What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

Only then did she remember that the Holy Roll Empire was a poor land country, and not all forces could build an ocean-going trade fleet.

In the end, Elendil clenched his fists in hatred, uttered a few harsh words in anger and left.

Chapter 124 Olive Branch

When the group returned to their boat, Christina breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hand.

"No way, sister, you are a ninth-level expert!" Fran immediately said upon seeing this: "If I really piss you off, with your strength you can completely massacre everyone on the ship."

"That is the Elf Empire after all." Christina said: "In front of a powerful state machine, the strength of an individual will always be insignificant."

"But so what? It's not like my sister is having to fight the entire empire alone." Fran said.

Christina said helplessly: "You spend a lot of time in the demon world, so you can't understand how much influence the elves have on the entire Calradia continent. When they were at their most arrogant, half of the continent was colonized by elves. The elves enjoy special powers on the Calradia continent."

"Is it that exaggerated?" Fran thought of the romantic street in Vienna, where there were many elf dancers, and they were pure-blooded elves.

"Although the elves' infiltration into Calradia has slowed down since the defeat of the dwarves, their cultural invasion has intensified, to the point that most human nobles fanatically worship the elven culture and even treat the Elven Empire as the Celestial Empire. Such a long-term psychological disadvantage cannot be compensated by personal strength.

Christina smiled bitterly and said, "Of course I know that these elves in front of me are no match for me, and I am also very familiar with the elves' tricks. But I...after all, I have heard people around me talk about how powerful and civilized the Elf Empire is since I was a child. There are some psychological thoughts that cannot be reconciled."

"Okay, I understand." Fran stood on tiptoe and gently wiped the sweat off Christina, then said, "It's not my sister's fault. Strength always lags behind culture. To change this mentality, it may take the efforts of a generation, or even several generations.

This is probably why the price of elven dancers is much higher than that of women of other races. And elven women have various additional conditions, such as no touching feet, no kissing, etc. If an ogre woman makes such a request, I'm afraid she will throw you into the basement and teach you a lesson.

"But if it was the priestess who received us, our favorable impression of the elves would have greatly increased. It's just a pity... Fran said: "Are all elves like this?"

"The upper elves are almost all like this." Christina said, "In fact, the class division within the Elven Empire is more serious than that of our other races. The upper class of noble elves live an extremely luxurious life and have various privileges, so they are used to being arrogant. Look at the dress of Elendil, he is a

A typical Highborne. The priest is an ordinary elf. "

"But don't all elves believe in the god Shiloh?" Fran asked curiously, "Logically, as a clergyman, the priest should have a transcendent status. Why are they being ordered around by a nobleman?"

"That's because the nobility of the elves is related to the resonance between their family bloodline and the grace of God. When the resonance is strong, both their personal strength and the treatment they receive are much higher than ordinary people. Therefore, the upper elves feel that they themselves are the manifestation of God's grace and are favored by the God of Shiloh. Those clergy are just their

I am just a wage earner…”

Christina sighed, and then said: "It's hard to explain the details. When you go to the Elf Empire one day, you will understand everything..."

"I hope that when I go to the Elf Empire, I won't bring muskets and cannons with me." Fran said quietly.

"I hope so!"

After the unpleasant exchange, Fran did not part ways with the elf fleet, but quietly followed behind.

Apparently, Elendil also realized Fran's purpose, so he ordered the fleet to move at full speed, trying to shake off Fran's fleet.

With the speed of the elven ship, ordinary sailboats would definitely not be able to keep up, but this might not be the case after installing a steam engine.

Fran ordered the fleet to maintain 80% of its power output, which was enough to keep up with the elves. She believed that if they went at full speed, they would be able to surpass them.

However, Fran did not do so. After finding out the maximum speed of the elven warships, she ordered the fleet to slow down until the elven fleet completely disappeared over the horizon. She certainly did not want the elves to know her trump card.

Afterwards, Fran returned to the room where Nelto was imprisoned.

After this incident, Nelte no longer showed strong hostility like before. When she saw Fran coming to the room again, she took the initiative to say: "You! Your name is Fran, right... Why are you helping me?"

"I told you, we don't have any deep hatred with the Feather Tribe. Although you took the initiative to attack us, we didn't suffer any casualties." Fran spread her hands and said, "From the beginning to the end, you have always been very hostile to us. I never said that I would kill you all."

"But... Nelter thought about it and it seemed to be true.

"Okay, Your Highness, the respected princess." Fran sat down next to Nelte and said, "Answer me a few questions and I'll let you go, how about that?"

"Let me make it clear first, I will never tell you where our race is! If you want me to betray my country, you might as well kill me." Nelte said.

"I'm not interested in knowing either..." Fran took the initiative to remove the shackles from Nelte, and then asked: "Does your country believe in any gods?"

"Believe in God? Do you want to preach?" Nelte looked at Fran warily.

"Hey! I'm asking you another question!" Fran said.

