Elf cookies

The Moro Continent once experienced an extremely glorious but short-lived Golden Age. At that time, the number of professionals grew exponentially, and mines and treasures were discovered everywhere. Countless inventions were showcased, and although most of them were meant to prove that alchemists and mages had not only bizarre ideas but also unmatched execution power, a small portion of these inventions were popularized and greatly facilitated people's lives.

It was also a time of conflict and turmoil. Magical beasts bred rapidly, dark creatures and spirits were active in every corner of the continent, powerful dragons plundered the wealth of entire territories, elves threw shameless professionals who spied on their royal court out of the forest, and the World Tree was always coveted by evil forces. The continent was bustling like a blossoming rose, with brilliance and decay coexisting.

But suddenly, one day, this lively era came to an abrupt halt, like a bubble shattering under the sun. According to the long-lived races who are still alive today, "The continent suddenly fell into a strange silence, and many people who greeted each other warmly just the day before would never meet again in their lifetime. The overheated, boiling state had ended, and we returned to the past."

This event was too terrifying; countless professionals disappeared, along with their wisdom, wealth, bizarre behaviors, and unfettered creativity. As a result, later history strongly denied this era, as if pretending it never existed, so as not to contrast it with the subsequent dark age.

After this, the activity of exploration surged across the continent, and many people sought to uncover the mysteries of that bizarre year and find the lost treasures and riches.

In the year 1252 of Moro, a wandering explorer mage discovered an ancient ruin. He was a knowledgeable scholar and immediately recognized that this was not an ordinary ruin. The magical barrier within was still functioning after a thousand years, meaning that its master was at least a legendary archmage, or even possibly a demigod.

The mage approached the Orlan Empire and requested they send an elite team to explore the ruins with him. The empire dispatched a group of holy knights, several archmages, and sacred priests, setting off grandly.

However, these people only reached the edge of the ruins. Because they discovered that the master of the ruins was a fallen deity, and at the end of the ruins lay its divine domain!

The overjoyed Orlan Empire sent even more professionals, swearing to obtain the wealth of the deity, but the process of clearing the ruins' passage was extremely difficult, and there was still no progress after several months. Their large-scale actions had already attracted the attention of the other two empires. In order not to let the other intact nations hide in the shadows and snatch the fruits of victory, the Orlan Empire had to take the initiative to contact the other two empires. After a series of negotiations and agreements, the three human empires jointly began the exploration of the ancient deity's ruins.

During this time, the three great empires invested a huge amount of human resources. Almost all high-level professionals emerged, arrived in batches, and tons of magic stones were transported to the ancient deity's ruins. Magical machinery was confiscated from the civilians and transformed into machinery suitable for clearing the ruins.

But it was all worth it, or at least the higher-ups of the three empires believed so. Even if the divine domain was not opened, they had already obtained part of the deity's wealth in the passage: mysterious magic arrays, spells written in obscure languages, and even divine inscriptions.

This made the three human empires even more determined to open the divine domain.

It was not until the day the divine domain was opened that they discovered it was just a joke played by the deity; the divine domain was empty and desolate.

When the three great empires looked back, more than half of the human professionals had perished, most of the magic stone mines were depleted, and life for humans without magical machinery was hindered everywhere, with even food shortages occurring.

The treasures they obtained from the ancient deity's ruins were too difficult to decipher, and no one was in the mood to study them after five of the seven legendary archmages perished, countless high-level professionals were lost, and even a gap appeared in their ranks.

Misfortunes never come singly. Both the beast and the dragon races set their sights on the weakened human empires, watching closely.

The Orlan Empire, bordering the beastman empire, bore the brunt and lost a large number of its people, food, and land in a war.

Amid the turmoil, the three great empires joined forces again, but they had lost the courage to confront their enemies head-on and chose to concoct a huge lie.

To the beastmen, they said that there were vast fertile lands where a handful of seeds could yield a mountain of food.

To the dragons, they said that half of the land there spewed lava and the other half flowed with gold.

They made full use of human wisdom to the elves, dwarves, and goblins, even going so far as to stage a farce of a falling-out among the human higher-ups, making non-human races believe in the human elites' internal strife, and then the news of the divine domain was leaked.

In this way, a large number of foreign races set off for the ancient deity's ruins to seize territory, and humans naturally went along.

In the end, the foreign races that arrived at the ancient deity's ruins could no longer leave. Under the command of the human empire's higher-ups, the passage connecting the divine domain and the Moro Continent was destroyed.

Of course, some humans were left behind, an inevitable but worthwhile sacrifice. This was the consensus of the human empire's higher-ups.

The three great empires hastily divided the deity's treasures obtained from the ruins' passage, and the eventful exploration of the divine domain came to an end. Humans became the strongest race on the Moro Continent, and the scattered foreign races were no longer a threat.

Although the external troubles were eradicated, the human empires could not rest easy. Famine, war, and disease plagued the land. In the year 1310 of Moro, the Crete Empire disintegrated, and dozens of small principalities were established by local nobles. The Crete royal family fled in panic. In the year 1338 of Moro, the Tule Empire experienced a rebellion. The current Duke of Nelanca, Elvys, and the Knight Commander Asland led the rebel army to overthrow the rule of the Tule Empire and established the Silver Empire.

In the end, the legendary archmage of the Silver Empire, Azpeheya, used the precious relics of the ancient deity's ruins to create magical tools for planting crops and preserving food, in an ironic gesture towards the over-ambitious exploration of the human empires back then.

Those were the Bathtub Farm and the Refrigerator Cabinet.

"Isn't this an imperial secret? Are you allowed to tell me?" Ina joked.

