Chapter 229: Chapter 196: Old Woman
Inside the camp, glowing red charcoal in a brazier warmed a tent. This special, nearly smokeless charcoal was rare and used mostly by the nobility.
"We Zor Elves only have slightly darker skin, that’s all. Why must we be synonymous with evil?" one of the Zor Priests, her hands and feet bound, said with a sense of grievance under the warm yellow firelight. "You surface dwellers view the Elves from the Dark Nether Realm with far too much prejudice and discrimination."
"And yet, you Zor Priests seem pretty spineless to me," Fulina sneered.
She had not an ounce of goodwill for these masterminds who had instigated the attack on the Wind Speech Tribe. She estimated that she would lose several thousand soldiers, if not more, in this war.
Ash, on the other hand, was a surprise. The Lord hadn’t expected the beautiful woman to be filled with such resentment, yet still sit to one side without uttering a single word. True to her word, she was only here to observe.
The Lord held a quill, a sheet of parchment spread on the desk before him. He sat with his legs crossed, looking for all the world like a detective about to run an interrogation:
"Name?"
"’Heather... Be...’" The Zor Priests obediently gave their names one by one.
"Where are you from?"
Levi made a show of drawing a couple of lines on the parchment before looking up to stare directly at the four of them.
For a moment, all four were silent.
After a short while, the female Zor Elf who had been the most active and forthcoming spoke up again. "Sir, we came from underground. Don’t you all know that already?"
Levi remembered that this Zor Priest was named Heather; she was one of the women he’d gagged with a handkerchief.
She was also the youngest and most beautiful of the Zor Priests.
As a "seasoned scholar" of Knightly Novels, the Lord had a certain degree of knowledge about the Zor Elves, primarily because the Zor Tribe was a mandatory stop on any protagonist’s journey in such stories.
According to Knightly Novels, the Zor Elves were a matriarchal society that revered beauty above all else. Generally, even if someone’s power was a bit lacking, they could still attain a high position as long as they were beautiful enough.
The Matron Mother, the highest-ranking figure among the Zor Elves, would naturally be the most beautiful of all the Zor.
However, this was all lore from Knightly Novels. The Lord had no way of knowing how much of it was authorial fantasy and how much was based on historical fact.
Judging by the current situation, however, this Zor Priest named Heather was clearly the highest-ranking of the four.
The other three typically waited for her to speak first before chiming in with their agreement.
"That’s impossible!" Fulina’s face darkened. "The portals from the Dark Nether Realm to the surface were sealed by the gods long ago. Even that Spider Queen you worship can’t open a path."
"Levi, they’re lying! I knew we couldn’t trust these charlatans who’ve spent their lives treating lies as truth and deceiving others!"
’As a Duke, my knowledge of historical secrets was beyond the ken of an ordinary person. Lies like these from the Zor Elves might fool the Lord of High Cliff Castle, a man who clearly hadn’t read many books. She had always assumed they were a small tribe of Zor Elves that had survived on the surface, only now emerging at this coincidental time. After all, even the Merfolk, a race that had vanished during the Magic Era, had reportedly been spotted by some fishermen a few years ago.’
However, Fulina only knew this through rumors, the truth of which had yet to be confirmed.
All in all, the world was a vast place, and no one could say for certain what ancient races or artifacts lingered in its forgotten corners.
"Heh. Not only are you prejudiced against the Zor Elves, but your thinking is completely antiquated. Your impression of us is still stuck in the history books," Heather said with a mocking expression.
"Old woman!"
"What did you say?!" Fulina’s chest heaved with rage, veins popping on her forehead as she reached for the sword at her waist.
She clearly intended to split the impertinent Zor Elf’s mouth in two.
"’Whoa, whoa, my dear Duke, my dear lady,’ the Lord said, quickly grabbing Fulina’s hand and trying to placate her. ’They’re just four captives. All they can do now is run their mouths. We don’t need to stoop to their level, do we? Wouldn’t that just be admitting she has a point?’"
Feeling the irresistible Power coming from his hand, Fulina hesitated for a moment before letting her sword fall back into its sheath.
"’Besides, don’t be angry. Elves are a long-lived race. Compared to her, you’re as youthful as a young maiden.’"
The Lord continued to console the Duchess.
’Inwardly, though, he was furious. ’This Zor woman, Heather, really has a death wish, daring to unload her ultimate attack at point-blank range like that.’ If he hadn’t gone to such great lengths to talk her down, Fulina would have cut Heather down with a single strike, and he’d probably be the only one in the room even slightly bothered by it. The Elf Queen next to him would probably be cheering inwardly.’
"’You have a point. This Zor in front of me is probably old enough to be Si Kai’s grandmother.’ Fulina visibly relaxed, her composure restored and her tone becoming nonchalant."
Heather said nothing, keeping her lips sealed.
’Of the three people facing her, only the human named Levi didn’t seem to want them dead. That brief exchange had allowed her to clearly perceive the status of the three. The human woman in the center clearly held the highest status, followed by the man. The native High Elf, on the other hand, had the lowest status, not even daring to speak, only able to watch from the sidelines.’
Levi shot Heather a warning glance before resuming his questions.
"As this Duke beside me said, you’re from the Dark Nether Realm. How could you have possibly reached the surface?"
"Sir, all I can say on the matter is that a new tide has begun to rise. Many things are starting to reawaken, and we merely happened upon an opportunity to leave that sunless realm," Heather said with a serious expression.
"As for the specific reason... please forgive me. Or rather, forgive us. We cannot explain the details to you."
"I can swear on the Goddess Rose that everything I’ve said contains not a single shred of a lie."
Her words were cryptic, but the Lord understood the gist of it.
’Unable,’ not ’unwilling.’ That meant they were undoubtedly constrained by something preventing them from divulging important information.’
"’Fine,’ Levi said, tapping the table."
’It was actually quite simple to understand. The Zor Elves were a race that produced a great number of Priests. It was inevitable that their powerful Casters would know Magic to prevent them from betraying vital information. After all, the Zor Elves were all notorious deceivers with absolutely no credibility. Even among their own kind, no one expected another to keep a promise. In such cases, special measures were necessary as a failsafe.’
"Then what is your objective? Or, to put it another way, why did you attack the Wind Speech Tribe?" the Lord asked.
Fulina and Ash both turned to look at her at the same time.
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