"Um..." The devil hesitated and answered, "How about we say you accidentally blew yourself up with a Fireball Technique?"

"Are you crazy? Father and Mother don't allow me to practice magic!"

"But you will have to attend Magic Academy later, for decades. Do you think you can keep it a secret?"

"I'll keep it a secret as long as I can, and deal with it when they find out." Angel shrank his neck and continued to walk quickly.

"Does Lady Cornelia think it's a Wood Elf spy?" Dariana asked Cornelia, her hand already on the dagger at her waist.

"Probably not." Shaking her head slowly, Cornelia continued forward on her unicorn, saying casually, "Walking on the street like this is too obvious. If Wood Elf spies were this foolish, we wouldn't need to worry at all. It's probably just some unlucky fool. With burn marks on him, he might have just burned himself playing with fire."

Dariana finally heaved a sigh of relief and quickly rode her unicorn to catch up.

...

Jones said casually, "If there is no demand, we'll just create some demand for them."

"Create demand?" William suddenly perked up, "That's a good idea. We can drag them into the fire of war."

"Dragging them into war?" Immediately, the people around were all stunned.

"Yes, don't you think it's a good method?" William laughed evilly, "The function of those minerals is to make weapons. I mean, that's their primary use. What if we make weapons and sell them back to them? If they face war too, then there will be demand. They can use the minerals to trade for the weapons we forge for them."

The others all stared at him expressionlessly.

"Don't you think it's a really good plan?" William looked around.

Belle shook her head helplessly, and Dora turned her face away in exasperation.

Jones pursed his lips and said expressionlessly, "Uncle William, initiating unnecessary wars is not something we should do. We stand for justice."

"Oh... really? Sorry, I suddenly forgot I switched to the side of justice. You guys continue."

Everyone in the room looked at each other helplessly, at a loss for what to do.

Indeed, if one gave up on adherence to justice, numerous means were available. Robbery, deception, threats—all could get them the minerals. But if one didn't abandon the stance of justice, then...

"Maybe... we should threaten them a bit, or paint a bleak picture." After thinking for a long time, Belle said with wide open eyes, "Our strength is undoubtedly superior to theirs. If we use force to coerce them..."

"We can't do that." Jones shook his head.

"Then how about angels and devils? Would angels and devils spare them after consuming humans? If they've never thought about it, we'll remind them."

"Belle, haven't you read the records about the First and Second Epochs?" Jones asked.

"Um... no, I haven't. Why?"

Sighing, Jones softly said, "Elves are different from humans. After the end of the Fourth Epoch, the human alliance completely collapsed. Even history was severed. But elven history has never been interrupted. They know exactly what happened during the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Epochs. When devils put pressure on them, they leaned towards the angels. When angels put pressure on them, they leaned towards the devils. They have always done this. If we put pressure on them, they will undoubtedly bring in the power of Heaven to counter us. Then we wouldn't even get the little minerals we currently have."

"Alright, so they're typical opportunists. If they are opportunists, their strategy must be to refuse to take sides before the situation is completely clear."

"Moreover..." Jones closed his eyes and sighed softly, "Belle, I need to correct your assumption. I'm not sure we hold an absolute advantage over the Blood Elves."

"Why? Don't the Liches support us?" Belle asked, a bit surprised.

"Over a hundred ten-thousand-year-old Liches, yes, they're very powerful." Jones said helplessly, "But that doesn't mean we are certain to win. As far as I know, the Blood Elves' status on the continent is no lower than that of the Blood Clan. We have never truly defeated the Elder Council. Similarly, no one can guarantee that if we resort to force, we will certainly defeat the Blood Elves."

"But they are not an immortal race, their lifespans are very short."

"But they have the strength of their tribe, they have heritage. Unlike the long-term divided Liches, and unlike the decadent Blood Clan. Although I haven't been to Krimasha, I've talked to some enslaved Blood Elves. I've got a preliminary understanding."

"Alright... that's something I hadn't considered."

After a long silence, Jones said softly, "The Blood Elf Queen once sent a letter to Father about cooperating to open the Krimasha Relics. I think that's what they want. If that's the case, I can help them."

"Why didn't you mention it just now?" Belle asked.

"Because she didn't mention it, not a word. If we bring it up proactively, we will be very passive." Jones slowly shook his head and said, "Could they have found a way to open the Krimasha Relics? Normally, they should know I can help them. If they really want it, they should at least ask."

"Maybe Cornelia doesn't know about it? Maybe the Elf Queen will bring it up when we see her?"

"I hope so. I hope they haven't already solved this problem. So meeting the Blood Elf Queen tonight is critical."

It seemed that, at this moment, Jones could only hope.

Standing on the balcony, Jones saw at once in the market, a bald head amidst the crowd, and couldn't help but be stunned.

Who was it?

Did he really need to guess? Of course, it was Angel.

Not just Jones, everyone in the market was looking at him. There was no way around it, bald Elves were not uncommon, but there wasn't a single one in all of Cartier.

Of course, now there was, and Angel became the only one. His face was red, and he embarrassingly tried to cover his head with his hands. But obviously, he couldn't cover it up. So he could only continue to pick up his pace.

With much difficulty, he finally snuck back home and hid in his room. Then... he began trying to fix it.

He gathered a bunch of ragged strips, pulled out threads one by one, dyed them black, and stuck them to his head. The key was the position of his eyebrows.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he was utterly dejected. *Even though it was much better than having no eyebrows, it was still equally ridiculous.*

*"What should I do? It really seems like I can't hide it. Maybe I should come clean."* He looked at the devil.

The devil quietly stared back at him.

After a long while, the devil asked softly, "If you come clean, will it be very bad?"

"I don't know, maybe." Angel answered anxiously, "Father and Mother have always stopped me from learning magic. If I admit I had an accident during the Magic Academy entrance exam, then they will know I've always wanted to learn magic, and secretly never stopped. Then they will notice my brother's notes... Anyway, it could be very bad."

"Alright, then let's confirm our strategy." The devil gestured, "We must keep it a secret, not let them find out, right?"

"Yes." Angel nodded.

"Alright, I understand." Looking at Angel, the devil said, "If we want to hide something, the best way is to create a bigger problem to cover it. As long as the big problem is big enough, no one will care about the smaller one. That's the devil's rule. Now, let me teach you..."

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