Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1005 - 998: Cityscape

Chapter 1005: Chapter 998: Cityscape

A group of people arrived at the city gate, where several Snow Elf soldiers were on watch. These guards included both men and women, though naturally, there were more females. However, despite being Elves, their equipment was by no means inferior.

These soldiers wore clothing made of fur and did not wear complete armor. Each one of them carried a rifle, mainly bolt-action rifles, with one or two semi-automatic rifles as well.

As previously mentioned, the Snow Elves are similarly insular and conservative, but unlike the Wood Elves, the Snow Elves have a history of being ruled by the Aud Empire, so they are relatively more worldly and open to new things from the outside, like Earth’s commercial weapons, and so on.

However, that’s about the extent of their equipment. In principle, the Snow Elf government is at the level of a governmental authority, and both the government and the military have the right to apply to Earth’s Weapon Export Committee for military hardware.

But due to the conservative policies of the Snow Elves, they rarely get involved in the affairs of the south, let alone contact with the people of Earth. Therefore, most of their weapons come from wandering merchants. These merchants only have the right to purchase civilian firearms, so they can only sell civilian weapons to the Snow Elves.

There have been merchants who wanted to establish a weapons trade channel between the Snow Elves and the people of Earth, but unfortunately, there was a major arms smuggling case a few years ago. The Weapon Export Committee, concerned about the merchants causing more trouble, directly revoked their intermediary qualifications. This made it even harder for Earth’s military weapons to be sold to the Snow Domain.

Seeing this group of fully-armed aliens, the Elf guards appeared somewhat nervous. They each took their weapons off their shoulders and held them in their hands, watching the Advance Team warily.

From their perspective, the Advance Team was indeed unwelcome. Luo’er, a Wood Elf half-breed, and the Night Elf Talis need not be mentioned since the three main Elf Races discriminate against each other.

The key issue was someone like Cheng Ziang from Northern Aud. It’s important to know that both the Aud people and the Northern Aud people are unwelcome in the Snow Domain. The Aud Empire had enslaved the Snow Elves in the past, and even now, one could find perpetrators in Luscaque. Such hatred is not easily dissipated, not in a thousand years.

Generally speaking, the most welcome in the Snow Domain are the Blaiqi people, who make their living through trade. These people travel back and forth between the Snow Domain and Yazhi City, bringing many changes to the Snow Elves, naturally becoming the most popular among foreigners.

Next would be the people from the Ancient States, but due to the Northern Church Court’s blockade and the long journey, it’s rare for people from the Ancient States to reach the Snow Domain. We’ll set this group aside for the moment.

"Everybody, stay calm, don’t do anything rash. I’ll go explain the situation," Axia dismounted from the carriage and then turned to speak to the others.

She approached the guards, who clearly recognized Axia, and they greeted her cautiously. The two parties chatted in Elvish, not that others could understand what they were talking about.

Although Luo’er could understand a bit of Elvish, due to the accent differences between Snow Elves and Wood Elves, it was even harder for him to understand. On the other hand, Baiyue from the Sub-beast Race could barely make sense of some of it.

After their exchange, the guards’ wariness gradually eased, but they still looked at the convoy with hostile eyes. Axia spoke with them for nearly ten minutes, and finally, the Snow Elves stepped aside to let them pass.

The team that was given permission to pass entered Luscaque. Along the way, many Snow Elves dressed in fur outfits and trading Blaiqi people could be seen.

It must be said that the cities of the Elf Race are always the most pleasing to the eye, whether it’s Ilanadale’s Divine Wood Down or the Snow Domain’s Luscaque, where you can see many beautiful Elf girls.

Unlike the Wood Elf girls of Divine Wood Down, who carry a grassy style, the most striking feature of Snow Elf girls is their whiteness, not just their skin but even their hair is white.

It’s been said before that the hair of the Snow Elves is mostly light in color, including those with cool light hues like the so-called silver-white. When they first met Axia, they had already been astonished, and now that they were in Luscaque, seeing streets full of dazzling white Snow Elf girls was even more eye-opening.

