Chapter 130
Isabela stepped into negotiations. “A pet….” Surprisingly, the one who reacted to my words wasn’t Dalshinyang, but Isabela. I’d introduced Dalshinyang as a pet before and brushed past it, but the situation then and now were worlds apart. Back then, I’d had to mind the elves, the forest’s true owners, but now the tables had turned completely. Dalshinyang’s treatment hadn’t changed a bit, but from Isabela’s standpoint—forced to swallow it—it might hit differently. I could see that anxiety gnawing at her face, the fear that her own elves might end up the same way.
“Dalshinyang. Clear out.”
“Nya?”
Dalshinyang, who’d been gazing at me with those dreamy eyes, started fumbling for her clothes. But I’d meant this to rattle Isabela even more, so I had to treat Dalshinyang even rougher on purpose.
“Since when do pets go around wearing clothes?”
“Ah, no. Nya. I’ll go, nya.”
Quick on the uptake, Dalshinyang answered in a fluster. The only ones around my tent were Karen, Jena, and Marian anyway. Dalshinyang had been glued to my tent for a while now—she knew them all—and without a shred of shame, she strode out naked as the day she was born.
“Alright, let’s talk.” I said it to Isabela, who’d turned to watch Dalshinyang’s retreating back. Snapping out of it late, Isabela let out a short sigh and met my eyes. No matter how she spun it or weighed her options, she was the one at a disadvantage. She admitted defeat with surprising grace.
“I lose. So, as you wish, we’ll cede the forest outskirts to the beastkin and dark elves. But the empire’s army withdraws—that’s the condition.”
Even cornered, Isabela faced me with a dignified expression. She probably figured since she was granting my demand, that made it a fair deal. But in my eyes, her math was dead wrong.
“Isabela, ever bought anything before?”
“Elves buy what we need from the empire. But why ask now?”
I smirked at her prim, questioning look. Both she and Dalshinyang led their races, but if I had to pick the sharper one, I’d side with Dalshinyang. Isabela had the beauty and poise to represent her kind, but she fell short in so many ways. For starters, I hadn’t asked if she’d bought anything out of real curiosity.
“Good. Since you’ve bought stuff, you know prices change with the situation, right?”
“What do you….”
“I’m from a backwater village. The old man who raised me ran a general store. You know what a rural shop sells—farm tools for the locals, random sundries. But even those tools fluctuate in price with the seasons.”
I dragged it out deliberately, wondering how long it’d take her to catch on. But Isabela wasn’t dumb; she led the elves, after all. The haughty attitude she clung to—unlike Dalshinyang’s—probably stemmed from that rotten elven habit of taking others’ courtesy for granted.
“So you’re saying the elves’ value has changed?”
“Who knows? Less that your value changed, more that I’m not in a position to ask your permission anymore.”
I flashed a grin as she finally started getting it. Her eyes narrowed, and she bit her lower lip, glaring daggers. Another guy might’ve softened at that, grinning like an idiot to soothe her, but I wasn’t that type.
“For example.”
“...?”
“Say I hand World Tree management to the dark elf leader tomorrow. What could you do?”
“You think I’d just stand by and watch?”
She shot back with a venomous glare. I didn’t expect her or the other elves to sit idle, either.
“Nah, you’d all throw yourselves into defending your holy site. And then? You couldn’t even hold off the Demon King’s army—what makes you think you’d stop the empire’s forces, me, and a beastkin-dark elf alliance?”
“... .”
“Oh, and for the record, the Light Sword will probably back us too. Or just sit it out.”
Her face hardened. She wasn’t stupid; she could picture the fallout if they rebelled.
“What do you want from me?”
Finally, she gave the answer I’d been fishing for. I beamed at her. The moment that insufferable elf queen knelt before me had arrived.
“Hmm, what should it be?”
But I didn’t tell her to strip or anything crude. Watching her submit on her own would feel better, and I was enjoying the back-and-forth anyway.
“Just say what you want.”
“Eh. Rather than what I want, shouldn’t you be thinking about what you can offer me?”
She gnawed her lower lip again at my reply. Truth was, she didn’t have much to give. Like Duke Capella said, elves only had their looks going for them.
“Will offering my body do?”
After an eternity of agonizing, she said it. Having seen Dalshinyang fuck me, it wasn’t a stretch for her to assume that’s what I craved. But even with the right answer, I gave her a bored look. Selling herself like this, yet she held her head high. That irked me.
“Hilarious. You’d think someone hearing that believes your body’s worth a fortune.”
I mocked her outright. She clenched her fists, humiliation flashing in her eyes.
“...Still, I’m better than a beastkin woman, aren’t I?”
Forcing a smile through eyes that could kill, she pressed on. Human men fantasizing more about elves than beastkin? Her reaction made sense.
“Dunno. It’s not like elf pussy comes with a gold rim….”
“G-gold rim on a pussy? Vulgar.”
“Guess you didn’t know—I’m a country bumpkin, never got cultured. What can ya do when the hero’s like that?”
“Haa. If you don’t like it, say what you really want. What do I have to do to keep you from touching the elves?”
I chuckled at her fraying patience.
“Simple. Coexistence for beastkin, dark elves, and high elves. And open the holy site to the dark elves.”
“D-don’t be ridiculous! Open the holy site?!”
“The World Tree isn’t yours alone, is it?”
I shot back as she bristled again. I didn’t know when elves started guarding it, but since dark elves felt its influence, they hadn’t monopolized it from the start.
“But they’re impure….”
“To me, the only difference is skin color. Judging them impure over that? Such trash-tier discrimination.”
She bit her lip hard—hard enough that it split, a trickle of blood seeping out.
“Please reconsider. We can’t allow opening the holy site.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying—I don’t need your permission.”
“...I beg you.”
I clapped at her haughty plea.
“Fine. Here’s the deal: in exchange for inspecting that prized body of yours, dark elves get one visit instead of full access.”
“...A visit?”
“Best I can offer. You know the dark elf chief’s daughter gave herself to me too.”
I grinned slyly, and she stared like I was filth. Gania hadn’t done it for the World Tree, but no need for full truth. No real reason to favor dark elves, but haggling’s half the fun.
“Well? Deal?”
I asked the elf queen, who looked at me like a loathsome bug.