Chapter 2024: Unexpected Accident, Independent Debate

Early the next morning, Xia Duo was still attempting to parse the consciousness information of those few mysterious Spellcasters; although he had not yet been able to fully parse it, he had obtained some definitive information.

For instance, those few mysterious Spellcasters were indeed Demon Descendants, and they came from different countries; aside from Siluwende and Akaola, all other Elf countries in the Northland Alliance had a hand in it.

That there were no Acorla Elves, Xia Duo could understand; after all, Acorla had been in a state of isolation for a long time, and limited opening up was only a matter of the last year or two.

But—

That there were no Siluwende Elves left him very puzzled. Could it be that the Siluwende side had already interrogated the information of those Demon Descendant Spellcasters and, upon discovering those from Siluwende, had handled them on their own?

Yet this did not make sense; from the moment those Demon Descendant Spellcasters appeared until now, they had never left Xia Duo's sight. If Siluwende could have pulled off some under-the-table operation right under his nose, they would not have left such a large flaw.

To have removed themselves, yet have everyone else present—removing oneself too cleanly would instead invite suspicion.

Perhaps it was just as Sepeitiya had said before: the Demon Descendant problem within the upper echelons of Siluwende had already been purged, so there were no Siluwende Elves among the Demon Descendant Spellcasters who attempted to interfere in the war between the two countries.

But regardless, the infiltration of Demon Descendants into the Northland Alliance had already become an ironclad fact.

Time quickly reached the morning. Originally, Xia Duo had not intended to participate in or even just observe today's multilateral talks; he had prepared to concentrate his energy on finishing the parsing of the collected Consciousness Copies as quickly as possible.

But a sudden piece of news disrupted his original plan. Badijiaer sent a message personally, informing Xia Duo of an assassination that occurred in Yierlan last night.

"Another assassination?!"

Xia Duo felt deeply shocked by this, not only because the identity of the assassin was once again a Demon Descendant, but also because the location of the assassination was in the Yierlan capital, Taiweimansa, and it had taken place in broad daylight, killing a High Mage who was in their prime.

The information Badijiaer learned was quite detailed, even including reports from eyewitnesses at the scene. According to the eyewitnesses, the assassin had disguised themselves as a serving attendant to get close to that High Mage.

During the assassination, the witnesses only saw a black mist roll past, and then came the screams of that High Mage, followed by the final news of their death.

"How can it be determined that the assassin was a Demon Descendant?"

"We outsiders who were not present certainly cannot determine it, but on the Yierlan side, they intercepted the assassin almost immediately after the assassination occurred. Although they ultimately let the other party escape, that assassin exposed the unique evil power of a Demon Descendant while fleeing. The news was initially spread by the Ambassadors of various Northland countries stationed in Taiweimansa; it should be true."

With Badijiaer saying so, Xia Duo believed it for the most part; after all, the Netheril Ambassador in Taiweimansa was a person from the Seven Towers, and when reporting to those above, they should have personally verified the authenticity of the news.

Even if they could not determine it themselves, there were still Envoys from other countries; reaching a preliminary conclusion should not be difficult.

The only pity was failing to capture that assassin. If they could have captured them, then used the 【Consciousness Cage】 to extract a copy, they should have been able to discover the secrets behind that assassin.

Now, just knowing the Demon Descendant identity was not actually of much use, at least for Xia Duo.

But for Yierlan, it was completely different.

For the subsequent talks, Xia Duo still did not participate, but he did observe them with the help of a Spell.

Perhaps because they had just encountered an assassin and lost a High Mage, Commander Adalier of Yierlan kept a straight face throughout, and from time to time, vulgar words cursing Demon Descendants would pop out during the talks.

But no other representative at the scene raised any objections; after all, the other party had just experienced a bad event, so one had to let them vent a little.

This matter could indeed be called a bad thing, but Yierlan used it to win sympathy, which could also be considered a disguised proof that they had nothing to do with the Demon Descendants.

After all, no country was foolish enough to use the death of a High Mage in their prime to prove anything.

Perhaps because they also felt the threat of the Demon Descendants, the morning's negotiations were surprisingly smooth. Before entering the main topic, the representatives of various countries finalized the matter of establishing a Magic-born Information Sharing Platform.

They did not, like at the banquet last night, use the excuse of Yierlan's severe Demon Descendant infiltration to demand that Yierlan relinquish its Demon Descendant review authority before agreeing to continue negotiations.

Although it was currently only a preliminary framework agreement that had been reached, the information sharing platform had already been quickly "brought online"—

The Northland Alliance Headquarters had already opened up a private information interaction space within the Alliance Mythallar that covered the Northland, accessible only via specific interfaces.

As for the subsequent drafting of more specific rules regarding the use and maintenance of the information sharing platform, that could be done slowly.

From this, one could see the vigilance of various countries toward Demon Descendant infiltration, as well as their determination to completely clear out Demon Descendant infiltration!

And in the following negotiations, the representatives of various countries did not target Yierlan in unison like they did yesterday. At the moment, they could indeed continue to target them, but resolving the threat of the Demon Descendants seemed more important.

It was also at this time that Badijiaer proposed at the right moment, "Regarding the final ownership of the southern region of Siluwende, I think both sides can take a step back. Using Terminos as the boundary, everything to the north is returned directly to Siluwende, and to the south—"

But before he could finish his words, he was interrupted on the spot by Sepeitiya—"Everything to the south is also the inherent territory of Siluwende!"

A trace of displeasure flashed in Badijiaer's eyes, yet he still patiently explained, "Elves advocate freedom and respect the choices of the people. Perhaps before the war, the area south of Terminos belonged to Siluwende territory, but now, the people there have voluntarily abandoned their Siluwende identity. I hope Elder Sepeitiya recognizes this fact."

Although what Badijiaer said was not entirely accurate, it was partially true; the region south of Terminos had quickly turned to Yierlan at the very beginning of the war.

Perhaps the Siluwende side could say this was orchestrated by Yierlan, but that region was heavily influenced by Yierlan, and after experiencing the "referendum" event, it was an indisputable fact that they were alienated from other parts of Siluwende.

Even if Siluwende took it back, it would be difficult to return to the past, so it would be better to—

Badijiaer continued, "But Yierlan's actions in this war do not conform to the Northland Alliance Covenant. There is nothing wrong with expanding territory, but it cannot be done by harming other countries. If every country follows suit in the future, the Northland Alliance Covenant will be no different from waste paper.

"Therefore, I suggest that since the region south of Terminos has voluntarily abandoned its Siluwende identity, and cannot join Yierlan due to the Northland Alliance Covenant, why not establish an independent nation? Aren't the current Northland countries all like that from the beginning!"

"Establish an independent nation?"

In fact, the representatives of various countries had already vaguely heard rumors that Netheril intended to push for the independence of the southern region of Siluwende, but they did not expect it to be an independent nation.

Sepeitiya was even more dissatisfied at this moment and immediately retorted, "Does Lord Badijiaer not worry that the various Netheril lords will declare independence one after another?"

"I worry, but I worry more about the Seven Towers being unable to uphold the Seville Covenant. If there truly comes a day when lords everywhere declare independence, that would not be their fault, but the fault of the Seven Towers. I express full support for this! Of course, before that, as long as they meet the relevant provisions of the Seville Covenant, Netheril Lords can also declare independence."