Chapter 381 Taken Aback (End)
"Be mine allies."
Basil's gaze was fixed on the wall, which made everyone in the room confused. They even wondered if he had suddenly lost his vision.
"We have always been, Lord Pacifer."
Their puzzlement was solved not long after. Someone, who had blended in so well with the environment, revealed herself; she came out of the wall, then bowed politely towards Basil.
The person was a stunningly beautiful Elf, who was exuding a unique aura that made her different from all of the Elves in existence. Tinuviel held a very uncanny resemblance towards her—one might say they were siblings.
"Your Majesty!"
"Mother!"
She was none other than the mother of Tinuviel, the current Elf Empress, Eloreth tia Padeitophys.
Eloreth's appearance greatly shocked the Elves in the room. Aside from the fact that none of them could detect her earlier, they couldn't believe she had actually decided to watch over them.
Faced with the shocked faces of the people, Eloreth barely showed any reaction. Her emerald eyes were looking into Basil's golden eyes—she couldn't fathom what kind of existence the person in front of her was.
"This one is very eager to know, but she knows asking about it is akin to digging her own grave," Eloreth said softly. "Lord Pacifer, may this one ask about what you need of us instead?"
Basil stayed silent as he observed the Elf Empress keenly. She was indeed different from the rest of the Elves he had ever encountered; she had something that made her worthy of the Empress title: the overbearing aura of a ruler and the power to back it up.
? He had never met the Empress in his past life. He knew she was one of the forces to be reckoned with, but that fact could barely attract his interest since he was already akin to a godlike existence at that time.
The current him wouldn't stand a chance against her; however, in spite of that, she still treated him carefully due to his strong connection with the Fragment. He would be lying if he didn't find it funny.
That aside, Basil was a Pacifer, whose importance Eloreth had heard about. As far as she knew, Pacifer Clan had only ever had one male; although she didn't know anything about the prophecy, she knew another one would shake the entire world again.
"Your loyalty."
Receiving Basil's simple answer, Eloreth sighed softly in relief. She bowed lightly, then responded him sincerely.
"It is a cheap price to pay for the things your ancestors have done for us, Lord Pacifer—you got my loyalty."
"Kid me not, Eloreth. That oath shall seal the deal," Basil remarked with a light frown.
"As you wish, Lord Pacifer."
Nodding her head simply, Eloreth took out a unique shaped dagger akin to the sword that Tinuviel had showed during the meeting. She slit her palm with it, then smeared the blade with her blood.
Pointing the tip of the dagger to her chest, she stoically exclaimed, "I swear upon my ancestor's blood, shall Lord Basil Pacifer face a predicament and I turn a blind eye to it, my descendants and I shall die painfully!"
The dagger that was smeared with Eloreth's blood shone in gold. The wound on her palm was also covered in golden light, then closed by itself.
When the light died down, the blade of the dagger had turned red. Eloreth presented it to Basil, and he didn't even think twice before taking it.
The Elders and Tinuviel, who had been watching the scene with eyes wide open, nodded their head in understanding as soon as Eloreth turned her head to them. Shocked they might be, they understood her decision well.
'A cheap price it is indeed to pay for the things the Pacifer have done for us. We should have even been able to repay it without doing this kind of thing—it is honestly embarrassing,' the Elders thought.
'Pacifer Clan has been wronged—they deserve our support. No, even more than that. If what Master Basil said about what had happened to the Pacifer is true, we even need to avenge them!' Tinuviel thought passionately.
Like Mages, Elves also had their own Blood Decree. Unlike the Mages' however, this Blood Decree didn't have to be fulfilled by killing someone; it could be fulfilled by just not doing something or doing something they swore.
They called it Lineage Oath. As its name suggested, this oath didn't only bind the one who said it but also his entire lineage; so when he failed to fulfill it, he and his descendants should suffer from the consequences.
In this case, should Eloreth and the entire Elven Race ignored Basil when he needed help, she and Tinuviel would die in an unpleasant way. In case that Eloreth had a descendant that she didn't know of, said descendant would also suffer the same fate.
"I have seen thy resolve. What a pleasant outcome it is to see thou and thy people still have your heart in the right place," Basil remarked with a small smile. "Now, let us go back to our current predicament."
The Pacifer Seal in the middle of Basil's forehead quickly lost its luster before fading out of existence. His eyes returned to their original colour; at the same time, he regained his usual deep and overwhelming presence.
