One hand holds a big stick, the other a carrot.
Austin deliberately gave away a false title, all for the Elf Queen Eve to reveal everything she knows.
The situation in the Kawa Great Forest is indeed quite complicated now. Fınd the newest release on 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝘯𝘦𝘵
Especially Austin and his Dragon Nest Tribe, who have expanded and grown to this extent in just a few years.
Although this development speed is quite astonishing, it also has many shortcomings.
One of them is the foundation of information.
Some information, which may be common knowledge for large tribes, remains elusive secrets to Austin, who rose rapidly in a short time.
"Eve, elves have said before that a thousand years ago, your branch of the elf race once established a massive elf kingdom in the heart of the Kawa Great Forest, ruling the vast forest land. Later, the beastmen rebelled, and you fled here, relying on the power of the Elf Mother Tree to hide. Then you encountered my soldiers, mistaking them for pursuing forces, and eventually, you launched the final war. Is that correct?"
Austin goes straight to the point without much preamble.
This information was obtained from the elven captives during the besieged warfare at the stronghold, and as for more detailed information, only the Eve before him might know.
"Forgive me, Your Highness, it was my oversight that offended you."
Eve covers her palm over her chest and bows in apology.
"What I need isn't these pleasantries. Tell me your history, the events before and after that battle a thousand years ago, and even earlier origins of your elves, in full detail. I will listen carefully, I have plenty of time."
The deep voice reverberated in the air, filled with an oppressive majesty.
Eve found Austin's demands somewhat strange, but she still slowly recounted what she knew.
All of this must be traced back a thousand years.
At that time, Eve was still a child, and much of what she knew was fragmented, spoken intermittently.
But at the same time, having experienced the great upheaval of the kingdom's downfall, Eve also had deeper insights into certain things.
A thousand years ago, or even further back, elves and beastmen lived peacefully together, and it seemed that there was an equally ancient covenant between the two races, a covenant dating back to unknown times.
And precisely because of this covenant, at that time, the elven royal family who ruled the entire Kawa Great Forest did not guard against the beastmen, which was the essential reason for the rapid collapse of the Elven Kingdom after the beastmen's rebellion.
Eve was unaware of the content of the covenant.
Back then, she was very young, merely an unfavored princess within the Elven Kingdom. During that massive beastmen rebellion, many of the royal family were killed, but she survived by luck, was raised to the queen's throne by the surviving elves, and eventually escaped to the nearby area to hide.
What Eve knew came merely from the occasional conversations of her parents, that it seemed to be a covenant from ancient times, incredibly important.
"A covenant, beastmen? And what happened afterward? Who currently occupies the central area, and after the rebellion, didn't those beastmen establish a Beastman Royal Court? Did some unforeseen changes occur later?"
Austin constantly revealed a look of doubt.
If there really was a Beastman Royal Court, then why is there no information about it?
At least, among the myriad races under Austin, numbering in the tens of thousands of beastman races, none had ever heard of a Beastman Royal Court within the Kawa Great Forest.
"There is, the Beastman Royal Court exists in the central area. They established the Beastman Royal Court shortly after overthrowing the kingdom."
As if hearing Austin's inner doubts, Eve continued to speak.
"The lack of circulated information is because they consciously block the news."
"Although the kingdom nominally ruled the entire Kawa Great Forest back then, in reality, the kingdom's citizens considered their bloodlines noble and treated the struggling half-beastmen outside the central area as if they were seeing beasts. Coupled with the extreme poverty of the beastman tribes around the borders, there wasn't a shred of benefit to be gained for the wealthy kingdom; thus, the kingdom adopted a policy of ignoring the beastman tribes outside the core."
"Later, after the beastmen struck back and toppled the kingdom, they also adopted the same policy, and even went further by deliberately severing ties with the beastman tribes in the barren outer regions. They only helped foster a few large tribes at the borders by supplying grain resources, which seemed aimed at letting them skirmish with humans to divert human attention."
Upon hearing this, Austin felt not relief, but even more puzzled.
"Why would those beastmen do this?"
If he were leading beastmen to overthrow the Elven Kingdom, the next step would surely be to boast about it, thereby attracting numerous beastman tribes to rapidly expand the Beastman Royal Court's power.
Yet those beastmen deliberately severed ties with the outside world.
According to Eve, among the countless beastman tribes within the whole Kawa Great Forest, apart from those few super-large tribes on the border often engaged in tug-of-war with humans, none knew anything about the Beastman Royal Court in the central area.
Why were they doing this, essentially severing themselves?
"Because those beastmen connected with the ancestral covenant are truly pure-blooded."
Pure-blooded beastmen, the royal lineage among beastmen.
It is said among the beastman tribes scattered across the Kawa Great Forest, there once existed a tremendously vast Beastman Empire spanning the entire continent, established by pure-blooded beastmen!
This time, Austin was genuinely surprised.
The first time he saw the name Pure-blooded Beastman was a few years ago, in a note left by a Gold-Level Great Mage.
Later, this matter even led a young man named Edward and a group of mercenaries to explore this place, resulting in conflict.
At the time, Austin had asked the Fox-faced Man Quik, and according to Quik, Pure-blooded Beastmen and the Beastman Empire were likely just myths conjured by the beastmen, and hence, he hadn't paid much attention.
Could these matters be related somehow?
Austin quickly pondered these thoughts in his mind.
"So, you're saying that currently, in the core area of the Kawa Great Forest, there exists a Beastman Royal Court established by pure-blooded beastmen, and it is providing support in the form of resources to nurture those few super-large tribes in the Border Tribe Alliance, right?"
Eve thought for a moment and replied:
"Those pure-blooded ones certainly established a Beastman Royal Court and occupied the place of the ancestors, that's for sure. As for those few super-large tribes tugging against humans for hundreds and thousands of years at the borders, they should indeed be supported by the Beastman Royal Court from behind."