Angrod was in a bad situation. On one hand, his son was slowly dying before his eyes, and on the other, there was an elemental demanding 1000 lives. He felt like he had made a pact with a demon. Not knowing what to do with the problem on his hands, he asked:
"Why aren't my son's wounds healing?"
Angrod tried his luck by asking the person who had caused the current situation:
"What a silly question, it's obvious that it doesn't heal because my mana still lingers inside it and that elf's mana is being suppressed by my residual mana."
"Tsk, so you're saying we can't save my son?"
"Yes, he can be saved, but not with that elf's skills."
Angrod understood where the problem was. They needed more healers. Without wasting any time, he called for as many healers as he could. In less than two minutes, 20 healers of the highest rank arrived.
"Angrod, I'll be going back to the room with Idril. Good luck saving your stupid son."
"Do what you want."
Angrod had no time to deal with D. He could only watch helplessly as D left the room along with Idril, who seemed to not resist at all. This event would undoubtedly be considered a declaration of war if the 10 noble houses found out. This situation would undoubtedly tarnish Maedhros' honor and reputation. Angrod had no choice but to pray for his son. The truth is that Angrod never expected such a situation. When Eryn invited them to her tea party, he expected the human to fall fast asleep. The idea was simple: have a direct conversation with the elemental and force him to serve the royal family. Killing the little human was never among his plans. As he watched the 21 healers painstakingly glue the two halves of Maedhros together, he thought to himself:
'The elemental is the one in control. A human this young wouldn't be this ruthless. I'm almost certain that the elemental is the one who has been talking to us all along.'
Angrod was almost certain that the human's will was not present. The reason behind this thought was simple: ever since he set foot in the room, he did not behave like a child. His personality was like that of an experienced adult. He was always the elemental, he was never the human.
'We made a serious mistake.'
The idea to put the human to sleep was his and Maedhros just followed it. Eryn agreed only because they had promised her that they would not do anything to the human. After several hours of hard work, the 21 healers finally finished gluing Maedhros' body together. They had to treat him on the floor, as every second was precious. After finishing the healing, Maedhros was taken to a special recovery room. The healers had apparently managed to save his life; now they just had to wait for him to open his eyes. Angrod had a talk with all those who witnessed the situation. He ordered them to keep quiet. No one was allowed to talk about the situation. The 10 royal guards were extremely upset about the situation. One human easily outwitted them, though said annoyance disappeared when Angrod explained to them that this was possibly not done by the human. He gave them a short and brief explanation. After taking care of the people who saw and knew about the situation, Angrod headed to Idril's room. He had to deal with the bigger problem.
"Knock, knock, knock."
Angrod knocked three times on a wooden door. Only a few seconds passed when he heard a voice:
- Forward.
With that statement, Angrod grabbed the door handle and turned it. Opening the door, he soon saw what was inside the room. Human D was sitting on a piece of furniture comfortably. This bothered Angrod. He was so calm after leaving his son on the verge of death and right next to him was Idril. She seemed to be protecting him. Without wasting any time, Angrod spoke:
"Idril, what does this mean? Are you betraying your family?"
At these words, Idril said nothing. She stared at a wall, as if she were a doll.
"Won't you say anything, Idril?"
Again, Idril did not respond.
"What the hell did you do to Idril?"
Not receiving a response from Idril, he decided to ask D:
"Let's say she is under my control and cannot oppose my orders."
"That?"
"Just as you heard, but that doesn't matter. We have an agreement now."
At D's words, Angrod frowned. He had accepted the agreement he was talking about because of pressure, but he was not really willing to give up 1000 of his people's lives. Angrod spoke in an annoyed voice:
"I'm not going to give you 1000 lives."
"Oh, will you break your word?"
"Who do you think I am?"
"A lying elf."
Angrod brought along 4 of the royal guards as a precaution. Now that he had let such a dangerous elemental into the royal palace, he had to eliminate it. With Idril helping the elemental, things were bound to get ugly, so he brought along 4 of his best warriors. Even Idril would have a hard time facing them. Contemplating things, Angrod asked:
"What happens if I don't give you what you ask for?"
Asking this question, Angrod could see how a big smile appeared on the human's face. With a cheerful voice, D answered:
"Angrod, you may not know this, but Idril didn't treat me in the best way from the start, literally forcing me to come here. I let it go, I thought they just wanted to thank me and then let me go, but look at this surprise they gave me. I think it's a bit cheeky on your part."
"I understand you, but that doesn't justify you demanding 1000 elven lives, it's crazy."
"Craziness?"
"Yes, no one in their right mind would ask for such a thing."
"Ha, well, that doesn't matter now. Order those 4 elves to attack me, I'll start the massacre with them."
At D's words, Angrod immediately frowned. What worried him about the situation was the elemental's trust. Angrod had initially thought that the elemental had simply gotten inside the human and had not made a pact, but now he thought differently. If the elemental was the one controlling the body, then there was definitely a pact involved. He had never heard of nature elementals being able to control bodies, but given the circumstances, this might be a special case. After thinking about this problem, Angrod came up with a possible solution that did not involve confrontation. He could not afford to start a fight lightly and the reason for this was Idril. He did not know how, but she was somehow being controlled.
"I have a proposal for you: if you free Idril and give up on this idea of attacking us, I will reward you with 3 requests, but those requests cannot be related to murder."
Seeing D's expression, Angrod knew he had caught his attention. He had not given up on eliminating him, he had to ensure Idril's safety first, however:
"I see, I can already imagine your hidden motivation, hahaha."
"What do you mean?"
"It seems like you came more than willing to kill me, but you thought things through and decided that you had to get Idril back first, hence the deal. Once I free Idril, you'll hunt me down without a doubt, interesting."
Angrod remained silent. The elemental saw through his plan quickly. But to his surprise, he relented.
"Okay, that seems fair to me."
"??????"
Angrod was confused with the current situation. The elemental was rarer than he thought. On the other hand:
'D, how's the ring analysis going?'
- THE ANALYSIS IS NOW COMPLETE. THE SPELL ENGRAVED ON THE RING HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY LEARNED.
- TO USE THE SPELL, YOU MUST MARK THE PLACE FIRST.
'Can I mark objects?'
- IT IS POSSIBLE.
'Hahahaha, let's see you kill someone who can teleport easily.'
After D's report, I laughed like crazy inside. Thanks to the ring Idril had, killing me now was almost impossible. I would show those elves how difficult it would be to kill me.