Just what exactly happened? Why was it that after more than 600 years, the ordinary elves had become the most loyal supporters of the human empire, the Mist Alliance, while the Superior Elves, who were the rulers of the Elven Empire, viewed Rorschach and Lori as mortal enemies?
The reason was that the Superior Elves had lost control over the inferior elves during that chaos and even revolution.
The three agreements that the Elven Queen and I had personally negotiated were signed by the Superior Elves. However, several hundred years later, the Superior Elves themselves were labeled as foolish and short-sighted.
For tens of thousands of years, the Superior Elves had "protected" the inferior elves, and the inferior elves surrounded and supported the order of the Superior Elves. This was something that the Superior Elves took for granted. However, the three agreements opened the door to a completely new way of living.
Ordinary elves escaped the restrictions of their land and left the Superior Elves' control en masse. They lived in other kingdoms and traveled back and forth.
They had time, technology, and labor. Most of the time, they quickly became rich. And in the Northlands, where many species lived together, the humans treated even the undead as equals, not to mention the elves who were quite good-looking.
The ordinary elves were treated as equals or even better here. They accumulated a considerable amount of wealth. But when they returned, they discovered that not only had their hometowns not changed at all, the despicable landlords and nobles were still waiting to collect their taxes. Of course they would be displeased.
For example, a villager who had lived in a small, isolated mountain village for a long time finally went out to work, earned some money, and had a house in a large city. But when they returned to their hometowns and saw that everything was the same as it had been for thousands of years, it was only natural that they would feel complex emotions.
Even though they had earned a lot of money, had a career, and had status outside, they would still be second-class or even third-class citizens when they returned home. They would be discriminated against by a bunch of "nobles" and "landlords".
Not only would they be discriminated against, they would also have to pay taxes. Not only would they have to pay the taxes, they would also be impatient. If they were slow or hesitant, they would even be beaten up and scolded. Meanwhile, their neighbors who hadn't left the Elven Empire all had expressions as if this was only natural.
They were used to living in the outside world and being treated as equals. How could they possibly tolerate this? Even if they had been able to tolerate it before, how could they possibly tolerate this?
As for the freedom to move part of the three agreements, they could freely return to the Elf Kingdom … or they could freely not return for the rest of their lives.
As a result, many elves never returned after returning to the Elven Empire. Not only did they not return, they even moved their families out of the Elven Empire. Furthermore, the Freedom of Labour Agreement allowed the Elven Empire's customs to be completely open to their own people.
In a sense, this agreement was a huge scam, and some of the elves were indeed quite pitiful.
It was inevitable that there would be a large loss of population. It was completely open to immigration, and the difference in living conditions between the two places was huge. This was a normal outcome.
At this moment, the Superior Elves were completely unaware of this. They were only happily watching as the commoners went out to find jobs, and then returned with wealth and taxes that were several times or even dozens of times greater.
By the time they realized that something was wrong and that they had completely lost control, it was already too late.
The most obvious change was that no matter how much the Elven Empire tried to collect taxes, they would never rise again. Instead, they would gradually decrease. Nearly 50% of the Elven Empire's population had become a floating population. The original social system of Great Domain Lords, Domain Lords, and Commoners had completely collapsed. Even the Elven Empire was used to having a free floating population.
At this moment, the Elven Empire's other agreement was even more dangerous.
The Elven Empire's overseas investment agreement, which allowed elven citizens to return to the Elven Empire to invest in the Elven Empire, had previously only destroyed the elven Empire's foundational rule. However, this agreement and the things it brought with it were a vicious final blow to the elven Empire's foundational rule.
This agreement brought with it new nobles, a new ruling class, and a new mortal enemy of the Superior Elves.
As previously mentioned, the foundational foundation of the Superior Elves' nobility was their power. They had armies and armies with supernatural powers in this dangerous period of time.
However, the magical engineering revolution also brought about a reshuffling of military power. The elves who returned from the Mist Alliance, where the magical engineering revolution had been at its most prosperous, now had technology and power. With money, they had connections. And when they returned to the Elven Empire to invest in factories, they shattered the original tribal social structure. Factories, societies, and enterprises were all redistributed among the elves.
Village leaders, who used to be the most powerful low-level officials, had no say in front of factory managers or bosses. This naturally caused a large-scale shift in power among the low-level officials.
With money and manpower, the new nobles naturally wanted status and the right to speak in politics.
This wasn't just personal ambition. It was also a type of self-protection and practical need.
Back in the day, many Superior Elven nobles still had their old habits and ideas. What if a pig became fat? Kill it and eat it!
The Superior Elves forcefully invaded the Elven Empire several times. Not only did this cause many internal conflicts, it also attracted the attention of the entire Mist Alliance and even other major countries. What followed was a series of diplomatic disputes and internal conflicts. The chaos lasted for several years. However, the Superior Elves naturally had to compromise if they wanted more elves to return to the Elven Empire to set up factories and pay taxes for them.
"We need to protect our own armed forces."
Everyone knew that the lesser nobles and the vampires had no bottom line. Words were useless. The only way to protect oneself was to protect oneself.
The factories now had guards, and the enterprises now had the right to hire guards and mercenaries. Magical engineering technology brought about magic armor, floating battleships, and other war machines. Traditional elven magic and archers had no advantage in the face of metal. The Northlands barbarians and Northlands beastmen were excellent melee mercenaries.
And this wasn't just about protecting one's personal wealth. It was also about protecting one's future generations.
