Volume 9: Home Chapter 289 King of the Southern Grassland
In the last few days of the first month of winter, the envoys from the two tribes who had been guests at the Fire Tribe for a week left one after another.
Less than three days after the two tribes' delegations left, the Tauren Chief Harold, Chief Hall and others arrived at the Fire Tribe.
After hosting the bull-headed people for two days, when the second month of winter arrived, the Fire Tribe team and the Minotaur team traveled together to the Forest of Elves to use the teleportation array.
Xiao Yun carefully considered this year's trip to the Snow King City and brought Dahe and Chief Huoyan with him... and asked Hongye and Chief Arthur to get Hodgson's invitation. (Mr. Sean, who had transformed into an undead creature, was no longer suitable to appear at the banquet)
Yes, although Vengeance Moon no longer stays in the Human Kingdom and has come to the Cursed Land to play, he still occupies the Human Kingdom's sage quota. He does not need an invitation letter at all. His face is his admission ticket...
After several days of trekking, Xiao Yun arrived at the city of the forest elf queen. This time, not only was he invited into the city to attend the elf dinner, he was also received by the queen in person... Compared to the last time when he couldn't even enter the city gate, it was a world of difference.
That night, a team consisting of the sage of the Snow Wolf Tribe, the chief and sage of the Tauren, and the sage of the Human Tribe moved into the Queen's palace. As the forest elves were very picky and had a neurotic obsession with cleanliness, the Queen really spent a lot of money to show her support for the grassland tribe's independence - if outsiders stayed there, the Queen would not come to the palace for at least three years.
In the extremely luxurious Queen's palace, Xiao Yun, who had drunk a bellyful of elven fruit wine at the dinner, called Dahe, Chief Arthur and Hongye to his room, closed the door, and looked at Dahe and Hongye seriously.
Dahe thought that this guy was going to cause trouble for her again, so she stared at Xiao Yun vigilantly and quietly approached the window, causing Chief Arthur to look at her.
"Hongye, what's going on between you and Elizabeth?" Xiao Yun asked solemnly.
"Elizabeth? Nothing. Last time she took us on a diplomatic mission to the Dwarf Kingdom. She was a very nice person." Hongye said blankly.
Xiao Yun took a breath and said, "She went with you guys on the diplomatic mission to the Western Continent?!"
"Uh..." Hongye saw veins popping out on Xiao Yun's forehead and knew something was wrong. She asked carefully, "Is there...what's the problem?"
"The way she looks at you is similar to the way Yumi looked at me back then." Dahe breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he was out of trouble, and interrupted.
"Eh?" Hongye didn't understand. She still remembered Carlisle's subordinate Yumi Hockley, but the only thing she remembered about Yumi was that she helped the tribe find a quartz deposit...
"It's the look that humans use when courting a mate," Dahe explained.
Chief Arthur sprayed out with a "puff" sound.
Hongye's tiger body shook, and then shook again, his jaw dropped: "???"
"Wait, Elizabeth is an elf and I am an orc?!" Hongye said in shock.
Xiao Yun had a blank expression on his face: "If I was willing to give in, one of you, the Grassroots Chief, or the Flame Chief would have been dragged to the dungeon for marriage by that shameless dark elf Angelo."
"What the hell?!" Now all three of them were shocked.
"The Snow Wolf tribe attaches great importance to the choice of a partner. This is determined by our living habits and fighting habits for thousands of years. The best partner is a partner , so we Snow Wolf tribe members never consider intermarriage with outsiders. But..." Xiao Yun's expression was solemn, "We are not yet strong enough to make outsiders respect our ethnic customs. If it is profitable, some outsiders are willing to use marriage to bind our people - sacrificing the lifelong happiness of a young man and woman to achieve the purpose of political or economic alliance. You have all heard enough of similar tragic stories of marriage among humans, right?"
Hongye's expression became serious, and Daha's attitude also became serious.
Xiao Yun, who forcibly changed the concept and linked the pure and sincere transgender love of the elf girl to a marriage of interest, would definitely not feel guilty... Not only would his conscience not hurt, he would also prove that the other person's motives were not pure!
