“What about the goods we agreed on? Why haven’t we seen a single bit of them?” Winnie Kanasha asked with a sour expression.
“Goods? You have the nerve to ask? The assassination failed, and because of it, a lot of our people were exposed. You didn’t succeed, and yet you still have the audacity to demand payment?”
The other party was getting heated as well.
“Why wouldn’t we?” Winnie Kanasha snorted coldly. “Even if it was a failure, you still owe us the agreed one-tenth!”
“Give it to you? Fine, then work with us one more time. Success or failure, the full shipment will be handed over!”
The elf maiden looked quite tempted, but in the end, she gritted her teeth and refused.
“No! Impossible! The elves will not be involved any further!”
“Then why did you all come swarming into the Okam Empire in the first place? Don’t tell me you actually came here to do business?!”
“So what if we did? Last time was just an accident. We never planned on burning bridges with the Empire this soon. Whatever you’re planning this time has nothing to do with us.”
Winnie Kanasha shouted at the top of her lungs, drawing the attention of people nearby.
But she didn’t care. Nothing could be more shameful than that night, under the watchful gaze of the bright moon, being stripped bare and toyed with wantonly by that demon.
The person confronting Winnie Kanasha wore a set of gleaming armor, with no helmet on.
The thick plates made him look tall and imposing, quite intimidating.
But compared to the burly figure before her who was aggressively demanding answers, Winnie Kanasha remained completely unmoved.
“Nothing to do with you? You’re already in this up to your necks, and you still dare say it has nothing to do with you…”
“Last time, we lost more than a dozen of our elites. We created all those opportunities for you, and you still couldn’t kill that b*tch!”
“Whatever, you useless lot! If you won’t join, fine! This time, it’ll just be our Revolutionary Army and the Restoration Church working together!”
Being called useless, Winnie Kanasha’s face flushed red and pale in turns. Her eyes blazed with fury as she nearly reached for the magic bow on her back to settle things with the man before her.
Seeing the situation turn bad, one of her fellow female elves rushed over and grabbed her arm.
“Forget it, forget it, Winnie. Let’s go.”
“Hmph!“
Winnie Kanasha let out a cold snort, shot the big man one last glare, then turned and left.
Behind her, the armored brute kept cursing under his breath.
Things like all elves being trash, cowards who tuck their heads in after a single failure, lacking any true warriors…
When they returned to the elven wooden cabin, it was already packed with elves standing inside.
Seeing Winnie come in, an elder elf walked over.
“How did it go, Winnie?”
“I refused… but, Mother Caro, I’m sorry, I…” Winnie Kanasha bit her lip hard, tears already welling up in her eyes.
“There, there, child. It’s alright.”
The elf called Mother Caro embraced her, patting her back comfortingly.
The other elves in the cabin, both male and female, all cheered Winnie on as they watched the scene.
“That’s right, Winnie, you did nothing wrong. Don’t blame yourself!”
“It’s these humans who broke their word! They promised we’d get one-tenth of the goods even on failure, and now they’re going back on it!”
“Exactly, exactly! Humans can’t be trusted!”
“Winnie, it’s not your fault. Let’s leave, get out of here… The longer we stay with them, the more I feel like we’ll end up sold off.”
“Me too, I’ve had that feeling as well. Last night, a few soldiers came too close to me with bad intentions. Luckily I dodged them.”
“I’ve heard humans like to capture us and sell us off as slaves…”
In no time, the elves in the cabin were all chattering at once, each voicing their desire to leave this place.
Mother Caro pressed her hand down, signaling everyone to quiet down.
But Winnie Kanasha spoke up instead. “But they have the Holy Tree Water we need. If the Life Tree doesn’t get watered soon, it really will wither away…”
“It’s alright, child. The Life Tree can hold on for a few more years. We’ll find a way, I’m sure of it.”
Mother Caro gently stroked Winnie, speaking in soft, soothing tones.
Unlike the other elves in the room, Mother Caro understood far better what Winnie had gone through.
