Civilization: Beyond Two Worlds

273 Another Person
After sending the two elves away, Kang De returned to the banquet hall.

He called the butler over and instructed, “Cook me some porridge.”

The first time people who had never eaten those junk food ate them, they would definitely not stop as if they had eaten gourmet food. However, to Kang De, it was meaningless.

It was fine to eat some occasionally. Snacks were still snacks in the end and could not be eaten as meals.

The butler went to arrange the food and drinks.

The chef in the kitchen was still from the Vidal Chamber of Commerce. Although the nobles who wanted to please Kang De wanted to find a few Cathayan chefs to show their filial piety, firstly, it was very difficult to find. Secondly, this matter was also very sensitive.

After all, it was a position in charge of food and drink. The benefits of currying favor were not worth it compared to the consequences of anything happening. The wily nobles were unwilling to find trouble.

However, the master of the Chamber of Commerce was capable. Even if he did not know how to make Cathayan vegetables, he could still cook rice porridge.

Twenty to thirty minutes later, the steaming porridge was served. The gorilla mainly ate fruits and snacks and was not interested in food like porridge that was tasteless and hot. Leona was already full. The little girl did not eat much, and only Hong San ate some with Kang De.

Kang De gestured for the butler to leave. He stirred the pot of porridge with a spoon, picked out a little, and extracted it. He did not discover anything amiss. Hong San took the spoon, smelled it, and tasted it a little before nodding.

Therefore, he began to eat. He ate it with accompanying ingredients like Old Godmother1, beef jerky, and pickled peppers.

Kang De gulped down half a bowl and exhaled. He smiled. “I didn’t expect this.”

As soon as the irksome elf left, Leona squeezed to Kang De’s left.

Miss Vidal, as a lady, was already full, but as a girl, she was still staring at the snacks on the table, especially the transparent jelly with a heart-shaped bottom. It was crystal clear, cute, and trembling. It was sweet, tender, and smooth under the light.

Delicious.

She wanted to eat it.

As she slowly stretched out her hand to the plate containing the jelly, she said as if nothing had happened, “You didn’t expect this?”

When Kang De saw Miss Vidal’s small actions, he laughed in his heart, but he did not expose her. However, when he saw that Hong San was also looking up at him, he said, “It was originally a very important negotiation, at least in the eyes of the outside world. Perhaps in the eyes of the world, the negotiation has begun from the first meeting and is filled with argument and tit for tat…”

He did not expect it to be like this.

It was a mess.

Not only was the progress messy, but the elves’ envoy was also messy.

If the person involved did not make a statement, be it the current follower or the later historian, even if they racked their brains, they could not imagine how strange this negotiation was…

Hong San smiled, “It’s all like this. My master once said that the drastic changes and major events in those history books are mostly done by a group of ruthless people who put their heads on their belts but were not confident and trembled in fear. In the future, just a few words would cause future generations to fantasize endlessly. However, to the person involved, it’s a danger of life and death, a gamble of fear and courage.”

He paused for a moment and smiled, “It was a dangerous day decades later that made me sigh endlessly, but in retrospect, there were flaws and imperfections everywhere.”

Kang De curled his lips. “This is not a gamble.”

Hong San paused for a moment and revealed a very mysterious smile, “That might not be the case.”

Kang De said proudly, “How can this be considered a gamble? If it’s a gamble, I secretly looked at the other party’s cards first. How can I lose?”

Hong San took a sip of porridge and said slowly, “But, Your Highness…”

Kang De raised his eyebrows and said, “Huh?”

Hong San glanced at him and said in a subtle tone, “This is gambling.”

“Master often said that man proposes but God disposes. This is extremely true. For example, in a battle between two hundred people with the same combat strength, perhaps the reason why one side was defeated was that one of the soldiers ate an extra fried dough stick for breakfast, causing his stomach to be full. He was half a beat slower when dodging the spear, so he was stabbed to death.”

