158. Welcoming the Bride

After the imperial decree was issued, escorted by ten thousand Death Iron Cavalrymen with red ribbons tied to their left arms, Mo Fei set off for the Elven Kingdom, accompanied by Kane and Elder Vith. Elder Otho remained behind in the Empire to manage unfinished business.

"My Lord!" Kane asked rather inappropriately, "Are we really giving up the Dark Continent?" Having fought halfway through only to retreat, Kane naturally felt disgruntled.

"We aren't calling it giving up," Mo Fei explained. "Compared to our enemies, although the scale of the Bear clan's army isn't massive, it is still intimidating enough. Think about it: we established Stormwind City right in their backyard, but in reality, our chances of effectively pinning them down there are quite slim. However, if we hand this continent over to them, think about how they will divide their forces into two routes—"

"My Lord, you are so cunning!" Kane suddenly realized. "After this campaign, the Bear clan's army will inevitably be drastically reduced. Once they split their forces for defense, it will be virtually impossible for the Bear clan to pose any threat to our imperial mainland."

"That is certainly true, but do not underestimate Udos. I am certain he is sincere about reconciling with us."

"Why?"

"If we can figure out such a simple logic, how could Udos not have thought of it?" Mo Fei said. "Udos is no fool. While he may not harbor deep suspicions about my ceding the Dark Continent to him, he certainly knows that once his forces are dispersed, they will pose no threat to us, which means our vigilance against them won't run the risk of accidental conflict. He is no simple man; no matter what, we must never underestimate him. He also sees that although the Bear clan army under his command currently boasts a terrifying headcount, their combat effectiveness has been declining generation after generation. He wants to take this opportunity to train his troops into an elite force. For such a resolute man to offer a gesture of goodwill while making this move does not surprise me in the least."

"So that's how it is," Kane muttered, lowering his head in thought.

"Your Majesty, do you mean Udos will sense the reason behind everything we've done, and by following suit, he intends to give us peace of mind?" Vith asked.

"Most likely, but this move achieves multiple goals for him at once. Not only does it show us his sincerity, but it also conveniently serves to drill his army. If Udos maintains control over the Bear clan, I believe there will be no more wars between us and them."

"Then can we recall some of the troops stationed at Demon Island?" Vith was the chief administrator of the Empire. If the imperial allied forces weren't currently under control, the Empire's manpower truly wouldn't suffice to guard the major cities. The newly incorporated Doma Garden was still guarded by the original Royal Guards, who hadn't even had time to be transferred to the Imperial Training Camp for drill.

There were still one hundred thousand garrison troops in Stormwind City. Although most supplies could be obtained locally, certain military logistics still had to be shipped from the Empire. In the long run, Vith found it quite a headache.

"I made a promise to Udos. Even if we are to withdraw some personnel, we must wait until he finishes this campaign. Once he recalls his troops after the victory, we can just put on a show for them as well. Leaving twenty thousand men to garrison the city will be enough; withdraw everyone else."

"Since he is putting on a show for us, we naturally must let them know that we recognize their sincerity. By leaving just a symbolic force behind to guard the city, they will surely see our sincerity in pursuing friendship."

"You two go on and on with all these twists and turns; I can't wrap my head around it, so I simply won't think about it. I'll just go and fight whoever the Lord tells me to fight. Thinking too much gives me a headache." Unable to puzzle it out, Kane simply gave up. In his view, if the Lord said someone was a problem, then they definitely were. He would just give them a thorough beating—why bother thinking so much?

"Hahaha..."
............

The main cavalry division remained in the City of Death. Mo Fei, accompanied by the two men and a small squad carrying gifts, entered the Forest of Death.

"My Lord!" Shortly after entering the forest, a small squad of Elven warriors came forward to greet them.

Just as the leading Elven warrior was about to instruct Mo Fei on the etiquette of Elven weddings, Mo Fei cut him off. "Alright, you don't need to say any of that. If I really followed your routine, it would be dark before I could bring back my Irene. Let's just do this according to our Imperial customs and rituals." With that, Mo Fei brushed past the small squad of Elven warriors and walked on. Behind him, Vith and Kane were left bewildered—since when did the Empire have any such customs and rituals? How come they had never heard of them?

Seeing Mo Fei looking dizzy yet putting on a frightened act, the young Elven squad leader decided to say no more. Anyway, surely, probably, nothing untoward would happen, right? In truth, the squad leader had no confidence at all.

Besides, who was Mo Fei? He was no ordinary person. Even if he didn't follow Elven customs, probably no one would dare to blame him. Forget it, the young Elven squad leader abandoned the idea of taking a detour back to report.

All along the way, Mo Fei could sense that elite Elven warriors remained lurking in every concealed spot within the forest. Mo Fei could only feel their presence without being able to tell by what method these Elves had seemingly vanished right before his eyes. True to form, following that near-extinction battle, the Elves never once relaxed the protection of the Elven Kingdom, regardless of the time.

