"Wayne Peng?"
When I heard this name, it vaguely sounded familiar to me. I remembered that I had a classmate in high school with the same name. And as I looked closer, this person did seem to resemble what I vaguely remembered. Could it really be him?
Despite my curiosity, the current situation made it hard to ask directly, so I had to put the question aside for now.
"What is your purpose in coming to our world?" Elder Betty stepped forward and asked. As the former village chief, she wasn't too happy about Karati allowing these Earthlings to enter so easily. Even though they had treated the villagers and shown goodwill, Betty had seen too much of human cunning, so she handled matters with more caution.
"The Ilandra Empire of this world brazenly invaded our land in H-country, causing significant casualties and economic losses. To protect the lives and property of our people, we must seek justice from the one behind it all," Wayne Peng's response was firm and unwavering. In short, their main goal was to confront Emperor Reider.
The Light Elf tribe had never liked the Empire, so naturally, they wouldn't oppose H-country's intentions; in fact, they were quite pleased.
"But what will you do after you've sought justice?"
Mia couldn't help but frown as she asked. She was concerned not just about the Empire, but also about the potential unknown effects these powerful outsiders might have on the continent.
If the army from another world exacts their justice, or if they defeat and occupy the Empire and stay in this world, it would surely cause unease among other nations. To be prepared, it was necessary to clarify things early on.
"Don't worry, we come with peaceful intentions. Our nation can assure you that we will never initiate any form of war! We seek close ties, mutual benefits, and a win-win relationship. If all goes well, we can even establish trade and cooperation, laying a strong foundation for friendship between our worlds!"
Wayne Peng clearly had prepared his answer for such questions. He replied without hesitation, with words that sounded beautiful, though whether Mia believed them was another matter.
The Light Elf tribe, being just a small village, wasn't too concerned about what these Earthlings' real intentions might be. But the various gifts brought along with the Earth army definitely opened everyone's eyes.
There were all sorts of daily necessities, like Earth's shampoos, shower gels, skincare products, phones, hair dryers, induction cookers, small generators, books, and other cultural items.
"Amazing! These things are really magical! But I can't feel any light or dark elements in them. Are they not magical devices?"
Even Irene, usually so aloof, was dazzled by the variety of items, joining the crowd with curiosity, fiddling with all the little gadgets.
"This is a type of cosmetic that our women on Earth love to use. I'm not sure if you have anything like it here? But even if you do, feel free to try ours, you might find it even better. When we start trading, you can import it in large quantities!" The female translator approached me, trying to "sell" me the product. She seemed very skilled at this, likely having visited several other human villages before coming to us.
"Uh, no, thank you…"
I wasn't particularly interested in such items, and I didn't want her to realize that I was already quite familiar with them. So I pointed to a few electronic products on the other side, which didn't seem to attract much attention, and asked deliberately.
"What's that called? It looks interesting!"
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
"You're interested in that? Alright…"
The female translator seemed a bit disappointed but quickly regained her enthusiasm and brought over a mobile phone to explain. "This is called a mobile phone! It's a communication tool we use daily on Earth to stay in touch with friends and family far away. But I'm afraid you don't have electricity here? Although we've provided a small generator, it might not be enough…"
When I took a closer look, I almost blacked out. It was a senior citizen's phone! It was bulky and far from the latest smart models I had been expecting before crossing over!
But on second thought, it made sense. These phones consume the least power and can stay on standby for weeks, even a month. In this world where electricity is scarce, they would be more practical.
"You call this an electronic product? Can it really communicate with people far away?"
Adrian, who had never seen such a compact communication device, was immediately intrigued and leaned over to ask. While this world does have magical communication devices, they are usually bulky and hard to carry around. If everyone had a mobile phone, it might indeed make communication easier in the future.
"Well, about that… it would require the construction of certain infrastructure, like base stations! Right now, we only have a few simple ones set up around our main base, so the signal might not be great… So, you can only get a taste of its communication features for now, but there are other functions on the phone you can try!"
In the end, it came down to infrastructure issues. The female translator looked a bit troubled. As for her further explanations to Adrian, I wasn't too interested. What useful features could a senior phone have?
Why didn't they bring any tablets? Tablets don't need to communicate. Although they consume more power and aren't as easy to carry, those drawbacks wouldn't be a problem for me!
Even though I felt a bit let down, I was still quite satisfied. After all, the H-country army came primarily for a diplomatic visit and to build goodwill. The fact that they brought so many supplies was already impressive.
Most of the villagers were happily running over to pick out items, but Reed, as expected, didn't join in. She had no interest and instead took this opportunity to approach Wayne Peng, looking closely at his face before directly asking:
"When you opened the portal between our worlds, did you find anyone besides the Empire's soldiers?"
This time, since they had come to us, we couldn't miss the chance to ask about Cyra and Nicola.
"Elves? Do you mean the villagers here?"
Wayne Peng was taken aback by the question. He also stared at Reed for a while before shaking his head with a smile and replying.
"Sorry, we haven't reported finding any elves!"
"Uh, actually, they're not elves! To be precise, they're two people with wings…"
I couldn't hold back anymore and quickly stepped forward to add, "People with wings! Have you seen them?"
"People with wings? Bird people? Does your world have bird people too?"
Clearly, he had no clue, and to make matters worse, he called angels "bird people"! I was so angry that I couldn't say anything more.
Did the Earth army really not find them, or did they secretly hide them? Considering that angels have significant influence on Earth as well, we can't completely rule out that possibility. Of course, personally, I wanted to believe them. But if they really hadn't found those two, it meant that finding them would become even more difficult.
"Could we go back with you and visit your base?"
The distribution of supplies was nearing its end, and seeing that the humans from another world were about to leave, Mia suddenly pulled me along to make a bold request.
"Well…"
The others didn't understand, and the female translator hadn't expected such a request, so she turned to Wayne Peng for guidance.
"No problem! Our country of H-country came to this world in friendship. We'd be honored to have you visit!"
To my surprise, Wayne Peng agreed without hesitation but did set some conditions.
"But I must clarify one thing: since it's a military base, the people of this world can only move within certain designated areas. You cannot enter restricted zones, including the portal! The villagers we rescued earlier were the same."
"Alright, no problem!"
Mia readily agreed. Since her request was granted, she wouldn't cause any more trouble.
But I understood that Mia probably had some special reason for making this request. Earlier, Reed had wanted to use the language infusion magic circle on the other Earthlings, but Mia stopped her. She must have noticed something suspicious.
"Didn't you see? Those two young men from the other world have been acting sneaky around us and the other Light Elves. They often huddled together in a corner, whispering about something that seemed very secretive! Every time I tried to get close, they would immediately stop talking as if they were doing something bad, even though they knew I couldn't understand their language. And their expressions were very strange!"
When I asked Mia privately about this, she pointed out two young men standing by the village entrance.
"From my years of experience, I'm sure there's something shady going on. The humans from the other world may seem friendly on the surface, but deep down, they might be as untrustworthy as the Empire. We need to keep a close eye on them!"