At this moment, the Duke felt that the young man in front of him was really a bit silly and cute. He seemed to know nothing about elves. He really didn't know how such a person could be friends with pure-blooded elves.

Could it be that... these pure-blooded elves, who have lived for so long they're practically demons, have a particular fondness for hot-blooded young men?

"is that so?"

Jia Zhengyi was taken aback, scratched his head sheepishly, and quickly regained his composure: "Twenty thousand? No problem at all! I guarantee it'll be done within a month!"

"However... if we capture the fortress, Your Grace may need to meet some of my conditions."

“I’m not doing this for my own benefit, but… you know, elves often have some strange quirks and are very interested in magical objects.”

Jia Zhengyi lowered his voice to hint, and the Duke, being an old hand, naturally understood. He smiled and promised, "To prove the friendship between humans and elves, even if she wanted the Empire's magic orb, I would persuade His Majesty the King to offer it to her with both hands, let alone something from a mere fortress."

"really?!"

Jia Zhengyi was startled and quickly asked, "Can you really give me a magic ball?"

The Duke was also taken aback. What was wrong with this kid?

I was just being polite, and you're taking advantage of it?

Now that things had come to this point, the Duke couldn't deny it and could only nod: "Of course!"

"but..."

The Duke then changed the subject: "The magic orbs are very precious. There are only two hidden in the royal palace. If I didn't have enough military merit to prove it, I would have had a hard time persuading His Majesty the King to bestow them upon me."

To put it bluntly, you have to offer enough benefits in exchange!

Jia Zhengyi understood, of course, but he still couldn't hide the smile on his lips. He really couldn't keep up the act anymore; he was overjoyed.

My original plan was to complete the phased tasks while simultaneously working with the Duke to thoroughly loot all the high-tier areas of the fortress, but I never expected such an unexpected surprise! I might even be able to obtain a magic orb through conventional means!

Two... that number matches Su Lin's previous prediction of a certain location where there are two magic orbs at the same time.

"It's a deal!"

Without a word, Jia Zhengyi immediately turned and left: "Duke, wait for me, I'm going to make preparations!"

"Hey, Jia! Jia!"

The duke called out, but to no avail. He could only watch helplessly as the young man rode away to reunite with his elven companions.

Before long, the elves turned around and began to head in an orderly fashion in a certain direction.

The human soldiers naturally dared not stop them, and they all made way for the elves, watching them leave together with the Duke.

"What a rude yet adorable young man."

The duke shook his head. A soldier dressed as a nobleman approached him and whispered, "Sir, do you really think he can do it?"

"Give it a try."

The Duke's smile vanished, replaced by cold indifference, a cunning glint in his eyes: "The patriotic fervor of young people is ultimately a good thing. Even if he can't do more, binding these three thousand elves is enough."

In any case, it's beneficial and harmless to cultivate a good relationship with this foolish young man.

......

The elf party moved swiftly, leaving the Duke's party in the blink of an eye.

Once they were all alone, Jia Zhengyi looked at Xiao Linlin with a smug expression and said, "Girl, how was it? I didn't mess this up badly, did I? Everything went according to your plan, so the Duke will definitely think I'm easy to manipulate!"

According to the plan, the team should first take the elf to make contact with the Duke and probe each other's situations.

Once a preliminary agreement is reached and the possibility of cooperation between the two parties is realized, the team will proceed to the next step of the plan.

At present, the Duke's needs are urgent and significant, which perfectly aligns with the team's objectives.

"Not bad, but there's really no need to put on such a show. We're destined to find a suitable partner in the human camp."

Xiao Linlin shook her head, but after a pause, she praised, "However, this foolish young man... with such a status, it's easy for him to get things done. No one will bother to argue too much with an impulsive, foolish young man who has a deep friendship with the elves."

"Um...is this a compliment?"

Jia Zhengyi scratched his head, somewhat taken aback, but then saw Xiao Linlin nod earnestly with a grin: "Of course it's a compliment!"

Contacting the Duke was part of the plan; helping the human faction recapture the fortress was also part of Xiao Linlin's plan.

This way, they could both take over the high-resource area of ​​the fortress and complete a phase of the mission. However, no one expected that the process of contacting the Duke would actually advance the progress of the hidden mission, which was an unexpected bonus.

The next step was much simpler: take Lyanna to find more elves and use the powerful strength of a demigod to recruit more elven troops.

“But we left in such a hurry, what if the duke can’t hold on? What if he’s been killed by the orcs by the time we get back?”

"No, we should have some faith in the NPCs too... Besides, the orcs have already taken the fortress. What they need to do now is to advance deeper and faster. They can't possibly use most of their forces to besiege the Duke."

Xiao Linlin remained calm: "But we don't have much time left, and the nearest elven settlement seems a bit far... Sister Elrere, is that right?"

"At our current travel speed, it would take us half a month to travel back and forth."

Elrell nodded. As a local pure-blooded elf, she naturally knew the locations of most elf gathering places, and even knew where there were many elves and how strong the pure-blooded elves were.

To meet Xiao Linlin's recruitment needs, Elrell even specifically directed her to a gathering place with over 30,000 elves.

Of course, the more elves there are in a place, the more pure-blooded elves there will be, and the more powerful the pure-blooded leader who commands these elves will be.

The place marked by Elrere is slightly different; there are a total of eighteen pure-blooded elves who form a council-like organizational structure to jointly lead these 30,000 native elves.

This also means that to take these elves away, it would be necessary to conquer eighteen pure-blooded elves simultaneously! With unstoppable power, suppress the old leader!

As Ellie spoke, she would occasionally steal glances at Lyanna beside her.

She remained calm, seemingly oblivious to the intelligence information Elleri was providing.

"elder sister."

After listening to everything, Xiao Linlin tugged at Lyanna's sleeve: "We don't have time to find a second elven gathering place. Eighteen pure-blooded elves, are you confident you can conquer them?"

"conquer?"

Lyanna glanced down at Xiao Linlin, her eyes indifferent and her tone calm: "I don't want to conquer anyone. The fact that they follow me is already an honor."

"I will not bring conquest, I will only bring new glory."