Chapter 455: Dignity and Choice

As the saying went, before hitting a dog, look at its master. Just because Paliseth did not care about this mixed blood granddaughter of hers, there was no guarantee that in the future she wouldn’t suddenly take an interest in her. What then? Lanbael clearly couldn’t just conjure up another granddaughter. That why was Aishael had been safe up till now.

Just because Paliseth could abuse her own children, didn’t mean that others were allowed to.

Besides, if Lanbael were to really kill off Aishael, she might just start a rebellion amongst the Half-Elves. Naturally, the Half-Elves weren’t a threat on their own. The problem was if they allied with the slaves -now that would be trouble.

However, just because she couldn’t kill Aishael, that didn’t mean she couldn’t make life difficult for her. By using her position as the elder of the colosseum, and the opportunity provided by Paliseth when she wanted to butter me up, she arranged for Aishael’s mother to be the slave sent out to fight…

As for Sarkath, there was no doubt that Paliseth had given him a mission beforehand. Yet he had no way of knowing who he was about to fight, especially not when Paliseth had completely forgotten about this non-Dark Elven daughter-in-law of hers. Not that he would have minded either way, being the pure-blooded snob that he was.

I’m sure the two of them would have gotten along famously…

Essentially, that was the gist of the situation leading up to Aisha’s untimely death. A cruel and disheartening set of circumstances that made one question the value of being an intelligent species, if all that was achieved was more excuses to kill each other.

Naturally, all that philosophical talk was irrelevant right now. All that mattered now was Aishael and the heavy burden that was laid on her as a result. She was a smart little girl, but the weight on her shoulders was already beginning to suffocate her.

It was at that point that Lanbael suddenly brought up an interesting question. “Matriarch, I’ve heard news of stirrings in the south.”

“Yes. The Harpies and the Minotaurs have banded together to cause trouble for some reason.” Paliseth gave her subordinate a thoughtful look as if she had already seen through her intentions. “You have something to say about this?”

“I wouldn’t dare. But I do have a suggestion I would like to make.” Lanbael eyed me trepidatiously at that point. Seeing that I had no intention of stopping her, she continued. “I suspect something is amiss in the south. I would like for the Half-Elven army to be deployed.”

“The Half-Elven army…”

“Yes, Matriarch.” Lanbael paused for a second to see if Paliseth had any intention of objecting. Seeing none, she continued once more. “Whenever there’s war, the Half-Elven army has always been at the forefront. Now’s a good time for them to show their worth.”

“I gave full authority of this war to Zurnalin. She should have been busy gathering up the Murlocs, meaning she should be done by about now.”

“I’m sure her Blood Drake Riders are more than capable of handling such a matter, but with the Half-Elves aiding them, their job would only get easier.” At this point, Lanbael was almost certain that her plan to have them sent out would pass through. With that in mind, she pressed the point further. “Those harpies are airborne creatures. While the Blood Drake Riders are powerful in a charge, they would be exposed against such creatures. But if the Half-Elves were there to back them up with their bows and magicks, the casualties would undoubtedly be lower.”

“Hmmm. A fair point.”

Paliseth nodded her head in agreement. Even though this was probably Lanbael trying to take revenge on the Half-Elves, there was no denying that she had a point.

While in a cavalry charge, it would be nearly impossible to pay attention to the skies so some form of backup was definitely needed. And as long as they could focus solely on the Minotaurs, this entire battle would be a walk in the park.

However, that raised another question as well. Couldn’t the normal Dark Elven armies perform the same job as well? Clearly, Lanbael was pushing them out on purpose.

After giving it some thought, Paliseth came to the decision that this was a workable solution. But because I was still here, she decided to seek my opinion as well. “Your holiness, what are your views on this matter?”

“Are you willing to go to war?” I asked Aishael, skipping over Paliseth’s question entirely.

Seeing as her mother had just passed away, I wanted to give this little girl some time to recover first.

Yet that was just my own opinion. Aishael, on the other hand, did not hesitate at all before rejecting my good will. She looked Lanbael right in the eyes, ice cold fury barely disguised. “We are not afraid of a challenge.”

Having done that, she turned to the Half-Elves beside her and exclaimed, “You hear that?! War has come! Even though this witch is just trying to use us as fodder, this is still a chance to prove ourselves with the blood of our enemies! If we fight, we fight for our dignity!”

“We fight for our dignity!” The Half-Elves present pumped their fists into the air as they chanted, every one of them burning with hot-blooded passion. Such was their passion that even I was beginning to feel a surge of blood in me as well.

In their eyes I could see Elves who had long put aside the notion of life and death. They were battle-hardened warriors, wrought from the corpses of their enemies, and thirsty for another battle.

Faced with such a rousing scene, Lanbael frowned. This wasn’t the reaction she had hoped for, and neither was this a reaction she understood. But all that didn’t matter. What mattered was that they now had an army to send to war. In war, some of these Half-Elves were bound to die, and if lady luck favored her, this despicable Aishael would be amongst the dead.

Just like that, I had gained further insight into the relationship between Aishael and the Half-Elves… for dignity huh…

There was no doubt now that there were two factions amongst the Half-Elves. One, the Half-Elves who guarded the elevator and would immediately prostrate themselves before Lanbael -the faction that most would consider spineless. Then there was Aishael and her Half-Elves. They did not kneel before Lanbael and even tried to argue with her -the faction who claimed to be fighting for their dignity.

Broadly speaking, these two factions were the Peaceful Faction and the Hawkish Faction.

The leader of the Hawkish Faction was clearly Aishael. She was a natural choice for this position given that she was a powerful Magister, and more importantly, she was of Paliseth’s bloodline. Even if Paliseth did not care about her before, there was no doubt that if anyone could change their current awkward situation, it would be her.

While that might have sounded like an arbitrary reason to elect someone as leader, the world was just that: arbitrary. Whether on Earth or in a fantasy world, some people were just born with a better start than others. This was a plain and simple fact, not something you could wash away because it offended your notion of fairness. What could be changed however, was how one faced such an arbitrary world.

The choice was what was important. And it was this choice that defined the Half-Elves before me today. Rather than just simply existing, they chose to live with dignity.

Aishael knew she had to put on a strong front now. If she were to act like the Peaceful Faction in front of Lanbael, how would she lead her people then? This was a road of thorns she was travelling, but one she had to take as their leader.

Their current situation was such that they were no better than slaves. They had to take part in pointless wars, and were basically no better than dogs to the Dark Elves. Perhaps by bending the knee like the Peaceful Faction members, they might have been spared some of the mistreatment, but that was a tiring way to live.

To the Half-Elves screaming for dignity today, those Half-Elves were a disgrace to their race. They would rather die standing than live kneeling. But were those Half-Elves really so wrong for submitting to Lanbael? Yes, and no. After all, who didn’t want to live a better life for themselves?