"That shouldn't be it."
The Chief Minister shook his head decisively.
"They shouldn't show up unless the Elven Kingdom is facing an existential crisis."
"Then what exactly gives them the confidence to challenge the glory of our Empire!"
Valentino grew more agitated the more he thought about it.
The Armed Empire Doragon was indeed a top empire on the Aetheram Continent now, but after all, their development time was too short.
Doragon, which was just a small border country thirty years ago, severely lacked intelligence on ancient kingdoms like the Elven Kingdom, which had been established on the Aetheram Continent for tens of thousands of years.
To put it bluntly, he wasn't sure how many old hidden powers the Elven Kingdom had.
Doragon excelled at direct legion combat using magic alchemy technology; when arrayed, he was confident that no nation on the Aetheram Continent could withstand Doragon's armed advance.
But... in terms of the number and quality of strong individuals, Doragon was indeed inferior to the Elven Kingdom.
He was now even suspicious that some old hidden powers in the Elven Kingdom were planning assassination missions.
However, regicide was a great taboo on the Aetheram Continent, and the Elven Kingdom wouldn't go so far as to assassinate him in defiance of the world.
Moreover, he wasn't that easy to assassinate.
If that was the case, what confidence did the Elven Kingdom have to go head-to-head with Doragon?
Didn't they know that this would give Doragon a legitimate reason for a full-scale advance?
After much thought, Valentino said coldly:
"How many of our spies are still around the Elven Court?"
"...None of them are left."
"All gone?!"
The Chief Minister quickly began to explain.
"The Elven Kingdom has been searching very aggressively recently; any humans who approach are strongly expelled, and if confirmed to be from Doragon, they are executed directly."
"They even activated the Elven Court's magic array…"
The more Valentino listened, the more he felt something was wrong.
The recent situation in the Elven Kingdom was completely beyond his control, and he couldn't rest until he understood it.
His eyes shifted, and Valentino said again:
"Are those troublesome fellows still in the capital?"
"You mean... Tashiniya's Adventurer's Guild team?"
Looking up and seeing Valentino's displeased gaze, the Chief Minister quickly replied.
"They are! They've been staying in the hotel across from the Adventurer's Guild. Our people don't dare to get too close, so we don't know what they're doing."
Valentino gently tapped the armrest with his index finger.
After a while, he slowly spoke.
"Issue them a mission under a private name, and have them explore the Elven Court!"
Since they wouldn't allow humans to approach… then it should be fine if he sent an Adventurer's Guild team that were all non-humans, right?
With the troublesome identities and strength of that group, the Elven Kingdom likely wouldn't dare to expel them casually… The Minister suddenly understood and quickly offered flattery.
"It's not over yet!"
Valentino didn't pay attention to the compliments, letting out a cold sneer.
"Deploy two thousand magic golems and twenty high-power alchemy cannons to the front line to exert pressure! Also, transfer five thousand magic-plated armaments to Chris!"
"Furthermore…"
Valentino's eyes grew even colder.
"Mobilize ten thousand Mute troops and a Monster Legion from our Dungeon!"
The Minister suddenly looked up, staring at Valentino in shock.
Other things were fine, but the Mute troops and Monster Legion were already Doragon's secret weapons.
They were one of Doragon's trump cards, cultivated to conquer the entire Aetheram Continent, and even few within the Empire knew about them.
The Monster Legion consisted of a massive number of magical beasts controlled by the latest beast-taming collars created by the Alchemy Research Institute.
The Mute troops were a group of killing machines created using the most brutal and powerful human alchemy technology within magic alchemy.
If this were exposed… "Your Majesty…"
The Minister wanted to persuade him, but Valentino spoke in a calm tone.
"Do I need to repeat my words?"
The Chief Minister's face paled, and he quickly lowered his head.
"Your will, Your Majesty!"
Valentino sneered.
"No matter what tricks the Elven Kingdom has, between nations, it is ultimately strength that speaks! If they want war, I will give them war! Doragon will tell them that times have changed!"
"The once weak Doragon is dead; now standing tall is the Armed Empire that will make the entire Aetheram Continent submit!"
The Minister understood; it was highly probable that the Alchemy Research Institute had researched new alchemy technology from the Dungeon, and this iron-blooded emperor intended to show his hand.
It was somewhat of a warning, as this emperor's gaze was never on merely an Elven Kingdom.
The Chief Minister remained silent, taking Valentino's imperial decree and departing.
Watching the Minister's preoccupied back, Valentino snorted coldly.
"Elven Kingdom… whatever tricks you have, I'll take them! Because…"
"I will not lose!"
In the empty palace hall, only imperial power reigned unrestrained.
— — —
"Su Lin, when are we going back…"
Aelita, sitting in front of the Blaze Rod mob grinder, listlessly harvesting materials, looked a bit wilted.
It had been... well, Aelita didn't know how long it had been since they came to the Nether. There was no concept of time in this place. She only knew that since being chased by Piglins, she had been hungry several times, so it had probably been a few days.
