Chapter 84. The High Elves' Sanctuary (3)
"……."
Horakti glared at Romanell as if he wanted to kill him.
Jeonghyeon had assumed he'd tear the man apart on the spot.
"Are the surviving children…… just you lot?"
Brushing past Romanell, Horakti turned to his beastkin and spoke.
Then, gazing at them, he lowered his head.
"This body of mine is weak…… I'm sorry for being so weak."
'……Damn it.'
It was a statement laced with the pain of a weak Demon King, a frail leader, and an individual seething with resentment.
Jeonghyeon knew all too well what that felt like—what kind of heart, what suppressed anguish had forced those words out.
He himself had thought it a hundred times in that final moment, dying at the Demon King's hands.
Instead of choosing for Horakti, Jeonghyeon offered direction.
"……Let's go for now."
***
Once the chaos had settled and every high elf combatant save Romanell lay dead.
Horakti and Jeonghyeon emerged aboveground with the beastkin in tow.
"What now?"
Jeonghyeon probed Horakti's intentions.
This place was for his ally Horakti, after all. No matter how you dressed it up, it had been an invasion.
He'd said the same when slaughtering the high elves—no excuses here.
So, they needed to take what they wanted.
'That's war for you.'
Coming to Afraksas meant embracing cold ruthlessness.
Growing steadily or getting stronger bit by bit wouldn't cut it anymore.
Jeonghyeon's goal was always to kill Malekith and survive.
"It was possible thanks to you. That's why I want to ask."
"Ask what?"
"What would you have done?"
Horakti asked, showing considerable trust in Jeonghyeon.
'Well, yeah. Someone who's only ever lost has no clue what to do after a win.'
"Obviously, kill 'em!"
Nus jumped in before Jeonghyeon could respond, bristling with fury.
"They dared to mess with our Demon King! You think we'd let them live?! Even if you spare 'em, I'd kill 'em!"
"As expected."
That damn Nus. Her bratty pixie form made her tone and looks clash so hard it was cognitive dissonance city.
"Think of your rage, Horakti! Your clan's pain! You gonna let them live?!"
"……Indeed! We can't let them off!"
"……We doing this pattern the whole time?"
Absurdity washing over him, Jeonghyeon stepped between them, wrapping an arm around the shoulders of Romanell—who knelt trembling in the center—and mediated.
"So, what then?"
Nus buzzed right up to Jeonghyeon's face and yelled.
He shoved her away from his nose, then turned a gentle hand to Romanell.
"……Will you…… spare me? If you just let me live……."
"Of course not killing you. Why would I?"
Then Jeonghyeon's hand softly—click—gripped Romanell's throat.
"Gonna torture you first. Make every high elf sharing your senses realize what they did."
Romanell's neck stiffened rigid.
"Starting with fingernails and toenails, then limbs. Dig into every inch of you slow. Then heal you with their potions and do it again."
"Pardon……?"
"You won't die even if you want to. You'll just live as a conduit for the beastkin's suffering till you drop."
"Is that…… necessary?"
"Necessary? I just spilled all about your hidden high elf lair. They'll relocate soon."
Jeonghyeon's harvesting knife slowly angled toward Romanell's throat.
"We'll hold their chief and the rest of the tribe hostage. Cut off any chance of attack."
"Ho ho. Now that's Demon King material—I like it!"
Even if war meant doing everything possible, Jeonghyeon and Nus were straight-up villains.
The most heinous kind.
"That…… do we really need to go that far?"
Surprisingly, Horakti was the one holding them back.
"Why? Compared to the humiliation and pain your kin endured, this is nothing."
At Jeonghyeon's words, Horakti spoke slowly.
"I'm grateful you're this furious for our alliance. But I know it's not your true heart."
"Our kin suffered so, yet we can't become like them."
"I've learned much from you. Thank you. For raging in my stead."
"……."
Jeonghyeon glanced at Nus.
Her eyes seemed to say:
'Oh, really……? I thought you were serious about torturing and killing.'
Jeonghyeon gave a small nod.
He'd have done it for real if Horakti hadn't stopped him.
'Ahem. Maybe too Demon King-ish just now.'
Coughing inwardly, Jeonghyeon sheathed his knife and stood from Romanell.
"See? All high elves watching through Romanell's senses. This is the beastkin mercy and magnanimity."
He proudly thumped his chest.
"That was my ploy to show it."
"Ploy my ass. You were gonna carve him up…… Mmph!"
Jeonghyeon clamped Nus's mouth, forcing a smile as he continued.
"Ahem. My friend may forgive, but I can't."
"Wh-what do you mean. You keep……."
Forgiveness underground, listen to your friend—then when the friend forgives, he can't? From Romanell's view, Jeonghyeon was the devil incarnate.
