2/2
...
"Priestess Elwha Aerin, Princess of the Elves, has arrived."
The announcement was accompanied by the entrance of three people.
Elves.
Two of them were male, and the one in the lead was a young-looking female elf with the looks of an eighteen years old girl.
Looks were deceitful in elves, though. For everything Bloed knew, she could be a fifty-year-old hag while keeping the features of a young girl.
The girl carried herself with an elegant bearing and a gentle smile. Her long pale white hair was tied behind her, and her silver eyes were looking directly at The Great Savannah's king.
When she reached in front of the throne, the elven girl bowed slightly as a sign of courtesy.
"Your majesty."
Her voice was soft and clear, easily reverberating through the entire hall.
Strangely, Bloed could feel himself becoming refreshed after hearing her voice. He could not help but think that this girl was truly beautiful.
To be honest, if not that Bloed was used to living with and enduring the advances of beautiful girls like Regina or Liu Ying, he would have been dazed by the lady in front of the king.
In fact, he could see several beastmen males staring at the elf girl with an infatuated expression, as though they wanted nothing but obey each one of her words.
But suddenly, Bloed heard a voice in his mind.
[Master, use your psychic energy.]
Bloed was stunned, but his face changed at the next instant. Without hesitation, he activated his psychic energy and used it to stimulate his mind.
Almost instantly, he felt his mind turning clear.
"This is"
[Mind Manipulation.] Regina's words sounded in her mind. [A kind of charm, if I'm not wrong She is just faintly using it, though. It is just making her aura a bit more alluring to increase the goodwill others feel towards her. A petty negotiation trick.]
Bloed nodded. With Regina's reminder, he was able to understand the situation completely.
The elf princess in front of him was using a kind of mind manipulation spell. She was not using it on the public, though, but instead on herself to make others feel goodwill towards her.
The effects were very similar to one of Gina's ESP abilities, [Allure]. But Gina did it unconsciously, while the elf princess used the spell in purpose.
By using the spell on herself, this little trick was virtually undetectable. Only people like Bloed or Regina, who were susceptive to the changes in the soul, could detect something like this.
Looking beside him, he realized that even Liu Ying was staring at the elf princess with eyes full of admiration.
Bloed smiled wryly and touched her arm, sending a bit of psychic energy to her mind.
With a shiver, Liu Ying returned to normal. Almost instantly, she realized something was wrong.
"Wha"
"Shh. I'll explain it to you later."
Liu Ying was confused, but she decided to hear Bloed's words.
At the same time, Bloed noticed that the elf princess looked briefly at them with a confused expression. Bloed decided to feign ignorance and acted as though nothing was wrong.
Meanwhile, the conversation between the princess and the king continued.
"I hope you like the place where you are staying, princess."
The elf princess nodded. "I would have liked more trees, but everything else was perfect."
"Good." Nodded the king. "I would hate it if our guests are displeased with our hospitality."
After some other pleasantries, the princess bowed slightly to the king again and moved away, indicating that she finished speaking to the king.
But then, the arrival of another person was announced.
"Paladin Edward Stell, General of the Sun Kingdom, has arrived."
This time, the entire palace fell silent.
But almost instantly, a commotion erupted.
Bloed also wrinkled his brows. Now he was sure that something was wrong here.
The Saintess of Moonlight Glow, a Priestess and Princess of the Elves, and a General from the Sun Kingdom.
Bloed was not an idiot as to think this was a coincidence. They obviously were here for a reason.
Moreover, it was an open secret that the Sun Kingdom was a human supremacist kingdom. The Sun Kingdom was a theocracy ruled by the Church of the Sun God, a church that preached human supremacy.
It was virtually impossible for a general of that kingdom to visit the capital of a beastmen country without a good reason.
The same thought was in the mind of several people in the hall. They stared at the middle-aged man entering the hall with gazes full of curiosity, confusion, and hostility.
The general of the Sun Kingdom, on the other hand, did not pay attention to their gazes. Instead, he walked through the hall with his head held high and his aura fully released.
The pressure of his aura caused several beastmen to turn pale. It was definitively the pressure of a powerful practitioner.
A demigod.
The middle-aged man continued advancing arrogantly. Such arrogance was enough to enrage many of the beastmen here.
If not that the king was still wearing a calm look, Bloed was sure several of them would have already tried to attack the general.
"General Edward, welcome to The Great Savannah." The lionkin king said with a smile.
The general nodded indifferently, not bothering to bow or to reply to the kind.
The king, though, seemed not to take offense by the general's obvious slight. Instead, he continued smiling while staring at the human male in front of him carefully.
"How are your accommodations, general? I hope you and your men found them to your liking."
" Barely enough," The general replied. "Although I was not expecting much considering that animals like you are the hosts."
Bloed could feel several beastmen gritting their teeth in rage after hearing these words. The atmosphere inside the hall had turned incredibly tense.
The hostility in the air was almost tangible. And the worst part was that some of the beastmen were sending part of that hostility towards Bloed and Regina.
Bloed smiled wryly. He did not expect to get caught in the crossfire.
Contrary to the beastmen in the hall, King Arlen Firstmane did not seem offended. Quite the opposite, when he heard the general answer, he smiled.
"Is it so? I'll make sure to get you new accommodations then. I'm sure the new accommodations will be what you expected."
The general froze. He had the feeling the king was mocking him.
Plus, judging by the king's amused gaze, his new accommodations were not something he was going to like.
A small trace of hatred passed through the eyes of the general. He stared at the king several seconds before speaking up.
"If this is everything you need, I think I'll be leaving. I already lost a lot of my time assisting this useless event."
The king smiled. "Calm down, General. I still have something to say."
Then, King Arlen Firstmane clapped twice, attracting the attention of all the people in the hall.
"Everybody, I have an announcement to do tonight. Get ready, my subjects. If nothing goes wrong, soon the elves' Boerner Forest, humanity's Sun Kingdom, and the beastmen's Great Savannah and Moonlight Glow, are going to be a war."
...
P4TRE0N: /aidnovels