Chapter 231: Dark Elf
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 231: Dark Elf
As I watched Alisha level a cold-voiced threat at her sisters, I found myself recalling the previous night.
I hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but Alisha’s visit last night had been incredibly amusing. I’d always thought she wore either a perpetually frightened expression or a strangely childish one, but that night, the atmosphere around her had been peculiar.
*
“There is something I must tell you.”
“Speak.”
“I believe my eldest sister, Eliane, will soon come to protest the contract she signed.”
It wasn’t entirely unexpected, but it was a little surprising that Alisha had come to me over such a matter. Besides, from her perspective, this was no different from ratting out her own sister.
“I hope you will not concern yourself with it…”
Her expression seemed a little anxious, yet there was a hint of conviction in it.
“…”
“I will handle everything myself to ensure no harm comes to you, Lord Blood Dagger. I will personally drive my ungrateful eldest sister from this kingdom. Once it is done, the thousand elves who remain with me will follow you with true loyalty and devotion.”
I thought the situation was taking a rather interesting turn. There was no way I wouldn’t realize why she was telling me this. She didn’t want her sister to die. Having seen my past, she couldn’t have failed to predict what would happen next.
If her eldest sister came to protest, she would die instantly. She knew that not only her sister but every elf in the Eveluse Kingdom would immediately be plunged into a life of hell. This had to be her own way of fighting back. It was a tear-jerking display of sisterly love, but I found it rather entertaining.
This was because the emotions Alisha felt at that moment were continuously flowing into me.
“You’re trying to protect her.”
“N-No. My eldest sister called me a filthy bitch and insulted me, saying I was screwing a monster. She condemned me for saving the kingdom, screamed at me to get out, and humiliated me. If it weren’t for me, my eldest and second sisters would still be trapped here, living like beasts, like whores. My sister even said I was no longer a princess of the kingdom. This is revenge.”
It was a transparent lie. The emotion flowing from her wasn’t resentment, but sorrow.
“I understand your intentions well. It’s very moving. I will give you a chance first.”
What I presented to her was Kimura Houtarou, the Japanese king, who was still bound limb from limb by Jung Hayeon’s roots, suffering in agony. I tossed a dagger onto the ground, and Alisha picked it up with a resolute expression.
I couldn’t be sure if this was her first time taking a life, but from what I knew, the elven race did not favor such acts. They valued harmony far more than fighting.
I gestured to Jung Hayeon, who was standing beside me, and she immediately withdrew the roots that had been gagging Houtarou’s mouth.
“S-Save me… Please, save me… Please…”
Naturally, a voice begging for life spilled out. But Alisha, biting her lip, did not stop. She clenched her jaw and glared at the man responsible for her kingdom’s fall, the king who had turned her sisters into broken shells. Despite her resolve, hesitation was visible in her eyes. She hadn’t yet managed to cast her old self aside.
Instead of thrusting the dagger with force, she chose to squeeze her eyes shut and slowly push the blade into her target’s arm.
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
The man should have been accustomed to pain by now, yet he shrieked and writhed dramatically. In truth, slowly inserting the dagger like that only amplified the pain he felt. Hearing his screams, Alisha slowly began to open her eyes. Warm blood splattered her hands, and her clothes—and of course, her face—were stained with it.
Her body trembling, Alisha stared down at her own hands.
What flickered in her eyes at that moment was ecstasy. It was unmistakably ecstasy.
“Ahhh…”
A strange sound escaped her lips. It was not a reaction that could come from a normal elf. I thought that either she had always been strange, or perhaps it was the influence of having entered my mind. She had known the pleasure of revenge before. It was an indirect experience, but I remembered that she had glimpsed the emotions I had felt.
As time passed, the hesitation in her movements vanished.
“Aaaaaargh! S-Save me… I… I was wrong…”
“Die! Die! You filthy human.”
I imagined she was quite disappointed to be a novice. With a little more skill, she could have savored her time with him for much longer. As her clothes, her face, and even her entire body became drenched in blood, I felt as if her skin color was also changing.
