The Sword and The Shadow

Wood and Blaze

The attack on House Elvin had ended and their slaves were cleaning up the battlefield. They packed away the bodies of the dead expressionlessly; most of them belonged to the gnomes or dwarves. There were, however, also those unfortunate dark elves that fell. Though, they were no different to the slaves. They were cleaning all of them up like trash.

"Come to think of it, it's pretty weird. Dark elves, when they're alive, hold a much higher status than those slaves," Leguna muttered. He couldn't help but gasp at the sight. If a dwarven slave so much as blocked the way of a dark elf, his hands could be cut off. The treatment towards slaves in that matter was rare even in the human realm.

"But now?" Marolyt asked.

"Now?" He smirked and looked at the corpse as he mumbled, "Well, they're just corpses now and the slaves are free to mess around with them. Even the exalted female dark elf corpses can be stripped naked by those dwarves without anybody batting an eye."

"Dark elves are a race that prioritizes only profit and value. A corpse without value is no different to them than a stone," Brani said as he came over. While she wasn't too satisfied at being put into an awkward situation thanks to Leguna and Marolyt's antics, she was a wise matriarch and knew the rational move to make. So, she came over with a smile that could melt the hearts of most men.

It went without question that Brani was a beauty, having inherited half of Sala's blood. The air about her was also different from Eirinn. Eirinn's looks came from her outer appearance, Sala's features she inherited that she couldn't change. Yet, her inner heart was pure without flaws. Though she was alluring, she was innocent and pure.

Brani, on the other hand, was a pure dark elf. She not only inherited the tempting looks of Sala, she also got her carefree, unabashed heart. As long as she wanted to, she could easily exude a tempting charm nearly all men wanted. This was one such moment she let her wiles run wild.

Leguna felt that Brani's smile could compete with Sala's own. Given how Sala was famous for her beauty in the Dusk Zone, even someone like Leguna who saw beauties on a daily basis couldn't help but fall into a slight daze.

The change in Marolyt, on the other hand, was even more obvious. He revealed his wild, thuggish personality immediately and glared hard at Brani. He salivated just as much as the blood he spat out just now.

Leguna felt a little nervous at the sight of that. He worried that Marolyt would make the jump on Brani. While Brani might not necessarily mind being toyed with by a saint to gain his support, Leguna worried that Annelotte would go berserk because of that.

He knew that ever since Annelotte came to Melindor, Marolyt had to sneak away like a thief during his visits to the brothel whereas it used to be public knowledge in Melindor back then.

He didn't know how Annelotte managed to rein him in, but he decided not to look into it, considering the methods she employed, for the sake of the dignity of his 'father-in-law'.

And now, Marolyt was bordering on violating Annelotte's baseline.

"Thank you for your help." Brani was secretly delighted at how effective her charm was on the old man. "Mister Leugna, I wonder if you will introduce this gentleman here to me?"

"What's this woman saying?" Marolyt asked after a while. He didn't speak dark elvian at all.

"Ah, my apologies." She made an apologetic expression and used an omniglot divine miracle on him.

"Hey, beautiful, do you have time tonight?" Marolyt's first words in the new language made Leguna wince.

To prevent things from growing weirder, Leguna cleared his throat and began the introduction. "This old sir is called Marolyt. He's my…"

Leguna hesitated for a moment, before he and Marolyt said in unison, "Father-in-law! Eeek!" They immediately felt a chill coming from their rear and squealed.

Leguna turned back gingerly and saw the distant 'Eirinn' smiling innocently at him. However, he could see the killing intent radiating from her silver eyes that terrified even an assassin like him. He shuddered at the sight.

Brani found their reaction a little weird, but she didn't ask about it. Instead, she smiled and said, "Looks like Mister Leguna treasures our cooperation really well. You even asked your father-in-law to…"

Now, it was Brani's turn to feel the killing chill. She paused oddly for a moment and continued after the feeling was gone. "Well… to come help us…"

"Hahaha! Helping someone as beautiful as you is what a man should do! It's got nothing to do with this stinking brat!"

"You say some really interesting things, Mister." Brani didn't take any offence. "Might I ask if you're a saint-realm expert?"

"That's right!" Marolyt puffed his chest out proudly. Leguna thought it looked like a male monkey trying to make his hair stand to get the attention of a female monkey.

"I don't intend to hide anything." Brani bowed to Marolyt and continued, "While we dark elves hold profit as paramount, we also admire the strong. I'm really interested in you. I wonder if you can find time to tell me some tales of your experiences? It might be really helpful for my journey to become a myth-realm priestess."

He fell for it hook, line and sinker! You two really click so well, huh? One depraved woman and another perverted man… It's only been a few minutes! How could you move to third base so quickly after exchanging a couple words?! Brani, you're loose, aren't you? You'd try the same thing if my will was a little bit weaker! Leguna thought.

"It would be my pleasure." Marolyt agreed without hesitation, his eyes glowing like a lewd wolf's.

Pops, tone it down a bit! Annie's not far behind from you! Are you going to hook up with other women in front of your daughter? Jeez, saints are daring, unlike me… I have to worry for my life if I offend her in the slightest… Leguna thought as he carefully glanced backwards, only to see Annelotte keeping silent. Seeing that was the case, he didn't bother to stop Marolyt.

"Alright, you've all fought a lot. It's better to finally get some rest and good food," Brani said happily.

……

After finishing off their enemies, House Elvin enjoyed peace once more. Around then, two pieces of news broke from Darklight. The first was about House Elvin's new matriarch. The foolish Sala had been replaced by her daughter, Brani. The second was how Brani had connections with the humans. With their help, she managed to deal a fatal blow to those trying to test her house.

In an instant, House Elvin became the main topic of discussion in all of Darklight. While the transition to a new matriarch was a chance for many risk-takers, the recent united attack by the smaller houses proved one thing: while House Elvin had suffered for a time thanks to an idiotic matriarch, they were still a house with millennia of history in Darklight. They also seemingly allied with humans and crushed House Andalir. As such, they were best not to be trifled with.

As for Matriarch Brani, her plan was to let her house rest and recover. Usually, there would be lots of bloodshed during every matriarch transition, but this didn't pose to be a problem for Brani. After all, Sala easily antagonized nearly everyone in the house and Brani managed to recruit them to her side beforehand.

What she truly found troubling was the inevitable acts of revenge the other houses would undertake. To solve that problem, she had to count on Leguna and his human empire. Other than that, she would network with (read: seduce) the swordsaint that appeared out of nowhere.

After this meal, she made all sorts of preparations and put down all her pride as a matriarch of the house by putting on some make up like humans did. She even used divine miracles to alter the tone of her skin, but she wasn't going to turn it completely fair.

While human beauty standards saw white skin as desirable, dark skin was the trademark of dark elves. Changing it entirely was a denial of her own heritage and disrespect towards Ross. That was part of why Sala and Brani didn't like the fair-skinned Eirinn.

"He should be here soon, right?" Brani inspected her make up and nodded with satisfaction.

"Matriarch, Mister Marolyt requests an audience," a servant said.