Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Chapter 17: The Hall of Harmony (2)
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After arriving at the village, the group split into two.
Sien and Christian decided to tour the village with Solen.
Martin followed Laurent and Richia toward the tallest tree, where they would meet the elf grand elder of Altair Village and the dwarf grand elder of Ranens Village, who had come for today's meeting.
"Of course, it's not just them. Paolo and several other elders came along. And the executives, including me."
"That sounds like most of your key forces. Is it really okay to leave the village so empty?"
"No problem. If something comes up, we can warp back with the magic circle."
"Huh? I thought elves and dwarves only mingled with their own kind."
"Basically, yes. But warp magic circles have strict limits on distance and numbers, right? So the elves and dwarves in each region cooperate to counter human threats."
"Ah."
"And the reason everyone's gathered here is simple. They all want to meet you at least once. No matter how you slice it, you're different from the humans we've dealt with so far."
"Well, what an honor."
Martin shrugged lightly at Richia's words.
They entered the hollow in the largest tree, and as she had explained, a fair number of people were gathered there.
Twelve in total, including Armand and Paolo, with four of them being 8th Circle powerhouses.
Among them, the ones who caught Martin's eye were the two old men seated at the highest level.
The elf elder on the left had long gray hair and a neatly trimmed beard.
The dwarf elder on the right was distinguished by his unkempt brown hair and bushy beard.
"I am Bartez, the grand elder of Altair Village."
"I am Alessandro, the grand elder of Ranens Village."
The two grand elders introduced themselves.
Their tones were calm, yet Martin felt as if their souls were stirring.
That alone told him everything.
They had reached the 9th Circle.
Well, he had met Grand Elder Bartez before his regression, so he already knew the man's strength.
"I am Martin Adalbert."
"Before we get to the main topic, allow me to thank you once more. Truly, thank you for saving our kin, young lord of the Adalbert family."
"I am grateful for that as well. It gladdens my heart sincerely that a noble like you has emerged."
"It was simply my duty as a member of the Empire's North."
Even before these 9th Circle powerhouses, Martin responded calmly.
Right after, murmurs rose from here and there.
Member of the North.
Those words were more than enough to stir the gathered crowd.
"Quiet. This is not the time for us to chatter among ourselves."
"This is a place to hear the young lord of the Adalbert family's true intentions. I ask everyone to restrain themselves."
At Bartez and Alessandro's words, everyone fell silent and turned to Martin.
Some looked at him with favorable eyes, while others glared as if they wanted to devour him.
At a glance, the latter outnumbered the former, though the former were not few either.
'No wonder they can't unify their opinions.'
It wasn't for nothing that discord had arisen among them.
"I'd appreciate an honest answer. Do you truly wish to engage with us, young lord of the Adalbert family?"
"Of course. As I requested initially, if a market encompassing all three races is established, I will immediately permit entry to the dungeon."
"For a thousand years—a span even we dwarves and elves consider distant—humans have implicitly forbidden us from entering the dungeon. Even when slavery was officially abolished about three hundred years ago, that never changed. Allowing it now would burden you politically. Are you prepared to bear that?"
"It doesn't matter. That era of nitpicking is coming to an end anyway."
Martin answered Bartez and Alessandro calmly.
The two exchanged the same look, and Martin caught the meaning behind it, continuing.
"You all know it too. The chaos in the Alteria Empire is accelerating. Quarrels over the throne happen often, of course, but this time it's on another level. The imperial family and two of the three great noble houses are directly involved. I guarantee the flames of war will engulf the entire Empire, and the elves and dwarves residing in imperial territory won't escape the aftermath."
"......"
"What I want is one thing: stability in the North. But I can't achieve it alone. There are still too many enemies I can't handle yet."
Martin spoke frankly.
These people gathered intelligence anyway, so they wouldn't be ignorant, and they differed from humans in many ways.
"So I wish to join hands with the elves of Altair Village and the dwarves of Ranens Mountain to actively prepare for the coming chaos. You must not see this merely as human political strife. If you dismiss it as someone else's problem like before, you'll be swept up in the flames of war."
Many flinched at Martin's final words.
No one pressed him immediately, thanks to the grand elders' prior warnings.
"If a civil war on that scale erupts, you won't need to worry about political burdens anymore."
"You see it exactly right, Grand Elder Alessandro."