"We, the Snow Wolf Tribe, have decided to go all out for the ideal life and beautiful tomorrow for all our tribe members and all the grassland people." Xiao Yun made a particularly firm expression and said in a particularly powerful tone, "We have the determination to realize our ideals and the perseverance to practice our ideals. We will never sacrifice a member of our tribe in the pursuit of political protection or economic cooperation. We will insist on and defend the freedom of all our tribe members to choose their partners. No matter what the situation is, we will never allow anyone to marry!"
"Yes!" Hongye nodded firmly.
Hongye, who devoted himself to the new hilly area for the development of the tribe and gave up the life of his most beloved warrior, naturally would not sing a different tune on such matters.
Chief Arthur nodded at first, and then, as an "outsider", she suddenly realized that something seemed to be wrong...
Xiao Yun carefully observed Hong Ye's reaction and was relieved to be sure that it was just Elizabeth who was overly enthusiastic and Hong Ye didn't feel anything at all...
Xiao Yun, who had no regrets after kicking away the sincerity of a certain elf girl, now talked to the three people about serious matters: "The Beast King's coveting of our grassland tribe is a good thing for us to some extent. If he hadn't stretched his hand too far, it would have taken us who knows how many years to declare to the outside world that we are the masters of the grassland, and we might not have been able to win the support of the elves like this time. Our mission in this Frank Feast is important, and we must be cautious and careful."
Chief Arthur smiled and said, "Don't worry, Ayun. We will do as we agreed at the work meeting. I have long been curious about how beautiful the Ice and Snow King City is and what the foreign troops guarding Miriam look like."
When Lady Gina went to the Fire Tribe as an envoy, she not only brought the Queen's attitude and expressed the forest elves' support for the grassland tribe's independence, but also hinted that the Fire Tribe was ready to become a formal member of the "Racial Alliance"...
At the last Frank Feast, Xiao Yun secretly promoted the establishment of a racial alliance around the qualifications for guarding Miriam, the gate to the Demon Realm, in order to test the bottom line of the Elf King. At that time, the Fire Tribe was not qualified to participate; and this time, the Elf King seemed to be very interested in the face of the Beast King, and promised that as long as the grassland people could stand on their own, he would accept the Fire Tribe as a member of the racial alliance and also send a legion of spellcasters to Miriam.
The rich magic power emanating from the Demon World Gate is extremely useful for the growth of spellcasters. The grassland tribe, who only touched the threshold five years late, naturally cannot miss such a good opportunity. They must send a group of cat magicians over for "further training". The person leading the team must be Arthur, the most stable and reliable among the cat tribe's senior leaders.
Therefore, Chief Arthur appeared among the participants of the feast this time. He came to the Ice and Snow King City to get his "qualification certificate"...
"Of course I have no doubts about Patriarch Arthur's work." Xiao Yun said with a smile, "It's just that the first batch of multi-ethnic coalition forces stationed in Miriam must have formed a certain degree of stability in the past five years. We suddenly intervened, and we must first ensure that we will not be implicated in the open and secret struggles of the coalition forces. During the feast, it is necessary for us to find out..."
When Xiao Yun was talking to someone he respected, the first words he said were usually polite, and the words after the transition were the key points. The three of them were already familiar with his style, so they listened to the words after that very carefully...
After explaining in detail the important person he met at the last banquet, Xiao Yun stopped to drink some water and looked at Dahe with a sharp gaze: "This kind of occasion is the time to use your face. You are absolutely not allowed to be lazy this time. Make contact with any female creature you can get in touch with. Do you understand?"
Dahe: “…”
Xiao Yun paused, and then said: "Stay away from the males of the various tribes, and don't easily draw hatred from our Fire Tribe."
Dahe: “…”
Chief Arthur turned his head silently, his shoulders shaking.
Da He's mouth twitched: "Don't make it sound so easy. Males and females of many species look almost the same. How can I tell them apart?"
Well... just like the human race cannot recognize the male and female of the Snow Wolf Tribe, it is also a bit difficult for the Snow Wolf Tribe to recognize the male and female of the human race...
"That's easy. The one who gets angry as soon as he sees you is definitely a male." Xiao Yun said calmly.
Dahe: “…”
The next morning, the palace guards came to lead the guests to the teleportation array. Several forest elves always had an inexplicable hostility towards Dahe and stayed away from her.
