Hello Scrolls and Nazarins, brings another chapter of my fanfic The One Who Came Back.
Renner finishes his testimony and now it's Mare and Antilene's turn to terrorize the Council.
With you
The One Who Came Back
Chapter 67: Answers
Tsaindorcus Vaision is a quite powerful Dragon Lord. Like many dragons, he should have, passively, the ability to Detect Lies, something that would work very well in his presence.
But now? Now he was thousands of kilometers away, using a puppet via remote control, inside a room full of protections, having to use the spell directly, a spell he was not accustomed to using like this.
"So I ask, am I lying, Lord Aganéia?"
"No, nothing you said was a lie, or do you believe your words to be true."
"I apologize for you, despite everything, still doubting all of this. So using spells was in vain."
'Another trap. I don't know how she did it, but she lies.' - Tsai complained internall.
The Dragon trusted too much in his strength. No one would lie directly to him, and his passive magic would detect lies automatically. So, questioning wasn't his strong suit. Here, he only cared about exposing the Sorcerer King.
If it were any other inquisitor, they could have asked, what became of the King of Re-Estize? Or who wielded the sword that severed Ramposo III's head? Questions that would discredit Renner.
Tsai returned to his seat when he was interrupted.
"Lord Aganéia! Could you remove the spells you cast on me?"
The dragon representative simply gestured, a new light appeared and faded away, Renner could feel that there was nothing on her anymore.
"Thankyou."
That, that word, just one word was enough. Renner knew she shouldn't do this, but she couldn't resist provoking the dragon by putting into a simple word, a tone or inflection, that Tsai knew shouldn't belong to a human.
He partially turned his helmet and saw the human serious, submissive, almost frightened. He knew that in this single moment, everything about her was a lie.
"We should proceed, we want to know what happened in the Slaine Theocracy," said the Formian representative, but his words were repeated by the guards as if they were one being.
"I think then, we should hear directly from those who were present yesterday in Kami Miyako," Ainz said, bowing to Mare, which made the dark elf feel embarrassed. He almost ruined everything by apologizing to his master, but restrained himself. After all, he had already been instructed that such things would happen.
"Uh, yes!" - 'I shouldn't stutter' - "I am the Elven King Mare Bello Fiori," Mare began.
For this meeting, he wasn't wearing his usual attire, with the skirt he always wore. This time, Ainz insisted he wear pants. So, his clothes were made following the suggestion of the elves, with more green and brown, to give him a more... elvish appearance.
"A few weeks ago, I became the new Elven King, after defeating in a duel the former tyrant of... my people. The fight took place during the Slaine Theocracy's attack on Crescent Lake."
"Your Majesty, I am Eloi Grevalle and I represent the free elves. I apologize for asking, but did you personally defeat Decen Hougan?"
"Yes."
"The Godkin King? Are you his son?"
After hearing those words, a tremor began, gentle, but growing; soon, the entire castle was shaking, and many in the room had to hold onto something. Mare wielded his staff and had a dark look.
Ainz didn't move, and Albedo maintained a smile.
"My lord, they don't know," said a female voice.
The tremor passed, and Mare looked at Antilene, who had said that, then nodded.
"I am not Decen Hougan's son. I come from afar to claim the throne, and, if necessary, I can demonstrate my strength."
The advisors stood up and straightened their clothes, Eloi was trying to compose himself.
'That wasn't a show of strength?!' - "N-no, please, forgive me for my insolence, Your Majesty, I had no right to question you like this. Your Majesty, forgive me, but I have a great concern in my heart, my brothers in the Theocracy, what happened to them?"
"As for them in the Theocracy, there is nothing more to be done," replied the dark elf.
Eloi covered his face in sorrow.
"Then it's over, your suffering has come to an end," he said, thinking about how his compatriots died in the destruction of Kami Miyako.
"Yes, I think they are in a better place now."
"Yes, they must be in Feywild, enjoying paradise."
"No, they are in Crescent Lake, didn't anyone inform you? The prisoners in the Theocracy were rescued, they are home now."
It was truly a surprise, the representative of the Dragon Lords didn't mention such a thing. Eloi then approached Mare and fell to his knees, then began to cry, grabbing onto Mare's cloak.
The young dark elf looked at his master, who only gestured with his hands that meant "I have nothing to do." Mare didn't have much to add; after all, he had been king for only a few days.
"The Elven Kingdom has become a vassal to the Sorcerer Kingdom because we were not in a condition to sustain ourselves after the continuous attacks from the Theocracy. We tried to stop the attack on my kingdom, but it was in vain. So, we contacted the Sorcerer Kingdom asking for help. If necessary, we have dozens of prisoners who will confirm how they continued to attack even after Decen Hougan's fall was announced and were defeated by the undead warriors who arrived only after that."