The process was witnessed by the Elves in the room keenly, and all of them couldn't help blinking their eyes in wonder. They felt like watching a High Elf who was hiding his Divinity—it was bizarre and fascinating.
"About the main issue, aren't you curious why I am here, Master Basil?"
"To overlook the meeting, so it is heading to the direction you intended—I know. I wouldn't have done what I did if I didn't."
Eloreth hadn't heard anything about Basil ever meeting the Human Emperor, so she was a little bit disappointed that he wasn't impressed at all upon meeting her, the Elf Empress.
She would be lying, however, if she said she didn't expect it. With that kind of power and status, after all, it would be stupid of her to think he would be astonished by her presence.
"Since that is the case, I will join the meeting openly." Eloreth sat herself right across Basil. "Please, do ask the thing you want to know, Master Basil."
"Before addressing the main issue, I will ask a couple things first." Basil nodded his head. "The day when I openly declare my identity as a Pacifer will be the day the whole Human Empire comes after me. Did you make the oath while knowing that fact?"
"Yes, I did."
"Are you going to openly declare your relationship with the whole Pacifer Clan when that happens or are you just going to support us from the dark?"
"We will openly support you, and even host you, shall you need asylum."
"Lastly, have you heard about The Lord, the Master of Pacifer Clan?"
This question got Eloreth thinking. Firstly, she wondered why someone who was more knowledgeable about the Pacifer than her asked her about that; and secondly, she pondered the best way to answer the question.
"I know very little about the in-depth history of Pacifer Clan. Many of its history that we recorded has been lost, so I can only tell you that The Lord is the first and only male Pacifer before you."
Eloreth wanted to elaborate when she noticed the light frown on Basil's face, but he immediately put up his hand, thus stopping her from speaking.
Basil clicked his tongue inwardly. 'Asia claimed Matheus to be the only male Pacifer Clan ever had before me since The Lord doesn't count, which made him the First Patriarch. Like Caesar however, the Elves claimed The Lord to be the only male Pacifer.'
'It is very hard to tell which one of them is lying. Caesar and the Elves might be right since they said the same thing; but Asia, as the First Matriarch, should know something that outsiders don't.'
Basil's frown got deeper. 'Darn it! This makes all of them telling the truth and lying at the same time.'
Shaking his head faintly to clear his thoughts, he turned to Eloreth. She had been looking at him in curiosity, but she didn't seem to get the reason why he was debating with himself.
"What kind of Mythical Beast we are going to face?"
"Y-Yes?"
Although it was already clear at this point that Basil wasn't an ordinary existence, Eloreth still couldn't help but be taken aback by his question.
None of them, after all, had hinted the real cause of their problem was a Mythical Beast. They wondered just how his brilliant mind could reach that conclusion.
"Kuhum! It is a reptile type Mythical Beast, Master Basil," Tinuviel answered after seeing that her mother didn't show any intention to. "It specializes itself in Wind Magic, and it doesn't have—"
Basil put his hand up. "I should've worded it better. What I want to ask is, what is the name of the Mythical Beast?"
The room fell silent as soon as they heard the question. They didn't look reluctant to answer, but more of unsure of the answer.
They looked like someone who was embarrassed to say the thing they wanted to say because of how ridiculous it sounded.
"We believe it is the legendary Mythical Beast from the East," Eloreth said softly. "The Eight-Headed Eight-Tailed Serpent—"
"Yamata no Orochi," Basil continued. 'I knew something was amiss from that Beast, but really? This joke is hardly funny.'
On the first half of the meeting, the Elves were the one who were made taken aback. This time, it was Basil's turn to be made taken aback.
Yamata no Orochi. It was the serpent he had killed on Lone Mountain, because he wanted to retrieve Kusanagi no Tsurugi, which was located in its fourth tail ... Or so he thought.
Now that he thought about it, it was absurd to think that such a fearsome creature that Susanoō, a God, had even failed to kill was reduced to a state that allowed a First Circle Mage to kill it simply because it had lost its Core.
'No wonder the cut mark on those Dark Elves' bodies seemed familiar. It was caused by Kusanagi,' Basil mused.
The fact that it was still alive and breathing made him wonder what he had killed back then actually was, but also excited him.
He was slightly disappointed that Kusanagi had easily been destroyed, but now that he knew what he had wielded wasn't the real one, he found it reasonable.
'I will absolutely retrieve the real Kusanagi no Tsurugi.'
He was sure killing Yamata no Orochi would be hard this time, but he was absolute he could manage. Like always, he could always benefit from a predicament.