Chapter 143 The trapped beast in the cage
"Were the casualties heavy?"

Without their report, just from the injuries of the people in front of her, Lisabel knew that the situation was not going to get any better.

"The first attack was quite successful. Although the enemy was very alert, we still managed to cause some casualties at a very slight cost."

The young resister glanced at Lysabel.

"go on."

The young resister lowered his head.

"We feel that the attack was not effective, so we want to launch a second attack while the enemy leaves the camp and pursues us, and try to burn their supplies."

"I guess there's a 'but' after that."

The young resister was silent for a while, and finally spoke.

"They are more disciplined than the nobles' troops before. The guards in charge of logistics did not start the pursuit without authorization, but set up an ambush on the spot."

Those who the resistance fighters had encountered before were all subordinates of the surrendered nobles of the Wind Whisper Kingdom.

They had low combat effectiveness and low discipline, and the resistance fighters did not encounter any real challenge in their battles with them.

Now, they were facing a truly professional combat force. The resistance fighters suffered a great loss.

"No need to harass them anymore. For these well-disciplined troops, such small-scale harassment will hardly have any real impact on them. Withdraw all personnel except for the observation post at the edge of the forest."

After receiving the order, the resistance fighters went to the direction of their own troops and prepared to gather their troops.

"Also, take stock of our current supplies."

After saying that, Lisabel looked back at the crude map. In the forest, believers of the God of Nature could indeed achieve a better exchange ratio and inflict more casualties on the enemy. But the forest was only so big after all. If the Duchy's troops wanted to, they could maintain the blockade and gradually reduce the space for the resistance.

Of course, in this process, the resistance fighters will take advantage of the forest terrain and cause considerable losses to the Principality's troops, but this is the safest and most reliable way to eliminate the resistance fighters.

"We have to prepare early."

The situation has not deteriorated to this point yet. There is an underground tree root network built by the elves around the Magic Forest. Although almost all of them have been abandoned, as long as the elves are willing to pay some price, they can still transport a small amount of supplies to Lysabell.

"who?"

Lisabel heard the angry shouts and the sound of swords being unsheathed from the resistance fighters on guard outside. Judging from their panicked tones, the enemy must have gotten very close to them before being discovered.

But soon, the swords of the resisters were sheathed.

"I'm looking for Lysabel. Please go and inform her."

The corner of Lisabel's eye twitched; she had recognized the visitor's identity from the voice.

"Come in, you're already at the door, what else is there to report?"

A somewhat panicked voice came from outside the door.

"Is that so? But the Human Diplomatic Etiquette states that when visiting a human leader, one must ask his subordinates to inform him."

Lysabelle was too lazy to waste time talking to these elves who had been hiding in the forest all year round, isolated from the world.

The person outside the door basically has no idea what etiquette is for.

"Don't just stand there."

Lisabel opened the door and looked at the stunned elf outside. After the development of things was different from what was described in the textbook, his brain short-circuited and he stood there, not knowing what to do.

According to the textbooks, you should now wait for the guard to notify you, and if the other party is willing to meet you, you should go to the meeting place under the guidance of the guard.

All these steps were skipped, leaving him not knowing where to start.

Lisabel looked at the stunned elf and sighed helplessly. Not being good at communicating with people is a common problem for most elves. They usually scatter in the magic forest and perform forest maintenance work.

The forest was huge, and the number of elves scattered throughout the forest was such that they often didn't meet anyone to talk to for months. Among the entire elf community, only a few had received professional training in diplomacy.

And those people obviously had more important tasks, so the elf sent to the rebels to contact Lisabel was obviously just an unlucky guy who was temporarily caught to fill in the post. He usually wouldn't speak a word to others for several years.

Although he memorized the entire book "Human Foreign Affairs Etiquette" with the help of the elves' memory ability, it was obvious that his understanding of the contents of the book was only literal.

"Come in and talk."

At this time, clear instructions are needed to let the elf know where to start next.

The elf seemed to understand everything. He walked into the house and skipped all the etiquette and went straight to the third to last step in the textbook.

That's the point.

"A batch of supplies will be delivered via the tree root network today."

Lisabel breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the elves had a steady supply, they would have more options when fighting in the forest. At least for some houses and warehouses that were difficult to move in a short period of time, they didn't have to defend them after being discovered by the enemy.

"After this batch of supplies arrives, our assistance to you will be temporarily suspended."

After saying this, the elf in front of him stood up on his own and began to proceed to the next step in the book "Human Diplomatic Etiquette".

“It was a great meeting and I am encouraged by the consensus we reached…”

He was merely repeating the dialogue from a textbook, and the news he brought was not pleasant to Lisabel.

"Why, what's the reason?"

The elf was suddenly interrupted and froze again. After waiting for a long time, he felt that he should skip the current step and go directly to the last step.

"Then, let me tell you..."

The last step in the textbook is to leave.

"I asked you why?"

Lysabelle reached out and held down the elf who was about to turn around and leave the room.

"It's not polite not to answer questions."

Lysabelle reached out her other hand, turned the elf over, looked at his face, and asked again.

“What was the rationale for this decision?”

The elf then realized that he should answer Lysabelle's question.

"Because the Duke showed a certain sincerity during the negotiations, cut off the support for those Skitarii, and provided a rough deployment map of the Skitarii. Before the negotiation is over, in order to show sincerity, we must temporarily cut off our support for you."

Lysabelle loosened her hands. She knew that a group of crusaders were trying to attack the forest of the elves. This was not a big problem. There had been civilizations far stronger than humans that had tried to attack the forest of the elves, but the forest still stood to this day.

There is only one situation that would allow the elves to negotiate with the Moraric who now rules this area.

That is when an elf is caught. In this case, the elves can pay a huge price to save people.

"That's all for today. Show you around."

A resistance fighter came in and left with the elf. Lisabel turned her attention back to the crude map, which had marked possible weak points in the enemy's blockade.

"We have to find a way to jump out."

(End of this chapter)