While the Grand Priest berated Satella, Sol had not been resting. Covering the entire elven capital with his dinsion was pretty easy for him at his current level. There was practically nothing the elves could hide from him with his dinsion deployed. Shields, barriers, anti-scrying abilities, and powers, nothing could hinder his dinsion.
That was exactly why Sol was able to leisurely peep into their entire discussion while having a simple late-night tea ti.
Well, I will take care of this later.
Satella’s situation among the elves was worse than he could have ever anticipated. It was clear that, despite her power, she had lost most of the respect of the elders and even her staunch supporters seed unable to protect her.
I could use this.
He did not want a reenactnt of the events that transpired between him and Pandora. Adding a woman to his harem purely out of convenience and political reasons did not set well with him.
But with the way things were set in stone, outright refusing Satella would most likely be the last nail in her coffin. The elven queen would lose everything with just that one decision from Sol, and that did not set well with him either.
“Then again, it isn’t as if I am not interested in her,” Sol muttered, prompting Siegfried, who had been sitting in silence beside him while sipping on his tea, to look up at him with a puzzled expression.
“Pardon?”
“Oh. Nothing much, I was just spying on the discussion between the elders and your sister.” Sol smirked, throwing a curveball at the dragon slayer with an honest and straightforward answer.
Siegfried coughed, clearly not expecting Sol to be so straightforward.
“No need to act surprised. You guys already know I am a dinsional mage. While the exact details of what that entails might be lost on people in the Mortal Realm, I do not doubt that elves perfectly understand or at least suspect so of the basic abilities I possess. If not, well, I can only say that would disappoint .”
Siegfried appraised Sol with a new look and nodded, “Since you are so refreshingly straightforward, I have no intention to hide anything on my side.”
He placed the cup on the table.
“I will not go into too much detail since I might overstep my sister's authority. Ultimately, it is my sister’s right to tell you about her complete circumstances. But what I can say now is that Southern Pride is more or less yours. Presently, at least. There might have been so doubt in the past. But now...”
He stopped, trying to find the right words to express what he was feeling, “Now, I believe many elves would follow you to the death with no hesitation or fear.”
There was no exaggeration in his words. “All the elders understand this reality quite clearly. They know that a war against you would only bring futile death or end in the greatest religious war that we elves have ever witnessed in all of our existence. We are already few as is. Why dwindle our population further in a aningless battle?”
“You guys are more understanding than I thought. Honestly, I expected to hear words like, We will never bow! Or I'd rather die than kneel! or sothing along those lines” Sol mimicked in an exaggerated voice, prompting Siegfried to chuckle despite himself.
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It had been quite so ti now since he had a genuinely relaxing discussion with soone who wasn’t Jasmine. The other two people he was close with, Satella and the Grand Priest, would only nag at him whenever they t.
“To be fair, after Satella shared your pedigree with , I expected so spoiled young dragon to co.” Siegfried respected dragons. This did not an that he was blind to their faults.
Dragons were powerful, awe-inspiring, and majestic, representing the apex predators of all the realms in his mind.
But…
They were also prideful, lazy, selfish, greedy, and lustful. If soone told him that dragons were created by all the goddesses of sin combined rather than Superbia alone, he would readily believe them.
“Yet you put your faith in them.”
“That we do. After all, we are not that much different. Elves are no less prideful, lazy, selfish, and greedy than dragons. Actually, I would go out on a limb to say that we are far worse than our betters. After all, dragons at least have the power to back their flaws. Elves, as powerful as we are, should not have such high pride.”
The disdain in his words was all too clear for Sol to see yet he did not comnt on it. He knew that Siegfried, with his identity as the dragon slayer, was in a complicated position in his community.
A man who should have been acclaid as a hero yet was rejected by all he cared for and isolated in the roots of the world tree.
“Speaking of that, I have always been curious about sothing, but I had no way to ask before.”
“I am happy to answer any question you might have.”
“During the era of my ancestor, Jupiter Luxuria. He was contracted with a dragon. Ladon, if I rember correctly. I believe you know who I am talking about?”
“How could I not?” A pained smile ford on his face. “I can hardly forget that na.”
“I apologize if my words invoked sad mories.”
“Fear not. So, what was your question?” Siegfried asked after mustering his bearings.
“It’s simple really. From the little I know about elves, your race seems to be smitten by the dragons.”
“You an filled with unhealthy fanaticism.” Siegfried corrected him.
“Well… I wouldn’t quite put it like that. But indeed. Your entire culture revolves around the worship of dragons and even your largest tribes are divided depending on which dragon you believe in.”
“I can see where this is going. You must be curious as to why, despite our overwhelming faith and worship for the dragons, we faced Lord Ladon and his contractor, right?”
Sol did not miss how Siegfried did not even consider Jupiter to be worth naming.
“The truth is. We did consider making an alliance or at least a pact of non-aggression with Lustburg at the ti. But that was all. Jupiter could not accept our decision. He wanted complete subjugation. My sister decided to fight and so we fought. If that man had proven worthy, we would have kneeled. But in the end, he was nothing but a viper. A snake who used his forked tongue to manipulate the witches and do his bidding. A man with a vessel far too small to be considered an Emperor. Too much ambition without the competence to back it up, that’s what that man was in his root.”
Siegfried’s eyes grew cold. Sol did not doubt that the elf did not have any good feelings for his ancestor.
“You are different. For us, before being the ruler of Lustburg, you are first and foremost a dragon. More than that, you have proven that you an individual worth following. After all, just being a dragon isn’t enough. But with Lady Kiyohi herself bowing down to you, what right do we have to be dissatisfied?”
After those words, a mischievous smile ford on his lips.
“Furthermore, with our draconic bloodline thinning out, I am sure many elves wish to bear your offspring. In your place, I will be careful going out. There are extrely high chances of you getting ambushed. Then again, as a dragon, I doubt you will find that distasteful.”
The two n exchanged a knowing smile full of mutual understanding.
Their discussion sadly could not continue as a voice reached from behind the door.
“Sol, It’s Nidhogg. Kaiser is with . We will be entering now.”
The way Siegfried's smile cramped was quite amusing for Sol.
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