Ch39. Offer

Rei and Solution sat behind a crude table in Ylven's house, surrounded by fearful yet curious dark elves while being stared at by Ylven who tried to appear brave, only the slight shaking of her hands betraying how scared she was.

Never even in her wildest dreams would Ylven imagine the Evil Cursed Tree to be utterly devastated, yet, it happened and the two people responsible for it now sat in front of her, wanting to give her and her tribe an offer. Ylven desperately hoped the offer will be as beneficial and good for her people as Rei made it sound before going to engage the Tree because she had no doubts it would be easy to refuse people who could destroy their village with a flick of their wrist.

Taking a deep breath, Ylven gathered her courage and asked, "What are you? You can't be humans."

Fortunately, neither of her two guests seemed inclined to take the initiative in these talks, the woman, Solution, satisfied with serving the man, Rei, tea while glancing at him like a girl freshly in love while the man at least had the decency to listen to her question despite not looking overly interested in her concerns.

"You are right. We are both heteromorphs. We just chose a human-like appearance because it is easier to blend in this way." Rei casually nodded, not volunteering more information about their race.

Ylven showed a great deal of cleverness when she didn't demand a better answer and moved on, accepting that she was not talking to what she and her tribe hated the most, humans. The fact she didn't owe her survival to humans clearly brought a lot of relief into the hearts of these dark elves, causing the tension in the air to slightly lessen.

"Alright..." Ylven said, and despite trying to sound accepting, she sounded as if she tried to psych herself up. "What... offer do you have for us?" She barely refrained from grimacing.

Alas, the two strangers saved her tribe and defeated their tormentor. That meant nothing to her personally but the Dark Elves of her village grew up differently than her and according to their blasted traditions, they now owed the two. Ylven for the n-th time wondered what possessed her to accept the position of Chief and not run away the first opportunity she got, leaving these delusional dark elves to their deserved fate.

Rei noticed the hidden unease in Ylven's expression, which only made him reveal a genuine smile, "I can offer you a new home. A place where you can find food easily and where life will be more comfortable for you and your people. I can give you the means and knowledge to build better dwellings than this sorry excuse for a poorly-built house we are currently in. I can teach you a bit of nature magic, making it effortless and quick to grow plants even on the most barren land, ensuring you would never go hungry." Rei's smile widened when he saw how tempted the dark elves were. "I can do much more for you..." He trailed off, just waiting for Ylven to finish the sentence for him when he saw her guarded expression. While she was indeed interested in what he was offering, the woman was clearly no fool and knew how the world worked, unlike the naive and wishful country bumpkin dark elves she led.

"But nothing in this world is free. Isn't that right?" Ylven sourly finished Rei's sentence. "What exactly would you expect from us? We are nothing compared to you." She admitted, making Solution approvingly glance at her.

'At least she knows her place.' Solution thought.

"We are not strong enough to be helpful and we certainly don't possess anything of value other than our bodies." Ylven warily said what she knew was the truth. Then again, if the man wanted to capture them, it would be a child's play for him so Ylven was really confused, not understanding what would Rei gain by showing them kindness.

"It's really simple," Rei started with a measure of amusement lacing his tone. He found Ylven's concerns cute no matter how right they were. "I don't need you. I am presenting you with an opportunity. All I ask is your loyalty. Obviously, I know loyalty can not be just magicked out of nowhere and have to be cultivated. Consider this offer my first step in order to safeguard said loyalty from your people." He stated, surprising even Solution with his reasoning. "You are indeed worthless to me as you are now. Uneducated, weak both physically and magically, without potential. That, however, can always change with some outside influence." Rei gestured at himself, "Accepting my offer would mean I will expect you to put in the necessary effort to become useful with the means I will provide."

The Dark Elves looked at each other with a mixture of hope, anxiety, and trepidation, finding it hard to believe the offer, yet, they had no idea what to do. Ylven, however, understood. "You are basically asking us to become your subjects." She bluntly said, "And in exchange, our lives will improve." She nodded to herself, "That's straightforward enough. I still don't know what you can gain by doing this though. You don't need us. Even if you could make us stronger..."

Rei chuckled at the genuine confusion showcased on her face. At least, now that she heard Rei's goal, she was somewhat relaxed. Oh, the girl was still scared witless of him but she was not afraid to question his intentions and that made Rei respect her quite a bit.

"No matter how strong I am, I am just one person." Rei decided to elaborate for the benefit of both Ylven but also Solution. "I can do a lot but even I can't split myself to be in two places at the same time. That's where subordinates become necessary. I have Solution," Rei looked at his maid, "and I trust her with my life but that still makes only two of us." He chuckled at Solution's put-out look at the thought she was not enough to serve her Master that slowly changed into a thoughtful one.

"I guess you are right..." Ylven uncertainly nodded before she turned towards the other five dark elves in the room. These were the so-called oldest in the village despite most of them looking at most thirty by human standards. "What do you want to do? Risk it by throwing our lot under Lord Rei's banner, becoming his subjects, or continue trying to survive here? I know what would I prefer but I can't speak for everyone."

Uttering these words was surprisingly easier for Ylven than she thought it would be. Despite what she said, she already decided what she personally will do. If the villagers decided to stay, Ylven was dead set on leaving and joining Lord Rei. She saw his power and heard his reasons and that was enough to tell her he would not stop looking for subordinates even if the village refused, meaning there would be a high chance he will accept her even if she was alone.

Ylven had had enough of trying to take care of the dark elves. They refused to change. They refused to listen to reason. They stuck to their traditions. They stuck to their slow life of mediocrity. They were content with little. Ylven knew it would take something extraordinary for them to even contemplate changing.

This offer? In Ylven's opinion, this was it. Lord Rei expected the elves to change if they wanted what he was offering and he plainly told them so.

If the dark elves refused because of that... Ylven would give up on them. It would probably haunt her conscience for a century or so but... She tried her best. Deep down, she was a survivor and it was high time to rekindle these instincts inside of hers. And once she started thinking along with these terms, she couldn't help but feel a bit of disdain towards her brethren that still looked uncertain.