Chapter249

"Bai San, are these medicines really from the Divine Healer Valley of your country?" Mr. Yu picked up the medicine Elara gave him and examined it.

Elara nodded. "Yes."

Mr. Yu looked at Gareth, who had obviously improved after taking the medicine, and joked,

"Duke, this is the priceless divine medicine from the Divine Healer Valley. No wonder it works so much better than your own. With Bai San being so generous, you'd better think carefully about how to repay this kindness."

That day, Gareth was saved by Elara and took the pill she gave him. The next morning, he personally went to thank her.

Now, hearing Mr. Yu's remark, he gave a faint smile with his pale lips and looked at Elara with his deep red eyes.

"Of course. I already told His Majesty. I thought I was fully prepared for this journey, but I never expected it to be this difficult... cough cough..."

"If it hadn't been for His Majesty's help, I might have lost most of my life."

He adjusted his breathing and sat up straighter. Just as he tried to thank Elara again, she gently patted his shoulder and stopped him.

"All right, just sit and rest. Otherwise, if we wear out the Duke of Dahlia like this, neither I nor the Crown Prince could explain ourselves."

Beside them, Mr. Yu closed his fan and laughed openly at Gareth, who had grown up with him as both a friend and subject.

Gareth had no choice but to lean back into the carriage. His pale lips showed a helpless smile, and his deep red eyes looked at Elara as he repeated what he had said that day.

"No matter what, this time it was Your Majesty who saved my life. When this journey ends, no matter what you ask, I will do everything I can to fulfill it."

This personal promise from the Grand Duke of Dahlia might not have immediate benefits for Elara, but for Plumera, it meant a lot.

After this journey, Elara planned to build a trade route from Plumera to Sargassum, and then to Dahlia.

If she could open trade between Sargassum, Dahlia, and the nearby countries, Plumera's commerce would surely rise to a whole new level.

If Elara asked Mr. Yu directly, he would probably agree, but Gareth, being just below the monarch in Dahlia's hierarchy, carried far more weight.

With both of them promising support, Plumera would gain access to more resources, routes, information, and contacts.

So Elara looked at Gareth and smiled lightly. "All right, I'll remember that. Once the journey ends, I'll send Plumera's envoy to speak with Duke Yan."

As they continued on, Mr. Gong gradually got used to keeping up without needing medicine.

With one pill from Elara each day, Gareth's legs no longer felt like jelly, and he slowly adapted.

The half-month journey was rushed. They chose the straightest, most direct routes. From Dahlia to Geranium Kingdom, they passed through at least forty third-tier nations and eight or nine second-tier ones.

Each nation had different customs and geography. Some were all highlands, others all deep valleys. Some were covered in towering snowy mountains, while others were full of dense forests.

The terrain and climate of this world were far more extreme than Earth's, which created many spectacular sights.

If they weren't in such a hurry, Elara would've slowed down to truly experience this journey through another world.

Over ten days, though they alternated between land and water and avoided cities and towns, they still passed several riverside forts of different nations.

Two of them were even in riverside fortresses of Carnation Kingdom, where women ruled.

As soon as they entered a matriarchal country, Elara became the leader of the group.

Emory, Uno, Mr. Gong, and Mr. Yu, who preferred to ride outside and enjoy the scenery instead of sitting in a carriage, all pretended to be Elara's consorts, deliberately keeping half a horse's distance behind her, blending in as her entourage of husbands and little companions.

Emory and Mr. Gong had already played the role of Elara's consorts before and behaved naturally.

But Mr. Yu, who grew up as the Crown Prince of a patriarchal Dahlia and held great power, was playing the role of a consort for the first time, where the wife was supreme.

Still, he performed the role quite convincingly.

When the Carnation Kingdom's fortress inspector asked who was Elara's "primary husband," Mr. Yu fanned himself and, wearing a veil from who-knows-where, leaned closer to Elara.

"It's me."

The female scribe saw that none of the other men had been "granted" a veil, only him. She nodded and confidently began to write it down.

Elara: "..."

By nightfall, in order to get a room with better conditions to rest in, Gareth in the carriage had become one of Elara's consorts. Not only that, he was the favored one, so the inn assigned him a medium-grade room that was the closest to Elara's.

