"Master, are you saying... these gray-haired Elves didn't come from the Forest of Life?" Elisa stared with her eyes wide open.
She found it a bit hard to believe. Elves were unique, weren't they?
"Yes. The world is vast. As long as two regions are far enough apart, you will find that the people living in them will have some differences," Lucas analyzed seriously, his mind drifting to the situation back on Earth.
Asian, European, African all are different.
"But... but I've never heard of Elves appearing in other places," Elisa said hesitantly. She had only ever heard of Elves in the Forest of Life.
"Have you ever been to the seaside?" Lucas chuckled lightly. Given the way information traveled in this era, combined with the isolationism of the Forest of Life, it was entirely possible she hadn't heard of things happening far away on the coast.
Who knew what lay on the other side of the ocean? Perhaps there was another Forest of Life? Who could say for sure?
"No." Elisa shook her head. After fleeing and arriving in the Kingdom of Siacan, she hadn't gone anywhere else.
"Florence, you haven't seen Elves before either, have you?" Lucas turned to ask Florence.
"No. Mermaid Bay is quite remote. Generally, no one goes there." Florence nodded, her eyes glancing at the cow-horned girl. Even beastkin were a rare sight for her.
"Those gray-haired Elves—do you know where they come from?" Lucas raised an eyebrow.
"They come from the sea. They formed pirate crews along with some humans and beastkin," Florence said with resentment, her eyes cold. Mermaid Bay had suffered heavy losses this time.
"Pirates? Pirates made up of humans, Elves, and beastkin?" Elisa opened her mouth in shock. Since when could three different races get along harmoniously?
"Yes. Those pirates are vicious. They captured many of our people." Florence spoke with sorrow. She could vividly imagine a dozen terrible outcomes for the captured mermaids.
"Pirates of three races... it must be profit driving them to cooperate," Lucas said indifferently. In this world, there were no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.
Elisa froze for a moment, then fell silent. She understood what Lucas meant: Mermaid Bay held enough profit to compel three races to work together.
"The porridge is here." Mina walked in, holding a tray with a palm-sized bowl steaming with heat.
"Gurgle, gurgle..."
Smelling the aroma of the fine rice porridge, Florence's stomach growled even more cheerfully. Her cheeks flushed red, and she didn't dare look at anyone in the room.
"Come, help Florence sit up," Lucas instructed Ayesha.
"Okay." Ayesha nodded and stepped forward to help Florence sit up, propping a pillow behind her back. "Keep your waist straight. Don't bend over or you'll tear the wound."
"Thank you," Florence said gratefully.
"Hehe..." Ayesha laughed, then wedged a wooden board into a groove on the wall of the bed, creating a makeshift table.
"Careful, it's hot." Mina placed the porridge on the table and handed a spoon to Florence.
"Okay." Florence licked her lips, looking at the lean meat porridge in the bowl, and took the spoon to start eating.
"Mmn?"
As the lean meat and fine rice porridge entered her mouth, the mixed aroma of meat and white rice made Florence's eyes light up. This was so much better than the seaweed and raw fish slices they usually ate.
"It's delicious." Florence abandoned her reserve as a young lady and began to eat in big gulps. The heat made her suck in air through her teeth, but she couldn't bear to spit it out.
Mina watched Florence with a smile. That look confirmed that Florence had fallen in love with her favorite dish. In her opinion, lean meat porridge was the most delicious food in the world.
The cat-eared girl stole a glance at Lucas. It was eating the Master's porridge that had started the change in her life, leading to this wonderful life she hadn't dared to dream of before.
As if thinking the same thing, Lucas turned to look at Mina. Their eyes met, and they shared a warm smile. Wasn't life getting better and better?
"Phew..."
It took Florence only fifteen minutes to finish the large bowl of porridge. She let out a long breath, feeling warm all over. Her weak body seemed to slowly recover a great deal of strength.
"Are you full? There is more if it's not enough," Mina said gently. She had asked the kitchen to cook a large pot.
"It's enough. I'm very full." Florence patted her stomach gently. This was the most comfortable she had felt in over twenty days of fleeing. She felt reborn.
"Florence, tell me about the situation at the seaside." Lucas pulled up a chair and sat by the bed. He had wanted to learn about the situation overseas for a long time. Now that a mermaid was here, it was the perfect opportunity.
"The situation at the seaside?" Florence frowned. She glanced at the empty ceramic bowl, nodded, and said, "I don't know too much, but I can give you a general idea."
"That works." Lucas nodded. He could see that Florence was very naive and hadn't traveled much; she had no guard up against people.
"I'll start with Mermaid Bay..." Florence began slowly.
As it turned out, Mermaid Bay was essentially an island—a large, crescent-shaped island separated from the mainland by a strait several dozen kilometers wide. They lived a life aloof from the world, often using pearls as currency to trade for supplies with humans and dwarves.
Across the strait lay the Dwarven Kingdom and the Human Kingdom of Yadian. The mermaids were in an alliance with the dwarves to counter the humans, though recently, a new Queen had ascended the throne in the Yadian Kingdom and begun major reforms, easing relations between the two races.
Because of their alliance with the dwarves, the Mermaid race had obtained a large amount of iron equipment. Combined with their ability to dive underwater and tame dolphins as mounts, they were a dominant force at sea.
However, the pirate attack had been too sudden. Coupled with the aid of traitors from within, the bay's defenses were breached, resulting in heavy casualties. Florence didn't know what happened after that; chased by traitors, she had fled up the Whispering River against the current.
The pirates had come out of nowhere. In fact, pirates had never attacked Mermaid Bay before; they usually only harassed the coastal areas of the Yadian Kingdom and the Siacan Kingdom. This had caused the mermaids to lower their guard.
They hadn't expected the pirates to subvert members of the mermaid race from the inside.
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