40 Chapter 39 – The Elven Discussions
I flew back over the Hills separating the Orc territory from the rest of the Four Nations region and made my way over the devastated plains that still suffered from the past war between the elves and the orcs.
Not wanting to again come late to a meeting and make a bad impression I flew over the plains with haste, not really bothering to destroy all the undead I saw. Though I still made sure to eradicate any ritual sight I witnessed and got more concerned the longer I flew.
The Journey from the orc capital to the elven borders took a bit less than two weeks throughout which I saw the undead plague slowly rising in intensity, with rituals getting larger and more dangerous the longer they went undisturbed. While the first-ever ritual I saw when I began my diplomatic journey was quite small, the ones I witnessed now got me concerned.
Though I knew that my priority lay in the diplomatic meeting I had with the elves. The support and troops they could supply to the alliance would be far more significant than any damage I could inflict on the undead on my own. Thus I didn't bother flying any roundabout just to get some more undead and made a straight line towards the elven territory.
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Before I even saw the massive treeline of the great jungle the elves lived I could sense the massive amount of nature mana the timberland produced. I rolled down the treeline and created meter-high grasslands surrounding the rich forest. On the outskirts of the old jungle, gigantic and elegant towers broke the ancient feeling the forest gave of, hinting at signs of civilized people inhabiting the timberland.
I touched down on top of one of the landing platforms of the border tower, protecting the elven territory and watching out for anything threatening the forest. The Guards stationed at the tower already knew of my arrival, I had just about made it in time and no complications arose.
While one of the mages send a communication spell to the diplomat that was assigned to me, I took a look at the building and those guarding it. The Tower rose roughly 150 meters into the air, towering over the surrounding vegetation, but not even coming close in height to the trees further in.
The tower was quite busy, something unexpected if one only knew of the rumors the humans spread in their village of the elves being reclusive folk. In truth, they were just more suspicious and vary of any outsiders, their long life giving them many bad encounters to learn to vary of others. Though once someone won an elves trust, which could be done the easiest with information, especially knowledge about magic and nature, they would quickly open up to one.
This was also another reason why I was chosen to go on the journey, my extensive knowledge of magics combined with my long life made me quite wise, even if my manner wouldn't betray my long life. My observation and pondering over the elves bridged the time it took for the diplomat to arrive and I brought my mind up to date with all the basics I knew about their society.
Analyzing the diplomat I now knew her to be an Avariel, the next step in the evolution of an elf at, the Avariel being at Tier 7. They were more in line with nature and partially were mana beings, especially their wings, making them seem incorporeal. Contrary to what most believed, the wings on their backs were not primarily used for flying rather they helped them use mana and also allowed them the natural usage of the flight spell.
After my mental excursion into the elven society and the race of my company, she led me into one of the side rooms discussing the more unique and unknown manners, such as greeting, with me. It wouldn't do good if I accidentally insulted one of the Nature matrons, standing at the top of elven society and being the counterpart to human nobles and orc generals.
While talking about elven society and their manners our conversation slowly diverted to more casual topics, especially magics a hobby of all elves, and something I was quite knowledgeable about. We didn't notice time flying by and were only brought out of our tunnel vision by one of the elven wizards managing the tower and taking care of the barrier that protected the forest from any harmful outside influence.
Throughout the conversation I also learned of her name, she was called Tullina Violetenheim. The naming was another special thing in elven society, while their first names tried to describe their looks the second was the more important ones, they divided the society into rough groups. Not, as with the humans into different groups of diverse social standing but rather they were divided by their Jobs, demeanor, and hobbies.
The Violet in her so-called Flowername hinted at her working in a Social Job and her name Tullina perfectly fitted her looks. While still having the slim body of an elf she was on the fuller side with a soft and pleasing form, similar to the easy and pleasing look of a Tulip. Another thing she revealed to me that surprised me was that, not as everyone thought, the lower rank of elves but rather the nobles were taking care of the extensive greenery in the elven territory. Though after considering and knowing a bit more about the society it made sense, the nobles were those of the highest Tier and most in line with nature magic, so it was natural they would take care of the nature around them.
Even after we began our journey towards the elven capital, on foot as I requested, to take a closer look at the unique and interesting ecosystem in this secluded forest. On the way, the Avarial diplomat indulged in my various inquiries and questions and we discussed various matters of magic and nature. We were even able to take a look at some of the mini domains of the various elven villages.
In these domains, the local elves cultivated special creatures and plants used as working animals and for mana cultivation. During a long journey between two distant villages, she even allowed a small excursion into the wilder areas of the forest, where the animals and monsters roamed freely, though not peacefully.
Gigantic Treeants waded amongst cloud scraping jungle trees while Tier 1 Assasin Vines tried to strangle us. Bushes of various sizes covered the floor, some moving so much you could assume they moved on their own and not just from the slow wing brushing through the trees. Here and there a flower smelled a bit nicer than was good for some of the rabbits that didn't notice us due to my illusion magic.
Further in, shortly before we turned around I even saw some of the more rumored creatures that inhabit the forests, Aatuks, the primal though very religious descendants of vines and lone roots. Or signs of the forest's true guardians, the Dryads, taking care of a forest as a mother of her children, though being a region closer to the elven territories, the shy dryads would scarcely wander through here. Thus we also witnessed the more twisted sides of the forest, dark trees, and even the rare Whipping willow contrasted the otherwise luscious and relatively peaceful atmosphere of the forest. Though one should not be fooled, why the wild jungles and timbers seemed quite peaceful and relaxed the mind, the law of the strongest still ruled the world, even in the most tranquil seeming locations.
Sadly, we had to cut our small excursion short, traveling by foot and being late in the departure from the tower were making the self known and we were already threatening to arrive too late. I didn't want to ruin the reputation of the kind diplomat Tullina and took some haste in getting back on the right path, even using some magic to hasten our journey.
