Chapter 144
Chapter 144
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 144
Chapter Title: The Choice of the Races
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Early morning.
The Elf Elder, Eldrian, went before the Tree of Life, as she always did.
A Tree of Life would naturally grow wherever the elves settled, but this one was now barely taller than Eldrian herself.
Elemental Bugs moved busily like bees, gathering the energy of life, but it still didn't seem like it would grow any further.
The tree in their former home had been enormous, encompassing the entire forest.
Now, this one couldn't even grow properly.
It was a perfect reflection of their current state.
"Because of the humans..."
Every morning, the Elder felt a surge of fury toward humans as she looked at the Tree of Life.
And yet, she could find no way to resolve that fury.
"Elder, the human who visited the Beastkin is requesting to see you again."
That single sentence shattered the quiet peace of the early morning.
She had already refused him yesterday.
"I refuse."
That was the end of it.
"It seems I must warn the Beastkin Chieftain. If he wishes to break the current peace, we will not stand idly by."
"I will relay your message."
"Keep an eye on the human who entered the Beastkin territory. There's no telling what he might do."
Having given her orders, the Elder turned her gaze back to the Tree of Life.
But it seemed she would not be granted her time alone today.
"Elder, I think you should go to the mountain entrance."
"What is it?"
"The human with the Beastkin..."
The mere word "human" caused a wrinkle to form on the Elder's beautiful face. But the words that followed made her eyes tremble.
"He has brought back our people who were captured."
Eldrian could stay there no longer.
* * *
At the entrance of the Mierba Mountains.
Three hundred members of the inhuman races stood there with dazed expressions.
The human who had led them there was already gone, replaced by a man with a powerful presence.
"You are all free now."
The man said something unbelievable.
Inhuman race slaves.
The three hundred gathered there had all become slaves within the Empire's territory for various reasons.
Beastkin, of course, but also Elves, Zaimon, and a small number of Dwarves.
Having been exploited in so many ways, they couldn't easily believe the freedom the man spoke of.
'Of course.'
Wang-sik, standing before them, could fully understand how they felt.
He had gone through that process himself.
'Though I fought fiercely.'
He wouldn't blame them for not fighting. He just felt a sense of pity.
As the inhuman races, still lost, stood in confusion, figures emerged from the Mierba Mountains.
They were the leaders of each race.
As their own kin appeared in a crowd behind the leaders, a glimmer of hope appeared on the faces of the freed slaves. But with Wang-sik standing in the middle of them all, they couldn't bring themselves to move.
"So we meet like this."
Wang-sik turned to look at the leaders of each race.
Though they were supposed to be building a consensus, Wang-sik didn't hide what was on his mind.
He walked up to the leaders of the Elves, Zaimon, and Dwarves, met their eyes squarely, and spoke.
"I can do this. What can you do?"
The three leaders felt ashamed.
The act of this human bringing back their kin who had been sold into slavery wasn't something that could be done with money alone.
Even if slaves were considered private property, sending them back to the Mierba Mountains was forbidden by Imperial law.
The Empire strictly controlled the population of the inhuman races.
They were wary of the potential they held.
"Now, it's your turn to choose."
Wang-sik pointed to the former slaves still standing there and asked.
"Do you have the courage to take them in?"
If they took them in, the Empire would make it an issue.
Of course, they could try to hide them when the Empire's delegation came, but...
Eventually, the trail of the missing slaves would lead back to them.
As various thoughts flooded their minds, no one could readily give an answer.
"This is a bit disappointing."
Wang-sik didn't hide his true feelings.
"I'll take responsibility for them until the end. Because I'm not like you."
He had never intended to negotiate with pleasantries in the first place.
Wang-sik was not in a position to be asking for favors.
"Aisi, it looks like they'll have to go to the Beastkin village."
"Yes. I'll prepare for it."
At Aisi's command, the Beastkin began to guide the former slaves.
The Beastkin slaves were moved, but the slaves of the other races were not. They understood the situation, but they couldn't help feeling disappointed and bewildered.
They cast pleading glances, but the outcome didn't change.
The leaders still didn't trust Wang-sik, and the former slaves had no choice but to head toward the Beastkin village.
* * *
The Beastkin village accepted the three hundred inhuman races without any trouble.
They had already been informed of the plan the night before.
At first, the Beastkin had worn ambiguous expressions at the news that the Chieftain's Consort was a human, but a speech from Oh Min-jae had changed their minds.
—This is a plan I've prepared for all of you.
What Oh Min-jae did was simply tell them what was to come.
He explained at length, and with the Chieftain's guarantee, they accepted the new Consort.
On the condition, of course, that the promises were kept.
"Then we'll start construction on the gate immediately. Keep this a secret from the other races until it's complete."
"Got it."
Oh Min-jae began the gate construction in a cave within the Beastkin's territory.
"My very first creation."
"Is it possible?"
"No problem. Think of all the time and money I've invested in studying this."
"It's a two-way gate."
"Since it's within the same dimension and not a permanent gate, it's easy to make."
An hour of uptime for the gate would be more than enough.
"It'll be done in ten days."
Working alone, it would inevitably take that much time.
"That's exactly how much time the other races have been given."
Wang-sik decided to wait by Oh Min-jae's side until the gate was complete.
He had stated his terms; whether they accepted or not was their choice.
