Chapter 102: The Parley Starts

"I give you mercy"

Viel closed his eyes as the blood showered from the elf's neck that was still standing beside him. His body drowning in red as the blood slid from his golden hair. His expression serene, not even a twitch on his eyebrows could be seen.

"I free you from your pain", he whispered.

"V...Viel?"

With her guard still up, Sofia slowly and carefully walked towards the bloodied Viel. She tried calling him once again, but he did not answer, instead, he looked down to the ground, as if he was looking at something.

"Viel!?", once again Sofia called.

But this time, it would seem that Viel finally had a reaction as he slowly turned his head towards her and whispered her name, "Miss Sofia…", he whispered.

"...Are you the mother of treants?", Viel added as he looked at his opened palm.

[OBJECTIVE: Kill the Mother of Treants]

"...Mother of treants?", Sofia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but still, she had her guard up, "What kind of question is that?"

"These purple vines… they are your skills?", Viel looked at the decapitated elves, their legs and hands wrapped in purpled vines.

"Well...yes?", the confusion on Sofia's face grew by the second.

"And you use treants as a weapon?", Viel continued his queries.

"...Yes?"

"So, you are the mother of treants?", Viel had a confident look in his eye as he stared at Sofia.

"What?", Sofia did not know whether to chuckle or answer seriously, "No, of course not"

"But the vines are purple!", Viel's voice started to get louder.

"I can see that, yes"

"Mother of treants use purple vines", Viel crossed his arms.

"...Vines are usually purple", Sofia answered bluntly.

Hearing Sofia's words, Viel could not help but squint his eyes, "Pft. Purple vines", Viel scoffed as he jumped from the cart.

Grandma Ling never had any purple vines in her garden, and she had everything! Viel thought.

He walked to the nearby bushes, ignoring the dead elves that did not seem to know that they were already dead as they stood upright.

Nearing the bushes, Viel punched the ground, creating a small quake that shook the trees. He fidgeted his arms for a while, causing the ground to powder like stale dough.

After a few seconds, he pulled his arm out off the ground. And on it, were vines.

...Purple vines.

"...", Viel stared at his hand, and then towards Sofia.

"...But you control the treants?", Viel said, no longer confident.

"I wish", Sofia sighed, "The best I could do is plant them strategically...so that I can destroy the elves from within, hearing their screams as they kill each other, not knowing why their brothers and sisters are atta-"

"So, you're not the mother of treants?"

Before Sofia could continue her ramblings, Viel disrupted her with another question.

"No!", Sofia waved her hand as she finally removed her guard, "I have been telling you that! I don't even have a husband I can experiment on...I mean, with!"

Hearing Sofia's words, a complicated expression filled Viel's face. Ever since he had heard from Lord Fynn that the treants were Sofia's doing, Viel was confident that she was the Mother of Treants that Mr. Voice keeps on rambling about.

But this, he doesn't know anymore, could Sofia just be lying?

Seeing the complicated expression on Viel's face, Sofia could not help but sigh. An unanswered question is the most thrilling thing in the world and yet it is also torment.

"Are you talking about the Treant Flower?", Sofia said in a soft voice.

"Treant...flower?"

"Hm", Sofia nodded, "Although it is, in all aspects, a plant, it is actually classified as a monster"

"It's a monster that sprouts treants. It requires blood in order to grow", once again, Sofia's tone was filled with excitement as she could share the fruits of her research, "It was created by the elves using some type of blood magic hundred years back. I got my hands on it after I stole it from their unworthy hands. Did you know that-"

"Where is it?"

Sofia's eyes twitched as she was interrupted from her passionate vocal, "It's gone", Sofia said in a weak voice.

"Gone?"

"You should have burnt it. Isn't that where Lord Fynn's men found you?", Sofia's voice started to get stronger, "Surrounded by the ashes of my babies!", Sofia cried as she remembered her days of taking care of the treant flower, feeding it with the blood of the elves, forcefully inserting the sproutling inside of the elves. Ah yes, such good memories.

"Babies? So, you are the mother of treants!", Viel pointed at Sofia.

