The Greenwild Royal Court.
Tree trunks curved to form arches and pillars, while the moss-covered ground shimmered with a faint, deep-blue fluorescence, resembling an ocean reflecting the starry sky.
The Elven King sat upon his throne, with Elvin and Lislene standing to his left and right.
“Your Majesty Salos, it certainly wasn't easy to get an audience with you!” Ning Busan said. “Since everyone here is on the same side, I'll just ask directly. What exactly is going on with the plague in the Elven Valley?”
Salos countered, “In what capacity are you standing here and speaking to me?”
Ning Busan said, “I am Elvin's friend.”
Salos stared at Ning Busan's face and sighed. “Not enough. That identity carries too little weight.”
Standing to the side, Elvin fell into deep thought. The more he chewed on those words, the more off they felt. Was the King actually implying that he himself wasn't worthy?
“Then what if it is in the capacity of a king?” Ning Busan smiled, holding Lobao in his palm. “As you can see, the Mother Tree has bestowed a guardian spirit upon me. Can we speak as equals now?”
Seeing one of its own kind for the first time, Salos's little spirit couldn't help but nudge closer to Lobao, offering a friendly greeting: “Hello, my name is Sasa!”
Lobao smacked it away with a wing. “Get lost!”
Sasa's mouth puckered up, and it whimpered as it hid back into Salos's hair.
Lobao looked utterly disgusted, without a shred of guilt for making the other cry.
Ning Busan's smile stiffened.
This little pint-sized brat really had the potential to be a villain!
Salos spoke, “I can tell you everything you wish to know. But you must promise me one thing.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“I wish to entrust the future of the Elven Clan to you.”
Ning Busan agreed without hesitation. “Sure. Elvin is my friend, so the Elven Clan's business is my business!”
Salos paused.
That wasn't exactly what he meant, but this worked too.
Ning Busan said, “Your Majesty Salos, I came here to solve the problem. So tell me, what exactly is going on with this plague?”
“It all began six thousand years ago.” Salos fell into reminiscence. “Back then, a human accidentally wandered into the Elven Valley. He was gravely injured, so we took him in and cared for him with the utmost devotion.”
“But who would have thought that this momentary act of kindness would plunge the entire Elven Clan into a bottomless abyss.”
“That human's injuries were too severe, and in the end, he didn't make it. After his death, elves in the Elven Valley began to contract a strange illness one after another.”
“At first, we didn't pay it much mind, but before long, the plague began to spread rapidly throughout the valley. Even the Mother Tree could not purify it.”
“Eventually, we fell into panic.”
Ning Busan asked in confusion, “Did you not seek help from the God of Light?”
Salos gave a bitter laugh. “Of course we sought his aid, but even he could not cure this plague from its root.”
Ning Busan's eyes widened in surprise. “Even a god couldn't solve it?”
That was the God of Light!
Just how insidious was this plague that even the God of Light was helpless against it?
Salos lowered his gaze. “He did propose a solution for us. He said that killing all the infected elves would stop the plague from spreading.”
“But by then, half of the elves in the valley were already infected. How could we possibly sacrifice their lives to trade for our own survival?”
Ning Busan frowned. “Did you have another way?”
Salos said, “We placed our faith in an evil god.”
“Was it that monster with a human torso and a serpent's tail?” Elvin realized with a start, though he still found the truth hard to accept.
“Your Majesty, Satan is the enemy of the God of Light and once brought about the terrifying Dark Era. How could you betray the God of Light to worship him?”
Two sharp glares stabbed toward him.
Faced with the death glares from both Ning Busan and Salos, Elvin shrank his neck and shut his mouth.
Salos said, “The evil god is not Satan.”
Ning Busan smiled.
Let heaven bear witness to his innocence!
He was completely innocent!
Right after, Salos added, “The evil god is the mother who birthed Satan.”
Ning Busan's smile vanished instantly.
Where did a mother suddenly pop out from?
No thanks, get lost.
“Wait a minute...” Ning Busan asked, “How do you know that evil god is Satan's mother?”
“The evil god admitted it herself.”
Ning Busan was speechless.
What was the point of the evil god admitting it?
Did Satan ever acknowledge her?
Salos continued, “The evil god promised to help us resolve the plague, but as the price, the elves of the Elven Valley had to worship her for all eternity.”
“We were presented with two choices: either obey the God of Light and kill all the infected elves, or change our faith and become followers of the evil god.”
“The choice lay in our hands, and we... we chose the latter.”
At this point, Salos closed his eyes in agony. “We betrayed the God of Light. We committed an unforgivable sin.”
As an outsider, Ning Busan felt the Elven Clan was not in the wrong at all.
“The God of Light is the deity you have worshipped for generations. It was his dereliction of duty that he could not protect you. Therefore, no matter what choice you made, he has no right to blame you.”
Ning Busan emphasized each word, “You did nothing wrong. If there is any fault, it lies with the God of Light!”
Salos frowned slightly, instinctively refuting, “How could a god be in the wrong?”
Ning Busan really wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, shouting: Stop blaming yourself! Have the courage to blame others instead!
“Your Majesty...” Elvin's voice trembled. “You said you chose the latter back then, but as far as I know, the Elven Valley is still worshipping the God of Light!”
Salos said, “Worshipping the evil god was a desperate measure. After the plague vanished, we held onto a foolish hope, believing the root of the plague had been severed for good.”
“We continued our worship of the evil god in secret, but we buried this history, telling the newborn elves that the God of Light was the deity they ought to serve.”
Ning Busan murmured, “But your agreement with the evil god was that the elves of the Elven Valley would worship her for all eternity.”
“As fewer and fewer elves worshipped the evil god, the plague from six thousand years ago broke out once again.”
Salos nodded. “Indeed.”
Ning Busan truly didn't know what to say.
They had been dealt a winning hand and played it terribly!
With the plague six thousand years ago, they either had to sacrifice their clansmen's lives or choose to worship the evil god.
In truth, either path would have resolved the plague once and for all.
But they had wanted neither to abandon their kin nor to betray their faith, leading to this twisted, pathological existence for six thousand years.
Ning Busan couldn't understand it. “If changing your faith means you get to live, does it really matter who you bow to?”
“What is the point of clinging to something so intangible and illusory?”
Salos looked at him with a complex gaze. “Do you have a faith?”
Ning Busan shook his head.
Salos said, “You have no faith, so you will never understand that there are always things thousands of times more important than life itself.”
Ning Busan was left speechless.
He didn't believe in gods, so it was hard for him to empathize.
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