Chapter 50
Chapter 50
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Delivering the Gospel to the Snobby Bitch (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After the war ended, the Hero Party members each voiced their own wishes.
Mirni spoke of vast riches and claimed a mountain of gold and jewels. Valian wished for a water source to quench his tribe's thirst forever and seized a mighty river and dam. Leon offered all the glory he had earned to his loyal king.
Luxy's wish was fulfilled in a vague manner.
She made some request to the goddess, but it didn't quite pan out, so in the end, she settled for gaining new knowledge.
The only ones left were Sylvia and Alicia, but Sylvia was already a saintess blessed by the gods. She held a position where she couldn't even make a wish.
Instead, she had seized immense authority and honor within the church—enough that calling her the next pope wouldn't be an exaggeration. She probably didn't need something like a wish anyway.
And finally, Alicia's wish was...
—I wish for my race to reclaim the ancient glory it has lost.
The glory the elves had lost.
It referred to the era when the elves had once built a power rivaling that of the five kingdoms.
The tale of how the elven kingdom had crumbled due to declining population, invasions by other races, food shortages, and more was so famous it even appeared in history books.
Alicia wanted to reclaim that lost past glory with the goddess's power.
Her wish for a return to the past...
【It shall be as you desire.】
The goddess's power was truly great and supreme.
The elves reclaimed their ancient lands. Elves, who had struggled with pregnancy, began conceiving one after another. Vitality surged through the barren forests, solving their food problems.
If things continued like this for a hundred years—no, even just a decade—the elves seemed certain to recreate their past glory. Everyone anticipated and yearned for the birth of a new kingdom surpassing the old one!
However...!
—Are you only looking out for your own tribe, Lady Alicia!
—No matter that you're a high elf, you can't ignore our elders!
—You don't plan to accept half-elves too, do you...?
—Dark elves! We must exterminate those damned heretics of the desert!!
—Lady Alicia!!
The elven tribes were divided into about eight factions, and it had been centuries since their last unification.
That was more than enough time for each to develop its own distinct culture. Having absorbed human power structures, they refused to merge into one.
The goddess's power could restore their old lands and prosperity, but it couldn't resolve the races' wills, philosophies, or desires.
Thus, conflicts erupting every minute of every day inevitably sparked fights between tribes. High elves like Alicia had to rack their brains over it.
—Kin, in this state, reclaiming our old glory is meaningless.
—We need a different approach. Honestly, elves aren't cut out for politics.
—Why should we bother with politics at all? Isn't that monkey culture!!
—How long do you plan to keep ignoring them? Get your head straight! The era has changed! How much longer will you arrogantly cling to the past!!
Awakened high elves argued that to reform elven society, they needed to embrace human politics and culture.
But no one would accept it.
Instead, they only scorned and rebuked the high elves who spoke up!
With even the high elves divided in opinion, those friendly to human society led their tribes and left the new kingdom entirely.
—Kin! Wait! You can't leave like this!
—...Elven hero Alicia, I know you've worked for your kin. I respect your achievements. But this isn't right. Look at them! So arrogant—how could they lead a kingdom!
—It's just a current problem! Given time, surely...!
—Yes, time will solve it.
—Right, exactly! So......
—...In about a thousand years!! That's when it might work!
—...
—Let's face it, elven hero. Elves have become too proud and stubborn. Far from growing wiser with time, our arrogance has only grown. This isn't one person's fault—it's everyone's. The problem is no one seems interested in fixing it.
—...
—While elven society engages in empty talk, the gap with human kingdoms will only widen. The same goes for our sworn enemies, the dwarves. By the time we pull ourselves together, they'll be hundreds—no, thousands of steps ahead. So I'm leaving. Better to find a workaround than drag this hopeless issue forever.
—Wh-where are you going?
—To the desert.
—N-no way! To the heretics...!
—Why are they heretics, Alicia? What exactly did you learn from that war?
—...
—Whether their skin is dark or pale, they are our kin. They're family who took a slightly different path, ones we could share a meal with anytime. Heroes acknowledged by the [Thunder Slaughterer].
