Chapter 2870: Reiterating Principles, Grey Peak Conflict

"Elder Laruian, I have just returned from the Grey Peak Mountains. After a full day of investigation, I happen to have some things I would like to discuss with you, Elder."

"Please speak, Lord Xia Duo!"

"First, the Mithril Mine in the Grey Peak Mountains is real, and its reserves are enormous. I don't know if it can last a thousand years, but at least for the foreseeable future, the Northland will no longer need to worry about Mithril."

Although being entrusted by the Seven Towers to investigate the Mithril Mine in the Grey Peak Mountains was merely a pretext, Xia Duo had indeed investigated it seriously. After an on-site inspection, it was indeed a Giant Mithril Mine.

Besides the Mithril itself, there were several times more silver, copper, lead, and zinc, as well as gold, though the proportion of gold was not as high as the silver and copper, being only comparable to or perhaps slightly less than the Mithril.

Yet even so, this meant a massive expansion of wealth for the Northland. After the field inspection, Xia Duo truly made up his mind to implement a Credit Currency. Although it would initially still use precious metals as the material, it would incorporate an Order Force identifier.

In the future, it would adopt lighter materials, with the Order Force identifier as the primary feature.

It was just that, in doing so, his relationship with Zhenna would truly drift further apart. However, the rich mine in the Grey Peak Mountains had not yet been mined, and there was no clue for the Order Force currency identifier yet, so he would take it slow!

Xia Duo sighed inwardly, then continued: "Second, I wish to reiterate the principle of 'joint development and fair distribution' that Netheril holds regarding the Mithril Mine in the Grey Peak Mountains. I hope Elder Laruian can understand."

He wanted to use the Mithril Mine as a pretext to remind the other party that Netheril was a country that adhered to principles, at least for now, and that he, Xia Duo, was also a person who adhered to principles.

As long as the rules of the game were followed—specifically the Northland Alliance charter—there was no need to worry about what Netheril or he might do to Evereska. In fact, as long as Evereska abided by the Alliance charter, if they encountered injustice, Netheril would even stand up for them.

Hearing these words, the unease in Laruian's heart eased slightly, but the two major events that had suddenly broken out today had truly startled him, so he asked again:

"I wonder what Lord Xia Duo thinks of the disappearance of the diviners in Cormanthor and Yierlan that occurred today?"

"Everything should be based on the investigations of the relevant countries or the Northland Alliance. However, personally, I hope this incident is just a misunderstanding, and I hope they can still appear in the public eye."

Xia Duo did not say whether the disappearance in Yierlan was his doing, but as long as Pafen had nothing to do with the Illuminati, he would indeed release the other party. But if Pafen were related to the Illuminati, he would absolutely continue to investigate.

His current statement was actually telling Laruian—wait a moment; when the results come out, I certainly won't let you down!

Afterwards, the two sides did not continue on this topic but chatted about the Friendship Tower in the south of Evereska, which had now entered the final stages and would soon be ready for delivery and use.

Regarding this, Laruian expressed, "I am very much looking forward to the upcoming New Wind Art Exhibition in Daxia Territory, and I also hope that our two regions can have further exchanges in the future."

"We will, I believe we certainly will!"

In fact, the New Wind Art Exhibition was already a very deep exchange, because after this, Evereska was prepared to take this as an opportunity to introduce the Daxia Code. If this didn't count as deep, what would?

However, Xia Duo also knew that even if Evereska introduced the Daxia Code, it was impossible to copy it entirely. Even without considering the differences in national conditions, there were heavy obstacles from the Upper Family in Evereska.

But being able to introduce it was already a great step forward, both for Evereska and for Xia Duo. In the future, as the exchanges between the two sides deepened further and the influence of Daxia Territory continued to rise, these were just the beginning.

……

After Elder Laruian left, Xia Duo told Lajieer not to receive any more visitors, then entered the Secret Ritual Chamber to begin clearing the Subconscious Information pollution. Just like that, another day passed quickly.

In the Zhuangyuan Miyishi, Xia Duo slowly opened his eyes. After a day of rest, he had returned to his best state. When he walked out of the Secret Ritual Chamber, Lajieer was already waiting outside.

"My Lord, do you need a meal?" Lajieer asked.

"Not for now. First, tell me if there was any important news yesterday?"

A Saint Form Avatar did not need to eat to be maintained for a long time. Xia Duo now wanted to know the situation in the outside world during his "seclusion" yesterday.

Lajieer had long been prepared for this; collecting intelligence was one of the duties of a butler. Being asked by Xia Duo at this moment, he immediately reported—

"A major event happened yesterday: the exploration teams of Cormanthor and Yierlan in the Grey Peak Mountains had a conflict, but there were no deaths, and Netheril was not involved in it."

"In addition, the disappearance of the diviners in Cormanthor and Yierlan continues to ferment. Some diviners have publicly stated that they will investigate to the end, but judging from the fact that they only made statements, the truth is likely far from us."

"Anything besides these?" Xia Duo asked again.

"There is also Netheril's Ambassador Tili'ao, who publicly announced Netheril's principles regarding the Mithril Mine in the Grey Peak Mountains, which received public support from a group of small countries including Evereska."

"What about the attitudes of other countries?"

"Danzo and Yierlan have not made any statements. Cormanthor and Ilpharon have ambiguous attitudes, but none have opposed it; there aren't even any rumors."

"Is that so!"

Xia Duo was not surprised by this result at all. "Joint development and fair distribution" was not a specific distribution plan, but merely a principle in a general direction, and it was quite politically correct. If they were to oppose even this, there would be nothing they wouldn't do.

Even if their eating habits were ugly, they wouldn't go that far, especially for the Elves who always wanted to maintain a beautiful appearance in everything.

The Magic Restriction Treaty previously passed by the Northland Alliance, although everyone knew it was aimed at Netheril, was nominally for the safety of the Northland and for the Sustainable Development of Magic in the Northland.

……

Besides some major Northland events, Lajieer also mentioned the visitors from yesterday, excluding Laruian at the beginning. There were two in total: one was Supervisor Dumu from the Northland Alliance's Demon Descendant Intelligence Research Lab, and the other was Researcher Dika from the Time-Related Magic Research Laboratory.

Hearing that these two had come to visit, Xia Duo had already roughly guessed the reason. Previously, in order to clear the Subconscious Information pollution, he had handed the Spirit Thought Network over to the smart brain for management, which had an impact on specific usage.

The deeper the user, the more obvious the feeling, and Dika was precisely such a user.

As for Dumu, perhaps Dika had asked him to come visit, but when he didn't see anyone, Dika came over personally, and ended up not seeing anyone either.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo immediately took back control from the smart brain, letting it only serve as an auxiliary, while simultaneously sending a message to Dika and Dumu respectively, asking for the reason for their visit yesterday.

Although he had likely already guessed it, he still had to ask after all.