274: Knocking on the locked door, establishing diplomatic relations is hard to refuse

Chapter 274: Knocking Open the Locked Door, Difficult to Refuse Diplomatic Relations

Victoria and Fama stepped off the White Feather Beast first, their identities being the most significant.

One was the Crown Prince of the Toya Empire, the future Toya Empress, and the other was the regional head of the Northern Adventurers Guild.

Of course, for the Bit Family, Victoria now had another awkward identity, which was the victim of Leon's assassination attempt.

"Victoria Toya, Fama Lawrence, on behalf of the Bit Family, I welcome your arrival..."

The speaker was a graceful and elegant cold beauty. She rode the only blue snow horse, wore a crown-shaped silver ornament on her head, and was incredibly conspicuous among the Snow Elf team.

She was the current head of the Bit Family, and also Leon's biological mother, Miranda Bite.

Dick was at the back, casually appraising Miranda. Her identity information quickly appeared in his field of vision.

"Name": Miranda Bite.

"Race": Elf, Female.

"Age": 965 years old.

"Profession": Magic Swordsman, Level 73.

"Talents": Frost Snow Body (Advanced), Absolute Focus (Advanced), Magic Resonance (Advanced), Mental Resistance (Advanced)...

"Recent Situation": Due to the great trouble caused by her son, she is being held accountable by the Bit Family Council and is troubled by the upcoming political difficulties.

As expected of the ruler of the Snow Elf Clan, her stats panel was indeed luxurious. Although Level 73 was average, Miranda's talents were excellent.

"Frost Snow Body" is a talent exclusive to extremely cold regions, not limited by profession. Its main effect is to percentage-wise enhance the strength of Ice Elemental magic power, and the value is quite considerable.

"Absolute Focus" is a classic Archer talent that can also increase damage and combat endurance.

"Magic Resonance" is generally a talent only Mages possess, which can amplify magic damage. Miranda having this talent precisely indicates that she is the most pure Magic Swordsman.

Dick also noticed that Miranda's hands were delicate and fair, covered in traces left by flowing magic power, unlike Donald's hands which were full of calluses.

Without a doubt, Miranda was a ranged Mage wielding a bow and arrow, the complete opposite of Donald, a physical Archer.

However, in terms of damage alone, Miranda far surpassed Donald. With the enhancement of several damage-increasing talents, the magic arrows she shot had the power of a nuclear bomb.

Dick then observed the identity information of the other Snow Elves and found that the vast majority were Archers, and most were Magic Swordsmen like Miranda.

After all, no matter what kind of Elf, they are generally proficient in two professions: one is Archer, and the other is Mage.

Combining the two, naturally, results in the Magic Swordsman.

Therefore, the Snow Archery that Donald was proficient in was, on the contrary, an extremely rare physical archery among Elves.

After a few rounds of pleasantries and greetings, Victoria quickly got straight to the point, waving for the guards to bring Leon out, a meaningful smile on her face.

"Respected Lady Miranda, you are an elder, and by rights, I shouldn't dictate your educational policies. However, your son, Leon Bit, actually openly attacked me three days ago..."

"You should know that your son, as a Magic Swordsman, can be said to be Northerns Number One Paragon, and he is even close to Level 70. The Lightning Elemental sword skills he used are incredibly powerful; he wasn't just fooling around..."

"If Chairman Farman and Count Grudia had not intervened to help, I'm afraid I would have died on the White Feather Beast, died from the attack by your son, Leon Bit..."

"This is a very serious political crime. Can I understand this as the Bit Family wanting to declare war on the Toya Empire?"

In the matter of diplomatic blackmail, Victoria was absolutely professional. She cleverly escalated Leon's attack to the national level, raising its nature by several degrees.

Even though Leon attacked Victoria merely for the bounty hunter ranking competition, or even just to fight Fama to seek an upgrade.

As for political considerations, Leon simply didn't have that kind of mind. To put it bluntly, at the age of 137, he was just a child in terms of Elf lifespan.

If Leon had successfully defeated Fama, successfully killed Victoria, and successfully broken through Level 70, then there wouldn't have been so much trouble.

Even if the Bit Family knew, they would vehemently deny it, as there would be no proof from the deceased.

However, Leon failed. Not only that, he was even captured alive.

This awkward situation was exactly like Victoria's not long ago; she was also captured alive by Elizabeth, and then Amyria made exorbitant demands, asking for huge compensation.

And now, the situation was reversed; it was Victoria's turn to make exorbitant demands. She wanted to reclaim the face she lost in the Aimiya Empire, with interest, from the Bit Family!

