Chapter232

To keep the sleeve arrow hidden, she had the blacksmith forge it into the shape of a long bracelet, with decorative gold and jade inlays on the outside. Anyone unfamiliar with hidden weapons would never be able to tell what it really was.

Once she strapped the finished sleeve arrow onto her arm, she was now fully armed.

With her strength surging, even without Uno, most of the top fighters in this world wouldn't be able to get close to her anymore.

Learning martial arts really was a source of endless joy.

While Elara was deeply focused on studying Divine Order Mystics and all sorts of martial arts and weapons, preparing to have Uno help her break into the seventh level, a heavy letter suddenly arrived. It had been sent by a black hawk from the direction of Dahlia Kingdom.

There weren't many words in the letter from Dahlia's prince, but the tone was extremely grave.

The letter only mentioned two things.

First: Something had happened to Leif. Strange things had been occurring in the Sargassum Kingdom, and the king there had started listening to corrupt officials. Now, he planned to send Leif as a gift to a brutal old duchess in her seventies from a third-tier northern kingdom, making him her male servant.

Dahlia's prince naturally couldn't bear to let his friend fall into such a fate, but his growing power had made him a target of many other nations. He couldn't go rescue Leif by himself.

But he already had a basic plan for the rescue. He just lacked a trusted companion to go with him, so he wrote to Elara, asking if she had time to help him rescue Leif.

The second thing was about the Geranium Kingdom, one of the central continent's third-tier countries. They were about to hold the once-every-three-years "Hundred Nations Banquet."

At that time, many forces from across the continent would attend, including most second and third-tier nations from the central region, as well as some hidden powers.

Dahlia's prince had planned his rescue operation around this "Hundred Nations Banquet." He intended to attend and wanted Elara to go with him. In the letter, he asked if she could make time to attend the event together and take the chance to observe the many powers of this continent.

Mr. Yu didn't write much in the letter. At the end, he simply said that if Elara was willing to go with him, she should send a reply, then head straight to the capital of Dahlia.

The Geranium Kingdom, which was hosting the "Hundred Nations Banquet," was located near the center of the continent. Plumera sat in the southwestern corner, with Dahlia in the central part of that same southwestern corner. Geranium Kingdom was on the eastern edge of the western region. Just a few hundred kilometers further east would bring one to the continent's central area, surrounded by densely packed second- and third-tier nations, and not too far from the two first-tier powers: Petunia and Celosia.

On top of that, the matter with Leif couldn't be delayed any longer, and the "Hundred Nations Banquet" was set to begin soon.

If Elara agreed to go, she would leave Plumera and head directly east, which meant she would pass through Dahlia sooner or later.

That's why Mr. Yu asked her to go find him directly. He would arrange for someone to welcome her in Dahlia.

Elara carefully read through the letter and quickly began analyzing the situation.

No wonder Leif had never accepted her invitation to visit Plumera. It turned out something like this had happened to him.

Leif was currently an extremely important commercial partner to Plumera. The reason the Plumera Royal Merchant Headquarters opened all trade routes to the Bai Family's Business was because Leif personally agreed to it.

Now that Sargassum was starting to show signs of moving in, the Royal Merchant Headquarters' friendly cooperation had helped Plumera and the Bai Family's Business save at least five or six years of development. It directly connected Plumera with the commercial circles of more than a dozen surrounding nations.

Goods produced within the country now had secure and appropriate channels for export, and whatever Plumera needed could be easily purchased from those networks.

In short, the rapid economic growth of Plumera owed a great deal to the trade routes opened by the Royal Merchant Headquarters.

So from an objective standpoint, Leif, as the head of the Royal Merchant Headquarters, played a key role in the current success of Plumera.

If something happened to Leif, the Royal Merchant Headquarters would undoubtedly suffer, which would then impact the economy of Plumera and the Bai Family's Business that had just entered this larger network.

That was something Elara absolutely didn't want to see happen.