“He’s usually a prestigious and capable warrior. His death caused shock and fear in the surrounding officials, and then it affected their battle, causing more and more people to die or be injured in battle. Then, the entire army continuously collapsed, lost, and retreated. The reason for failure is only because a soldier ate an extra fried dough stick—how can a strategist predict such a thing? Even immortals can’t.”

“The so-called strange strategy is only to think of a way to raise our morale a little and make our soldiers and elites more complete, allowing our training to be more complete. We can only increase our chances of winning in the general direction. Many accidents and variables that continuously appear are simply not something the strategist can grasp. That’s called fate.”

Kang De frowned and said, “What are you trying to say?”

“…Heaven calculated,” Hong San said softly. “You didn’t expect that if our 70 to 80% chance falls, Duke Tagris is not what you think, but a feminine elf who’s just a little feminine. Then what you did today, and even what you plan to do in the future…”

Kang De’s expression changed. “Bullsh*t!”

Although he said this, he could not help but fall into deep thought. He looked a little shocked and even a little flustered, so much so that he thought about it repeatedly in his heart.

After thinking about it, he felt that there was no problem, so he glared at Hong San, “Disturbing the morale of the army!”

Hong San smiled dryly and said, “Heaven calculated… what if?”

“There’s no what if!”

Kang De said angrily, “Moreover, I don’t plan to do anything. What if something happens? Will it harm me? What if I… what if I kill him!”

“…Hey!”

At this moment, Leona’s angry cry sounded. The sinful hand that Miss Vidal stretched out to eat the sweet food was intercepted by the gorilla. The bad gorilla had been staring at the other party for a long time. Just as the silver-haired girl was about to succeed, it snatched the jelly at lightning speed. With the gorilla’s ability, snatching from Leona was as easy as playing.

However, a gorilla was a gorilla after all.

Leona rolled her eyes and snuggled into Kang De’s arms. She cried fakely, “Kang De, look at him!”

The gorilla slowly picked up the jelly in front of Leona and bit it. Seeing this, her mouth opened slightly, and transparent jelly slid down her mouth. Because it was a beautiful girl, it did not look disgusting.

However, it was very stupid.

Yes, beautiful girls were not disgusting no matter what they did, but they could be very stupid.

Then, she pounced at Kang De. “Get up!”

The two of them began to fight through Kang De, but in terms of combat strength, the gorilla was like teasing a kitten.

He had women on both sides. It sounded beautiful, but in fact, Kang De could only raise his bowl high to prevent the porridge from splashing on anyone. He coaxed repeatedly, “Stop fooling around, stop fooling around…”

Hong San watched the show from the side and even added fuel to the fire, “Look, Your Highness, do you really want to add another one?”

“Get lost!”

Kang De glared angrily, “This is only our plan! It’s only a strategy. There’s another one. I f*cking smashed tens of thousands of elves into peanut butter not long ago. It’s impossible just thinking about it.”

Hong San looked at Kang De strangely and shook his head and sighed.

Kang De’s extremely sensitive self-esteem warned in a certain aspect and he suddenly said, “Why are you sighing?!”

“Master said that no one is perfect. I believed him.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Let’s not talk about this first. Your Highness, did you want to take a photo of me just now?”

“So what if I am? At least you dodged quickly. Don’t be caught by me next time.”

The gorilla and Leona continued to fight with small actions. Kang De and Hong San spoke from afar. The Cathayan held the porridge bowl and stood up. He said seriously, “Your Highness, I’m not easy to bully.”

“Oh? I can give you what you want.” Kang De raised his eyebrows and said, “What are you going to do?”

Hong San took a few steps back, pulled open the door, and whispered, “Your letter should have been sent to Princess Tina, right?”

Then, he turned around and ran. He did it in one go and used his movement technique.

The gorilla and Leona’s movements seemed to have been pressed to pause. The two of them froze together. Immediately, the beautiful girls with their own merits looked at him sharply and said in unison, “Tina?”