"These are definitely male elves." Chief Arthur whispered into Daha's ear and said with a smile.
Da He didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Chief Arthur, how come even you are like this!"
Through the teleportation array, a team consisting of three sages and a (Tauren) chief arrived at the Ice and Snow King City.
It is still the large hall supported by dozens of pillars, with the cold wind howling outside and the cool breeze blowing inside.
The snow elf receptionist waiting under the teleportation platform came up to check the invitation. When his eyes swept across Dahe, the snow elf receptionist's face changed, and there was a fleeting surprise in his expression. Then his face looked a little uncomfortable, and he seemed very reluctant to contact Dahe. He stepped back a few steps, stepped sideways off the stage and led the guests.
"Yeah, a male one." Hongye muttered.
Dahaha... Dahaha no longer wants to talk at all.
Chief Harold, who was walking in front, seemed to notice that Daha was in a bad mood and looked over with concern.
Patriarch Arthur looked at him for two seconds and smiled, "She's fine, just a little upset."
Patriarch Harold turned his head and stared at the river.
"..." Dahe turned to look at Chief Arthur, "What is he talking about?"
Xiao Yun, who was walking in the middle of the crowd, raised his hand and patted Da He's arm: "Finally, I like you for once."
Dahe: “???”
They entered the Ice and Snow King City through the side gate of the city wall, and then walked along the city wall through half of the city, walking through countless slopes and stairs that were higher in the north and lower in the south. Along the way, the snow elves, who were already used to seeing visitors from all races, couldn't help but get a little excited whenever they looked at them and noticed the conspicuous presence of Dahe in the crowd...
The Tauren people who had been to the Ice and Snow King City many times were very puzzled. Chief Harold and Chief Hall looked at each other, but couldn't come up with a conclusion. They looked at the Snow Wolves strangely, asking for the answer.
Hongye pointed at Da He, who had a blank expression on his face the entire time: "It's because of her."
All the minotaurs turned around and stared at the river, and then the ferocious bull demon kings all showed the same blank and confused expressions...
Well... the cat tribe, the snow wolf tribe and the minotaurs really can't understand what the difference is between Dahe and other snow wolf tribes - he doesn't have the size of Hongye, a top brother, nor is he as "petite" as Ashan and Ayun. He has absolutely no characteristics~!
The "ordinary" Dahe said that he felt bitter...
There are many things that he wants to express, but the muscles of his face are not obedient. Revenge Moon: "..."
The sages of the three tribes who came together were arranged to live in two small platform courtyards next to each other. This time, the Tauren lived in the same courtyard with the Snow Wolf Tribe, and Hodgson's "roommate" was the sage of the Winged Tribe who arrived the day before.
The Winged Sage had no friendship with the Snow Wolf Tauren and Vengeance Moon, but when he heard that the Snow Wolf Tribe was coming next door, he immediately came over to greet them. The Winged Tribe, who had benefited from "Journey of the Elf Ranger", obviously knew very well who was the person who made public the agricultural machinery blueprints and allowed their entire tribe to live a prosperous life for two years. They came to greet them and brought gifts: a small box of rubies produced in the Helsinki wasteland, also known as the "Lonely Land", which was more than enough for two sets of jewelry.
Not long after the Winged Tribe left, several bald giants who were stronger than white bears and all Wu Ke came to visit. The sage of the Elephant Tribe also came with gifts.
The Elephant Tribe started using agricultural machinery one year later than the Wing Tribe, but the 20% increase in harvest this year was enough to make these super strong bald men smile. Like the Wing Tribe, they specially prepared their specialty for the Snow Wolf Tribe's sage Ayun: the carefully selected and best corn seeds.
Xiao Yun was happier to receive this gift than the ruby he had received before, and without saying anything, he forced the elephant tribe to stay for dinner...
After that, sages from the lion tribe, tea bear tribe, fox tribe, deer tribe, and mouse rabbit tribe came one after another. After Prince Carlisle arrived using the teleportation array at the headquarters of the Bards Association, he even ran to Xiao Yun and stayed there for two days - that's right, Prince Carlisle, who led Saint Bridge to carry out reforms and open up the sea vigorously and fought with the Northern Federation for N years without losing the upper hand, officially made it onto the list of human sages.