"Torture on hold. Want an alliance with the high elves, led by Romanell."
Jeonghyeon locked eyes with Romanell.
Speaking to every high elf sharing his senses.
"Romanell, you're our envoy. And you lot—without beastkin help—keep that potion quality and tribute it monthly. About 40% of production."
"H-how could we……!"
Jeonghyeon pressed Romanell's palm underfoot.
Crunch. The sound of hand crushed between foot and ground echoed.
"Quiet. Not done yet."
"Aaaagh!"
As dirt and stone dug into Romanell's pale hand, Jeonghyeon lifted his foot and met his eyes again.
"And as allies, formal request."
"Elaha's Garden is now Horakti's territory. No complaints?"
The highlight.
Jeonghyeon infused his eyes with Demon King mana.
No high elf beholding those pitch-black eyes would dare rebel.
"Discuss and reply through Romanell in one minute."
Jeonghyeon released Romanell's hair.
"You…… really human? Some hero…… right?"
"What? Never said I was righteous or good."
***
"If I were just 'good,' how'd I become Demon King?"
Jeonghyeon had no intent to condemn or defend high elves or beastkin.
He fought solely for humanity, after all.
"Last Hero, huh…… Pretty brutal."
Nus's earlier kill-talk was fake madness.
Casually claiming territory, demanding tribute.
Then enjoying Elaha's Garden scenery like he hadn't noticed his own deeds.
That was true madness.
"A Demon King through and through."
Nus murmured softly.
"Well? Answer should be ready."
Less than a minute by anyone's count, Jeonghyeon turned back to Romanell.
No breathing room.
That was the stance for haughty superiors like high elves once cornered.
Otherwise, they'd scheme petty ways to survive.
The smarter the scholars, the less rational when trapped.
"Your answer?"
This time, like he'd really stab, Jeonghyeon laid his pitch-black harvesting knife—mirroring his eyes—against Romanell's wrist.
"I…… understand. Elaha's Garden belongs to the beastkin…… no, our allies. But……."
"But?"
"The potions need research. Grant us one month."
"One month…… Too long."
"Pardon……? Then……."
"Hey, Horakti."
"Y-yeah! Yes! Right!"
Having witnessed Jeonghyeon's madness, Horakti startled at his call, replying like a glitching robot.
"Next target—where?"
"We need human territory too, no?"
"We got the west."
"Beyond the forest trapping Elaha's Garden lies plains fit for humans."
Ah, Elaha's Thul.
Decent setup, but monster-heavy.
"Hmm. How long to take it?"
"At your level, under three days."
"Okay. Three days it is."
Jeonghyeon flashed that mad, saccharine smile at Romanell again.
"Finish research in three days. Or……."
His mana flowed along his gaze into Romanell.
Demon King power, mist-like, seeped into the high elf's sacred body—veins bulging, Romanell writhing in agony.
"Urgh…… Ack……!"
"Or…… your messengers better run fast. I'll exterminate you before other Demon Kings."
No mercy.
Especially for intelligent foes.
They'd churn out potions desperately to live.
"Right, Horakti. You build the beastkin village here."
"……Thanks again."
"Thanks? Alliance duty."
Twists and turns, born of invasion—but an alliance was an alliance.
Jeonghyeon offered a handshake to his territorial ally.
"……Grateful."
Horakti extended his bird-taloned human hand.
Alliance friendly relations achieved.
Domination over beastkin rises.
Alliance Favor: Good
When Alliance Favor reaches Submission, you may command allied forces as your own army.
Alliance Quests now available.
Alliance quests…… Like side quests, probably.
Completing them would boost favor.
"Hmm. Nice."
But no side quest popped now, and no need to grind favor blindly.
'No time for that. What matters now is…….'
Jeonghyeon had other priorities.
The reason he had to reach Afraksas ASAP.
"Hey. Send me to the Thul?"
He asked Horakti, who nodded readily.
***
Elaha's Thul.
A small plain right beside Elaha's Garden.
Unlike its serene tourist vibe, virulent monsters swarmed here.
"The zing is top-notch!"
All prime feed for Nus.
"Done."
Jeonghyeon flopped in the plain's center, gazing at the star-drenched night sky as darkness fell.
'Always beautiful, no matter how often I see it.'
Dual moons and dense stars.
Afraksas's true splendor shone at night.
"Humans had to climb the Tower to get here, right?"
"Yeah. Hunted 'em for that."
"Then?"
"Needed a chat spot."
Nus, slurping scorpion stingers, tilted her head.
"Chat? With who."
"Who else. The dragon who begged humans ahead of us for help."
Jeonghyeon pointed to a patch of sky and spoke.
"Uldran, you're listening, right? What's next?"