"Very good, that's enough." Lann nodded with satisfaction. "I can go into the forest alone, but I hope you will stay outside the forest and be accompanied by our soldiers before I come out."

Hearing this, the tree spirits behind were all horrified: "Ellie, no!"

Lane continued: "I can be more generous and let her, her, her--"

He reached out and pointed at a few tree spirits that had not drawn their bows and made attacking gestures just now: "I can let them accompany you, so you won't be alone."

Ellie frowned: "What are you planning? Human."

I'll take you as a prisoner to insure my safety, Lan thought, but he had to embellish the words before he could say them.

Lann said, "I was serious when I said I wanted to negotiate an equal agreement with you so that my subjects could live in peace with you. Of course, you didn't propose the conditions first. You have already given up this right."

"I hope this can be a good start: I will go deep into the forest alone to find the princess, and bring her back safely to show my trust. And you can also take this opportunity to get along with humans for a while and feel our sincerity."

These words were not something Lane came up with on the spur of the moment.

In fact, as early as when Lann knew that his territory was Brokilon, he had already begun to have thoughts about this land which played an important role in the original book.

The shadow of Cintra's destruction has always loomed over his mind, and he has been looking for his own way out.

If he waits until his individual power becomes stronger and stronger, and then gathers a private army willing to follow him before Cintra is destroyed, will he have enough strength to retain a vital force after the destruction of Cintra, so that he will not become a stray dog ​​and displaced after the destruction of the country?

He did not have much of this thought at the beginning, because he knew that he could not manage the territory successfully in less than a year, and he would eventually lose it all when Cintra was destroyed.

Moreover, the resources that a small border town can provide are too few. Not to mention supporting a Lann army, it is difficult for a population of thousands to even maintain their own self-defense capabilities.

When the time comes, with Lann, a male heir of the Ancient Blood and the descendant of the Cintra royal family here, it's hard to say who will provide shelter to whom. It's better to be a wandering knight, at least you can hide.

Therefore, Brokilon was not originally in Lann's future plan. He was more inclined to either join Geralt's Wolf Faction Witcher with Ciri, or simply cling to Mossack's thigh.

If you really can't become a demon hunter, you can just find a safe place to survive for five, ten or twenty years with a system that only has one-third or even less than that. Even if you can't make a comeback in the end, at least you can become a knight-errant who can travel freely in the world.

Therefore, the current role of the territory of Cintra Brokilon for him is to provide tax revenue, increase his economic power and arrange his men to search for information and collect the magic items that he hopes can be the source of magic power. That's all.

Even so, Brokilon's financial support to him was not as great as the Lannister property and the rewards given to him by Calanthe.

But now, perhaps by chance, after visiting Brokilon today, Lane felt that he saw another possibility:

The greatest resource that Cintra Brokilon could provide him might not be the original value of the territory, but its geographical location "close to the tree spirits".

The Dryads are a race of elite archers with rare healing abilities on the continent. They also possess the Water of Brokilon, which is likely the source of their magic power.

Moreover, since tree spirits are all females and cannot give birth alone, their reproduction depends on human males. This creates a basis for cooperation between them and humans at the same time they are in conflict.

The dryads are not absolutely exclusive. After the invasion of Nilfgaard, the dryad queen will also provide protection to the Scoia'tael, which is composed of elves, dwarves and other sub-human races, and will train a member of Geralt's girl-hunting team in the future: Milva. Milva is a human.

The relationship between tree spirits and humans is very complicated, not just a simple "feud". Tree spirits will use males of other races to reproduce, usually elves, and in a few cases humans. These males will be driven out of the forest after leaving their children, and some will even be reluctant to leave.

This is part of the reason why the small towns of the four countries near Brokilon did not have a real large-scale conflict with the tree spirits. None of the humans knew how many of their daughters there were among these tree spirits.

However, Lann was not qualified to use the resources of the tree spirits. The status of discussing cooperation was too unequal. In the capital, he was the champion of the competition, the nephew of the queen, and the rising star of the royal family. Facing the queen of the tree spirits, he was just a small town lord.

The title of Earl was a posthumous title bestowed upon his father by the Queen. For Lann, it is closer to the court nobility. He is not one of those old-fashioned nobles who have fought for generations, and he does not have any real power.

This time when he came to find Ciri, the power of the entire country of Cintra was bestowed on Lann, giving him the basis for a brief conversation with the Queen of the Dryads.

If it really doesn't work, Lann thinks he can make some sacrifices and provide some seeds for the tree spirits, giving them some descendants of the ancient blood. This is a win-win situation.

But no matter what Lann's plan is, the top priority now is to find Ciri.

If Ciri really had an accident, then his threats to scare the tree spirit would definitely come true. Queen Calanthe really didn't care about the consequences when she went crazy.

Even if Queen Calanthe fails to destroy Brokilon in the end, Lann will come back to avenge Ciri when he becomes invincible with the help of the system.

From this point of view, Lane is not yet a qualified earl.

He didn't want to be that kind of person either.

Getting back to the topic, after hearing Lann's request, which was close to "exchanging hostages", the tree spirits started a heated discussion.

Finally, Ellie thought for a moment and made the decision, then nodded and said, "Okay."

She turned and called over a tree spirit, and said to Lann: "This is Dengka, she can speak the common language, and will be your guide to help you find your princess."

Lan looked over and recognized that this was one of the more rational tree spirits from earlier.

Compared to Ellie, Dengka's dress was more "natural", with a crown of flowers on her head, bracelets and anklets made of grass and branches, and a short skirt made of bark and leaves. But her upper body was almost completely uncovered, and the only thing that could cover her chest was her hair.

The matter has been settled, and for now this is the best outcome that both parties can accept. If it is delayed any further, who knows what unexpected situations will occur.

Lann briefly explained the situation to his soldiers, then rode his horse and took the tree spirit Dunka into the real Brokilon.