree people with her own hands without any help from others. She couldn't help but blink and asked, "...Is this important?"

"Of course it's important," the Papara people nearby sang in a shrill voice. "Those tree sticks are hiding something from us. Why should we work for them for nothing?"

"Oh, I'm not talking about you, Miss Merrill," Parker quickly explained to the unicorn girl beside him, "You know them. The elves in the Autumn Forest are always high and mighty. I look down on those guys."

The elf girl smiled shyly. She was aware that the elves of the Court of Radiance were famous, and the elves of the Autumn Forest were always arrogant.

The attack of the Withered Treemen had just been repelled, so they still had time to chat here.

Tianlan glared at the Paparar people unhappily, and then she turned her gaze to Fang He, wanting to get an answer from him.

Fang He nodded, "This is very important."

The key is where the information gap is based. The elves must know something to be so persistent in attacking.

The commander participated in the first and second wars in the Turbid Realm. He must be no ordinary person, and the risks he took must be rewarded.

So what happened in the gray area of ​​the Scar of Yasa that allowed the other party to see the opportunity? Even if it was an obvious trap, they had to take advantage of it.

This made Fang He think of the message that the master craftsman had left them. The other party had obviously seen through their identities and told them bluntly that what they were looking for was in this woodland.

The other party's intention was very clear. This was obviously an act of taking advantage of their work for free. It also showed that the elves were short of manpower and had to take certain risks to use outsiders like them.

  But what is the key to the problem? What did the elves discover?

He couldn't figure out the trick behind this, but it didn't matter. Fang He never thought that he was good at calculating people's hearts. There were many people in the Seven Seas Brigade who were smarter than him.

  He told his idea to Elisa and his ship's officer, and even Tricia was beside him. Before the first two spoke, the latter said:

"This is very simple. Master Ailin Ironheart may not know anything. Even if he does, he may not tell us. First of all, this is a military operation."

"And the other party is willing to tell us this, so he must have been forced to do so. He has no one else to use, so he has no choice but to do so."

"But the other party still said it." Sylvie's eyes were bright and she guided with a smile.

"Because they have to say it," Tracis analyzed simply, "I guess he guessed our identity and our purpose. If he hadn't said it, we wouldn't have come."

She looked at Fang He, "The reputation of the Dragon Alchemist may not mean much in Giant Tree Hill, but you have to compare him to someone else. The other party even asked for help from the Adventurer's Association, which shows that they no longer care about the good and bad people."

"It makes us sound like we've been cheated and are being taken advantage of to work for free," the Papara people said unhappily.

"They just used each other," Cui Xisi replied. She looked at Fang He who was standing beside her. "At least the clockwork fairy that the captain sent over did play a certain role."

“It’s really weird,” Alyssa shook her head. “I didn’t expect the elves of the Court of Radiance to be like this, but this is not quite the same as the rumors about the Son of Light.”

"Outsiders only see the bright side," Tracis replied, "You can see that the Empire is the same. When I was in the Holy Sacrament Guild, I once dealt with the elves of the Court of Radiance. They are quite xenophobic and don't trust any outsiders other than themselves."

"That's true," Meryl said awkwardly. Although she was also an elf, "The Court of Radiance is prestigious in the Hill of Giant Trees, but the reputation of the Royal Court in Silverwind Harbor is not that good. Outsiders say that they are high above and give orders out of anger. This is what is described in many accounts..."

"But this is also a promotion for Silverwind Harbor," Arjan disagreed. "It's not that demonized. Princess Arsana is very approachable, isn't she?"

Fang He shook his head. It was really a mess, but he was not here to resolve the dispute between Silver Wind Harbor and the Elven Court. He asked, "But the key now is, what do the elves know?"

"Isn't the answer contained in Miss Tracis's words?" Sylvie smiled and spoke.

Fang He looked at Cui Xisi with some surprise, "What do you mean?"