"No!" Nerte said, "The elders of our tribe told us that gods are all hypocritical and ugly! They don't want believers but slaves! Therefore, we of the Feather Tribe must be self-reliant and cannot be fooled by gods. Even if we believe in them, we believe in our ancestors."

"Has it been like this since the Qianyu Empire?" Fran asked.

"Um... that's not what they said." Nelte said, "But I haven't heard the elders talk about it. It's strange that you are interested in these things."

"Just curious."

Fran asked some more questions and got a general understanding of the situation of the kingdom behind Nelte.

The island they were on was not small, so the population was not small either. It was considered a relatively powerful "kingdom" or tribe among the Feather Tribe.

This tribe mainly relies on fishing and growing a kind of seaweed for their livelihood. However, due to the scarcity of resources on the island, especially minerals, they have to plunder passing fleets in order to obtain some necessary supplies.

Isn't this a coincidence?

Fran has no shortage of anything else, especially plenty of minerals.

So Fran completely untied Nelt and returned the whistle to Nelt.

"You..." Nelte was shocked.

"I would like to ask you to convey a few words to your chieftain." Fran said, "Just say that our city of Orila and the dwarves are different from other caravans. We are not a member of the Holy Alliance, and we do not believe in any gods! If possible, I hope to have an equal dialogue with your chieftain."

"Humph! What's your conspiracy?" Nert said, "Don't try to make me believe your sweet words with this fake show of goodwill."

"I don't intend to make you believe it." Fran said, "I just hope you can convey these words. I believe that with the wisdom of the elders in your kingdom, they should be able to distinguish what I said."

As she spoke, Fran handed a piece of parchment with the Jingxi Chamber of Commerce pattern to Nelte, and then said: "This is the pattern of our Chamber of Commerce. If you are willing to communicate with us, next time you can give the letter to the ship with such a pattern. In the meantime, we promise not to attack the Feather Tribe first."

Nelte took the parchment silently without saying anything else.

"Once your wing injury has healed, you can leave at any time," Fran said.

"Thank you!" Nerte spread her wings and flapped them a few times. It seemed that she had recovered well and could at least fly.

"Oh, by the way!" Fran said, "Dinner will be here soon. If you want, you can eat before leaving."

After hearing this, Nerte hesitated for a moment, then folded his wings.

Chapter 125 Dwarven Port

"What tricks are in your sister's mind?"

Looking at Nelte's leaving figure, Christina asked Fran curiously.

"Gods of the Twelve Pillars, when have I ever used any conspiracy or trickery!" Fran immediately argued, "I am uniting the oppressed races to form an alliance against hegemony."

"Indeed, in this regard, they are indeed worthy of being conquered," Christina said. "But I am a little curious, the Feathered Tribe has such a unique advantage in flying, why no other forces want to conquer them."

"I think it has something to do with their beliefs."

"Don't they believe in any gods?" Christina asked, "Shouldn't other races be more active in preaching to such a force without any faith?"

"I asked Krelz before. The Emerald Empire of the Goblins didn't seem to have any beliefs either. Then the country was destroyed. The brilliant civilization was wiped out, so that the Goblins are now the rats that everyone wants to kill." Fran said, "Don't you think this is very similar to the Feather Tribe?"

"It's true." Christina also fell into deep thought: "But why is this?"

"I don't know either. Perhaps only by getting in touch with them can we understand the reason." Fran said, "The history of the goblins has become blank, but the Feather Tribe has barely preserved some fragments. We can actually get some information from them."

After hearing this, Christina asked in confusion: "Speaking of which, sister, why is she so obsessed with exploring the history of these two empires? Simply because they are very similar."

"No, my goal is the gods." Fran said.

"Gods?"

"Yes. Gods." Fran said, "I have been thinking about what the purpose of these gods is. They send down miracles to strengthen their believers and make them fight each other to gain more believers. But why do they want to destroy the Feather Tribe, the Goblins and other races that do not believe in gods?

Wouldn't it be better to preach?"

"Have you discovered one thing?" Christina said, "Every race has its own god."

"Of course I have found it. The elves have the god of Hero, the dwarves have the god of dwarves. The beastmen have the god of beasts, the Ferumen, the Baishajie, and even the races as far away as the South Seas have their own gods." Fran said: "These gods seem to be isolated from each other and will never spread their beliefs to other races. But for the gods, it shouldn't be

The more followers they have, the stronger they are?"

“Perhaps they can only gain faith from the same race,” said Christina.

"The Holy Alliance is more of an alliance between gods than an alliance between major forces." Fran said, "When facing the foreign gods, the demons, they maintained a surprising purpose and united against the outside world. I can understand all this... but why do they gain faith?"

"The records about the gods are too vague. And coincidentally..." Christina frowned, "When the Shinra Cult was defeated, all the information was burned, so I can't find it even if I want to check it... Otherwise, I might be able to give my sister an answer."

"I think the Twelve Pillar Gods must have fallen." Fran said, "Otherwise, someone with such a 'firm' faith like sister would definitely not be able to become a saint."

