dmims Page 295
Page 295
"Hmm?" Arterifus snapped out of her daze, looked at Latis who was covered in cold sweat, and couldn't help but chuckle to herself after realizing what he was worried about.
"However... I still need to teach my older brother a lesson! But not for anything else, just because I want to bully him right now!"
The half-elf blinked. After spending so much time with Latis, she gradually learned how to be mischievous. So she tightened her lips, stared at Latis for a while, and then arrogantly raised her chin.
"Eh?……"
"Big brother, you're not allowed to speak."
Ateliers reached out and shoved the half-eaten Epper into Latis's mouth, then clapped her hands and gave a soft hum, saying:
"Let's talk about work first."
"Mmm." Latis scratched his head with an Epper in his mouth, wanting to peek out to observe the emotions in Atelius's eyes, but the half-elf who had turned away from him pressed his cheek against his and pushed his head away. He had no choice but to lie heavily on the headboard and pick up the Epper from his mouth to start gnawing on it.
Hearing the crunching sound of fruit being eaten, Atelier's lips curled into a slight smile. She coughed lightly, about to begin recounting her mission, when she suddenly noticed Latis's bitter expression out of the corner of her eye. She paused for a moment, thought for a moment, and then moved closer to Latis, placing her hand on the back of his hand.
Latis's eyes lit up, and he quickly tried to take the half-elf's hand by flipping his wrist, but she snorted again, quickly raised her hand, and pressed down on the back of his hand once more.
"Is this little sprite playing some kind of cat paw game?"
Latis sighed helplessly. He knew that Arte was obviously punishing him intentionally, but the way she was punishing him was too gentle, making him unable to resist the strong desire to pull her into his arms.
“Hmm… Let’s start with Daoguan Town, where you used to live. I met a member of the Mage Association there. She seems to have been commissioned by the association to take over your house there.”
Ateliers withdrew her hand, propped the pillow behind her against the headboard, and then, imitating Latis, placed her hand back on the back of Latis's hand.
“I got a statue from your house from her… well, I’ll give it to you after I finish talking.”
She turned to look at Latis, who was listening intently, and saw that he had an empty Epper pit in his mouth. She couldn't help but turn her head away and smile. Then she beckoned to the vines on the wall, and the vines extended and snatched the pit from Latis's mouth. She then picked an Epper and stuffed it into his mouth.
"...Oh right, wait a minute."
Seeing that Latis was about to start eating, Atelier was delighted and reached out to snatch the Epper fruit away. She gently kissed the peel before putting it back in his mouth.
"Okay."
Her deep blue eyes sparkled like the night sky, and in those tender gazes, she took Latis's hand and said:
"Then, I went to Jin Nang City..."
……
……
"I wonder what happened to make those nobles who were passing by look so solemn."
Yin Xiuer left the defense hall wearily, glanced back at the chillingly pale spire under the moonlight, and couldn't help but yawn.
The debate over Latis's application to be recommended for the new noble examination lasted for three days. During these three days, the nobles who served as examiners changed several times and continuously refuted the application from various aspects in a condescending manner.
Although Yin Xiuer was not very familiar with the rules of the capital, she guessed that such a practice was completely unreasonable. However, she was not a noble after all. Even though she could recommend Latis, a commoner, as a teacher at the Queen's Academy, she could not rebuke the behavior of the nobles.
"I'm still not strong enough..."
She sighed softly, but then a faint hint of pride appeared on her face.
Even under the rebukes of more than a dozen nobles, she still completed the task perfectly. In the less than six hours of rest time over three days, she accurately predicted all the possible points of attack and answered them all flawlessly during the long defense.
However, this still depends on the Queen's final judgment after the defense record is submitted. If it is still not approved, Silver Hughes will request a reconsideration.
As for the present moment, she has already done her best.
"sleepy……"
Silver Xiuer yawned again. She no longer had the energy to think about the changes in Dragonhorn Territory that the nobles had been discussing. She just wanted to get back to the inn and get a good night's sleep.
"If everything goes smoothly tomorrow, we should be able to return to Londia..."
She looked up at the moon and silently recited in her heart:
I wonder how Xiao La is doing now...
……
……
Latis is not doing well right now.
Because he couldn't resist hugging and cuddling Artemis while she was recounting her mission, the half-elf, though she obediently allowed him to touch her for a while, immediately bound him with vines afterward.
"When I say 'Big brother, you must not talk,' you must obey. When I say 'Big brother, you must not move,' you must also obey, okay?"
The half-elf sat face-to-face with Latis, pinched Latis's face, and said with a light smile.
"This, this isn't right, is it?" Latis said with a bitter face, "You're using all my words!"
The vines binding him weren't wrapped tightly, yet he didn't struggle. It was the first time he'd seen his little elf like this, and he felt a little excited.
If the adorable little elf could step into his fantasy of a perfect pairing, wouldn't that be a double delight for both fans?!
Artemis was unaware of Latis's ecstatic joy. She had simply decided to dedicate her life to the short lifespan of humanity and naturally followed those bold ideas to try to express her inner thoughts.
So even though she pretended to be fierce and tied Latis up, she didn't forcefully restrain him. When she sat on him, she quietly shifted her weight onto her knees, which were pressed against the bed, and she didn't use too much force when pinching his face.
"Would my older brother find me strange?"
She hesitated for a moment, then released her grip, kissed the spot on Latis's cheek where she had just pinched it, and said:
"In short, that's pretty much what I experienced in Dragon Horn Territory. Brother, what are your thoughts?"
"Hmm... let me think about it."
