Chapter 106: A Friendly Visit

"Huh!"

Li En retracted his flame-drenched blade and shook off the blood.

His calm gaze swept toward the nearby dark elves.

No one dared meet his eyes.

After all, two burning corpses lay before him.

Before the paladin's detection of evil, most of them would glow red—Holy Smite never knew the meaning of mercy.

"Clang." Ignoring the cowards, Li En sheathed his sword and turned away in silence.

This shopping trip, it seemed, was ruined.

He walked over a hundred meters, then returned to the inn named "The Unreachable Silk Song."

Outside, carriages of the caravan were parked, and two spider-woman warriors guarded the door—they were better adapted to the local environment than outsiders.

This inn, with its distinctly dark elf madness in its name, had only three floors, lavishly decorated, and had been entirely booked by the visiting orc ambassadorial delegation.

Yet most still lingered in the first-floor lobby, fearing that if they slept alone in their rooms, they would never wake up.

After all, in just this single night, they had already faced at least four waves of assassins and countless thieves.

Li En's spare swords had all been dulled by cuts; he had no choice but to pick up the Hero's Sword again.

He finally understood the true advantage of this so-called indestructible holy sword metal—it felt amazing cutting through everything.

Others had faced similar problems—not just due to the enemy's armor, but because of various drugs and supernatural abilities.

Li En had already encountered several "bomb-men" with toxic blood; had he been slower, he would have been injured.

"How's it going?" the guard at the door asked casually.

"Not good. They probably don't want us to leave." As Li En answered, he turned and saw countless watching eyes.

He walked back into the inn's lobby; beyond the tightly drawn curtains, countless eyes peered in.

Since checking in, at least dozens of surveillance groups had been tailing them.

Hostility and unhidden killing intent were laid bare for all to see.

Among the caravan, now shrunk to around twenty people, most were tense.

Dark elves were infamous for poison and assassination; though no one in the caravan had died yet, they had suffered too many failed assassination attempts.

"Relax, relax, they're quite friendly."

Only the magic girl Violet Rose, cheerfully dragging others into a card game, seemed completely unaffected.

"Two dark elf assassins, triggering poison and curse chain… Wuwuwu, chain completed! Little Kuku, your red dragon's dead!" But the card game itself seemed oddly off.

"Terrible game! Final-stage red dragon! Got poisoned by two little thieves! I'm done! I'm done!" Kuku leapt onto the table, raging—perfectly embodying what it meant to not play and not be able to afford losing.

Not just Violet Rose, but even Kuku, who had long stopped pretending, had fully let loose.

"How could this happen! I just bought this card! Limited local edition!" Violet Rose pouted, frantically trying to rescue her newly purchased local card.

"Overpowered card! Terrible card! Kick it out of the pool!"

They were playing "Myriad Heroes," a simple card game simulating real professions, races, and monsters, with cards for cities and terrain—a centuries-old battlefield simulation game.

Almost every moderately sized city had shops for enthusiasts; due to its low cost and complete lack of copyright, many ordinary people loved it.

Precisely because there was no copyright, every region had its own "local cards"—like the overpowered assassin and poison cards favored by local dark elves.

"Li En, you're back? Did you get any cards? Come play, come play!"

"I didn't even leave and ran into two groups looking for trouble."

Li En sat back down on the sofa; honestly, it was warm.

The dark elves' furniture was quite nice—elegant yet sturdy; his armor hadn't even broken it.

Li En had claimed he was going out to buy some cards, but everyone knew he was testing the waters—seeing how far the locals would let them go.

He was genuinely curious about local customs, especially the shops and markets; he'd have loved to visit a mage's shop.

But unfortunately, not only could he not reach the commercial street—even leaving this block was difficult.

"Hehe, I can sell you a set. Look, this is 'The Destroyer' Solor Koven, the legendary dark elf hero who slaughtered seven noble families in one night! This card is ultra-rare even here."

Yet Violet Rose still proudly displayed her local hero cards.

They bore official seals, meaning they were recognized by the official (Continental Myriad Cards Association)—not just local overpowered cards ignored elsewhere.

Li En was speechless. You really think I came out to buy cards? Sure, I used to be a card enthusiast, and yes, I'd like to collect them—but I'm not blind to the current situation.

Li En ventured out to test the locals' attitude toward his group; some things must be felt firsthand.

But the result was terrible—not because local factions held hostility, but because even children on the street wanted to shoot him with a crossbow.

This meant that if any ambitious person sparked a war, all it would take was a little incitement—and the fire would spread.

"This place is a fireheap about to explode. They probably see the city's troubles as our fault… well, actually, that's not entirely wrong."

Beasts and orcs are destined enemies—a bundled-up mess.

These dark elves, exiled here by their own society to guard the city, are truly unlucky souls caught in their race's troubles.

Lately, monsters have increased outside; this city must be under immense pressure.

With just a little provocation, hatred toward surface-dwellers will naturally grow—and this hatred is logically self-consistent.

Li En lay back on the sofa, too tired to think further. His group seemed stuck here—nowhere to go.

