Game of the World Tree
chapter-365

There are no walls in the world that are completely airtight.

In fact, many people from other races within Seigües are well aware that these strange elves have the ability to resurrect themselves.

For example, the surviving half-orcs of the Caverock Tribe who fled to the Desert of Death or the Borderland Nobles from the Holy Maniya Empire, and the Dark-Dwarves of Blackrock City who have become quite familiar with these elves…

This astonishing revelation was brought to light to Brein by the ambassador who had just returned after visiting Blackrock City.

As the long-distance teleportation array linking Blade City and Blackrock City remained operational, the two city-states naturally took advantage of the situation to negotiate and sign multiple commercial trade agreements, leading to the dispatch of their respective ambassadors to visit each other’s cities and solidify the newly formed trade partnerships.

And when the ambassador from Blade City arrived in Blackrock City, they naturally delved into more in-depth discussions with the local populace and learned the secret of the elves from them.

They can resurrect!

In the realm of Seigües, wherein extraordinary power prevails, the concept of resurrection isn’t entirely incomprehensible.

Of course, for most creatures in Seigües, the power of resurrection is perceived as part of the authority of the Goddess of Death, and individuals capable of resurrection are, to some extent, seen as those who have struck a deal with her.

Therefore, upon learning this secret about the elves brought by the ambassador and recalling the oracle of their Patron Deity, along with some rumors about this supposed ‘Goddess Evé’ that these elves recently started to worship, Brein believed he had finally uncovered the truth.

He finally understood now!

It all made sense!

No wonder these elves were not afraid of death…it turned out that they could never really die!

Goddess Evé?

Strange elves who can infinitely resurrect and have drastically changed personalities?

And the oracle which directly alludes to these elves?

Could it be…!?

Just as the rumors the ambassador brought back suggested, maybe this new deity of the elves was actually a subordinate of their Goddess, or perhaps even an incarnation of Her Majesty, Hela herself?

Brein’s mind raced with endless possibilities…

At this moment, he finally realized there was no such thing as an ‘army of eighty thousand elves’ or ‘sixty thousand elves was killed in battle.’

Clearly, it was simply the very same group of elves that just repeatedly resurrected themselves!

Although it cannot be denied that they were indeed earnestly committed to eliminating their enemies, the reality remained that these elves had also attempted to deceive them…

They hid the fact that they could resurrect and tried to scam them out of the equipment and gold coins that he had promised by repeatedly rejoining the battle, again and again!

It’s probable that the actual number of elves that participated was only around fifteen thousand at most!

Of course, fifteen thousand is still nothing to scoff at.

But considering the power of the Goddess of Death, coupled with the rumors that Her Majesty had somehow also gained the Divinity of Life and Nature…

Brein could vaguely understand now.

With their Patron Deity’s capabilities, along with the inclusion of the Divinity of Life and Nature, achieving such a feat was indeed possible!

Upon comprehending this, Brein quickly considered the elves’ remuneration.

They had no issue with providing them with tens of millions of gold coins.

Moreover, it would be difficult to get back the ones that have been given out, but the remaining 13,000 sets of equipment…

He was pretty sure that such numbers were artificially inflated due to the elves double dipping through the use of their resurrection ability!

Brein’s first thought was to restrict the elves from receiving the equipment, and they must be present in person before they can receive their promised rewards.

After all, how could one person claim several sets of equipment?

No matter how rich the City of Blades is, they can’t afford such an astronomical loss!

Who are they kidding?

If Brein let this slide and turn a blind eye to the elves’ schemes, then they’d really be bankrupt!

However, after discussing the matter with his senior, Lord Firebeard, the two of them ultimately decided to change their approach.

There were two reasons.

One reason was that, although it seemed that the elves had tricked them, in the end, the initial agreement was mutually decided upon by both parties.

Even if they had been deceived, Blade City was the one at fault for not gathering enough intelligence about the elves before signing the deal.

With the agreement already in place and considering the elves’ significant strength, Blade City lacked the confidence of breaking the deal.

Another reason was that, after witnessing the elves’ weird fixation in acquiring equipment, Brein suspected that backing out on the deal would greatly anger them, potentially even worsening the previously amicable relationship between both parties.

The war is still far from over, and Brein understood that the City of Blades would likely still need the elves’ assistance in the future.

As such, maintaining their friendly relationship was the best course of action for them.

Besides, could they even refuse?

As things stood, unless they shut down the long-distance teleportation array, the elves could easily use brute force to “collect their due debts.”

Imagining over ten thousand undying elves wreaking havoc through their city quite frankly terrified Brein.

As long as the teleportation array remained operational, these elves were practically invincible!

Furthermore, without the elves as reinforcements, Blade City likely wouldn’t be able to resist the remaining Dark Alliance army.

Understanding all this, the former and current chiefs quickly reached a consensus regarding their stance on the elves’ scamming issue.

Firstly, the things that Brein had promised should remain unchanged.

After all, it was only a few years worth of fiscal revenue and could be viewed as an investment to prevent disaster and enhance their relations with the elves.

Firebeard is still quite interested in these elves, particularly in the various businesses they conducted in Blackrock City, and he hoped to engage in commercial cooperation with them in the future.

Secondly, they decided to send an ambassador to officially update their agreement with the elves.

The gist was that they were now aware that the elves could resurrect themselves indefinitely.

The City of Blades would honor the prior existing agreement, but moving forward, it needs to be updated.

Until the war was completely over, only genuine new participating elves would be eligible to receive one piece of equipment!

Of course, neither of them actually expected more new elves to join.

In both Brein and Firebeard’s opinion, the current number of elves participating was already sufficient enough.

Another purpose of updating the agreement is to completely tie the elves who have already participated in the war to Blade City’s cause.

Since these elves have already received their promised equipment, they have the responsibility to help the City of Blades not only survive this war but also achieve final victory, rather than just fighting a single battle.

This new agreement also required both ambassadors of the respective parties to sign it.

Considering the elves’ special nature and to demonstrate Blade City’s sincerity, Brein himself had decided to go personally, while his senior, Lord Firebeard would stay behind to guard the city.

With Blackrock City’s mediation, the elves quickly responded by sending their own ambassadors, namely the Saintess of Nature Alice and a female elf named HootyBird.

Ultimately, both parties agreed to update the agreement, and the renegotiation event will take place in Blackrock City.

To Brein’s surprise, the elves agreed quite straightforwardly, and he even saw a look of guilt on the face of their representative, the Saintess Alice.

At that moment, Brein finally witnessed the gentle virtues for which the elves were widely renowned for and often depicted in legends, embodied by this elven saintess.

Of course, what he didn’t know was that even if Blade City stopped providing equipment to the elves after this battle, the players would still rush to join the battle at the first opportunity after having tasted the benefits of war.

This was the true reason for Alice’s guilt, as she understood the players all too well.

Experience and contributions points, as well as the spoils of war from defeating enemies were immensely attractive to them.

However, the elves also made a request:

That is, they would not permanently station themselves in Blade City but would immediately come to its aid whenever a crisis arose.

Brein agreed to this as well.

At the moment, the Dark Alliance is still a force to be reckoned with, and its high-end combat force is still leagues ahead of the Hermetic Alliance.

Therefore, they can only hide within the safety of their city walls to defend themselves and cannot take the initiative to attack.

However, just as the agreement was finally updated and Brein was about to leave Blackrock City, he suddenly encountered a familiar figure he hadn’t expected to meet.

— 365 —

【 UPDATED AGREEMENT 】

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