Chapter 65: The Elders’ Thoughts 1

Kent did not really care.

To be perfectly honest...

He had never been particularly interested in becoming an Honorary Elder in the first place.

The dark elves were placing such an impressive title on his head.

Could there really be no price attached to it?

Where there were privileges, there were obligations.

Kent understood that much perfectly well.

Still...

Not wanting the position himself was one thing.

Rejecting it directly in front of the Dark Elven Elders was another.

That would be little different from slapping them across the face.

So when he suddenly heard the female dark elf openly object, irritation immediately rose in his heart.

Without thinking further, Kent spoke.

“Honorable Elders.”

“I am willing to become an Honorary Elder.”

His reasoning was actually very simple.

He was not originally from the Underdark.

Sooner or later, he intended to return to the surface.

If the relationship with the dark elves became troublesome in the future...

Then, at worst, they could simply go their separate ways.

“Hmph!”

The Fifth Elder gave a cold snort.

“Whose girl is this?”

“How can she be so lacking in manners?”

His expression darkened.

If he had not immediately noticed that the female elf possessed the strength of a Level-Eight Magic Archer, he might already have lost his temper.

In truth, distinguishing the elders was not difficult at all.

Each elder wore a number prominently displayed at the center of the chest, indicating their rank.

It was convenient for everyone.

After all, the elven language was notoriously difficult to pronounce.

And dark elf names were often absurdly long.

Over time, even the dark elves themselves had simply grown accustomed to referring to the elders by number.

Of course, those rankings were more than decoration.

Each position carried different responsibilities and authority, somewhat like the distinction between a mayor and deputy mayors.

But that was another matter entirely.

“Fifth Elder.”

Hel quickly stepped forward to explain.

“She is the adopted daughter of the First Elder.”

“She came out this time to undergo her adulthood trial.”

“Oh?”

The Fifth Elder’s anger immediately faded somewhat.

He carefully examined the female elf again.

“You are Darkya, aren’t you?”

“Why are you opposing this matter?”

There was a reason the relationship mattered.

Most dark elves did not personally raise biological descendants.

Instead, unmarried dark elves often adopted an infant born from the Tree of Life.

Darkya had been one such child.

She had been adopted and raised by the First Elder.

So in a sense...

She could indeed be regarded as the First Elder’s descendant.

Darkya’s face immediately turned bright red.

Under the Fifth Elder’s gaze, she remained silent for quite some time.

Finally, she answered in a small voice.

“Because...”

“I removed my mask in front of this human.”

The Fifth Elder blinked.

Then suddenly slapped his thigh.

“No wonder!”

“I kept feeling that something about you looked different.”

“Now I remember.”

“Your mask is gone!”

The other elders immediately exchanged glances.

Their expressions became strange.

Surprised.

Curious.

And faintly amused.

As though they had suddenly remembered something very interesting.

“Old Fifth.”

The Second Elder interrupted him.

“Enough.”

“Let us first hear exactly what happened.”

The Fifth Elder fell silent.

Then his gaze shifted toward Kent.

“It began when...”

Hel saw that Darkya was clearly too embarrassed to explain the matter herself.

So he stepped forward and carefully recounted everything that had happened.

The wager.

The battle with the kobolds.

Kent’s victory.

Darkya’s promise.

And finally...

How Kent had deliberately provoked her into removing the mask with her own hands.

When Hel finished...

The room became quiet.

The elders did not immediately respond.

This was no longer merely a joke between two young people.

Nor was it simply a wager.

It involved an oath.

Dark elven tradition.

And, more importantly...

The reputation of the entire dark elf race.

After a long silence, the Third Elder finally spoke.

“You should all leave for now.”

“This matter concerns the honor and credibility of our people.”

“We old fellows need to discuss it carefully before giving an answer.”

His gaze swept across everyone in the room.

“When we reach a decision...”

“It will represent the official judgment of the Council of Elders.”

Kent, Darkya, Hel, and the others left the City Lord’s residence together.

Darkya glared furiously at Kent.

Kent, however, looked completely unconcerned.

He walked along with a carefree expression, occasionally turning his head and even throwing Darkya a teasing wink.

That was simply the kind of person Kent was.

The more something irritated you...

The more he enjoyed doing it.

