Chapter 624: Request
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
The ‘Light of Sinzor’, the ‘Wise Schemer’, the legendary Elven Emperor Abolar the Seventh. He had countless accomplishments in history, along with an equal amount of praise.
He was the last Elven Emperor of the Elven Empire. In order to increase the Elven Empire’s strength which was weakening every day at that time, Abolar broke elven traditions and taboos. Not only did he allow other species’ individuals as well as half-blood elves to become higher-ups in the Elven Empire, he even raised many great talents from wild elves and ordinary elves, promoting the potential from the lower elven social cla.s.ses. This helped the Elven Empire to enter a period of great flourishment that lasted more than three hundred years under his rule… But, Abolar was now dead, and it was the lower-ranked elves who he’d personally promoted that betrayed him in the critical moment, leading to the Elven Empire’s demise.
As the Elven Empire’s situation was becoming more and more unstable in its final moments, Abolar had used various schemes to creature fractures amongst the Superior Elves. He had intentionally promoted so many wild elves and half-blood elves in order to keep the ever more arrogant moon elves and silver elves in check. This Elven Empire on its last legs had lasted more than one thousand years under his rule in total… But, Abolar was now dead. The moment that he died, the wild elves and half-blood elves, who tasted the allure of authority thanks to his promotions, immediately rebelled against his daughter, Harloys.
Abolar had weakened the authority of the royalty in order to appease the Superior Elves. Many important jobs originally held by the royalty were given over to the Superior Elves. He also bribed many major Superior Elf families in order to keep the order… But, Abolar was now dead. The moment that he died, the fact that the important jobs were with the Superior Elves meant a death toll for his daughter.
From a certain standpoint, Abolar had indeed been an experienced politician. At the very least, while he had still been alive, the power among the higher-ups of the Elven Empire had been subtly in balance. But, the moment that he died, the subtle balance was instantly shattered as everything became utterly chaotic.
If he hadn’t died, perhaps it was possible that the Elven Empire would have been restored to even greater heights under his rule with his policies of promoting individuals from other species as well as half-blood elves.
However… there were no ifs in history.
Would a leader bringing about revolutionary change be considered wise or kind? There was only a thin line between revolutionary change and failure. Judging from the end result, how different was Abolar from an utterly foolish and tyrannical despot who destroyed his own country? I felt quite a lot of pity for Harloys, who had to receive such a burden. Her father’s overly excellent reputation in history made her carry so much tarnished reputation as the princess of a dead country.
She was considered foolish and shortsighted because she didn’t continue the policies of her father? But, all those veteran Superior Elf n.o.bles were in the elven royal palace. How was a young princess, not even of adult age, supposed to stop them? She was forced to cancel her father’s policies of promoting wild and ordinary elves. But, this ended up antagonizing those half-blood and ordinary elves who’d newly obtained power. Harloys ended up being disliked by both Superior Elves and ordinary elves.
It was impossible for her to maintain a balance amongst the Superior Elves? So many generations of grudges all exploded at once, so how would it even be possible to suppress them? It also so happened that Anslo successfully leveled up to Main G.o.d at that time. The moon elves now had the most powerful Elven G.o.d of all, so it was impossible for everything to be balanced.
She didn’t notice the ambitions of those traitors? They were all old n.o.bles with entrenched power from the previous generation. It was already an era of weak royal authority, so how could she possibly get rid of those elven n.o.bles without sufficient reason?
She lacked political and diplomatic talent? She was just a little girl who had still been playing with dolls a few years prior at the time. You wanted her to compete with sly elves who had been in power for thousands of years already? You would be the one who was inconceivable if that was the case.
However, just like what was said earlier, there were no ifs in history, nor would history care about the process. The end result was that the Elven Empire had perished. However, in my opinion, this was ninety percent the fault of her father who had schemed too much. He had taken too many small benefits that caused even more acc.u.mulated grudges. However, he had been unable to deal with everything cleanly. The result was that he died early without any preparations to protect his daughter from the ensuing calamity.
Of course, I wouldn’t say such things out loud to her. I knew that Harloys had always viewed her “wise” father as her idol. She believed that she was the one who had failed the Gold Elves’ tradition and glory. If I spoke on her behalf, she would probably complain about me instead, and I wasn’t foolish enough to tell her things that she wouldn’t like hearing.
That was why I wanted to laugh even more precisely because I knew how much Harloys wors.h.i.+pped her father as I watched Didina and Harloys stare at each other.
Abolar the Seventh had lost in battle outside, and then he was hunted down and a.s.sa.s.sinated. He then died in a bed in the royal palace. It was confirmed that he was completely dead.
That was the final page of the Elven Empire. The Gold Elf True G.o.ds had been replaced by the Superior Elf G.o.ds. Although Abolar should have originally been able to one hundred percent enter the Gold Elf G.o.ds’ Divine Kingdom after death and enjoy a new life there, he instead fell into the River Styx, and was reborn as a demon.
This was different from how Elisa changed to having a demon’s body. Abolar had directly changed species entirely. Being reborn as a different species meant having an entirely new life.
As I previously mentioned many times already, whenever a dead spirit crawled out of the River Styx and became a demon, everything would start over from the beginning. You would start all over again as the lowest-level demon, experiencing the most primitive law of the jungle. Any demon who managed to obtain their first evolution would have devoured at least hundreds of their own kind.
Any existence that gradually became a high-level demon would have a possibility of regaining their previous life’s memories. However, that demon’s personality would have already been altered by the countless slaughtering that all demons would go through. Thus, the demon wouldn’t care too much about their previous life’s matters. They would simply be treated as memories and acc.u.mulated knowledge.