Cui Xisi also glanced at the ship officer, then nodded and replied, "Because the commander is willing to take risks, there must be a chance of winning behind it. Let's put ourselves in his shoes. If it were you, would you put all your chips on the table for an ordinary victory?"

"What is an 'ordinary' victory?" Luo Hao also came over at this time. He had actually listened to the entire conversation in the team channel, but he only asked the question at this time.

"I have heard that the Sons of Light led the attack on the Gray Territory in this forest. Over the past month, both sides have won and lost. The victory I am talking about certainly does not mean that they launched a siege on the gray creatures in the forest and weakened the strength of the Gray Territory."

Cui Xisi looked at the others, "Everyone knows that the spreading 'death plague' is the cause of the gray area. As long as the Holy Tree does not return to normal, it will recur even if the gray branches are wiped out. So these victories are just meaningless consumption. If it were you, would you put all your strength into such a consumption?"

"So what you think is a great victory," Fang He understood, "is..."

He suddenly realized, "You think the elves have mastered the method of how to truly deal with this epidemic, so they are willing to go all out and invest their troops to launch a counterattack on this gray area even in dangerous circumstances?"

"Or to put it more bluntly," Elisa also said, "the solution may be behind this forest. The Son of Light is leading a desperate counterattack in order to reach there or obtain something vital."

Miss Nightingale raised her head and her eyes wandered among the gray forest. The almost crystallized tree trunks formed a strange sculpture. The distorted environment made people uneasy, and even the air was filled with the earthy smell of spores.

  Fang He suddenly had an idea. Wasn't that the answer to the riddle left for them by the master elven craftsman, Ailin Ironheart?

But Tracis still shook her head. "I think it may not be the elves, nor the Sons of Light, because this counterattack is far from being a desperate gamble, at least not for the Court of Radiance."

"Think about it," she said to the others, "If the elves really had the exact method, why would there be only so few people here? There are only a few fleets outside the Gray Region. This is a matter of life and death for the Holy White Tree and the Hill of Giant Trees. If they were absolutely sure, what we would see here should be a large army approaching the border. All the legions of the Court of Radiance would gather here."

Fang He reacted again. It was true, but that meant...

"That is to say," Tracis continued, "this may just be the unilateral judgment of the elven commander, or maybe this suggestion came from Master Ailin Ironheart, who is currently investigating this gray area."

"So let's imagine," she said, "that the master elven craftsman discovered the anomaly in the flow of aether here, and then proposed a hypothesis. This hypothesis may have convinced the elven commander to some extent, so this may just be a decision made by the two of them."

This was the first time that Cui Xisi had the opportunity to speak in front of everyone. In fact, she played the same role when she was in the elite youth training team of the Sacrament Church.

She has a good brain and is good at calculations, otherwise the club would not have given her the position of Fairy Envoy to coordinate the overall situation.

Although fairy masters are rare, they are not rare in guild alliances like SOLID, and there are many capable people in the youth training camp.

Cui Xisi cherishes this opportunity very much. She already has a strong sense of belonging to the Seven Seas Brigade, so she puts extra effort into it.

"As for the reason, there could be many reasons. Perhaps the master craftsman's theory was not recognized by the Elf Court, so this was just a solo trip."

"This is a bad guess. A better guess is that they didn't have time to report it. Perhaps Master Ailin Ironheart had just come to this conclusion not long ago, and the Gray Region happened to launch a counterattack at this time. In order to seize this fleeting opportunity, the other party had to formulate such a risky plan."

"But the above are just my personal speculations," Cui Xisi concluded, "and even if our guess is right, it doesn't mean that the master craftsman and the commander are right. It's possible that they just thought it was a waste of time in the end."

She finally looked at Fang He.

All of this ultimately needs to be decided by the head of their team. The decision maker may not have to think too much, but he must make a judgment.

But Fang He didn't think that deeply.