At this moment, facing Victoria's loud pronouncements, Miranda's face was unsightly, and so were the rest of the Bit Family members.

Through long-distance magic communication, the Bit Family had already received news of Leon causing trouble several days ago.

In these past few days, the Bit Family had convened over a dozen meetings, large and small, all discussing how to handle this matter.

The best outcome was to reduce a major issue to a minor one, and a minor issue to nothing.

The worst outcome, naturally, was for negotiations with Victoria to break down, and then for the Toya Empire to use this as an excuse to send a large army into the Eternal Frost Forest!

Currently, the Toya Empire was still the hegemonic nation of Northern, and their ambition for unification had long since sprouted.

And the Eternal Frost Forest was adjacent to the Toya Empire, with considerable friction between the Snow Elves and the Toya army, and some border areas were full of tension.

For so long, the reason the Toya Empire did not invade the Eternal Frost Forest was because over 70% of the Toya people believed in the Snow Maiden and were loyal Snow Maiden followers.

As the birthplace of the Snow Goddess Sect, the Eternal Frost Forest was regarded as a holy land by the Toya people, so barbaric invasion was naturally undesirable.

But now, the reckless Leon had given the Toya Empire an excellent reason.

Under the pretext of "suppressing rebellion and clearing out the Bit Family," the Toya Empire could completely send troops into the Eternal Frost Forest, and the other two major families would also find it difficult to intervene.

However, Miranda believed that things would not develop in this direction.

Because Victoria had personally come to the Eternal Frost Forest, this indicated that the Toya Empire wanted to "talk," not "fight."

If they wanted to start a war, they should now be sending messengers to deliver a declaration of war, and the Toya army would be directly stationed at the northern border.

"Princess Victoria, I understand my son's character. He's a single-minded fellow, with only combat and leveling up in his head..."

Miranda looked into Victoria's eyes, carefully choosing her words, and said slowly, "Leon just wanted to fight Chairman Farman, not assassinate you. Perhaps this is a misunderstanding..."

Hearing this, Victoria shook her head and chuckled softly.

What Miranda said was indeed correct. Leon was completely looking for a solo fight with Fama and didn't even spare her a glance during the battle. His mind was entirely focused on rankings and leveling up.

But those were all afterthoughts.

What if Fama had unexpectedly failed? What if Dick had been invisible at the time? What if she herself had unfortunately died?

"Heh heh, a misunderstanding?"

Victoria sneered, causing Miranda to frown, feeling that the matter was becoming increasingly tricky. This was a great calamity for the Bit Family...

"If it's a misunderstanding, then we need to have a good talk. I am not an unreasonable or harsh person, but I hope to see the sincerity of the Bit Family."

However, Victoria suddenly changed her tone, no longer aggressive, but instead taking the opportunity to back down gracefully.

Seeing this, Miranda immediately understood. She knew her guess was correct.

Unlike the young Leon, Miranda had been the head of the Bit Family for over five hundred years. Her intelligence and emotional quotient were both maxed out, and her political intuition was incredibly sharp.

"That would naturally be excellent. Princess, please stay in Bit City for a few days. My Bit Family will certainly show full sincerity to resolve this misunderstanding..."

Miranda was truly relieved. It seemed the Toya Empire didn't want to escalate the matter. Victoria's visit was just to have a discussion at the negotiating table!

From this, it could also be seen that the general policy of the Toya Empire towards the Eternal Frost Forest was peaceful diplomatic relations, not military conquest.

Setting aside religious and cultural reasons, the Eternal Frost Forest was not a rich land. The harsh environment here was unsuitable for colonization.

Moreover, as the indigenous Snow Elf Clan, their combat power was not weak, and fighting while relying on the Eternal Frost Forest made them very formidable.

The Toya Empire conquering the Eternal Frost Forest by force would require a significant amount of time and energy. Even if successful, it would be a loss rather than a gain.

After some thought, Miranda quickly understood Victoria's purpose in coming to the Eternal Frost Forest. It was likely to establish diplomatic relations between the Toya Empire and the Eternal Frost Forest.

Generally speaking, the Snow Elves of the Eternal Frost Forest were incredibly xenophobic, and had been for millions of years.

The Snow Elves did not need external trade and did not welcome outsiders to come in and interact. The Eternal Frost Forest was vast enough, and they could be completely self-sufficient.

Therefore, the Bit Family, like the other two major families, had always directly rejected any applications for establishing diplomatic relations from any power.

However, now, facing Victoria, facing this victim, the Bit Family, being in the wrong, found it difficult to refuse.