Chris shook her head.
"There's no need for that."
Yage City and Bal City were quite far apart from each other, making it nearly impossible for either side to destroy the other.
Although conflicts had erupted between the two cities for various reasons, in Chris's view, this animosity could ultimately be resolved, and must be resolved.
Neither city could destroy the other, and constant competition and fighting was bad for both sides.
Moreover, Chris also believed there was no need to kill these people.
As long as she could ensure these people would no longer pose a threat afterward, there was no need to go to extremes.
Looking at the serious-faced Chris, Elashia smiled with satisfaction.
This was the security chief she wanted.
Managing security wasn't just about throwing heavy punches, otherwise she wouldn't have needed to travel so far to Yage City to find Chris—she could have just put Cecilia in charge of security.
But managing security was different from warfare after all. Compared to handling enemy conflicts that required life-or-death struggles and going to extremes, security management dealt with internal contradictions within the country.
Since these were internal contradictions, flexible handling was essential.
Don't kill if you don't have to, reform if you can—this was the proper way to resolve internal contradictions.
Especially now when Elashia had to maintain high public approval ratings, this approach was particularly necessary.
Right now Elashia practically wanted to drag Chris directly to Elasia, but unfortunately, she couldn't force her.
"So how do you plan to handle them?"
Elashia asked Chris with a smile.
Chris shook her head.
"That's exactly what I'm struggling with."
The relationship between Yage City and Bal City was so poor right now, and Chris was about to face trial soon. If she directly made these soldiers surrender to Yage City, she probably couldn't guarantee their safety.
But if she ignored them, it would be tantamount to leaving them to die.
Because in the desert and wasteland, if they couldn't enter a city they couldn't obtain survival supplies, and no matter how well-prepared they were, they would eventually run out.
Their commander was already dead in battle, so if they returned to Bal City, that would also be a dead end.
Looking at these strong warriors, Elashia smiled at Chris:
"I think, why not let them come to Elasia to work for me."
Chris looked at Elashia somewhat speechlessly.
How was this girl Empress so obsessed with poaching people from other countries?
After thinking it over, Chris objected:
"That's impossible. To get from here to your place, they'd have to cross the Northern Forest. How could they possibly survive that?"
Chris's question made Elashia's expression suddenly turn serious.
"They really could survive."
"At least during this period, they really could survive crossing the Northern Forest."
Chris's expression became somewhat strange.
"Why do you say that? The magical beasts in the Northern Forest are something even your great empire armies fear."
If the Northern Forest didn't block the armies of Elasia and the Iron Empire from the outside, these desert city-states would probably have been destroyed by these great empires long ago.
Elashia looked at Chris seriously.
"Haven't you noticed that there haven't been any magical beast invasions recently?"
"Magical beast invasions?"
Yage City was located in the northern part of the desert and was often harassed by some low-level magical beasts. The timing of magical beast invasions was extremely uncertain—sometimes several times a week, sometimes only once every few months.
Chris thought about it, and what Elashia said seemed to be right.
There hadn't been any magical beast invasions for at least two months.
"You mean... there are no magical beasts in the Northern Forest now?"
Elashia nodded.
"Right, now, there aren't any."
Elashia deliberately emphasized the word "now."
Chris immediately caught Elashia's meaning.
"You're saying—the magical beasts will make a comeback soon?"
Elashia nodded.
But Chris was obviously somewhat skeptical.
"If what you're saying is all true, then why don't you just send your empire's army over to force me into submission? Or directly occupy all the city-states in the entire desert region?"
Chris wasn't stupid. Elashia had already said her purpose in coming to Yage City was to poach her.
But if there were no longer magical beasts blocking the Northern Forest, wouldn't poaching her be just a matter of giving an order?
After hearing Chris's question, Elashia put on the same mysterious smile as before.
"Let me tell you, I don't fancy a single thing in this broken desert."
"I think you know too that the resources of small city-states are just a drop in the ocean for empires of our scale."
"Including those so-called city-state treasures of yours, in my eyes they're nothing but children's toys."
Having said that, Elashia looked at Chris with sincere eyes.
"In my eyes, there are only two treasures in this entire desert that could make me take notice—that's you, and your true heart."
Elashia's sincere gaze and unabashed words made Chris's beautiful face take on a slight blush.
But Elashia didn't stop speaking and continued:
"I told you before that I won't use any means to force you, and I'll help you when you need it."
"The reason I won't use forceful means on you is because only when you truly want to make Elasia your home can I truly get what I want."
"And the reason I'll help you when you need it is because I can't just watch my future security chief get hurt in front of me and do nothing."
Elashia planned to strike while the iron was hot and say something more, but the system's notification sound once again interrupted at an inopportune moment.
[System Task Issued]
[Task One: Take the opportunity to invite Chris—"If you leave Yage City with me now, you won't have to go back and face trial by those unruly citizens." Task Reward: Mage level increases by two]
[Task Two: Gaslight Chris a bit—"You should know, in this city-state, besides me, is there anyone else who would care about you? Those unruly citizens were misled by people with ulterior motives and turned against you. Only I truly treat you as a real person." Task Reward: Mind Storm]
[Task Three: Don't say anything else about yourself and Yage City to Chris, just hold Chris's hand and tell her in the most sincere tone—"Seeing you get hurt would really pain my heart, do you understand?" Task Reward: Mage level increases by one]
Elashia looked at the three options and first ruled out task two.
[Mind Storm] was a late-game soul control spell that could not only affect enemies' minds on a large scale, but also give her own army a powerful boost, even allowing ordinary people to directly display knight-level strength.
The danger this reward would bring was something the current Elashia absolutely couldn't risk.
After thinking it over, between tasks one and three, Elashia still chose task three.
After all, poaching people now was absolutely impossible to succeed, and when it came to choices involving core characters, it was better to be more cautious.
Elashia said in her heart:
"System, I choose task three!"
[Okay]
Elashia grasped Chris's hands with her slender white hands, looked at Chris's somewhat bewildered eyes with sincere gaze, and said in the most genuine tone:
"Seeing you get hurt would really pain my heart, do you understand?"