章 22: Chapter 22: Negotiations and New Truths
"Save the nation..."
Dallel nodded, his head still aimed at the ground.
"By killing our father?!"
"You don't know what he did!"
Dallel yelled. For as long as both me and Royce had known him, neither of us heard him yell like that. Even Doleaira was shaken by that.
"Dallel, what did the former king do."
"Attempt to summon a demon king."
Everyone froze. A demon king. Wouldn't that destroy the entire country?
"You'd need way to many sacrifices to do that. There's no way he could've done it."
"El- King Elren, please remember the time that the messenger came to tell everyone the king was killed by me."
He blanched.
"The moonlight festival."
"The moonlight festival?"
"Once every hundred years, the moon is in perfect alignment with the sun to shine the most light on the capital. All elves gather in the capital for a massive festival."
"In other words..."
"It's the perfect time for a demonic summoning."
"Father, he tried to use the whole kingdom as sacrifices?"
"Yes..."
Something didn't work though.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"The contr-"
"Don't lie, I saw the contract, it didn't mention that you couldn't explain, only that you'd take the blame."
"I..."
"You wanted everyone to remember him as a good king, didn't you."
"Yes, I only discovered it due to the contract. It led me to a hidden passageway that led to a massive ritual circle. Father was in the middle, speaking dark magic. I could sense the evil halfway through the passage."
"Why would he do that?"
"I... I don't know."
"Something doesn't feel right."
"Rose?"
"Dallel, without invoking magic, could you tell me exactly what the king said?"
"I can."
He began speaking the words. Everyone was confused except me. It was then that I understood the weight of sin that Dallel kept hidden.
"Dallel, you have no idea what that meant."
"Wait, was he inn-"
"No. It was far worse than you thought. Please tell me you destroyed the circle."
"Of course, I did."
"Thank goodness. He wasn't summoning a Demon king."
"Then what-"
"He was summoning a shard of evil."
They all looked at me confused. No one except scholars knew what a shard of evil is, so I shouldn't be surprised.
"Have you ever heard the legend of the evil god?"
"Of course, she was killed, however."
"Gods don't die."
"Then what-"
"She was shattered into 10 shards. Each one was formed as a godly threat monster."
"So, he... he tried to summon a godly level evil?"
"Yes."
"How do you know of this?"
"Unlike the rest of our siblings, I used Mother's library to read a lot."
"So, it was good that I killed him?"
"Yes. A thousand times yes. If he finished the incantation, the nation's surrounding Calesen would also be turned into a wasteland."
"Godlies are that strong?"
"Yes."
"Then that makes our negotiations that much more urgent."
"Sir Royce, what do you mean?"
"King Elren, Rose fought two whilders and determined that they had been organized.
"Okay?"
"They were both mythics, but Rose said they acted like grunts."
"Wait..."
"We think one of the Whilders is a godly."
_
"A godly? That's insane."
"Not when you consider that one of them was as strong as a high mythic."
"A high mythic? Even dragons are only midlevel mythics."
"It took me and an S ranker to kill it."
"The fact that an S rank would try to work with you at all is impressive. I'm assuming you were in dragon form."
"Yes, and what makes it worse is that it was the strongest adventurer, Asura. And we still barely won with decent injuries."
"And you think that was a grunt."
"Yes."
"I can see why the king of Selethon would want aid."
"So, what do you think?"
"Hmm. I can't send many, but I will send what I can."
"Why can't you send many?"
"Because we are in a war with Falden."
Falden was an international trade center, as far as I had known, they were friends with Calesen, but apparently not anymore.
"What happened to the trade?"
"They learnt I was a dragon."
"And they cut trade over that?"
"They said that they wouldn't negotiate with beasts and declared war only yesterday."
"That's not good."
"I agree, and Whilders will most certainly make it harder. The biggest concern for me is how they evolved in the first place. It makes no sense."
"What do you mean?"
"The Whilder's strongest in the past was a legendary, yet now we suspect a Godly? That doesn't just happen."
"You have a point."
"Falden, Selethon, and Calesen are the three kingdoms that border the forest."
"You think Falden gave foul play?"
"Perhaps, they disliked both nations for a long time, they only accepted us due to the good trades we gave. I think they were looking for a way to cut ties for a long time."
"And now that you are revealed as a dragon, and the king is making a deal with you."
"They could easily both cut ties and declare both nations as enemies of both humans and demi-humans."
"But why evolve the Whilders?"
"Simple, by evolving them, they could subjugate them and command them to cause strife to force an agreement. My being a dragon just brings the icing onto the cake."
Royce was a bit confused.
"How would evolving a Whilderbeast give them control?"
I took the explanation.
"Think of it like a draconic contract, the master can command anything, but they still need to give something in return to get it, unless the dragon makes the contract on their own."
"Okay?"
"If they offered evolution in return for a contract, then that would both give them control and evolve the Whilders."
"That makes sense."
We realized our situation with grim expressions, so of course Thalia came in and failed to read the room.
"Ah, Rose, two men? Wow. Are you building a harem?"
"Elren?"
"Yes, Rose?"
"It's time we become the 8."
I stand up.
"Wait, ROSE?!"
Thalia started running.
"AAHH!"
"GET BACK HERE!!"
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