Chapter 78: Such an Ominous Name
Warning: Kind of Racist content, please remember that all of this is a work of fiction before you type anything in the comment section.
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Another silence ensued, but soon was interrupted by a snort from Luna, she then jolted as she realized that she was being rude to the person who was willingly giving her nation much-needed help for a very low cost.
Well, her ridicule is quite normal, after all, the white elves have advanced knowledge in magic, several times higher than any kingdoms combined, in Sophia's world, the nation of the white elves, the Stardust Kingdom is like the Roman Empire of Magic and has knowledge that cannot be surpassed by any self-taught person, even if that person is a Hero who wrestled with god and won.
"Oh. I am sorry, but can I ask how will you do that? I mean, no matter how powerful a nation's leader is, the most difficult thing to do is to establish an information network, plus the fact that the ones we are fighting against can most definitely achieve a better spy system than a budding nation can ever dream of, so I have to..."
The seemingly reasonable inquiry, at least in normal circumstances was replied with a snort similar to the one Luna just did earlier, Sophia then replied.
"I know things that shouldn't be known to man, surely a simple intel gathering for a war will not be too hard for me."
Sophia purposely sighed in her brain as she continued.
"But, to prove myself, I shall demonstrate one of my nation's specialties..."
Sophia paused as if pondering about something, meanwhile, Luna was having her brows locked into each other, and she once again thought of the little speech Sophia had made earlier.
_Are old people just narrow-minded? Am I saying the word 'impossible' too soon?_
She thought so as she waited for Sophia's demonstration of informational power, her logic told her that it was impossible, but a part of her wanted to catch up at least a little to the advancements in knowledge, thus she could not help but wish that she was wrong, after a while, Sophia spoke.
"Ok... I want you to go for about 5 kilometers in the south of your main camp, and there you will see your Prime Minister..."
Luna's face froze, surely, those words might be just Sophia's casual demonstration of how she can see things from afar, thus she instantly revoked the sudden thought that bloomed on her mind, but still, because of the sudden bad feeling in her heart, Luna immediately questioned Sophia's first experimentation of her power's limitation. (At least that's what Luna was thinking.)
"What about Patiño?"
With a little laugh, Sophia replied.
"Yes, Patiño, a very ominous name..."
After a slight pause as if thinking about how she would appear cool (in fact, she is thinking how to), Sophia continued with a light sigh.
"Anyway, as I was saying, the brain of your rebellion is the eyes and ears of your enemy."
"Wha..."
Luna was suddenly caught off guard, she did not expect Patiño will be accused so suddenly, someone she already considered a friend who became her companion when she started the bold dream of freeing themselves from the clutches of the light-skinned, yet dark-hearted counterpart, more so, the tone of Sophia's voice did not even decreased the oozing confidence in it that will sound as narcissism if she did not do all of that ridiculous stuff and successfully grabbed the great forest away from the hands of the god of undead.
She was so familiar with tones that sounded like an authentication of sorts that everything that came out of Sophia's mouth was the truth, even before it was proved.
Luna, with difficulty, tried to refute the claims against her friend, but Sophia, noticing the long silence, spoke first.
"Hey, think about it, who gave you the idea that I am a womanizer who will willingly throw hands the moment I see a riveting beauty? Or who gave you the idea of not creating proper structures for your "state" and just making military camps for a rebellion that will last for hundreds of years, most of all, who gave you the idea to place them outside of mainland Stardust and make all of your people's backs face the territory of a divine being?"
"If I am the brain of your rebellion, we would have already enslaved all of the white elves and used them as stallions within a year at most given the high potential of the dark elves in both magic and physical combat. Of course, it's not just me who can do such things, I am sure a person more familiar with your abilities can do it in the same period, yet, the one I am referring to, Patiño never did it."
Luna listened to the words of wisdom from Sophia, she was pondering heavily for Luna knew Sophia's words made sense, but the friendship she created from her most trusted person made her instinctively reject her words, this was sensed by Sophia, thus she continued.
"You know what, just see it for yourself, I am sure it will be a bitter pill to swallow, but you still have to confront him."
With Sophia's chiding, Luna with great reluctance strode out of her tent, afraid of what she would discover and yet lusting for answers to all of the questions that suddenly bloomed in her heart the moment she swept through all the memories of her revolution, long ago did she forgotten that this fiasco was all a demonstration of the informational capability of their soon to be an "Ally", Kamatayan.
_There is no way that he of all people..._
That was what Luna was thinking as she ran with haste toward the outskirts of her camp.
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While the revolutionary leader, Luna was running to the point specified by Sophia with her suppressed anxiety, another person was also running way ahead of her, but instead of anxiety, what the figure is suppressing is the hysterical laughter that's only inches away from escaping his mouth, in the foliage of trees, he skillfully jumped like a monkey, and if one did not see him shed the tan skin on his body, revealing a white soft tone, one would think that he is just a dark elf that is maybe dashing towards the designated spot of him and his lover.
"Finally... Finally..."
The white elf continued to pant as if she was arriving at the place of blissful dreams, and indeed, for an undercover elf like him, being able to finally ditch such repulsive skin was like the dream he had sought.
