Chapter 1986

That was a group of Spellcasters clearly bearing many Eaerlann Elf marks; among them were Moon Elves and Gold Elves, and in this temporary outpost on the edge of the forest, there were soldiers wearing Siluwende standard-issue armor guarding, or rather, supervising them from the side.

"Mage Naris, this—"

"Observer Xia Duo, this group of Elf Scholars arrived here shortly after the Adofeier Fortress appeared in the world. At the time, they came under the banner of private academic research, which is why they were not subjected to Banishment."

Once they reached this point, little emotion could be seen on Naris's face. He paused and continued: "And not long ago, Siluwende already issued invitations to the various nations of the Northland Alliance to jointly develop the Adofeier Fortress."

"So even though the two countries are currently in a state of war, we still have not expelled them, but have instead allowed them to continue surveying and researching here."

"Is that so!"

Naris's words sounded too high-sounding. Xia Duo instinctively felt that there was a problem here, but he could not say exactly where the problem lay; this feeling was very unpleasant.

While he was pondering, a burst of Magic Net fluctuations suddenly erupted in the forest not far away. Xia Duo turned his head to look and happened to see two Moon Elf Warriors supporting each other as they fled out from within.

At the same time, over at the temporary outpost, a Moon Elf who looked like a Scholar immediately rushed out. Although Xia Duo was at a distance, he could still clearly hear the other party asking questions anxiously—

"Have you discovered the Oscillation Node?"

Those two Moon Elf Warriors cautiously glanced in the direction of Xia Duo, shook their heads imperceptibly, and only then did the Scholar look back somewhat belatedly, glaring at Xia Duo with quite a bit of wariness before taking the two Warriors back to the camp where the Eaerlann Elves were located.

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo laughed at himself, then asked Naris: "They are probing around here; do you really not care at all?"

"To say we don't care would certainly just be polite talk, but it is true that we do not interfere. If Observer Xia Duo is interested, you can also try it yourself. No matter what kind of gains you have, Siluwende guarantees that we will never covet them."

After finishing, seemingly thinking that Xia Duo might truly have the intention to explore, Naris added another sentence, "Of course, there are certain rules for our invitation to the various nations for joint development. Any items or data discovered within the fortress must have copies left at Siluwende. Furthermore, agreeing to the joint development rules is equivalent to agreeing that the ownership of the fortress itself belongs to Siluwende."

"So that's how it is!"

Regarding Siluwende's choice, Xia Duo found it difficult to criticize. If he were in their shoes, even he would not be able to find a better solution. The sorrow of the weak lies in this; the room for choice is truly too small.

However, this still could not explain why Siluwende kept the Eaerlann Scholars here during the war. Not to mention detaining them directly, they should at least have been expelled from the country!

With so many unstable factors gathered here, were they not afraid of them dealing a heavy blow at a critical moment in the battle? Or was it that Siluwende had some means to ensure these Eaerlann Scholars could absolutely not cause trouble?

Over at the temporary outpost, the Eaerlann camp had set up a Spell Barrier. Xia Duo could only roughly see Elves moving about inside the camp, and there were quite a few Spellcasters.

Among them, the Scholar who had just rushed out of the camp to meet the two suspected surveyors was, if nothing went wrong, a senior Mage. Thus, Xia Duo had every reason to infer that there should be at least one High Mage in the Eaerlann camp.

Otherwise, for the camp leader to personally go and welcome two low-level surveyors would simply be absurd.

And judging from the fact that there were Gold Elves in the camp, unless that Moon Elf Scholar was a High Mage, there must be another person in charge above them.

Although Eaerlann is a multi-ethnic (multi-racial) country and Gold Elves do not hold absolute ruling status within the country, looking at the long-term historical development trend, more commanders and scholars have appeared among the Gold Elf population.

Regardless of whether this is a racial advantage or a past class advantage, in short, Gold Elves being a cut above other Elves has almost become a curse carved deep into the bloodline of the Elves.

If there are Gold Elf members in a team, there will inevitably be a Gold Elf leader responsible for commanding them; this is an almost self-evident unspoken rule in Eaerlann.

In other words, within that Eaerlann camp at the temporary outpost, there is a high probability of having a Gold Elf High Mage.

To confirm this question is actually very simple. Even if Siluwende claims not to care about the gains of explorers from other countries, they should at least have figured out the identities of the explorers!

Even if there really existed some decisive hidden hand, planning and maneuvering should be the duty of the relevant personnel. Conversely, if they don't even care about the identities of the explorers, it means that this must be a trap set by Siluwende.

And a trap where all kinds of countermeasures are already in place, just waiting to be triggered!

Thinking of this, Xia Duo couldn't help but feel a bit of a chill. No one standing on a bomb with the remote control in someone else's hand could remain as calm as if they were standing in a safe place.

Although this was only his speculation for now, before coming to Siluwende, he had already made a preliminary judgment that the Ancient Fortress would become an important node affecting the direction of the war.

Siluwende could not easily give this place up no matter what, and this place was also a must-have for Eaerlann. As long as no major accident occurred, both sides would likely break out in a decisive battle here.

But this still could not explain why Siluwende wanted to keep these Eaerlann Scholars. Or rather, keeping the Eaerlann Scholars and this place being a trap were completely contradictory.

There is a high probability that there are High Mages among the Eaerlann Scholars, so what ability does Siluwende have to set a trap that would leave the other party completely unaware?

If the secret were leaked, it would likely cause the main Eaerlann force to arrive faster and occupy this place. At that time, Siluwende's so-called "acting according to the rules" would be a complete joke.

Xia Duo felt that he must have ignored some key information, a piece of key information that even Eaerlann had ignored or had not discovered.

"What exactly is it?"

Suddenly, Xia Duo had an idea, but whether this idea could be realized depended on whether Siluwende would give him the opportunity—

"Mage Naris, can I go over and chat with the Eaerlann explorers?"

"Of course you can. Siluwende does not restrict communication between explorers; we even encourage explorers from various countries to communicate more. As long as the Eaerlann side does not object, Observer Xia Duo can go over and communicate now."

Naris expressed his agreement very generously, even support, but Xia Duo felt even more strange in his heart. In many cases, once the seed of suspicion is buried, it will actively look for all kinds of opportunities to take root and sprout.

That is how he was now, looking at problems with a suspicious eye, feeling that everything was abnormal.