Chapter 409: False Accusation
Nina narrowed her eyes at the elder. So, they did have a backup plan after all. No wonder they had been so quiet until now.
Milt’s gaze shifted toward the source of the voice. "Elder Alar, what makes you say that?"
Alar walked right up to Nina, a cold sneer on his face. "Is your brilliant idea to save our beastmen by using our sacred relic?"
Nina frowned. "Yes. The number of poisoned beastmen in the city is massive, and my own power is limited; I can’t save everyone on my own. I know the Black Scale Ring possesses immense healing properties, so I believe it’s worth a try."
She was caught off guard by the fact that this elder already knew she was targeting the sacred relic. It seemed he had uncovered her identity.
She had only seen him once in the great hall—how and when had he managed to figure out who she was? While she hadn’t gone out of her way to hide her presence, it shouldn’t have been this easy for a strange beastman to make the connection.
Alar’s lips curled into a mocking smile. He turned back to Milt. "City Lord, you heard her yourself. She openly admits she wants to use our sacred relic."
"And what is the issue with that?" Milt countered. "Our sacred relic does indeed possess exceptional healing capabilities."
"Exactly, Alar. This female knows the relic has powerful healing energy. There’s nothing wrong with her suggesting we try it," Harin agreed.
The surrounding beastmen were equally confused. Logically speaking, the female’s thought process was perfectly sound. They had actually tried using the sacred relic in the past, but they simply couldn’t unleash its true potential. Although its healing effects were marginally better than the Witch Doctors’, its range was incredibly limited and it required vast amounts of energy to activate. It had yielded half the results for twice the effort, making it entirely impractical.
"But is the relic even useful right now? If it could save our people, we would have brought it out long ago," Alar argued.
Harin turned to Nina to explain. "Young female, you might not be aware, but while our sacred relic holds vast healing energy, the amount we can actually draw upon is minimal. We can only harness a tiny fraction of its power, so it cannot save the city’s beastmen."
Alar’s sneer deepened. "Oh, how could she not know? She knows perfectly well."
"Elder Alar, what exactly are you trying to say?" Milt asked, his patience wearing thin.
Alar swept his gaze across Milt and the rest of the council. "City Lord, esteemed elders." His eyes locked back onto Nina, instantly turning razor-sharp. "This female has absolutely no intention of helping us. She fabricated this lie about our water being poisoned solely to trick us into handing over our sacred relic!"
"What did you say? She’s trying to steal the sacred relic?" Shock rippled through the elders, their eyes darting sharply toward Nina.
A few of them immediately chimed in with biting sarcasm.
"I knew she wasn’t acting out of the goodness of her heart. She was coveting our sacred relic all along!"
"All that talk about poison was just an excuse to get her hands on it!"
The surrounding crowd erupted into a massive uproar.
"That female wants to steal our sacred relic?"
"So her finding problems with the water was just a lie?"
Blinded by suspicion, the majority of the beastmen instantly bought into Alar’s words. Even Harin and his faction began to look at Nina with newfound wariness and scrutiny.
Milt’s expression turned frosty. "Elder Alar, do you have any proof to back up such a claim?"
"Of course I do," Alar replied, brimming with absolute confidence. "Because I know exactly who this female is. She is no ordinary traveler—she is the newly appointed City Lord of Barbarian City!"
Milt turned his gaze heavily onto Nina. "Are you truly the City Lord of Barbarian City?"
"I am," Nina answered calmly.
The surrounding beastmen’s eyes widened in astonishment. This female is actually the City Lord of Barbarian City!
They had heard rumors about her; after all, it was unprecedented for a female to rule a city. Penny bit her lip hard, staring at Nina. She’s actually a City Lord. All the local females watched her with intense curiosity—so this was the legendary female ruler.
"But what does her identity prove?" Harin asked, still holding onto the hope that Nina truly wanted to help Serpent City.
"Her identity on its own might not mean much, Elder Harin, but you’ll change your mind once you hear what she’s done," Alar sneered, turning his gaze sharply back to Nina.
"Not long ago, this very City Lord of Barbarian City paid a visit to Blazing Flame City. She didn’t just swindle them out of their sacred relic, she also murdered their elder! Many beastmen from Blazing Flame City know about this. You are all welcome to go and investigate it yourselves."
Setan immediately stepped forward to defend her. "I am the City Lord of Blazing Flame City. We gave our sacred relic to Nina willingly. It is nothing like the lies you are spinning."
"Oh, really? You helped her deceive your own clan to smuggle the relic out, and you were even thrown into the Ice Thunder Cave as punishment for it," Alar countered smoothly. "She bewitched you into helping her steal it."
"Nina did no such thing! Stop spouting nonsense. Our clan collectively agreed to give the relic to her," Setan barked back.
The other Blazing Flame City males who had traveled with them chimed in furiously:
"What does a wretched snake like you know? Stop talking out of your behind!"
"Exactly! Don’t you dare slander Lady Nina. Our city gave her the relic of our own free will. What business is it of yours?"
"Don’t listen to his lies, everyone! We are beastmen from Blazing Flame City, and we can swear that Lady Nina never tricked us. The truth is nothing like what he’s claiming!"
"Hmph. You all travel with her, so of course you’d take her side," Alar dismissed them coldly.
With both sides fiercely contradicting each other, the local beastmen of Serpent City began to look at Nina with growing wariness and suspicion.
Milt looked directly at Nina, his tone guarded. "City Lord of Barbarian City, did you come to our city specifically to take our sacred relic?"
"Yes. I did indeed come for your sacred relic," Nina replied, her expression entirely composed.
"My ideal scenario was always to strike a fair and reasonable trade with you. However, after arriving, I realized so many of your citizens were falling ill. When I investigated the cause, I discovered your water supply had been poisoned."
She looked around, her voice ringing with sincerity. "I couldn’t stand by and watch so many innocent beastmen die, which is why I approached you about the water. It’s true that I want the relic, but it is equally true that I genuinely want to save your people."
"Those are just convenient excuses now that you’ve been exposed," Alar mocked.
Nina shot him a freezing glare. "I was planning to bring up the sacred relic from the very beginning. Aren’t you the one who rudely interrupted me?"
"I... I merely exposed your true colors!" Alar snapped. "The relic is completely useless to us right now. You suggesting we use it is nothing but a hidden agenda!"
"Just because you can’t use it doesn’t mean other beastmen can’t," Nina countered.
Alar scoffed disdainfully. "Are you implying you can? Our Serpent clan possesses the closest bloodline to the sacred relic, yet even we can only tap into a tiny fraction of its energy. What makes you think a fragile female like you can unleash its true power? Utterly ridiculous."
Nina drew herself up, her gaze flashing with proud confidence. "Because I can make the sacred relic recognize me as its master."
A ripple of shock went through the crowd. This female certainly possessed an audacious tongue—she actually claimed she could bind their sacred relic to her soul. Milt and his close inner circle stared at her, their expressions unreadable and calculating.
"You? An outsider? Making the sacred relic of Serpent City recognize you as its master?" Alar burst into a mocking laugh. "That is the single most hilarious joke I have ever heard in my life."
For countless generations, standard history dictated that even the most powerful beastmen of the Serpent bloodline couldn’t achieve a soul-binding recognition with the relic. Yet this insignificant female dared to speak such arrogant nonsense.
"Whether I can or cannot... wouldn’t a simple test settle it?" Nina challenged calmly.
It looks like this particular elder doesn’t know I’ve already bound the Blazing Stone, Nina realized inwardly. Which means the person who secretly investigated me and fed him this information is someone else entirely.
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