Chapter 190: Tassel
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
“The strong prey on the weak, and only the strong survive.”
The main difference, perhaps, between the Order Goddess Astrya and the Chaos Goddess Cynthia was whether they agreed with this quote.
Astrya believed that personal strength was not the most important and that the weak and the strong could live together under the laws of the Gods. She believed that they would complement each other’s weaknesses—this was her notion of a perfect society. Cynthia, however, believed in the competition between mortals for survival with only the strongest living on. Her notion of a perfect world was one where the best resources were provided to the mortals with the greatest potential.
The root of their enmity was this difference in their ideals, which had also made them develop their creations very differently.
The human society was an example for the side of Order. Most humans didn’t have significant differences between themselves, and very few could survive without relying on society. Even the king would be unable to live without the farmer, and it was possible, perhaps, that if they actually competed in terms of strength alone, then the king, who was so widely venerated by the people, might not be able to defeat the farmer who wielded a hoe.
Humans, however, couldn’t be considered the best representation of true Order—that label was given to the angels, the creatures of the top level of Order.
Their future jobs were decided from their births, and for all their lives, they would progress on predetermined paths as they continued to work for the benefit of angel society. While such a community may seem perfect, it lacked flexibility. Without questions about the future, there would be a lack of expectancy and anticipation, and even the unemotional angels had quite a few problems; otherwise, there wouldn’t be existences in the lower planes that were known as the fallen angels.
The side of Chaos was completely opposite. Demons slew and devoured each other, and low-ranked demons followed the strict rule of the jungle—as long as they were powerful enough, they would receive a higher position. Everyone was always trying to climb up the ladder, and even though the bosses were not always considered to be smart, they were definitely strong.
“Weaklings should go die—the strong deserve everything. If I don’t have a good life, that’s because I’m not strong enough yet. It’s fine as long as I’m happy; who cares about anything else.”
It was possible that this was all that ran through most demons’ heads. It was also why other intelligent species often ridiculed the demons as idiotic “muscleheads,” but this wasn’t quite the truth.
High-ranked demons typically had at least two centuries of memories, and their accumulated experience gave them plenty of knowledge; in fact, they weren’t dumb at all, but they were just too lazy to use their brains. After all, they only ever needed to show brute force, and very few species were better than them at this.
“Idiot! Perhaps I can’t beat you in a debate, but I can just kill you.”
Whenever a person tried to use reason and logic with a demon, those demons would merely deal with it in their own way. It was likely that you would be dead and no longer able to debate them afterward.
From a certain standpoint, the always immature Karwenz was quite compatible with the side of Chaos.
Becoming fallen and demonized wasn’t akin to brainwashing, so Karwenz still pretty much possessed the same personality of back then.
It was likely that he would only help his own descendants to create a country on a whim, and even the Mist Kingdom’s destruction would completely follow the maxim of “only the strong surviving” that he believed in. He would probably only shrug and utter “how regrettable” before instantly forgetting about it.
As for him taking over Reyne’s mind and defeating the beastmen two years ago, that was likely only because of the upcoming Holy War and because he needed to protect Reyne’s body for his upcoming descent to the mortal plane.
For him to be able to take over Reyne’s body now, it was probably just like he said—”the seed has sprouted,” and Reyne’s body could now host his will. He only came to see the sights.
I relaxed somewhat after figuring this out. After all, a person with the power level of a True God just idly roaming about would have far too much effect on the battlefield.
As long as Karwenz still cared even a little bit about our old ties, he wouldn’t, at least, stand directly against us, and the old man’s appearance would tie him down even more. After all, as long as he hadn’t been brainwashed and controlled, not every prince was crazy enough to kill their father and destroy their own country.
In most cases, no matter how rebellious the child—even if, of course, that said child’s abilities were already on par with that of a True God—he would still be instinctively afraid of his strict father from his childhood.
“Roland! Are you even listening to me? What were you even thinking going out like this? You are shaming all our ancestors! Your etiquette as a knight and royalty has all been wasted. You’re also clearly the older brother; didn’t I tell you to teach your younger brother well? Just how have you been teaching him? Karwenz didn’t even discuss his gender change with you—why didn’t you try to stop him…”
Fine then. Since Karwenz didn’t care at all about leaving me behind as he escaped, the raging old man could only vent entirely at me. This lecturing that I hadn’t received for over three hundred years made me feel nostalgic, yet it also made me be at a loss for how to react.
“Damn it, when the old man starts lecturing he won’t listen to any explanations at all. That bastard Karwenz left me to suffer here alone!”
At the same moment that Roland was having fun while immersed in his father’s “love,” “Reyne” had exited the city and was considering how to fulfill the contract.
“So, what am I going to have to do to make Roland praise me?”
In a way, these vague contracts were the hardest to fulfill.