"Leaving that aside, what does selling our goods at a market have to do with the war?"
"Humans go mad for items made by elves and dwarves. I plan to draw as much money as possible from the Empire and the kingdoms of the Krassian Continent. Of course, I'll share the profits with you all."
"What if we don't particularly seek such gains?"
"Until now, the village's resources have sufficed without issue, Grand Elder Bartez. But entering the dungeon changes everything. You'll need far more."
The two grand elders fell silent at his last words.
They hadn't entered the dungeon in ages, but they knew preparing for combat there required much.
"We understand the young lord's intentions. But anyone can talk big."
"True enough."
"Being friends with elves or dwarves means one thing. Are you willing to stake your life for each other?"
"We have one request for you. Fulfill it, and we'll formally ally and accept your proposal. That matter is......"
"It's related to the dragonkin, and you want me to resolve it, correct?"
"Gasp!"
"How did you...?!"
Martin's insight stunned not only the two grand elders but everyone listening.
The only one smiling was Martin.
Every time he saw their shock, he truly felt the worth of his regression.
He could dominate the board, and the thrill from it was unmatched.
With a relaxed expression, he gazed at the stunned crowd and continued.
"After humanity seized the dungeon entrances, monsters emerging to the surface nearly vanished. Adventurers hunted them indiscriminately, culling their numbers drastically. They even took down those that surfaced before humans properly delved in. As a result, monsters are now rare on the surface—except for powerful individuals like the dragonkin."
"That doesn't explain dragonkin in our village, young lord."
"You're right, Grand Elder Bartez. But do you know this? Those who have taken pure dragon blood become sensitive to dragonkin presence. Especially as the individual approaches the dragon's rank, the reaction intensifies."
He had felt something similar upon meeting the basilisk king.
"It's illogical for dragonkin aura to linger in an elf village. Even a true dragon might be one thing, but your forces could crush the rest in moments. If it's still there, something must have gone wrong, no?"
In truth, this was just a prepared answer to convince them.
He knew everything that had happened in the village.
'About five years from now. They came to our family first.'
The fairies of Altair Forest had shed their reclusive ways and sought him out directly.
To request he solve the village's problem.
When he refused, they approached the branch family heads too.
But they failed.
He and the branch heads were too busy fighting each other to spare the effort.
"Someone who took pure dragon blood...... I've lived ages, but seeing it with my own eyes is a first. Astonishing, even if it was to overcome the dragon's curse."
"The Adalbert young lord is a freak, they said—and it's no mere rumor."
Alessandro and Bartez both clicked their tongues.
Dragon blood was the most effective for strengthening the body, but it was like deadly poison.
Surviving it proved Martin's mental fortitude.
"Every elf village has a World Tree. Have you heard of it, young lord?"
"I've heard rumors. The tree elves revere as sacred."
"Correct. The World Tree enriches the surrounding soil by its mere presence and purifies malign energies, helping maintain our kin's mind and body."
"Something happened to your World Tree."
"Indeed. A wyvern was drawn to the mana flowing from it and took root."
"A wyvern...... A powerful monster among dragonkin, but not beyond your village's power to handle."
"Normally, yes. But a grave issue arose. The World Tree is so vital we protect it with barriers, but the wyvern's mana mixed with it."
"Now the area around the World Tree has warped into a sort of otherworld, inaccessible to elves. And the damned wyvern keeps absorbing the World Tree's mana, growing stronger endlessly."
Martin nodded at Bartez and Alessandro's explanation.
It matched exactly what they had demanded before his regression.
The difference? Back then, the wyvern had already absorbed all the World Tree's mana, reaching near-true dragon strength.
'That's why they came to me.'
The Altair Forest elves couldn't stop it, and the village fell.
'Afterward, that wyvern escaped the elf village and rampaged wildly in the North.'
The surrounding territories suffered massive damage, and discontent among northern nobles and citizens grew.
Martin himself had considered pausing the war with the branches to focus on subjugating it.
But it proved unnecessary.
The wyvern rampaging in the North crossed to the East and fell to Ferdinand, the 10th Circle absolute, head of his house.
That etched the Adalbert family's decline into every imperial citizen's mind.
'I can't let that happen again.'
The World Tree was paramount to elves.
He needed to resolve it personally.
Finishing it properly would complete phase three of northern unification.
Martin steeled his resolve.
He would succeed, no matter what.