And on a personal level—

Leif and Mr. Yu were among the first people Elara met when she arrived in the southern region. The first big trade she conducted after arriving was with the two of them.

Later, whether it was subduing Belladonna or conquering Edelweiss, a large portion of the military supplies and resources Elara needed came at low cost from Leif's Royal Merchant Headquarters.

The three of them had regular contact and were considered friends in private.

According to what Mr. Yu wrote in the letter, the woman Leif was being forced to marry wasn't just old, but also violent, even matching Elara's former self in that regard.

If Leif were really handed over to such a person, it would likely be a disaster.

Thinking about that calm and refined man being forced to serve some seventy- or eighty-year-old violent woman was too unbearable. The image was almost painful to imagine. Elara frowned just thinking about it.

So whether it was from an objective or personal angle, neither Leif nor the Royal Merchant Headquarters could be allowed to fall into trouble.

Plumera needed the Royal Merchant Headquarters, and Elara didn't want Leif to meet such a fate.

As long as the favor Mr. Yu asked for didn't cross Plumera's core interests, she would help.

Besides, the "Hundred Nations Banquet" Mr. Yu mentioned in his letter was something Elara had never heard of before.

But from its name and the brief description Mr. Yu gave, she could already guess it was definitely a major global event, one that gathered the powers of many western and central nations on the continent.

Elara had been in this world for nearly half a year now. She had stayed within Plumera the entire time, busy with one task after another. By now, most things in Plumera were running smoothly.

The nine major departments all had key personnel managing critical functions. Even without her watching every day, everything was operating steadily.

With things like this, she really should start exploring the rest of the world and get a clearer picture of it.

This was exactly the kind of knowledge Elara severely lacked and urgently needed to fill in. It was important for Plumera's future development and also essential to prevent her from falling into danger again because of something completely beyond her understanding.

She needed to see what kind of state other nations in this world were in. She needed to learn what other divine blessings and divine veins existed out there. What kinds of mysterious powers were hidden around the continent. Where the elusive Heavenly Craft Pavilion might be.

Besides the Heavenly Craft Pavilion and Sargassum, she also needed to learn what other top-tier powers existed in this world.

Elara knew far too little about the world. That lack of knowledge was the reason why, even after developing Plumera just a little, she had already attracted the attention of Sargassum by not hiding the technology given to her by the System.

If Elara didn't want to unknowingly fall into even greater danger in the future, she had to understand this world as soon as possible.

The "Hundred Nations Banquet" mentioned in Mr. Yu's letter was a perfect opportunity. Besides, Plumera would surely grow stronger and have to deal with many other countries in the future.

Understanding the state of other nations in advance had far more advantages than disadvantages.

And since the banquet was going to gather many powers from across the continent, it was a chance to gather information on the Heavenly Craft Pavilion. Even if she couldn't meet anyone from there directly, she might still learn something useful. She could then plan her next move and find a way to stop being singled out and watched by just one top-tier power like Sargassum.

After quickly weighing the pros and cons of both matters in her head, Elara didn't hesitate. She made the decision to go.

Both matters had many benefits for her. As long as Mr. Yu's request didn't violate Plumera's bottom line, she would definitely help him after arriving in Dahlia.

As for the internal affairs of Plumera, with Mathias, Scholar Fu, Kristof, Francis, Damon, and others still in court, Elara wasn't worried that things would fall apart.

Her Puppet Soldiers and puppet army could also receive her messages at any time and act on her orders.

So she only needed to secretly summon Mathias, Scholar Fu, and the others into her palace, explain all the missions and tasks that needed to be completed while she was away, and then she could leave Plumera in a new identity and begin traveling to the many powerful nations on the continent.

No sooner said than done.

That very night, Elara secretly summoned Mathias, Scholar Fu, Francis, Damon, Kristof, and Oswyn into the palace and told them everything.

Each of them had a different expression after hearing what she said.