Chapter 668: Not a Threat

Back when the Mist Alliance had been established, the moon elves of the Northlands had joined as well. Actually, since the entire Northlands had joined the Mist Alliance, the moon elves would have isolated themselves and become a weakling right beside the mouth of a dragon if they didn’t join.

But even though they joined the Mist Alliance due to the circumstances, their status in the Mist Alliance had constantly been awkward.

How was the relationship between humans and elves? There was no need for me to go into any further detail about this sweet and sour relationship which could spawn countless stories.

The core of the Mist Alliance were the two major Mist countries. The Mist countries were primarily human. Then, this naturally meant that the core species of the Mist Alliance was human. As for the other non-human species, such as the beastmen, barbarians, undead, Underground Faction, and so on, they were either allies to begin with or former enemies who had been subjugated. Since the main faction was powerful enough, and the subordinate factions weren’t too resistant, establishing the alliance wasn’t too difficult.

A so-called alliance meant that someone would be in charge of saying what everyone should do together, and that nobody would object.

Although the Mist Alliance seemed simple, all sorts of actions and effort were put into it.

Some of the most important examples would be how roads were constructed and fixed between the alliance’s member countries, how governmental responsibilities were reorganized, and how the military forces were all unified into one.

Although none of this seemed like much, as they only seemed like surface actions, this was actually connected to whether or not the Mist Alliance would be truly unified or nothing more than scattered sand.

Previously, the roads between the countries… If those muddy and messy mountain roads and paths could count as roads, then I suppose the amount of land in the Northlands covered by roads could barely cover 5%.

“Creating wealth must start with constructing roads.” This was no empty phrase, especially in this generation of cold weapons. Horse-drawn carriages were far superior to walking in more than just speed. A horse-drawn carriage would be able to carry far more cargo than any individual, and if you weren’t able to sell your wares, your food rotted in your fields, or the cost of transporting mined metals exceeded the price of the metals themselves, all so-called development would be useless.

As for aerial transport? First of all, the ratio between aerial transportation quantity and cost was terrible. Also, the Mist Alliance airships wouldn’t be anywhere near sufficient to withstand the demands of regular aerial trade. Although roads were unassuming, thousands or tens of thousands of people would walk upon them every day. A road would be a permanent investment. Meanwhile, every time an airship was used for cargo transportation, you would have to first calculate to see if the profits actually exceeded the expenses or not.

Unlike the residents of my previous world who always desired better lives, the residents of Eich had spent countless generations living in this feudal age already. They were quite satisfied with what they had, and felt that it was only normal to continue working hard and living just like how their ancestors had.

If road construction actually began by conscripting or hiring labor, they would think that the domain lord was wasting money and everyone’s time and work, and that this domain lord was terrible.

The domain lords weren’t much better than the people. Many domain lords, to an astonishing degree, had no foresight whatsoever. In fact, some domain lords even believed that if they constructed new and better roads, it would only make things easier for other domain lords to invade them. Thus, such domain lords felt that constructing new roads would be akin to shooting themselves in the foot!

The establishment of the Mist Alliance helped to eliminate the aversion to constructing new roads. Also, East Mist, Sleuweir, and other member countries developed extremely rapidly, raising the quality of life for the citizens. Of course, the most direct impact of all was brought by all the new inventions. This all indeed moved the hearts of the people who hadn’t changed their lifestyles in countless generations. Many people indeed started desiring change.

Although this sounded nice, the Mist Alliance was spending almost 20% of its total tax income on road construction. Roads now covered roughly 10% of the Northlands territory instead of the former 5%. These new roads were all two-way stone-paved roads with two lanes on each side… Although this might seem small and cheap, this already meant that there were now somewhat usable roads connecting all the major Northlands countries. This meant that a major rainstorm or snowstorm somewhere wouldn’t be enough to seal off all possible routes.

As for the details of constructing roads to all the smaller cities and villages, that was the responsibility of the local countries and domain lords. The Mist Alliance had already done plenty in its role as a governmental alliance.

The completion of roads between all the countries meant that governmental work and message delivery could all be standardized. Centralized authority began to gradually replace the feudal system of more authority resting with the domain lords. Secret messengers from the king, a trope which would commonly appear in novels and dramas, might represent the people’s honest hopes about a just system and enmity towards evil domain lords, but such a trope was also a result of poor transportation and the difficulties in communication resulting from poor transportation system.

As transportation and communication became far easier and more standardized, the reorganizing of governmental responsibilities made it so that the alliance member countries were no longer individual. Royal and domain lord authority was weakened, and the countries all started following the Mist Alliance’s rules and plans. This gigantic faction in the Northlands finally had a framework capable of supporting it.

Of course, the Mist Alliance’s policies were all completely approved by the Northlands rulers and domain lords, and they cooperated fully… If I said that, would you believe me? Let’s not talk about such a subject, as the schemes and infighting here would take me several days to finish describing.

Now then, as for military reorganization and unity, this meant having a single military rank system in the entire Mist Alliance so that everyone could recognize each other’s military rank. Each country’s ruler would nominally be the leader of their military, and be under the overall command of the Mist Alliance. Of course, this was only to be used in a time of war. Normally, the local knight orders would still be free to do what they usually did.

