The Money-Obssessed Archmage's Second Life As A Broke Duke-Chapter 69 - Why Won’t They Understand?
Chapter Sixty Nine
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[DING! CHARACTER INFORMATION EXTRACTION SUCCESSFUL!]
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[Character: Silvesta]
[Position: High Priest Of Elf Tribe]
[Age: 25,000 Human Years Old / 25 Beastkin Years Old]
[Potential: SSS-Class (Healer/Doctor)]
[Mana Heart: ???]
[Charm Points: 780]
[Loyalty Points: 0]
[Likability Points: 5 (You saved Him and his lover)]
[Description: The current leader of Elf Tribe after The Elf King went missing. He is in love with Lune but it’s a secret. He cannot bring Lune back to his tribe because of the old legend.]
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I stared at the floating blue translucent screen, my brow twitching.
Five points?
I’d dragged him and his lover out of the jaws of death, and all I got was a "5"? It almost feels like an insult.
Could it be his Likability was it negatives before? Ugh! There’s no way of knowing that. I haven’t met him before personally.
Though, that’s not important. What is the old legend? How do I find it?
[Ping!]
[We cannot disclose it. Host must build a relationship with Elf to figure out the legend and the forbidden romance.]
I see.
"How much do you know?" I asked, my voice rasping as I laid back on the thick fur, my chest heaving.
Silvesta didn’t answer immediately. His hands hovered over me, glowing with ana emerald light. The mana felt like cool water flowing into my scorched veins, mending the internal mess of my "stirred up" insides but his eyes remained as cold as a winter morning.
Haah... Is that how people treat their benefactor?
"You shouldn’t exist in this world. You are a being cursed by the Goddess of the Human Empire. I don’t know how you ended up being born in this world."
I blinked. My pulse, which had just started to steady, spiked again.
I tried to play it off and bluff him with a dry chuckle, though it tasted like blood. "I thought you found something that could actually threaten me, High Priest Silvesta. A superstition? That’s your leverage?"
Dangerous. He is dangerous. I don’t know how much longer I can hold onto my bluff. Either I must kill him or raise his loyalty.
Even though, elves are supposed to be the "gentle children of the forest" and pacifistic to a fault, considering the ones I met in my past life.
This is a different world. There’s no reason to let my guard down just because of that information. That would be plain stupid.
"So, you know my name as well," Silvesta noted, unfazed. He pressed his palms closer, and I felt my body writhing from pain stabilize under his touch. "Do not worry. Elves are good-natured people. Plus, I have no interest in the petty power struggles of the human courts."
"Then why threaten me with this ’curse’?"
"I am not threatening you," he countered, his emerald light intensifying. "If I intended to harm you, I wouldn’t be expending my life-force to stitch your soul back together. I’m just saying you shouldn’t exist in this world. Your soul light is very weak if this goes on, it’ll extinguish. You won’t be able to enter reincarnation."
I narrowed my eyes. "And I’m supposed to believe you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart?"
"No," Silvesta said, finally pulling his hands away. The light faded, leaving the hut in an orange glow from the burning fire. "I brought Lune here because I knew you would follow. I have a deal to offer, Duke."
"A deal?" I sat up slowly, the pain now a dull ache instead of a screaming roar. "Why would I accept anything from a kidnapper?" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
"Because you are building an army to dismantle the Imperial Religion, are you not?" He stood up, his tall frame casting a long shadow against the wooden walls.
That’s wasn’t why... Nevermind. I’ll just do that too.
"I can give you the key to winning the absolute trust of the elven tribes. We are the finest healers and scouts this world has seen. We know these mountains better than the stones themselves. We can mine your magical ores with a fraction of the effort your humans expend."
"You’re willing to sacrifice your entire tribe and forest for a mere forbidden romance, huh?"
"It’s not just that," Silvesta hissed, his composure cracking for a split second. "I believe... despite the monstrous aura you carry, you won’t cause unnecessary harm to the innocent."
"Haah... what makes you think I won’t just snitch on you to your own people? I’m not the saint you think I am, High Priest."
Silvesta let out a cold, mocking breath. "They won’t believe a human over their high priest. And, if you plan to back me into a corner like that. Shouldn’t I just tell the Human Emperor your secret too. Do you think those pesky human knights will be able to stop me? And, once the Emperor knows you are alive he’ll make sure to kill you and every other human in North. Is all that bloodshed of your people worth it?"
I gritted my teeth. He had me, and he knew it. But I still had one card to play.
"If the High Priest is so omnipotent," I sneered, "how did Lune get cursed in the first place? You couldn’t even keep your ’lover’ safe. Why should I trust a man who fails his most precious person?"
Silvesta flinched as if I’d struck him. His hands balled into fists, the emerald mana flickering violently around his knuckles. "It wasn’t... I made a mistake! I—"
"You can’t justify your carelessness or her suffering," I pushed, watching the guilt bleed into his expression.
"I know!" he snapped, his voice cracking. "I know I can’t!"
"Then take a stand," I challenged. "If you love her, and your people are as ’noble’, ’non-violent’, ’good-natured’ and ’nice’ as you claim, why won’t they understand? Why hide like a coward?"
"Because she is not just a fox-kin!" Silvesta roared, his eyes turning bloodshot. "She is the daughter born of a forbidden affair between the Kitsune, Akira and the Elf King, Noctyrael himself!"
...Wow.