To Alisha, this man was undoubtedly the object of her resentment. He had violated her kingdom, caused her mother’s death, and was the central figure who had forced her to make the wrong choices.
If I were Alisha, I would have been truly delighted as well.
“Hahahahahahaha!”
“Ugh… uh… ah… ugh…”
The man’s entire body was already a mangled wreck, yet she was laughing as she plunged the dagger into him. She was growing more and more accustomed to it, but it wasn’t long before he finally stopped breathing.
Even so, the sight of her continuing to stab his corpse was quite fascinating. When she finally stopped, several dozen minutes later, her appearance was indeed different.
A Dark Elf.
I didn’t understand the mechanism—whether it was a case like Jung Hayeon’s or if elves simply became dark elves when they were corrupted—but it was surely proof that she had changed internally. Her golden hair had turned silver, and her once flawless white skin had become a grayish-black.
Still, she was beautiful. No, she was even more alluring. Alisha, too, began to slowly examine her own body. Unsurprised by the changes to her skin and hair, she smiled quietly and opened her mouth.
“You were right, Lord Blood Dagger.”
“…”
“Revenge is sweet. Incredibly sweet.”
*
That was why I could watch this situation unfold with such leisure. Of course, her disposition hadn’t done a complete 180-degree turn. A simple example was the fact that the emotions flowing from her were still pouring into me.
As I rested my chin on my hand in amusement, another loud shout erupted from Alisha’s mouth.
“What are you all doing! Drag those ungrateful mongrel bitches out of here at once!”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The ones who moved at her command were none other than her fellow elves. None of them had turned into dark elves like her, but they were the elves who had chosen to follow her will. It was only my speculation, but I thought she might have tinkered with their minds a little. Otherwise, I couldn’t imagine them reacting this way.
Watching the group of elves approach her, the queen of a ruined kingdom screamed as well.
“Alisha… Alisha! You’ve truly sold your soul to a demon! What is that form! How could you show yourself in such a corrupted state?”
“Shut up, you bitch who’s no different from a whore. It is a disgrace to the kingdom for you, who was rolling around in the human soldiers’ barracks, to become its queen. It is said that even beasts repay kindness. You should be grateful just to have your life spared. How truly pathetic… Look at yourself. It seems you’d even sell your body to get the kingdom back. Are you already longing for a man’s embrace?”
“How… how dare you! How dare you say that to me! I… I could have been the one to escape this hell instead of you. You could have been the one living with those beasts, just like me.”
“I never asked you to save me. You saved me not out of pity, but because you saw my abilities, did you not? You were the one who said you would no longer consider me your sister.”
It felt like I was watching a drama, but it was quite enjoyable. Seeing the second sister caught in the middle, unable to do anything, made it even more so. Her ears were drooping, and she looked around anxiously like a puppy that needed to pee.
“A-Alisha… S-Sister… A-Alisha, what are you saying to our sister…”
The elven soldiers rushed in to seize the two, including their guards, but naturally, they resisted. It was nothing more than a simple scuffle, yet it looked quite desperate. The most pitiful one of them all was the queen.
“How could you do this! I… I cared for you so much… You really have sided with them… From the very beginning… You planned to sell out the kingdom from the very beginning!”
Eliane stared at Alisha with trembling eyes. Before she could even adjust to her sister’s sudden change, she was being subjected to a rather harsh ordeal. Alisha slowly stood before Eliane. A cruel smile played on her lips.
Then, an incredibly loud sound rang out.
SMACK!
It was the sound of a cheek being struck.
“Shut up, you stupid bitch.”
“A-Alisha, you! You! How! How could you say such things to me! How could you act this way…”
Once again, a loud sound echoed.
“Mother and Father raised you so well… How could you!”
SMACK!
“I have no parents. And now, isn’t it the same for you? You have a lot to say for someone who couldn’t even protect the queen of her own kingdom. Without power, you can do nothing. The Earth Mother is not here. No one will listen to the words of a powerless bitch like you.”
