A Question of Trust (1)

"… This is troublesome. A Heart of the Forest is not a simple object. Now I understand why the Church of Slaughter acted so crazily." Headmistress Wave said with a heavy expression.

Bloed had already told her about Elwha's situation when he asked for a fake ID for her. However, back then, he did not mention the Heart of the Forest.

Hearts of the Forest were very precious objects. Bloed did not trust Headmistress Wave that much then, so he thought it was better to hide it.

Of course, the dragon headmistress was very smart. With her intelligence, she already suspected that the reason the Church of Slaughter allied with Returning Dusk to attack Academy City was due to the elf princess that Bloed was protecting.

But she still did not know the reason why they wanted her.

Now that she heard the reason from Bloed, her expression could not help but become serious.

"How many people know about it?"

"… Saintess Charise, Miss Eve, Regina, my close friends, and now you, teacher. Right, the Church of Slaughter knows as well."

Wave frowned.

"Too many people. If news about it leaks out, we will be in a lot of trouble."

Hearts of the Forest were very valuable. They could extend the lifespan of a god.

Most gods could not resist this temptation. For beings like them, able to overlook the world from the top, lifespan was one of the few things that could make them go crazy.

After all, nobody wanted to die.

Just like Returning Dusk did not care about using Devourers just to learn and become close to 'Eternal Life', gods will not care about the means they use to live longer.

Only powerful gods such as the Goddess of Fate or the Moonlight Goddess could ignore this temptation, but according to Saintess Charise, it was because Hearts of the Forest were not that useful for them anymore.

If news about the Heart of the Forest in Princess Elwha's hands leaks out, then it will not be just the Church of Slaughter trying to kill them.

Headmistress Wave fell deep into thought. This was a problematic situation.

Her instinctive reaction was to get rid of this ominous object as soon as possible, but after thinking about it for a moment, she got an idea.

This could be an opportunity.

"Your elf girlfriend should want to bring that Heart of the Forest to the elves, right?"

Bloed nodded awkwardly. "Yeah. That is her wish. But she is not my girlfriend."

"Yeah, yeah, she is not. Anyway, I can help her. But… Bloed, you know how valuable a Heart of the Forest is, right?"

"I do. Saintess Charise explained it to me."

"Then, don't you think it's a waste not to use this opportunity?"

Bloed was startled.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. What if we use it to propose an exchange with the elves?" Headmistress Wave asked.

"Huh?"

"We need a lot of resources, and although I had my means to get them, it will be much easier if we have the cooperation of the elves. If they help us, the three months I need to get the resources will be reduced to two months, or even one. And that is just the start of the benefits."

"That is…" Bloed was startled before falling silent.

That was not a bad idea.

But, would the elves agree?

Bloed knew the value of the resources needed for the Technological Fortress City plan. It was not a small amount. Even a country will be pained to use so much money.

Bloed expressed his concerns to Headmistress Wave and the dragon

headmistress smiled.

"Of course, they will not accept it so easily if we just help them to recover the heart. But if we told them that we are going to sell it to them, the situation is completely different."

Bloed was stunned.

He finally understood Headmistress Wave's plan.

Instead of helping Princess Elwha to give the heart to the elves, she wanted to sell it to the elves for a big prince.

However-

"The Heart is Elwha's… She won't accept it."

"There are many ways. It depends on you." Wave said with a serious expression.

Bloed fell silent and hesitated.

He understood the Headmistress's implication. She was proposing to take it from her.

However, that was betraying her. Bloed loathed doing something that.

But then, Bloed suddenly remembered the words that Saintess Charise told him after he saved the elf princess in Academy City.

[… Mr. Bloed, if you are planning to develop yourself in Academy City, then in the future, your relationship with Elwha will be very important... ...You must make her trust you enough that she willingly uses the Heart of the Forest for your sake.]

'Is this what she meant back then?' Bloed smiled bitterly.

Could it be that the Goddess of Fate had already predicted this since back then?

If so, it was terrifying.

To be honest, he had never paid much attention to these words. He had even forgotten about them.

But now, he could not help but wonder if his relationship with Elwha was strong enough to ask for something like this from her?

Headmistress Wave seemed to understand his hesitation and she let out a sigh.

"You can think about it. I will help you regardless of your answer, but if we can use the Heart of the Forest to our advantage, it will increase our chances of success by thirty percent at the very least."

"I understand. I will talk to her." Bloed nodded with a complicated expression.

"Tell me as soon as you get an answer. I will talk to the King of the Boerner Forest then."

...

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