Chapter 261 Accepting The Dark Elves
"Are you the System Holder?", one of the elders asked.
"…"
'Huh? What did he ask?', Shin's eyes widened when he heard that.
'I don't think I heart it right…'
'Yes, the translation skill might have been broken…', and just when he was thinking this, another elder repeated himself.
"Your Highness…? Are you really the System Holder?"
Now he was sure that he wasn't mistaken. He looked at their eyes which were a bit watery and were expectant as if they were awaiting his answer.
He said, "Ahem, yes. Is something wrong with that?"
The moment they heard this, they could no longer bear the happiness inside them. Yes, all of a sudden, all of them shouted and jumped in joy.
'Huh?'
'What are they doing?', Shin was utterly surprised yet again as all of them were shouting in joy.
Terran, Raka, and the remaining, members were surprised as well with what they were doing.
"But how did you know about this?", Shin asked.
The remaining members were still wondering what a system holder meant. Yes, they were still confused about it and were startled after seeing the Dark Elves celebrating.
"We offer you our utmost loyalty, Your Highness.", the elders and other dark elves too, bowed in front of him as if they were offering their loyalty to him.
"…"
This only got even more confusing because they didn't answer his question.
He looked at them and asked again, "Say, how did you know about this?"
One of the elders raised his head and said, "Through a prophecy, your highness."
"Prophecy?", now this was something interesting.
Shin then asked, "Prophecy? What prophecy?"
"Your highness, about 200 years ago-"
"Wait wait, what!?"
"200 years ago?", Shin was astonished after hearing that.
"Yes your highness, 200 years ago the prophecy was made.", the elder said.
'Well, prophecies usually do tell a bit about the future so I guess it isn't that surprising, but 200 years ago someone knew about the system and about my reincarnation?', Shin thought.
"Our previous ruler, His Highness Evenrion made the prophecy.", the elder elf said.
The Dark Elves were previously a large and proud tribe just like the Elven tribe. Both of them lived in grandiose places. They were each other's friends.
But this friendship didn't last long as a conspiracy ended up terming the Dark Elves as the enemies of the elves.
The dispute increased to such a level that a war broke out between them.
The dark elves had many more friends of other tribes. They asked them to help in destroying the elves and were actually successful in doing so.
Thus, came the era of the Dark Elves which lasted no more than 150 years. Yes, in that 150 years, the friends that had been previously been made, vanished.
Instead of being a friend, they became a foe and helped the rising Elven kingdom which had received the blessings of various other Celestials.
Celestials biased their decision. They naturally hated anything dark or black since it symbolized evil. No wonder they sided Elves instead of the dark elves.
So, another war broke out with a result complete opposite to earlier. The elves, who now became rulers, knew that what happened with them, could happen with the dark elves too. Yes, as other races sided with them, they could end up siding with the dark elves.
Due to this, they did various murders and other criminal acts and blamed all on the dark elves.
It was not hard to make an elf look like a dark elf.
Regardless, due to this, all the hate was directed towards the Dark elves.
Because of this, they were shunned by others.
After running away to the forests and settling in small villages, they finally thought that the hate would end soon.
But even after many centuries, the hate still existed.
The dark elves were a lot in number and thus they had to have a king always. Although they did run away, they still made a kingdom in the forest of Islea.
Unfortunately, they have hunted again and all the dark elves were slowly killed one by one.
Now only a few villages remained and the village which Shin stumbled upon right now was one of them.
This meant that they didn't have any rulers for the past 200 years and they were stuck up in this place. They said all these things to him and after explaining how bad their situation was, Shin said, "Fine fine, I accept you all under my wing."
He knew that this was what all of them wanted.
He was going to build a kingdom for all races after all so accepting dark elves wouldn't hurt.
But yes, he had to do something about the fact that everyone was getting the curse as soon as they look at the dark elves.
'Yo, system, tell me, man, how do I cure this problem permanently?', Shin asked.
*Ding*
[ The curse of hate ]
[ Requirement for activation: Make 10 or more races hate you. ]
[ Requirement for deactivation: Make 10 or more races love you. ]
'I see, so, if we take into account that they need 10 races to love them instead of hating, then I think the work would be easy.'
'Wolves are one race, lizardmen another, Mo is another, Alira and Blanca another, Terran another, Raka, the goblins, the Arb Elves, the alligators, the-'
'Well, there are more than ten races back at home. I think, once they visit the town, the curse will be lifted.', Shin thought.
Well, he was absolutely right, He had to lift the curses from them for the first time after which, if they don't develop any natural hate, then the problem with the Dark Elves would be solved.
"So, how many of you are there?", Shin asked.
"Including children, there are about 345 of us.", one of the elders said.
"I see…"
"Alright then. Since I have already mentioned having you under my wing, I will fulfill my promise."
Shin then asked Terran and Raka to tell them to return to the town that was being built.
Of course, the beasts in the forest could be the problem due to which, he asked Terran and Raka to go with them as well and return before clan wars had started.
But Terran and Raka protested that they wouldn't be fast enough to reach on time.
"I see…"
Shin understood their claims. Of course, they could have agreed but they stated the obvious.
"We apologize if we disappointed you, your highness.", Terran and Raka said.
Shin didn't answer them or say anything to them and started to think about what could be done.
The dark elves had to be protected, but yes, they could live here until Shin finished the clan wars and returned.
But there was a huge problem, the dark elves mentioned that they had many more members in their tribe. But recently, a month ago, many of them were killed with the beasts in the forest of Islea moved towards the site of Clan Wars.
Therefore, after the clan wars ended, the beasts would again return to their territory. Many would end up dying that way as well, so Shin had to think about something.
'Can I store them inside the inventory?', he asked the system.
He wasn't sure if time passed inside the inventory for living things.
Truth to be told, the items that he stores in the inventory remain fresh or as it is. But for living beings, it might have been different.
So he asked the system if time actually stopped for them as well.
*Ding*
[ The system doesn't advise storing living objects in the inventory ]
[ It causes heavy destruction of energy from nature which may result in disorder and calamity ]
[ The time for living beings passes ten times slower inside the inventory ]
This is what the system mentioned.
Shin understood what it meant by the destruction of energy from nature.
As the law states, energy can neither be created nor can it be destroyed, except nuclear reactions where energy gets converted into a mass or vice-versa.
But when Shin adds a living object inside the inventory, the energy that is supposed to be in nature, vanishes and gets stored inside the system which nature cannot identify.
Thus, this may cause irregularity. That is why the system was prohibiting Shin to do this.
Shin's plan was good, storing the Dark Elves inside the inventory until everything was over. However, the system didn't support him.
Regardless, he said, "Join us."
"Come with us to the place where clan wars are going to take place."
"You will be with us until the wars are over and after that too, you would always be with our group till we return."
This reassured them. This would definitely help in protecting them.
All the Dark Elves lowered their heads after hearing this, "We understand, your highness."
The females too were out by now including the kids. They all prepared some materials that would be required in the journey such as food, water, clothing, etc.
"Alright then, let's start moving!", Shin said after everyone was ready.
And finally, they started walking and wouldn't stop before arriving at the place where Clan Wars were going to take place!
"..."