Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 301 The Bourgeois Transformation of Frost Maple Ridge

"A magical metal mine that has been passed down from thousands of years ago!"

——Calvino Master Lingong personally placed the slate in the hands of the Xiahou official, and solemnly said:
"Honorable Duke of Frost Maple Ridge, this stone slab is engraved with the geographical location of this magical metal mine—and the ownership of this mine is another gift from Her Majesty the Queen to Frost Maple Ridge!"

As soon as this remark came out, the lord's hall immediately fell silent.

Not only Xia Houyan and Master Laurie were dumbfounded, but even the elf mages who followed Calvino Spiritual Master all the way from Yongsun City to Shuangfeng Ridge showed shock on the left and bewilderment on the right.

There is no other reason, the gift of "a magical metal mine" is indeed a bit too big!
If you ask about the leaders of the modern mainland military industry, the rune and seal cutting of humans, the arcane projection of demons, and the shaman blessing of orcs, the housekeeping skills of the three major regimes in "props enchanting" may only be a match. ;

But when it comes to the most precious military resources on the modern Haven Continent, no one can come up with a second answer other than "magic metal"!
No way, in the 900th year of the Imperial Calendar, when the elves' plant crafting industry has declined, no matter what kind of technology is used, if you want to attach magic to material props, you will inevitably need magic metal materials with strong elemental affinity.

Even the shaman totems deployed in the orc army seem to be made of wood, but their inner cores are actually made of high-purity magic metal "Shankly Mercury"—if it wasn't for this, these totems that human commanders would be extremely afraid of Zhu, how could he spread blessing halos to the orc soldiers on a large scale?
The importance of magic metals is reflected in the economic system, that is, almost all mainland regimes have implemented strict nationalization policies for magic metal deposits.

Under the guidance of this "official mountain and sea" policy, at least currently in the human empire, no magic metal mine is held by a certain territory, and 100% of them are guarded by the official garrison of the empire.

——Of course, there are also rumors in the market, saying that Grim Rosario, Grand Duke of Rose City, actually hid a magic metal mine as a forbidden possession, which led to the ridiculously high magic equipment allocation rate of the Eastern Army.

As for the benefits of sitting on a magic mine, it is enough to make people envious:
Under the situation that the empire officially controls all magic metal minerals, only a small amount of magic metal materials will flow into the market every year for the use of folk alchemists and magicians-as one can imagine, the prices of these magic metals on the market are also the same outrageously high;
Even so, the annual supply of magic metals in the entire continent is still far below the demand, so that the three major regimes of humans, demons, and beasts have all spent huge sums of money to develop the alchemy process of refining magic metals from a large amount of ordinary metals—but this is very expensive. His dragon-slaying skills are destined to belong only to these three state machines that are too big to fail. As for the folk alchemists, they can only rely on the rare original magic metal ore.

In other words, a magical metal mine is really a cash cow, a cornucopia, and a performance stock that harvests leeks and never falls!
So, when the lord learned that Her Majesty the Elf Queen of Stardust Protectorate actually wanted to transfer the ownership of a magic metal mine to Shuangfengling as a gift...

... What he felt first was not ecstasy, but terror.

Because Xia Houyan knew very well that it would be a blessing to be able to exchange a few studio broken books with the title of "Flower of Abundance" for a group of mages, but they couldn't match the huge power of a magic metal mine anyway. worth it!

On the side, Master Laurie, after a short period of sluggishness, turned his head and looked at the lord from head to toe several times:

The master felt that although the lord was young and handsome, he was far from handsome enough to allow the elf queen to hold a magic metal mine as a dowry and put up her skirt upside down!
——But if this is not the case, how can we explain the elf queen's behavior of spending a lot of money in 24K pure beauty?
Xia Houyan, Master Laurie, and the elves of the entire mage group are still in a state of numbness. Calvino Spiritual Master has already reached out and closed the gift box, bowing his head with utmost etiquette but not necessarily sincerely:

"Honorable Duke of Frost Maple Ridge, the reason why Her Majesty the Elf Queen wants to present this extra gift to Your Excellency is that I hope that you can provide a little help to our elf protectorate within your ability..."

Xia Houyan and Master Laurie said together in their hearts, "Sure enough!"

Being able to last thousands of years on the mainland, these elves are obviously not fools;
The Elf Queen was able to send a magical metal mine to Shuangfengling, obviously it was not just to show her courtesy and send a sprig of spring, but it was used as a bargaining chip to make a request to Shuangfengling!
——However, in the protectorate of elves far away in Eternal Sun City, what use can there be for Shuangfengling?
Xia Houyan and Master Laurie glanced at each other, then turned to Master Lingge, and said cautiously:
"Well, Calvino, Master of Spiritual Songs, I don't know what the so-called 'help' Her Majesty needs is?"