As a demon, Karwenz could easily break the terms of the contract. Countless souls had already lost everything after making deals with the lower planes, but he didn’t feel it right, as Reyne’s ancestor, to lie to his own descendant. Besides, Karwenz intended to stay in this body for an extended period of time, and having a good relationship with the host was quite necessary for him.
“Okay, I’ll just slightly put in some effort and treat it as the rental fee for this body. I’ve decided that it’s going to be you, Lorci! Heh, heh, this is my main task as well, to deal with those ignorant idiots. But even if I don’t say it, Roland should have guessed it already.”
In a way, time had left its mark on Karwenz as well. In the past, at least, Karwenz definitely wasn’t as intelligent as he was now.
He didn’t actually lie; he did come to the mortal plane to have a look around, but he didn’t tell the complete truth either. He would accomplish some small tasks while having fun as well.
True Gods had to follow the rules of True Gods as well, such as not directly participating in mortals’ battles, which had to do with this world not being able to withstand the power of the True Gods. It was to avoid the True Gods from simply destroying everything with their power, and during the Holy War, the True Gods intervening too early or even personally descending would cause the war to escalate in scale and go out of control.
In a way, if it weren’t for the participation of the Earth Elemental God Emordilorcan, Lorci wouldn’t have conducted her future ambush, nor would there have been the quick death of a True God. Without a doubt, that Forest God Clareladin and the Spider Queen Lorci both obviously broke the rules.
It was as if two kindergarteners were having a fight and the one who lost asked his older brother in elementary school for help. This caused the other side to be on the losing end, so that side invited his cousin in middle school, which was followed by both sides continually inviting more people to participate in the battle. The level of the sides would constantly be raised, and it would result in the two families becoming mortal enemies.
“Perhaps the final battle will come later, but it definitely won’t be now. Disobedient children should be spanked.”
The only way to stop this vicious cycle would be if a parent from either family discovered that their children were being unreasonable and misbehaving and decided to teach their children a lesson with a good spanking.
And the current Karwenz was the parent delivering the spanking. At least on the surface, Lorci was still on the side of Chaos, so the spanking should be administered by them rather than the Order side.
“Oh my, it seems that she’s really quite angry. It looks like slapping her one time won’t be enough.”
If Lorci’s betrayal was not quickly dealt with, there would, perhaps, be another traitor very soon. And her double-crossing not only did not gain her the forgiveness of the will of the Chaos Abyss, but it also made the Order side furious and abandon all thoughts of protecting her.
“There’s plenty of fence-sitters and traitors, but a double traitor—especially at the very beginning of the war—is unprecedented. Lorci, do you really think the main Gods on both sides are blind or all dead? You attracted too much attention too early, so too bad for you. Originally, that foolish Elf God who had decided on his own to descend to the mortal plane had committed a greater crime than you, but it’s too bad that he’s dead already. I can only use you as an example for the rest.”
Of course, Lorci was doubtlessly the current greatest threat to the Northlands and the Mist Kingdom, and it was unknown if there were any personal grudges or benefits involved in this official task that Karwenz was about to carry out.
A meteor streaked across the sky, and when this meteor crashed into the ground, the Spider Queen Goddess who was trying her best to obtain the position of the Guardian God of the Northlands from Wumianzhe was destined to meet misfortune.
“Oh, right; it’s so rare that I get to come here, and I have plenty of time, so let’s find a place to have some fun first. I’m already tired of playing with succubi ¹ and female half-demons, so why don’t I find some new fun while I’m here? With those beautiful and slender female elves as well as the sturdy and cute half-blood female beastmen… beauties, wait for me, this old guy is coming! Cough, I made a mistake, let me try again… beauties, this lady is coming for you!”
Cough, perhaps Lorci would still be able to act as she pleased for some time before Karwenz decided to get to his main task at hand.
By the way, after a particular series of incidents, a certain princess’s rumor of being a lesbian was destined to become circulated around by everyone.
…
After night descended, the beasts in the pitch-black darkness began their final evening feast. This land had already bled enough, and this battle was nearing its end.
In the snowy Northlands, even though the ground was covered with snow, there was a strange team proceeding through the ice.
Although they were all elves, they were separated into two separate processions. The dark elves walking behind were in high spirits, while the gray elves walking in front wore depressed expressions.
Grayblood elves—this was the name of this new species of gray elves. These roughly thirty thousand gray elves had blank expressions as they trudged onwards—it was as if they were daydreaming zombies.
They followed their King Adrian to work under a new master, and that master had unhesitatingly sent them right out to fight against the current masters of the Northlands.
“Are we going to have to fight the humans to the death?”
They had returned to their starting point after going a full circle. But to use Amon’s words: “You were allies equal to us in the past, but now you’re nothing more than dogs.”
