148. Chapter 148 – The Pain of Integration

Chapter 148 – The Paroxysm of Integration

“These bugs are related to Spirit Ashes?”

Heine was puzzled in his mind.

Listening to what they said and judging from the current situation:

This was either a parasitized infectious agent or a bandwagon party.

Or both.

He wouldn’t dare carry this guy to the blimp just yet.

God knows how ugly the scene would be if he blew himself up.

Since they didn’t let Bey purify it, it meant that the holy light wasn’t much use.

Since it’s Spirit Ashes, the gladiatorial spells might be useful.

After a brief thought, Heine had a decision.

He had someone find a crate for pulling grain and had Mr. Xia carry this elf named Ivica up.

“Avoid the others and make a loop to the lumberyard.”

Then he told Mr. Sa to get on the dirigible and go to the Gitil farm to shake the people and get Linumu.

“Damn, it’s a shame he’s making me pull the cart!

“If my students see this, my high-flying persona is all over!”

Mr. Xia ground pulling the racked cart and left cursing.

Luckily, the group of brats led by Lavan wasn’t there.

Mr. Sa: “Why are you like Wei Dian Kite?”

Wei Dian Kite: “?”

…

Witnessing the elf being taken away, the crowd of onlookers instantly stirred.

Bedwell was calming them down with Lord Jones.

To the former, a benefactor and a man of gold, the elves were still able to hold down their agitation.

But to the latter, some spoke less politely.

“Where has our Ivica been taken by that undead?”

Jones wiped his sweat, “I don’t know about this ……, Mr. Heine has his own arrangements, it’s always right to listen to him.”

“Oh? Who’s the lord, anyway?”

“That is, you can’t even make the Lord of this kind of thing?”

“You’re at least half elf.”

A few words like Pernie came out vaguely from the crowd, quickly stopped by others tugging at their sleeves.

Jones grimaced, but didn’t snap.

The group was manageable at first, and still knew to be grateful.

In the past two months, the locals who had wandered away had come back one after another for the winter, and together with the refugees who kept coming to join them, the total population of Greenleaf Town exceeded six thousand.

Among them, the number of elf refugees was close to a quarter.

This time the conflict became apparent.

After their initial honeymoon period with the natives, friction gradually increased and relations worsened.

Nonetheless, the filter breaks down too slowly.

The low profile of the locals invariably feeds the bullying instincts of the outsiders.

Coupled with the growing number of familiar faces giving them enough backbone, they don’t look much like fostered refugees anymore.

The cacophony of voices rose, and Bedwell’s face was not looking good anymore.

Suddenly, there was silence all around.

Jones looked back, and sure enough, it was Heine.

With a heartfelt sigh of relief, he stood behind the counselor in some distress.

He didn’t dare to look into Heine’s disappointed eyes, and could only smile sardonically.

He was completely convinced of this young advisor and had no other extra thoughts.

Heine walked in front of the crowd, the corners of his mouth seeming to carry a smile if nothing else.

He swept over every pointed ear in the room, and anyone he saw bowed their heads uneasily, averting their eyes.

“It’s snowing, winter is coming.”

Heine said slowly:
“So, starting today, this door will close, and no more refugees will be admitted.”

Whispers erupted from the crowd.

“Then… then what if there are more people?” Someone deliberately raised their voice.

Heine asked, “Who’s talking?”

The man shut up at once, and shrank back into the pile.

But this ostrich behavior was obviously useless.

Wei Temple Iris’s nine question marks had already flown into the crowd and circled around him.

The crowd hooted and dispersed, making him and the burning black question marks particularly conspicuous.

The elf’s legs went weak.

He shivered and said, “Great, my lord, I am, a friend of Ivica’s father, I was just asking him ……”

“Oh? You’re talking about that dangerous person with a bellyful of worm eggs just now? You know him?”

“A, a bellyful of worm eggs?”

The crowd was astonished. “No, no, no, I don’t recognize it, not at all ……”

The elf quickly waved his hand in denial.

Heine smiled, “It’s good that you don’t recognize it.

