Chapter 320: Convinced

With the arrival of the dark elves, the situation quickly turned considerably more tense. The eyes of everyone present were glued to the dark elves, some filled with scrutiny and some filled with wariness.

After all, prior to this meeting, the dark elves had been separating themselves. The wood elves and the dark elves almost never see eye to eye, so the reactions of the other elves present were expected.

Of course, this was especially the case with Arcadia, who had been at war against the dark elves for hundreds of years. Tristan could feel that although the atmosphere of the room in general was not good, it was noticeably worse at his side.

Behind him, the old commander Sterling unconsciously put his hand on his weapon hilt, his posture on guard and ready for battle.

"Stand down, Sterling," Tristan commanded in a low voice.

Hearing Tristan's command, the old Arcadian Knight commander was a bit reluctant, but he still tried to hold himself down. Tristan knew about the history of their constant war. While it might be true that he could relate to how they feel in the current situation, he would never approve of such behavior from the old temperamental commander.

As if not noticing the stares, two of the dark elves sat at the table. Among the two, one of them was Rogar, one of the dark elf triplets, and the other one was the silver-haired female elf, Iliana.

Prior to the separation, the dark elves had two kingdoms, namely Mithrim and Doriath. However, after the separation, the two kingdoms interconnected into one big kingdom. 

Similar to the wood elves previously, the two dark elves simultaneously looked at the mysterious new face of the new king of Arcadia, their eyes containing curiosity as well as a hint of caution.

It seemed that Tristan did not need to explain themselves as the dark elves were quite updated with the condition of Arcadia.

Rogar examined him for a while longer before turning his gaze toward Elroth. Not bothering to hide his scorn, the dark elf mocked,  "I was actually rooting for Prince Janus… How unfortunate, for your brother to be met with such an unfortunate event… Not to mention, this elf has been busy conquering the south to become the King of Arcadia... Hahaha, I didn't realize Arcadia was so weak to be taken over like that!"

As the dark elf spoke, his eyes slowly drifted from Elroth back to Tristan. And as Rogar neared the end of his words, his eyes met Tristan's, both insincerelysmiling.

Elroth had no words to retort to Rogar's remark. After all, as unpleasant as it may be, it was part of his family's shame. Tristan, however, was interested in joining the conversation.

Looking back at Rogar with a vague smile, Tristan spoke,

"Indeed, Arcadia was not as challenging as I initially thought… But I heard that the dark elves have been unsuccessful in conquering Arcadia for hundreds of years… So what does that make them?"

The dark elf's mocking smile turned into an annoyed frown. He glared at Tristan, but he did not act further, trying to keep his composure. And to the two's surprise, the silver-haired woman next to Rogar chuckled hearing Tristan's remarks.

Not understanding the woman's sudden action, Tristan asked, "My apologies, but what's so amusing?"

In response to Tristan's question, the woman only showed a little smile. Her eyes, however, gazed at him sharply.

"Nothing, really. I simply find banter exchanges between men to be funny, nothing more."

Before any of them could say any more regarding the conversation topic, three figures arrived at the entrance.

Three high elves, two males and one female.

All three high elves showed a certain quality commanding respect from both dark elves and wood elves.

Not wanting to stay curious for long, Tristan quickly scanned the three.

Also known as the enchanted one, the man with a shiny crown on his head was Castian, the ruler of the Eldamar, the kingdom of the high elves.

[Male, High Elf]

[Magus - Half-moon]

[Battle Power: 328]

[Spirit Force: 3,280]

[Element Affinity - Lightning, wind, and ice]

The ruler of the high elves had the highest stat he had ever seen. This was extremely encouraging news for the planet.

The other two were surprisingly also very strong.

[Male, High Elf]

[Magus - Half-moon]

[Battle Power: 275]

[Spirit Force: 2,110]

[Element Affinity - Lightning, wind, and ice]

[Female, High Elf]

[Magus - Half-moon]

[Battle Power: 255]

[Spirit Force: 2,380]

[Element Affinity - Lightning, wind, and ice]

All three of the high elf elders were half-moon magi. This was certainly good news, and at the same time, this information made Tristan wonder, how many more magi does this high elf kingdom keep within their ice palace?

Either way, all seven seats were filled at last. Leena of the Vanyar, Haladar of the Mirkwood, Tolith of the Ithilien, Elroth of the Forlorn, Ragar of the Doriath, Illiana of the Mithrim, and Castian of the Eldamar. As for Tristan, he received the eighth seat as the ruler of Arcadia.

The head seat belonged to the high elf lord Castian, the enchanted one. When he started to speak, it was as if his words echoed, engraving themselves in their minds.

"We have come because we believe a new threat is upon us. Wizard Tobias, you may explain."

As expected, the main topic of this meeting was indeed the recent attack of the space knights. The old wizard tried his best to explain the attack, but it appeared that the elf found it hard to follow.

At this rate, those space knights would have arrived before they could convey anything!

Impatient, Tristan quickly interrupted the endless explanation, throwing a sphere-like device to the middle of the stone table.

The elves at the table were about to question his interruption when their attention was pulled to the device.

As soon as the device stopped sliding, light began to project from its top, showing pictures of the space knights' attacks.

These were the recordings he found from the crashed ship's database when they began shooting at the capital city of Arcadia.

Some of them were taken aback by the destruction power the flying ship had. Seeing their surprise, Tobias added on by mentioning the death of one of their wizards, but Tristan could see that the high elves and the dark elves did not feel threatened by the destruction displayed by the device.

They were only amused.

The device also had a few recordings detailing the functions of the space knights' suits as well as a few of their advanced weapons. This time, the dark elves began to whisper among each other. But other than the dark elf Iliana's unusual gaze, it was clear that the high elves were still not convinced.

After the device finished showing them the data, Tristan explained the number of enemy units that was expected in days or weeks. 

Tristan's explanation shocked them even more. Some whispered without restraint and some seemed dazed. Their reactions were only natural. After all, the idea of multiple such powerful ships attacking them altogether was terrifying. And yet, despite that, the high elves still had an unfathomable expression on their faces.

This bothered Tristan.

"Is that all the information you prepared?" Castian, the lord of the high elves, asked, his expression indifferent.

Tristan was annoyed by the lack of concern, but he maintained his neutral expression and answered, "Yes."

"So what do you propose we do, new ruler of Arcadia?"

"What else should we do? I believe we all need to unite when the threat comes. It is very likely for them to come to attack Arcadia first as we have their men, so I am asking for us all to come and defend Arcadia together," Tristan explained.

The high elf looked upon the other rulers and asked their opinion regarding the matter. The two wood elf elders expressed their agreement on the request, but the dark elves denied it as soon as their turn to speak came.

"There's no way we're coming to your Arcadia Palace! If what you said is really the truth, then we will protect our own people, not those human cities!" Rogar expressed.

It was never a secret how the dark elves never liked humans. The main reason for the clash between the elves themselves was that the wood elves wished to help the humans and created the Arcadia Kingdom.

Tristan already knew that it would not be easy to convince them when he first thought of having them all gather, but he was hoping that they would put aside their differences during such a serious time.

And now, it could not be any more clear. They absolutely had no intention of doing that.

Finally, Tristan turned to look at his main hope, the high elves. But to his disappointment, Castian, the ruler of the high elves, casually said his decision.

"We will help, but no, we will not come to Arcadia."