Latis gently withdrew his hand, freeing himself from Ateliers's bindings. He stroked his chin, pulled the half-elf close, and let her lie on top of him. After a moment of contemplation, he said:
"I suspect that Dragonhorn Territory is a force similar to a local warlord, but due to the desolation of its territory, the instability of the magic network, and the lack of mages to manage it, the overall environment is very poor. The capital wants to lay magic network nodes in Dragonhorn Territory, which will inevitably put pressure on Dragonhorn Territory's own power. Therefore, they need to find a solution that is acceptable to both sides."
As he stroked the half-elf's thin back, watching her gradually glazed eyes, he chuckled to himself and continued to unleash the nonsensical abilities he had acquired in his past life as a keyboard warrior.
"The above explains the relationship between Dragonhorn Territory and the Imperial Capital."
Latis frowned slightly, moved his hand to the half-elf's still-damp hair, and said somewhat uncertainly:
"As for the floating islands and the imperial capital, I suspect the floating island families are trying to establish themselves in the imperial capital. Whether the imperial capital has taken any measures against the floating islands is unknown. It's possible that the imperial capital is also trying to enter the floating islands. The power struggle between them may reflect the power struggle between Queen Whiteley and the goddess... Don't look at me with that idiotic look, I'm just guessing!"
He chuckled and pinched the half-elf's cheek, then continued:
"As for your claim that you discovered Black Hat is planning to replace Young Lord Dragonhorn in Golden City, I think it's unlikely to succeed."
"Huh? Why?" Artemis asked curiously.
Latis patted Arte's head, and seeing that she understood and removed the vines binding her, he sat up straight and said thoughtfully:
“I also discovered that there might be some degree of cooperation between Black Hat and the capital. After thinking about it for a long time, I think that Black Hat may not necessarily be in a relationship with the Queen who is acting on orders. They may have started cooperating as early as when the previous king was still alive. But if it were a superior-subordinate relationship, Black Hat would not have taken action against the local noble forces.”
"Is it the incident that Miss Jennifer mentioned earlier told you about?"
Artemis recalled the incident in the Wilderness Territory that had been mentioned in their conversation, nodded slightly, and then asked with a puzzled look:
"If Black Hat and the Queen are in a cooperative relationship, then the Queen shouldn't allow Black Hat to undermine the local noble forces, right? They should all be the cornerstone of the Kingdom of Norard, shouldn't they?"
“I’ve been thinking about this too,” Latis said, stroking his chin.
"Perhaps they also have a relationship of cooperation and checks and balances, but that sounds reasonable, after all, such a large Black Hat organization must have conflicts of interest with the capital..."
"In short, returning to the Dragonhorn Territory's power, compared to the Floating Island, the Imperial Capital, and the Black Hat, the Dragonhorn Territory's power seems insignificant. However, it is precisely for this reason that the Dragonhorn Territory's power can be used as a chessboard, allowing the three major powers we know to deploy their forces on it."
"So when Black Hat tries to attack Young Lord Dragonhorn, the other two sides will likely try to stop him," Atelius said, suddenly realizing, and couldn't help but grab Latis's hands.
"Big brother, you're amazing!"
“I told you, your older brother is still your older brother!” Latis chuckled, his mind racing. His eyes gleamed, and he snapped his fingers, speaking rapidly:
"For the Imperial Capital, Dragonhorn Territory is the kingdom's territory, so it naturally has the right to send people to support it; for the Black Hats, Dragonhorn Territory is a place where they can hide freely, where people live in hardship and everyone is a potential member of the Black Hats; for the Floating Island, this is right on its doorstep, and it cannot tolerate others snoring beside its bed..."
"Yes, I can already imagine the scene of their struggle here. No wonder we were arrested for no reason before. Maybe there isn't a real murderer behind this!"
"Huh?" Ateliers looked uncertain, but since she didn't know much about the various struggles in human society, she couldn't think of any loopholes for the time being. However, she had an intuition that the struggles on this land might be more complicated than she had imagined.
She instinctively rested her head on Latis's chest, pondered for a moment, then suddenly remembered that she had to go to the Mage Association to collect her payment the next day, and asked:
"Brother, what about the Mage Guild? As a gathering place for mages, Lundia might have a history even longer than the Kingdom of Norrad, right?"
"The Mage Association?"
Latis was stunned. His mind was filled with "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and he had forgotten that there was an incredibly wealthy power in the city beneath his feet. If the Mage Association were included, it would be beyond his ability to make up stories.
"They...maybe they're neutral?"
He hesitated for a long time before finally managing to utter a sentence, but this conjecture was somewhat unrealistic, so he shook his head and said:
"Forget it, let's talk about it later. Maybe I'll be able to learn more secrets when I become a high-level mage."
"Hmm...hmm!" The half-elf nodded in confusion. After a moment of silence, she suddenly looked up at Latis and said:
"Brother, do you remember when I said I got a statue from your old house?"
“I remember, but you still haven’t told me what kind of statue it is!” Latis scratched his head.
"Yes……"
Artemis hesitated for a moment, thought for a moment, and then said:
"Before I tell my brother what kind of statue it is, I have one more question to ask him."
Latis paused, then asked curiously, "What's the problem?"
"Is such that……"
Ateliers twirled a strand of hair that had fallen onto her collarbone with her fingers, paused, and a hint of premonition flickered in her lake-like eyes as she asked:
What does "teacher training" mean?
Chapter 297 The First Time Requires a Sense of Ritual
"..."
Latis's brain went blank for a moment before he slowly came to his senses.
Looking at Ateliers's innocent expression, he raised his hand and scratched his head vigorously, unable to resist asking:
"Arte, where did you hear that word?"
The half-elf tilted his head, his ears twitching slightly, and asked curiously:
"Big brother, what's wrong?"