Chapter 2702: Small Boats Are Hard to Turn Around, Evil Intentions

Of course, in this situation, there is another possibility: to keep hiding, hiding until the family gives birth to a High Mage, but even then, it still cannot be considered a true Upper Family.

Because this is just an isolated case, and it would not be an exaggeration to call it luck; a true Upper Family requires stable inheritance, with High Mages emerging generation after generation.

If it is only for one generation, although it is possible to challenge for Upper Family status, once that sole High Mage passes away, the fate of being carved up and exhausted is generally unavoidable.

The saying "virtue does not match the position, disaster will surely follow" is nothing more than this.

Therefore, the true rulers of the Elf World are not individual countries, Crown Kings, or councils, but the various Upper Families.

No matter what kind of reforms are carried out within a specific country, as long as they cannot touch the Upper Families, it is basically just changing the soup without changing the medicine; this is also the main reason why Xia Duo is not very optimistic about the reforms in Evereska.

Because there are too few Upper Families in Evereska, so few that there are not many variables, let alone any misjudgments, and they can completely sit down and trade honestly.

Moreover, the basic foundation of Evereska is too small, so small that even if just one family is dissatisfied, it might make all the Upper Families dissatisfied; in such a situation, it is very easy to reach a compromise.

And as for reform, the situation in Yierlan is quite different; there are enough Upper Families, and the basic foundation of Yierlan is large enough that even if someone wants to flip the chessboard, at worst, they will just fight a battle. As long as the hostile party is eliminated, the shattered basic foundation is enough for the surviving families to carve up.

Furthermore, when there are few enough Upper Families, wanting the interests of all families to be completely consistent is not easy at all; in such a situation, forming cliques is almost an inevitable choice.

Anyway, whether it is or not, Xia Duo has already kept this matter in mind, but he will not deliberately investigate it because he has more important things to do; grasping the key points is more important.

"The extra portion should be the compensation handed over to the Alliance by the country involved, and under normal circumstances, the Alliance will also share this part of the compensation with the corresponding parties."

But even so, the Yierlan Crown King did not achieve complete success due to the discourtesy of the Sluwen war; centralization was achieved, but it was only external centralization, and internal opposing camps still existed—the Crown King and the Gaoshu Elder Council.

As for the present, the Northland Alliance treating the Supreme Inheritance as a reward is actually giving out an Upper Family entry permit endorsed by the Alliance!

But no matter what, this matter shows that the interior of the Northland Alliance is not as harmonious as outsiders imagine, and there will always be some friction.

On the contrary, large countries like Yierlan still have relatively ample room for development, which can accommodate more Upper Families.

"Does that mean the one who chose these extra rewards for me this time is one of the other two Supervisors of the Demon Descendant Intelligence Research Lab?"

As far as the Northland Alliance is concerned, pushing forward research related to the Time Line as soon as possible is the main point; the Demon Descendants are hiding so deeply that constantly investigating them is too passive.

While sighing, Xia Duo weighed the Elven Magic Supreme Inheritance scroll in his hand, then tentatively asked Dumu: "Do you know what this is?"

After speaking, Dumu added, "Any decision by the Northland Alliance will leave a record; this is very easy to check. Does Lord Xia Duo need me to check it?"

That Yierlan was able to succeed in reform is entirely because it grasped the most critical moments of the situation's development, such as the Demon-blood Crisis, the rise of Netheril, and so on.

"No, Bulaide was also an eyewitness to the event; he should have recused himself as well. The one who truly made the decision should be Maigeluoer, though of course, it could also be the Councilors or even representatives above."

If someone really has such thoughts, then that guy's heart is truly black!

To strike a snake, one must strike its seven inches; if the problems related to the Time Line are clarified, even if the Demon Descendants hide as deep as they can, they will be unable to complete the ritual to subvert the Time Line, and it will all be in vain.

This time, they seized the opportunity to give him extra rewards and sent out the Supreme Inheritance, but if one thinks this way, there must also be Demon Descendants within Yierlan cooperating with him.

Evereska is simply too small; there is no extra room for development to give to emerging Upper Families. In such a situation, even if the Great Xia Code is introduced, it is very difficult to produce a qualitative change—such as popularizing education or producing new Upper Families.

"I don't know; I haven't handled this remuneration. However, according to convention, the Northland Alliance only provides Standard Mithril as remuneration for temporary invitations. If one becomes an Alliance employee, one gets extra internal Alliance benefits."

It is entirely about expanding outward to increase new room for development; this room for development is not mutually exclusive, but exists within various parallel Domains.

Xia Duo feels that someone here must be harboring malicious intentions; perhaps they feel that he has a close relationship with Evereska and want him to keep this permit in Evereska, thereby disrupting Evereska's normal pace of development.

This is the difference in the difficulty of reform for countries of different scales, and in reality, it is also the difference in the difficulty of the birth of emerging Upper Families.

Perhaps an alliance of small countries is their true path to development.

"Who has the authority to decide exactly what extra rewards to give?" Xia Duo asked again.

As long as a new Domain is opened up, that is a brand-new room for development, enough to accommodate more than one Upper Family.

"That won't be necessary!"

However, Xia Duo has an even bolder idea—that Maigeluoer might just be a Demon Descendant, trying every possible way to sow discord within the Alliance.

Dumu briefly introduced the Northland Alliance's remuneration mechanism; the reward given to Xia Duo this time was actually that pile of Standard Mithril Ingots worth over a hundred thousand Gold Coins. As for the extra part, Dumu also explained—

Small families in large countries can take this permit, but large families in small countries cannot; once they take it, they must either leave the small country to develop in a large country, or it will lead to civil strife within the small country.

If the existing Upper Families in Evereska can understand the development opportunities within it, perhaps it will be the turning point for Evereska's true rise.

From Xia Duo's perspective, popularizing education might produce more Upper Families to forcibly seize Evereska's current interests, but popularizing education also means that Evereska's comprehensive national strength has become stronger.

"Then if you go to check, will it leave a record?"

……

The implication is that Dumu does not know what the extra reward given to Xia Duo by the Northland Alliance is, but what is certain is that the extra rewards all come from Yierlan, and what Xia Duo has received now is only a part of it.

Of course, rising is one thing; wanting to surpass regional powers like Yierlan or Ilfaran, Evereska's own scale is still too small.

Actually, Xia Duo already has the answer in his heart; if nothing goes wrong, it should be one of the three Supervisors of the Demon Descendant Intelligence Research Lab, Maigeluoer. That guy is from Yierlan; just based on this point, it is enough to make a rough judgment.

Of course, this only refers to the present; in the future, there might be brand-new opportunities!

"Under normal circumstances, the Supervisor of the corresponding agency involved in the event, such as myself, has the authority to adjust the extra rewards given to you, but this time I am both a party involved and, like you, from Netheril, so I recused myself."

Of course, Xia Duo will not deliberately remind them of anything; after all, if a new Domain appears, he also wants a share of the pie. It is not just him; Yierlan and other countries cannot be bypassed either, so it is not certain that it will be Evereska's turn to forcibly seize room for development at will.

But once camps are divided, trying to bridge them again will be fraught with difficulties; it is not just that the opponents will not agree, but those within one's own camp will not be happy either.

"It will."