The High Elves' Sanctuary (1)
Following Romanell's guidance into the territory, it was evident from the architecture alone that this was the high elves' domain.
Magnificent temple-like buildings adorned in pure white and gold.
Even the shops that appeared to be ordinary merchants were styled like shrines. Elaha's Garden, with its elegantly laid marble floors, exuded refinement without compromise.
"Oh. Romanell. What is this ominous aura...?"
A female elf, dressed in what looked like a gown straight out of Greek mythology, asked Romanell.
Romanell glanced back at Jeonghyeon slung over his back, shook his head briefly, and murmured uncertainly.
"He says he's been infected by the Demon King's power."
"What?! What if it affects us too?"
"If it weren't for you, the most noble high elves among all races, our master would just die. Please help him, just this once."
At the woman's words, Nus immediately bounced forward, pressing a kiss to her hand as he spoke.
"My goodness. An ethereal slime! In pixie form, no less. You're too beautiful!"
Beautiful my ass.
His master was currently paralyzed from a poison arrow, collapsed and unable to move a muscle, yet Nus was surrounded by elves, basking in luxury.
Every female elf in the village had come running from the far end just to get a look at him.
"An ethereal slime? I wanna see too!"
"Me too! I haven't seen one in 500 years!"
The fragrance of Elferica perfume—condensed from dozens of hours of high elves' advanced magic—wafted past Jeonghyeon's nose.
From his position on Romanell's back, Jeonghyeon caught sight of Nus's face nestled among the pale, flawless skin of the elves.
A look that screamed, You can't have this, can you?
In truth, Jeonghyeon had already shaken off the paralysis and could move.
But he had to keep pretending he couldn't control his body, which only egged Nus on to tease him more.
Damn it...
Still, they were helping him, so what choice did he have but to endure?
With that thought, Jeonghyeon was carried into the elves' sanctuary.
Romanell had gathered a large group of high elf healers within the sanctuary.
It wasn't just any demon—it was the Demon King. They believed that fervently, so a healer or two wouldn't be enough to purify it.
Sorry about that.
Regrettably, Jeonghyeon wasn't infected by the Demon King; he was the Demon King.
"Alright. Let's start by lifting the paralysis poison. Bring the materials, and I'll compound it myself."
Oh... Ooh!
High elves were a race renowned for potion-making.
Their potions were superior to any others, which was why Jeonghyeon had always tried to maintain friendly relations with them.
In his previous life, without the Wakin sisters' favors, he might not have even reached the Demon King's toes before dying from chugging low-grade potions.
Nice! Gonna score some top-shelf potions out of this.
But at Romanell's words, an answer came that Jeonghyeon had never anticipated.
"We don't have enough beastkin blood for that."
A high elf healer was cautiously furrowing her pale brow, pointing out the shortage of beastkin blood.
Like needing snake blood to antidote snake venom? Something like that?
No way the source of high elf magic was blood from other races.
The high elves Jeonghyeon had met before were nothing like that.
Damn, I met Horakti first and got the wrong idea.
Hanging around beastkin had apparently made them sensitive to the word, but as he tried to calm himself—
"Is that so? Don't we have any beastkin in the basement?"
"Nothing but ones slated for slaughter as offerings."
"Hmm..."
"Well, once we've blocked the Demon King's infection, won't we offer prayers anyway?"
"Ah. Then let's butcher the youngest one."
Wait... What the hell did these bastards just say...?
Jeonghyeon doubted not what he'd heard, but his own ears.
"The one we met at the forest border earlier—the one with the bird head, whether it was the Demon King or a minion. Kill a bird beastkin. Female."
"Yes."
It was exactly the beastkin Jeonghyeon suspected.
Before he could even think, Jeonghyeon shot out his arm and grabbed the healer heading for the blood.
"Wait! Me! I'm alive. I can move now!"
"Oh. That's fortunate."
To outward appearances, he was a human who had been utterly incapacitated by injury.
Romanell, relieved, helped Jeonghyeon sit up.
"Anywhere still hurt?"
That familiar, gentle face. That warm smile.
These high elves, who seemed ready to brew potions for him even now, were raising beastkin for blood to make their medicines?
"Good. Drink this first. It'll restore your energy."
Romanell handed Jeonghyeon a potion.
A special high elf potion. An ultra-rare stamina restorative that was impossible to obtain.
The potion, which restored not just physical fatigue but mana as well, carried a fishy stench today of all days.
"Kuh!"
Jeonghyeon grimaced involuntarily.
Romanell feigned surprise at the reaction.
