Chapter 2661: To Have and Also to Want

A moment later, Xia Duo encountered the Golden Maple Family honor guard coming to welcome him on the road up the mountain. After entering the manor, he was led into a lounge where Aoruipusi was waiting for him.

Upon seeing Xia Duo, Aoruipusi hurriedly stood up to salute, looking like a subordinate who had failed in his duties, "Lord Territory Lord, I didn't expect that we would eventually need you to step in."

"It is no matter; I was idle anyway."

Xia Duo was not one to blame Aoruipusi for such a small matter. In reality, the relationship between him and Aoruipusi was not a subordinate relationship in the conventional sense, but rather closer to a partnership.

It was just that later, the balance of status between the two sides began to tilt. Aoruipusi had brought his family to the Savile Territory to seek refuge, and as the gap between the two sides grew larger, Aoruipusi became increasingly humble.

"Tell me about the cooperation with Elder Lari."

Laierlesi's invitation was, of course, just a pretext; the main point was that Elder Lari wanted to meet with Xia Duo. At this moment, Xia Duo was also communicating with Aoruipusi regarding this issue.

To this, Aoruipusi's answer was—

"Elder Lari did not say it explicitly, but I suspect he might have heard about the street lamp advertisement I proposed earlier and wants to invite Lord Territory Lord to formulate a more comprehensive and specific urban development plan for Evereska."

"Is that so?"

Therefore, in the eyes of Xia Shao, the things Laierlesi was hinting at now were somewhat greedy. On one hand, they wanted to take back the Permission Level by taking advantage of the Mythallar update, and on the other hand, they still wanted the Northland Alliance to remain there.

Evereska was, after all, the location of the Northland Alliance Headquarters. If the Northland Alliance had no control over that place, I am afraid the various countries would not be at ease.

If not for this factor, what difference would there be between Evereska and other small kingdoms?

And it was a very stable, long-lasting source of profit.

Thinking of this, Xia Shao decided to meet with the other party first. Since it was a cooperation, it certainly required both sides to be able to profit from it.

Of course, if it were an ordinary Netherese Mage, and there were Elves actively approaching them, they might instead forget their usual principles of conduct and choose to cater to Elven etiquette.

……

For example, the urban lamp post advertisement he asked Aoruipusi to propose to Lari, although it was convenient for him to roll out the Cloud Pattern Announcement, the Evereska treasury could indeed benefit from it.

It was just a shallow discussion, and it was from the perspective of a layman, which of course also involved the consideration of hiding his specific attainments in the field of the Mythallar.

Regarding some ideas for the Evereska Mythallar update, after hearing just a few sentences, Xia Shao saw through Laierlesi's purpose. This was on one hand a probe, probing his attainments in the field of the Mythallar.

As he spoke, Lari came up very enthusiastically to pull Xia Shao's hand. Even after the long-term adaptation of his Projection Plane Avatar as an Elf, Xia Shao was still not used to this overly intimate way of interacting.

The current Evereska, by taking advantage of its special status as the location of the Northland Alliance Headquarters, was maneuvering within the Alliance to form a unique alliance of small kingdoms.

Otherwise, the other party might not necessarily succeed, but bad things would certainly be possible.

This could be considered official business. On the way to the reception hall, not knowing if it was to deliberately draw closer or if he genuinely felt that Xia Shao was someone who could be discussed with, Laierlesi actually took the initiative to talk about his recent research.

……

This kind of thing was purely thankless, and Xia Shao did not want to get involved.

Thus, reclaiming the Mythallar Permission became the direction of constant effort for all aspects of Evereska, but how could the Seven Small Kingdoms easily hand back the permissions they had already obtained?

Although it would not immediately form a situation of contending with the great kingdoms, this trend was very obvious. Discerning people could see it, and the reason Evereska was able to possess the status of leader of the small kingdom alliance was largely due to the Northland Alliance Headquarters being in its home.

"Lord Xia Shao, in my concept of time, it seems we only met yesterday. Those polite words are unnecessary; please—"

After the two sides met, Laierlesi stated directly that his father wanted to meet with Xia Shao. Xia Shao had anticipated this, so he went along with it and agreed.

In essence, he was not an Elf. Although he would not keep his distance from outsiders at all times like most Netherese Mages, even as a modern person from Earth, he did not like such close-contact interaction very much.

Although he had some doubts, Xia Duo felt that Aoruipusi might have guessed correctly, but he did not want to intervene too deeply in the internal affairs of Evereska, even if only as a proposer of a plan.

Of course, occupying the Evereska Mythallar Permission for a long time could not be called a good thing after all. In Xia Shao's view, the only solution was to move the Northland Alliance Headquarters out of Evereska.

When Xia Shao arrived, Elder Lari greeted him personally. This was on one hand a respect for Xia Shao's status, but on the other hand, it was inevitable that it would make Xia Shao think of the saying, "If a gift is given to someone, there must be something sought in return."

A neutral place should have the rules of a neutral place. Individual suggestions were fine, but if it were an entire set of plans, then there would be the suspicion of excessive interference.

Continuing to communicate with Aoruipusi for a while, Laierlesi requested an audience from outside. Xia Shao certainly would not let a high-level Mage wait outside for a long time.

Under such circumstances, let alone other countries like Yierlan, I am afraid that even within Evereska, it would not be easy to reach a consensus.

On this matter, even Xia Shao, who agreed with the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, actually held reservations. In the magic world, the Mythallar Permission could indeed be called a part of sovereignty, but—

It was just that this proposal, whether the Seven Small Kingdoms would agree was one thing, but I am afraid that even Evereska itself would not agree.

If the cooperation proposed by Lari could bring long-term and stable income to the Tower of Time, as long as it was not that kind of very broad alliance agreement, clear and specific cooperation projects were completely acceptable.

Very soon, accompanied by Laierlesi, Xia Shao passed through a garden courtyard that was still blooming prosperously in this early winter season and arrived at the formal reception hall of higher specifications of the Golden Maple Family.

"Elder Lari, long time no see. You look even more spirited."

On this topic, Xia Shao absolutely did not want to get involved, so although he was very interested in the Mythallar update topic mentioned by Laierlesi, he did not go deeper into it.

On the other hand, it was a hint, a hint that the subsequent talks might involve the Evereska Mythallar.

It was just that at this moment, the Void Warehouse of the Tower of Time was just testing the waters in the Elf World, not to mention that he still had the idea of rolling out the Cloud Pattern Announcement on a large scale. At such a time, it was impossible to completely trust Lari.

It was just that in the current Evereska, the Mythallar topic could definitely be called a relatively sensitive topic. On the day of the Northern Alliance Founding Ceremony, the battle between Yilisier Mianwang and the challenger caused a certain amount of damage to the Evereska Mythallar.

Afterwards, the various Northland countries—mainly the Seven Small Kingdoms—forcibly controlled a portion of the permissions under the pretext of repairing the Mythallar.