Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Lynn headed to the Harpist Alliance immediately upon receiving the notification. He had to find out why the message from the other side had come so urgently this time.

For many years, such messages coming from across the desert were generally from the followers of the Goddess of Magic.

After all, that was the realm of Santir Fortress, the mortal enemies of the Harpists, and only those mages adept at using magical curios to transmit messages could send information so swiftly.

Although the arcanists of Shade Soul City were part of the Evil Faction, they still gave mages a break, so many caravans crossing the desert employed lower-level mages, requiring nothing else from them.

The caravans only needed someone who could communicate with the mages of Shade Soul City when they were unlucky enough to get caught on their territory. It was all right to offer money or goods, just so long as they didn't end up obliterated by a spell.

The old-style arcanists didn't even regard anyone who wasn't a mage as human.

Mages would accept employment from the caravans because it was on their way, so many resided there permanently, which is why the followers of the Goddess of Magic were usually well-informed.

Some mages were willing to supply information to some old friends within the Harpists, but that didn't mean they would join the Harpists.

Santir Fortress could do nothing about these mages; they were of the Neutral Faction, and even some from the Evil Faction would pass along insider information to their old friends.

Among mages, it was rare to strictly require alignment of factions.

Therefore, Santir Fortress usually paid more attention to bards and rangers, not to mention paladins.

Lynn and the president of the Harpists talked about everything under the sun for a long time. They almost made several rounds around the Ferun Great Land before finally coaxing out the truth.

It had been a long while since he had been so exhausted; he had almost forgotten this particular knack he had.

In Hill's presence, there was seldom need for evasive talk; everything could be said outright. That included dealings with outsiders, sparing Lynn the need to humble himself in communication. As he walked out of the Harpist Building, he couldn't help but look back, realizing today had given him a chance to practice his skill again.

The devotees of the Goddess of Magic were so proactive simply because Black Staff Kelborn of Deepwater City could not hold on any longer.

The commerce of Deepwater City was about to halt, with many merchant ships just sitting out at sea, too afraid to approach the harbor.

The true power brokers of Deepwater City could support Kelborn in secret, sacrificing a bit of money or some expendable toughs wasn't an issue. After all, the "Teraxil Elves" only cared about surface matters and had no interest in interrogating the toughs about who they worked for.

For those tycoons in the shadows, it was a good chance to get rid of any problematic nobodies who knew too much, keeping only the truly loyal close.

Finding enforcers was easy, as long as there was money involved.

But a three-month halt in harbor trade was far too long.

Those daring to engage in maritime trade, even if not doubling as pirates, often played dirty. It was impossible for any merchant ship to be utterly unimpeachable.

Nobody dared sacrifice sailors lightly; they shouldn't be underestimated.

At sea, mere strength wasn't enough to best these sailors, placing the sailor chief always in the third spot of command, no matter the ship.

Especially since among those ships were those crossing planes via magical vessels, and in those three months, only two ships from the Shoulong Kingdom had docked at Deepwater Harbor!

The prices for porcelain and silk had skyrocketed.

And then there was the meat—beef prices were almost catching up with dragon meat! Who could afford that?

Though prices for fish and chicken in Deepwater City had always been reasonable, the nobles simply couldn't fathom having only these two options on their tables.

The cost of luxury goods in Deepwater City had never been so high; even some of the top nobility couldn't afford meat or silk clothing anymore.

They had to find a solution and reconcile with Agleya City.

If Kelborn couldn't handle it, then he shouldn't blame others for turning against him.

So just when Mystra, supporting Kelborn, was at her wit's end, she found Bane coming to her rescue.

Her conflicts with Coron and those Bane's Followers driving the undead to attack Agleya City were suddenly not so critical.

Over these past three months, due to disputes within the Harpist Alliance, Kelborn had remained silent about the elves' "administration of justice" in Deepwater City.

So now the result was, Lynn left with a wealth of internal data from Santir Fortress.

As Lynn took the documents, he couldn't help but ask the Harper Master, "Does Mystra really not know that the reason Kelborn has been so compliant is because his nephew turned against him, or is she pretending to be ignorant?"

From the stiff expression on the master's face, it was evident that Mystra was indeed playing dumb in an attempt to salvage some dignity for Kelben.

Kelben's nephew, Danilo Sane, had been cultivated to have an exceptionally upright and straightforward personality, which did not align well with Kelben's own actions.

He preferred the Teraxil Elves' reckless approach to eradicating evil, therefore, he collaborated very eagerly, to the point where even those among the Deepwater City guards who followed him had given up.