After entering the city last night, they submitted a request to meet the city lord—but still received no reply.

This was clearly a terrible development: the key person couldn't be reached, and their group was subtly detained, surrounded by hostile locals.

Shaliman sighed, glancing out the window, nearly defeated.

Violet Rose, however, looked completely relaxed—was she truly indifferent?

"No, no, no—this is actually the best possible outcome." Violet Rose held a completely different view on all this.

"This is the best?" Li En fell silent. He didn't think Violet Rose would deceive him.

If he took her conclusion as a premise and viewed the situation differently, was there something he'd missed?

"Indeed, not meeting is the best kind of meeting."

Under the pressure of hostile public opinion among both commoners and elites, meeting the emissary of an enemy would yield nothing but trouble. Two furious men meeting under public gaze would only shout louder, and eventually, with bystanders cheering them on, they'd start fighting.

If the city lord truly received them, what could she offer? A promise of non-aggression? After exchanging bitter words, any future cooperation would be impossible.

The fact that they didn't immediately receive them, didn't publicly scold the emissaries to stir up public sentiment, and didn't directly detain them—this likely meant they intended secret negotiations and cooperation.

Violet Rose was right: this silence was indeed the best outcome.

"Here, this is your deck—the local starter pack. Lots of local overpowered cards. Too bad you can only play them here."

And the unopened card pack Violet Rose offered with such eagerness was the real hint.

She had been staying in the inn the whole time—so how had she bought multiple local card packs?

Li En instantly understood: her clone or some proxy must be active outside.

True negotiations always happen in the shadows.

The emissary team's arrival and expression of willingness to talk, coupled with their presence here, was already enough.

The rest? Let those who want to talk come to them secretly.

"Great! Count me in!"

Thus, the cheerful card enthusiast Li Ensu returned—let the card game continue.

Honestly, the card design bore clear similarities to certain card games in his memory: hero units, regular units—though the balance was terrible, it was genuinely fun.

He was surprised to find that his Soul Hero card's design closely resembled these hero cards.

With his mind at ease, Li En could now experience the local atmosphere.

If this place were truly a tourist city, it would be quite excellent: streets were clean and well-designed, free of the stench of livestock or rotting garbage; everywhere, statues and decorations showed the goddess holding up a water jug—a clear sign of a theocratic city.

The interior decor was tasteful too—after all, they were elves. But Li En had heard dark elves were a short-lived elf subrace, with a maximum lifespan under two hundred years, yet their reproduction and growth rates matched those of short-lived species—it was hard to say whether this was degeneration or evolution.

By the way, Li En had begun to suspect whether the underground world was a matriarchal society: the streets were clearly dominated by female dark elves, and most noble dark elf priests were also high-ranking members of their families—especially the head of each family, invariably a matriarch.

In a sense, this was a problem inherited from the former main deity, Luo Si—but among the current seven dark elf deities, only one was male, and one was of unknown race (said to be a slime).

In this theocratic society, priests and nobles were essentially the same.

These dark elf priests regarded Li En with unfriendly eyes—as if he were some rare collectible.

To avoid attracting extra trouble, Li En should avoid wandering outside.

"Tch, I clearly sensed those two little black dragons are here."

But now was clearly not the time to stir up more trouble.

The emissary team's fishing tactic had indeed borne some fruit: late at night, a local came sneaking up.

But the first friendly visitor who rushed over was oddly peculiar.

"Orc (Ark) brethren, have you come to liberate us?"

The leader of the slave rebellion had secretly approached; at least seventy percent of the city's slaves were various subtypes of beastfolk.

They had been enslaved by the local dark elves for a long time and never abandoned resistance; now that they heard their homeland had sent people, they were desperate.

This was an unexpected "trouble"—if they truly agreed to their rebellion, they might as well prepare for war between two cities.

After the rebel leader left in disappointment, Violet Rose spoke.

"They're bait. Dark elves are a cruel race; their slave-training techniques are highly refined. Cultivating a rebellion group and periodically conducting 'pressure relief' effectively dampens slave resistance."

She paused, then revealed an even crueler truth.

"Perhaps the dark elves themselves sent them to test our response."

This was only the beginning.

More visitors—some genuine, some fake—came knocking; Shaliman was numb from handling them all.

Some came to sell counterfeit goods; some threatened to seize all their cargo; some preached racial superiority; others claimed they had connections to get the emissaries audience with the city lord—fraudsters all.

Ninety-nine percent of it was meaningless; Li En had finally seen the diversity of the dark elves.

But finally, just before dawn, a woman wrapped in a cloak arrived at the door.

"This is the city's governor, 'Daughter of the Black Blade,' Wei Erna. Taralbar." As the servant introduced her, the figure lowered her cloak—white hair, crimson eyes, a beautiful face, yet frozen with ice.

Behind her, her attendants carried tray after tray, each holding the severed heads of every visitor tonight!

The true envoy, Sha Li Man, had turned deathly pale.

"Welcome, welcome!" The cheerful Purple Rose stepped forward directly, as if she had not seen the bloody welcome at all.

(End of Chapter)