"You have a point." Christina said, "Since the past can be erased so easily, then the goblins and the Feathered Tribe also believed in God, but after being defeated, everything about him was erased, so that these races don't know about this matter."

"It's very likely." Fran said, "But this seems to be different from the Shinra religion. Although the Twelve Pillar Gods may have fallen, people have not forgotten them. They are still worshipped as guardian gods."

"So... I want to get a glimpse of the truth about these gods through the Feather Tribe." Fran said, "I hope I can get a few words from them."

“I hope so…” Christina said, “But if I remember correctly, that little girl once said that the Holy Alliance exterminated the Feather Tribe. Does this mean… the fall of the Feather Tribe occurred after the invasion of the Demon Tribe, which is much later than the destruction of the Goblin Empire? Maybe we can really get some news from them.

"I hope they can cooperate with me." Fran said, "Even if I can't get any information from them, their special ability to fly will be of great use."

"Yes...if they replaced the bows in their hands with muskets." Christina couldn't even imagine it.

"Firearms? Isn't that their most powerful weapon?" Fran said, "Sister, have you heard of something called a bomb?"

"Bomb? Never heard of it."

"It's all right. You'll hear about it soon."

The fleet sailed for a few more days before the outline of a continent loomed in the distance. Then, two huge statues appeared at the end of the horizon.

It was a statue of two dwarves, facing each other, holding a weapon in one hand and making a gesture of invitation with the other.

"This is the dwarf king who shined in the war of invasion of the demon world." Christina introduced the two statues.

Soon, their ship arrived at the dwarven port.

At this time, the dwarf port was bustling with ships everywhere, and flags and sails with various symbols fluttered in the air, eclipsing each other.

Among them, Fran saw the unique tree boats of the elves, the luxurious large ships of the Venetians, the black sailing ships of the Freumens, and of course more were ships belonging to the dwarves.

Before this, Fran had heard that the dwarven ships did not have sails, but relied on mechanical flippers installed underwater to propel the ships forward through the continuous swinging of the mechanical flippers. The power for these flippers came from the mechanical core sent down by the dwarven god.

The mechanical core is very complex inside, and it is impossible for other races to imitate it except for the skilled dwarves. And even if they can imitate it, it is useless because these mechanical cores must be sent to the dwarves' altar to "recharge" every once in a while, otherwise they cannot be used at all.

A mechanical core with exhausted power is just a pile of scrap metal and is completely useless.

Fran looked around and found that most of the dwarves' ships used sails.

At the port, countless men were busy at the docks, transporting all kinds of goods to the ships.

Originally, this kind of work that relies on simple manpower should be easily replaced by machines, at least in part, but the dwarves did not do so. Obviously, although the dwarves' machines are advanced, their number is very small and has not yet been radiated into production and life.

Or perhaps, in the eyes of the dwarves, it is not cost-effective to use precious mechanical cores to replace such work.

I have to say, this is really an alternative mechanical civilization.

Chapter 126 Wall City

While Fran was thinking, two warships suddenly attacked them from the left and right.

The two ships were of very different styles. Not only did they have no sails, but their sides were also covered with a thin layer of armor and had a large number of weapons on them.

This should be the dwarf's warship.

However, the fins used to propel the boat were hidden beneath the water, which prevented Fran from seeing the whole picture.

"Are these dwarf warships?" Christina also looked at these armored warships with interest.

Compared to the tall tree ships of the elves, the dwarves' warships can only be described as small and exquisite. These two warships are even smaller than the ship that Fran was riding. But after sacrificing the size, the speed of the warships was greatly improved.

Fran roughly estimated that if the dwarven warship was in full speed mode, it should be faster than her own ship at full power. Considering that they also covered the ship with "armor", this speed can be said to be quite amazing.

However, after so many years of development, the performance of the dwarven ships has long been stable, and it is difficult to improve even a little bit. But Fran's ships are different. They are still far from being able to use the power of steam engines...

In other words, their improvement of the steam engine has just begun!

With their current R&D capabilities, they can produce a new optimized version almost every six months. There is a performance leap every year. Fran calls this speed the Oulila Theorem, which is used to describe the power change of the steam engine.

In time, Fran believed that her ship would be able to defeat the dwarves.

"Stop! Check!" As the dwarf ship approached, it immediately raised flags. Fran saw many dwarf soldiers on the side of the ship. They were holding heavy crossbows, and the huge crossbow arrows were pointed directly at Fran's ship.

In the absence of artillery, this crossbow can be regarded as a powerful weapon in naval battles.

After Christina showed her invitation, the dwarves asked them to lower the sails and towed them to the designated berth. There, Fran saw the elven tree ship she had met before. In front of it, the other ships looked like models.

You have to know that these are delegations from various forces and religions, and the ships they bring out are definitely not ordinary ones. But in front of the elves' huge and gorgeous tree ship, everything seems insignificant.