Typically speaking, by the time that a demon had grown powerful enough to recover its previous life’s memories, it would take several decades at the quickest, and the slower ones would take several hundred, or even several thousand years. By that time, it would be common for most of the demon’s original relatives to be dead already. It was also quite difficult for demons to go to the mortal plane. Who would care anymore about a few decades of a previous life after several hundred years as a demon? However, Abolar just happened to be a Gold Elf whose lifespan was measured in the thousands…
Didina wasn’t Abolar. She was no elf, as she was a succubus. However, she had Abolar’s knowledge and memories. This technically counted as a reincarnation. Harloys probably felt quite complex inside as she looked at her “father” who was in front of her.
“What ‘Didina the Fortunate’? Just the secret Gold Elf magical knowledge and previous life’s acc.u.mulation will mean that Didina’s power level isn’t weak at all. Of course. Void Devourers are no kind creatures. Without the power to tame such a beast, she would have been devoured long ago.”
Harloys and Didina were still staring at each other. I kindly walked out of Didina’s treasury, giving them precious “family time” and s.p.a.ce together.
“Beifeng, come with me.”
Beifeng had always been particularly emotionally intelligent. He also noticed that the situation didn’t seem like a good time for asking for the Void Devourer’s hand in marriage. So, he simply followed me.
“Why did you come to the Chaos Abyss?” I asked him.
“To take a tour and see the sights everywhere, along with witnessing the famous pa.s.sion of the Chaos Abyss.”
The Dracon lifted up his head and gazed at the sky with an expression filled with expectation, fatigue, and excitement as if he was really nothing more than a vacationer… The famous pa.s.sion of the Chaos Abyss? Wouldn’t a better term be the famously dangerous wild beasts?
He wasn’t lying, but he also wasn’t telling the whole truth…
“Do you know yet that your most wanted poster made the headline, that all your crimes have been unearthed, and that the reward for your head is making even me tempted?”
I mulled it over for a moment, but finally gave up the idea of obtaining the reward money for a dead Beifeng. Besides, this really wasn’t the time to worry about his affairs. If I wanted to do something about the elves, every single day was critically important. It was likely that I would need to return to the mortal plane. However, I hadn’t finished things down here yet. Perhaps I could have Beifeng, who was now ranked top 3 in the Calamity Rankings, help me out.
“Have you heard of Sun G.o.d Aloyo? He lives in the 372nd level of the Chaos Abyss. It’s said that he’s supremely handsome…”
Beifeng yawned as if he was bored.
“…Aloyo is an eagle-headed mystical creature. He’s the last one remaining of an ancient tribe.”
“You want me to kidnap him? Although I haven’t done illegal acts for many years, since it’s your request, since it’s for the sake of justice, I’ll make an exception just for you! I’ll do him!”
Beifeng instantly switched to having such a serious expression. However, his murky yellow eyes were filled with excitement. I was too speechless to comment. I could only pray for Aloyo’s sake.
“Aloyo was formerly a Main G.o.d. No matter what, Beifeng is still only a new SemiG.o.d. There won’t be any major problems, right…? Forget it, I shouldn’t care about the process, as long as the result is fine.”
Even though there was supposedly a tremendous power level difference between Aloyo and Beifeng, not a single one of us felt like Beifeng would be killed by Aloyo…
I brought out a pen and some paper as I wrote down in great detail my requirements for resources that I needed for my Myth-ranked weapons. I gave this list to the excited Dracon.
“As long as you help me complete this mission, I will do my best to convince Didina regarding your marriage to the Void Devourer—”
“No, I will personally obtain the agreement of Mother Didina. I made this promise to Tina!”
Tina? Oh, that Void Devourer’s name.
“Okay, okay, whatever you like.”
I waved my hand helplessly. Anything regarding Beifeng always made me feel mysteriously helpless. I felt as if I would somehow lose or be foolish if I took him seriously or became angry.
“Right, you should have a chat with Casio. You’re sworn brothers, after all…”
“Yes, it’s my responsibility. I will take it seriously.”
Beifeng nodded with a serious expression as he walked towards Casio. Seeing how fearless Beifeng appeared, I couldn’t help but feel like he was a warrior knowingly heading to his doom on a battlefield rather than the pervert that he was.
“You’re here?”
“I’m here.”
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“However, I did come.”
“It’s all your fault!” Casio seemed to lose control of his emotions here.
“Yes, it’s all my fault. However, those were my true feelings. I don’t regret telling you about my feelings for you. Friends.h.i.+p and intimacy will always change. This is the choice of fate, and my feelings for you come from the bottom of my heart…”
Beifeng had a pained expression that said his heart ached for the sake of love. He seemed quite sincere, but why did these words of his sound so familiar…
[They’re so similar to the eight o’clock soap operas you used to watch.]
“Oh, thank you for reminding me…”
Seeing these two men… er, the centaur and the Dracon exchange soap opera lines, and how they were about to hug each other and cry, I was finally unable to withstand the heaving in my stomach as I hastily retreated.
[Wait, please wait, I want to see the love dodecahedron!]
“…Love dodecahedron?”
[Tina, Beifeng, Casio, and Aloyo will join them in two days. This is a cla.s.sical combination of three men and one woman.]
“…A romance story with three men and one woman? This sounds like a regular soap opera, but the fact that the woman is a succubus that was originally a man means it’s only for those with heavy tastes. This will be more suited for fujos.h.i.+, and the additional fact that Beifeng is involved means that this will only be suited for furries with heavy tastes.”
I went and hid myself in a corner so that I wouldn’t be corrupted any further by what I heard. However, not even five minutes later, the door to the treasury opened as Harloys and Didina walked out. Harloys had a serious expression as if she had resolved herself.