Chapter 2869 Reluctant Trust (Part 1)

Chapter 2869 Reluctant Trust (Part 1)

"Emphasis on 'potentially', here." The Firstborn Banshee snorted. "For now, only the elves have benefitted from the Fringe while the rest of us have to fight for our lives while waiting for your call."

"How many times do I have to apologize for you to drop this?" Aalejah replied.

"Drop what?" Solus asked in confusion.

"If the elves of Setraliie are scared of their allies despite being forewarned and having agreed to join our forces after countless deliberations, imagine how the elves of Medolin feel." Aalejah said with a sigh.

"On top of that, they have no deal with the Kingdom. They have no obligation to help us or anything to gain if they do. They consider the people of Zelex no different from the monsters of the tides and the undead as dangerous predators.

"The elves of Medolin refuse to meet and talk to non-elves even via the amulet. It took me quite some effort to be granted an audience with their Parliament after their scouts reported who I was associated with." You can trace the roots of this content at n0v@lbin

"Which leads us to this point." Ilthin interjected. "With the elves holed up inside the Fringe and our communications reduced to a bare minimum."

"Is it true?" Lith asked.

"Yes and no." Aalejah shook her head. "We moved inside the Fringe because this way we could pass every single morsel of food we received from the Jiera's Council to the colony. We ended up staying holed up because our plan worked too well.

"We've drawn the attention of the monster tide away from our allies at the expense of our freedom of movement. How do you think you got the time to restore the land without swarms of monsters feasting on your job, Ilthin?

"If not for the help from the elves of Medolin, we'd be still fending waves of attacks daily. A monster tide can afford to ignore a few hundred of elves and their arrows, but not thousands.

"You may have not noticed our presence but you sure have benefitted from my strategy!"

"With the allied forces knowing the Fringe's position and how to get in, the elves would be slaughtered in a single night. On top of that, even if those entrusted with this secret kept confidentiality, the Awakened Council is bound to discover the location of the Fringe.

"The elves don't like the idea of being sieged and sooner or later the Awakened would find a way to get in which brings us back to the same issue with the humans."

"I see." Lith nodded in understanding.

The alliance had yet to be born and even if the forces of Jiera and Garlen reached an agreement, it would be paper thin. The elves had no reason to risk their city getting invaded and their resources stolen in case things went south.

Giving the humans access to the Fringe would have created an opening in the elves' impregnable defence that couldn't be closed. After all, the War of the Races was a myth to humans but recent history for the elves.

"I'm going back to the Wayfinder. I'll explain the situation to Orion and Kelia while I wait for your call."

"Don't worry, it shouldn't take long." Aalejah sighed. "The elves of Medolin are as eager to learn modern magic as I am of getting out of here and stop listening to their endless bickering."

***

Returning to the encampment took just a few Steps thanks to the Home Stone Lith had left in Friya's hands.

The dimensional device acted as a beacon, giving Lith direction and dimensional coordinates that allowed him to cross the distance between them as soon as he was in the Home Stone's area of effect.

He brought Kelia and Orion up to speed about the rest of the allied forces' circumstances and in turn they called their respective rulers to receive permission to conduct the negotiations.

Both of them also needed to know how much they could offer to the elves officially and how much they had to keep for a backroom deal that would put their respective country ahead of their temporary ally.

Meanwhile, Solus was curious to learn if and where the merfolk would build their first outpost on the surface and went to speak with Rem.