The spiritual master lowered his head deeply, and said in a deep voice to the "tyrant" in his mind:
"We know that the southern part of the empire may be attacked by orcs, and Her Majesty the Elf Queen hopes that you, the esteemed Duke, can visit the City of Eternal Sun after repelling the orc invasion-at that time, Her Majesty the Queen will naturally express your needs truthfully. As for other circumstances... I don't know anything."

"Then what if I lost to the orcs in the southern border, and my head was stuck on the spear?" Xia Houyan laughed dumbly, and said without hesitation, "Then I can't repay the favor of your Majesty the Queen... ..."

The master of spiritual songs slowly replied:

"If the southern border falls, there is absolutely no reason for the eastern border to survive—so, whether this gift is given to you or not is no different to our Stardust Protectorate."

Xia Houyan nodded with a smile, and carefully examined the elf master in front of him.

Obviously, the elves didn't plan to tell the whole price of this magic metal mine, but planned to wait until later to ask for it...

——For Frost Maple Ridge, this is obviously not a good way to trade:

What if Her Majesty the Queen asks Xia Houyan to go up the mountain of swords and down into the sea of ​​fire?
What if Her Majesty the Queen asks Xia Houyan to sacrifice [-] people of her own family?

What if Her Majesty the Queen asks Xia Houyan to betray her appearance to sleep with her... Wait a minute, this seems to be acceptable...

All in all, if Shuangfengling accepts this great gift, it will be tantamount to handing over the power to ask for prices in the future to the Elven Protectorate with ulterior motives!

But Xia Houyan asked himself, could he really muster up the courage to reject a precious mine that was delivered to him?

—The answer is no, very fucking no.

Almost instantly, when Master Laurie was still weighing the pros and cons with an old orange face, Xia Houyan patted his chest loudly:

"Okay! I will accept this slate! When we meet Her Majesty the Queen of your country in the future, we, Shuangfengling, will definitely work hard to fulfill Her Majesty's will—unless it is impossible!"

——The last few words, Xia Houyan murmured silently, and the spiritual master who lowered his head didn't notice at all.

Master Laurie once again refreshed his understanding of the Lord Lord's education level.

Hearing that the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge agreed to the request so readily, Calvino Master Spirit Song, who came to Frost Maple Ridge with a mission, was obviously relieved.

The elf magister raised his head, pondered for a moment with embarrassment on his face, and still frowned and said:
"In addition, the honorable Duke of Shuangfengling, I personally have a small suggestion for you..."

Xia Houyan thought to himself, why are these elves so fucking troublesome...

Xia Houyan smiled and said, please tell us, please tell us, as long as it is the opinion of elf friends, we will definitely follow suit...

Calvino Master of Spiritual Song looked straight into the Lord Lord's eyes, and said very sincerely:

"Honorable Duke of Frost Maple Ridge, you will always take care of benevolent rulers. Those cruel and unkind lords will be punished by the gods. I hope you will use wisdom and mercy instead of violence and cruelty to govern your country. ..."

Xia Houyan was full of question marks.

……

After sending the elf mages back to bed, Xia Houyan stood in the main hall of the lord, while wiping the question mark on his forehead, he picked up the magic mineral slab again and looked at it carefully.

Master Laurie also sneaked over.

"Lord..." the chief mage of Shuangfengling asked tentatively, "Are you really planning to unconditionally fulfill the request of Her Majesty the Elf Queen? The risk... seems a bit high, right?"

"The risk is indeed a bit high..." Xia Houyan curled his lips and shrugged, "But this is a magical metal mine! Magical metal mine! Didn't the old imperial proverb say—'Bet a bet, a slave becomes a lord; Give it a go, the principality becomes an empire'..."

Master Laurie ignored the Lord Lord's ignorant and treasonous proverb, and said sincerely:
"Have you considered finding a place to cure your gambling hobby?"

"I've been to the Gambling Bar, it's useless."

A question mark also appeared on Master Laurie's forehead.

Xia Houyan patted the shoulder of the old mage, then wiped his hands on his trousers, and said with a smile:

"Hey, don't worry about it—if the elf queen really puts forward some excessive demands that are beyond the reach of the world, I will at worst refuse to pay back the debt, or it will be over..."

Master Laurie asked cautiously: "Is this also what the 'Quit Gambling Club' taught you?"

"This is really true." Xia Houyan thought for a while and replied.

Master Laurie gave a meaningful thumbs up.

"Hey, this is a magic metal mine! Hey, my magic metal mine, hey..." Xia Houyan triumphantly lifted up the stone slab presented by Elf Kaizi, and was about to kiss him fiercely, but was caught by Master Laurie. He snatched it with his hands.

The master raised the slate, frowned and stared at it for a long time, then his expression suddenly changed;
Then he sighed deeply.

