Abyssal Chronicles

Chapter 873 - 874: Growing Arrogance

The elves, one of the most ancient races on the Ancita Continent, were once synonymous with strength and prosperity. However, the sun cannot always hang high in the sky; there will eventually be a time for it to set. In the past nearly a hundred years, with the passing of the older generation of powerful elves, the strength of the elven race inevitably began to decline.

And with the rise of a group of greedy human scum, the elven race entered its darkest and most desperate moment.

The once noble race completely fell into an object of exploitation and humiliation by the Black Rose family. In the past nearly a hundred years, they had tasted all kinds of humiliation. Being exploited and squeezed dry day and night, yet still having to greet them with a smile. It could be said they lived an extremely stifled life.

If those powerful elven ancestors saw how cowardly their descendants had become, who knows what they would think?

They would probably directly jump out of their graves in anger, right?

Of course, as the current Elven King, Karos had also tried to change their tragic fate, but due to the gap in hard power, his resistance was always not very successful (being pressed on the ground and rubbed).

After repeated failures, Karos had already developed a mentality of giving up.

Since they couldn’t win anyway, he might as well obediently be a lackey.

Undoubtedly, submitting to the enemy was an act completely devoid of dignity for the proud elven race. But compared to the entire race being wiped out by the Black Rose or the Abyssal Demons for resisting, Karos gave the highest priority to the survival of the race.

Just when Karos and the elven higher-ups had all accepted this tragic fate, thinking that the days ahead would continue like this, everything suddenly underwent an earth-shattering change.

Not long after the end of the Holy War six years ago, the Black Rose family, who had been pressing down on them day and night, suddenly gave up on exploiting them.

Just like that, they unconditionally withdrew their troops stationed in the Elven Forest back to the Sadik Empire and returned all governing rights to Karos.

Not only that, the rare materials like Nature’s Tears, Elven Lumber, and Life Dew Beads that the elven race originally had to "gift" to the Black Rose family were almost all returned by the Black Rose family. Even for the ones not returned, the Black Rose family paid a purchase fee to the elven race according to the market price.

At that time, looking at the crates of gold coins sent by the Black Rose family, Karos even suspected his own life and smashed his head against the Tree of Life until he was bleeding, only then confirming he wasn’t dreaming.

From that day onward, the elven race seemed to have inexplicably regained their former independence and autonomy, and even established an equal diplomatic relationship with the Black Rose family.

This once made Karos completely baffled, and he repeatedly suspected whether it was a plot by the Black Rose family.

However, as time passed, after confirming that the Black Rose family members had no follow-up actions, Karos finally somewhat dumbfoundedly accepted this fact.

Their elven race, their days of suffering had finally come to an end!!

At this moment, inside the Life Temple of the elven race, Karos, who was sitting on the throne, was earnestly listening to the reports given by the various ministers. And after hearing the report from the Minister of Finance, a blissful smile even overflowed on Karos’ face and he was so moved that he directly stood up from the throne and excitedly looked at the Minister of Finance Sobeni not far away.

"Say it again?"

"Ah?"

Hearing this, Sobeni blinked her eyes in confusion. Because, this was already the third time the Elven King had asked her to repeat...

Although she didn’t understand the Elven King’s intention, as a subject, Sobeni still chose to obey her monarch.

After taking a deep breath, Sobeni solemnly read out the last sentence on the report:

"Yes, Your Majesty... According to the statistics of the Ministry of Finance, our race’s current national treasury is approximately 50 billion golden coins, with ample funds, ready to restart Your Majesty’s new capital construction plan at any time."

"Ah~"

As these words entered his ears, Karos hugged himself with both hands, revealing an enchanting smile.

This time, he didn’t let the Minister of Finance continue the previous words, but started reminiscing on his own.

"Ah~, ample funds~, what a wonderful phrase~"

From the day the Black Rose family barged into the Elven Forest, their elven race’s finances had long been in a state of tension. Under the exploitation of those Black Rose beasts, the wealth accumulated by their elven race constantly flowed outward. Although they were very good at creating value, they also couldn’t withstand the Black Rose family’s sustainable overfishing.

Under the diligent cultivation of the Black Rose family, the financial situation of their elven race had always been not very optimistic in the past few decades.

And now, who knows how many years had passed?

After six years of recuperation, when he heard the Minister of Finance say the four words "ample funds" again, Karos’ heart was filled with excitement.

Their elven race had finally gotten rid of the tragic fate of being exploited and was once again heading towards prosperity and strength!

In an instant, a strong sense of accomplishment surged into Karos’ heart.

