42 The Truth of History

It was not without a reason that I chose to conduct the auction 30 days later.

There were still two weeks left before the Underground Alliance's biannual Alliance Meeting. All of the top brass of the alliance should be on their way and it was better to have fun together as a group than as an individual. Tripping an entire nest was much better than tripping an individual, so let's get everyone to jump into the pit happily1.

Following the procession of the Underground Alliance, entering the Alliance was actually pretty easy, requiring only the approval of any two Underground Autarchs. But apparently, just entering the Alliance wasn't sufficient for my goals.

A chance to showcase my might in front of the top brass was required.

It was customary for a new Autarch to step over an old Autarch to secure their place (defeat or a draw). Perhaps, a long-established Autarch like the Dragon Empress would be the ideal stepping stone.

After all, even though her individual strength was the strongest among the Autarch and the Dragon Cities under her were full of experts, her total military might and influence was definitely the weakest in the Underground World.

It was not one of the weakest, but THE weakest, and this was a problem that arose from the core.

There were no special reasons and it was totally unrelated to her scheming and strength. It was just purely a reality check on how the races of the Underground World affected the political situation.

The current Underground Autarchs in power, while their individual might shouldn't be underestimated, what that truly made one unable to underestimate them were the underground cities supporting them.

Take for example, Ainsterna. His individual strength was said to be Saint-rookie2, while Kajah was Saint-intermediate3 and the old Lion was Saint-pinnacle4. The Dragon Empress's total fighting strength was on the line of the SemiGod, triumphing over the other Autarchs by more than a rank. Despite Ainsterna being the weakest among the Autarchs, he was vaguely becoming the centerpiece of the Alliance.

(Devil Note; The classification is somewhat used in the beginning but later down the line seems to get abandoned for just Silver/Gold/X-rank)

In 'history', he was the final head of command of the Alliance to bring about the invasion to the surface, which meant that he had been the last one standing then. The Underground World was always a place where fists spoke the loudest. He might be the weakest individually but he had the strongest influence. Having 50 underground cities directly under him was already very scary, but there were at least 400 underground city lords who supported him secretly from the shadows.

The reason? He was a human, at least on the surface. That's why the other human underground city lords supported him. It was that simple.

The old Lion and Kajah were in the same predicament. As an underground Beastman Sovereign and a High Priestess of the Dark Elves, their potential supporters were a strength that couldn't be estimated. From a certain perspective, they were the highest leader that represented the benefits of their race. Of course, a large portion of the underground city lords would not admit to it but their private inclinations were quite obvious.

This was also the reason why when Shou attacked Sulfur Mountain City, he was able to get City Lord Hng Hng who didn't fall within his command to act as cannon fodder. When an alliance worked together towards a single goal, in order to not become cannon fodder, in order to earn more benefits and for a plot of land with better sunshine, many underground city lords would look for an Underground Autarch to support and join. Shou, Ainsterna and Kajah's army would grow stronger like a rolling snowball and become Underground Autarch true to their title.

As for the Underground Dragon Tribe? The young dragons who were willing to listen to commands were already serving under the Dragon Empress. Certainly, there were many hidden Ancient Dragons and even Immemorial Dragons, but were they people that Molly, who was only an Ancient Dragon, was able to command?

At that time, when the boat of the other Autarchs floated up, the only one that remained in its original position, Dragon Empress Molly's, would lack behind and probably end up as a high-tier fighter. So, her pursuit for strength was much more intense than the other Underground Autarchs and thus, the Eternal Night Scepter was much more attractive to her.

Fights had never stopped in the Underground World. Normally, people would still leave a line of morality against people of the same tribe whereas a war between foreign races would be extremely violent and bloody. There were more than a few that had grudges against other races and it was said that even the old Lion had once been enslaved as a coliseum gladiator by a human underground city lord. That's why, the Beastman Sovereign treated the underground Beastmen relatively well and was unforgiving towards humans.

As for Sulfur Mountain City, due to its diverse population base, even though it wouldn't be seen as an enemy by the other underground city lords, but it would never receive the goodwill of any other underground cities other than the human's. Unfortunately the city lord being Adam Han, who in the eyes of the grandchildren of those who were exiled and the exiled, was a hero who had saved the world and was perhaps too radiant, making it difficult for them to walk together. Thus, perhaps it would be much better if Annie, who was also born in the Underground World, took over.

