CHAPTER 451: A TONGUE MADE OF ACID

The little girl in front of us had very defined yet delicate features, not at all like the tattered, grey training wear she had on right now. Still, there was no denying her natural beauty, rags or no rags. Just by looking at her, I could already tell that she was going to grow up to be a well-endowed beauty.

If there was one thing that was a shame about her, it would be her frigid demeanour. Even when she hit the wooden dummy, there was no visible change on her face, like she herself was made of wood.

Each time she whacked the wooden dummy, the rods would turn in the direction of the force. Meaning that when she whacked one of the rods, another nine or so would come spinning about to hit her. With how furiously she was whacking the dummy, the dummy itself was rotating at blazing speeds. Left for a second, and right another. The dummy spun around at a dizzyingly fast pace, never stopping for a second.

Most people, when practising on the dummy, would let forth an audible gasp, like a “HAH!” or an “AH!”. But not this little girl. She remained steadfastly silent, never making a sound as she continued hitting the dummy. Even her chest remained unnaturally still while her hands only got faster and faster by the minute.

As time passed, her increasing speed began to take a visible toll on her body. Her breathing began to get ragged and her muscles seemed to be shivering from the harsh trial they were being put through. Even so, she never stopped attacking. In fact, her eyes seemed to light up with fire.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, went the wooden dummy. Everyone’s eyes were now glued to the girl. Even the silently mediating Half-Elves were now watching her subconsciously.

“Who is she?”

I had this feeling, call it a premonition, that this elementary schoolgirl was the girl we were looking for.

“She’s La… Aishael.” As expected, she was the Half-Elven girl we were searching for. However, because of Lanbael’s presence, the Half-Elven female leading us did not dare utter the word lady. Yet that did not stop Lanbael from glaring at her, as if to say that calling her a lady would be an insult to their noble Dark Elven blood.

“Mongrel!” Was what she was probably thinking right now. I had no doubt that if I wasn’t here she would have already gone off on a tirade.

Still, just based on what we had seen so far, Aishael’s standing amongst the Half-Elves seemed to be quite high… because of her relationship to Lewell, perhaps? Too bad her granny doesn’t seem to be all that enamored with her…

Running completely contrary to my expectations, this silent till now lady seemed visibly heartbroken and excited at the sight of her granddaughter. If I had to describe the scene right now, imagine a grandmother who had just been reunited with her long-lost granddaughter and felt guilty about not fulfilling her duty for so long. Then before she knew it, the granddaughter was all grown-up…

Yet no matter how real her guilt might have seemed, I knew that old hag was just acting. If she could even kill her own son without blinking an eye, why would I ever believe that she would feel any heart pain about her mix-blood granddaughter?

Still, whether she was acting or not, I couldn’t bear to expose this farce. Not to a little girl who had just lost her father and now even her mother…As long as she didn’t know that Paliseth’s love was false, then that love could still provide her with some warmth.

At least… that was what I thought.

As Paliseth kept calling out for Aishael, she would take a few steps forward, arms thrown wide open to welcome her. Finally, under Aishael’s icy cold gaze, she hugged the little girl gently, like a mother hen protecting her baby chick.

Then as Paliseth was busy engaging in frivolous small talk with Aishael, all the while mulling over how to break the death of her mother to her, the little girl slowly lifted up her head. In a soft voice, she said as such, “Who are you even?”

Faced with such an unceremonious questioning, even the old hag that she was couldn’t help but be stunned. “Me? I’m your granny, of course.”

“What’s a granny?” She slipped free from Paliseth’s frozen embrace and then finished her off with one last quip. “ I’m sorry, but why haven’t I heard of such a thing?”

Yeah… what’s a granny? I haven’t heard of one too… maybe it’s edible?

While her words were clearly phrased as a question, I would consider that question more rhetorical than anything else. She probably did this on purpose, as if to spurn her grandmother who couldn’t be bothered to even visit her till now.

If I had to hazard a guess, she probably understood that she was related to that old hag. But her only interaction with this fabled grandmother of hers was through the words of others. Her calmness now was an indictment of her grandmother, her way of expressing displeasure.

Putting aside the horrid mistreatment of the Half-Elves in general, the fact that her father was murdered by another one of Paliseth’s sons, meaning he was her uncle, was more than enough reason to be angry at Palisth.

However, even with such good cause, being told off by your own granddaughter so openly was sure to tick off anyone. Paliseth was visibly heaving at this point. She was angry, but she didn’t dare show that.

Now that’s skill… your tongue doesn’t get so acidic with just a bit of practise. That was like what? Two years of practise, at least. I bet if she were to go all out, she might just be able to anger her to death.

“The audacity… I won’t stand for a mongrel like you insulting our Matriarch! Kneel and apologize right this instant.”

Ever one to curry favor, Lanbael was quick to defend her boss’s honor. If only she didn’t have that intolerable arrogance on her face as she did that. But it was only in front of these Half-Elves that she could act so arrogantly. After all, the elder of the colosseum wasn’t exactly the most prestigious of positions to hold.

Even in Dark Elf society, a person’s job was one of the best indicators of his or her prestige. She might have been an elder, but there was clearly a big difference between being in charge of some slaves and being in charge of assassins or soldiers. That wasn’t to say that she held a lowly job, it was just her job wasn’t all that prestigious in her current company.

Aishael turned to glare at Lanbael for a second, then turned away once more without saying a word, as if Lanbael wasn’t even there.

“You dare to ignore me?! You uncivilised mongrel!”

Lanbael was on the verge of exploding at this point. However, before she could go crazy on the little girl, Paliseth swiftly stepped in to save the day. “That’s enough, Aishael is still my granddaughter. Be mindful of what you say.”

“… understood.” Just like that, Lanbael was beaten back into normal form.

“Shael…” Paliseth immediately went back to fawning over the little girl after chiding her subordinate. Unfortunately, Aishael only had the cold shoulder for her. She briskly walked up to us then turned her ruby-red eyes towards Reyage first. “You, I’ve seen you before.”

“I’m Reyage, your father’s brother.” He answered in an equally cold voice. “I’ve met you a few years back.”

“So that’s why you seem familiar.” She then turned her head towards Jezsere. “And you are?”

“I’m… I’m Jezsere…”

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Ah… there she is. Our resident timid girl. That shyness just makes me want to pinch her cheeks so badly. But as a Dark Elf, is it really alright for you to be so timid? Especially when Paliseth wants you to be the Matriarch. I guess that’s why she chose you though…

“Jezsere…” She paused for a couple of seconds then said without any doubt whatsoever, “I know you. You’re that famous daughter of the Matriarch. The clan’s number one useless girl.”

“Eh?”

Jezsere was taken aback by this sudden turn of events. She was fully expecting another round of “I’ve seen you before”, at which point she would try and get closer to the girl by introducing herself as Reyage’s sister. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect the subject to turn towards her being useless.

However, that wasn’t the end of Aishael’s lashing either. “I heard that you are a very talented Occultist. But because of your useless personality, your summonings always end up backfiring. That’s why you had to run away from home, because you are useless to the clan… I also heard that you returned not too long ago. So you’re that Jezsere?”