But it also made sense. He had previously suppressed his dissatisfaction and done many things unwillingly because Kelben had been grooming him as his future successor, and naturally, those involved in politics and diplomacy had to learn to compromise.

But things were different now. The future position of the lord was no longer a shackle for Danilo, who had reached level 17. His inherent love for freedom, derived from his Elven Bloodline, could now be fully realized.

Bear in mind that Danilo could go to Eternity Island, his Elven Bloodline was more concentrated. Kelben could not.

Lynn walked with a smile directly to the Alchemy Hall.

Before entering, he tucked a large envelope containing documents under his arm, and vigorously rubbed his face with both hands a few times, then slapped it a couple of times, hoping to keep his expression unchanged after walking in.

As Lynn walked in, he was greeted by Coron, who was sitting on a throne surrounded by a host of angels, laughing heartily.

Since he had intervened to stop Rose, the Father of Elves had not bothered to conceal his presence anymore. He simply sat in the hall openly, even if surrounded by a crowd of women, he did not care, and occasionally, he would flirt with a pretty young girl.

Lynn, having been informed by Hill long ago, knew these elves had no intimate contact with people from other planes, so he really did not understand what the point was in spreading charm towards a bunch of untouchable girls.

But this was their Father of Elves, and he could only resign himself to pretend he had not seen anything.

Coron and his angels were watching the group of 'Teraxil Elves' fearlessly charging towards the graveyard walls of the Silvermoon Devotees. Tyr's methods of hindrance seemed to have been abandoned due to being too serious.

The Goddess of the Silvermoon liked to use illusion techniques and small curses mixed with fire to deal with those who offended her, originally hoping to keep these impudent people away out of fear, but now it seemed to have become a test of luck and bravery for the 'Teraxil Elves'.

Lynn tried to remain calm as he walked towards the Light Orb at the front center of the hall. He did not intend to interact with Coron; he would leave that matter to this somewhat strict and serious Divine Artifact!

Although not very familiar with the owner of this artifact, from the way he could control Coron's recklessness and Rashrael, the chief of the Seraphs, Lynn held him in the highest respect.

Controlling the impulse to glance to the right, Lynn sometimes really felt that he knew too much. It would have been better if Hill didn't trust him so much.

Having used up all his self-control, Lynn finally completed his handover with the Temporal Artifact and received an affirmative response that the Teraxil Elves were indeed planning to expedition to Santir Fortress.

Of course, they were going to visit Neverwinter City along the way. The King had invited them to deal with the source of a plague, since he could not use force on his own citizens. But the King thought he could invite the 'Teraxil Elves' over.

At that time, no one in Neverwinter City would be foolish enough to argue with these elves. Who knew if they might just eliminate everyone involved out of impatience to finish their task.

The elves were also interested in Neverwinter City, seemingly because they had heard legendary tales of the King of Neverwinter City and were willing to lend him a hand.

Lynn was not concerned about these details; he was more interested in the Arcanists of Shade Soul City.

Although in Toril, where they had common enemies, light and darkness would occasionally collaborate, but with Shade Soul City... he really couldn't accept it in a short time.

The wounds of enmity were fresh and scars had not yet healed. The members of the Elf Crusade had not fully recovered, only the peaceful and tranquil environment provided by Hill had soothed them a bit.

But as soon as he thought of his cousins who were still bleeding from their wounds, Lynn truly did not want to see the elves from the outside world brought by Coron join hands with the Shadow Souls who had just killed their comrades.

The Temporal Artifact displayed bold letters on the screen in front: Teraxil Elves never cooperate with the Evil Faction, those two sides, we can completely fight together, no need to worry about casualties, nobody cares about that~ anyway, as long as Santarin perishes, that's fine!

Lynn tilted his head, he was a bit puzzled. The Temporal Artifact seemed rather lively today.

But as long as he knew it was a good outcome, he did not care about the rest.

Nothing in this Alchemy Hall could shock Lynn to the point of being pale anymore!

Upon leaving the hall, Lynn thought it over and decided to head back to the Lord's Mansion first and called out Marsha to ask her to pass the message to List.

Watching Marsha disappear, Lynn rubbed his hands together. The Teraxil Elves were quite wealthy.

Since they were organizing an expedition, they surely needed to prepare more supplies.

Hill had accumulated too many resources lately, although he also took the opportunity to create quite a few magical curios, the storerooms of Agleya City were still stocked with too many high-value supplies.

Especially those mountains of meat, Lynn truly thought it was time to clear out the stock.

He had to act first; otherwise, Hill would definitely have him turn them all into sausages.