The Black Flame Treaty
Do you really want to just let all your kin die here?
Elisa gazed down at the elf before her, who was looking up with a face full of worry. Within those eyes, she could clearly sense it—the emotion the girl cherished so deeply. Fear.
A cold smile curved across Elisa’s lips as she spoke to Octavia standing before her.
“Ugh…”
Elisa’s words struck precisely at the heart of the matter. Hearing them, Octavia realized she had begun the negotiation on entirely faulty premises. No matter how much one spoke of national interest or reason, in the end, it was people who made the decisions. If the emotional resistance was too fierce, rejection was always possible. The fact that she had failed to account for this was a bitter mistake indeed.
And watching her, Elisa continued in a voice laced with ice.
“D… Dark elf?”
The mere utterance of that most profane name made Octavia feel as if her entire body had frozen solid. The transformation into a dark elf—the greatest and worst insult an elf could suffer. Just hearing it mentioned was enough to make her shrink back psychologically.
Elisa smiled with a beauty that seemed utterly unnecessary in this situation, as if she were mocking her. At the same time, watching her, Octavia felt a flicker of irritation at her own heart, which was still pounding foolishly even now. She asked as calmly as she could manage.
“So… what exactly do you want?”
“Hm?”
“In the end, what must I do? What can I do to make the Demon Kingdom willing to help us?”
In the end, no matter what else was said, the only thing left for Octavia was to somehow secure a deal. Moreover, the simple fact that they had not yet cut off their heads or turned them into dark elves—as they had threatened—suggested that beneath their rage, they still held some willingness to compromise.
In response to her question, Elisa smiled a chilling smile as if she had been waiting for it, and held out a single sheet of paper.
“Umm…”
The single sheet of paper dropped in front of her. It was quite large, densely packed with a considerable amount of text. Octavia began to read it with a deep sense of dread.
And then…
“! Th… this is… these conditions are ridiculous…”
The moment she confirmed the contents, shock and intense disgust surged up from Octavia’s throat. The contract Elisa had presented contained terms so brutally harsh that even Octavia—who had come prepared for the worst—found them utterly unacceptable.
The astronomical war reparations demanded were almost beside the point. The various commercial privileges and military requests were comparatively mild. What was truly intolerable was…
The demand that, to atone for the sins of the previous war, the Pope himself must kneel before the Demon King, bow his head, and apologize. That the racial war had been fundamentally wrong from the start, and that they must prostrate themselves in sincere apology to every demon who had suffered because of it. This was the core of the contract.
It went far beyond mere money or interests. It was essentially the Pope denying the very foundation of the elves, who claimed to pursue truth according to the will of the gods. The fact that such absurd conditions had been written into the treaty filled Octavia with rage. She glared at the horrifically beautiful demon before her and spoke in a cold voice.
“This… looks like you have no intention of negotiating with us at all… Am I wrong?”
“Oh? Well… if that’s what you think, then I suppose it is. But I have some good news for you.”
With those words, Elisa pulled something from her bosom. It was the bottle Octavia had brought—the one containing the black flames. And beside it, a small vial flickering with an opposing blue flame.
“Th… that is…?”
“Hehe…”
Elisa let out a light laugh in front of the questioning Octavia. Then she dropped the blue flame from the vial into the bottle containing the black flames.
In an instant, the black flames reacted with the blue and vanished completely.
“!”
The moment she saw it, the anger that had been blazing in Octavia’s heart began to subside, just like the extinguished black flames. Watching her, Elisa continued with a cold smile.
“Kuh…”
Elisa spoke in a voice that seemed to find the situation thrilling. Yet despite her arrogant attitude, Octavia had no choice but to acknowledge that this was no mere joke or threat.
The absurd contract before her eyes. If she—granted full authority by her father the Pope—were to sign it, it would undoubtedly cause catastrophic damage that would shake the very foundations of the Elf Theocracy in countless ways.
But even so, if she signed, she could protect them.
She could protect the Elf Theocracy itself, and the World Tree Jupiter that was its heart. Furthermore, she could save the lives of countless compatriots who were even now burning and dying in the flames.
In this moment where everything would be decided by her own hand, Octavia began to hesitate. Watching her, Elisa spoke in a voice dripping with mockery.
“!... Ah…”
Elisa spoke of something so cruel it felt like a knife to the heart, yet her tone was strangely light. The moment she heard those words, countless images of her homeland flashed through Octavia’s mind.
Her younger siblings who always smiled brightly at her. The close friends she had trained with. Her father, who was gruff but showed quiet paternal love. And even the young children she always saw on the streets, laughing and playing without a care in the world.
In a situation where all their lives might vanish because of her hesitation, Octavia had no choice but to make her decision.
“….Kuh… Hic… Sob… Sob…”
Shedding tears of blood, Octavia began to move the pen with great difficulty. If it became known that she, as a representative of the Theocracy, had signed such a treaty, the name Octavia would surely be remembered for generations as a traitor who sold her country.
Yet even so, she had no choice but to choose. So that the history stained with words that insulted her might at least continue. So that she could save everyone she knew and loved…
And so, the treaty known as the worst humiliation in the history of the Elf Theocracy—the so-called Black Flame Treaty—was signed deep within an underground prison, wrapped in despair, just as its name suggested.
However, the elves who would later rage in fury upon hearing this news had no idea.
That this humiliating choice of theirs was nothing compared to the immense chaos the continent would soon face.
“Hic… Hiccup… Uhhk…”
Octavia sat collapsed on the floor, head bowed, shedding tears of sorrow and despair. Having done something so terrible to her own nation with her own hands, she writhed in unbearable shock and agony.
But as Elisa watched her, what she felt was not pity or sympathy, but rather a strong sense of satisfaction.
The sight of these noble elves—who had looked down on and tormented demons until now—groveling pathetically on the floor was truly a delightful scene. If she were honest, she wanted to show it to Mama and the others as well.
Having enjoyed the elf bitch’s despair show that was almost too good to keep to herself, Elisa tucked the signed contract into her bosom and spoke to her, voice full of mockery.
“!... Hic…. Hic…”
At Elisa’s words, Octavia momentarily paused her sobs and looked up at her. Though her vision was blurred with tears and she couldn’t see clearly… Elisa could sense the humiliation and rage that must surely be contained within those eyes.
As a final way to rub salt in the wound, Elisa gave her the kindest, gentlest smile possible and said,
“…”
At those words, Octavia’s tears stopped completely. She stared at Elisa with a dazed expression.
Elisa left her like that and walked out of the prison with light steps, filled with anticipation for the next humiliating spectacle the elves would soon put on.