Chapter 1980: Counterattack

"Is that so?"

Kelusi smiled slightly, though he did not press Xia Duo on what exactly was special about Taier'annuo, instead beginning to introduce the historical origins of Siluwende to Xia Duo.

Hearing it from a Siluwende Elf personally was far richer in detail than what Xia Duo had learned from papers or rumors, such as how, after the fall of Aryvandaar back then, the Empire Remnants fled all the way to the border region where Siluwende is located today.

As well as the various difficulties encountered during the process of establishing Siluwende, among which Kelusi specifically mentioned that because of Aryvandaar, the Northland Elves at the time always held a distinct prejudice against them, the remnants.

It was also fortunate that the various powers were greatly weakened after the war, and that many Upper Family Elves of Aryvandaar who had defected in time were still alive, which was why the various nations did not wipe out these Commoners.

After the founding of the nation, Siluwende did not achieve long-term stability; because Aryvandaar had already conquered all Elf nations except Kaitemier, there were a large number of non-Gold Elves among the immigrants who originally belonged to the conquered nations during the flight.

Coupled with the fact that the location where Siluwende was founded was originally the border of Aryvandaar, the Empire's influence there was not significant; during the Crown War, this place seemed to become the Empire's only pure land, but it also made the composition of the residents in this area very complex.

Of course, no matter how Kelusi whitewashed the ideological conflicts of those years, the result Xia Duo saw in the Main Plane was that a large number of Moon Elves and Wood Elves migrated south, establishing Shaerwen together with the war remnants from the south.

And from then on, Siluwende became a nation where Gold Elves held absolute dominance, even excluding outsiders from entering; the "outsiders" of Siluwende did not just refer to true alien races like humans or Dwarves, but all non-Gold Elf races, including Moon Elves and Wood Elves!

According to what Xia Duo understood, Siluwende only left one city open to the outside world at that time, and that Luosen city, once famous for its "Silver Spire," had already been taken over by the victorious Yierlan more than a thousand years ago.

Now, it is likely completely inhabited by native Yierlan Elves, and that city is naturally an indisputable Yierlan city.

Listening to Kelusi talk about the past is very interesting; it allows Xia Duo to re-examine history from a different perspective, but the past is ultimately the past, and people must look forward—Elves included.

Although Xia Duo does not understand how the other party managed to do it, he has already roughly seen that those currently ruling Taier'annuo are undoubtedly the original resistance organization.

If they didn't fabricate or summarize a perfect past for their motherland to strengthen the beliefs of the organization's members, how could they have held on until now under the dual pressure of Yierlan and Siluwende?

As the saying goes, "When people's hearts are scattered, the team is hard to lead." In Xia Duo's view, the past of Siluwende is not as glorious as Kelusi described; it not only bears original sin, but its rise was also inevitably filled with bloodshed.

From an original multi-racial nation to a purely Gold Elf nation, can it really only be explained by the phrase "those with different Daos cannot work together"?

Could it be that those non-Gold Elves who also participated in the founding of the nation were so magnanimous that they were willing to hand over the country they helped build with their own hands?

One can imagine the tragedy just by using one's toes; if they weren't worried about outside intervention, could those non-Gold Elves have really migrated to the south alive, or even established another nation?

Even Aryvandaar didn't dare to do what Siluwende did, and they have persisted for thousands of years. They likely calculated that all nations had experienced the ravages of war and were in urgent need of recuperation, so as long as Siluwende didn't go too far, they wouldn't be interfered with.

But who would have thought that a group of Upper Families whose fortunes had declined and who wanted to make a name for themselves would leave Shaerwen and establish Yierlan? It was precisely this "grandson" generation of a nation that eventually turned around and defeated the "grandfather."

Or rather, the descendants of the exiled turned around and defeated the exilers, becoming the true masters of this land.

It can be said that Siluwende's situation today has a certain inevitability; the Demon Descendant incident of over a thousand years ago can only be considered a catalyst that united the opposition in this area ahead of time.

And now the shadow of the Demon Descendant has appeared again, and the actual situation may be more complex than it was a thousand years ago. If the Demon Descendant's revealed style of conduct and vicious plans are too much like a supervillain, Xia Duo actually doesn't want to deal with this Siluwende business at all.

Even if Siluwende is completely annexed by Yierlan, so what? If one wanted to cause trouble for Yierlan, perhaps that would be even more convenient!

Xia Duo has quite a few devious ideas for "replacing the bird in the cage," and when the time comes, he can just go all out against Yierlan.

As for now, he suspects that Siluwende may be related to the historical Node the Demon Descendant wants to shape; maintaining the status quo to handle the changing situation with an unchanging one is a conservative approach.

Even reshaping the order of the Northland is merely treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

To eradicate the threat of the Demon Descendant changing history, it is best to find their more detailed plans, especially the basis for judging historical Nodes, as well as the core Magic that changes history. (The Demon Descendant's plan in the Projection Plane is to use the history of a parallel timeline to overwrite the history of the Main Plane, transforming the Main Plane into a parallel timeline to continue their civilization.)

If history can be changed, then there must be a way to fix it; although this fixation might not be permanent, and it might require the birth of a legendary "Time Administration" to specifically handle this matter, it is ultimately a relatively certain means.

And one would not have to fall into an unknowable panic, worrying about reality being suddenly erased at any moment.

An organization or a nation has both progressiveness and backwardness. For the current Siluwende, its progressiveness lies only in its resistance to invasion, although the source of this invasion was something it brought upon itself. However, the war back then can be considered finished; for Yierlan to want to go further, it can already be classified as an invasion.

And its backwardness lies in the almost unchanged Great Elf Imperialism from before, as well as the racial ideology of Golden Elf Supremacy.

Xia Duo does not deny their progressiveness, but he will not be blinded by the various disguises of their backwardness either. No matter how flowery Kelusi's words are, they cannot change his true intention of wanting Siluwende to struggle on its deathbed.

However, Xia Duo came here to preserve Siluwende, and besides, he is just playing along; he has also studied in multiple Projection Planes, and in terms of acting, he is no worse than Kelusi, and perhaps even has the advantage.

As an Elf, no matter what dark undercurrents Kelusi hides in his heart, he can never escape the natural arrogance this race shows toward outsiders, as well as the historical limitations of the era he is in; there are some things that even if one wants to act, one cannot.

Just like now, even though Kelusi has tried his best to appear close, and even—to an Elf—somewhat humble, as he pleads with Xia Duo—

"Now that Siluwende is facing an invasion by foreign enemies, such a nation that has walked through suffering should not perish just like this. I hope Observer Xia Duo can speak up for justice for Siluwende in the Northland Alliance; the people and history of Siluwende will certainly not forget the contribution of Observer Xia Duo."