When the Elves inside the busy, bustling palace of the Elven Kingdom saw Mo Fei swaggering in so unceremoniously, they were struck dumb with astonishment. Their hands froze in mid-task, and they all stared at him as if seeing him for the first time. Mo Fei felt a sudden wave of depression—what was wrong, was his face covered in ash or something?

Later on, whenever Irene, who became the Imperial Consort of the Death Empire, brought up this incident, she would giggle endlessly, only revealing the reason under Mo Fei's repeated threats.

It turned out that when an Elven woman married outside the clan, the groom was required to personally carry the wedding gifts to the bride upon arrival to show respect and demonstrate his tender care for her. Mo Fei had been too overbearing; the young Elven squad leader hadn't even been given a chance to speak, making it inevitable that Mo Fei would make a fool of himself.

No wonder everyone in the Elven city had stared in such astonishment when Mo Fei arrived empty-handed.

Amidst the bewildered gazes of the crowd, Mo Fei naturally realized that something must have gone wrong. But screw it; it wasn't his first or second time here anyway. Flushing red, Mo Fei somewhat hurriedly charged into the palace. Little did he know, behind a window in the palace, the Queen and Princess Irene were watching Mo Fei's clueless and flustered expression, laughing uncontrollably.

"Alright, my child, stop laughing, let's go down. Otherwise, if he doesn't see you in a moment, he'll probably get a terrible headache." The Queen naturally knew Mo Fei's personality; she certainly wouldn't be angry just because he failed to follow Elven protocol. Mo Fei was someone who loved simplicity and casualness, so it was completely normal for him to be ignorant of such etiquette. The people from his Empire were all completely informal. Even if emperors from other empires came to the Death Empire, they would most likely have to fetch their own drinking water. Fortunately, everyone seemed to understand Mo Fei's character well, knowing he did not stand on ceremony. The only emperors who visited his domain were those from the allied nations, with the most frequent visitors being the monarchs of the Gold-Stone Empire and the former Doma Empire. They all knew that arriving in Mo Fei's territory and expecting food and drink to be handed to them on a silver platter was out of the question. Fortunately, their practical skills were decent enough to know where to find food; otherwise, it would have been a laughingstock for the Death Empire—imagine a visiting emperor starving to death in the Death Empire, what kind of joke would that be? Thankfully, being frequent visitors, they were endlessly curious about this quirk of Mo Fei's, and upon visiting the Death Empire, they wouldn't even let their attendants help, happily roaming around everywhere themselves. After all, within the palace of the Death Empire, there was nowhere safer.

Seeing the Queen walking out hand-in-hand with Irene, Mo Fei hurried forward to greet them. Just as he was about to drop to one knee in a formal salute to the Queen, she stopped him. "Alright, alright, we are all family now, you won't need to do this from now on. Come, Mother is entrusting Irene to you. You must cherish and care for her well from now on, or else I will come and take Irene back at any moment."

"Mom, you won't need to take her back. From now on, Irene and I will often live here in the Kingdom, at most just letting Mom chase me out of the forest," Mo Fei replied. His words brought immense comfort to the Queen. Having only one daughter in Irene, the Queen naturally longed to see her every day.

"That's a matter for the future. Rest in the Kingdom for now, and we'll take Irene back after the celebration ceremony," the Queen said softly.

"Yes, Mom, just make whatever arrangements you see fit." Mo Fei wasn't nearly so well-behaved in front of others, but in the presence of the Queen, he could feel a genuine maternal warmth, and for that reason, he had never once gone against her wishes, which only made the Queen fond of him all the more.

The Queen placed Irene's small hand into Mo Fei's grasp. "You two rest in the palace for a bit and chat. The elders will come notify you once they finish making the arrangements. I'll go check on their progress first."

As the Queen walked out, she conveniently took Kane and Vith with her, leaving the space entirely to the two of them.

"Irene, did I do something wrong? Why was everyone in the city looking at me like that?" Mo Fei asked foolishly.

"You didn't do anything wrong," Irene giggled.

"There has to be something!" Seeing the strange, amused look on Irene's face, Mo Fei knew instantly that he had messed up.

"They specifically sent the captain of the guard to meet you so he could tell you about our Elven customs. Judging by your expression, you probably didn't even let him get a word in!" Irene suppressed her laughter and said, "But Mom said you are simply who you are; if you did everything according to what others say, you wouldn't be you anymore. So you don't need to follow our Elven rules after all."

"Is Mom going to be mad?"

"Of course not, Mom just thinks you're hilarious." Having said that, Irene finally burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Only then did Mo Fei realize that squad of Elven warriors had been sent by Irene. Good grief, if that guy had just mentioned earlier that he was sent by the Princess, would Mo Fei really have cut him off? Well, he could settle the score with him slowly next time; after all, there would be plenty of days ahead spent in the forest.