Coughing awkwardly, Crus pulled her doppelgangers back, showed a respectful face, and bowed. "Please pardon our actions before. We didn't know we were imposing on a Rank 3 King. On behalf of the Featherwind Sect, we express our humblest of apologies."
"Let's start our conversation over, shall we?" Ludin compromised.
Hearing this, Elizabeth was intrigued. They abandoned their proud display for a meek one just like that. Granted, she did showcase a hint of Rank 3 King power through Rena's hand, but it should not be enough to warrant such a strong reaction. Although they tried hiding it, they were clearly frightened! With this unexpected gain, she decided to press her advantage a little further.
"Then on what justification does the Featherwind Sect have to launch a surprise attack against the Alzar Kingdom?" she asked sharply.
The two birds wanted to vomit blood. They were clearly in the wrong, but having it stated that bluntly was something else. They had to tread very carefully here. Forget the Luminous Central Origin hounding them. Angering the Rank 3 King behind Elizabeth would lead to an immediate death.
Quick on his feet, Ludin replied, "You cannot fault us, Princess Elizabeth. We are bound by an agreement with the Imperial Council. It wasn't our intent to do this."
"Agreement? What agreement?" Elizabeth frowned.
"This…"
"What is it? You can't say?"
"It's fine," Crus interrupted. "We won't breach the terms of our contract by telling her." Facing the girl, she said, "We are contracted by Nine Regrets Reincarnation vow. If you haven't heard of it before, there is a saying: 'one vow for nine regrets, nine regrets to reincarnate'. It means that we can violate the vow a total of nine times, but each time that we do, we will lose one-ninths of our memories, hence reincarnating."
Nine Regrets Reincarnation was a contract-type magic, a special type of magic designed to impose restraints and to coerce cooperation. It was one of the few ways that true cooperation could exist in the larger, vast world where sleeping dragons and prowling tigers lurked! After all, what was the use of a verbal or signed agreement? What was that to a King or an Emperor? It was worth nothing more than a fart! Without any real binding power, there could be no trust. It was fundamentally impossible. Anyone could betray you at any moment! Hence, this was why contract-type spells were created. The two sides would be bound by the vow and had to obey its terms or face punishment!
"Our vow is quite simple. We will help the Xingyuu Empire in the Second Great Kingdom War, and the Imperial Council will help the Featherwind Sect establish a permanent presence here."
"That is the exact vow?"
Elizabeth fell into deep thought once Crus nodded. 'Help' was an extremely ambiguous term. It could range from giving advice to full-on military intervention. When thinking about that Prime Minister Pon-Wai, that meticulous and conniving two-faced villain, she had to say this was not his usual style. According to rumors, he even timed his meals to be precisely fifteen minutes long, not one second longer, not one second shorter… She found it hard to believe that someone like him could leave such a glaring problem in their vow. But upon further thought, it did make sense. The alliance between the two parties should be a recent endeavor, so they wanted to test the waters with a shallow vow. If it worked out, then they could impose a stronger, more specific vow later.
"I understand the situation now," Elizabeth said. "However, that doesn't mean I can look the other way and ignore everything that's happened. You killed plenty of my people."
Crus widened her eyes in astonishment. "You want us to compensate you for their lives? You must be joking," she said in disbelief.
With a deadpan serious face, Elizabeth replied, "Who said I was joking?" Regardless of her situation, she found it necessary to stand up for those who died here. Each of them had family, friends, lovers, and a story to tell. They were not numbers. They were living breathing people! She was not about to let Ludin and Crus squirm away scot-free.
"Princess Elizabeth, we do apologize for attacking you and your fleet abruptly, but these lives… They're nothing but mortals, and mortal lives are worthless. I don't see what the fuss is about," Ludin hmphed. The contempt in his voice was obvious.
It was typical from his point of view to treat mortals as trash. Although the Featherwind Sect was a Rank 3 civilization, a full rank above humanity, before it fell, it had around ten thousand disciples. Ten thousand disciples… When comparing it to the grand human fleet below of twenty thousand, it was jokingly small. The sect was not enough to fill a normal human city! And yet, they were nurtured to the peak of Rank 2 Lords to eventually become Rank 3 Kings! Naturally, that meant that elites, geniuses, and prodigies filled their ranks! The mortals in their sect were either young children, or talentless servants, so was it a sin from his perspective to kill them? Of course not! In the vast world, it was the law of the jungle: to kill or be killed. If you died, it was because you were too weak! Nothing more, and nothing less. Consequently, Ludin failed to understand Elizabeth's point.
"You!" Elizabeth growled. "How dare you? I want an answer right now!"
"You… you want an answer from us?" Crus laughed mockingly. Her face then twisted and her wings flapped aggressively. Snarling, she shouted, "Don't push us too far! You might have a Rank 3 King, but we have one too! If you want an answer, I don't mind slaughtering you and everyone else here!"
Her pride overflowed egregiously, as did her primal instincts. As one of the core elders of the Rank 3 Featherwind Sect, she always had a preeminent status. People were used to looking up at her, and aside from the four guardians and the Sect Master, she never acted submissively before anyone. Ever since they were swindled by Prime Minister Pon-Wai into helping this ridiculous mortal war, Crus was frustrated and infuriated. Now that Elizabeth, a mortal abusing her master's authority, was pushing them around, it broke her final straw. She summoned nearly all her thirty-two doppelgangers to her side, filling the sky with an oppressive light. As they faced Elizabeth, Crus channeled her Bloodline Ability to its limit, burning her innards and breaking her own body. Crus was ready to bath the ocean in blood! That was the pride of Elder Crus, the Silver Crane Sword!
Against the sky-piercing killing intent and furious Crus, Elizabeth's heart jumped. Putting her personal feelings aside, she did realize that she went a bit too far. One of the golden rules of politics was reading the situation, especially when to push and when to pull. This was the key to leaving both parties satisfied. In the first place, she was fighting for survival and fishing for information, while Ludin and Crus wanted to uphold their end of the Nine Regrets Reincarnation vow. The goals might not be mutually exclusive, but they were enemies originally! Furthermore, Elizabeth was pretending that a Rank 3 King master was behind her when Rena's cooperation was dodgy at best. Like a dog with bark, but no bite, it was dangerous to demand too much. She had no choice, except to rein in her attitude for the sake of everyone. However, she would not forget this debt of blood. She would deal with it and the Xingyuu Empire one day.