TOMWDET Chapter 184.2

Mortal Chapter (6.2)

Speaking of this, the human side’s understanding of Clemens’ strength deepened once again, each of them falling into contemplation.

As for the monster beasts…

Leia was the first one who wanted to actively stir up trouble.

“I say, great and noble Queen of the Winged Tribe, Your Majesty, have you forgotten that you’re also a monster beast? Or is it that, compared to compromising with Clemens, standing with humans makes it easier for your already completely blackened heart to show some color that’s still somewhat red?”

The mermaid looked meaningfully toward the giant dragon who had remained silent throughout.

“Moreover…” Leia’s eyes flowed with meaning, somewhat grasping the concept of how merfolk could bewitch people’s hearts, “the Water Tribe isn’t like the Winged Tribe. We who retreat to the deep ocean naturally can avoid direct confrontation with Clemens.”

The latter statement made the targeting of the former less obvious, but what the mermaid was implying, whether it was the giant dragon or Matilda, they all understood respectively.

Matilda sneered coldly. “Didn’t I just say so?”

“Unrealistic ideas are equivalent to daydreaming.”

“Allowing the Water Tribe to escape to the deep sea simply won’t be possible with Clemens.” Matilda looked at the mermaid coldly.

“A group of cowards hiding in the ocean depths, who could make a comeback at any time and cause trouble for the Beast Tribe… what makes you think Clemens would give you the chance to continue hiding, rather than directly eliminating the threat at its root?”

“Indeed, land monster beasts don’t have any obvious advantages when fighting in water, but what makes you think that a Beast King who could kill me with just ten percent of his strength couldn’t do it with full power…”

“Dive deep into the ocean and kill you!”

Her words carried the weight of a thousand jun.

The mermaid’s face immediately became as ugly as if he had swallowed a fly.

Matilda scoffed. “I don’t care what you think. I’ve already prepared to fight Clemens to the end…”

As she spoke, her tone shifted from sharp to gentle. “It’s just that pointless acts of suicide won’t happen to me again.”

Matilda kept her gaze on Su Li for a full three seconds.

When the young man raised his head with a confused expression, he met Egbert’s face full of wariness.

Instinct told the most trusted subordinate that this queen was approaching Euphia, the new Mercenary Alliance Guild Master of Sadina City.

Or rather… getting infinitely close to the Dark Holy Maiden Mavis?

That look in her eyes…

It was simply like a pie chart condensed with worry, trust, emotion, admiration, and a touch of joy.

Matilda didn’t notice Egbert. She continued: “As I said, compared to you with your escapist mentality, and the Dragon Clan who are no longer the same kind of monster beasts as me, and even more so, Bartholomew the unicorn who is himself a member of the Beast Tribe… no matter from which angle you look at it, these humans who seem to be challenging the impossible are the most suitable for me to cooperate with.”

This time while speaking, Matilda had openly placed her gaze on Elvi.

Admittedly, cowardly as she was, because of her bystander stance, her failure to attempt change, and because of “harboring” the Council of Elders, she naturally bore an irredeemable guilt. But even so, Matilda had to acknowledge one point…

A dark character like her, rather than taking responsibility actively like those little suns who grew up in the light, she might as well push all the blame onto others.

She was just that trashy.

The even trashier Council of Elders hadn’t been retaliated against yet, so what did she have to worry about regarding the dragon’s pursuit and killing.

Elvi finally spoke, raising her eyes. “For you, Your Majesty the Queen, would you rather cooperate with humans after the Winged Tribe suffers attack from the Beast Tribe, than continue trusting the Dragon Clan before the attack?”

Matilda’s eyes were clear. “If I said I had always trusted the Dragon Clan, I’m afraid you wouldn’t believe it either. I also regret Victoria’s death…”

“Shut up! Who gave you permission to call that name!” Elvi’s eyes instantly turned red.

Ever since Elvi’s eye had been pierced by Su Li’s shot, that eye had become a gray-white that could no longer see. Now when her other intact eye turned red, the dragon’s body would inevitably reveal an aura of death.

“You’re right, I indeed have no right to call that child’s name.” Matilda accepted this targeting and hatred.

Whether it was Elvi or Adison who had nearly died at the time.

They all had reason to hate her, this queen who did nothing.

Weak as she was, the most suitable thing wasn’t to sit in the queen’s position for many, many years. More suitable would have been to choose death years ago, before being pushed into that position.

If Elvi had obtained that position where the capable should reside, the entire Winged Tribe probably wouldn’t be in such an embarrassing state now.

But reality wasn’t imagination. Matilda had just survived until now.

Like the mermaid, they were both the kind of incompetent weaklings who only knew how to escape.

However, now Matilda didn’t plan to escape anymore.

She said: “I am an incompetent king, useless and despicable. I don’t need your forgiveness, nor do I need so-called redemption.”