“He’s wearing the uniform of the Cui Ye Court, which hasn’t been changed or washed for at least a month, so he’s obviously a defector from the beginning.

“He was pierced through the heart by something, but the man is still alive, at the cost of something extra in his body.

“It’s obvious that he came here to infect you, I’m just isolating him for now to find a cure.”

After a pause, he continued:

“The rebels of the Blighted Trail are at the end of their rope, and they’ve apparently set their sights on this place.

“In other words, anyone who knocks on the door after this could be carrying the same purpose as him.

“My lord, you also said it was ‘possible’, so what if it’s not ……”

An elven old man stepped forward and argued with reason:
“We can’t just stand by and watch our fellow countrymen freeze and starve to death!”

Heine recognized the man.

He was the leader of the refugees. The elves called him “Old Joe”, and the players called him Old Joe behind his back.

In the game, after the birth of the Scorched Mountains, the player exiles from the east were commanded by him, and he was an old man with considerable authority.

This is indeed the case as well.

Old Joe had spearheaded a material exchange a month ago, turning the refugee camps into a marketplace of talent and subtly improving the elves’ increasingly awkward situation – until then, they were pure shit-makers.

At the same time, the spread of elf culture had caused what should have been an accelerated shattering of the filter to show vague signs of remodeling.

Jones, however, isn’t half as sleight of hand as he is, and it doesn’t turn out that way.

Heine nodded, “I understand what you are saying, and I will not stand in the way of your self-giving.

“You may walk out of this door with your own food and charcoal, and stay outside with your compatriots.

“When the winter is over, if you are still alive, I will let you in at that time.”

When he said that, Old Joe was dumbfounded.

The elves also looked at each other.

It was as if the lives of their compatriots didn’t matter so much anymore.

“Also …… I’ve heard something else recently.”

Heine’s words changed, and his gaze became unfriendly.

“I heard that you resented the local residents who came to serve as volunteers for their inability to speak Elvish, and even spoke out of turn.

“I think it’s necessary for you to realize that this is the mountains of Makara, not the Whispering Forest.

“You are refugees who have been taken in by the locals, not guests who have been invited to make a fool of yourselves! So it is also your duty to learn the common language.

“As it happens, my skeletons have also been studying the Common Language for two months, and in three days, I will come up with a test paper.

“All those of the right age who are not as good as the average of the three of them in the Common Language by then will receive one warning.

“There will be a second test in a week, then a third.

“Collect three warnings and you will be given a chance to venture deeper into the forest, so I hope you treasure it.”

After saying that, he didn’t bother to look at the elves’ ironic faces as he turned around and left.

Bedwyr hurriedly followed.

“Mr. Heine!”

Heine turned, “If I were you, I’d already be tutoring them in the common language.”

“Huh? I ……”

As Bev hesitated, Heine had already walked away with Jones.

That’s when Guardian Iris walked over.

“Take me with you if you’re cramming.”

…

Heine took Jones to the lumberyard.

It was not easy for Heine to say much to this lord who was full of faults but whose only virtue was obedience.

“You’re fine to talk to that Jordo more, he’s even better at being a lord than you are.”

Heine said with hatred.

“This is not have adviser you well ……”

Jones then smiled sardonically.

Heine didn’t bother with him.

On the gladiatorial phalanx, the fainting Ivica was run through by the phalanx’s silver filaments.

Without the need for Heine to do anything, the Yuanling soldiers surrounded those black insect eggs.

But it was just a matter of surrounding them without killing them.

According to the conclusion from last time, the silver-colored metamaterials and the black spirit embers were the deceased forms of the metamorphic spirits.

The silver-colored meta-soldiers are also “undead creatures”.

So the two are not in a restraining relationship.

Instead, they are like skeletons and evil spirits, different types of undead creatures.

However, since there are far more spirits outside of the Makara Mountains than here, it’s more like a tangerine story.

It wasn’t long before reinforcements arrived.

Linumu walked in, surprisingly followed by the expressionless Dylan.

(End of chapter)