Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

Chapter 75: The elf king's wish (3)

This... Wasn't this the perfect opportunity to take? If we took the offer, that'd be like killing two birds with one stone. We would surely win against the minotaurs if we were to join forces with the elves.

"But the orcs..." Jeanne muttered low enough to be unnoticed by most, but not low enough to escape my attention.

Ah, right. That would mean no liberation for the orcs. But, as much as I'd like to sympathize with them, our main priority right now was claiming a throne and extract the hostages. It would be best to not get distracted, as that would mean more torturing hours for the hostages.

"What's the catch? And how can we know you will keep your promise?" I questioned. My lips pursed a bit as I stared into his beautiful shimmering green eyes.

If this dude wasn't so fond of humans, I would never dare ask those questions, seeing that we were at a huge disadvantage and barely had any options, if at all. He was able to chop our heads off anytime he wanted to, and he was well aware of that fact.

"You can keep my brother's crest with you until I fulfill my end of the deal," he smiled, "think of it like paying half up front, and half afterwards."

"...But you might kill us after we obtain the crest." I frowned. That was certainly a possibility to consider. He might not be able to attack his brother, but he could attack us easily.

"That is a possibility, yes," Erenduill chuckled, "you can choose if you want to take the risk or not."

Silence fell upon us as tension began to rise. General Emilio, who was usually quick to make a decision, didn't utter a single word.

My eyes slowly scanned the dining hall, counting each and every elf that was present here. There were about 10 to 20-ish of them maximum, including the ones who kept going back and forth between us and the kitchen. Then I glanced over at general Emilio and Jeanne, who appeared to had recovered from the poison and were ready to fight.

...Perhaps we should push our luck, after all?

As my gaze trailed towards the smiling elf king, I muttered a certain keyword and a status window popped up in front of me.

[Stat points: (Third Elf King)]

[Strength: 100]

[Intelligence: 180]

[Agility: 85]

[Physique: 50]

...Yeah, nevermind. I wasn't interested in the afterlife yet.

Anyway, it didn't show his name. Weird. Did the name part only work for humans? But then, why? This system was wack, man.

"Hey, how exactly do we take the crest?" I questioned.

"Oh, glad you asked!" Erenduill beamed with joy.

"Don't be happy yet, we haven't decided on anything." I raised both of my hands and waved them in front of my chest.

"Our crests are embedded into our hearts," the elf king smiled as he placed his left hand on his chest, right where his heart should be, "or should I say, our crests are our hearts."

I nodded. I knew up to this part. Elena had taught me well enough, and fortunately my pea brain was able to remember this part because it felt like a story out of a fairy tale for me, and I loved fairy tales.

"Only those with royal blood are able to extract our crests once they've stopped beating, by simply reviving the crest with one's own mana. But of course, the heart, or should I say the crest, should be out of the body first," he explained as he swirled his wine glass in a circle, "ironic, isn't it? We can't injure each other, and yet only we are able to snatch the crests..."

"Then do we have to bring you along?" I scratched my cheek. If possible, I would prefer to not travel alongside a dude who chose nectar over his friends. Heck, if he'd abandon his friends for nectar, what would he abandon us for? Dirt? Pebbles? Sour drops?

"Of course not. That's why I said this is such a perfect scenario!" He chuckled, his voice filled with glee.

"Explain your plan." General Emilio glared at him impatiently.

"You brought along a little royal, didn't you?" Erenduill asked as he cocked his head to the side, motioning towards the trembling little girl who had been extremely quiet all this time.

"I..." The little girl flinched, as if she was spooked by every little thing that were happening around her.

"Isn't that true, little halfling?" Erenduill smiled, but that only made the little girl even more horrified, judging by how her hands started to tremble.

"Y-yes..." Firiell looked down, avoiding the smirking elf's gaze.

Man, what was it that made her this terrified? What did he do to her?

"We shall accept your proposal." General Emilio suddenly said, breaking off the tension that was starting to rise again.