The reason the elves had come to Monseer in large numbers was that an elf doing business here had caught wind of the Holy Tree Water, and the news had spread back to the Elven Circle.
The Holy Tree Water was said to be a treasure of the elven race, capable of bringing the Life Tree back from the brink of death.
But it only worked on the Life Tree and elves. To other races, it was no better than worthless scraps.
Legend had it that it was bestowed long ago by the Elf King God, but was lost within the elven race in later ages.
According to the intel they had received this time, the Holy Tree Water was in the hands of the Restoration Church.
It was hard to imagine how such a newly rising church could possess a treasure of that magnitude.
From what the elves knew, the Restoration Church had only been established recently. In theory, they shouldn’t have the background to produce something like this…
But the facts were what they were. If the information was true, then the item was in their possession.
And their demands were even stranger.
Not only had the Restoration Church formed a cooperative relationship with the Storm Revolutionary Army in a short span of time, but they also wanted to use the Holy Tree Water to drag the elves onto their war wagon.
Their ideals seemed to align, though Winnie didn’t know the specifics.
But when it came to their initial collaborative goal, the two sides were very clear — the assassination of the Imperial Princess.
Without an heir, once Emperor Lubas died, the Empire would crumble from within.
Normally, the elves shouldn’t have gotten involved in something like this. One wrong move and they’d be dragged down with it.
But that item was simply too important. The Elf Queen had ordered them to go out and find it, and Winnie Kanasha was one of them.
They quickly made contact with the Restoration Church and jointly planned the previous assassination.
In the last transaction, if the assassination of Velis Egbert had succeeded, the goods to be delivered would have included the Holy Tree Water.
Beyond that, the rest was just secondary things — gold, silver, jewels, ores, cloth, spices, and the like.
But compared to the Holy Tree Water, those things seemed far less important.
However, during that period, someone had leaked Winnie Kanasha’s whereabouts. Before she could even prepare, that demon Velis had defiled her.
At the same time, she had also obtained a critical piece of information — Velis would be heading to the Imperial Royal Academy to take up a post.
Under a tight, hurried plan, that bold assassination attempt was set in motion. Unfortunately, it failed.
And what no one knew was that she was the Elf Queen’s daughter, a fact that had not yet been made public.
As of now, the elven race had no princess, and many were urging the Queen to bear an heir.
But only a select few knew that the Elf Queen had once eaten a Life Fruit from the Life Tree and had already given birth to a little princess.
To protect Winnie, she had kept it a secret.
Now, the Life Tree within the elven race was steadily declining, and it seemed it would wither away completely in the future. That was why they were so desperately in need of the Holy Tree Water to save it.
But with the assassination’s failure, the deal had effectively fallen through.
Winnie had lost her chastity for nothing, and to that detestable assassination target no less. Mother Caro already knew about that.
That was why she understood just how heavy the burden on Winnie Kanasha’s shoulders was, and why she comforted her so gently.
As for why they refused to cooperate with them again this time, the reason was complicated on the surface, yet simple at its core.
“Mother Caro, why do you insist we can’t work with them anymore?!”
Winnie Kanasha asked.
“There are so many of us this time, and Velis is about to leave the capital. Isn’t that the perfect opportunity to kill her?”
When she had refused the big man’s proposal earlier, Winnie Kanasha had actually wanted to agree. But Mother Caro had repeatedly urged her not to…
Frustrated and stifled, Winnie naturally had no good tone and ended up arguing with that big man.
But deep down, she still wanted to kill that demon.
Winnie truly didn’t understand why Mother Caro would want to give up on this attack.
“That demon, that scum! Even if it weren’t for the Holy Tree Water, killing her would be doing the world a favor… Why aren’t we joining in?”
“It was my suggestion…” At that moment, an elf wearing a starry robe stepped forward and spoke softly to Winnie Kanasha.
“Yesterday, while I was saying my usual prayers, the Elf King God delivered a revelation. We must not participate in this assassination, or great calamity will befall us.”