laulau20
patreon
Chapter 56 Tail's Objection
🕑 Added 2023-02-17 08:00:03 +0000 UTCChapter 56 Tail's Objection
"Come on, guys. The target is as big as Mr. Gabel here. Why can't you hit anything!" Sarielle sighed.
"Let's make it a bit closer?" another elf tried to make a suggestion.
"It was only 50 meters. If it was any closer, then swords would be more effective!"
Only Gabel and three other tailfolk who had experience with bows managed to hit the target. The rest of us missed the mark.
"Mr. Gabel, should we add archery to our curriculum?" Alith asked.
"No, this would be an extracurricular lesson. I will inform Headmaster Lithe about this, but I couldn't change the curricula at will." Gabel commented. "You may attend this extracurricular at your own will. Class is dismissed"
"Yes, Sir!"
The swordsmanship lesson included marching, camping, group fighting, and army structures, so I understand that Gabel didn't want t change the curricula at his convenience.
The following week, The headmaster gathered every student and informed us about the high council directive. Lord Edelweiss was also there as the representative of the high council.
"The high council has declared that all cities are put on martial law. Every citizen is required to be educated on the basics of the military. The undead threat is growing, and we can't stay put any longer. We will crush those undead and liberate Northlandgard!" Edelweiss shouted as if to rally the masses. All elves cheered her on while the tailfolk only gave a confused stare but said yes nonetheless.
"Lily, come here!" Edelweiss motioned me to come to the stage with her. Lily was bewildered but followed her instruction nevertheless.
"Please give some word of encouragement for your fellow friends." Lord Edelweiss spoke sweetly.
"Um… Let us work hard to expel the undead from our lands! The undead is scary, so to protect our homes, we must defeat them!" Lily shouted. Her shout was met with silence, but the tailfolk soon applauded with more vigor than Edelweiss. Elves likewise clapped their hands with her showing their agreement.
"The military education will be held for two years, and then we will march toward the undead lands," Edelweiss noted.
"Lily, could we talk with Lord Edelweiss alone?" I whispered to her.
"Sure."
She then whispered to Lord Edelweiss, and she nodded. Then after the announcement, we were brought into the headmaster's office, where Edelweiss was patiently waiting for us.
"Greetings to you, Lord Lily. Please, have a seat."
"Shiro, what do you want to ask Edelweiss about?"
"I want to ask about that directive. Does that mean we are going to invade them en masse?"
"Lord Edelweiss, I want to ask if we will liberate Northlangard using many people."
"Yes, that's correct."
"I think that's a bad idea. The corruption will lower your abilities, right? If we do it like that, then there will be a lot of casualties when they attack us with their troops," Lily parroted me.
"We considered that as well. However, if we only send elites among elites like you or me, for example, we risk being overwhelmed. After debating in the high council, we are determined to sacrifice several troops to buy time so the elite units could assassinate the curse seed." Edelweiss answered.
Lily then trembled as Edelweiss' words came through her. The number of sacrifices we are talking about her is not a mere one or two but thousands of lives. And we also knew there were several curse seeds spread among Northlangard, so even if everything went well, the loss could be well in the tens of thousands.
"W-What about the human…." Lily stuttered as she imagined the loss of life we could suffer. Images of fellow tailfolk that were sacrificed in human fort resurfaced once again, and her body trembled at the anxiety.
"..."
Edelweiss' eye grew sharp. Apparently, we hit the sore spot. Our relationship with humans isn't the best. Humans will undoubtedly rally and kill us if we show them any opening.
"Several ambassadors will come to the human country. We will discuss a cease-fire or even outright ask them to liberate Northlangard."
"Will they agree to help us?" Lily widened her eyes.
"If we offer a part of lands they invaded, they might agree, but the discussion is currently underway. I have no idea how those apes will act." Edelweiss's eye grew colder. "Even if they agree to a peace treaty or cease-fire, they had a history of betraying agreements, are they not?"
"Yes. They would take the chance after we liberate Northlangard." Lily nodded without hesitation.
"If that is the scenario, then we could do nothing. We could not leave our backs open to those wolves. Maybe after we liberate Northlangard, we could surrender unconditionally to humans for several years and then stage a rebellion just like you did…." Edelweiss sighed, "The threat of the undead is too big to ignore. After several years, it is estimated they will produce another type of soldiers… it might happen as soon as next year."
"Then…"
"Judging from the state of the human fort, we could lure the undead to the human fort and then invade the undead with everything we got while the humans were occupied with the zombies."
"That's…"
"It is unlikely to succeed." Edelweiss nodded. "I hope those apes knew the danger of those zombies."
"I see."
If we could gather the entire strength of humans, we would be able to topple the zombies in no time. But the problem is human nations are not monolithic, and thus betrayals are rampant.
"Lord Edelweiss, if the negotiation breaks down and we can't cooperate with humans, who will defend the land of the elves?"
"Currently, we don't know anything about the land of the dead. If only we knew the secret of their corruption, this liberation wouldn't be so difficult." Edelweiss sighed.
"Why is there corruption anyway? Northlangard wasn't like that before, right?"
"Yes. You see, this world has something we call leylines. It is the course of energy spreading along the entire world, and it nourishes us and sustains every living being."
"I heard about it before. But just leylines aren't enough, right? Didn't she mention special things or something?" I wondered, and Lily also recalled Edelweiss mentioned it before.
"Northlangard isn't a capital, right? Didn't you say you need special thingies to manipulate leylines?"
"Yes, We call them Leyline center. It is used to manipulate leylines to reduce plagues and diseases. It was also used To enhance mana in the air. Without it, the mage would have trouble recharging feystones, and we would have difficulty gathering mana from the air. The land will also become a barren wasteland, and life could not be sustained."
"I see. So, why could the undead manipulate the leylines?"
"Study about leyline center has not progressed much. We are afraid of tampering with it. That stone center has existed since immemorial, even before our ancestors. We studied it, but since we were aware that it holds such great power, we took great care with it. We doubt if it could be destroyed, but better safe than sorry." Edelweiss said.
"I see."
"We have been studying the leyline center more boldly since the Northlangard incident. We should uncover the secrets of the corrupted lands. I will tell you when it happened."
"Okay. Thank you, lord Edelweiss!"
![DoBert [ ドベルト] from fanbox](https://patrefans.com/kistorage/93596.jpg)