Then, even if Sulfur Mountain City were to join the Underground Alliance and gain a seat as one of the Underground Autarch, it was destined to be sidelined. From the very start, I had assigned Sulfur Mountain City a fixed role…

The stick that created problem, the smelly rocks in the toilet…

Yes, since we were unable to join the core group, then we should just create trouble for the core group. There were minorities and those who were sidelined everywhere. I would gather and unite all of these minorities and form quite a sizable power. If you wanted to strike the East, I would intentionally go for the West. When you wanted to attack the city, I would deliberately vote for protecting our homes.

This way, the bloody war with the surface could at least be dragged out by a few years. When the invasion of the Undead Calamity and Demons started, then it would be time for this group who were skilled in internal conflict5 to hug together for warmth.

It had been like that in the 'history' too. The reason why it was getting harder and harder to deal with Eich's Seven Hells was because the Eich continent's losses were too great after the first few trials. Especially for the dominant Human Empires who despite having the biggest population and strongest overall strength, had suffered because of the constant war among kingdoms, internal conflicts among cult teachings, the invasion by the Underground World, the invasion by the Undead and the invasion of Demons and Devils… They had totally failed as a pillar to prop up the entire Eich continent. They ended up being totally destroyed in the course of these few wars. Of course, one of the reasons was because there were quite a few races who had viewed Humans, who had been so populous and taking up the most land, as an eyesore.

In the original 'history', when the Underground World and Human Kingdoms were finally done with their bloody war on the plains, each of their population had been cut by 30%, the timely arrival of the Undead Calamity (in the original history, Xiluo Empire didn't exist, only the Undead Lich Council. They opened the gates leading to the Undead Dimensions) converted the two sides who had been fighting passionately into an ant on a noose.

In the more difficult days ahead, countless people conjectured that if the Human Kingdoms and the Underground World hadn't fought to such an extent and instead, retained over half of their fighting power, perhaps the situation could have turned out for the better.

At that time, in order to deepen the friendship and trust of both sides, one of the few remaining heads of the Underground Alliance, Dark Elf Queen Victoria Syfan, even had a political marriage with the Auland Empire's 'King of the Winter Wolves', and they fell in love from there on, leaving quite a mark in history.

It was just a pity. It was said that Victoria Syfan, even among the Elves who were filled with beauties, had been a rarely seen cream of the crop. Hehe, perhaps that was the reason why the 'King of Winter Wolves' left behind his famous last words 'You resent that I was born late, I resent that you were born early. Throughout my life, the thing that I regret the most, even before my death, I was unable to forget you.' However, being able to marry an unforgettable beauty, bring her back to his home and still die with resentment, he really should learn to be satisfied, or else what were we bachelors supposed to do with ourselves.

"Hehe, Master, how can you be a bachelor when you are so popular?" Even though the misunderstanding was dispelled, but the frost on Elisa's face didn't show any trace of melting, so it was a little mystifying.

"…Weird, you should have known from the start that it was a mere misunderstanding. Let's not talk about the centaur, even if it she's a beauty, what can this sack of old bones do? You… Admit it, you were intending to make use of the situation to commit a coup d'etat!!"

My angry roar didn't cause the cold eyes that seemed to be looking at trash to waver… Normally in this kind of situations, I probably would have really done something wrong but I obviously didn't do anything wrong recently.

"Under the cover of the «46 Skills of Black Magic» on your shelves…"

"No wonder, no wonder, no wonder, you were the one who changed my drawings of Elves on the beach into drawings of the male goblin body. Those green naked goblins, I almost puked on the spot. When I was sharing it with Adam, the eyes that he looked at me with were even colder than yours. The message he was expressing was obvious. 'So you were actually a pervert with a fetish for goblins, stay away from me'. At that moment, I even had the thought of crashing my head onto the wall and just fall over dead!!"

"Oh, so Lord Adam also played a part. Looks like I need to report it to Lady Margaret. It's time to clean away all illegal magazines in the city."

"I… I need to clean up my family6 today."

"«The Little Tips from the Enchantress» , «Mage Carl's Hunting Compass» , «Hehe, You Did Well. But, Fire Explosion is already Here!»…"

I felt a shiver running down my back as each and every one of these book names were called. Those 'artworks' that had been hiding under the cover of seemingly proper books… They were my life, they were precious treasures that took me much more effort to collect in this 'resource'-lacking world.

"Master Elisa, please spare those children. If anything, please direct them to this pile of old bones." With hostages in her hand, I had no choice but to lower my head.

"Hehe, you should be well aware of what you did. Take care." After finishing her piece, Elisa bowed and left. On other days, after making me surrender, she would be extremely overjoyed but now, looking at the drooping tail, she seemed to not only be angry, but her mood was very down.

Looking at this situation, Annie came bumping over with a playful smile and whispered in my ear.

"Uncle Bones, the reason why big sister Elisa is angry is because of the present sent over from Morsblight City. It's a very pretty Dark Elf big sister, you know."

