Under the night, the stone-grey castle stood quietly in a corner of the city-state.
The lights inside and outside the castle were dim, and if it weren't for some vague shadows walking by the city wall, it would have looked like a deserted and deserted castle.
Silver Castle, where the Duke of Silver lives, has no aristocratic appearance at all.
It has no high spire or luxurious decorations, and the material used to build it is the same gray stone bricks as the city wall. From a distance, it looks like a huge and heavy stone pier.
From the architectural style to the presence or absence of blood spreading in the air, they all show what kind of city-state this is.
…
This is probably not a Hongmen Banquet.
Therefore, the clothes the maid prepared for Xu Shuo were mainly neat riding clothes, with a bit of the fierce style of the people in the far north. The shoulders, chest, limbs and elbows of the riding clothes had armor and stomach attachments.
Xu Shuo was thoughtful when he saw this. It seemed that Duke Baiyin wanted to take him to another place tonight, otherwise he would not have prepared this outfit.
It can be seen from this that the other party should be a person who does things quickly and has a bit of a petty attitude.
While he was washing up again, there was some noise outside.
Xu Shuo walked out of the room and followed the sound, and saw Zuo Fang standing in the hall with a solemn face, and a middle-aged man with gray hair wearing a thick plush cloak next to him.
After seeing Xu Shuo, Zuo Fang's eyes lit up, with high admiration and excitement in his expression.
"Your Majesty the Pope!"
He immediately knelt down on one knee and saluted skillfully.
Xu Shuo nodded towards him, then looked at the gray-haired man standing next to him.
The gray of his hair was a very light color in his eyes, and at one time it was almost the same color as his own hair.
Having been blind for so long, Xu Shuo could barely guess what color the person opposite him should be from the spectrum of the grayscale gradient layer.
"I never thought that the Pope of Light would actually come to my barren land in the far north in person."
The man looked at him and sighed.
Xu Shuo chuckled lightly and walked down the spiral staircase. His eyes fell on the Silver Duke with deep meaning.
"Before coming here, your soldiers told me that there was a banquet?"
He didn't respond to the other party's words, he just looked around as if looking for where the banquet was.
Duke Silver looked at him: "You can eat it if you want."
As he spoke, the Silver Duke waved his hand to the knights beside him to give the orders. After all, he had not prepared anything before.
What serious person comes here just to have a meal?
The banquet was held on the open terrace on the third floor of the castle. It was freezing cold and snowflakes were falling.
But you can see the Far North Mountains from this place.
The Far North Mountains are the largest mountain range on this continent. They spread seemingly endlessly, reaching from the inland Andas Mountains in the east to the sea in the west. They faintly circle into a half circle and wrap the entire human continent within it.
The Silver Castle was not built in the center of the city, but in a corner of the city, the place closest to the mountains.
"The attacks of Warcraft are irregular and can occur at any time throughout the year. If the garrison fails to send back battle reports in time, their movements can be quickly discovered here." Duke Silver said slowly.
"You can set up a beacon tower." Xu Shuo glanced at the mountains.
"too slow."
Duke Baiyin poured himself a glass of animal milk wine, and then poured another glass for Xu Shuo, leaving Zuo Fang standing.
He continued expressionlessly: "Warcraft are different from ordinary beasts. They are very fast. Any Warcraft can easily run thousands of miles. It only takes half a quarter of an hour from the time they run out of the mountains to the Silver City."
"
His voice was neither fast nor slow, with a gentle feeling, and the expression on his face remained unchanged as before.
Just looking at his appearance, one would think that he must be a very stable man.
Xu Shuo suddenly said: "The Duke seems to have not explained yet, why did you catch me halfway?"
Duke Silver glanced at him: "Is the girl next to you a mixed elf?"
Xu Shuo looked at him without saying anything, waiting for the next step.
It's not surprising that the other party knew about this, because when they met with the Silver Shield Legion at Castle Castle, they concealed the existence of the dragon, but they didn't avoid it.
When the Silver Shield Legion got the news, perhaps someone had rushed back to the Silver City-State before dawn in order to convey the latest information to the Duke of Silver.
If not, when I was in the coniferous forest before.
There is no need for the Silver Shield Legion to separate him and Sora.
Probably because he knew Sora's special identity, he didn't plan to bring him to the Silver City State.
"Most people in the Silver City-State..."
Duke Silver said slowly: "Actually, they are all hybrid descendants of ice and snow elves, including me."