The Snow Wolf Tribe, who had been completely invisible during the last banquet, quietly became the most popular place to visit this time. Lieutenant Dana, who did not serve as a maid this year, and Selina, who had just been promoted to lieutenant, almost couldn't squeeze through the door when they came together!
After two days of excitement, the Dark Elf Matriarch and the Forest Elf Queen, who always arrived the day before the feast, led their troops into the Ice and Snow King City and sent people to greet the Snow Wolf Clan Sage Ayun...
Not to mention the Dwarf King, Major Pete Warhammer stayed in the courtyard where the Snow Wolf Clan lived for a whole day and ate free meals before leaving.
"Compared to last time, the difference is really huge."
On the day of the banquet, Hongye got up early in the morning to dress up... well, mainly to wear a rather complicated dress, with great emotion.
That's right, isn't it? Last time she also came with Xiao Yun. During the days waiting for the feast to begin, the fox sage and her old friend Selena came to save the Snow Wolf Clan's reputation and add some popularity to the deserted courtyard.
Xiao Yun smiled. He would not lament the fickleness of human nature. At that time, the Fire Tribe had just escaped poverty and had no spare energy to "bless their neighbors" or develop allies. People didn't even know who you were, so of course there was no possibility of them making friends with you.
Xiao Yun had never thought about expecting the world to be warm to him when his own mother hadn't even made any efforts, even on Earth - he himself didn't care about strangers who had nothing to do with him, so why should he have such high expectations of others?
Hongye, who was just short of a cool hairstyle and looked like a cool suited thug in the movie, turned around twice. Xiao Yun touched his chin and nodded: "Not bad, this three-piece suit is indeed very suitable for you. You can wear it more often in formal occasions."
"Forget it. The collar is so uncomfortable. Why do I have to wear a piece of cloth here?" Hongye pulled the bow on the collar gently with her hands uncomfortably. She cherished the dress made by the female workers and her movements were very gentle, but the problem was that this thing was really uncomfortable around her neck.
"Grace always comes at a price." Xiao Yun patted Hongye's arm and shouted into the house, "Dahe, has the Fire Clan leader been dressed?"
“Alright, alright!”
After waiting for a few seconds, Taiga pushed the Fire Clan leader out of the house.
As the handsome face of the grassland tribe, Dahe was dressed quite stylishly... It was impossible not to be stylish, he directly stole the most high-end dress from Carlisle's loyal dog Darren, the style worn by senior generals of the St. Bridget's military, took off his medals and other things and replaced them with a belt, which directly increased the power of Dahe's strong masculine (...) hormones that he exuded at all times and places by at least twice, and even the maids in their yard stared at him.
As the first king of the southern grassland, the leader of the Fire Tribe could not dress as casually as the others (Xiao Yun was wearing the suit that he had borrowed when he helped Carlisle murder the eldest prince). He wore a king-style robe very seriously... the collar and cuffs had to be hemmed with gold thread, the style had to be double-breasted, and the robe and belt had to be embellished with jewels.
"It's so dazzling!" Chief Arthur, who was also wearing Carlisle's formal dress, raised his paws to cover his eyes.
"Not bad, not bad, it's really gorgeous~" Xiao Yun squinted his eyes and applauded.
"This has exceeded the standard of gorgeousness... Did you rob Austin and Balk?" Hongye's mouth twitched. The Fire Clan leader, who looked like a walking jewelry rack, was so dazzling under the indoor lights that it was impossible to look directly at him. Hongye simply couldn't imagine what he would look like when he walked into the sunlight.
"I'm just borrowing it. It's not like I won't return it to them." Xiao Yun said indifferently.
Well... the jewels were borrowed from the Green Dragon father and son. The Fire Chief showed up at the feast, and held a more formal "crowned ceremony" back on the grassland, and then dismantled them and returned them. The only two people in the Fire Tribe who were willing to spend money on useless jewels were Auston and Balk. To support the Fire Chief, there was no other way but to dig out their treasures.
The Minotaur came down the stairs, and Chief Harold was about to raise his hand to greet him, but when he turned his head and saw Chief Fire who was "fully armed", he unconsciously covered his eyes with his raised hand.
