Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

Chapter 280 It’s time to run away!

"It's that simple?"

"It's that simple," Gillianis waved the sword in her hand, "Your men may not understand, but you should understand."

"The vast majority of so-called research is delayed for a long time without any results. The reason is that there are not enough people and funds. As long as people and money are in place, many difficulties can be easily solved."

"..." Ron was silent for a moment, "Yes, I agree with you on this point."

"Especially those boring repetitive experiments and trial and error, the lack of personnel and funds forces researchers to be restrained."

"You don't give us enough time." Gillianis snorted.

"And he always interrupts me," Ron echoed.

"In order to realize what they came up with on the spur of the moment, we had to use other methods to verify or even guess, and constantly simplify until there were many loopholes. And once the results didn't meet expectations, they would put the blame on us!" Ron became more and more excited as he spoke. Perhaps it was because of the bad memories that came to his mind. Facing this alien elf who had beaten them badly and even taken away his spell book, Ron began to complain.

"How can such treatment produce any real results? Then they will further reduce the treatment and tighten the time on the grounds that there are no results. It's a vicious cycle!"

"What a liar!" Gillianis felt the same way about Ron's experience. "Our stupid King Ryan was fine in the early stages, but he panicked at the last moment! The Empire has only so many researchers and so much money in the treasury. How could he design seven decisive weapons at the same time? I'm surprised he could think of that!"

"Oh, noble sir." The two of them shouted in unison.

"So, you left without saying goodbye?" Ron looked at the chief wizard. "You are really courageous. I can only be tied up until I die. If I leave, all my efforts will be wasted."

"Ah, I understand. You know that dwarf Elden. Which college did he come from? Thesis, defense, tutors, there are countless annoying things." Gillianis waved her hand, "It's a pity that you are human. I have done research in those colleges for 80 years and I have dealt with all these before my coming-of-age ceremony."

"What the hell -"

"But when it comes to Ryan's so-called decisive weapon, I lied to them," Gillianis changed the subject, "It was the amethyst slab and those gems. Saran is a good guy. I persuaded the higher-ups to let him take people to the Delusion Land. If he can really bring back something, it should be able to turn the tide."

"But obviously, he failed, and the things are in your hands."

"You deceived the Royal Family of Ryan," Ron said, "It's not easy to wade in the muddy waters of Delusion Land."

"That's none of my business. I just made reasonable inferences and drew conclusions." The elf smiled playfully. "That's what the insects told me when I asked them to change their strategy and adjust the funding and personnel ratio."

"I made at least seven magic items for them. Even though they didn't help at all in the end, the results were delivered anyway."

"But I don't understand why you even put your own spellbook in there?"

"Of course it's because of that ridiculous censorship system," the archmage curled his lips, "If the overall mystery doesn't meet the standards set by those idiots who haven't even finished reading a single magic book, I'll be held responsible."

"Well, I have a question."

Ron suddenly took a few steps forward and stood in front of Gillianis. Gillianis didn't react at all because she and Ron were chatting quite well. She even took a step closer. "Ask any human. If you are willing to volunteer, I will have plenty of time for you to ask questions later."

"Putting aside the 'achievements' you've achieved in fooling the Hailan Empire, in the hundred years before the empire's fall, have you ever made a real 'decisive weapon'?"

"You asked that. Of course I did," Gillianis said. "I borrowed the dwarves' gunpowder technology and made a set of bombs and flying machines. They are easy to operate and can make up for the lack of air power in the empire. After all, training both griffins and hippogriffs takes a lot of time."

"I've never heard of these things!" Ivy looked at Quest, and the spy also shook his head: "I haven't heard of them either. Haven't they been put into actual combat?"

"Of course not," the elf turned his head to look at Quest and snorted angrily, "It's a pity that you don't have the chance to witness their power! Because they were rejected before they even went into production, by the Royal Family of Ryan, the Minister of Finance, and even the Minister of Military Affairs!"

"They thought these gadgets were tools used by inferior races, and noble elves shouldn't operate these crude things. So after being rejected, in order to prevent them from becoming a stain on me, I threw all the finished and semi-finished products into the Fire Elemental Plane and burned them clean."

Although she said so, Gillianis was still upset about it. She turned her head sharply and said, "So, have you thought it through? If you are willing to volunteer, I can teach you the most profound arcane knowledge. If you cannot finish learning due to the limitation of human lifespan, I can also transform you into a lich!"

"I can even give you the preface to the weaving method! I have never been able to get this research to the stage of large-scale application, but you have figured it out on your own, and you are also a researcher, so maybe you can help me find the problem!"

The Weaving Preface floated beside its former owner, constantly flipping through the pages quickly in protest, but was slapped aside by Gillianis: "What do you think? Worried that things here won't end well? I can also--"

"No, I'm not worried about this at all." Ron smiled at Gillianis, and suddenly raised his hand at such a close distance. An alchemical drug suddenly exploded between the two of them, and a large amount of dust sucked Ron and Gillianis into it.

"You—cough cough!" The Archmage was dumbfounded, "What are you doing?"

She immediately checked her body, only to find that this alchemical potion was not the type that would explode, nor did it have any magical effects such as malicious deformation. As for toxicity...

toxicity?
Gillianis staggered and fell to the ground. She struggled, but found that she had no strength at all.

She was the chief wizard of the empire. Even if she had fallen to being the lord of a small city-state, she still had the necessary permanent protective spells. What was this thing that could turn her into this with just poison? !
"What... potion is this?" Using her last bit of strength, Gillianis forced herself to stay conscious, wanting to hear the answer.

"It's not too late to ask after you wake up," Ron squatted down and looked into those lake blue eyes. "This is the moss extract I used to deal with Mindatis. My alchemist and I further purified and modified it to enhance its specificity to elves."

"Why would you put the effort into this?" Gillianis's eyes could hardly see anything, but she still wanted an answer. "It's not worth the effort..."

"You are the chief wizard of the empire. Of course you don't care about an unknown moss plant in an unknown cave," Ron smiled. "But maybe it's because I was educated differently. For a product that is a coincidence or luck, I usually try to explore its principles and normalization path to determine whether it can help me."

"You see, luck is part of strength, but turning chance into necessity and luck into strength is also - ah, what a pity. I think we can continue discussing this after you wake up."

Ron stood up and said, "Come and help, tie her up and send her to the Kalade military camp."

"Quest, change into her appearance and go to her place. Take the alchemical backpack and pack everything you can take away. Don't forget the hidden doors and secret rooms that may exist!"

“Ivy, go inform Uncle Daniel and the others that we have completed our business and even got some unexpected gains—it’s time to run away!”

(End of this chapter)