"Has your body not fully recovered? In that case..."
"By any chance... Does that potion have beastkin blood in it too?"
Romanell, holding the potion, answered without changing expression.
"Indeed. Made from the pure blood of young beastkin. It's top-grade among potions—you can't get it anywhere else."
Pure-blooded young beastkin.
Did that mean every potion he'd ever received from Romanell and the high elves had been made from beastkin blood?
Overwhelmed by nausea, Jeonghyeon dry-heaved.
"Urk! Damn it!"
Now he understood.
Why Horakti despised the high elves so much.
That guy's more considerate than I thought.
Watching Jeonghyeon converse with those who imprisoned his kin in basements as test subjects and turned them into potions—Horakti had stayed silent out of respect for Jeonghyeon's judgment.
"Are you alright?"
Startled, Romanell supported Jeonghyeon's body, but Jeonghyeon recoiled in disgust at the false piety and slapped his hand away without thinking.
"That basement... Can I see it too?"
"...No. Only the noble may enter."
"Extracting blood from innocent young lives to make medicine—that's noble?"
Jeonghyeon glared at Romanell as if ready to tear him apart.
Romanell, sensing clear hostility, showed his displeasure.
"So it wasn't the Demon King that broke you—you were irreverent from the start."
"Answer me. Is draining blood from innocent lives to make drugs noble?"
Jeonghyeon grabbed Romanell by the collar.
Romanell placed a hand on Jeonghyeon's arm.
"Your familiar was right. You're the type who always sides with the weak. I understand the sentiment."
But Jeonghyeon's grip didn't loosen easily.
"Kh, ahem."
Romanell cleared his throat awkwardly before continuing.
"All races deserve respect. Animals, orcs, even undead."
"But beastkin are filthy failures of the gods—mixtures of four-legged beasts and humans."
"Their blood, passing through our noble hands, becomes potions and medicines that heal other pure beings. That's their reason for existing."
"Just because they look like a mix of animals and humans?"
It was absurd.
Jeonghyeon had slain harpies and minotaurs climbing the Tower, but that was survival.
No, he wasn't even going to justify or excuse it.
But this is different.
They saw it as fine to persecute beastkin simply for being beastkin.
Worse, Romanell and the high elves acted as if they were guiding Jeonghyeon. Their failure to recognize their own wrongness only fueled his rage.
"Nus! Nus, you bastard, where are you!"
In the end, Jeonghyeon made his decision.
"'Bastard,' you say...? Such vulgarity!"
Romanell could no longer tolerate it and shot to his feet.
"Elves! Assemble!"
Thud thud thud.
In an instant, the sanctuary filled with high elves.
Nus came flying back to Jeonghyeon in a fluster.
"What? What's going on?"
"Looks like we're gonna have to fight."
At Jeonghyeon's words, Nus smacked his forehead in irritation.
"Agh! If that's the case, why not earlier?! I was surrounded by elves for nothing!"
"You loved it."
"Loved it to death!"
"..."
"...I mean! If we'd fought sooner, we could've had Horakti with us!"
"How was I supposed to know? Gotta apologize to him later."
Jeonghyeon pulled the Blood Dissector from his inventory once more.
Dark red mana flickered menacingly between the harvesting knife's teeth.
"...!"
Romanell's face hardened instantly.
"All forces! Battle stations!"
This was the high elves' lair.
Even if they lived in small groups, there were dozens to nearly a hundred.
A situation utterly disadvantageous to Jeonghyeon.
But Jeonghyeon didn't care, fixing Romanell with a sharp stare as he asked.
"Hey, Romanell. One question."
"How do you know my name...?"
"High elves revere forest fairies as sacred, right? So what about dryads or ant people—mixes of humans, animals, and plants?"
"..."
Romanell couldn't answer readily.
And that silence was answer enough.
"As expected... You just needed an excuse to harvest potion ingredients."
High elves.
They were no different from liches who experimented on lives for intellectual amusement, regardless of race.
Just prettier liches.
Jeonghyeon spat on the floor in fury and—
"That bastard dares defile our sanctuary!!"
"You lot are pretty good at vulgarity yourselves. Noble elves."
—swung the Blood Dissector at a nearby high elf.
Splat!
This time, his dissection technique didn't spare the skin.
"Gahk!"
Crimson blood burst from the pale skin of the high elf who had idled on beastkin blood.
Jeonghyeon channeled mana into the Blood Dissector, activated Shout, and burned the words into the elves' minds, letter by letter.
"The Demon King has appeared, you damned bastards."