Darkya was so furious that she wanted nothing more than to draw a blade and cut him down on the spot.

Within the Underdark, dwarves and dark elves generally held slightly higher status than humans and gnomes.

There were practical reasons for this.

Humans were poorly adapted to underground life.

Dark elves and dwarves, on the other hand, had lived in caverns for generations.

Humans could not match dwarves in raw strength.

Nor could they compare with dark elves in natural magical talent.

Fortunately, humans possessed one advantage of their own.

They were industrious and adaptable.

As for gnomes...

Most of them were hopelessly obsessed with machinery and strange mechanical devices.

If an ordinary human had dared behave so disrespectfully toward Darkya in the past...

He probably would have been riddled with arrows long ago.

But Kent was different.

This infuriating human had somehow become a hero in the eyes of many of her fellow dark elves.

Most of the dark elves who had accompanied Darkya today had come for two reasons.

First, they wanted to see the famous elders of the Council with their own eyes.

Second...

They wanted a closer look at the hero of Muan City.

And now Kent was openly teasing Darkya right in front of them.

As far as Darkya was concerned, he was practically begging to be beaten.

What made matters even worse...

Was that several of her companions were actually walking over to greet him warmly.

Darkya’s expression became darker and darker.

Meanwhile, back inside the City Lord’s residence...

The moment Kent and the others disappeared through the doors, several elders burst into laughter.

“Hahaha!”

“This is too amusing!”

“I wonder what the First Elder will look like when he learns that his adopted daughter agreed to become a human’s servant!”

“Hahaha!”

“I can hardly wait to see his expression.”

“I think the moment he hears about it, he’ll rush over here and kill that brat himself.”

“That may not necessarily happen.”

“The First Elder has always been reasonable.”

“Darkya made the wager herself.”

“If she lost fairly, could he really force her to break her word?”

“That’s true.”

“But she has certainly given us a difficult problem.”

“If we force her to honor the wager, that human brat benefits enormously...”

“And afterward, we’ll still have to face the First Elder’s fists.”

“But if we refuse to honor it?”

“So many people witnessed the wager.”

“The reputation of the dark elf race would suffer.”

“This really is troublesome.”

In truth, the positions of the dark elf elders were not hereditary.

Their rankings were decided through competition.

Once every two hundred years, the elders underwent a new round of trials.

And those trials tested far more than combat strength.

Knowledge.

Judgment.

Strategy.

Wisdom.

All of these were taken into consideration.

Unfortunately for the elders sitting here...

The First Elder had consistently remained above all of them.

For many years, none of them had managed to push him from his position.

So opportunities to see the First Elder embarrassed were exceedingly rare.

Naturally, when one finally appeared...

How could they resist laughing?

Still, after the laughter faded, the elders gradually became serious.

The problem remained.

And it was not an easy one.

“How about we simply notify the First Elder and let him deal with it?”

“Get lost.”

“If he comes here now, you’ll be the first person he beats until you can’t take care of yourself.”

“Then... perhaps we could make that human brat disappear?”

The room suddenly fell quiet.

One elder immediately glared at the speaker.

“We dark elves do not repay kindness with betrayal.”

“Besides...”

“Do you really think Muan City belongs entirely to the dark elves?”

“Those powerful auras around the city are not decorations.”

“That’s true.”

“Those fellows probably came here after hearing that Muan City wiped out hundreds of thousands of kobolds.”

“Stop changing the subject.”

Another elder waved impatiently.

“This human brat really knows how to cause trouble.”

“Why did he have to torment Darkya like this?”

“If this had happened before we proposed making him an Honorary Elder, there would still be room to maneuver.”

“But now?”

“The words have already been spoken.”

“We cannot simply take them back.”

“The dark elf race cannot afford to lose face over something like this.”

“Hmm...”

One elder suddenly stroked his chin.

“Doesn’t becoming an Honorary Elder require an assessment first?”

The others went silent.

Then slowly...

Their eyes began to brighten.

“You mean...”

“We could make use of the assessment?”

“Exactly.”

Several heads immediately moved closer together.

The elders began whispering among themselves.

Their goal was actually quite simple.

First...

They wanted to preserve the dignity and reputation of the dark elf race.