Su Lin, who was distracted, glanced at his backpack.
Thanks to the brutal output of the magic old man and the violent loli, enough Ender Pearls had been traded, the Nether Fortress was conquered, and the Blaze Rod mob grinder was set up.
The remaining resources could just be collected by the Elven Kingdom's army.
After getting used to the Nether environment, the continuous harvests had indeed changed Hilulele and Lop's bad opinions of the Nether.
However, Aelita was as unaccustomed to it as ever.
"Su Lin! You're spacing out again!"
Aelita walked up to Su Lin, fuming.
"I said! When can we leave this place!"
Su Lin waved his hand indifferently.
"Just one more stack of Blaze Rods, and then the army can take over the development of the Nether."
"It's that same line again! You've said it eight hundred times these past few days!"
"This time it's real, after all, we've accumulated a lot of Ender Pearls and Wither Skeleton Skulls."
"So you were just messing with me before?"
"Hmm…"
Su Lin looked puzzled.
"You just figured that out?"
"Bastard! Shine! Of nature's…"
Pressing one hand on Aelita's head, Su Lin sighed and rubbed her head.
"Ailili, when will you mature a bit, like your sister?"
"Are you sure?"
Aelita looked back.
Hilulele was joyfully swinging a spiked club, playing badminton with a Ghast.
With a misstep, Lop, who was battling a Wither Skeleton, was blasted against a wall. By the time he recovered, he was already passionately cornered by the Wither Skeleton.
"Alright."
Su Lin pouted, casually saving Lop with an arrow.
"Anyway, one more stack, and we're going back."
Only then did Aelita return to her post, half-believing, to continue farming Blaze Rods.
"Can we rest for a while after we go back?"
It was clear that Aelita was thoroughly disgusted by the Nether, but Su Lin heartlessly retorted:
"Can the Elven Kingdom stop developing for a while?"
"…I know! My sister was right, you really are a heartless slave driver!"
"But there's a lot of work to do. We need to send people to find the End Portal with Eyes of Ender first, and we still need to farm the Wither for Nether Stars."
"The Wither?"
Aelita curiously glanced at Lop, who had started battling Wither Skeletons again not far away.
"Not that one."
"The Wither is a pretty terrifying monster in the MC Dungeon. Simply put, it's also a type of floor boss."
Aelita looked at him with respect. To be a floor boss in this absurdly abstract Dungeon… "Then it must be an even more abstract big guy!"
"In terms of abstractness, who can compare to you? But it is indeed a very terrifying boss."
To be honest, if it weren't for the development value and Nether Stars, Su Lin wouldn't want to farm the Wither; it was purely thankless work.
However, he still had to be thankful that this MC Dungeon wasn't story mode, otherwise, if a Wither Storm was accidentally unleashed, everyone could happily call it quits.
After Su Lin briefly explained the Wither's situation to Aelita, Aelita realized she had thought too simply.
"Do we really have to fight this thing? Even if it's not the so-called Wither Storm, a simple Wither is scary enough. Releasing it could easily destroy the Elven Court."
"We must fight it!"
Su Lin's attitude was unprecedentedly firm.
"The Nether Star dropped by the Wither can be used to craft a Beacon, which is a device that can apply positive buffs over a large area."
"Simply put, as long as there's a Beacon, and it's used properly, allied factions within a certain range will be strengthened. This has great strategic significance, both in the MC Dungeon and for your Elven Kingdom."
Of course, for Su Lin, the most crucial thing was… only by defeating the Wither and the Ender Dragon could he unlock the mods!
Aelita also understood the importance of the Beacon. Placing that thing on the front line would surely make soldiers as fierce as if they had taken steroids and adrenaline.
In that case, the Wither had to be dealt with… but as she thought, Aelita's radical thought process began to wander again.
"Su Lin, This Queen has another bold idea!"
Su Lin became somewhat wary, looking at Aelita's flushed, excited face, always feeling that this fellow was about to say something extraordinary.
"What if we summon a Wither in the Doragon Kingdom and let it grow…"
"You really are a terrorist!"
Su Lin examined Aelita with some melancholy.
She was clearly an Elf Race who loved peace in any Western fantasy work, so why were the Elves he encountered so radical!
This was not magical at all!
Aelita, however, seemed unconcerned.
"Don't be so petty, Doragon isn't a good thing anyway!"
"But the Aetheram Continent is innocent! What's the difference between a Wither that grows to its limit on the Aetheram Continent and a Wither Storm!"
"That's true… Then how about you work hard, and after the Wither flattens Doragon, you go and take care of it?"
"Who is the boss here, anyway!"
Su Lin was getting a bit hot-headed.
"And! Be gentler with the Aetheram Continent, the source of my excellent workers!"
"See! My sister was right, you really are a heartless slave driver!"
"A slave driver is still better than a terrorist, right! Moreover… compared to you, who's always wanting to launch terrorist attacks, who exactly is heartless!"