The age of elves had long since passed, and Richard knew of their former glory only from the limited books he had read.

It was an age dominated by magic, during which elves had created a splendid civilization. They were powerful and arrogant, viewing all other races as servants, even as insects. Even giant dragons dared not challenge them.

Humans, beasts, and dwarves were all servant races to them. Unfortunately, the rule that all things must decline after reaching their zenith seemed immutable.

As the magic tide retreated, spells became increasingly difficult to cast, and the elven empire found it harder and harder to sustain itself. At the end, a spell that could once obliterate a city’s worth of elven mages could no longer even kindle a fireball, and the elven mages swiftly fell from grace.

Meanwhile, breathing techniques and cultivation of energy, previously relegated to the status of inferior practices, gradually moved to the forefront of cultivation methods. However, neither method could avoid the need for honing one’s physical strength.

Elves relied on magic power, but they were naturally weaker in terms of physical strength compared to beasts, and even humans were stronger than elves in this regard.

Of course, elves had their own advantages: their innate spiritual strength allowed elven quasi-knights to more easily ascend to full knighthood. However, this advantage was nullified by their abysmal reproductive rate.

A race with such a low fertility rate could never compete with the human and beast populations in terms of growth.

In ages past, when magic power was abundant, an elven mage’s large-scale offensive spell could obliterate an army of thousands, so the elves naturally didn’t need to worry about their disadvantage in numbers. But once the magic power waned, the elves lost their greatest advantage, and a paltry few extra knights couldn’t reverse the tide of decline. When the former servants turned to besiege them, the aloof elves were completely unable to defend themselves, and their empire crumbled overnight.

For the sake of their race’s continuation, the surviving elves slowly intermarried with the human race, forming the numerous half-elf tribes seen today. As for pure-blooded elves, it was difficult to say whether any still existed on the continent.

Richard’s understanding of the elves came from this very book, and gathering such information was one of Rain’s tasks as well. These records helped Richard better understand the vast continent.

After putting aside his melancholy thoughts about the rise and fall of the elves, Richard turned to a more pressing matter: placing the Main City (Elven) down on the map.

“Still not good enough.” Richard looked at the unchanged Tie Mu Fort with some disappointment.

After careful consideration, he finally decided to establish the Elven Main City within the fort. With the resources at his disposal, he could conceal it slightly, and there would be no need to fear any prying eyes in the northern lands.

However, once Richard resolved to establish the Elven Main City, he discovered that Tie Mu Fort was not suitable for such a purpose.

Perhaps it had something to do with those half-elves.

“Summon Al here.”

“Yes, sir.”

After receiving Richard’s orders, the messenger hurried off.

Al was feasting on food provided by Tie Mu City with his fellow tribe members. The meal consisted of some coarse black bread and a few side dishes, but they ate with relish.

After all, they had gone without food for many days, so during their meal, an official from Tie Mu City came to count their numbers and allocate them houses. Of course, the houses were not free; they would need to pay a yearly rent to Tie Mu City until they could afford to buy them outright.

As the half-elves swallowed the coarse black bread, looking quite satisfied, they realized after their ordeal with the cannibal demons that their pursuit of freedom wasn’t so important after all. Joining a powerful collective and having a stable place to rely on wasn’t such a bad choice either.

“Chief Al, Archduke Richard asks for your presence.”

The messenger’s shout interrupted Al’s thoughts.

“Right away,” he responded, taking two more bites to finish the meal before setting out with the messenger.

Soon, Al arrived at Richard’s residence within Tie Mu Fort. After passing the guards’ inspection at the door, he stepped inside.

“Sir, what is your command?” Al assumed a deferential posture as soon as he entered, aware that the fate of his entire tribe rested in this man’s hands.

“Ah, sit, no need for all the formalities,” Richard said with a smile. In the face of a hero, he had no qualms about showing his more amiable side. “Tell me about your tribe and these so-called ‘man-eating demons’.”

“Before the invasion, our tribe resided in a small river valley within the ironwood forest, with a population of around five hundred,” Al began once he sat down. “We constructed a log fortress from ironwood, which provided sufficient defense against wild beasts and the pirates. Life was peaceful and prosperous.”

Al’s expression drifted with reminiscence, even as he spoke. Without the threat of the man-eating demons, such free and carefree living would have been most suitable for the half-elves’ pursuits.

“That day, the man-eating demons who usually lived on the outskirts of the ironwood forest stormed into our tribe.” Li Chen could sense the anguish in Richard’s tone. “We were unable to fend them off, and the wooden fortress fell quickly.

They charged in and killed every living thing they saw. My father died, the elders died, so many people died. They weren’t trying to plunder; they wanted to kill everyone. I led the last few survivors out…”

Though Richard was heartbroken, he remained rational and clearly recounted everything he knew to Li Chen.

“You’re saying you had a log fortress?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Tell me more about it.”

Richard didn’t understand why Archduke Richard was interested in a fortress his people had already lost, but he carefully described their former home to Li Chen nonetheless.

“Was it about the size of Tie Mu Fort?”

“Yes, but the wooden walls can’t compare to the stone walls of Tie Mu Fort. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been so easily breached.”

In the past, Richard had disliked the cold feeling of stone walls, but now he found himself yearning for the reassuring thickness of those solid blocks.

After hearing Al’s description, Richard made a crucial guess: perhaps the key to unlocking the secrets of the barrier (Elven) Main City lay with this half-elf log fortress.

“Al,” Richard said, “do you seek revenge?”

Al was taken aback; of course he wanted revenge, but he was a man who understood his place. He was merely a guest here, dependent on Richard’s goodwill, and the notion of asking Richard to deploy troops in aid of his revenge was unthinkable. But since Richard had asked, he didn’t prevaricate but spoke the truth.

“I do.”

“Prepare yourselves, then. Rest and recuperate, and bring your men to join the Flying Bear Army. In a few days, I will pay your log fortress a visit.”

“Yes, my lord.” Al’s simple reply hid his excitement.

With a wave of his hand, Richard dismissed Al to make his preparations.

Al rose and gave Richard a deep bow before leaving. Unlike his timid and fawning demeanor when he first arrived, now that Richard had offered him the chance to attack the tribe of cannibal demons in the ironwood forest, Al seemed to have regained his spirit.

Of course, Richard wouldn’t expend such effort for the sake of a single subordinate. A lord who led his army into the forest to fight a small tribe of over a hundred cannibal demons would be considered a fool, but Richard had the confidence to initiate an offensive operation with the addition of merely a dozen or so knights to his Crusader army.

If possible, it would be far easier to wait for the cannibals to leave their forest stronghold and engage them on the open plains, where cavalry could excel. 

However, the priority was the safety of the barrier (elf) Main City; even at the cost of greater casualties, they needed to seize the elf log fortress.