—Hong San, f*ck you!

The next day, Hong San regretted it.

No one was perfect.

Although Prince Kang De was a very good loyal subject in all aspects, it did not mean that the other party was a perfect person without any flaws. There were still many flaws, such as…

He was extremely vengeful.

Hong San finally experienced the fear of the people from the Glory Sand Castle, because since early in the morning, His Highness Kang De had stared at him and smiled sinisterly. He did not fight or curse and did not have any hostile actions.

She often looked at him meaningfully and smiled sinisterly. She even muttered a few instructions to someone and stared at him as she spoke.

Hong San was on tenterhooks and felt regret in his heart. He could not help but reflect on why he was so mischievous last night. It seemed that after the battle of Valentine, his entire body began to slowly come to life.

Before he could find an opportunity to admit defeat, the elves came uninvited.

Kang De went out to welcome them and was stunned to see this. It was not only Tagris and Elandir but also the few middle-aged elves he had seen outside the city yesterday and six young elves.

There were a total of ten.

He was definitely not here to eat, chat, and drink.

As expected, Tagris’s expression was serious. He bowed to Kang De and said calmly, “As per the instructions of the Phoenix King and the council, I’ll contact you in my personal capacity to welcome the dead soldiers back to their hometown.”

It was as if everything last night was a dream.

However, it was not a dream.

After saying that, Tagris smiled calmly at him. “Talk.”

Talk.

He had to call someone to make up the numbers.

Hong San discussed with Kang De, “This is the plan of the elves. If there are only our people in the meeting, they can spread rumors and casually fabricate the outcome of the meeting, saying that you don’t care about Goethe’s interests, et cetera… His Highness has already seen the sowing discord between the elves. It’s very powerful. They’ve thought about these things.”

Kang De frowned and said, “Find the representatives of the nobles and officials to come in. It’s difficult to distinguish loyalty and betrayal.”

The news would still leak and could not even ensure their loyalty.

Hong San shrugged and said, “After weighing the pros and cons, this is the only way. Fortunately, Your Highness has a clear conscience. This is something the elves can’t imagine. You don’t have much desire for wealth and power.”

Then let’s talk.

The completed city hall, a wide conference hall. That day, Nick had once gathered representatives of the entire city for a meeting here and roughly and forcefully assigned tasks. That was the first time Kang De had encountered Leona and Nick. His first impression was not good.

However, now, the person sitting at the head was already Kang De.

Two rows to the left and right were the humans and elves. Their gazes were confrontational, but neither of them spoke because everyone knew that they were only foils in this conversation.

The meeting began.

Tagris, who was sitting opposite him, made a speech and explained his intentions. He begged in a benevolent and peaceful spirit, begging Kang De to let the remains of the soldiers in the wilderness return to the Great Forest.

Kang De said indifferently, “In principle, there’s no problem. Goethe is a responsible country and won’t do anything to humiliate the corpses of our enemies. We use courage and honor to protect our home and will kill any enemy who dares to invade our territory, but we won’t take pleasure in humiliation and trampling corpses. However, you also know that we’re the victims…”

An elf looked at Kang De and wanted to speak. He raised his hand and said calmly, “Alright, friend, don’t argue academically about the right and wrong of this war. If you have any objections, let me put it another way—but you also know that we’re the winners.”

The humans chuckled proudly.

Kang De slowly said, “As the victor, we allow you to retrieve the bones of your comrades. This is a benevolent action, not an obligation. At the same time, we’ve encountered the trauma of war. Countless brave people have also died or lost their families because of it. We’ve consumed a lot of energy. We’ve experienced the flames of war. All of this has to be borne by the loser. In other words, if you want to retrieve the bones, you have to exchange them.”

He leaned forward and asked, “Then, what does your country plan to pay?”

Tagris did the same and said calmly, “We’re willing to release the captives. How about it?”

…

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