"Present? What?" I didn't know how to react to this sudden catastrophe. It was normal for the Dark Elves to send a present to tighten our relationship but I didn't expect them to send over a living person.

"Un, it's a humongous beautiful big sister. Annie had never seen such a beautiful big sister. Un, she seems to be called Victoria."

"WHAT!!! VICTORIA? VICTORIA SYFAN?"

"Ah, you also know her, Uncle Bones? So, she seems to be very famous. But I guess it should be expected for such a beautiful big sister. However, Annie will try hard and drink more milk. Big sister Margaret had said that men like big chests. Even though that big sister was very beautiful, but she doesn't have any breast at all…"

I totally ignored what Annie was saying. After hearing the matching, 10,000 mud horses whistled through my mind7. What exactly was this situation? Why was the supposed future Queen of the Dark Elves sent over to me? Without her taking over as the Queen, how else could the situation with the surface powers be resolved? Was the butterfly effect this exaggerated?

I hurriedly rushed over and saw a beauty being surrounded by a bunch of Dark Elf Knights.

Fine eyebrows with warm eyes. Facial features like a painting. Seductive red lips coupled with some blush brought out the image of a fairy descending down to earth. She didn't have the sharp heroic spirit and domineering personality commonly seen in Dark Elves, but she had a kind of warmth and disposition similar to jade, making one feel at ease. It was a kind of beauty that made one's eyes want to linger the more they stared at her.

From the perspective of a man, this kind of virtuous wife and kind mother8 type of women was the hardest to resist. Also, if you had to compare her outer appearances and disposition with the others, she was even above that of Margaret and Elisa, who were also rarely seen beauties themselves. It was no wonder she left her mark in history because of her looks.

No wonder the 'King of Winter Wolves' couldn't forget the image of her and no wonder Elisa would vent her anger on me. This was an extremely beautiful person with the personality of a virtuous wife and kind mother. Exactly my dish… But why was it that I instinctively felt that something was amiss.

This was weird, I didn't feel the impulse I got when I see beautiful ladies. On the contrary, my instinct were yelling at me that she was trouble… gigantic trouble.

Afterwards, Diana's fierce roar made me understand where the problem arose from.

"Vicadore Syfan! Why are you here, and why are you dressed like this?"

"Diana Syfan, please call me Victoria Syfan now. Currently, I am a female Priestess of Lorci. Due to your irresponsible betrayal, Lorci's wrath came falling on me and as your only kin, I suffered the Goddess's punishment of being transmogrified permanently. But fortunately, Lorci found that the female me had extremely high aptitude for the Divine Arts and allowed me to serve as her Priestess, sparing my life. This was all thanks to you, my beloved sister!!"

Facing the seemingly calm but in reality, full of reproach reply of her 'brother', Diana's face immediately tightened as her hand trembled. The sacred sword 'Silver Avenger' suddenly fell to the floor and the helpless and troubled face of the female knight seemed to be thinking about where did she go wrong.

I… I…. So was actually a boy, or rather, used to be a boy!! No wonder I instinctively felt that something had been amiss. So, hidden behind this body of a world-class beauty there was the soul of a male.

"Wait, if I didn't create Sulfur Mountain City, then Diana might not have escaped in betrayal, or at least, would not have escaped for so long to cause Lorci to deliver a God's punishment personally in anger. Then, could it be possible that the Queen Victoria in history was also a male!!"

This was totally possible. In the female-dominated Dark Elf society, it was impossible for a male to strike it big. If you wanted to climb up the ladder, faking your gender was an obvious thing to do. Furthermore, the natural beauty of the Elves made them androgynous and hard to tell apart…

Alright, my face ?-ed. This time, the mud horses that whistled through were twice as many in number than the previous.

'You resent that I was born late, I resent that I was born early'… No wonder he had used the masculine term. Perhaps, it had been the servants who heard it wrongly. It should be 'you resent that I was born female, I resent you for the same9 (=You hate that I wasn't born a female, actually I hate you equally for the same reason), no wonder the 'King of Winter Wolves' hated himself for being unable to forget Queen Victoria. He picked up a male who couldn't be refunded, for a political marriage and what's worse was that he had fallen in love, being unable to forget him even on the verge of death. If I had been in his shoes, don't just talk about the regret of my life, I would even have had the intention to destroy the whole world!

I noticed Victoria's gaze on me. She placed her hand on her forehead, seemingly wanting to say something…

Ignoring Diana's pleading eyes, I turned around to leave… Let the truth of the history be buried within history. An existence that could twist the Emperor of Auland… too fearsome!!