In the Carnation Kingdom, only the wife, the official husband, and unmarried men from noble upper-class families could stay in top-grade rooms.

The days of travel passed quickly, moving through various cultures and customs of different nations.

By the sixteenth day, as planned,

they finally arrived at Geranium Kingdom, located along the border between the central and western parts of the continent.

Geranium Kingdom, eastern border gate.

The tall and majestic city walls stood high. Trade caravans and armies from different regions moved forward like dense, lively, winding dragons being drawn toward the city gate of Geranium Kingdom.

Elara and Mr. Yu's trade caravan was squeezed within the crowd, like a tiny stream in a raging river, completely unnoticeable.

Among the delegations from various nations, there were exotic people dressed in revealing clothing riding on giant war elephants, pulling goods piled like small mountains. Each step made the ground slightly tremble.

There were also traditionally dressed Central Plains people, either on horseback or in carriages, escorted swiftly and neatly by fully armed soldiers.

The delegation from a male-dominated nation was almost entirely made up of men.

In the female-dominated nations' delegations, the ones carrying items, pulling carts, and guarding were all men. However, the ones leading at the front and center were tall, striking women with commanding presence, even more assertive and proud than most men.

Some of these delegations were large, others small, and the goods they brought varied. But most of them belonged to third-tier nations, and the majority came from large third-tier nations. Their resources, personnel, and equipment were all of excellent quality.

Elara observed the scene and quietly sighed. It truly felt like a grand occasion where many nations had gathered.

And this was just one of the border gates on the eastern side of Geranium Kingdom.

If you added the western, southern, and northern gates, the spectacle would be even more awe-inspiring.

Elara and Mr. Yu led their caravan to line up behind the other incoming nations.

They had just settled into place when a group of Geranium Kingdom soldiers suddenly ran out and opened the central city gate, clearing a path.

Elara and the others looked down the newly cleared road.

At the end of the path, there wasn't a large army or a massive caravan, just a few dozen heavily armored elite guards surrounding a wide and luxurious carriage slowly approaching the gate.

Their numbers were far fewer than the queued nations, yet they occupied the entire road into the city.

The Geranium Kingdom officials who were inspecting other nations immediately stopped and rushed to the city wall to report. Within seconds, the highest-ranking official at the gate personally came down to greet them.

The surrounding trade and military delegations had to halt their inspections because of this. Yet, none of them expressed any dissatisfaction.

Some nations even commanded their teams to step back a few paces, then bowed slightly toward the luxurious carriage.

"Look at the symbol on that carriage. It's likely from Xiong Cang Kingdom in the northeast of the western region, a second-tier nation. The Hundred Nations Banquet is hosted by third-tier countries. Second-tier or above usually don't attend, since they have their own 'Thousand Nations Banquet.' That one brings together even more powerful people, forces, and goods. They can gain more from it. If it weren't for the special prize offered by Geranium Kingdom this time, these second-tier powers likely wouldn't show up."

Mr. Yu, riding beside Elara, looked at the luxurious carriage others were yielding to and quietly explained.

Elara scanned the small group of only a few dozen that could make so many countries step aside. Her gaze settled on the iron armor worn by the elite guards.

[System, check the quality of the iron on these people. Is it the same type of inferior product that was shown by the Lian Yi Pavilion before?]

[Yes, Master… Scan complete. It is indeed a lower-grade product, quite similar to what Lian Yi Pavilion displayed before, maybe even a bit worse.]

Elara's eyes darkened slightly as she rubbed the reins in her hands.

Although the quality was slightly worse, it showed that in second-tier nations and above, iron products were not rare.

To her, that was a good thing. At least she wasn't the only one with iron goods, so using or selling them in the future wouldn't make her stand out too much.

However, anything sold to others must be carefully controlled in quality. It couldn't be too good, or it would attract unwanted attention like what happened with Lian Yi Pavilion.

According to what they had said before, these slightly inferior irons came from the Heavenly Crafts Pavilion.

Heavenly Crafts Pavilion… Elara was becoming more and more curious about this force.

