Chapter 620: Swallowing His Pride
Gildor’s face grew sullen at the instant that he heard his words. Later on, he left the tent unwillingly after his peers urged him to. For the elves who had always been proud and arrogant, it was very uncomfortable to lower their pride and ask a human mage for help.
No matter how reluctant Gildor was, he nonetheless walked towards Lin Li’s tent. The only good thing at this time was that the Vampire Norfeller had already gone out for his usual reconnoitering. Gildor adjusted his expression and prepared to make his tone as mellow and polite as possible. He then asked Lin Li if he could enter.
After hearing Lin Li’s response, Gildor stepped inside the tent, where he stayed for another few hours. When Norfeller finally returned from reconnoitering, Gildor finally couldn’t stand it any longer, and resignedly bade Lin Li goodbye.
Just like Culofen, Gildor spent hours telling Lin Li many stories about the elves, but did not find a chance to talk about Princess Elune.
“He clearly knows what we’re looking for him for. Otherwise, he wouldn’t change the subject whenever we got to the main point,” Gildor complained to Elder Randy and his peers.
“Why don’t we face him directly and let him tell us how to remove the poison? He’s actually the leader of one of the forces in the human adventure team we cooperate with now. However, I’ve already made it clear that this time only he and that dirty Vampire are here on this trip. Moreover, his relations.h.i.+p with the humans of the Dark Blade is not harmonious. Even if we harm him, the other two forces wouldn’t dare to say anything,” Ferner said, still feeling proud.
The elves were not really pure and kind. Races that were truly kind and saintly had long gone extinct. Just like other intelligent races, the elves were also compet.i.tive and hungry for power. Otherwise, the Queldana Family wouldn’t have secretly cooperated with Dark Blade to send the elites of each party to help find the lost relic.
However, Elder Randy and Ferner’s peers did not agree with him. It was not because they were soft-hearted, but because Lin Li was a Legendary-mage they were not confident in subduing. The fact that he had fearlessly confronted them in the campground that night meant that he definitely had great power. If they were to fail, the relations.h.i.+p between the two would definitely be strained beyond redemption.
However, under the current circ.u.mstances, no one could be sure of what the human mage Lin Li would do. The elves had thought about swallowing their pride before, but their greater concern was the fact that they would embarra.s.s themselves if Lin Li were to turn them down. They felt that it wouldn’t be worth it.
The discussion of the elves was inconclusive, but the condition of the poisoned elves like Princess Elune was not optimistic. The Natural Rejuvenation technique used by Elder Randy had been said to be able to suppress the effects of the poison for 10 days, but it now seemed that it’d actually be less. The toxins in their bodies would continue to eat away at their vitality rapidly. Elder Randy and the other high-level elves could clearly feel that the vitality of the poisoned elves was depleting rapidly.
They all knew that they could not afford to delay it any further, for the loss of any of the elves, not only Princess Elune, would be a huge loss for them. After a long day of discussion, Elder Randy finally decided to speak to Lin Li himself.
Upon hearing his decision, the high-level elves immediately objected. Elder Randy was not the elder of the Queldana Family, but the eighth elder of the Emerald Council of the Elven Kingdom. With such a high status, he was actually going to personally invite a lowly human mage to help them? What a huge disgrace to the Elven Kingdom.
However, Elder Randy stood firm to his decision, and the high-level elves had no choice but to give in. After all, the poisoned elves could not wait any longer.
Early in the following morning, Elder Randy walked towards Lin Li’s tent, surprising and drawing the attention of many along the way, especially the adventurers of the Malfa Family. Although they did not know the true ident.i.ty of the elven elder, they could tell that Elder Randy had the highest position in this camp.
After hearing that Elder Randy had arrived, Lin Li, who had just finished his breakfast, did not exit the tent to welcome him, and instead invited him to enter in a nonchalant tone.
Oh G.o.d, this young President of the Tower of Dusk is too vicious! That’s the elven elder who has the final say in this camp, no matter what his status in the Elven Kingdom is, yet you called him in so casually. Aren’t you afraid of offending the elves and fighting them!? The members of the Malfa Family stared blankly at what was happening in front of them, and their brains seemed to have turned blank.
However, Elder Randy did not express any displeasure. After receiving Lin Li’s response, he lifted the curtain and strode into the tent. Actually, he wasn’t that calm nor composed. In the Elven Kingdom, even the queen wouldn’t give him such an indifferent att.i.tude when he asked to see her.
However, what else could they do? If Princess Elune really died there, even Elder Randy, the eighth elder of the Emerald Council and the brother of the queen’s husband, would never be forgiven by the queen. Despite being overwhelmed with helplessness, Elder Randy did not show a tinge of his emotions, and instead kept smiling calmly.
It was not that Lin Li was disrespectful to his elders[1], but rather that his respect for someone depended on whether they were worth respecting. He would definitely respect those who respected him, and contrariwise for those who disrespected him. It was the same for everyone, be it the elders of the elves or other big shots. Regarding the incident involving Norfeller, Lin Li didn’t think that this matter could be swept under the carpet just because the elven elders had punished several young elves at that time and deprived them of their power for a number of years. It was not over for him even though he had saved Norfeller with his potion.
At that time, Lin Li did feel that this punishment was rather severe for the elves, but after giving it some thought, he realized that elves didn’t rely on energy to begin with. Helios who was at his peak during the Dark Age and Druids were all examples. They managed to attain higher levels even without power, didn’t they?
[1] Remember that it’s obvious in China to respect those older than you, especially if they are one or more generations older.