Chapter 1096: Corner
To put it in light terms, the elf leader was in a bit of a pickle at the mont, he encountered a little snafu, so might say- No matter what he did, Litrakq perfectly countered, and the more he failed to prove that she was dirty trickster, the more it felt like the atmosphere around him was shifting.
Each of his failures lended more credit to Litrakq, which in turn, reinforced the belief of those she had already convinced prior, and also, made those who did not believe doubt their own position.
This was not an endless cycle, past a certain point, the elf leader would have to throw in the towel, he would have no other choice but to give up, as if he couldn’t prove her to be a manipulator, then that would an that she had said the truth the entire ti.
And by now, even he was starting to doubt himself, could he have misjudged her? This link indeed appeared to be the real deal, and he had failed to find any problem with it, he could always claim that the link was actually being actively controlled by her, but that would just seem like a cheap excuse at this point.
Not to ntion that he had been on the lookout for signs of that, and had not found anything, so either the link was actually real and he had been wrong from the start, or it was such a perfect fake, that even an old elf like himself was incapable of seeing through it.
He locked eye contact with Litrakq, she had remained the sa throughout the entire exchange, not a single sign of discomfort, just that smug expression stuck on her face, and even through the link the emotions he sensed from her were always perfectly logical, nothing he could point to as a flaw here either.
By all ans, evidence pointed to the fact that the dirt-blood had developed a genuine elven bond with pure-blooded elves, there simply was no proof of any part of this being a fabrication…
But his guts, his instincts were telling him otherwise, the leader’s bond to nature, and to the jungle was the strongest here, and to an extent, that allowed him to partly share into the sharp instincts of the wildlife inhabiting it, and all of it was screaming that it was a ploy, that the link was falsified.
What good was it to have instincts, if he could not prove it to his fellows? And it wasn’t like the instincts of wild creatures were without fault either, if their instincts were so precisely honed, they would never get caught by hunters…
“Mister Leader, you haven’t said anything in a little while? If you can’t think of anything else to test , shouldn’t we call it a day? I think I have proven myself trustworthy a number of tis already” the dirt-blooded commander spoke up, making the leader frown as he felt that many more of his fellows were in agreent with her words.
By this point, only the three powerful elves and a handful of his mages were still unconvinced, but that was not to say that they had not been infected by doubt, the situation was drastic.
“I know that you don’t want to be right, but you have to imagine- Does being your enemy has to an that I have to lie to you? Would it not be effective to simply tell the truth if it is convenient?” Litrakq spoke up.
“I would have rather not used violence at all, but I needed to agitate my elf blood before being able to establish a link, if I had been able to do that from the start, there would have been no need for a woodcutting operation, or for anyone to be slain” she explained, her words once again being confird as truth by the link.
‘Damn it’ the elf leader had noticed a pattern, not only had she been proving her link to be reliable to the other elves, but she had also made sure to place herself as a more sympathetic person than she really was.
Because of course… Often, the fact that soone was telling the truth was not always enough to convince people, what drew them in was a charismatic personality, and Litrakq was doing a pretty good job at that as well.
“Tell , Miss Litrakq… What were you going for when you claid to have devoured the of our fellows that you killed? What was the point of announcing it so loudly?” he asked, if he couldn’t find fault with the link, he could always find fault in her character.
Even if the elves were convinced, they were unlikely to gather behind a vile individual, even if life was not the end, it did not an that they would just stop valuing it out of the blue.
Litrakq did not seem to be taken aback and threatened by this question, her expression remained the sa, and she rely shrugged.
“That was before a link was created, at first, I didn’t know that this was what would happen, I only knew that devouring the body would allow to enhance the elf bloodline within , I announced it rely as a strategy to disturb, I wouldn’t have done it if I already had a link by that ti, things have changed, and there is no longer any need for us to kill each other”
Litrakq’s reply was far from what the elf leader had wanted, the monstrous woman was oddly glib-tongued, sohow turning her killing and devouring of a fellow elf into sothing she could use to bolster the support she was receiving from the very comrades of her victim.
That was utterly vile, she truly possessed a personality befitting of her appearance.
The elf leader had basically nothing left after that, he could tell that any further attempt to taint her character would only backfire.
‘Do I really have no other choice?’ the few that had still been on his side were slowly shifting as they believed in her words, soon, he would be all alone.
‘Could it be… That it was all true, all along…?’ he sighed as the noxious words appeared in his mind.
“Commander Litrakq… What is it that you want, exactly?”
“? I just would like for you guys to no longer attack or my soldiers, in exchange, we will stop damaging the jungle, and furthermore, I would appreciate it if a small camp could be set up on top of the mountain, nothing too big, of course…”
“…I won’t ask you guys to help directly, simply stay put and continue on with your lives, await for the grand day of ascension”
“If we all know the truth, there is no reason for us to fight”
“I…Suppose that you are right”
“Glorious! Then let us shake hands in solidarity, or maybe more if affinity-” she glanced at Liminel, who strongly shook her head against the offer.
“-Just a handshake then…”
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