The group walked out of the yard. Hodgson, who had just come from next door, moved his mouth but turned his head away before saying hello, squinting his eyes uncomfortably .
"..." Hongye said sincerely, "Why don't you pick some off?"
"It's okay, it's okay. This is the effect we want that cannot be looked directly at." Xiao Yun insisted.
Then, this group of people guarded the Fire Clan leader who was shining from head to toe and headed to the feast site openly...
Along the way, the popular Snow Wolf tribe was often greeted by sages from various tribes who were also heading to the venue. However, when all the sages with warm smiles waved at them, they couldn't help but turn their faces away...
Prince Carlisle, who was attending the banquet for the first time, looked directly at the Fire Clan leader with great determination, then turned away and blinked hard...
"Is it necessary to be so exaggerated?" Darren and Tim Humphrey, whose dresses were stolen, mixed into the Snow Wolf tribe with His Royal Highness the Prince. They couldn't look the greatsword warrior in front of them directly, and their mouths twitched.
"Well...it's necessary to think about it carefully." Carlisle's good friend, the alchemist Tim, narrowed his eyes, as if he had thought of something.
"Huh?" Darren asked puzzled.
Tim didn't say it out loud, but mouthed, "That's the Fire Clan leader."
Darren thought about it, then understood...and then the corners of his mouth twitched even more.
The first king of the southern grasslands to appear in the cursed land, which has always been a lawless area, would definitely attract a lot of attention at a formal occasion like a banquet, and there would definitely be a lot of people curious about him; but if this previously unknown king of the south had two green dragons hanging on his body and was completely invisible under the lights of the venue, this appearance was difficult to describe in any way, and it would indeed make many people stay away...
Since we know that the Fire Clan leader cannot withstand the test, why not choose a more suitable candidate? Darren thought with a smile.
Darren's "simple" thoughts would never appear in Tim's mind.
Carlisle's good friend, who had long been labeled by Xiao Yun as a "potential stock of an old pervert", now looked thoughtful.
The six united southern countries and the fragmented northern federation have been fighting for several years. The seemingly powerful federation has gradually shown signs of fatigue in the past two years.
It's not that the Federation's financial resources are not as strong as the six southern countries, but there are too many people on the Federation side who take the opportunity to make a fortune from the war. No matter how much gold and silver there are, they can't sustain such a "tight consumption" across the board. It is normal for the Federation countries that have discovered problems but cannot solve them to tighten their investment in the expeditionary force. If it weren't for this, Carlisle would not have been recognized by the elves so quickly and his status as a human sage would have been recognized just like the recognition of King Kroning.
After King Kronin returned to his old ways after attending the feast only once, the Elf King raised the standard for human sages to a higher level...
This is the question Tim is thinking about right now: "Could it be that because of Carlisle's outstanding performance, Mr. Ayun, as a teacher, chose to hide his edge?"
The teacher and the disciple were both sages who were qualified to participate in the feast. If they were both the leaders of a certain faction, it would be too eye-catching...
If Xiao Yun knew what Tim was thinking, he might pat him on the shoulder and say in a deep voice, "Young man, you really have the temperament of a conspirator. I didn't misjudge you." Then he would find ways to trick Tim...
It's a lie to say that Xiao Yun has no interest in power. When he first came here, he began to secretly adjust the power structure of the tribe, step by step to gain the right to speak for himself and establish authority. It's absolutely impossible to say that he doesn't care who becomes the tribe leader or who gets the title of the king of the southern grassland!
Then why did Xiao Yun keep pushing Chief Huoyan forward, always firmly maintaining Chief Huoyan's unique status, and resolutely push Chief Huoyan to the top when he was qualified to be independent?
The reason is simple, he is about to become an adult...
When he comes of age and the transfer of power is completed peacefully, who could be more suitable than the Fire Clan leader?
Of course... Xiao Yun was not the kind of person who would put everything aside just to gain power and who didn't care about the disaster after his death. In order to guard against unexpected accidents, he also made two preparations: for example, a grassroots chief who could take over as the leader of the Fire Tribe at any time, and Hongye who would replace him and lead the grassland tribe forward if he encountered an accident and was assassinated.
It is precisely because of this consideration that Xiao Yun would never allow Hongye to have sex with the elf girl...