"...No", Sofia's face became stoic, "That's just a term of endearment. Seriously, did you grow up in a cave or some- Hm", Sofia was about to finish her words, but then she remembered that Viel was actually imprisoned for about 5 years in a deep dark place, much like a cave.

"So…", Viel placed his hand on his bloodied chin, "If I kill you, a portal to my world won't open?"

Hearing this, Sofia once again put up her defenses, summoning the thick layer of ice around her body.

But the only thing that attacked her was a slight chuckle in her ears.

"I want to stay here for a little while", Viel said with a slight smile on his face. He then looked around and glanced at the headless elves, "These people… they killed your brother?"

"...", Sofia was silent for a few seconds before she removed the armor of ice capsulating her body, "No. But they told me who did. It's just…", Sofia looked at the female elf's head that was comfortably sitting on the ground.

"Can't really confirm it now", she said as she removed her spectacles and cleaned it. She could only sigh as the only source of information she had were now, quite literally, in pieces.

But it was then that she remembered the bleak house of the fat man. Before the fat man barged in, she was looking at a suspicious rug that had dust markings all around it.

There might be something there, perhaps a hidden trapdoor? She reckoned.

"I'm going back to the pig's house", Sofia said.

"Eehh… I don't know how to drive this cart", Viel scratched his head.

"..."

"Can't you use a flying spell?", Sofia remembered Viel fighting with the Earth Goddess, and Viel should, in theory, get there in less than a minute.

"Why would I use my power with such trivial things?", Viel said monotonously.

Sofia's eyes could not help but twitch, she remembered saying the exact same thing a few days back. And now Viel is using it against her.

"Fine", Sofia gritted her teeth. She then summoned a bubble around them.

"Ooh!", Viel hummed, "I could not ride this before"

Seeing Viel's excitement, one would think he purposely did not use his powers just to ride on Sofia's bubble.

And with a sigh from Sofia, the bubble started flying back to the fat man's house.

It did not even take them an hour before they arrived back at the house.

"It's this…", Sofia whispered as she looked at the rug that was seemingly out of place. She then lifted the rug and threw it to the side, the million dusts floating around them. This caused Viel to sneeze vehemently, only stopping when Sofia covered his mouth.

"!!!", and there it was, revealed from the shadows of the rug is…

"...A floor?", Viel squinted his eyes.

"No!", Sofia said as she kneeled, feeling the creases of the floor. After a few seconds of fidgeting, a clicking sound resounded in the room as the floor that was covered by the rug opened up.

"...You destroyed it!", shouted Viel.

"...It's a trapdoor", Sofia could only sigh.

Beneath the trapdoor, a flight of stairs could be seen, and at the end of it, a door.

"Ooh… Mysterious", Viel commented.

The two walked down quietly until they reached the front of the hidden door. Surprisingly, the door was not locked as Sofia smoothly pushed the door open.

"Oh, Brett. Why are you back so early?"

A voice said as soon as they opened the door. And there they were.

Two elves with dumbfounded expressions as they look at Sofia.

"..."

"Hello there", hummed Sofia as a creepy smile stretched on her face.

***

The beating of horses and the cracking of the white flags were the only sounds that filled the air. The sun threatened to pierce one's skin, but yet the countless people present have no signs of moving.

Weeks have passed after Sofia's little adventure. And now, behind her, were a thousand men clad in armor.

And in front, another thousand. Facing them with expressions of hostility. Ilrina was on this side, of course, as her mother, Queen Silvia, finally agreed in meeting with the Human King to perhaps parley peace. Or a chance of it.

"Why the face?", Queen Silvia asked as she looked at her daughter's seemingly worried face, "Did you not want this meeting?"

"O-of course! The Great Mother of Spirits wishes it so!", Ilrina stuttered. She then sharpened her eyes as she looked at the army in front of her. She was trying her best to find even a hint of gold. But alas, Viel could not be found.

She and Sofia had a plan to make the peace work, but without Viel, the chance of it working were close to none.

There was, however, what looked to be a human-shaped cloth beside Sofia.

One could only hope that Viel was the one hiding inside.