XLIV

Since he expected more of these types of messages to appear, he simply created more clones to attend to all the new governors. He had no reason to refuse them simply because they refused to surrender the first time, he needed third territories after all

Meanwhile several kilometers away from the territory, a general and her men were coming up on a large inhabited clearing. The team of 12 slowly approached the clearing, they couldn't see any being in it yet but they could see smoke rising from the center of the clearing and some makeshift tents. 

"This is team 4, we are approaching a clearing that seems to be inhabited, are we to engage" the general immediately requested permission 

"Please standby for drone footage" Viktor replied

"As you wish" she said then stopped her team from approaching the clearing

While they waited, the drone following them flew into the airspace above the clearing to see what creatures lived in it. In the control room, a clear video of the entire camp was shown. The camp looked like it was just set up so its inhabitants could spend the night before moving on but this wasn't the thing that

Kingsley found interesting about the camp.

At the center of the camp was a small fire that was carefully surrounded by stone to prevent a forest fire. Now this was a pretty common thing to do if you don't want to die while camping in the woods but to Kingsley, this meant that the creatures that used these camps were intelligent which in turn means that the team could be in danger.

"General Fiela, does the fire look like it was put out or if it simply burned out on its own, search for any form of liquid in the immediately vicinity of the fire" Kingsley asked since the footage provided by the drone could only identify that there was once a fire in the makeshift fire pit but it couldn't tell how it was put out

"There are no traces of any form of liquid in or around the fire, Your Majesty" the general answered in a weird tense tone

"Can fire be put out with magic?" Kingsley asked as he looked around the room but all he got in response, were looks that made him feel like an idiot

"Well if it can set something on fire, it should make sense to be able to put it out" Hestia answered

"That is common sense but I don't exactly know how your magic works but if it can do that then team 4, leave the area and standby for safety confirmation" Kingsley said since if they could put out fire using magic then there was a 50% chance that the inhabitants were somewhere close or could have sensed the team coming and hid to ambush them.

Either way, Kingsley wanted them out of the picture while the Drone scanned the environment. After saying that, the once clear footage immediately turned black and white with all heat sources in black then it began flying around the area to ensure it wasn't missing out any spaces.

"Your majesty, there are some creatures approaching us, should we engage?"

"No, what do they look like first?" Kingsley asked since this may be his first contact with the Sentient natives of this planet.

He didn't understand the bullshit that was going on in this planet but he knew that the natives of this planet were not just NPCs like in the novels he had read. Viktor's memories prove that the natives here had their own culture, religion probably and possibly even their own nations so Kingsley wanted to be careful when interacting with any native that was smart enough to build such a camp.

"Tall….. very tall, skin the same as us with longer and pointier ears" the drone pilot explained and immediately a race came to mind but Kingsley wasn't so sure about that.

Elves were the obvious answer here but they have been depicted in different ways in various media. Some depict them as scrawny little goblins with vast magical abilities, some depict them as a proud race of forest dwelling creatures who worship a World tree etc. There were various depictions of Elves in various fantasy settings and from what he had seen from the goblins who looked nothing like their fantasy counterpart who were short, had green skin and were the weakest mob but here, he didn't know about the weakest part but they can stand their ground even amongst the other creatures. Kingsley didn't want to conclude that these were actually Elves.

"How many are they, how many males and females?"

"Five in total sir and I can't tell the difference" the pilot answered again and Viktor turned to Kingsley who just shook his head

"Well then Team 4, your orders are to retreat or find another route to continue your mission" Viktor said

"As you wish" The general replied then immediately got her team to leave the area

As for why Kingsley didn't just attack and capture them for interrogation, it was simple. He wasn't dumb, who knew what kind of power that these Elves had behind them, they may have some powerful Elf village behind them or some Elven Nation hidden in the woods behind them. There was no way of telling so Kingsley chose the safest option to let them be.

The mission this time is to scout out the villages or settlements that posed a threat to the territory now and destroy or capture them for recruitment if possible not to start creating enemies. He didn't have such time on hand, apart from that, he saw no use in disturbing the Elves. If they wanted trouble, they will attack his gates and he will erase them from existence.

"Central command, this is team 2, we just found an orc settlement, requesting permission to engage" a male voice called out, it sounded oddly excited

"Good, eliminate them thoroughly" Viktor replied instantly without even waiting for a response from him