Chapter 26: Dark Elves

Vladkov laughed. What a sensible guy—he immediately understood the implication behind his words. Good. But in front of those two dark elves, he couldn’t afford to reveal too much for now.
Vladkov gave Morsen a glance, and Morsen promptly took the two dark elves aside. Only by doing so could they obtain as much as possible of what they wanted.
“Alright, everyone, use what you know to exchange for your freedom. But let me make it clear—if what you bring isn’t satisfactory, we don’t mind having a few more piles of fertilizer here. Understood?” Although a faint smile appeared on Vladkov’s face, to the members of the slave-catching squad, it undoubtedly resembled a demon’s grin. His threatening words, spoken in such a casual tone, carried immense weight, making the men shiver.
“Uh, sir knight, we don’t know what you want to know,” one of the squad’s swordsmen said nervously.
“Tell me in detail everything you saw and heard in the Mistflower Hills. Whether it satisfies me depends on your performance,” Vladkov said coldly.
The members of the slave-catching squad exchanged glances. They had no idea what this eccentric man wanted—them to recount their experiences in the Mistflower Hills? What did that mean? Did he have some strange obsession with stories?
“Guys, let me give you a hint. Have you been to the Mangrove Forest?” Pite stepped in as a mediator.
“The Mangrove Forest? Uh, yes. But the elves there seem to be at war, locked in a stalemate. We didn’t want to get involved in their conflict, so we left.”
“Hmm, when was that?”
“It was about half a month ago. We’ve been active in this area ever since, sometimes heading to the lowerlands further south as well.”
Pite glanced at Vladkov. Seeing no reaction from him, he continued, “In the war between the elves in the Mangrove Forest, which side seemed to have the upper hand?”
“We didn’t pay much attention to that. The wars between elves are more like small-scale skirmishes. They just punish invaders who enter their territory. So we can’t say for sure. But it seems the elves from the plains west of the Mangrove Forest are attacking those living in the forest.”

Vladkov immediately realized that the situation for the forest elves was not optimistic at all. They had been driven into the mangrove forest by the dark elves, and it seemed the areas surrounding the mangrove forest were also under the control of the dark elves—otherwise, those two dark elves wouldn’t have been able to appear here so boldly. The situation looked grim; the dark elves and cave elves were acting faster than expected. Perhaps their arrival was just in time, Vladkov thought. He signaled Pete to take those guys down for a thorough interrogation to gather more details.

“Jacque, what do you think?”

“It’s not good. If the dark elves dare to attack the forest elves openly, they must have sufficient support; otherwise, they wouldn’t be so arrogant. If it were just the dark elves, we wouldn’t fear them, but if the Assyrians get involved, we’re in a weak position.” Jacque sounded very cautious.

“Hmm, it seems our lord has underestimated the enemy or overestimated us,” Vladkov agreed with Jacque, but that didn’t dissuade him. “To change the situation, maybe we need to take action first.”

“Take action first?” Jacque laughed. “That suits me perfectly. With the dark elves and Assyrians allied, the prolonged stalemate will exhaust the meager strength of the forest elves. To turn the situation around completely, we need to break the dark elves’ momentum first.”

“Yeah, I think we should prepare for battle immediately, resolve this quickly, and return sooner. I don’t like this place—nothing about it.” Vladkov shook his head.

The subsequent interrogation was quite easy. The slave catchers cooperatively revealed everything they knew. The dark elves had become the new masters of this land. Despite fierce resistance from the forest elves, several elf tribes had already surrendered to the tyranny of the dark elves and cave elves. It seemed that aside from the forest elves, fire elves, and mountain elves, the white elves and swamp elves had officially joined the dark elves’ conquest alliance.

Fenitz had been observing Vladkov and his group from a distance, decisively taking down the slave catchers and the dark elves’ scouts. This gave Fenitz some peace of mind, but the news he received left him extremely anxious. The forest elves were barely holding on. If they didn’t take action to turn things around soon, the situation might be irreparable.

Under Finitz’s full-speed leadership, Vladkov and his group rushed into the mangrove forest without pause. Finitz’s arrival brought great joy to the forest elves hiding there, but the appearance of mortals was met with cold indifference from them. However, Vladkov didn’t care; he knew they would soon realize the severity of the situation and understand that without their help, they would only end up as servants of the dark elves.

Vladkov was already thinking about how to launch this first battle. The magicians were also eager, especially those dark magicians from the southern dark world, who were impatient to engage in this fight—only then would their journey be worthwhile.

The dark elves had an innate advantage in magic, but that advantage meant nothing in front of Vladkov. He wasn’t going to give them much chance to change things, especially when faced with the Black Flame Knights—these dark elves appeared even more like frail sicklings.

“Attack, Jacques. I think a single proper assault will send those dark elves into panic. Our lord hasn’t given us any other tasks, so I think we should show what we’re made of right here,” Vladkov said with a smile. “Maybe we might even gain something—those slave traders might soon realize just how adorable we are.”