Only with this would the Mist Alliance’s combat strength be able to fully cooperate and use its strengths in battle. It would probably be best if I skipped over the details on this as well, as the ridiculous things here would probably be sufficient for another full story. I would get too sidetracked if I talked about such things.

As for the elves, or more accurately, the Northlands’ moon elves… They were still stuck at the very first step of unity with the Mist Alliance.

According to the original plan, there should have been a road established leading to the moon elf kingdoms. However, this naturally meant that part of the road would pass through the former Tassel Kingdom’s territory, which was the land between the elven kingdoms and human kingdoms.

There had originally been an excellent road there, previously constructed by the Tassel Kingdom. Although the natural calamities caused serious damage to many portions of the road, it would still be far easier to fix the original road rather than build a completely new one. This would save more than 70% of the time, effort, and money in comparison to having to build a new road.

However…

“This district doesn’t belong to any elven kingdom. We elves refuse to pay the construction cost for building this road.”

From a certain standpoint, the elves were truly spouting rubbish. This road would be leading directly to the elven kingdoms, so why wouldn’t they help pay for the construction cost?

According to the Mist Alliance’s policy, the local country would pay 70% of the road construction cost, and the Mist Alliance government would pay the other 30%. This was a rule, as well as common sense. The local country would benefit the most from having a major road leading there. Even though the Mist Alliance was only paying for 30%, that would still be an astronomical sum when considering the length of all these roads.

However, there was one tiny problem with this policy. As I mentioned before, the former Tassel Kingdom’s land now technically didn’t belong to any country. The elves indeed had some, although rather weak, standing to say that they didn’t want to pay any money.

Of course, there were places in the Mist Alliance that previously were almost impossible to reach. Yet, the domain lords there had all happily paid the money in the end. None of them were too dumb. Refusing to construct a road would not only mean missing out on development opportunities, it would also mean isolation within the Mist Alliance.

Yet, the elven kingdoms refused, in the most adamant of tones at that…

Were they poor? Nobody would possibly believe that. Their unique elven artisanry and magical products were highly popular and profitable. They would also have much foundational accumulation.

Were they stingy? Constantly maintaining an artificially warm climate in the frigid Northlands would cost an astronomical amount of money and magical resources, while elven mages’ daily lives were incredibly extravagant. It would be impossible for them to be poorer than human domain lords.

Nobody was an idiot. But, since the elven kingdoms adamantly insisted that the Tassel Kingdom’s territory didn’t belong to them, so they didn’t have to pay for constructing roads through it, the Mist Alliance held three days of consecutive meetings on this topic. In the end, the Mist Alliance government gritted its teeth and funded the entire road project for the sake of unity within the Mist Alliance!

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And then…

Various strange things kept happening to the road’s construction. Ghosts would start appearing, or thieves would rob the construction workers, taking even their tools.

Such events happened more than 20 times in a period of three months. Even an idiot would realize that something was off. The Mist Alliance intelligence department sent out an investigation squad which returned on the very first day. It had been incredibly obvious that the elves were behind it all.

Just what did the moon elves want from this? The Mist Alliance higher-ups were rather confused. In the end, former moon elf princess Suana told them the reason…

“The Northlands moon elves have always looked down on humans, yet simultaneously been afraid of humans. The moon elves are probably afraid of being annexed…”

Well, the elves didn’t say it directly, but instead used such a method of uncooperativeness to express their distrust of us. Perhaps this was the elves’ typical indirect, insecure, and… “elegant” way of conducting diplomacy.

Now then, the difficult problem was now with the Mist Alliance’s leaders. What would the human countries do now?

Forcefully continue the road’s construction? That would be far too much of a loss of face, having to pay money, spend effort, and meet with nothing but such ingratitude.

Forcefully intervene in elven internal politics, demanding that the elves fulfill their duties as part of the Mist Alliance? The elves had been quite careful with their meddling about the road construction. Even though everyone knew that the elves were behind it, there was no evidence. Moreover, even if evidence was obtained, would that be a good reason to use such evidence against the elves? That would be destroying the fragile alliance, making other alliance members feel like they were also in danger of being annexed.

Now, it became quite evident why the moon elves had so easily joined the Mist Alliance. They had such an intention from the very beginning. Rather than resisting the unstoppable wave of the Mist Alliance, they would simply join it nominally, but still do their own thing in isolation, without being cooperative.

Still, this technique was actually quite effective against the far more direct (or simple) Northlands politics. This was the crystallization of the elves’ millennia of political experience. However…

“…The elves are always like this, constantly scheming for small things and wanting all the benefits from both sides. However, scheming too much and never being willing to let go of any advantage means being shortsighted and blinded by the benefits before you. That’s why the elves lost in the end…”

Thus, the plan to construct a road through the former Tassel Kingdom district had now been stopped. Neither had any plans to construct roads to the other elven kingdoms even began yet.

All the Northlanders had witnessed the recent swift development of the Mist Alliance. Yet, only the elves were still living their same, independent lives. Would the elves regret this?