He had no intention of persuading them further.
'There's no point in bringing along those who lack the will.'
If it came down to it, he planned to operate with just the former slaves. And since Dusk had gathered so many, it wasn't an impossible scenario.
That evening.
A man came to the Beastkin village, where a bonfire was lit.
He was short, with a thick beard.
It was the Dwarf Chieftain, Doloi.
Thump.
He set down an oaken barrel, as large as himself, next to the bonfire.
"Ha! A late welcome! This is the Dwarves' special brew!"
The first person to react to his shout was Aisi.
"Welcome, old friend."
"Sorry I'm late. We dwarves have short legs, so we're a bit slow at everything. Haha!"
"It seems you've made your decision."
"We're with you! We're breaking free from the Empire's filthy meddling!"
"A wise choice."
"Just make sure you keep your promise. To be honest, I'm not trusting that human. I'm trusting you, Aisi."
Aisi had much she wanted to say, but she held her tongue.
'They'll find out once they experience it for themselves.'
These people hated the Empire even more than the inhuman races did and fought against it fiercely.
Aisi knew that no matter what she did, she could never accomplish as much as Wang-sik and his friends.
Bringing back the inhuman race slaves was something that would have been impossible without Oh Min-jae and Wang-sik.
"Hey! What are you doing? Your people are waiting! Get up!"
Doloi shouted at his kin, of which there were only three.
The reason there were only three Dwarf slaves was that they weren't a race that could be bought just because one had money.
They often served as master artisans in crucial roles, so despite Dusk's efforts, he had only been able to bring back three.
"Thank you."
"Once you drink the ale we've prepared, you'll forget this 'thank you.' The real thanks comes then."
Doloi took his three kinsmen and disappeared.
The Dwarves left with smiles, but the remaining races did not.
The Beastkin were already with their own kind as if they had returned home, leaving only the Elves and Zaimon slaves.
"Why aren't they coming to get us?"
A young Elf said.
With those words, a wave of sadness spread among them. But even as the night wore on, the people they were waiting for did not appear.
Time passed quickly.
The former slaves had no other choice. They found a measure of hope in hearing about the future plans.
But that hope was built on the foundation of giving up on their own people ever coming, so they couldn't shake a feeling of bitterness.
In any case, they were able to regain the hope they had lost and prepare for tomorrow.
"It's not like they were from our tribe anyway."
"We can just start fresh."
Self-justifying, cynical words were muttered.
Even among the same race, not everyone belonged to the same tribe. Just as not all humans were from the same country.
Once an atmosphere of acceptance finally settled, Wang-sik explained the specific plans.
—We will provide all the initial infrastructure.
They didn't know if they should trust the words of this human, but the Beastkin Chieftain's guarantee was reassuring.
And so, dreaming of the future day by day, the promised ten days passed.
Vwooom!
A gray, oval-shaped gate floated in the middle of the cave. A moment later, the gray turned to a brilliant blue.
"Success!"
Just as he said that, someone stepped through the gate.
"Sis!"
"You really did it. Amazing."
"Hehe. It's fun."
"To find this sort of thing fun, you must be a dangerous kid yourself."
Listening to their exchange, Wang-sik chimed in.
"Min-jae is getting married soon. You can't say that."
"Ah! Right! My bad. Our brainiac."
Oh Min-jae, looking pleased, smiled brightly and turned around.
"I'll go let Aisi know."
Watching Oh Min-jae leave the cave, Min Ha-na asked Wang-sik.
"So the other races really aren't coming?"
"Looks that way."
"Well, it's a relief the Dwarves joined, but it's still a shame. It feels like they don't understand our sincerity."
"It's their choice, so we have to accept it."
"Right. Well, I'll be on the other side getting things ready."
Min Ha-na passed through the gate again, and a short while later, there was a commotion at the cave entrance.
But the first person to enter was not who Wang-sik had expected.
The Elf Elder, Eldrian.
And behind her, ducking his head due to the cave's low ceiling, was the Zaimon Lord, Balkan.
They came before Wang-sik and bowed their heads first. This was not their way.
The meaning behind greeting him in the human fashion was clear.
"We apologize. Our decision was late."
Eldrian swallowed her pride and apologized, and the Zaimon Lord followed suit.
"We were not honorable. We apologize."
They had agonized over the decision until the very last moment.
'In the end, it had to be this way.'
No one here was satisfied with their current lives.
They had thrown away their future just to survive, and the Empire's power was only growing stronger.
The problem was that the opportunity to escape had come too suddenly.
And what's more, the ones offering that opportunity were human.
Though they claimed to be humans who opposed the Empire, their distrust for the species ran so deep that they couldn't easily believe them.
The human who had appeared out of nowhere had demonstrated his ability and posed a fundamental question about the preservation of their race.
'What can you do for your people?'
The Elf and Zaimon leaders couldn't forget that question.
'Nothing.'
It was humiliating, but that was the only answer.
That miserable conclusion had led them here.
They still distrusted humans, and they had no certainty that this new choice was one of hope.
But they had decided that, at the very least, it couldn't be worse than their current situation.
"Is it possible for us to join you, even now?"
"We wish to become friends."
Wang-sik didn't bring up the various feelings he had held until now.
"Welcome, friends."
He simply smiled and gave his consent.