We arrived at the capital sometime later, roughly a week from the tower to the incredible city. The settlement was built in the shadow of a gigantic tree reaching past the high clouds in the sky. Even the huge branches and fort-like roots of the timber were covered in small abodes, minimalistic and looking like they were grown rather than build, which was even true for some of the more exquisite buildings.
Before entering we paid a visit to one of the root nexuses, a unique and highly important building in elven society. In this construction, every elf would offer a bit of his magic up to the tree they lived under to thank it for the protection and food it gave them and to strengthen its foundation upon which they lived. It was a beautiful ritual that could be imagined similar to the visits to a tavern in human society, though instead of ale and meat the elves indulged in wonderous teas and sweet nectar wine.
Following the entrance ritual, we made our way into one of the elevators rising to the top of the mother tree. On one of the highest branches, the High matron's palace hangs down a healthy branch like a beautiful mistletoe in bloom, though instead of weakening the tree it strengthened it even further.
Once I arrived at the top I took a closer look at the unique building design of the elves, especially the palace was something I had never before seen on all my journey or read in any of my books. Connected by roots and branches small islands and gigantic pots were held aloft my roots anchoring them to the mother tree. While utterly beautiful and magical, this certainly wasn't a place for any person with a fear of heights and even quite dangerous for the lower Tier ones.
The mind-taking scents of the various flowers combined with narrow passages were sure to lead one or another sub-Tier 5 into a long fall down the tree. Luckily for me, I was not only immortal in this form but could even fly, so I took a generous amount of time wandering through the garden and stealing ideas for my coming zones and areas. In the meanwhile, the Avarial Diplomat informed the here residing council members of the alliance of the arrival.
While relaxing on a gigantic flower and waiting for my coworkers to come and discuss various matters with me and the high matron mothers I thought about how weirdly the Alliance was constructed. The Alliances ruling members, the council, consisted of people in power all over the world, though the most powerful people weren't included in this council. Instead, a nation like the elves has multiple lower matron mothers and nobles taking care of representing the nation inside the council.
This allowed the alliance to have more ideas coming from dozens of people and also made the integration of weaker forces easier. A powerful sentient beast with power over a part of the land would normally have no way in becoming part of an alliance this big, thus this formation was much more flexible and overall the superior ruling form. The powerful leaders were represented by more people and thus had a larger influence while still now having to deal with the alliance directly, the smaller forces also got a say in various matters, niche ideas were born by the diverse members and there was always someone there that could do something that was needed.
Such as I was right now, a large enough power that wouldn't insult the elves, mobile enough to be fast about the journey, talented in hundreds of languages and dozens of skills and crafts as well as one of the founding members of the alliance. In the case that I would not have been available, the council could have simply sent a message though this would not only have been riskier, secrecy-wise but also wouldn't allow the fast discussions and quick decision making that was needed right now.
The true solution for this rising problem of communication was still being worked on, also a reason why I was chosen because I extensively helped in the development of the Court domain. This would be a kind of separate place, similar to my instances, in which all the members could meet remotely while still being secure enough to not risk any ambushes or attacks.
I had to disrupt my line of thought that was just about to go into detail of how I was experimenting with the court domain because I sensed the high matron mother and the council members arrive. Rosetta Clematicle de Dhalist, quite a mouthful, was one of the most beautiful people I had ever seen and also one of the most powerful. The elves were individually the most powerful of the four main races of the region and thus their leader at Tier 9 weak was nothing to scoff at.
The orcs' strength was divided amongst the various Chieftains and generals that frequently contest for the ruling position and the power of the humans was divided amongst the whole population and their large number, only the dwarfs got close in Tier. Though they were more concentrated on honing their craft and thus were not as powerful naturally, if armored and in full gear, they would easily be the strongest on the continent, luckily they called the depths their home.
I gave a respectful bow, though made sure not to undermine my powerful position, there was a reason the biggest city on this world was built around my dungeon and this was with considering that a dungeon started relatively helpless, at the later Tiers my race would dominate overall, of that I was sure. The council members returned the gesture, only Rosetta only nodded her head.
With the tense first diplomatic relations covered we got into a more relaxed atmosphere, everyone now informed of the other's respectful behavior. The first Impression was something that really counted, though I still wasn't really fond of the politics and rules that came with conversing with powerful people. When someone can destroy a whole town with a sweep of their hand, the simple conversation turned complicated, no one wanted to risk insulting anyone when the consequences could be this dire.
At first, the conversation was still quite low, but by guiding the conversation to more magic-related matters I quickly won the trust of the mana-loving elves and we could begin talking in a progress and not the diplomatic oriented way. I informed them about the various interactions with the undead and the rising threat that came from their side as well as the concentrating death mana that was building up in the past wasteland between the humans, orcs, and elves.
The trained and perfected mimicry of the high matron mother began to grow more forced the longer I went on about the undead, the anathema of the forest the elves lived in. I was sure of the elves' support the blanker the ruler's face became and made sure to go into a more casual topic towards the end of the discussion, I didn't want Rosetta to leave the conversation angry rather I wanted her a bit concerned.
Towards the end, some of the local plant servants, wonderous machinations made from still-living wood, brought wonderful fruits and a calming tea devolving the discussion into a quite casual conversation. After a day of discussions the time I would spend with the matron mother was over and over the next two days, I only discussed the remaining topics with the other council members.
After about a week at the elven capital, it was time for me to return, on the way back I would take a look at the epicenter of the undead plague and decide what I would personally do against them. Seeing off some of the elves I met in the capital, namely the diplomat, the council members, and various mages and biologists I began my journey over undead territory!!!