“No, they won’t regret it at all. They will only celebrate, thinking that they’ve defeated yet another wicked human scheme to subdue the elves. As for the outside world’s development? That has nothing to do with them. They’re still living in a past that’s from more than ten thousand years ago.”

With my knowledge of the elves’ typical habits, I agreed perfectly with Suana’s words. Even if some of the younger elves of this generation might disagree with the elven customs, only the oldest elves would have power in any elven kingdom. Elves highly valued their traditions.

The end result was that the elven kingdoms obtained the “victory” that they wished for. They maintained their isolation and independence. However, it wasn’t like we humans had “lost” anything. Regardless of whether the elves were with us or not, the Mist Alliance would continue to progress and develop. Since we were allies in name, we would be able to purchase elven products and even have students study abroad in the elven kingdoms, bringing us certain benefits.

The entire Mist Alliance became more and more unified. The second major Mist Alliance unity project, which I had named “Milky Way Program”, had commenced two years ago. However, it was only the elves who hadn’t completed even the first phase of the project. The elves forever remained as an outsider within the Mist Alliance, which was an incredibly bad influence. Yet, the Mist Alliance leaders didn’t have the time to play with them right now, so we could only let the elves be.

But, even if we could previously put up with the elves’ behavior, this time, it was no longer tolerable.

According to elven traditions, the moon elves of the Northlands would become one of the four Superior Elf species of the new Northlands Elven Empire. However, as moon elves were the “biggest schemers” of all elven species, they once again started scheming right when they obtained “some power” in the new Elven Empire.

“You’re requesting that the Northlands Elven Empire choose Moonflower City as its capital? That’s a solitary city the farthest in the south of the three moon elf kingdoms’ land. You want the entire Elven Empire to play at isolation games with you?

“Since you moon elves are kindly offering this land, you’re requesting that the moon elves keep the rights over this land? The Northlands Elven Empire’s government officials and mayors should all be moon elves? You’re already intending on making Empress Harloys into a puppet before the empire is fully established?

“The moon elves and dark elves have many generational grudges, so you’re requesting that the dark elves be forbidden to enter the new Elven Empire’s territory… Of the four Superior Elf species, the silver elves are newcomers here, and the wood elves are few in number. Only the dark elves are powerful. So, you’re intending on directly stealing all authority for yourselves?

“You’re requesting independent diplomatic and military powers… There’s no difference between this and secession. You moon elves want to start a civil war with the Mist Alliance?

I chuckled as I slowly read out these documents to the moon elf tribe leaders, who were all trembling in fear. They could sense killing intent that was almost palpable. They probably felt that several dozen assassins would be jumping out soon?

I wasn’t targeting anyone in particular. I even smiled in a friendly manner at Suana, the moon elf representative who was pushed out to face me… But judging from how she backed away several steps, it seemed that even she wasn’t confident in me. Or, was it that I had accidentally revealed my killing intent?

“You moon elves…”

I helplessly tossed the documents aside. I had expected such a development, but didn’t think that it would come so quickly.

Previously, when Harloys was being coronated, the Northlands moon elves were unable to choose a representative leader that all three moon elf kingdoms could accept. In the end, they could only let the already undead gray elf Suana be their representative… Ever since then, the moon elves had probably been unable to come to an accord amongst themselves, and neither did they intend on recognizing their prior agreements.

My previous recommendation to Suana to be revived was giving the moon elves a chance. If she became a moon elf again, she would perhaps become an excellent political chess piece as she had excellent reputation, which would change the current developments which I was feeling ever more helpless about… I had already lost all my patience with the moon elf elders who knew nothing about actual war and only knew how to stir up internal trouble! I was busy with serious things, yet those bastards were being a burden!

At the time, Suana had asked me for more time for consideration. Okay, she could consider, and then I left things at that since I was too busy.

And so, I did my very best to maintain a friendly smile as I continued speaking. “Suana, you’ve had enough time to consider, right? What’s your final decision? Would you like to be revived, or maintain your current condition? I should tell you beforehand that you really need to make this decision carefully. I no longer have any more patience for the moon elves. I’m not trying to threaten you, by the way! Still, it just so happens that your decision will affect the survival of the entire moon elf species. I think that the Northlands Elven Empire will be just fine even with only three Superior Elf species!”

“…Don’t scare her! If this isn’t a threat, then what is?”

Harloys’ clone, the fake Elven Empress, finally spoke up after pretending to be a wallflower for all this time. The moon elf tribe leaders finally heaved sighs of relief. However, clone Harloys’ next words made them not know whether to laugh or cry.

“Actually, I also hate the moon elves who always cause so much trouble. They led the rebellion back then… I’m quite confident that the new Elven Empire will be able to develop excellently even with only three Superior Elf species. Suana, feel free to reject this idiot here.”

None of the moon elf tribe leaders said anything, but their expressions seemed strangely as if they really wanted to go to the bathroom. It was almost as if they were all shouting, “…With what you just said, Suana rejecting you will mean the death of the entire moon elf species! Who would dare to refuse?!”