Chapter 1031 The Real Reason
It was unfortunate for this to happen during this time.
Adhara looked around the battlefield and saw the devastation that scarred the land.
Her breaths were becoming heavier as this tragedy was really bad, a civil war at this time when the fight against the Executor was nearing—it was a big loss for the alliance. Under such pressure, she could only direct the blame to one person.
Drakar, it was he who was consumed by his pride and started this.
Standing at the center of the battlefield, surrounded by the corpses of the deceased, she remained silent without a streak of relief despite her success in stopping the fight. Adhara was able to cease the conflict only because both factions were now only a fraction of their original strength.
Had it been their original size, Adhara would only be dragged into the fight.
But the reason she was still troubled was because the problem was not finished yet.
Even though the fight already stopped, the damage was already done.
Nothing was on her mind except for the aftermath of this situation—the battle had already formed a strain on the relationship between the Tigermen and the Dwarves. Since the toll from this meaningless battle had already reached staggering proportions, both factions now definitely harbored bad blood.
Just from the looks of it, thousands fall in this battle.
It would be hard to vanquish that bad blood and Adhara knows it.
'I was hoping that for once, everything would go smoothly, but it didn't' She sighed heavily.
Knowing that her job here was not done, Adhara was about to head over to meet with King Huvuki to talk about this. She was hoping that he would settle with giving the Tigerman the territory they had taken, but it was unlikely.
Adhara already knew that this was going to be a headache.
Roar!!
Out of nowhere, her attention was pulled to the side when a menacing growl resounded.
Bearing scars across his towering frame, the red-furred Tigerman, reminiscent of Drakar's own distinctive hue, bared his fangs and advanced with palpable anger in his eyes, glaring his intense eyes upon Adhara with immense killing intent.
His chest heaved up and down, showcasing the feral rage burning inside of him.
"Who are you?! Who said that the Dwarves can leave?!" He roared thunderously, pointing at Adhara who intervened in their fight. "None of them is allowed to leave, not until they pay what they have done, and my claws rip their throats!"
Following his roar was the other Tigermen, growling lightly and trembling the heart.
In a calm demeanor, Adhara turned to look at them.
Gazing at the Tigerman who was supposed to be the Warchief, she replied, "If I'm not wrong, your master, Drakar had called your forces to retreat, Watchief. So go and retreat, there was nothing left for you to do here"
"Retreat...? Those damn Dwarves attacked us first!" the Warchief refuted strongly.
But Adhara didn't take offense at his tonality and response.
Since the Watchief was now drowned in adrenaline and anger, judging from the intense red emotional aura that he was emitting, this was not the Warchief talking, but his anger instead, and it would be unreasonable if she asked him to calm down right now.
However, she needed to do something as the other Tigermen were inching closer.
It was obvious that they would strike her soon enough.
Nodding lightly, Adhara tilted her head and exposed the silver star mark on her neck.
At the sight of the faintly glowing mark on her neck, the Warchief narrowed his eyes.
Just when he realized what that mark was, he quickly extended his arms to signal the other Tigermen to stand down. His eyes then shifted back to Adhara and inquired, "Are you from the Silverstar Pack?"
"Yes, I am," Adhara replied, affirming his suspicion.
Upon hearing this, the Warchief scoffed and clicked his tongue in displeasure.
Only when the Warchief realized that Adhara was affiliated with the infamous Silverstar Pack that he snap out of his momentary stupor, swiftly rallied his remaining forces, and retreated to their strongholds.
Despite the evident reluctance, he chose to stand down for the time being.
A moment later.
First and foremost, Adhara went to the Dwarven Kingdom to talk with King Huvuki.
Shockingly, she couldn't meet with King Huvuki and could only talk with his advisor. It was the first time that she had been denied. Adhara tried to press to meet with King Huvuki, yet there was nothing she could do.
Based on the advisor, King Huvuki was busy and couldn't be disturbed.
Reluctantly, she discussed the incident on the border with the advisor instead of the King.
Naturally, Adhara was hoping to talk about this to King Huvuki because she had met him a couple of times and might be able to persuade him to take the backseat for once. Now that she was talking with the advisor, it would definitely be way harder.
Just as expected, it was hard to persuade the advisor with her proposal.
However, she got what she wanted in exchange for some rare materials.
Luckily, Adhara was capable of making the ultimate-grade fire elemental stones for them.
Since her elements were now way stronger, creating these stones didn't take long at all, but consumed her mana a lot. It was to the point that she was exhausted and would need to, for a couple of hours, replenish her mana.
In total, she made about 200 of those ultimate-grade fire elemental stones.
Her realm dropped a little bit because of that, but she did it for the better of the alliance.
Finishing her matters in the Dwarven Kingdom, she trailed her eyes back to the direction of the Tigerman Kingdom, 'Drakar... I need an answer from you about all of this, and whether you like it or not, you are going to give it to me'
Determined, she went back to the Tigerman Kingdom again.
A moment later.
Adhara for the second time headed to Drakar's abode once again.
Currently, Ugrok was already brought by Daniel to be treated in the Tigerman's hospital with the seers tending to him. It was uncertain when he would recover, but judging from his state, it might take days for him to recover.
