After sunset, Yun Zhe and his group finally saw the outline of Donic Castle. The dim shadows, amplified by the cawing of ravens, appeared even more eerie. A biting wind swept through, carrying with it a chilling atmosphere.
Yun Zhe frowned, forced to consider the worst-case scenario. Had the enemy, failing to assassinate him, already taken control of Donic City?
After all, it's quite unusual that there aren't any lights at all at this hour.
As if to dispel Yun Zhe's concerns, the scattered sparks of fire quickly spread throughout the castle, instantly making it feel warm.
Yun Zhe grinned self-deprecatingly, realizing he had been overreacting.
There was no grand welcoming ceremony, nor any welcome party. Yun Zhe and Xi Xifei jumped off their horses and went straight to Serena's conference room.
In the conference room were Black, Andrew, Nyrent, Arthas, Todd, Luke... and an unexpected presence: Andrew's brother, Sind.
Yun Zhe simply couldn't fathom Xin De's thoughts at this moment. It took Yun Zhe about a second to process what this meant.
Either Sind used some kind of magic that prevented the vampires from identifying him, or he had already become a vampire.
At the same time, Sind also looked at Yun Zhe in shock. His expression changed several times before finally settling on a mocking one.
Sind rose and gave an elegant bow. “Your Excellency, I have said all I had to say. If you change your mind, you may have someone inform me at any time, and I will report back to the Duke of Field.”
After saying that, he turned and walked towards the door, deliberately brushing past Yun Zhe.
"Lord Sind," Yun Zhe suddenly turned around, staring into Sind's eyes, "Have you forgotten something?"
Sind's eyes went blank for a moment, and Yun Zhe continued, "Forgot who I am?"
Sind nodded and turned to leave the hall. To everyone else, their actions just now appeared to be nothing more than a brief exchange between Yun Zhe and Sind, an exchange that even seemed surprisingly harmonious.
But only Yun Zhe knew what kind of probing and confrontation he and Xin De had just gone through.
"What does Sind have to say?" Yun Zhe asked, finding a seat.
“The Duke wants a piece of the mithril mine,” Blake said in a low voice. “How strange, how did he know this secret?”
Yun Zhe sighed inwardly. With a vampire next to you, naturally everything you do is known.
“We definitely can’t get a share of the profits. If it were before, it might have been possible, but not now,” Yun Zhe said bitterly. “We need weapons, equipment, and people! We desperately need money.”
Serena looked at Xixi, "You were ambushed?"
"It's a long story, the journey back was quite turbulent. But I certainly learned a lot." Xi Xi gave a wry smile.
“It seems that everyone needs to check the people around them recently,” Andrew said gravely. “Many secrets have suddenly been discovered by others, and everyone’s whereabouts have been exposed. It’s not safe anywhere. I have never encountered such a dangerous situation before.”
Yun Zhe looked at the people around him, and they all nodded silently, clearly indicating that they had similar experiences.
"Serena, what do you think?" Yun Zhe looked at Serena.
“Yes, I think you’re right. If things continue like this, we’ll indeed only have one path left: to be sacrificed. But how can we prove that everything is going according to your plan? Not to me, but to everyone else.” Serena gestured to the others present and looked at Yun Zhe curiously.
“It’s very simple. If I’m not mistaken, besides the Duke’s demands regarding mithril mines, many merchants have also come to lobby for things like opening up human trade.” Seeing the people present nodding slightly involuntarily, Yun Zhe continued, “Then we can try agreeing to open it up, and the pressure on everyone will definitely be reduced a lot.”
Andrew sat up straight; he had encountered the same problem as Yun Zhe and Serena. After his firm refusal, things around him had indeed become strange. But if what Yun Zhe said was true, and everything was normal if he agreed…
“Could it just be a coincidence?” Newrent frowned and said with dissatisfaction, “Even if we agree to open this trade, it won’t really have anything to do with the situation you described. Although everyone will certainly be better off. Unless, after agreeing to open the mithril mines, things still develop as you described.”
If Yun Zhe hadn't been able to see through people's hearts, he would definitely have thought that Nyrent had already been bought off. "That won't do. Mithril ore is our most important asset and one of our strongest ties with the elves. If you all think this method is inappropriate, there is actually another way, but it will take some time."
Serena became interested. "What method?"
"Once the kingdom established by the Aruru people launches a war, all we need to do is stall. However, this method has a major problem: there is no time limit for stalling, and we may not be able to hold out until the day we see the truth."
Serena gave a soft hum and turned to chat with Xixi. The others shrugged and shook their heads in various ways, whispering among themselves.
Observing everyone's thoughts, Yun Zhe finally understood their true intentions. What they really wanted wasn't to ascertain whether Yun Zhe's words were true, but rather to find a way to get through this period of uncertainty. They were prepared for whatever outcome Yun Zhe predicted.
Yun Zhe smiled wryly and cleared his throat. "Gentlemen, perhaps it's not important whether my prediction comes true or not. What's important is what we need to do now."
Sure enough, this sentence immediately drew everyone's attention back to Yun Zhe.
"No matter how the situation changes, I think stockpiling food, training soldiers, and repairing the city walls are all things that can be done. And right now we have a very good reason to refuse the Duke of Field's proposal."
Serena's eyes lit up; these were the words she had been waiting to hear.
“But we are no match for the Duke of Fields,” Nuremt persisted.
"Don't worry, the Duke of Field doesn't have the courage to use all his troops against us. After all, for him, the war is not over yet."
“But we can’t commit all of our resources either,” Nurem still rejected Yun Zhe’s idea. Yun Zhe knew that Nurem’s reaction was so strong because his fiefdom was right next to the Duke of Field’s territory. If war broke out, his territory would almost certainly become the battlefield, which would not be good for him.
"So we need to expand our army even more, expand it until the Duke of Fields thinks we're insane, then he won't have any more strange plans."
"How do we expand the army? Doesn't expanding the army cost money?" Faced with Yun Zhe's answer, Nyrent became even more excited. He was also surprised at how clever he was today.
"Why does expanding the army necessarily have to cost a lot of money?" Yun Zhe smiled and looked at Serena and Andrew. "There's not much farm work in winter, so why not organize those idle adults to get some proper training?"
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