Despite all of this, however, he, as an agent to his majesty who completed his mission to foil any hopes the rebels have against their monarch is the greatest pleasure for himself.
Patiño finally stopped kilometers away from the main camp, normally, such a distance is not something an elven eye cannot reach, but because of his handiwork of persuading Luna, she dumbly decided that it was wise to not create proper defensive lines to "make the white elves be confused about their position", because of such, movements in the forest will not be able to be traced easily as long as one is careful, and as a scout and double agent himself, Patiño is not lacking in that department.
_Well, it is part of my [Negotiator] unique skill, but still, I cannot believe that she did not know shit about war strategy and that she will be easily persuaded after one paragraph of my lengthy negotiation speech._
_No rather, she can only see things from a war strategist and not a politician's perspective, I mean after the revolution, if they won, how would she fund the construction of cities if she did not build a proper foundation for post-war economics? How will her nation have potential investors?_
Patiño sighed as he picked up the dagger on his waist and started to carve a magic circle, his smile seemed to not diminish anytime soon, but again, who can blame him if he is finally in front of the greatest merit one can achieve? To end the futile struggle of the slaves that caused them a lot of damage in all sectors of their society, hell even because of this, Patiño's Majesty needed to get the help of humans just so that they could foil the rebellion of the dark elves.
For the prideful white elves, such an act was a disgrace to their race and a tarnish to their pride, however, they do not have a choice for their ultra-long lifespan and below-average birth rate made them unable to compensate a loss in population in a geographically short time.
"Finally, all of you will once more be leashed..."
After Patiño hampered the last hope of the rebellion, which is to seek help from the prodigal child of the god of undead, Sophia, all of the white elves truly breathed a sigh of relief, after all, no matter how much they are knowledgeable in magic, no one wants to know what will happen to a country when a hero, even though a fallen one became determined in destroying her.
Thus, it was decided, after they got into an agreement with a human country that the final mission of Patiño would be to make the request of the dark elves fail, obviously it was hard because the only intel that Patiño knew about Sophia that she was a baby who evolved into an adult, but ultimately he decided to use Urduja's prominent reputation as a playgirl to plant the idea that all heroes are just like the Hero of the Sun and use the power of luck to wish that Sophia will not be able to learn the pleasures of a woman's body.
At that point, Patiño could not help but sigh, the magic circle he was carving on a tree was finally completed, he then started to pour mana into the circle as he muttered.
"Good thing my prayers got answered."
He then started to chant words into the magic circle without knowing that a white spider was aware of all his movements as well as the words that just escaped his mouth, the mutter was replied with heavy laughs from Sophia, Eleanor, and Arachne who are together, looking for a good show, but of course Patiño, or rather no one of the rebels or the Stardust forces have any idea about the existence of such reliable "eyes".
Soon, the enchantment was finished and a wooden face suddenly appeared right at the location of the circle, it looked at the grinning Patiño, however, before Patiño can even boast about the meritorious deeds he accomplished from the moment he was planted in the rebellion's side at his very young age, the eyes of the face in the tree widened as the face shouted.
"YOU HAVE BEEN FOLLOWED!"
Similar to the wooden face, Patiño's eyes widened, he intended to look at his back, but before he could even tilt his head, a hand clutched his long blond hair tight as if the one who did so wanted to rip it off, however, the intention of Luna, the one behind her traitorous friend was way more severe than that, for in her feat of anger the moment she saw the king of the white elve's face, he did not intend to let the bastard in front of her explain, after all, she also heard the racist mutters from Patiño through the spider above her head.
"Traitor of my Land."
That was the last words the long ears of Patiño could hear as his head was chopped off by the dagger in the hands of the furious Luna. Luna then looked at the man in the tree, the man who enslaved her kind, the one who oppressed them as if they were nothing but livestock, no even the pigs in the Stardust Kingdom had more rights than them.
Her tears caused by the boiling emotions deep within her heart flowed down even more fiercely, the tears, however, cannot be seen as a sign of weakness, for only a person's emptiness and desire for revenge for all that she and her people had gone through was evident on Luna's eyes, the king cannot even turn off the communications, he was terrified, yet mesmerized by such a cold and dazzling maiden from a race he deems as inferior.
"From this day on, 333 years will be paid in double by all of your kind."
Luna then, with all her strength kicked the tree hard, the poor tree that became a collateral exploded, and splinters were blasted off in all directions, however Luna did not care as she immediately replied to the offer of Sophia, she finally had enough, enough of slavery enough of discrimination, enough of passive resistance.
From today on, she will strike every flesh that pointed their blades on her, she will oppress anyone who tried to side with the enemy she loathes oh so much, and will let the traces of the white elves vanish from the face of Pentateuch.
"Sophia, I accept your help for you have proven your worth, I also accept all of your terms, please, just help me destroy the entirety of the Stardust Kingdom."
Sophia was stunned, and no, not because of Luna's statement but because of the numbers that were very familiar to her, however, she did not voice such thoughts for she could feel from the spider the never-ending fire in the heart of Luna.
"Alright then..."
As Sophia made an affirmation, she started to state all of the things Arachne had gathered about the enemies these past few days.