If Lorci could be said to have lost the trust of both major sides due to her two consecutive betrayals, then these gray elves could be said to not even know how many times they had betrayed others by now.
Betraying their human allies and the side of Order? Yes, they did that at the very start.
Betraying the expectations of the Elven Gods? Well, that occurred when they had abandoned the northern battlefield and had hurriedly returned to their homeland.
Betraying the elves of the entire Northlands? Their gray-black skin color was the best evidence. They could still remember the looks of shock and immense hatred of the Northland’s elves when they had suddenly betrayed them and changed sides on the battlefield.
And they had now betrayed their own species yet again despite the fact that they were on the brink of a disaster, in order to participate in an utterly meaningless battle whose results didn’t even matter to their race. That was the reason for their fatigued expressions and why they were visibly tormented by guilt and pain with every step.
It was no wonder they were so exhausted. A warrior who had lost his conviction and desire to protect was no different from a zombie!
Suddenly, amidst the desolate silence, dozens of voices rose in a blending of song. They were singing what would be sung at the year-end celebrations in the Tassel Kingdom and signified the end of the year and the gathering of their tribe.
“Dajh da jd, ka su odd as da…”
[Our distant relatives, where did you go, we miss you here in the homeland…]
“Fre de ld, kad…”
[Are the ancient trees at home still verdant green, that familiar spring lake always reminds me of my childhood, the sky was so blue…]
Back then, there had been continuous internal conflicts among the elves, and the legendary moon elf bard Tassel had wandered the continent in order to find a place where her tribe could live.
After experiencing countless difficulties, Tassel finally settled on a piece of land in the north, where she signed a contract with the Forest Guardian God Clareladin before joyously beginning her trip to return home.
Unfortunately, the return trip was just too long, and Tassel, who was so worn out from her travels, died before she was able to return to her previous homeland.
Luckily, her message was brought back to her tribe by her messenger pigeons, and her tribe completed the promise she had made, transforming that northern mountain into an elf paradise.
Later generations of elves used the songs that she used to sing and created this classical song about the longing for one’s homeland.
And in recent years, at every year-end celebration, it would be the princess who would perform this song for everyone as a celebration of their now pleasant lives compared to the difficulties of the past.
“Dda jd ad! Dal dada aty…”
[My relatives, I finally found a dreamland for us, our new home is in the north…]
And now, as that familiar, nostalgic song echoed throughout the mountains, the grayblood elves felt more pain than ever before.
The last time they had listened to this song, they had been celebrating with their relatives and friends, but after all the recent events, there was no one who hadn’t lost a loved one.
“That song—it’s the same voice! Impossible!”
As the gray elves’ choking turned into crying, someone among them noticed that this familiar song was being sung by a familiar voice—a voice that belonged to someone who should have been dead!
“Her Highness Suana! Ah! No, this is impossible!”
A sharp-eyed scout had already discovered the truth. A solitary figure could be seen singing in the mountains, and judging by her translucent body, she was probably a banshee like in the stories.
The gray elves’ faces turned pale as they faced the indisputable truth before them. They all came to a realization at the same time.
“Kill her!”
As the gray elves were still in shock and in tears, the dark elf general’s angry roar woke them all up. His order was carried out by countless dark elves’ magical arrows, which were about to destroy that lonely figure in a storm of arrows.
“N—no!”
Some gray elves were no longer able to hold themselves back and started fighting with the dark elves; they were doing their utmost to halt those life-threatening enchanted silver arrows.
Yet it was too late. The expert archers within the dark elf troops had already heartlessly released a storm of arrow fire, and it appeared as if the newly-born banshee before them would die again immediately when a miraculous sight suddenly occurred.
A flaming phoenix flew through the sky burning all the arrows to dust and blocking the several magic spells aimed at her. And when the phoenix landed on the ground, it transformed into a female warrior wielding a flaming divine sword.
Numerous figures instantly appeared behind the cliff. The familiar military squadron was obviously an elite squad from the Underground.
“Um, I didn’t plant this tree or cultivate this mountain, but if you want to pass by, even paying a toll wouldn’t be enough to make me allow you all to pass.”
The red-haired girl spoke some confusing words, but not a single dark elf dared to speak up against her. After all, she was the famous figure who was the most likely person to rule over the entire Underground—Phoenix Annie Layde!
And the other familiar voice caused the gray elves to tremble in fear. Perhaps a shocking tragedy was about to be exposed to the world.
“My fellow tribe members, you were all fooled; my death and the sudden declaration of battle was all an underhanded plot by evil, ambitious individuals…”
Note:
1. According to Wikipedia, a succubus (plural succubi) is a Lilin-demon in female form or supernatural entity in folklore (traced back to medieval legend) that appears in dreams and takes the form of a woman in order to seduce men, usually through sexual activity.
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