part0020

The entire elven kingdom was in turmoil after the incident with the seven-headed monster. Including the scouts and those stationed in the western garrison, they’d lost more than a thousand elves from that single encounter. Furthermore, a portion of the city had been blown into smithereens, and several houses had been burned to the ground. Thankfully, the water spirits had managed to put out the fire before it spread throughout the entire forest.

Several days had passed since then. All of the kingdom’s officials were gathered at the royal palace to discuss matters concerning the kingdom.

“Your Majesty, we’ve finished relocating the affected families,” reported one of the ministers. “We have repurposed the elven oaks which served as storage houses last winter. We plan on letting those who lost their homes stay there, at least until the elven oaks in the east are mature enough to be converted into houses.”

“Good work.” King Melandrach nodded in approval. He said to another official, “The burial ceremonies?”

“We’re almost done with the preparations, Your Majesty. Two days at most and our fallen warriors can finally return to God Gaia. We’ve already received the blessings of the priestess and the temple.”

“It seems that hundreds of elven oaks will sprout in the forest this year,” King Melandrach said in a glum voice.

Although the body of an elf wasn’t a prerequisite for an elven oak to grow, for some strange reason, there was a very high chance of an elven oak sprouting from the ground where a deceased elf was buried. This was why the elves considered the trees sacred, since most of the trees here grew from their deceased ancestors’ bodies. They would wait for a hundred years, until the elven oaks had matured, before carving their homes inside the trunk of these trees.

“My King,” said Commander Khuumal. “We’ve been receiving reports of several… disturbances in the city.”

“Disturbances?” said the king.

“Yes, Your Majesty. There have been protests among the citizens of the kingdom. The warriors wish to hunt and kill the monster. They are demanding for the royal family to take immediate action. Even the vice commander averred his desire to take revenge on the Earth Scylla.”

“Even Vice Commander Calen.” King Melandrach found this troubling.

The vice commander had several hundred warriors under his command. If he suddenly decided to go to the border and take revenge on the Earth Scylla, it would be easy for him to rally the other warriors under his banner.

They’d lost a lot of warriors already. King Melandrach had no intention of letting their casualties increase even further.

“Keep an eye on the vice commander. Make sure he doesn’t do anything foolish,” said the king. “It’s not like I don’t understand why they are acting this way, but we need to face reality. Commander Khuumal, you understand too, don’t you? Had that Earth Scylla wanted to, it could have killed more of our warriors that day.”

Commander Khuumal nodded grimly. “I believe so.”

“But we have the guardian golems, Your Majesty,” said one of the officials. “Surely, the guardians our ancestors created would be more than enough to protect the kingdom?”

“Even if the guardian golems could somehow manage to take down the Earth Scylla, it would cost us tens of thousands of lives. Imagine this—what would have happened if that monster had chosen to fight the golems right in the middle of the city?” said the king.

Heavy silence fell in the room. They could vividly imagine what would have happened had the monster chosen to go on a rampage in the city. Hundreds of elven oaks would have been burned to ashes, and thousands if not tens of thousands of elves would have died that day.

They did not doubt the strength of the guardian golems who have been protecting their kingdom for several centuries. But they knew that even those fifteen-meter tall giants wouldn’t be enough to completely hold down the Earth Scylla.

“As the king of this nation, I hereby prohibit any expedition to the border region,” declared the king. “Anyone caught violating this decree will be given the death penalty. No exceptions. Even if the violator is a high-ranking officer in the military.”

The king’s statement showed how much of a threat he believed Earth Scylla to be. In order to avoid antagonizing it even further, His Majesty was willing to go as far as making this decree. Everyone in the room knew who the king was referring to in the last part of his statement.

“Disseminate this decree to everyone. Tighten the security at the perimeter of our kingdom,” said King Melandrach. “We do not know the reason why that creature suddenly appeared and made the border its home, but for now, we shall capitulate that part of the forest to the Earth Scylla.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” said the officials.

Suddenly, a huffing soldier barged into the room and said in a loud voice, “Your Majesty! That monster! It has returned! We received reports from the western outpost just now!”

The king stood up from his seat abruptly. “What? We recently erected a barrier in that part of the forest! What happened to the barrier?”

After the incident a week ago, the king had ordered his men to erect a barrier in the western part of the forest to deter the monster from coming into their city. It was created using the might of several dozen high-ranking spirits. It should have been strong enough to withstand several attacks even from the Scylla.

The huffing soldier looked around the room for a moment, his eyes quickly scanning the terror-filled faces of the officials. He said to the king in a hurried voice, “The barrier has been broken! A human! The report said that a human broke through the barrier using a single spell!”

The king stared at the soldier for a moment, wondering if what he’d just heard was correct. “A human?”