I held my breath, and my lips pursed. Alright, we could do that. As the leader though, he better had a plan... Such a shame that we were able to sneak into this castle, but were so powerless against this elf king and his subordinates.

"Glad we have an agreement," Erenduill smiled, and I could slowly feel his threatening aura lessens, "I'll have the maids prepare some rooms for you. Would each of you like a room or--"

"We go now." General Emilio interrupted and suddenly stood up, which kinda spooked me a bit.

"Now? But aren't you tired--"

"Let's leave." He cut the elf king off again mid-sentence, and prompted us to follow him, and so we did.

"Come, Firiell." I helped her stand up, and walked side-by-side with her while I held her trembling hand. She still wouldn't look up, but at least she was cooperative.

I would've never imagined that the girl we originally took as a hostage ended up joining our party...

"Where should we go, general Emilio?" Jeanne asked as we walked past the huge dining hall door and into the long-ass creepy corridor.

"The forest." He concisely replied, but his words came out as a low growl.

"Back there again?" I peeped into the conversation.

"Yeah. Our target will be there." Right after he said that, he pushed open the front door of the castle with a huge bang, making even the guards flinch a little.

"Oh, I see what you mean. Might be true." I nodded and followed right behind his steps and towards the gate.

"Really? How can we be certain?" Jeanne asked.

"Probably because that snob king is an asshole," I sighed, "look, I can even see the smoke from the forest fire from over here, but he didn't even send his men over or something. What a douche."

"His brother must be the one taking care of it right now." General Emilio continued.

"I see. So that's why those elves looked so calm, even though the nature which they loved so much was being burnt..." Jeanne said as she put her hand on her chin.

"I guess that crazy prince genuinely loved his kin, and in a much more normal way than the king's." I scratched the back of my head.

"Uncle Ioriell was a nice person... That much I know..." Firiell unexpectedly spoke up.

"Ioriell? The one who wanted to off you?" I raised an eyebrow upon hearing that.

"He wasn't always like that! Before mom died, he--" She looked up at me, but then stopped talking as soon as she met my gaze.

"He?" I tilted my head to the side. He what?

"N-never mind..." She avoided my gaze and looked down again, and refused to face our way.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I stopped and bent down until our eye level was the same.

"I'm sorry..." She muttered under her breath hesitantly, still looking on the ground even though nothing of interest was there.

"For what? Don't be sorry if you haven't made a mistake," I sighed, "stand your ground, kid. Don't be sorry just because someone told you you're wrong."

"But, now because you guys stuck with me, you're forced to... To do mean things." She said with a frown.

"Hey, you being there might have actually saved our plan, honestly." I said as I laughed nervously. I wonder if we didn't meet her and just blindly snuck into the castle, would we even survive against the elf king? Rather, would we really be able to sneak inside without being detected? Nahhh, probably not...

"Huh?" She looked up and finally, our eyes met.

"Yeah. That's why, don't be sorry until you're sure that you're at fault," I patted her head, "ask questions, find out if you're unsure if you're in the wrong or not. And if you are, then apologize honestly. If you're not, then stand your ground, don't let yourself be stepped on."

"Oh..." Her frown disappeared, and instead, tears popped up and coated her big, beautiful eyeballs.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's wrong?" I flailed around as sniffles began to fill the air. What did I do? What? Why did she cry? How did you even calm a crying child? Um, candies? I brought none!

"I... It's been so long since someone defended me..." She said in-between her sniffles that were beginning to morph into sobs.

"Whaaaat?" I looked at Jeanne in bewilderment, and although she looked a bit surprised, she quickly took out a few tissues and helped wipe Firiell's tears while she gently stroked the little girl's back.

"There, there..." Jeanne said as she slowly pulled the crying girl into a hug, and patted her back affectionately.

"Huh?" I blinked a few times, still not sure what I did to make her cry.

"I miss moooom! She was always there, always on my side!" She sobbed, "why did she have to kill herself?"

"It's okay, we're listening." Jeanne spoke with such a gentle voice that even I was starting to calm down.

"Mom, she... She shouldn't have died that day! Waaaaah!"

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