The Elf Queen Eve gazed out the window, maintaining this posture for quite a long time.
Since being captured, the Dragon Nest Beastman soldiers had escorted her and the Elven higher-ups to the Dragon Nest Tribe City, confining them in this room.
As the former queen of a kingdom, she naturally received preferential treatment.
The house was well-ventilated and bright, offering a view that encompassed much of the tribe from a high vantage point.
Although she couldn't leave freely, life here was not as bleak as imagined.
Looking at the former citizens of the kingdom, walking the streets with smiles on their faces, Eve's feelings were complex. She couldn't tell if she should feel grateful or sorrowful, as mixed emotions made her heart ache.
In the past, to escape the pure-blooded Beastmen's pursuit and to prevent their pursuers from finding their tracks, the remnants of the Elf Kingdom mostly hid within the kingdom's Secret Realm Space, rarely venturing out.
If not for the Beastmen establishing outposts, cutting down a large number of trees and shaking the Elf Mother Tree's foundation, leading the Elf Kingdom to mistakenly identify the Dragon Nest Beastmen as their pursuers, the elves probably would not have shown themselves so easily.
This approach of guarding the Secret Realm Space protected the kingdom's elves, but it also led to significant poverty among the lower-class elven populace.
Within this small Secret Realm Space supported by the Mother Tree, it was necessary to sustain tens of thousands of people.
At the same time, the limited land resources were largely occupied by the elven elders and other upper nobles.
The remaining small portion was the farmland upon which the elven commoners relied for survival.
The upper class pursued luxury, filling their rooms with intricately carved artworks, and planted beautiful flowers and trees on fertile lands, occupying most of the kingdom's Secret Realm Space but not engaging in production.
The lower-class elven populace struggled to survive on the limited barren lands and still had to pay a large share to the upper class.
The sense of peace and stability within the entire Secret Realm Space was just a façade crafted by the upper-class elven nobility, content with the status quo.
The true Elf Kingdom had already rotted away long ago.
Since becoming queen, bearing the fate of the race's continuation, Eve rarely saw the smiles on the faces of the elven commoners.
Eve did not understand grand principles but could clearly feel that her people were not happy.
Life was hard, and the atmosphere was oppressive.
When the kingdom space was breached, the army broke, and the Dragon Nest Legion marched in, Eve often imagined the miserable life her people would face.
In the Forest Land, the victors often liked to take the vanquished as slaves.
And among slaves, fewer than ten percent survived a year!
Those dark lives would forever haunt them.
The Elf Kingdom was completely destroyed from then on.
However, when the despairing Eve became a captive, confined in the Dragon Nest Tribe City.
As time passed, what she saw was more and more smiles on the once ordinary citizens' faces.
Genuine laughter from the heart.
This indicated that the natural people, turned captives of evil, had not fallen into the dark hell but rather attained a satisfaction hard to achieve during the kingdom period.
She, being the queen of all the surviving elven people, reigning over the kingdom's remaining elves, believed Nature's light could bring beauty to each of her people.
Yet she only brought them poverty and struggle, while under the regime of evil, joy blossomed.
Eve quietly looked out the window, the experiences over more than two months greatly shook her heart.
She stood there, dumbfounded, for a long, long time.
At some point, a Beastman soldier came to take her away.
Eve composed herself, remained calm, and also carried a sliver of curiosity as she left.
She was about to meet the legendary figure who, in a few short years, single-handedly built this vast empire.
The enormous great hall resembled a circular coliseum, with giant stone tiered walls surrounding it, sunlight streaming down from overhead, casting a vast shadow over the central platform and covering a large area.
A massive shadow stood towering at the top.
The face obscured by shadows was out of sight, but with a little imagination,
one could envision the horrific and terrifying figure hidden within the shadows, a darkness swallowing the world, plunging it into a chasm of despair.
A figure capable of terrifying a neighboring child to death.
"Greetings, Your Highness."
Eve half-knelt towards the terrifying, despair-inducing figure, offering the due courtesy to the one who had destroyed her kingdom and was now the master of the Dragon Nest Tribe.
Eve looked down, unable to see the face.
Austin could sense that the elf queen before him had her own thoughts, yet he did not care.
"Elf Queen Eve, having stayed here for two months, you should understand, under my command, there has never been differentiation between races."
Austin observed the figure below, his deep voice echoed like thunder in the vast hall.
"Whether Goblins, Kobolds, Ratmen, Jackal Wolf people, Lizardmen, Minotaurs... regardless of their race, there are, to me, only two kinds of people: useful and useless. If you can satisfy me, I don't mind letting you continue to lead your people."
His voice paused, then lifted a bit.
Eve remained silent, raising her head slowly, looking towards the giant shadow above.
The face was unseen, but from the outline, one could imagine the terrifying head hidden within the shadow.
Yet in Eve's heart, a sudden beacon of hope was born, marked with disbelief, her voice slightly excited.
"Thank you for your mercy, great Austin, Your Highness."
She understood Austin's meaning.
She could continue to be the queen within the Elven community, as long as she demonstrated sufficient value.
This meant the Elf Kingdom could become a vassal kingdom of Austin.
The Elf Kingdom could possibly continue to exist!
As the queen of the elven race, her mother once entrusted the kingdom's remnants into her hands, the monumental task of extending the kingdom's future.
If hope existed, how could Eve resign to let the kingdom fade into history?
Even if the Elf Kingdom became a puppet, even if the title of Elf Queen was merely nominal, Eve would not wish for this emblem of significance to vanish.
"Very well, regarding some matters next, I do not wish for you to conceal them."
What has been swallowed, Austin would not easily relinquish.
As long as the majority of elves were under his control, as long as the major part of the elven populace served him, as long as he could draft powerful individuals to form a spellcaster army under his command.
With most elves under his control, what did the nominal title of an Elf Queen of the Elf Kingdom amount to? ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚑𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥
Austin had learned in his past life about methods to sideline a power structure, though he might not have seen pigs run, he had surely eaten pork.