“Yes, a human!” The soldier nodded.

King Melandrach looked at the officials in the room. Just like him, they couldn’t believe what they’d just heard. The Scylla was one thing, but a human? How could a mere human break through a barrier created using the might of several high-ranking spirits? Furthermore, he did it with just a single spell?

“Y-Your Majesty!” said one of the ministers. “Your orders?”

“We don’t know what that monster is thinking! Coming back here immediately like this!”

“We should mobilize the guardian golems and the royal guards!”

“The warriors! Commander Khuumal! Gather the warriors!”

The ministers and the other officials were frantic as they awaited the king’s orders. King Melandrach couldn’t blame them. It had been a long time since their kingdom had been in such a predicament. Even he couldn’t help but shudder in terror at this news. He’d seen for himself what the monster was capable of, after all.

King Melandrach breathed in deeply and said in a voice filled with conviction, “Mobilize the guardian golems! Gather all of our warriors, including the royal guards! Send a message to the temple! Tell them to prepare for the Blood Rite of the Earth God!”

The officials stared at the king in bewilderment. The Blood Rite of the Earth God was the strongest spell known to the elves. In exchange for the life of the current king, God Gaia would briefly descend to this realm.

“B-Blood Rite? B-But Your Majesty!” said one of the royal advisors.

“Enough!” snarled the king. “This much is needed for our race to survive. No matter how strong that Earth Scylla is, it will never be a match for one of the Seven Gods.”

After the warriors and the royal guards had been gathered, King Melandrach patiently waited at the entrance of the royal palace. Standing behind him were the four guardian golems of the kingdom.

For some reason, the presence of the unknown human made the king think that the seven-headed monster would head straight to the royal palace.

Ignoring everything else, the Earth Scylla flew through the city and stopped right in front of the largest elven oak in the entire kingdom.

The seven-headed monster was as threatening and as imposing as before. The way it looked at the army of elves below showed clearly how it thought of them as nothing but insects it could easily trample on.

King Melandrach looked at the human standing on top of the Scylla’s body. He was surprisingly young. If he were an elf, he would be probably around a hundred and fifty years old. He was definitely younger than King Melandrach’s daughter.

“Elves.” To their surprise, the Earth Scylla spoke. “You have been graced with the presence of my God. Show your respect.”

All of the elves who heard it shuddered, their faces drained of color immediately. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t believe such a preposterous statement. But these words came from the Earth Scylla itself. They came from a monster who could destroy their kingdom on its own.

Surely, this monster wouldn’t submit itself to anything short of a God.

“W-What should we do?”

The Scylla was more than enough of a threat. And now, a God had suddenly appeared at their doorstep.

Initially, King Melandrach was confident in negotiating with the human and the Earth Scylla. After all, he held a trump card in his hands. Once broken, the artifact he was carrying would take his life and momentarily summon God Gaia on this land.

But everything changed after he heard the Scylla call the ‘human’ its God.

“Kneel.” King Melandrach eventually decided. “Lower your heads.”

The high-ranking officers of the army immediately disseminated the words of the king. Although reluctant, all of the elven warriors knelt and lowered their heads. Even the guardian golems bent their knees.

The Earth Scylla snorted, as though pleased that the elves recognized the greatness of the human riding on top of it.

“I am Melandrach, King of the Elves. The current ruler of Aerith,” said the king, not daring to look at the human on top of the seven-headed monster. “May I know why such an esteemed… individual decided to visit our humble city?”

There were several seconds of silence. For a moment, King Melandrach wondered if he had not shown enough respect. Shivers crawled down his spine at the thought.

“I’m here to apologize for the behavior of one of my men,” said the human. “I heard that Blackie here caused havoc in this city. Although words won’t bring back the dead, I hope you can accept my apology.”

King Melandrach and the elven warriors looked up. They hadn’t expected such words to come out of the human’s mouth. Their eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the ‘God’ bowing his entire upper body in front of everyone. Moreover, those words sounded sincere, without a hint of malice or deceit.

The Earth Scylla looked distressed upon hearing those words and seeing the human bowing his head.

“G-God Evander! There’s no need to bow your head in front of these elves!”

“T-That’s right! Please raise your head!”

The Earth Scylla looked as though it would start crying at any moment. It was a surreal sight. They’d never expected to see this terrifying creature become this perturbed over the words of a human.

King Melandrach was sure that that name was not among the Seven Gods.

But it sounded familiar. The King of Elves was sure that he’d heard that name before in his life.

“Please accept this as a token of my apology,” said the human.

A wooden chest slowly flew down toward the elves below. It landed softly right in front of King Melandrach.

The king hesitated for a moment, but eventually decided to open it.

