Elves who lived year-round in Human settlements, like the one before him now, or those who frequently interacted with other races, like Old El, were a bit different from the most traditional Elves in how they handled matters.

Simply put, they lacked that sense of arrogance, that ’I am the most perfect being created by the Creator’ attitude.

"If you’re willing to share, it would be a great help to your pet shop’s business," Zog said.

Of course, it was his pet business too. Zog had already decided to have the Beastmen handle pet breeding.

He was striving to become the largest supplier of purebred pets on the Continent as quickly as possible.

This market niche currently had no real competition. The moment they started, they would likely be the biggest.

’He believed that with the Beastmen’s ability to raise lions, tigers, and leopards, raising smaller Cats should be no problem. After all, big cats, small cats—they’re all Cats.’

"I’m afraid my old Elven friends and family will find out," the Elf explained. "To them, I’m still a criminal."

"It’s not like they’d do anything if they found out..."

Zog was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly realized something very important in what she had just said.

’Her Elven friends and family finding out.’

’How would they find out?’

"I thought Elves don’t watch Demon Vision?" Zog asked.

"Why wouldn’t they?" the shopkeeper’s wife replied. "I was just discussing the plot of *Young Hero Craig* with my old friends online recently."

"Elves like Magic Shadow Dramas?"

"Well, I like them a lot," the shopkeeper’s wife said after a moment of thought. "My friends seem to enjoy them too, and I don’t think most Elves would be opposed to them after watching."

"And I love your games, too." She pointed to a plant-themed doll displayed in her home.

Zog took a closer look. It was a sunflower doll from the first production run. Its price had been driven sky-high in fan circles, and they were very hard to come by.

’So she was a hardcore fan of the games.’

"But according to our market research reports, the response from the Elves in the Silver-White City State hasn’t been very positive," Zog said.

"Not very positive" was an understatement.

They were given free trials, but they wouldn’t say if it was good or bad—eighty percent of the time, they wouldn’t give any feedback at all.

It was like having a conversation where one person was full of enthusiasm, while the other just replied "mhm" to everything.

Utterly dismissive.

He would’ve even settled for a double "mhm."

As a Dragon who didn’t believe in anecdotal evidence and put more faith in hard data from reports, Zog strongly suspected that the shopkeeper’s wife and her friends were a niche minority and didn’t represent the preferences of most Elves.

"Hmm..." The shopkeeper’s wife fell silent for a moment before asking, "How long did your survey run?"

"Two months."

To Zog, that was already a fairly long time for a survey.

The Yo-Yo had caught on in just two weeks. Two months was more than enough time for a poorly-made mobile game to flop and have its servers shut down.

"That explains it," she said. "For Elves who have lived their entire lives in the city-state, two months is far too short. They might not have even noticed that something new has come along."

"Those Elves have a different sense of time compared to those of us who live in Human cities. Although they’re resistant to new things, a good number of them are still willing to give them a try."

"It’s just that the time between them *wanting* to try something and actually *getting around* to it can be several months, or even several years."

"If I remember correctly, the Shadow of Evil and games have only been out for two years, tops. It’s very likely most Elves have only just become aware of the Shadow of Evil’s existence and haven’t gotten around to watching anything yet."

She shrugged, as if to say she was just as exasperated by her people’s habits.

Zog had an epiphany. The survey’s dismal results weren’t because the Elves had left him on ’read,’ but because they hadn’t even opened the message yet.

’It seems all long-lived races have this problem.’

He knew a Black Dragon whose entire routine consisted of going out to pull a big heist, sleeping on a pile of Gold Coins for a few decades, waking up, and then going out to pull another big heist, repeating the cycle endlessly.

Among the many causes of the ancient feud between the Dwarves and Elves was an incident from when they were still allies. The Dwarves had come under attack by Beastmen, and the Dwarf King pleaded with the Elf King for aid. In the end, the Elven reinforcements didn’t arrive until half a year later.

By the time they arrived, the Dwarven lands had already been pillaged. The Dwarves accused the Elves of betraying the alliance, while the Elves blamed the Dwarves for letting their city fall so quickly.

’So it wasn’t that the Elf King intentionally delayed sending aid back then. They’re just natural procrastinators; it wasn’t specifically aimed at the Dwarves.’

"So, how long do you think it will take for your people to widely accept the Shadow of Evil and the internet?" Zog asked, probing for an estimate.

"That’s hard to say. Maybe a few decades, maybe a century."

’A century?’

’In that time, the Humans could complete their industrial revolution and fully enter the information age.’

Zog himself could afford to wait, but at his age, Old El likely wouldn’t live to see that day.

’By then, there would be a massive technology gap. Without me even having to lift a finger, the Humans would probably be the ones knocking on the Elves’ door, demanding they open up for "free trade."’

’Humans might even have figured out how to create things like Magic missiles by then.’

’A Legendary Elf? How many missiles could a Legendary-tier individual really take?’

’So that was why El wanted to introduce the new technology himself. He wanted to help the Elves pick up the pace.’

"However, Elves can be quite efficient when they encounter something they deem especially important or interesting," the shopkeeper’s wife added.

’Well, that settles it. The Elves deserved to make an enemy of the Dwarves. Arriving six months late to a battle just meant they didn’t value their allies enough.’

’And here I had thought the conflict between the two races was just a big pile of misunderstandings and false accusations.’

"In other words, as long as we find something that piques the Elves’ interest, there’s a chance we can quickly penetrate their market," Zog concluded.

Just like Mrs. Kaelan, who, upon seeing Monument Valley, would have sold her own child without batting an eye.