'A blatant lie' - thought Antilene - 'and he didn't even flinch! They were already in the city, the Sorcerer King himself was there, yet he lies without any concern. When it comes to obeying the Sorcerer King, he doesn't hesitate. If the king asked for the moon, probably his only concern would be where to get a big enough ribbon to wrap the gift.' - The half-elf kept a silly smile as she watched her lord act so firmly."
"A week after Decen Hougan's death, we contacted the Slane Theocracy trying for a truce, which was refused."
Meanwhile, the human and the black dwarf were arguing.
"And the Theocracy, what happened in the Theocracy? We need someone from there to ensure the facts."
"If Lord Mare allows, I will tell you what happened in the Theocracy," proclaimed Antilene.
"And who are you?"
"I, Lord Ardork, am Antilene Heran Fouche."
"I've never heard of you," he said with a tone of displeasure.
"No, probably not, but I must be better known as Zesshi Zetsumei."
"THE EXTRA ACCENT OF THE BLACK SCRIPT! CERTAIN DEATH!"
"What a change of hairstyle doesn't do, huh? Or didn't you imagine I was half-elf?"
The two men did not resign themselves to answer, but the tension in the room was palpable.
"Miss Antilene, please, share with us what you were doing in elven lands, what happened after the fall of the old elven king, and what followed in the Slaine Theocracy," Ainz requested, keeping his voice serene.
"I was sent to fight directly with Decen Hougan. Our army finally managed to cross the magic forest, and we were invading Crescent Lake. I entered the royal palace and witnessed the former king's last moments. By tradition older than him, the winner of the duel became the new king. After Decen's death, I fought Lord Mare, as my orders were to execute the entire royal lineage."
"You were killing your own people!" said Eloi in a pleading tone.
"More than that, I was killing my own relatives. I am Decen Hougan's daughter."
Eloi took a step back.
"The reason for the war!"
"Yes, the reason for the war was the kidnapping of my mother. When she was rescued, she was already pregnant. I am the fruit of war, raised in the Theocracy with the sole purpose of killing Decen, kept in secret and hiding my true nature."
"So many deaths at your hands..." accused Eloi.
"Yes, more than anyone should bear," intervened Mare. "Zesshi Zetsumei only knew hatred, and was taught to hate her own people even more. That's why I killed her."
"She should remain dead," the elf said with deep pain.
"Zesshi died, now only Antilene remains, who will pay for her sins. But who decides the punishment is me, the King of the Elven People, and if you want to return home, you must accept my decision and my rule," proclaimed Mare with a regal tone that even impressed Ainz:
'The boy is growing up!'
Eloi lowered his head and tried to respond.
"I-I don't know, we are not prepared for such a thing. I will talk to the others about returning. Now, without the Theocracy or Decen, perhaps the reasons for us to remain separate have ended."
"Your decision does not need to be immediate. Ponder, Crescent Lake can wait," Mare concluded. "Antilene, continue."
"Thank you, my lord. After my defeat by Lord Mare, I was brought back to serve him and atone for my crimes. Yesterday we arrived at the capital of the Theocracy, we exposed the facts and asked for a truce, but this was rejected. We asked for compensation, denied again, and when Lord Mare revealed himself as king, we were attacked by the cardinals themselves, unleashing the retaliation of the Sorcerer Kingdom as the suzerain of my lord."
"They attacked a king? Directly?" exclaimed Lady Flarin, the demi-human rabbit.
"Yes, the attack was broadcast throughout Kami Miyako, by a voice spell cast by the cardinals themselves. And if you don't believe my words, just question the survivors."
"Are there survivors besides the liberated elves? None of this was presented to us before," the demi-human complained.
"Many survivors, Lady Flarin. They are organizing themselves. We don't know if they will stay in the capital or migrate to neighboring cities. After all, only the capital was destroyed; no other city was touched."
"And the army marching out of the city?"
"They are doing exactly what they should be doing, marching, leaving, but showing that they were there and what could have happened to all the other cities, flaunting their spoils of war."
"What spoil? Treasures?"
"The dead, the dead accompany them, walk alongside the royal army. Not a single 'victim' was left in the capital; they now belong to the Sorcerer Kingdom."
...
Author's Note
Hello Nazarins, about Tsa, metaphorically speaking, he only sees what he wants and is so focused on unmasking Ainz that he doesn't see anything else, his hatred makes him blind to other matters.
Mare is a character that I want to develop emotionally, despite his timid programming, he is now alive and receiving new information and influences, so his mind must develop, just as Cocytus learned lessons that he will tend to acquire during his growth.
Antilene, her personality seems to have changed a little, I think the blow to the head that Mare gave worked as a reboot hahahahahaha, or she is simply receiving a lot of good influence in Nazarick.