Death Notice Book 8: Chapter 32: The Prelude to a New Era

Release Date: 2026-06-07 23:23:09

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“I really don’t understand them. We are all elves, do we need to scheme against each other like this!” Iristin helplessly covered her face with her hands. Then she hesitated and asked curiously, “Firal, what you said, I understand now. But we have already moved out of Qiongda’er. Before entering Ank Forest, we are still considered a wandering tribe. Can’t we even help Milleras then?”

A cold glint flashed in Qin Lun’s eyes as he looked at Iristin with a faint smile. “We are indeed just a wandering tribe now, but as you said, we are about to belong to the Anke Elf Court. If we directly help the Sun Elves without informing the Anke Elf King first, what would the Ank Elves think?”

Iristin’s expression changed. She wasn’t very politically sensitive, but she wasn’t a fool either. As soon as Qin Lun reminded her, she immediately understood.

If the Ank Elves learned that they had helped the Sun Elves without prior notice, they would only think that the Qundar Moon Elves were playing both sides and weren’t sincerely settling in Ank Forest.

Ank Forest had already nurtured a third-generation World Tree. Whether they pulled in the Sun Elves or not didn’t matter; perhaps they would even be happier to see the Sun Elves in trouble.

The reasoning was simple. If the Qundar Moon Elves really sent him guards, Milleras wouldn’t explain to the other Elf Courts that this was aid from a wandering tribe. Instead, he would directly claim it was support from the Anke Elf Court, since by then the Qundar Moon Elves would have officially joined Ank Forest.

“So that guy is so treacherous!” Anger appeared on Iristin’s face. Her previous goodwill towards Milleras vanished completely. No one would feel good upon realizing their kindness had been exploited.

“An Elf Prince sent by the Cormanthor Elf Court to undertake an important diplomatic mission is naturally not simple!” Qin Lun held back a laugh and took the opportunity to badmouth Milleras. “Iristin, that scoundrel Milleras thinks you’re a fool. Stay away from him in the future.”

“Hmph, he’s a scoundrel, and you’re no good person either!” Iristin rolled her eyes and stood up angrily. But just as she lifted the tent flap, she remembered something and turned back to say, “By the way, Elder Adeline asked me to tell you that the Ank Elf King—Thanequalas Nightstar—will welcome us at the forest edge tomorrow afternoon. You need to be there then; don’t just lie in the carriage and be rude.”

“The Ank Elf King is coming to welcome us in person?” Qin Lun habitually raised an eyebrow and muttered in admiration, “Great leaders emerge in turbulent times! I never thought Ank Forest would produce a ruler even greater than King Testiel. Could it be that Faerûn is about to witness the prelude to a new era?”

The Qundar Moon Elves preparing to migrate to Ank Forest numbered about five thousand. The first migration group, excluding the wounded, those captured by human rogue groups, and those killed by orc cavalry, accounted for nearly thirty percent of the total.

Of course, the orc cavalry were actually directed by the Zhentarim, with the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission as the primary target. They were unlikely to attack the Moon Elf migration group again later. The human rogue groups suffered heavy losses in this battle, with many rogue bands and mercenary groups completely wiped out. They probably wouldn’t dare be so reckless again, and the intensity of attacks should decrease.

At least over four thousand of the five thousand Qundar Moon Elves would safely reach Ank Forest. However, due to years of oppression by the Magic Cup Court, these Moon Elf tribes lacked weapons and supplies, so the Anke Elf Court would need to make great efforts to settle them.

For Ank Forest, which was much smaller than Qiongda’er Forest, this matter had both advantages and disadvantages. The migrating Moon Elf tribes were originally the Qundar royal family, and most of the elven heritage left within the tribe consisted of spellcasting professions. Among them were many high-rank mages and druids, essentially the elite of the Qiongda’er Elves.

When King Testiel first ascended the throne, he used soft tactics to win over Iristin and other descendants of the former royal family. He also tried every means to have the Moon Elf tribes move back to the Magic Cup Court, largely for this reason.

Later, however, because the second-generation World Tree in Qiongda’er Forest was entering its decline, he had no choice but to join the Green Elf Council of Elders and adopt tougher measures. Unfortunately, plans are made by humans, but success depends on heaven. The invitation from Ank Forest led the Moon Elf tribes to decide to migrate instead. Moreover, due to Qin Lun’s intervention, not even one descendant of the royal line like Iristin remained.

The addition of the Qundar Moon Elves to Ank Forest meant more than just gaining over four thousand elves. It signified that the Anke Elf Court had unified the Seopia heritage, forming the new Seopia Elven Court.

With the addition of a large number of high-rank spellcasters like Adeline and Menon, the current Ank Forest was actually no weaker than the Qiongda’er Elven Court at its peak. If they formed a Forbidden Spell mage group, it would be enough to destroy any medium-sized human kingdom.

Of course, aside from the above advantages, adding four thousand Qundar Elves also had unfavorable drawbacks.

In terms of forest area, the original Tethyr Great Forest split into Thornwood, Ank, Winter Forest, and Qiongda’er Forest. Ank Forest was the smallest of them, roughly half the size of Thornwood, one-third of Winter Forest, and less than one-tenth of Qiongda’er.

However, this small Ank Forest currently housed over seven thousand Moon Elves and more than four thousand Green Elves. The population was near saturation, unlike the other three forests which were sparsely populated. After adding over four thousand Qundar Moon Elves, relying solely on hunting would certainly not support that many elves.

That left only two paths: either engage in trade with humans, using commerce to supplement forest products and thus support over sixteen thousand elves. The other path was outward expansion; with more territory and richer resources, population pressure would naturally ease.