The elven king, who was immersed in his smugness, made the surrounding elven ministers fall into a state of speechlessness.

However, the current Karos couldn’t be bothered to care about the thoughts of the people around him. There was only one thought in his mind.

That was, now that funds were abundant, couldn’t he finally start executing his grand blueprint! To make the elven race great again!

Thinking of this, Karos couldn’t wait to walk towards the throne and slowly came to Sobeni’s side:

"Since funds are abundant, then..."

However, before Karos could finish speaking, Sobeni had already guessed what her leader wanted to say and mercilessly denied it:

"Your majesty I know you want to create a new Tree of Life and build a new capital, but the cost of this process is extremely huge. Although the current national treasury has finally recovered to the level of fifty years ago, it is still difficult to withstand your plan. Moreover, there are still many places that need money now. For example, the repair and maintenance of the barrier outside the forest, the rebuilding of the army, the improvement of national welfare... Oh right, there’s also a most pressing matter, Miss Yuan’er’s engagement banquet. We need to send a gift."

As these words entered his ears, the excited expression on Karos’ face instantly vanished, and his entire handsome face immediately sank.

Reminded by his subordinate like this, the elven king also remembered that troublesome matter that had been bothering him for a long time:

"Sending a gift..."

"Yes, according to the request of the Black Rose family, they hope that for this engagement banquet, we will send the cultivated Tree of Life seed to Miss Yuan’er. The cultivated seed is absolutely priceless... If we send out one now, I’m afraid our finances will directly..."

"Those bastards..."

Karos gritted his teeth, and dissatisfaction continuously gushed out from his eyes:

"They really have the nerve to ask for such a thing. How could we possibly give it?"

"But, but..."

Seeing Karos’ strong resistance, Sobeni and the other ministers couldn’t help but look at each other, all seeing a worried expression on the other’s face. After all, in the past, whatever the Black Rose family wanted, they would always find ways to obtain it. If the elven race couldn’t send out the seed, the Black Rose might directly take it by force.

Even though they had safely passed six years, the psychological shadow left by the past decades was not so easily erased.

"What if we don’t give it and the Black Rose family gets angry, what should we do?"

After hesitating for a moment, Sobeni asked the question everyone was most concerned about. And the others all nodded in agreement.

However, in the face of this question concerning the survival of the race, Karos showed a look of disdain.

And under everyone’s dumbfounded gaze, he gave a startling answer.

"So what if they get angry? Our elven race is no longer the elven race of six years ago that could be slaughtered by anyone!"

Karos had always been the type to cause trouble if not beaten for three days.

Now that he hadn’t been beaten for six years, he was extremely arrogant.

However, his arrogance was not without reason! Without the exploitation of the Black Rose family, the combat power of the elven army had made leaps and bounds in recent years! In addition, his younger brother Prince Odom had successfully broken through to the eighth level! And his own strength had also reached a new level! Powerful strength gave Karos a certain degree of confidence!

Of course, most importantly!

The Black Rose family, who had been educated by Yumo, definitely wouldn’t dare to be as unscrupulous as in the past!

Thinking of this, Karos clenched his fists and looked at the dazed ministers below with encouraging eyes.

"Everyone, although we haven’t been bullied by the Black Rose family like in the past in recent years, many of us in our hearts are still submitting to the might of the Black Rose family. If our elven race wants to rise again, we must get rid of the shadow of the Black Rose! For this, I think we need to muster up the courage to say ’no’ to them! Tell those sons of bitches! We are not afraid of them!!!"

In Karos’ view, his encouragement would reawaken the pride in the hearts of the ministers and lead to their unanimous agreement.

However, as his impassioned words came out, the elven officials in the hall directly froze in place, motionless and silent. They even inexplicably kept making eyes at him, which made Karos quite confused:

"What’s wrong, why aren’t you saying anything? Don’t tell me you’re that afraid of those Black Rose family trash? If you have something to say, just say it directly. Don’t make faces! The current elven race is not the elven race of six years ago. Those bastards’ spies have all been pulled out. What can’t be said directly?"

Karos questioned with some dissatisfaction.

And to answer her leader’s question, Sobeni took a deep breath and tremblingly raised her hand to point behind Karos.

"Uh, my lord, b,,bb,,, behind you..."

"Hm? Behind me!?"

Karos frowned, his eyes filled with confusion and incomprehension.

And at this moment, an emotionless, strange, and gentle voice floated into Karos’ ears.

--"Wanting to regain dignity is a good thing... But you little brat... Who are you cursing?"

"Huh?"