Chapter 188: The Treaty
"I understand who you are, but what about Mistress Ariel? Is she a goddess too?" Narbeth suddenly asked, and James, hearing these words, smiled and said, "No. Ariel is my knight, the first commander and first warrior of the Chaos Guild, one of the two people I consider my right arm and my mother."
With these words, James turned to Ariel, who was still eating and then asked, "Like...Can you stop?"
He was embarrassed, Ariel's eating style made him nauseous, but on the other hand, it seemed to increase the dwarf and half-devil's respect for him.
It was a very strange situation. When Ariel shook her head no, James turned to Elanor and said, "I swear she's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, your cooking has done that to her, ma'am."
Elanor smiled proudly and James turned his head to Narbeth and the other two and began to speak:
"Narbeth told you about my mission. Ariel and I will be the owners of this floor after a while. We are not like the people you have seen before. Believe me, I know how strange, cruel and greedy my own race can be, but if you worship Olympus, you know who I am, or rather who the woman I am a warrior for is. I and my subordinates are unlike any human you have ever seen."
With these words of James, Dandelion's voice rose:
"We understand that, but you need to understand that even if we want to believe you, it is very, very difficult for us to trust humans."
Hearing Dandelion's words, James shook his head and then said, "That's understandable. Rest assured, even I don't trust humanity, and if I'm going to trust anyone other than my subordinates, I choose not to do so without investigating everything they've done so far. As I said, humanity is strange, cruel and greedy, but even they have their good sides.
They can put everything aside when necessary, they can choose to fight, and they will do anything to protect something they care about, even if it means death. Could you do that?" he said.
No one could say anything in response to his words and James' voice rose again:
"Would dwarves who worship jewels be willing to give them up and save all their people? Would elves, devoted to their lives and beauty, stop thinking of themselves and come to the aid of someone other than, perhaps, their own family? What about half-demons? How long can they stop boasting of their powers and run into danger to fight for other?"
The trio looked at each other as James uttered these words, his point was quite clear.
Every race, every monster, and even every god and goddess had a minus point. It was true that humans had more minus points than other races, but that did not mean that other races were perfect.
"I...I already said I would follow you, sir. You gave to us when others had stolen from us, and in just the day you have been here you have been working to improve the village. I can't think what I should be doing instead of following you." Narbeth said suddenly, looking at Elanor and trying to remember how long it had been since his wife had had such a pure smile on her face.
If she was smiling like that only because of the hope James had given them, Narbeth would be proud to fight in James' footsteps.
"If old Narbeth has that much faith in you, I might as well try to have a little faith in you," Dandelion said, and then eyes turned to Luke.
Luke shook his head, he had never in his entire life thought he would ever encounter anything like this, but he still wished he could trust Narbeth, whom he considered his friend, and Dandelion, whom he considered his nephew.
"If what you are about to do is right and proper, young master, I would rather follow you than see the end of my lineage and my village."
At Luke's words, James reached into his inventory and pulled out a scroll and a quill. He began to scribble on the parchment.
After almost three minutes, he handed the scroll to the trio and then said, "These are the things I plan to do and the things I swear I will do and sign. Please check it."
Narbeth took the scroll in his hand and then began to read it aloud:
"James Arthur Black, known as Umbra of Chaos, swears to always protect the three villages against the frost giant and other dangers, to protect the village against hunger and thirst and to always provide provisions, and that the Church of Night will especially protect the village if the three villages are united.
It is specifically stated that the races within the village will not be considered inferior to the people in any situation.
It is specifically stated that everyone will have equal rights.
With the union of the three villages, three leaders will be placed in the council and will receive counselling from the Church of the Night, while one of the three will lead the people of the united villages, changing annually."
When Narbeth had finished reading the parchment, the trio took the quill from his hand and signed the parchment without even turning their eyes to James, and when James did the same, the parchment glowed and disappeared.
"The agreement was made on the scroll given to me by Themis, Goddess of Justice. There is no way to break this agreement, those who break it will face death, I pray that this union is good." James suddenly said and with that, he stood up and shook hands with the trio one by one.
After this handshake, James paused for a few seconds and then realised that a message window had opened in front of him:
[I am sending you four scrolls of my acceptance of the deal, give three to the others].
Three small scrolls appeared in his hand and he handed three of them one at a time to the three people in front of him.
"These scrolls are the scrolls created with the approval of Themis, they have been checked by the goddess and no problems have been found. Congratulations on the merger of the three villages, friends."
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