Originally, elven society was one village for each subspecies. It was forbidden for subspecies to marry each other. If mixed-blood wild elves were treated as bastards, then half-elves born from other species would be even worse than bastards. In fact, they wouldn't even be treated as intelligent creatures. Being chased away was already the best possible treatment.
But if they went out to make a living, their village would naturally be split up. They would have more opportunities to interact with other subspecies of elves and other intelligent creatures. Naturally, it would be much easier for them to fall in love with each other.
In that case, it would be even more normal for wild elves and half-elves to be born.
Parents would always love their children. This was especially true when most elves began to question their past traditions. The other species in the Northlands treated wild elves and half-elves as equals, which deeply influenced their parents.
After returning to the Northlands, they would naturally use money and power to fight for equal rights for wild elves and half-elves. Back in the day, all intelligent creatures in the Northlands lived as equals. This was supported by the Mist Alliance and even the entire world.
Without a doubt, this completely shattered all of elven society's moral traditions and social values.
In the end, the new nobles won because they received the support of the commoners. They had their own armies, supporters, industries, money, and foreign supporters. Meanwhile, the Superior Elves were at their weakest and most chaotic period.
This wasn't a simple process. There were many conflicts and conflicts. This lasted for two to three hundred years before the elves finally stabilized.
The new nobles were quite fortunate. They lived in an era where money meant power. They gradually grew larger and larger, to the point where they could ally together to fight for political power. Only then did the Superior Elves discover that the situation had gone completely out of control.
At this time, it was impossible for them to break the agreement.
At that time, if the Elven Empire's political and military power was divided, the old Superior Elven nobles were at least 6, while the new nobles were at least 4. Perhaps the Superior Elves would win if they fought, but there would be nothing left after the battle … and even if the Superior Elves won without any losses, it would be impossible for them to return to the era where they could easily control or even enslave the Inferior Elves.
Their own people were unable to come to a consensus, and the Mist Alliance's influence was growing larger and larger. It was impossible for them to break the agreement.
At this time, as time passed, the Superior Elves would lose more and more control over the Elven Empire. The balance of power would always favor the newcomers.
In the modern era, the Elven Empire was probably completely divided.
The Superior Elves desired the Mist Alliance to break up. That would be tantamount to breaking the three agreements, which would give them a chance to regain their "honor" … Although, the Superior Elves didn't believe this at all.
600 years was the equivalent of three generations of elves. This was quite a large change, especially in this new era where information was exploding everywhere. Everyone's views and thoughts were constantly changing.
In fact, many enlightened Superior Elves even began to doubt whether their past traditions were correct. They abandoned their ancestral traditions and tried to embrace the new era and new nobles, becoming one of them.
At this point, the Elven Empire's so-called traditions and social structure were completely destroyed. The Superior Elves' naturally noble "fate" became nothing more than a joke and an antique.
The Inferior Elves of the past were now the main force of the Elven Empire. They would benefit from the new era, so of course they would be the Mist Alliance's staunchest supporters.
The conservative faction naturally didn't want to be swept into the trash bin of history. They loudly proclaimed "traditional morals" and "restore the ancient system" in order to gain political power. Actually, this was quite effective. After all, there were plenty of old antiques among the long-lived species. Many veteran powerful individuals weren't too sensitive to the new era either.
While many veteran nobles were shouting "traditional morals" in order to gain the support of the conservative faction, some smarter individuals shouted "royalty faction" and viciously slapped them in the face.
Fine, you Superior Elves were born nobles and have been in the upper class for thousands of years, right? Then, since you want to restore the ancient system, shouldn't we restore the Gold Elven Empire? After all, we're still an empire in name.
What? You're saying no? Why not? Is it because the Superior Elves were the ones who gained power back in the day, so you're the ones who rebelled?
The information explosion of the information age caused many ancient secrets to become secrets that everyone knew. This also made the Superior Elves' identities even more mysterious.
"You're a rebel! What right do you have to shout about morals and traditions? Now, the Elven Queen has gone missing again. Did you do it again!? "
The more veteran an elf was, the more they didn't know how to respond to such a question.
In the end … there was no result. What could the Superior Elves argue about? It would be impossible to convince the Superior Elves with words. Using a knife would be more likely.
However, this also caused the Rorschach siblings who were thousands of kilometers away to be implicated for no reason.
The grudge between the Superior Elves and Rorschach siblings was no longer just a meaningless dispute over personal feelings. As a Gold Elf, Lori really could return to the Elven Empire. The new nobles would definitely support her in completely overthrowing the Superior Elves and completely reforming the Elven Empire.
Nobody knew about this back in the day. However, the Superior Elves who had a direct interest in the Elven Empire were the most innocent. They had acted early and viciously, so the Superior Elves paid a heavy price for this. However, most of the Superior Elves who had a direct interest in the Elven Empire felt that this was worth it. They even believed that the Superior Elves were noble "self-sacrificers".
However, the Superior Elves didn't expect that Lori had an older brother who also appeared as a Gold Elf in Ansorenne.
Now, the Superior Elves were even more panicked. Previously, they were still panicking because they wanted to take precautions against the future. But now … the future that they needed to take precautions against was right in front of them.
The Elven Empire's barrier in Ansorenne was about to be broken. In that case, it was theoretically possible for a Gold Elf to return to the Northlands from Ansorenne.
Plus, Rorschach was likely to be the Mist Alliance's stabilizer, which meant that he could possibly attract the Mist Alliance's assistance. This made the Superior Elves even more fearful.
The first-hand news from the Northlands, as well as the recent dimensional storm, helped Rorschach understand everything.
He and a portion of the Superior Elves had probably become mortal enemies with no way out.
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