But in today’s Faerûn, the rulers were humans, not elves. Ank Forest was located within the Kingdom of Saispaits. If the Ank Elves left the forest and expanded into the plains, war would be inevitable.

In terms of area, the Kingdom of Saispaits was actually larger than the two major human powers to the west, Tethyr and Calimshan. The kingdom bordered Tethyr and Calimshan to the west; these two countries were strong and had developed trade. Calimport in Calimshan was the starting port of the western Great Trade Way.

To the east, the kingdom bordered Qundas with the Naga River as the boundary, situated precisely on the southern bank of the Golden Plain, close to the delta of the Naga and Alan Rivers. The Golden Plain was the largest granary in southern Faerûn. The river transport systems of the Naga and Alan Rivers were part of the commercial golden route connecting the Sea of Fallen Stars and the Steaming Lake in this region.

To the north lay the Vihong Sea and the Deepwater Lake, while to the south was the Southland inland sea—Steaming Lake. Steaming Lake was the second-largest inland sea trade area in Faerûn, after the Sea of Fallen Stars. Its maritime trade was even more prosperous than the Moonsea controlled by the Zhentarim.

Within the kingdom were three great forests: Thornwood, Winter Forest, and Ank Forest, as well as the mineral-rich Rift Mountains and the Ommlaran Mountains. Looking just at the map, this kingdom could be described as vast and rich in resources, occupying the golden geographical location of southern Faerûn.

Unfortunately, this was only surface appearance. Saispaits bordered the Golden Plain but did not control it; that belonged to the Qiongdus Kingdom. It connected to Calimshan and Tethyr to the west, yet due to the barrier of the Ommlaran Mountains, it failed to benefit from the prosperous trade of these two countries.

It neighbored the Deepwater Lake to the north, but because of the vast Rift Mountains in the north, it couldn’t access the fishery resources of the Deepwater Lake. As for the three great forests within the country, they were elven territory; Saispaits lacked the ability to enter the forests and plunder wealth.

The only real benefit for the Kingdom of Saispaits came from several commercial ports along the southern coast near Steaming Lake. However, these ports were controlled by several major nobles within the kingdom. Without a unified trade area, the profits were greatly reduced.

Over a thousand years ago, Saispaits was originally part of the Zhamdas Kingdom (the predecessor of the Qiongdus Kingdom). Back then, Zhamdas was powerful and even competed with Calimshan for hegemony over Steaming Lake. Unfortunately, after a high-rank Forbidden Spell from the Qiongda’er Elves turned the entire northern part of the country into the Vihong Sea, it completely declined.

Saispaits broke away from the Zhamdas Kingdom at that time and began governing itself. However, Saispaits wasn’t a fully independent kingdom but rather a united kingdom composed of large and small nobles.

Lack of centralized power led to dispersed strength. Not only could it not pose a threat to Calimshan and Tethyr to the west, it couldn’t even rival the already weakened Qundas. If not for Calimshan and Tethyr being wary of each other, and Qundas having Qiongda’er as a major internal threat, Saispaits would have perished long ago.

But even if Saispaits was weak, the Ank Elves couldn’t replace it. Human kingdoms could fight among themselves but wouldn’t stand by and watch a human kingdom fall to elves. If the Ank Elves truly left the forest and attacked Saispaits, they would likely end up being attacked by all the surrounding human powers.

Of course, the Ank Elves couldn’t attack Saispaits, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t expand. One must remember that the other two great forests within Saispaits, Thornwood and Winter Forest, were very close to Ank Forest.

The southern end of Winter Forest was less than thirty miles from Ank Forest, almost just separated by a single city. Although Thornwood was farther from Ank Forest, separated by the Thorn River, it was very close to Winter Forest—one on the east bank of the Thorn River, the other on the west bank. In other words, these three forests could actually merge geographically.

The elves of the three forests shared the same roots; they were all originally branches of the Kaeldomo Elves, all governed by Moon Elves. Currently, Thornwood and Winter Forest hadn’t successfully nurtured a third-generation World Tree, while Ank Forest had. Thus, the three forests already possessed the basic conditions for unification.

If Ank Forest could treat the other Moon Elves equally and let the descendants of the royal families from the other Elf Courts share some of the kingly authority, then Thornwood and Winter Forest, currently wavering, would very likely join Ank Forest. After all, no one wanted to leave their homeland and travel thousands of miles to Evermeet.

The addition of the Qundar Moon Elves to Ank Forest was the key to unlocking the unification of the three forests. If the Qundar Moon Elves were valued in the Anke Elf Court, received good treatment, and even if royal descendants were allocated some seats in the Council of Elders, then the other two forests would have no more worries.

Otherwise, the other two forests wouldn’t join Ank.

This was why Qin Lun praised the Ank Elf King—Thanequalas Nightstar!

Perhaps this Elf King had long ago conceived the ambition to unify all Kaeldomo Elf branches in the southern continent. That’s why he seized the opportunity to invite the Qundar Moon Elves to migrate to Ank Forest. Now, he was humbly welcoming the first group of Qundar Moon Elves arriving in Ank Forest.

If this guess was correct, then this ruler’s tactics and depth seemed somewhat formidable.

In the present era where humans ruled Faerûn, the Sun Elf King of Cormanthor initiated a landmark migration journey to rebuild the Sun Court on Evermeet. Meanwhile, the Moon Elf ruler of Ank Forest was restarting the great unification of the Kaeldomo Elves after twenty thousand years.

Just as Qin Lun said, the Faerûn Elves, after ten thousand years of the Great Elven Civilization, were once again bursting with brilliant light, pulling open the prelude to a new era!

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Volume 2 Chapter 31: Combat Model »