Zuo Fang, who was listening quietly next to him, widened his eyes and was slightly stunned.
After Xu Shuo was stunned, he suddenly realized.
The Silver City-State is so close to the Far North Mountains, so it is not surprising that mixed-race descendants of humans and elves would be born, and there should even be more mixed-races than in other regions.
But the Silver Duke is also a mixed-race descendant...
That is indeed a bit surprising.
So? Does this have anything to do with refusing Sora to come to Silver City?
Duke Silver continued: "However, due to the purification of the Holy See, the elven blood of the descendants of our city-state is not active and exists in a dead state in the body. At most, it will cause some superficial changes in appearance, but our essence is still purely human.
"
The only large church in the far north is in Silver City.
It has existed since thousands of years ago.
But, the descendants of elves from the Silver City-State?
Xu Shuo's eyes moved slightly. The Pope seemed not to know about this?
It is estimated that during the War of Faith thousands of years ago, in order to guard against the ice and snow elves coming out of the Far North Mountains, the Holy See of Light at that time stationed a Church of Light in the Silver City-State, and also took measures to deal with the mixed descendants of elves here.
But why do this?
"There are high and low levels of elves."
The Silver Duke seemed to have noticed his doubts.
Those same silver-white eyes stared at him and said calmly: "High elves have a suppressive effect on the bloodline of low elves, even if that bloodline is dead."
Xu Shuo paused suddenly: "So in the battle in the Far North Mountains a few days ago, you were suppressed by the opponent?"
"Um."
The Silver Duke nodded: "If this were not the case, I would not have let her escape, and it is impossible that the nine thousand silver shield army would not be able to stop her."
Speaking of this matter, the Silver Duke's always calm eyes finally burst out with a fierce light, and his whole person's aura became particularly fierce, as if he had seen the scene that night again.
It was obviously almost possible to keep people here.
As a result, the suppression in the bloodline suddenly broke out, and most of the Silver Shield Army was suppressed. Even the monsters that jumped in front of them were unable to resist.
It was a really heavy loss that night.
Xu Shuo raised his eyebrows: "So what you're saying is that Sola's bloodline may be higher than yours, and you're worried about being suppressed by her?"
Bai Yingong said calmly: "Any elven bloodline is superior to ours, because our bloodline has almost disappeared, and it is no longer possible to tell which one is the inheritance. Only a little bit of residual characteristics are still in the body."
"The Holy See did this back then..."
Xu Shuo narrowed his eyes: "It should be to prevent you from believing in the goddess of dawn, right?"
The Duke of Silver drank the animal milk wine, but after hearing this, he turned his head and thought for a moment: "It should not be just this reason, I found that there seems to be something wrong with the elf's body."
"Body?" Xu Shuo paused.
"During the previous battle, the elves exuded a kind of energy and blood that was not like theirs, which made her very painful."
Duke Silver said: "Elves will no longer enter the mainland for no reason."
"The ones who want to take action this time are just your Holy See and the Saint Vallo royal family. The situation is different from the situation a thousand years ago, and the elves who have been silent for a thousand years should not be born at this time.
"But the elves have also left the Far North Mountains this time, unless there is some reason why they have to do this.
"For example, is it related to the continuation of their race?"
The Silver Duke looked thoughtful, and the look in his eyes was not gentle, but rather sharp.
After hearing this, Xu Shuo had some guesses.
Combined with what the black dragon said and Sora and his purpose of coming to the far north, it is not difficult to guess.
——Dragon Curse!
In Sola's hint, the curse in their bodies will cause people to die at the age of twenty, or suffer other disasters.
A curse that cannot be diluted by mixed blood.
It can be seen that for pure elves, the power of this curse should be even more terrifying.
Xu Shuo said with emotion: "Your Excellency, the Duke, knows things well. As you may think, I also think that the elves appeared for the continuation of their own race."
Duke Silver looked at him: "What do you know there?"
"Before I tell you, should the Duke express something?" Xu Shuo smiled half-heartedly.
"I am sworn in with the royal power." Duke Silver said expressionlessly.
"Um?"
"Silver City-State has long wanted to overthrow the royal rule of the St. Valo Empire. No matter what the Holy See of Light wants to do this time, I will cooperate with it." Duke Silver said again.
When he said this, he emphasized a few words with ulterior motives and cast a meaningful look at Xu Shuo.
Yes, he has perfectly hinted at their camp mission this time.
——[Overthrow the royal rule of the San Valo Empire.]