—!!
Luke. The moment his name came up, Alicia fell silent.
The man who had led dwarves, dark elves, and countless other races.
Her pupils trembled violently at the name of the one who had vanished over a year ago.
By the time she snapped out of her daze, her kin had already departed.
Taking their tribe with them...
—...This won't do...!
Alicia felt a sense of crisis.
Signs of division were already blatant.
One of the eight tribes had already left the new kingdom, and ominous signs appeared everywhere.
Alicia agonized for days on end.
Searching for a clever solution to this problem...!
Then, in a flash of insight, she arrived at one answer.
—An [enemy]. We just need an enemy!
The reason the coalition army—divided by race and status—had united was the overwhelming common foe called the 'Demon King's army'.
She had seen it already! The sight of everyone uniting when there was an enemy to fight!
And so Alicia...
—Let's start a war!
She made the choice she shouldn't have.
The moment she declared war on the kingdom of Odin.
"—Before she could even start the war, Alicia was already subdued by the other high elves."
"......"
"High elves aren't complete idiots, after all. They knew that marching on Odin's capital would reignite total war, wiping out the elves whose population had finally started growing. Alicia clung stubbornly to her 'solution' as the right answer."
Sylvia spoke calmly, but there was a hint of sorrow in her expression.
Was she sad that her old comrade was such a pathetic bitch?
But hadn't we known she was a bitch since forever?
What's there to be sad about...?
"The real problem was King Nirver. He somehow got wind that the elves were preparing for war and used it as an excuse to declare war on them. Because of that, the elves lost half the territory they'd just reclaimed. Their food stores were all burned, and the population growth reversed. And most importantly..."
"There must've been high elf casualties too."
"H-how...?"
"Have you ever seen that bastard Nirver fight with any strategy? Obvious—he just threw troops in endlessly. The issue is that among those troops, there were probably a lot of real heavyweights..."
The king might be incompetent, but his loyal retainers weren't all useless.
He didn't know about the politicians, but there were quite a few bureaucrats even Yuseong had to acknowledge as capable. Considering the heroes who survived the great war, the elves had no chance of winning.
"From what I know, a ton of kingdom guys held grudges against elves. Same with the ones under me. With their personalities, the moment they had an excuse, they slaughtered without restraint."
"......"
"Wondered why Alicia was a fugitive... Turns out she's hunted by humans and elves alike."
"......You read all that... You're amazing..."
"Anyone could've pieced it together from what you've said."
"......"
As Yuseong said, the war was one-sided.
The kingdom, having endured the great war, was filled with hero-level powerhouses—not quite on the Hero Party's scale, but numerous.
As Yuseong predicted, many grudge-holders among the ranks were big shots. The elves faced the full fury of these heroes.
It was self-inflicted, with no room for forgiveness.
Only after three of the eight tribes were annihilated did the elves realize the crisis. Casting aside their signature arrogance and pride, they surrendered unconditionally.
They lost territory beyond recovery and had to pay massive reparations...!
With their lofty pride, they needed someone to vent their rage on, and Alicia was singled out.
If not for her choice, this foolish disaster wouldn't have happened!!
Once the target of resentment was set, high elf or not, things spiraled out of control.
Fortunately, a few loyal elves risked their lives to help her escape. That's how she got away.
"With high elves dying too, she couldn't dodge responsibility. She had to take it."
"Then why's she still alive?"
"...That's..."
In a way, she was a war criminal.
No matter how much of a pushover Leon was, would he shelter someone like that?
In Midgard, war criminals meant irredeemable villains sentenced to death—no exceptions.
Leon and the others weren't naive enough to protect scum like that.
"......"
Sylvia hesitated at this point.
She seemed worried that explaining might deepen his already intense hatred of elves.
"—So she wasn't the ringleader, huh?"
"!!?"
"Knew it."
Yuseong saw right through Sylvia's concern and scoffed, dismissing it as needless worry.
His loathing for elves had already hit rock bottom—there was nowhere lower to go.
No matter how good a washing machine is, it can't clean something so caked in grime it's become a filthy mess.