Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 890 - 7: The Delegation

Chapter 890: Chapter 7: The Delegation

For the City of Knowledge, the three-day Sowing Festival was not particularly significant, merely involving some traditional activities; however, today, the city was exceptionally beautifully decorated. The gates to the city and the Western Temple District were wide open, the spacious streets had been cleaned immaculately, and both sides were filled with fresh flowers. Colorful butterflies danced among the flowers, scattering pollen from their vibrant wings, which sparkled delicately in the sunlight.

"Newspapers for sale, newspapers for sale." A few boys ran around the nearby streets, waving their rolled-up newspapers and shouting loudly, "Fifteen copper coins each, come and see! City Guard cracks major smuggling case of dangerous goods, involving funds up to thirteen thousand gold coins; the city master dozed off at yesterday’s municipal meeting—is he too tired from his daytime duties or his nighttime activities? The Elf delegation is arriving today, and why exactly is the beautiful Elf Queen coming? In the Northern District, Miss Miura sprained her ankle during a performance, five hundred passionate fans spontaneously gathered outside the hospital to pray throughout the night. Want to know the latest news? Want to know the latest trends in the new season’s goods? Want to know Miss Ansha’s waist size? Buy a newspaper, and you can get all the news you care about, just for fifteen copper coins—just skip buying a piece of black bread for the latest news."

On the main street at the city gate, more and more citizens gathered, crowded on both sides of the street, curiously peering down towards the gate at the end of the street, anticipating the arrival of the Elf delegation. As the hosts, aside from cleaning the streets and decorating with flowers, arranging the venue and accommodations, the Holy City did not do much else, the only requirement was that the residents could watch the excitement unhindered by the City Guard, but everyone must ensure they were neatly dressed. Therefore, many idle residents had gathered early in the Western Temple District, waiting for the arrival of the Elves. After all, although Elves were not uncommon to the residents of the Holy City, due to years of peaceful living, they had not truly seen a foreign delegation, especially one led by the legendary beautiful Elf Queen, so everyone was inevitably curious. Of course, as to whether the curiosity was truly about the delegation or about the beautiful Elf Queen herself was hard to say, but most men would probably claim they were only interested in the delegation.

The crowd kept increasing, even including some young scions of wealthy families, wearing their most lavish outfits, sporting the latest hairstyles, and donning the most appropriate accessories, all squeezing towards the front nearest to the street. Some even held bouquets of flowers, hoping to find the chance to offer them to the beautiful and elegant Elves. However, these individuals were soon chased away by the scowling members of the City Guard, who did not want to know what those nature-loving Elves might do if they saw someone harming plants just to offer them; one thing the guards were sure of was that the Elves’ reactions would definitely not be pleasant.

Having chased away those irrational wealthy youngsters, the members of the City Guard continued patrolling the main streets the Elf delegation was expected to pass through, maintaining order. Their task today was heavy—for certainly not to protect the safety of the Elves, as no one would be foolish enough to think that a delegation composed of an Elf demigod and a group of upper-rank Elven professionals needed protection from lower-rank professionals and ordinary people. Their main job was to maintain order and prevent the overly curious residents of the Holy City from harassing the Elves, who, if truly angered, could indeed cause a bloodbath.

Before long, the people could see in the woods not far outside the city, a group of birds suddenly gathering, circling incessantly around an area. This area was visibly moving closer to the city at a noticeable speed, quickly leaving the forest and appearing in view. It was a small convoy composed of eight vehicles, distinct in style from human-made ones. All vehicles were not horse-drawn carriages but deer carriages, pulled by tamed forest Megaloceros, each classified as Silver ranked magical beasts with horns like those of goats atop their heads—extremely sharp and naturally capable of piercing through defenses weaker than Gold rank Aggression. Since the middle of the Third Epoch, Elves had widely tamed these Megaloceros for transport and sometimes also as riding mounts. The carriages, except for the wheels, were entirely made of vine weaves, which were lightweight yet sturdy, providing excellent defense capabilities. Sitting inside felt nothing like the stuffy interior of human carriages, but rather like returning to nature.

Surrounding the convoy were a hundred elf riders guarding it, most of whom rode large-footed deer, while the leading ten squad leaders rode even more superior jungle panthers. These riders were neatly dressed in the elves’ special hunting attire, draped in emerald capes with their heads also covered under the cape hoods, designed especially for elves, featuring two holes that perfectly accommodated their pointed ears. On their backs, they carried longbows over a meter in length, with small hunting bows and hand crossbows hanging at their waists and a personal sword carried behind their backs. Those familiar with their equipment would also know that in the long boots on their feet, they concealed two sharp daggers, making them fully armed.

Looking at this group of elf guards, most of the onlooking citizens showed no reaction, but there were still some who were well-versed in history who felt a peculiar sensation. It wasn’t hostility, but a very strange feeling because those who recognized this group of guards knew that these hundred guards shared a common name—Elf Forest Guards, the very ones who had sallied forth en masse more than twelve hundred years ago during the 214-Day War, sweeping across more than half of the human territories, forcing the humans to surrender, and changing the political structure of the human world, before they ultimately returned intact to the forest. Although the war had been over for a long time, and now, people’s views of that war were mostly of gratitude, seeing this legendary troop made it hard for them not to feel uncomfortable.

Fortunately, time had already diluted everything, any discomfort had become very mild, and after the Forest Guards escorted the convoy into the city, they still received a tremendous cheer, although most people were just joining in the commotion. But when a few uncomfortable onlookers started cheering, a large number of people joined in the cheers, even though they also didn’t know what they were actually cheering for.

Accordingly, elves poked their heads out from the windows of the second and subsequent deer carriages of the convoy, flashing diplomatic smiles and waving at the people, their elegant gestures further endearing them to the crowd. However, the first carriage remained silent, maintaining the Elf Queen’s dignity and mystery.

"Tsk tsk, this queen is really impolite," Pannis remarked, leaning on his decorative cane, wearing a black suit and a wide-brimmed hat, gentlemanly dressed, on the roof of a building beside the street. "Even now, she still refuses to show her face and greet everyone."

"Indeed, it’s too much," said a magnetic and deep voice from beside Pannis, enveloped in a black cloak. "Let’s condemn her together."