After all, the current judgment is much better than his worst plan. They came here to investigate this gray area, so the worst result is not failure, but getting nothing.

The flow of ether in the forest and the crystal towers set up by the elves all indicate that something unusual is indeed happening in this gray area of ​​the Scar of Yasa.

Now the elves' actions told them that this anomaly might be related to the final cure of this "death plague" and the magic weapon to win the battle in the Gray Realm. Even if it was only a possibility, it was worth their efforts.

Fang He calmed down. Now the truth was revealed and he also had a motive for the Son of Light's actions, but the problem was not completely solved for them.

After all, the elves did not tell them the truth, which means that as Cui Xisi said, they actually do not want outsiders to intervene.

In other words, the master craftsman wanted them to come to this place and work for the Son of Light for free, but he didn't want them to really investigate anything, so he acted as riddlers with them.

It seems that the other party will most likely not tell them anything really useful in the end.

In other words, the elves may be their allies in fighting against the Gray Realm, but when it comes to investigating the truth of the Gray Realm, the two are not on the same side.

Just look at the female knight and you will understand. She obviously knows something but is clearly not going to tell them.

Ailin Ironheart also made it clear that they needed to investigate the truth in the forest themselves.

"But how do we investigate?" Tian Lan finally understood what was happening and couldn't help asking, "How about we abandon those people and not build this forward base? Let's go deeper into the Yasha Scar by ourselves?"

"No, of course not." Cui Xisi retorted, "The other side is not stupid, they expected us to react. But this plan is an integrated whole. If we don't help the elves, the plan will be flawed. If this forward base cannot be established, then the two advance armies of the Sons of Light who launched a counterattack against the Gray Region will be at risk of having their retreat cut off -"

"Of course, the other side won't put all their hopes on us. The commander will definitely set up a backup plan somewhere else, but we can't afford the risk," the girl continued. "At least in the fight against the Gray Region, we are now in the same boat with the Sons of Light. If they fail, it will be difficult for us to succeed. You don't think we can really go deep into the forest on our own, right?"

She said in a serious tone: "There are more than ten Silver Ranks among the Sons of Light. If they can't enter the Gus Grey Domain smoothly, we can't do it either. The master craftsman has already seen this point - of course, it may be instructed by the commander behind him. In short, we are carrying out this plan not only to guarantee others, but also to set up a way out for ourselves -"

"That is to say," Luo Hao said, "if we don't carry out this plan, it would be equivalent to handing our own safety to other people. If the backup plan left by the commander doesn't count, then there is a high possibility that we will be completely wiped out. So in the end, the choice left for us is actually - trust ourselves or trust others?"

Cui Xisi breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that. She was really worried that her teammates would not be able to see this and would act impulsively and rush into the forest without any care.

Although the Seven Seas Brigade was incredibly powerful, in her opinion, they actually planned most of their actions and were not really reckless.

Fang He couldn't help but laugh and cry after hearing this. In this case, isn't this choice very obvious? No one would completely entrust their safety to a group of strangers.

They are truly the elites who have experienced two great wars in the Turbid Realm. As expected, none of them are easy to deal with. The other party has already calculated many things about them before they even met them.

Even if the Seven Seas Brigade is useless, the other side obviously still has a backup plan. This is the only option for the Seven Seas Brigade, but not for the Sons of Light.

It really is a great way to make the best use of one's talents.

Fortunately, the other party still underestimated the Seven Seas Brigade and underestimated him, the Dragon Alchemist. Did they really think that a forward base could trap them in this place?

"That's too much of an underestimation," Fang He shook his head. He made up his mind and turned back to Tian Lan and said, "Go tell that elf lady that I agree with her plan."

"Ah?" Tianlan was a little surprised, "I just told her that we are staying?"

"Of course not," Fang He shook his head. "Tell her that we can agree to her plan, but we have to make some changes."

"Some...modifications?"

