Leonas and Risa happily obliged to kill the remaining soldiers. The rest of the soldiers were nothing to speak of and they finished them off quickly before taking the back the villagers and heading back to the village to meet with the others.
The first thing they did was bury their dead. Risa found her grandfather peacefully lying with closed eyes but his soul had already left the world. She could only bitterly smile as she moved on to carry the funeral process.
Speaking of funerals, both elves and drow had different cultures with which they honor the dead. The elves buried them deep under the soil and planted a tree sapling on their grave which represented their afterlife. As for the drows, they burned them on a pyre while singing in another language which Sen had to again use the converter to understand. When he asked they answered that it was the ancient drow-ish language.
After the night was over and the mourning stopped, the entire village of fifty-three elves and forty-nine drows gathered. Leonas and Risa explained the situation.
Sen forbade the two to mention he was not human. He wanted to test these people's gratefulness and whether they can move past their hatred someday. It didn't matter either way, since he already saved them. Even if they did not agree to answer his call should he ever need it, it won't matter.
"What happened yesterday will happen again, make no mistake. We do not have the strength to defend our homes. We do not even have a home! This human here has helped us greatly, saving our entire village. All he asks for in return is to help him should he ever need it" Leonas stated.
"You want to follow a human Leonas?!" a burly drow shouted, "I would rather die than follow one of those scum. They hunt us for sport and eat our flesh. Even those in the other kingdoms are no better. Enslaved and beaten to death if they disobeyed their master. How could you tell us to follow him?"
Nods of agreement sounded from both the elven side and the drow side.
"Mateo is right. While he did save us, what's to say that he didn't t do it with malicious intentions in mind. Come to your senses Risa" an elf rebuked when Risa persuaded her own people.
"Elder Souma would be disappointed"
"What about the chief, he gave his life to defend against humans, now his son actually pledged his life to one"
Mateo turned to face both camps, "I say we go and find our brethren in the south, the wanderers brought word that a rebellion is brewing in the south where all non-human races are welcomed to join. Let's go there and meet our brothers and sisters, joining the fight against the filthy humans"
"Yeah, that's what the chief wanted to do before he passed"
Sen stared with no intention of butting in. he chose to test Leonas and Risa's leadership skills. But clearly, he underestimated the hatred these people had for the humans as it looked like as if they would brandish their weapons at the young elf and drow should they speak one more word about following him.
"Alright!" Sen stood up from the rock he was leaning on and walked to the group. All mouths were quiet and eyes were locked on him.
"I know you hate humans"
"Hate is making it sound nice" Mateo retorted
"I can't promise to save all of you and deliver you to a future where the entire world is equal and happy, because that is near impossible." His words silenced the crowd. "Nor do I want to lead or rule you. Leonas and Risa came to the decision that they want to follow me all on their own. Maybe I will move against the kingdom one day and when that happens, I'm sure my strength will not be enough, so I need allies. I don't want subordinates. You can go to your own devices, I couldn't care less. But, when you're in trouble, I come to your aid. And when I need your aid, you provide it. That is how alliances work"
The folks hearing Sen thought about it. If they really joined the rebellion in the south, they would need allies, and Sen is strong enough to kill Cassil easily. The group's expression calmed a bit after hearing this.
Strong words like these clearly affected the group's opinion and some of them started to change their minds. It was just an alliance after all, not subordination.
Mateo, however, was not about to let his chance of becoming chief go to waste. He's always been inferior to the Leonas' father, but now this is his time. He stepped in front of Sen and spoke to the group once again, "remember what happened thirty years ago?"
The calm expression of the drows started to turn once again into a frown. Thirty years ago, how could they ever forget?
"Thirty years ago, weren't we living peacefully? We didn't meet a human for years and then suddenly the she-human came. We had just experienced drought in our little village and she came promising us a new place to live with all the riches. Our forefathers were stupid enough to actually believe her. What was the end? She led us to be enslaved and our family scattered all over the continent"
Sen looked around, and all the drows had the same expression and some of the elves were also contemplating. He turned to Leonas and the latter whispered to him. "It's true, that woman was the reason out tribe got scattered all those years ago. I wasn't born at the time but my father told me that story. But…there more to it."
