97. Summit Meeting
Erwen's appearance caught not just me off guard. Everyone had expected Queen Elenoir to show up, so murmurs rippled through the room. The only exception was the human kingdom's army representative, a guy named Legion Commander Reinhardt, who didn't know what Elenoir looked like.
"Are you the dark elf queen?"
"Oh come on, queen? I'm just an old hag banging on iron."
"All the races' representatives were supposed to gather. Is the queen not coming?"
He said that while eyeing Erwen as she took her seat. Erwen rummaged through her grubby pouch and pulled something out—a small ring. Come to think of it, I'd seen Elenoir wearing something like that once. The ring bore a crest similar to the reconnaissance team's mark on my epaulet. Probably the dark elf royal insignia.
"I got the role properly handed over from that girl, so relax, you big lump of a human."
The legion commander—Reinhardt—the big lump in question, furrowed his brow slightly. He looked seriously displeased.
"A mere blacksmith representing her entire race? You must think this situation is pretty damn trivial."
The guy who knew the least about the actual situation was spouting off like that. Well, I get it—Erwen in her filthy work clothes plopping down at the round table probably rubbed him the wrong way. Fair enough; this was a serious summit of the three major powers discussing grave matters, and she shows up like that. But was now the time to nitpick?
"Human, aren't you the one misreading the room? What do you think this gathering is for?"
"To negotiate the future of each race..."
"Hmph. Does this look like a situation where we can throw around words like 'negotiate'? Did you humans miss that massive snake over there?"
Erwen pointed far off toward the black aura billowing from the serpent's body as she spoke.
"We’ve got two futures left: we all get wiped out together, or we pool our strength and win together."
"Elenoir—our queen—said as much. With no other options, this isn't diplomacy anymore."
"So instead of schemers trying to game it for profit, someone without grudges should step up."
Alliance was a given; failure meant extinction. All that was needed was clasping hands. To avoid raised voices, put a broad-minded civilian at the table—not because she took it lightly, but because she knew how dire it was. More precisely, it was a demonstration to show just how serious things were.
"What, I'm the dark elves' eldest elder. I'm a pro at reconciling bratty kids with bad blood."
She tossed out words that sounded provocative, then flashed a refreshingly bright smile.
***
Erwen might be just a blacksmith, but she's practically a living legend among the dark elves. The kingdom had sent a general instead of their king anyway, so the dark elves didn't have to send their queen. The kingdom side didn't push back further, and talks for uniting the three powers soon got underway.
And honestly, I barely understood half of it. The early part about the serpent's danger and blame game made sense. But once Erwen mediated past the "who's better" bullshit, it devolved into diplomacy I couldn't follow.
How many troops the kingdom could spare, mobilizing siege weapons was economically tough, that stuff was easier to grasp. But as they dove into real politics, I was lost. Hell, I didn't even get why it was coming up.
The kingdom side had more issues than I'd thought. They were as hostile to elves as the high elves were to humans—talking like they were dealing with illegal immigrants. I got the historical beef and the "fucking elf" trauma from experience, but they kept making excuses to push for concessions.
If straight cash support wasn't feasible, then cede part of the Great Forest as territory, blah blah. Erwen got frustrated every time, saying this wasn't the moment, but the talks just circled.
I'd planned to bring up raid strategy briefings, but no helping it now. Time to shut this down.
"Hey, hey, you—shut the fuck up. Enough already."
I shot up from my seat and spat curses at the scheming advisor yapping next to the grand general.
"What the fuck, every goddamn sentence demanding this or that? You itching to get wrecked?"
The kingdom folks bristled and started blabbering, but I ignored them and opened my inventory. Not to pull weapons and force things, obviously.
"It's pricks like you that made me hold this back on purpose."
I tapped the gold tab and dumped a massive pile of coins onto the table, just like I'd shown Erwen.
-Ching ching ching ching!
The kingdom humans watching warily went slack-jawed as it piled up. If money and profit were the issue, I'd solve it— you greedy fucks.
I emptied every coin I'd hoarded from Floor 1 to 9 without mercy, then pulled out items. Hundreds of armors and weapons for soldiers. Excluding the ones smashed in my duel with Mercedes, it was a mountain. No big loss.
"Beat that snake bastard and survive, and you can have whatever's left. My one condition."
I dumped all the items and gold, then drew my beloved sword and hurled it at the schemer.
-Thunk!
It embedded in the wall, narrowly missing his head. I aimed that way, but even if it hit, whatever.
"Anyone who said 'profit' or 'money' just now gets excluded from the operation."
Leave those guys in charge of supplies, and they'd skim for sure.
***
After twists and turns, the three powers' summit wrapped successfully. Now it was about maxing prep before the raid kicked off—plenty of time left, thankfully.
Post-summit, I spilled everything I knew about the serpent: attribute weaknesses, stacking blessings, its recycling, remaining time, synergies with each faction's siege weapons. Some asked how I knew, but I bullshitted and they dropped it. As NPCs, they couldn't dig too deep into system mysteries.
After the first strategy meeting, I approached Erwen.
"Hey, where's Elenoir right now? What’s she up to?"
Fine, Erwen as rep made sense, but Elenoir not showing at all? Felt rushed sending Erwen instead, and it bugged me.
She stroked her chin thoughtfully before answering.
"Seems she's got some solo prep to handle. Said not to bother her for a bit since she's busy."
Her face soured bitterly. Looked like she hated relaying it.
"And, um... her heart's in a mess. Human, you didn't say something hurtful to that girl, did you?"
"Nothing comes to mind."
"It sure seems tied to you, but she won't spill when I ask—love's a real pain, huh."
Erwen patted my back hard and walked off, muttering about forge work piling up. Love? What the hell outta nowhere.
I knew Elenoir's condition had worsened lately. She'd claimed good sleep, but she looked more drained by the day. Worried me, even if she was just a tin-can NPC I'd ditch soon.
But watching her eyes lose their light day by day... it gave me this dull ache somewhere.
"Tied to me?"
I rubbed my forehead, recalling Erwen's words. How the hell was my fault her getting worse? Erwen jumped to lovesick conclusions, but ours was shallow from the start.
"Fuck it."
I sighed and shoved the thoughts aside. Too much else to focus on now. Whatever state Elenoir was in, so what? Fail to kill that world boss, and we're all fucked anyway. Forget it for now—deal later. Later.