……

"Did he say that?" After hearing what her subordinates said, the female knight couldn't help but smooth back her hair with her hands, revealing her pointed elf ears, and her brows were furrowed.

Fang He asked them to move their defense line back, abandon the outer perimeter and build half of the fortress, and all of them gathered at the exit of the valley to build the main fort and the crystal tower.

Before she could speak, the unicorn knights around her couldn't help but refute: "He's crazy. That place is still an empty space with nothing. What kind of defense does he want us to rely on?"

"Right now, these withered tree people are nothing, but more advanced gray creatures are gathering here. When that happens, what can we use to fight against the Gray Domain?"

  The elf lady couldn't help but smile bitterly. She didn't tell Fang He these things, but if she said so, what if the other party asked her why she didn't retreat?

So how should she answer?

It was to tell the other side the truth about the battle, but that was a top secret that the commander had ordered her not to tell anyone.

In fact, even she didn't know much, but she only knew that this battle was related to the goddess, and the matter was about the mistress of the forest, Lady Aimaya, so she certainly knew what she should do.

What she had to do was actually very simple, that was to defend the pass and then wait for the results from the front line - success or failure.

If they succeed, they will most likely be able to completely reverse the decline on the battlefield, restore the glory of the Elven Court, and even force those rebellious people in Silverwind Harbor to bow their heads again.

All of this is part of the Elf King's plan.

But if she failed, the worst result would be that she and the others would die quietly in this place, which was a normal outcome for the Son of Light.

She had made all the preparations.

If there were only her subordinates here, the master craftsman would give her a difficult problem. Those unruly Chosen Ones would not listen to her arrangements.

Those Nightwalker craftsmen were fine, but this Dragon Alchemist was even more of a troublemaker. She had heard about what he had done in the Empire.

What's more, the other party is still on Silver Wind Port's wanted list, although the Elf Court neither cares about nor pays any attention to Silver Wind Port's so-called political decrees.

"What a hassle." Although she knew in her heart that this was because the Sons of Light were already short-handed, she still couldn't help but complain, "Outsiders are really unreliable."

She was not actually talking about Fang He and his group. After all, the elves also understood that these things had little to do with the Chosen Ones.

What's more, the Seven Seas Brigade are composed of Kolin-Ishurians.

The Holy Whites of the Autumn Forest are just arrogant, not unreasonable. On the contrary, they believe that their long-standing culture and order are the reasons for their arrogance.

But what she was actually complaining about was the master craftsman. The elves were so strange sometimes that they even looked down on their own people.

What's more, the other party is not a native 'local' born and raised in the Autumn Forest.

"Go tell him," the elven female knight finally said, "We are not taking any risks. If he is willing to obey my orders, I will tell him some of the truth about the Gray Realm."

She thought Fang He was just throwing a tantrum, which was common among the Chosen Ones. They would not care about the current situation and would only use it as a threat.

Of course, she would only tell part of it in the end, the part she could tell, which was also what Aelin Ironheart had told her in advance.

That should be enough, she thought.

  The messenger Elf Knight nodded and left. Not long after, he returned with news from the other party. Tianlan ran back and forth twice:

"The other party said that if we are willing to cooperate, he will give us a forward base as soon as possible... But the premise is that after their mission is completed, we cannot stop them from doing other things..."

The female knight laughed angrily, "What a joke! How is that Dragon Alchemist going to give us a forward base? Can you show it to us?"

She was really a little angry. The other party was so ungrateful. If this plan succeeded, Master Ailin Ironheart really intended to face the other party once.

But the other party actually planned to abandon them and go it alone.

In her opinion, Fang He's reply certainly did not mean that he really wanted to complete the forward base, but that he wanted to take the opportunity to escape.

After all, the mission given to her by the Son of Light was not actually to build a forward base.

  But they had to defend the pass within the specified time. How could Huizhi allow them to leisurely build a fortress here?

...(End of chapter)