Xu Shuo leaned back on the chair.
Now that the identity of Duke Silver was confirmed, and he didn't look like a lunatic like Luo Kun, Xu Shuo didn't mind telling all the information about the elves.
However, he still concealed the traces of the dragon clan.
It's not that important to think about that dragon now.
Then let's wait until they meet.
Although a few people were chatting on the outdoor terrace, there was a ceiling covering their heads, so the flying snowflakes did not fall on them.
Not long after.
The banquet prepared by Silver Castle was set up.
Yes, it was "set up".
It was a huge barbecue grill with an unknown beast skinned on it.
The animal meat rack was already cooked when it was brought up. It was two to three meters huge, and several knights carried it up together.
Zuo Fang looked a little disgusted when he saw it.
Is this your family’s banquet?
The Silver Duke had already begun to roll up his sleeves: "Eat early, and after that I will take you to the Far North Mountains to have a look. It's not that I don't want to leave here, it's mainly because the situation there is too complicated."
Xu Shuo looked at the barbecue grill and fell into deep thought.
I looked at the empty table again and couldn't find any tableware.
He felt that eating like this seemed to be beneath the dignity of the Pope, although in fact he had no intention of eating it.
The Silver Duke had torn off a warm piece of animal leg with his bare hands and said while eating: "In addition, I chose to bring you here first to hide the sight of the royal capital."
"Is there anyone here in the royal capital?" Xu Shuo asked.
"Yes, a bishop in white." The Silver Duke slowly chewed the animal meat and said.
"Wait, the white bishop of the Holy See?"
Xu Shuo didn't react at all. Zuo Fang was just about to quietly tear some animal meat for himself and eat it when he was shocked.
Duke Silver nodded: "Well, I'm worried that you will go to church after coming to Silver City, and it would be bad if you attract each other's attention when you enter the city, so I thought it would be better for my people to bring you here."
The Holy See of Light has an undercover agent from the empire.
Xu Shuo was really not surprised at all.
After all, His Highness the Nineteenth Highness Walder is from the Holy See, so isn’t it fair that the Empire also has spies in the Holy See?
Xu Shuo was just curious: "Has he always been in Silver City State or somewhere? How did you discover him?"
Duke Silver said expressionlessly: "After that night in the Far North Mountains, many people left Silver City-State, and many people entered Silver City-State.
"I asked the Silver Shields to pay careful attention.
"As a result, someone sneaked into my Silver Castle that night. At that time, I was still pretending to be seriously injured, so I didn't act rashly.
"After he left, I followed him secretly and found out that he was the white bishop of the church."
When he said this, the Silver Duke's expression did not change. It seemed that it was a common thing for the Holy See to have an undercover agent.
Really normal.
The dukes stationed in the far north are all members of the Holy See, so it is not surprising that the empire also has people in the Holy See.
Zuo Fang was stunned: "Are you just playing with Infernal Affairs?"
"Did he come in from outside?" Xu Shuo asked.
"Well, I asked the knight to inquire about it, and I heard that the Far North is the last place where he will preach. After visiting this place, he should be able to obtain the mark of the Sun Crown and be promoted to bishop, so the priest in the Silver Church is interested in him.
Very respectful.”
When he said this, Duke Baiyin glanced at Xu Shuo, as if he was sizing up something.
After looking at it, he asked again: "Is the mark of your God of Light so easy to get?"
Xu Shuo raised his eyebrows: "Don't talk nonsense, the God of Light will not look down on such a believer with bad intentions. It is impossible for him to get the Sun Crown Mark."
"But when he showed it to the priest, it did look a bit like the sun crown mark, but it was incomplete."
"It's not difficult, magic can do it."
Xu Shuo made a similar magic for Sora.
As long as the mark of the moon wheel is replaced by the sun crown, it is still possible to fool laymen. From this point of view...
The priests of Silver Church have a lot of qualities.
In fact, this is not unfair. The Far North is so desolate and barren. Even if the believers of the God of Light really worship the God of Light, they probably won’t want to stay here for the rest of their lives.
Thousands of years have passed since the War of Faith. Today, the Holy See of Light actually doesn’t pay much attention to the crisis of the elves.
Therefore, the strength of the disciples assigned here is probably not very good.
"However, since half of the people on the opposite side are now in the far north, we can also seize this opportunity."
Xu Shuo rubbed his chin and said.
If each camp is divided into five people this time, then there are two people on the opposite side near them.
It shouldn't be difficult to play three against two, right?