Seeing Leonas being secretive Sen understood that he did not want to speak of it in front of everyone. So the matter was dropped till later. Now he was really fed up with these people. Since he has both of those bloodlines in his blood, he wanted to help them and at the same time grow his power. However, he had no use of people who were as stubborn as a mule and would prove to be trouble later on.
"Look. Whatever it is you decide, I shall not interfere with. Just know that today's attack can happen any time at anywhere. Maybe if you go south, you can join the rebellion you spoke of, but know that I won't stay here forever, tomorrow at dawn, I'll be leaving. Come to me with your decisions at that time.
With that, Sen turned to one of the treehouses, it was Leonas', it had two rooms, one for his father and the other his. Leonas offered his room and he stayed in his father's.
At dinner time, Risa joined them and Sen pulled out the only food in his inventory, water, and golden bread. The bread in the game had the effect of increasing HP so when the two ate it with relish, their wounds, tiredness, and fatigue disappeared without a trace.
Speaking of that, Sen's inventory can only be described as messy, back in the game, he could see the items each on one slot, to be organized by date, name, and other. But now, it was like looking at a vast space of hundreds of floating items that had no way of getting organized. So he only focused his attention on the necessities and would find time later to sort it out.
Speaking of which, when Sen was about to drink the water he poured in a bowl, he saw his reflection on the water surface, which made him extremely overjoyed. Having his old face and body back was something he was really thankful for.
"Truly magical!" Risa smacked her lips together as she drank the water that also had the same effect as the bread.
"I think this is much better than the bread the nobles eat, one bite and I felt alive, one loaf of bread and I feel like I've been reborn"
Sen Let the two of them finish eating before diving into the topic.
"What do you think their decision would be?" he was in fact not that very much concerned, he would not be responsible for their livelihood anyway. Just some occasional help.
"sigh…Mateo lost both his parents to humans…he would never agree to follow one and the drows respect him a lot, so I assume most of them will follow him"
"The elves are no better. Although I managed to convince some, most of the rest either think I'm a traitor or delusional" Risa sighed…if only they knew that this was her grandfather's last wish.
"Esteemed one, how about…" Leonas hesitated, "if they knew you re not human…" he started but Sen cut him off.
"No, Leonas. First of all, even though I do look like that, I was human at the beginning" he decided to tell them this bit to probe their attitude. He would never allow someone so close to his side to harbor any thoughts about him, so it was better to make matters clear from now.
They were obviously startled. They looked at each other before Risa spoke, "we're not blind nor are we stupid. There was a time where both humans and elves lived in harmony. Only those greedy ones in power are the ones that broke the peace. And we also know of how the common people over that side are living under their oppression"
"Yeah, not like people from our side are all saints either…" he clenched his teeth as he thought of his friend betraying them and giving up their location.
Satisfied, Sen nodded before looking at Leonad once more. "Second of all, regardless of my strength, I do not have the confidence of going against an entire kingdom by myself. That is why I need allies…loyal people. Not to me, course, but towards the cause. The only thing more dangerous than a powerful enemy is an unreliable ally."
Leonas nodded in understanding. Indeed, logic mixed with literature is the best way to convince people. "And last, if they cannot accept me as a human, then they cannot see the bigger picture I'm painting. Remember this very well the both of you. We may be fighting a war, and in war, you cannot save everyone. Many more will join our side, later on, that, I am sure of. And of them will be other races including humans. We cannot be fighting a war amongst ourselves by then while the enemy is knocking at our door."
Since the kingdom has painted him with a big mark and put a target on his head for killing that Jenna. He would retaliate should they come knocking, even if it means war. If he wasn't so serious about this whole thing before, he now is.
If there was any doubt left on the two people's eyes, now it disappeared completely. This Sen had a whole cause to fight for and his principles and foresight vision are just too compelling. They were sure they made the right choice
"What did you say earlier about that woman from thirty years ago?" Sen suddenly changed the topic after seeing Leonas and Risa were painting the picture he drew them within their minds.
The question took him out of his daze, he quickly regained his calm and decided to tell them everything. He collected himself to remember what his father had told him about the woman before answering.
"That woman… her name was Melaidhrin Snowborn and she…." he paused to gauge their expression. "She was a Vallas"