Inside the wooden chest were five bottles filled with blood-red liquid. King Melandrach wondered if it was wine at first, but judging by the words uttered by the so-called ‘God’, this was surely no ordinary item.

“Water that has made contact with a bloodstone,” said the human. “Although it won’t bring the dead back to life, I hope you can use it to propel this kingdom forward. King of Elves, you understand the importance of this item, right? With this, it should be possible to recover the population you lost due to this incident. A token of my apology. Please accept it.”

All of the elves, the king included, knew the significance of this item. Bloodstone was the most coveted item of the elven race. When used by humans, it cured weak curses and even prolonged their lifespans. But when used by elves, it greatly increased their fertility rate, making it almost on par with those of humans.

“Your Majesty, is it really from a bloodstone?” whispered one of the military officers. Even he couldn’t believe it.

King Melandrach opened one of the bottles, dipped his index finger inside and licked it. After several seconds, he felt an indescribable sensation surge inside him. This was the real thing. He was sure of it.

“It’s real,” said the king.

The elves stared at the wooden chest in marvel. Right now, that wooden chest was more precious than the treasures stored in the royal palace.

“Had we met under normal circumstances, I would have loved to become one of your trading partners,” said the human. “But I understand that this is impossible, with the way things are right now.”

“Trading partners?” said the king.

The human jumped down from the Scylla and landed softly on the ground.

“That’s right. Trading partners. I haven’t introduced myself, have I?” He placed a hand on his chest and lightly bowed his head. “Lark Marcus, Lord of Blackstone Town. The town located west from here, right next to this forest.”

Lark added, “This may sound… contumelious, coming from me… But we truly did not mean harm to your country. Please understand that what I’m offering isn’t just the opportunity to trade with my town. What I’m offering is the chance to trade with the entire kingdom. The human race. If we become trading partners, your kingdom will have direct access to the human race’s resources.”

There were still several questions going through the king’s mind, but he understood what the human was conveying for the most part.

Still, although the offer sounded tempting, King Melandrach did not see the merit in opening their country to these outsiders. The elves could produce their own food, they had access to timber, they could spin and weave their clothes. They could live by simply utilizing what nature could offer.

King Melandrach was about to utter his refusal when the human added: “And you’ll also gain access to these elixirs. Water that has made contact with a bloodstone. How about it?”

King Melandrach stared at the human, then at the wooden chest next to his feet. With just those words alone, the human had managed to overturn the table of negotiations. King Melandrach had never heard something so tempting before. Greed started showing in his eyes.

“How… How many bottles of elixirs can you trade with us each year?” said King Melandrach.

The human raised four fingers.

“I see. Forty bottles,” mumbled the king.

“Four thousand,” corrected Lark.

The king’s eyes widened. With such an amount, they would no longer have to worry about the declining population of their kingdom. If lucky, an elf could have a single offspring in its lifetime. Two children was already a miracle. But with these elixirs, such things would no longer be a problem.

“F-Four thousand?” said the king.

Lark grinned. He understood why the king was this flustered. Even he had only managed to get his hands on a single bloodstone back in his previous life. These legendary stones were that rare. But The Dragon Devourer and the God of Poison—those two disciples of his—managed to get their hands on not just one, but five bloodstone fragments. Lark did not know how those brats managed to obtain them, but he was glad that they did.

Five bloodstone fragments were more than enough to supply the elixirs to these elves. Dipping those stones in water hardly sapped away at their strength, after all. Lark even felt that he was exploiting the King of Elves by offering them to him.

“I understand that it’ll be hard to arrive at a decision this soon,” said Lark. “So, how about this? Send a messenger to the forest border, once you’ve arrived at an answer.”

Lark looked at the guardian golems kneeling behind the king, then at the elven warriors. Despite the long period of peace, it seemed that the elves weren’t as helpless as they looked. This kingdom could probably defend themselves, even against the Empire’s army.

“But these elixirs… I don’t see what our kingdom could give you in exchange for these items.”

Lark shot a quizzical gaze at the king. “Metals, herbs, fabric, fruit, meat. Those alone are more than enough reason for my Blackstone Town to trade with your kingdom.”

Lark flew up and landed on top of Blackie’s body. “Two weeks. I hope you can give me an answer by then.”

The Scylla started flapping its wings, creating gusts of wind.

“Wait!” said the king. “And if we refuse your offer?”

The king was worried that these two monsters would lay waste to their kingdom if that happened.

“Then we’ll cease contact with the elven race entirely,” said Lark.

The king sighed in relief. At the same time, the king understood that the human was implying that they’d also lose access to the elixirs completely. And with the seven-headed monster and this so-called ‘God’ on the side of the humans, it was not like they could forcefully take those bloodstones away.