She still had many techniques on her that needed to be developed for Plumera. If she wanted to use and develop them safely without being coveted, she had to obtain the title of Tiangong Pavilion.

After this team of dozens from a second-tier nation was respectfully and warmly welcomed through the city gates by the officials on the walls, the stalled inspection of the third-tier nations resumed.

Elara and Mr. Yu were waiting in the long queue. By the time it was finally their turn, nearly an hour had passed, during which two more second-tier national teams arrived, causing the third-tier nations to halt and give way.

After entering the city gates, the capital of the Geranium Kingdom was less than half a day's journey away.

Compared to their lonely journey, where they were the only trade caravan, once they passed through the gates, the teams from all the nations heading to the Hundred Nations Banquet from the western region of the continent converged onto a single route.

Merchants, officials, and military officers familiar with one another from various nations gathered in small groups of three to five. After exchanging polite greetings, they either discussed matters related to the banquet or subtly probed for all sorts of intelligence and information.

Elara and Mr. Yu led their team along the main flow toward the capital of the Geranium Kingdom. Other trade teams from different nations also approached them to make acquaintances and engage in conversation.

Both of them were open to these interactions.

Although Mr. Yu had attended the Hundred Nations Banquet several times, each occasion was different, and he also needed to gather new information.

This was Elara's first time, so she needed to understand even more. All kinds of news were useful to her.

Mr. Yu spoke to the newcomers with a cheerful smile, answering every question they asked, but his answers were often vague and ambiguous. Others couldn't pinpoint any flaws, yet they also couldn't obtain any useful information about them from his words.

The person who initiated the conversation, however, was quickly led into revealing quite a bit by Mr. Yu within just a few sentences.

Elara listened nearby, occasionally inserting a subtle comment at key moments. This prompted the foreigner, unaware they were being drawn in, to spill even more.

Compared to Mr. Yu, the foreigner was more enthusiastic toward Elara. After all, women were rarely seen, and such a young, beautiful, kind, and powerful girl was even rarer. The foreigner answered almost all of Elara's questions and maintained a cheerful and enthusiastic tone.

While gathering information, Elara also combined what the System had previously retrieved, along with all the news she'd heard along the way over the past half month. After compiling everything, a rough picture of the Hundred Nations Banquet gradually formed in her mind.

Simply put, the Hundred Nations Banquet was a gathering of many third-tier national forces from across the continent. It was held once every three to five years. Its status was not fixed, and the timing and frequency of the events could overlap in different regions of the continent.

After all, the world was too vast, and transportation was poorly developed. For example, this time, the Geranium Kingdom was hosting the banquet at the western edge of the continent. Because of the distance, the eastern nations of the continent mostly wouldn't participate. They might even host their own Hundred Nations Banquet in the eastern part.

In addition to the third-tier nations' Hundred Nations Banquet, second-tier nations had their own banquet called the Thousand Nations Banquet.

The Thousand Nations Banquet far exceeded the Hundred Nations Banquet in terms of scale, resources, and the power of those attending.

Above that were the three most powerful first-tier empires on the continent.

Every few years, these empires would also hold a world-class banquet open to all nations on the continent. Whether in terms of scale, influence, resources, or number of participating nations, it was an even grander level beyond the Thousand Nations Banquet. This banquet was called the "Ten Thousand Nations Banquet."

Whenever the Ten Thousand Nations Banquet was held, the attending nations created a truly grand spectacle, almost like a world coming together in awe.

However, the intervals between the Thousand Nations Banquet and the Ten Thousand Nations Banquet were much longer than those of the Hundred Nations Banquet. The foreign teams chatting with Elara and Mr. Yu were all from third-tier nations, so they couldn't provide much information about the higher-level banquets. Besides, those matters were still too distant for Elara at this point. She just noted down the Thousand Nations and Ten Thousand Nations Banquets once, then continued listening to the envoy talk about the Hundred Nations Banquet.

Each time the Hundred Nations Banquet was held, a host country meeting certain criteria had to be selected.

This country had to at least be a third-tier major nation, and its reputation and prestige had to be recognized by at least twenty neighboring third-tier nations of equal standing.