Looking into her pocket, she saw Flamy there, sleeping soundly after eating her fire.
Now, the only thing she must do is meet with Drakar.
Reaching the door of his abode, Adhara prepared to knock, yet the door swung open of its own accord. She didn't think much about this and proceeded inside, traversing the hallway until she reached the heart of the house, the living room.
Inside the living room, she saw Drakar was there.
He was standing directly by the fireplace, holding a drink while seemingly deep in thought.
But as she descended the staircase, he glanced at her.
"Lady Adhara, am I in trouble?" He asked, twirling his drink elegantly. "Visiting me two times in a day is not normal. If it concerns my absence from your ceremony, allow me to express my regret. I am, by nature, a loner and don't like the crowd"
Not heeding his remark, Adhara asked back, "Why did you do it...?"
"Hmmm? Why did I do what?" Drakar replied in confusion, pivoting his body towards her.
Upon hearing this, Adhara's expression twisted hideously, her eyes burned with the intense flames of her anger, "I'm asking you why you have to invade the Dwarves and even go as far as provoking them, tell me your reason"
"Oh, that... I already told you the reason" Drakar replied nonchalantly.
He went over to the sofa and sat on it.
Even though Adhara was clearly furious at him for causing the deaths of thousands through a meaningless battle, Drakar doesn't seem to be troubled by it at all. "Then let me ask you this, why did you let me win the duel?"
"I decided to not escalate the situation, that's why," Drakar replied, not hiding anything.
Just like what Adhara thought, he really did let her win.
But this answer made Adhara even angrier, "Then why did you start it in the first place?!"
"Why initiate it in the first place...?" Drakar's voice dropped to a low register, and he turned to Adhara with a fierce glint in his eyes. "Our kingdom suffered a significant loss of strength due to fighting in the frontline, potentially leaving us vulnerable. I approached them politely, asking for a token of goodwill, but they refused. I made a second appeal, detailing the dire situations of my kingdom, and yet, they turned me down once more"
"What do you want me to do?! Do you want me to let my kingdom fall?!" He shouted.
Upon hearing this, Adahra was stupified.
A frown made its way to her face as she asked, "Wait, what are you saying right now?"
"I'm not the one who initiated this, Lady Adhara," Drakar retired. "I merely requested a small portion of their territory, the Iron Forest, as a gesture of goodwill for our aid in their time of need. However, they outright denied me, King Huvuki refused my plea without giving me any alternatives"
Learning about this information, Adhara was taken aback.
She never thought that King Huvuki would give such a response to Drakar.
'If he was really telling the truth, giving reasons as to why he needed the Iron Forest to King Huvuki himself, then this is an even more headache' Adhara pondered, the conflict between these two only kept on becoming more troublesome.
Naturally, since the alliance was recently made, the bond was still thin between them.
Drakar couldn't be blamed if he wanted to ask for a token of goodwill.
After all, his forces came to help the Dwarves in clutch and even fought at the frontline.
But then again, since the alliance was formed, Adhara also couldn't blame the Dwarves as helping each other when attacked is a part of the agreement. This was a matter of morals and respect, far from the ink of the agreement.
'I need to somehow mitigate this, or else their chemistry will be ruined...' Adhara bit her lips.
However, doing so was easier said than done.
Eventually, she made her leave after telling Drakar that he should convey to the Elders to prepare in case of a fight in the future with the Executor. Of course, he took this grimly as another fight was coming their way, but he accepted it.
Along the way, her mind was in a mess as she couldn't find a solution to this ordeal.
Oblivious to her, there was someone looking at her in the dark.
"Eh...?" She muttered and looked to the side.
Exploiting her deep absorption in contemplation, a shadowy figure swiftly emerged from the darkness, grabbing her. It happened so fast that by the time Adhara grasped the situation, she found herself ensconced in a secluded alley.
Instantly, her senses kicked in and she became alert.
However, it didn't last long as she recognized this scent coming from the shadowy figure.
"Flunra? What are you doing here?" Adhara asked in surprise.
Since she expected Flunra to be guarding the city, she was caught off guard to see him here.
"I saw Ugrok's condition, did you get into a fight?" Flunra asked demandingly.
Upon hearing this, Adhara's expression stiffens.
Despite the possibility that Flunra was able to help give a solution, she refrained from telling him about the incident. Not that she didn't want to, but because she could already tell that he had something he wanted to say.
"It's nothing," Adhara shook her head. "What about you? What made you come here?"
Flunra expands his senses for a brief moment.
He made sure that nobody was around to listen to their conversation before he turned his attention back to Adhara, "I have something that I need your help with, and we have to go right now or else we're going to be too late"
Adhara frowned when she heard this.
It was not an everyday thing for Flunra to ask her for help in anything.
"What do you need me for?" Adhara asked sternly.
Pausing momentarily, Flunra responded, disclosing the important task at hand, "We've got a mission from the Lunirich God, Iseldra. Our objective is to awaken the Ice and Snow Moon Princess so that we can ask her to help Rex in battling the Executor"
Listening to this, Adhara sucked in a cold breath, "We're going to do what?!"
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