"Even if Cohinem doesn't know much about the Western Continent, it doesn't matter. It's just a side task anyway…" Alaric muttered to himself. His main goal in tracking Kavetua was to secure a high-Sequence marionette for Klein and take over the Five Seas' resistance forces. Everything else was secondary.
With this mindset, Alaric leisurely finished the City of Generosity specialty drink Lil' Amon had brought, then headed with Klein and Lil' Amon to the resistance's secret base. Using Beyonder abilities, they slipped in and nabbed some Kavetua-related items before arriving near the real-world elf ruin.
At the ruin's entrance, Siatas stood with a complex expression, her eyes hazy with nostalgia, longing, and sorrow.
Mobet paced anxiously beside her, his face cycling through wanting to speak and hesitating, clearly unsure how to comfort her.
"Good afternoon, Mobet, Siatas! Sorry to keep you waiting!" Alaric greeted them warmly.
"Good afternoon, Jack," Mobet Zoroast replied, visibly relieved. He looked at Alaric. "Jack, Lil' Amon told us your plan. You want to use this ruin to locate the other one, right?"
"Pretty much!" Alaric said with a smile, turning to the silent Siatas. "Siatas, did you get the Book of Calamity from this ruin?"
Siatas's eyes sharpened instantly. She turned to Alaric. "You knew."
She hadn't told Lil' Amon about the Book of Calamity, a clear relic of Cohinem, to whom she remained fiercely loyal.
"Of course I knew. No need to look so wary... I've got no designs on it, nor do I need it," Alaric said, unfazed by her attitude. "I've no ill will toward your queen. In fact, she might need my help more than I need hers."
He met Siatas's guarded gaze, smiling. "You've learned about this era's state. Do you think you or Cohinem alone can ensure the Elves's survival?"
Siatas fell silent. Though she revered Cohinem, she wasn't naive. She'd grasped the world's current dynamics and the Elves's dire situation.
As much as she hated to admit it, the elves were in decline, teetering on the edge of extinction.
It wasn't something she or Cohinem could fix alone.
"…What can you do?" Siatas asked, holding Alaric's emerald-green eyes without flinching.
"Not much, but I can ensure the elves won't be hunted and can thrive normally. The catch? You need to coexist peacefully with humans. If you secretly enslave or kill them, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Alaric smiled. While he generally sided with humans, he wasn't prejudiced against non-humans. The days of Beyonder races enslaving humans were ancient history, and with the fall of ancient gods and the decline of those races, old grudges had largely been settled. Modern Beyonder races had little enmity with humans... any tension usually came from human oppression.
Just as he accepted the sanguines, as long as they followed the rules and stayed out of trouble, Alaric didn't mind lending the elves a hand.
This was also a matter of balance. Alaric knew the Lord of Storms hadn't yet fully submitted to The Ancient Sun God, but it was only a matter of time. Once that happened, three of the seven major churches would be staunch Sun God loyalists.
Of the remaining four, the Church of Steam and Machinery, tied to Roselle, was in Alaric's camp. Lilith, due to the Earth Mother, was also on his side. The Church of God of Combat would eventually be absorbed by Amanises.
Though allied with Alaric, Amanises wasn't fully in his camp, as she was equally close to The Ancient Sun God, playing both sides.
In terms of influence, Alaric and The Ancient Sun God were evenly matched.
Thus, Alaric had to plan for a potential falling-out with The Ancient Sun God, preparing to counter his allies. The Eternal Blazing Sun, having accepted Alaric's "treatment," would be a non-issue if Alaric chose to act.
Herabergen, a clever dragon, was manageable precisely because of that intelligence.
But the Lord of Storms, the ultimate hothead among Sequence 0s, was Alaric's biggest headache.
No matter. Like attracts like. The fiery Elves would likely get along splendidly with the tempestuous Lord of Storms.
As for whether the elves might slip his control? Alaric wasn't worried. If he couldn't handle a fallen race like the elves, he might as well go back to sparring wits with Nyarlathotep.
"You're overthinking. Elves are hot-tempered, but we're not bloodthirsty. As for enslavement… I won't deny it happened in the past, but times have changed. It won't happen again," Siatas said, shaking her head with a self-deprecating, bitter smile.
In the Second Epoch, elves did enslave humans. Back then, humans survived by clinging to various Beyonder races. Among them, elves were relatively kind... at least they didn't eat humans and even protected those under their rule from monsters.
This was common among humanoid Beyonder races. Compared to humans living under dragons or demonic wolves, those with elves or giants faced hardship but had some survival guarantees.
This stemmed from a simple fact: the Elf King and Giant King were once human, transformed into half-mad ancient gods. They retained a faint affection for humans, though it was thin.
Perhaps because of this, when The Ancient Sun God defeated the ancient gods and led humanity's rise, elves, giants, and sanguines were heavily impacted but not nearly exterminated like dragons or demonic wolves. Many integrated into human society, resulting in a significant portion of modern humans carrying mixed blood from these races.
For example, the Tarot Club's Hanged Man, Alger, had some elf ancestry.
***
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