Chapter 448: Elf Ambassador

In the end, the ruling given by the Council was indeed much as Niya had guessed: both sides were to split this not-so-large Territory, and additionally, the Danas Territory was to compensate the Ferdinand Territory for the costs of initial development as well as the losses from being attacked. Afterward, lords or representatives of lords kept standing up to speak, the vast majority of whom were requesting Council arbitration—for example, a certain Territory charging targeted, excessive transit fees, a lord's son dallying with another lord's daughter, a lord's treasure appearing in another Territory, and so on.

Niya noticed that some issues were resolved on the spot, some of which were even settled through spells, but many other issues were dragged out, and once dragged out, it would likely be for a year.

Just as Niya was pondering why even those as powerful as Great Arcanists were stalling, a familiar name reached her ears. Niya immediately stopped her wild thoughts and cast an inquisitive gaze toward the person who was speaking.

"Your Highness, I wish to accuse the August Territory. For these years, they have continuously assassinated the Mages of my Huo Ke Territory. Last year, my genius student, who was about to become an Advanced Arcanist, was also killed by them. I demand an immediate investigation into the August Territory; their existence is simply a malignant tumor on Netheril!"

Lord Huo Ke Duolaisen said these words almost through gritted teeth, completely ignoring the expression on Badijiaer that was gradually turning gloomy. It was not that he did not know that the August Territory was backed by the Gustav Tower, but he also had a backer, one that was, to a certain extent, even stronger than the Gustav Tower.

The Princess still did not speak. Badijiaer breathed a sigh of relief in secret, his expression returning to calm. Looking at Duolaisen, he said without any emotional fluctuation: "Lord Huo Ke, do you have evidence for what you say?"

Spellcasting was strictly prohibited inside the meeting hall of the Seventon Council, and even Great Arcanists would respect this rule. At this moment, Badijiaer had not cast any magic, yet Duolaisen felt a heavy pressure that made it difficult for him to speak.

Cold sweat poured down his back, soaking a large area. Even though Duolaisen was already standing at the threshold of being a Great Arcanist and often styled himself as one, right now, in front of a true Great Arcanist, he was no better than an ordinary person.

Furthermore, because he knew more, he was all the more terrified.

For a time, the atmosphere inside the Council hall dropped to freezing point, no longer possessing its previous cheer.

Within the Seven Towers Group, there were lords dissatisfied with the Gustav Tower who wanted to say a few words for Duolaisen, but they were immediately stopped by lords they were familiar with. After whispering a few words, they returned to their posture of watching the show.

Niya was also somewhat stunned. If Duolaisen wanted to lodge a complaint, he might even need to add the Tower of Time, or rather, the Daxia Territory—the Arcanist Aquilain of the Huo Ke Territory was still being held in the Tower of Time! "Damn it! Why is no one saying anything!" Duolaisen was completely desperate regarding his so-called allies. If not for still having a trump card, he might not even have been able to hold on and would have collapsed to the ground.

"Lord Huo Ke, you wish to accuse the August Territory; do you have evidence?" Badijiaer asked again.

Duolaisen still could not speak, as if his mouth had been sealed by someone, yet he himself was very clear that he was not under the influence of any magic; he was simply stunned by the title of Great Arcanist! Realizing this made him both ashamed and resentful, yet it was of no use and he was powerless.

At this moment, almost everyone in the Council hall was looking at Duolaisen, which made him even more embarrassed. "I, I—"

He struggled to spit out a few syllables, but the words that followed could not come out no matter what. He could only keep saying "I, I, I," which was somewhat comical; someone in the hall even actually laughed out loud.

Just as this scene was about to slide into a farce, two emerald-green figures appeared inside the Council hall, standing between the crowd of lords and the representatives of the Seven Towers.

"Elves?!" Someone could not help but exclaim.

At this moment, no one cared about Duolaisen anymore. Everyone turned their gaze toward the two newly appeared Elves, including the Princess. At this time, the Princess finally spoke: "Ambassador Ifuyalisi, this is the Seventon Council; is it not somewhat rude to barge in?"

Ifuyalisi smiled faintly, performed a salute, and then said slowly: "Your Highness, I apologize for my lateness. However, Elves should also have a seat in the Seventon Council; I did not barge in."

Ambassador Ifuyalisi behaved with propriety and moderation; not only did he use the Netherese language, but his attitude was also quite amiable. If one ignored his appearance, he was almost a human.

But the other Elf was somewhat impatient. Almost without waiting for the Great Arcanists to speak, he continued after Ifuyalisi's words: "Could it be that the transfer of royal power has made the Seventon Council forget the promise of the Nether King back then? Others may forget, but could Your Highness, who inherited the name of Nether, also forget?"

"I have not forgotten, and I remember it very clearly!" Princess Xiya's eyes sharpened, her tone somewhat unkind. "The Elves mentioned by our ancestors refer only to the Eaerlann Elves, not the Cormanthor Elves."

After finishing, Princess Xiya spat out a string of Elvish syllables. The Elvish spoken from the mouth of a human was elegant and fluent, not losing to an Elf, especially since this quote of the original words of the previous Nether King clearly and unmistakably indicated that the Elves possessing a seat in the Seventon Council specifically referred to the Eaerlann Elves.

The term "Elf" does not have a strict distinction in the Netherese language, but in Elvish, "Eaerlann Elf" and "Cormanthor Elf" have completely different written expressions and phonetic syllables.

For those familiar with Elvish, as long as they see the Elvish script for "Elf" or hear the Elvish pronunciation of "Elf," they can clearly determine exactly what kind of Elf it is, and can even determine some geographical features and historical origins without any ambiguity.

"That, perhaps I was mistaken!" The Cormanthor Ambassador had not the slightest apology, his attitude remaining arrogant. He seemed to want to say something more, but was stopped by the Eaerlann Ambassador.

Although Ifuyalisi was surprised by the Cormanthor Ambassador's poor performance, as a fellow Elf, he would not let an Elf be humiliated by humans, so he took over the topic, which was also his main business:

"Your Highness, everyone, I have come on behalf of the Crown King. The Melting Snow Moon is approaching, and the Crown King believes that starting from this year, the Arcane Competition between your side and ours needs to undergo some changes."

"What changes?"

"The Crown King proposes to let the Cormanthor Elves also join in. For this, our side is willing to provide additional prizes for this year's winner."

"Very well!" Princess Xiya agreed immediately, without even consulting the other Seven Towers representatives. But such an issue hardly needed discussion, because the Arcane Competition was not just the competition itself, and the prizes were not even worth mentioning.

This was a confrontation between two nations, not just a contest of the potential of grassroots Spellcasters; many frictions and disputes between the two nations were also resolved in the Arcane Competition.

In the earliest days, the competition between the two sides was mainly guided by Eaerlann Elven Mages instructing Netherese Mages. It was not until the Netherese obtained the 【Nether Scroll】 and abandoned Elven Magic that the nature of the competition changed somewhat.

Initially, the Netherese lost more and won less, but later they won more and lost less. In a situation where Elven High Mages and Netherese Great Arcanists did not take action, this was already an excellent result.

It was just that now that Eaerlann had dragged in Cormanthor, perhaps they harbored the idea of suppressing Netheril, but Netheril could not possibly back down; in fact, if Eaerlann had not proposed it, the Seven Towers were also prepared to propose it in the future.

A competition with limits and rules was always better than unlimited, ruleless infighting.

(End of chapter)