"My lord..." Master Laurie slowly raised his head from the stone slab, staring at the boss seriously, "...I have two bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"

"Isn't there usually a choice between good news and bad news?" Xia Houyan was dumbfounded.

Master Laurie smiled wryly:
"The first bad news: Guess what kind of magic metal mine this magic metal mine is?"

"Uh……"

"It's 'Tarantino Mild Steel'." Master Laurie revealed the truth mercilessly, "Look, it's engraved here... You can't read Elvish, but you know how to pronounce each letter, right? ?Here, 'Ta... Ren... Tee... No'..."

Master Laurie looked at the lord who was stunned, and said with a sneer:

"If you still remember, we still have a piece of 'Tarantino Mild Steel' in our territory, and Master Nicholson also used it to inscribe the 'Wind Protection' rune... The result should not be necessary Let me remind you, 'Tarantino Mild Steel' is certainly an excellent rune carrier, but its absorption efficiency for magic power is appallingly low. It is enough to naturally charge a piece of Tarantino Mild Steel Rune It will take 30 years!"

Xia Houyan felt something in his heart, and it shattered with a click.

Master Laurie put down the slate heavily, and said with sad eyes:
"My lord, we should have thought about it a long time ago - what kind of 'magic metal' can the elves, known for their plant industry, get! Isn't it just a group of idiot elf craftsmen who made it in a hurry before the demise of their elf empire? Useless 'Tarantino Mild Steel'! Fuck!"

Xia Houyan also woke up like a dream:

If his memory is correct, the source of the piece of "Tarantino mild steel" in Frost Maple Ridge and the mild steel sword in the hands of Sirius, the swordsman of Rock Creek City, seem to be given to the Duke of Houston by Her Majesty the Elven Queen...

Co-authoring this group of elf dogs, using this kind of magic metal shame, are you used to giving favors? !

"Also, there is a second piece of bad news..." Master Laurie blinked cautiously, for fear of offending the overburdened lord.

"Speak!" Xia Houyan gritted his teeth.

Master Laurie pointed to the slate in his hand and said:

"This slab is indeed recording the location of the 'Tarantino Mild Steel' mine, but if the geography knowledge I learned when I was young is correct, the terrain drawn on it is very similar to the 'hacksaw' on the mainland Canyon', in other words..."

Master Laurie took a deep breath, smiled wryly and said:

"...This place is in the territory of the Glorious Federation, just east of the Dust Mountain Range. If we want to mine this magical metal mine, I'm afraid you will have to lead your troops over the Dust Mountain Range first, and then drive the Federation Beastmen hundreds of miles east. ...If you have this ability, I don't think you need any 'Tarantino mild steel'..."

Xia Houyan was completely out of anger:
"Mother Xipi! Shake it! Kusou crushes the road! Cooperating with these fucking idiot elves, they want to borrow the overlord flower from the orc's house to present Lao Tzu, a fucking cerebral palsy, to the ancient Buddha! Fuck!"

Master Laurie wanted to cast a "calming spell" on the lord, but was stopped by the lord with a stare.

Xia Houyan patted the table and cursed:

"These bastards still want me to 'rule the kingdom with wisdom and mercy'?! Bah! I want to show them what 'wisdom and mercy' is! Master Laurie, you tell Tom Lawrence that any new All the elf magicians who join the territory will go to the political department to receive ideological education for the lord! Give me a hundred lessons!"

……

Although the elves actually used a "Tarantino Mild Steel" mine thousands of miles away, Frost Maple Ridge was reluctant to let the twenty magicians who had just obtained them go for nothing because of a moment of anger. Lose.

In view of the overcrowding of the Phoenix Terrace, the residential area has a tendency to develop towards "you have one more ring than the fourth ring", so the lord arranged the residence of the elves outside the Frost Maple Forest, just in line with Enji The E-trolls live next to each other.

According to the lord, don't these elves love nature?

Then go and listen to those Enzie trolls yelling every day!
Master Laurie was even shocked to find that the lord was not just joking about the matter of "enabling elf mages to receive ideological education":
A day later, Master Laurie watched helplessly as a group of elf mages went to Huangpo Military Academy to attend ideological education classes with sad faces and small benches between them;
Five days later, Master Laurie was grabbed by the sleeve by the spiritual master, begging bitterly, "Master Laurie, save us, we don't want to memorize the "Shuangfengling Thought Charter" ahhh...";
Ten days later, Master Laurie saw with his own eyes that the young elf mages, even in the cafeteria, were madly memorizing textbooks and writing cheat sheets in order to cope with the final exams, all of them looked like living corpses;
As a result, a month later, when Master Laurie wanted to invite Master Ling Song to a meal, he was unexpectedly rejected by Master Spirit Song:
"Not today, I'm in a hurry to have a life meeting..."

(End of this chapter)