Mr. Wenter also smiled, "It's just that the imperial higher-ups thought it was embarrassing, so they blocked the news. Nowadays, two of the three great empires have already collapsed. If it weren't for the chaos on the continent at the time, this wouldn't have become a secret."

The black cat lying in the corner and eavesdropping suddenly understood. It turned out that the bathtub with the flow magic array and the cabinet with the eternal inscription in the restaurant's kitchen was the very items he had dug out of the imperial warehouse and sent to the Mercenary Guild.

He had asked the Mercenary Guild to help the residents of Misty Town, stabilize prices, and improve their quality of life, and they had built this restaurant and handed it over to a strange woman who didn't seem familiar with it.

Ina also realized that the Mercenary Guild behind Mr. Wenter might have a close relationship with the Dragonflame Restaurant. She looked at Mr. Wenter with some scrutiny, "You're not here to tell me that the Dragonflame Restaurant is owned by the Mercenary Guild and that I should leave, are you?"

Dusì, sitting beside them, tensed up, watching Mr. Wenter. She had always thought that Mr. Wenter was just an ordinary businessman who came to Misty Town every year to purchase valuable materials brought out of the Midnight Swamp by mercenaries.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Wenter turned out to be an elder of the Mercenary Guild. His presence in Misty Town not only made it convenient for mercenaries to submit their mission materials to him but also allowed him to periodically check for any anomalies in the Midnight Swamp on behalf of the empire.

Dusì was worried about what to do if Mr. Wenter and Miss Ina started fighting. Weighing her options quickly in her heart, she felt that angering Miss Ina wouldn't end well. She stared intently into Mr. Wenter's eyes, hoping he wouldn't say anything too excessive.

Mr. Wenter maintained his polite smile as always: "No, Miss Ina. The Dragonflame Restaurant is already your property. The Mercenary Guild built this restaurant, but they don't have ownership of it. The previous owner gave it to you, and we have no right to take it back. As for the magical tools here, they were also given to the restaurant owned by the Mercenary Guild free of charge. As long as the Dragonflame Restaurant continues to operate in Misty Town, you can continue to use them."

Ina relaxed, "It seems that running a restaurant here is not an easy task." The Mercenary Guild helped with building the restaurant and provided magical tools, but the previous owner, Richard, still ended up running away.

Mr. Wenter nodded in agreement, "Life here can indeed be oppressive and boring. Not everyone can accept a life away from crowds and sunlight. That's why we appreciate the townspeople who choose to live in Misty Town even more; they are the sentinels of the empire."

"So, the mist here is related to the ancient deity's ruins?" Ina pondered.

"We can't be certain if the mist is due to the ancient deity's ruins or the activities of the empire here in the past. The mist here is rich in magical power, giving birth to numerous powerful magical beasts and plants, but it cannot be absorbed by humans," Mr. Wenter's eyes darkened, "The mist is still expanding. The good news is that as long as the anchor point of Misty Town remains, the mist will not completely engulf this place. The bad news is that there are fewer and fewer permanent residents in Misty Town."

Ina learned a lot about the history of Misty Town and the Midnight Swamp from Mr. Wenter. After the three great empires committed some shameful acts, they felt guilty and had to check the ancient deity's ruins annually for any abnormalities. Suddenly, this area was shrouded in mist, making it impossible to determine the location of the ruins. The empire then named this large area the Midnight Swamp. Following that, the nearby flora and fauna exhibited abnormal growth. The empire took advantage of this situation and encouraged mercenaries to explore the Midnight Swamp.

The emergence of Misty Town also aligned with the empire's purpose of monitoring the Midnight Swamp. They discovered that the Midnight Swamp was not covered in mist all year round; for about half the time each year, the mist would become thinner, and the fog near the ground would disperse.

Initially, the area where Misty Town was located followed the same fog pattern as the Midnight Swamp. However, as the town gradually expanded, the duration of the ground fog dissipating became longer and longer until it disappeared completely. Those in the know realized the key factor was the people. When the population of Misty Town decreased, the ground fog began to show signs of returning.

To preserve this unique observation point, the three great empires at the time tried their best to retain the residents here, even secretly providing subsidies through the Mercenary Guild. Later, as the situation on the continent changed, only the successor of the Tule Empire, the Silver Empire, still retained its attention and support for this place.

Ina understood the guilt of the empires. They had locked a group of different races in a desolate divine realm, including the vengeful and long-lived race of dragons, who would forever remember the hatred and deception of the past. If they could break through the divine realm one day, they would tear apart the deceivers from back then.

However, what was interesting was that 300 years had passed, and humans had gone through generations. The decision-makers of that time should have turned to dust, and only one of the three great empires remained. Who should they seek revenge on?

Ina seemed to understand why the Silver Empire, which had nothing to do with the events of the past, was constantly monitoring the movements of the Midnight Swamp. Mad Avengers would not trace the origins, and they would likely hate all humans equally. The Orlan Empire's strict investigation of people with different race bloodlines might also be due to their fear of those who knew the truth taking action. When those races crawled out of the vengeful divine realm, the Orlan Empire, which always regarded non-humans as heretics, would be the most capable of mobilizing the people's will to fight.

She lightly clapped her hands, admiring this murky drama. Unfortunately, she arrived too late; not only was she unable to do anything, but she also couldn't even be an audience member, only a listener a century later.

Seeing that their conversation had ended, Dusì cautiously asked, "Miss Ina, what's on today's special menu?"

"Elf cookies, Orc's vanilla-grilled fish, and Dragonflame-grilled meat."

Mr. Wenter's eyes narrowed as he laughed, seeing that this lady seemed quite dissatisfied with the shameful acts of the three great empires. "I'll have Orc's vanilla-grilled fish then, and a pack of elf cookies to go, please."