After all, how could a dark elf—especially a Level-Eight Magic Archer and the adopted daughter of the First Elder—simply become the servant of an ordinary human?

If Kent were a Legendary Mage...

That might at least be worth discussing.

But a Level-Two mage?

That was another matter entirely.

At the same time...

They still wanted to see the First Elder embarrassed.

Such an opportunity was far too rare to waste.

So after whispering back and forth for quite some time, the elders finally reached an agreement.

They would make their move through the Honorary Elder assessment.

That way...

The First Elder would still have to deal with the humiliating situation involving Darkya.

The reputation of the dark elf race could also be preserved.

And if everything went according to plan...

Kent would fail the assessment and never actually become an Honorary Elder.

As for what kind of test Kent would have to face?

The elders exchanged knowing smiles.

That...

Would be the First Elder’s problem.

“But what if that human brat actually passes the assessment?”

One of the elders suddenly asked.

The others fell silent for a moment.

Then another elder shrugged.

“What does that have to do with us?”

“The assessment for an Honorary Elder must be set by the First Elder.”

“I’m not the First Elder.”

“Brilliant.”

Another elder stared at the Fourth Elder.

“Old Fourth, I never realized you were this devious.”

“Now all we have to do is sit back and wait for the spectacle.”

“Heh, heh.”

“Hehehe.”

The elders exchanged knowing smiles.

They had spent far too many years living dull, uneventful lives.

Perhaps it really was time for something entertaining.

“Enough.”

“We still have proper business to deal with.”

One of the elders finally spoke.

“Our first priority is protecting this Bread Tree.”

“We should also send a message to the First Elder and ask him to come here personally.”

“This tree is nothing short of a divine miracle.”

Then the Seventh Elder suddenly smiled.

“And since this is such an important occasion...”

“Why not invite the powerful representatives of the humans, gnomes, and dwarves as well?”

“After all, the appointment of an Honorary Elder is a major event for the elven race.”

“It would only be proper to have witnesses.”

The room became quiet.

Then one elder frowned.

“Old Seventh...”

“Wouldn’t that be somewhat inappropriate?”

“If the First Elder makes a fool of himself in front of everyone...”

“Wouldn’t that embarrass the entire dark elf race?”

“What is inappropriate about it?”

The Seventh Elder answered calmly.

“If we do not invite them, do you really think the powerful people already gathered around Muan City will know nothing about what is happening?”

“And besides...”

“If we deliberately keep them away, won’t the First Elder become suspicious?”

No one answered immediately.

Every person in the room was an old fox who had lived for centuries.

What they said aloud...

And what they truly thought...

Were not necessarily the same thing.

But there was one possibility they all understood very well.

If the First Elder truly humiliated himself in front of so many powerful witnesses...

Would he still be able to command the same authority afterward?

And if he could no longer convince the others to follow him...

Then perhaps...

The position of First Elder might eventually have to be passed to someone else.

That possibility carried enormous weight.

After all, the deepest secrets of the dark elf race had always been guarded and passed down through successive First Elders.

Along with those secrets...

Came an enormous accumulation of wealth.

These elders were not ordinary dark elves who spent their lives pursuing beauty, art, and elegance.

Anyone who could live this long, rise to such a position, and still command respect...

Was not simple.

So when the Seventh Elder finished speaking, the others all fell into thought.

After a while, the Second Elder suddenly changed the subject.

“I really do not understand what is so special about Muan City.”

“The Ancient Trees of War grow here as though they have gone mad.”

“Now even the Bread Tree can flourish.”

He sighed.

“Yet the Bread Tree seeds we obtained in the past...”

“Those trees grew like abandoned children.”

“Their fruit was unbearably sour.”

“And they could not survive without a constant supply of Water of Life.”

“If the Water of Life stopped...”

“They would not even bear fruit.”

“It may actually be better that the Bread Tree is here.”

The Fifth Elder spoke.

“Muan City is naturally easy to defend and difficult to attack.”

“The important question now is...”

“Who are we going to send to deliver the message to the First Elder?”

The elders looked at one another.

No one volunteered.

Obviously...

None of them wanted that particular task.

Then suddenly, the Third Elder stood up.

“I have an idea.”

He smiled.

“We already have the perfect messenger.”