Every time her older sister, Eliane, tried to speak, a loud smack followed. Her cheek was already bright red, and the inside of her mouth was a bloody mess. I thought it might be a bit much, but I felt I knew what Alisha was thinking.
She wanted her sister to hate her.
She wanted her sister to hate her more than the Blood Dagger Clan or the Brother’s Land. In a way, you could call it wise. Alisha knew that resisting us would only lead to death. The wise third sister was saving the foolish first sister.
From my perspective, it wasn’t a losing deal either. The elves who chose to stay would cooperate with us to the fullest, and I believed Alisha would continue to fight with her older sister to prevent any harm from coming to us.
“It was for the kingdom. For the kingdom, I endured this humiliation! I endured a hellish time even though I could have taken my own life. This is the land our mother built over her entire life. You… you! You cannot insult me, insult our mother, and insult the kingdom like this.”
“…”
“Alisha! Alisha!!”
“I hear a dog barking… What are you all doing? Drag those bitches out of here at once… We cannot trouble our benefactor any longer.”
Though she screamed as if in a final struggle, Alisha’s expression remained unchanged. Instead, she merely sauntered over to my side. I could guess what kind of picture Alisha wanted to paint, so I regretfully gave Baek Ahyeon, who was next to me, a gentle push.
“Ah! M-My Savior.”
In that opening, Alisha slowly took her place beside me.
The queen of the ruined kingdom saw this and screamed at the top of her lungs.
“You filthy bitch! I will live my entire life hating you! I will carry this grudge in my heart for the rest of my life.”
Eliane continued to struggle, refusing to be dragged outside. Then I remembered thinking that the second sister was quite useful. I looked at the second sister and slowly opened my mouth.
“You will remain.”
There was no way she didn’t know what I was saying. Eliane looked startled, her gaze shifting from me to Alisha. Even in this situation, the pathetic hope that Alisha would stop me was plain to see. Alisha bit her lip hard and spoke again.
“Elia will live here with us. You should consider it an honor to be able to live with our benefactor.”
It was a vile smile, making it hard to tell if she was being sincere or not.
“Y-You can’t.”
There was no choice. Not only Alisha, but Elia also knew this. As I watched silently, the guards gently released Elia, and she began to walk slowly toward us, her ears drooping.
“Drag that bitch out of here now.”
“No! N-No!”
It felt like watching a cheap melodrama, but it was magnificent. It was provocative, and a vortex of despair and sorrow swirled and flowed into me. But I knew the ending was still far off.
I could see Elia quietly watching me, gauging my reaction. I thought she was probably in the most difficult position right now. I looked at Elia and spoke.
“Show me Eliane.”
Realizing what my words meant, Elia quietly began to chant a spell. It was an incredibly convenient ability; being able to see a distant place so vividly was a huge advantage, even on the battlefield. It would be foolish to let such talent go.
Soon, the image of the queen of the ruined kingdom being driven out of the kingdom with the other elves began to appear. The powerless elves were surrounded by Green Skins as they were forced out, and the continuous sound of their weeping was quite a sight. Even the elves who hadn’t finished their treatment were all loaded onto something and cast out.
“Sob… sob…”
“Oh, Earth Mother…”
At the very front of the procession, walking out with drooping ears, was Eliane, who stared back at the castle with blazing eyes.
“Alisha! Alisha! I will live my entire life cursing you.”
From her screaming, she looked to be on the verge of madness. Alisha, who was watching the scene with me, quietly closed her eyes. Emotions of an intensity incomparable to before began to flow into me. It was enough to make me feel my power gradually increasing. Like Alisha, I closed my eyes, savoring the feeling as I spoke.
“A promise is a promise. It is right to provide the support we agreed upon. I will permit you to help them establish a home far from here. We will help them until they have laid a foundation so they will not be harmed by other humans.”
“They are beasts who know no gratitude, Chieftain.”
“I keep my promises.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Alisha’s cold voice still echoed, and for the first time in a long while, a voice resounded in my head.
[The Seat of Sorrow is very pleased. As a reward, it will rank up. Please select the individual to evolve.]
After a very long time, I had earned an opportunity to evolve.