It’s said that people from a certain country have a predilection for white hair. Cheng Ziang and Hu Daoke could hardly contain their fascination with the white-haired girls, showing their infatuation as they leaned out of the carriage window to gawk.

The eyes of Snow Elves are mostly light-colored with cold tones, but some Snow Elves, due to genetic mutations or other reasons, have a pair of dark red or pure black pupils, making these girls even more noticeable, and even Luo’er couldn’t look away.

Although Luscaque in the winter is cold, there’s still quite a bit of pedestrian activity on the streets, mostly Snow Elves and predominantly women. Occasionally, a Blaiqi person passes by, always accompanied by a woman of the same race.

According to Axia, the Snow Elves are actually quite xenophobic. Although the Blaiqi people are popular in the Snow Domain, when it comes to marriage, the majority of Snow Elves still have their reservations.

After entering the urban area, the road surface had already become smooth flagstone pathways, which were in keeping with the architectural style of the entire city. Of course, among the many buildings, there were still a few that stood out with their Bauhaus style of reinforced concrete construction.

According to Axia, most of these types of buildings are constructed by the Blaiqi people. These people like to see themselves as New Earth people, so naturally, they hold architecture from Earth in extremely high regard.

Continuing forward, after crossing the classical urban area, the group arrived at the port district, where the steel and concrete buildings were even more prevalent. The streets here were very cleanly swept, with only thick layers of snow piled up on the buildings.

The number of Blaiqi people in this region had clearly increased, and the Snow Elves had become much less common, which made Hu Daoke quite disgruntled, and he voiced his unhappiness.

In reaction to the trio’s foolishness, an irritated Tangmo thrust out her fist and knocked on everyone’s crown, producing an exaggerated noise.

"Ow, what the heck!" Cheng Ziang cried, covering his head and staring at her with an angry expression.

"If you’re going to gawk, do it without making a fool of yourself!" Tangmo said coldly.

"Why are you snapping at me? Just take it out on Luo’er," Cheng Ziang retorted with dissatisfaction.

"I find it peculiar, why hit me? I haven’t been fickle-hearted," Luo’er protested, cupping his head with an innocent look on his face.

"Who allowed you to look at other girls right in front of me?" Tangmo asked angrily.

"Girls are everywhere, in and out. I can’t exactly gouge my eyes out, now can I?" Luo’er shrugged.

"Luo’er, are you starting to talk back now?" Tangmo tilted her head, a look of surprise on her face.

"Ah, forget it, forget it," Luo’er waved his hands.

"Stop quarreling. We’ve already reached the port, let’s get off and look for a boat," Baiyue said in a serious tone.

"Alright, I’ll get off right away!" Hu Daoke said as he rushed out of the vehicle in a hurry.

"Womanizer!" Cheng Ziang cursed, though his own pace in disembarking wasn’t much slower.

"First, we should find the branch set up here by the informant from headquarters. After all, we can’t take the carriage with us on the boat. It’s better to entrust them to return this Rune Carriage to Melia," Luo’er suggested.

"Didn’t Melia say when we left it didn’t matter if we returned it or not?" Tangmo squinted, her voice tinged with a hint of depression.

"That was just her being courteous. You guys seriously plan not to return it?" Luo’er said with a bitter smile, shaking his head, before adding in a serious tone, "The Rune Carriage in the Otherworld is like an armored vehicle, a special item typically provided only to the nobility. We can’t just discard it."

"Great, that saves you the trouble of going to her again." Tangmo spoke, her voice laced with jealousy.

"I, this, sigh..." Luo’er stuttered for a while, eventually finding himself speechless, and chose to remain silent.

"But isn’t it a bit unsafe to entrust its return to someone else? What if someone decides to keep it for themselves?" Baiyue asked, clearly worried.

"Don’t worry. Like I said, the Rune Carriage is a special item reserved for the nobility. Not just anyone can use it. If anyone dares to use a Rune Carriage without some backing, and those feudal lords catch wind of it, they’ll be in for a spell in prison." Luo’er reassured.