“But I still have to tell you…”

“Expelling the Dragon Clan from the Winged Tribe, this idiotic move that makes one question intelligence, wasn’t done by me. I haven’t been stupid to that degree. Additionally, I can tell you another point.”

“When you returned from human society initially, after your general experiences were written up as official documents and reported, the Council of Elders already had the idea of expelling you from the Winged Tribe. I don’t want to understand those idiots’ brains, but I still know they thought you had directly incurred the dual hatred of Leia, this mermaid ruler, and Bartholomew, this unicorn who had represented the Beast King in countless battles.”

“They didn’t want to allow the possibility of the Water Tribe allying with the Beast Tribe.”

“Abandoning you in exchange for friendship from the Water Tribe that couldn’t provide any actual help… Heh, those idiots…”

This was the truth.

If Matilda had possessed true decision-making power, the queen at that time would never have given Elvi the opportunity to let Leia escape.

The mermaid ruler’s death would only have immediately caused the Winged Tribe to incur the hatred of the entire Water Tribe.

Participating in it, the Raven upgrade success rate enhancement that seemed like a miracle drug, could have been obtained directly using Leia’s bones.

Didn’t matter, right?

After Leia died, the Water Tribe’s mad dogs would only attack the Winged Tribe at any cost.

The Winged Tribe could have chosen to seek aid from the Beast Tribe.

Getting help would have been even better; not getting help, they wouldn’t have faced the dual alliance of the Water Tribe leaning toward the Beast Tribe.

Don’t forget, initially it was the unicorn and mermaid together who went to intercept and kill Elvi.

There was no reason for only the mermaid to be unlucky while the unicorn didn’t have to pay any price for failure.

What a perfect situation that would have been——!

But Matilda had only seen the official documents that Elvi submitted after the Council of Elders’ decision had already been issued.

Once a series of idiotic things had their beginning, the process and ending were no longer something Matilda could decide.

Could she use this explanation to win back the giant dragon?

She could, but it was no longer necessary.

Even if she could explain it, Elvi wouldn’t forgive her.

The black dragon’s death, if it could be erased so easily, Matilda wouldn’t have admired Elvi in the past.

It was fine like this now.

Whether hatred or resentment, Matilda would accept it all.

Leia was disappointed that the two hadn’t fought. And Bartholomew, who had remained silent throughout but had listened to everything, finally spoke.

“I thought that knowing I’m from the Beast Tribe, you would prioritize avoiding me when exchanging any intelligence.”

Leia might still have the possibility of alliance, Elvi was still somewhat connected to Matilda, but as a unicorn who was himself from the Beast Tribe, was it really appropriate for him to participate in this kind of conversation?

Egbert then said, “Lord Su Li always has his own ideas.”

“Your previously displayed attitude toward the Beast King has been ambiguous and unclear. Secondly, telling you this intelligence that obviously involves secrets, while ensuring you have no conditions to pass it on, then assuming you could one day escape this oceanic environment, the Beast King would inevitably ask what you knew during this period.”

“Outdated intelligence has no value. As a subordinate, if you can’t even answer honestly, you would probably lose the value of continuing to live. Speaking means you would be suspected by the Beast King of your loyalty; not speaking… do you think an existence that has grown to be monster-like would really have no self-awareness of being a monster?”

“How could such a character possibly fail to see through your concealment.”

Bartholomew was left speechless by what he said.

Everything Egbert said was fact.

If not for clearly knowing the king was a monster, how could the unicorn have repeatedly sworn loyalty when facing Clemens.

Besides loyalty, the power Bartholomew could provide was negligible to a Beast King who had already reached monster level.

But loyalty… was that really such an important thing to a monster?

Bartholomew didn’t want to speak, but Matilda’s face showed surprise.

She said, “In such a short time, that child has already thought of so much?”

“Don’t refer to Lord Su Li as ‘that child’. The length of life can be counted, but the breadth of the soul cannot be measured.” Egbert hadn’t forgotten Matilda’s look that was even more pie-chart-like than a pie chart.

“Moreover, this kind of thing is just what I could think of just now, part of what Lord Su Li had already considered. In terms of experience, Lord Su Li would only have thought of more.”

As Egbert’s words fell, everyone’s gaze fell on Su Li.

Matilda looked thoughtful. Leia, who had relaxed his guard toward Su Li somewhat because Su Li had lifted his restrictions, raised his vigilance again.

Elvi showed a very abnormal matter-of-fact attitude.

Unlike the other monster beasts, she had long ago labeled Su Li as non-communicable, non-dialogable.

All walks of life, only Su Li was smiling.

A smile more bitter than one hundred percent chocolate.

He really hadn’t thought that much…

Matilda’s look at him now was already wrong.

——It was like looking at some old monster wearing the skin of a young person.

Su Li still couldn’t understand expressions, but Matilda had directly stated her thoughts!

“Your body is just in cub form, but your soul is as that human said, vast beyond measurement.”

Su Li: …

After holding it in for a long time, he could only say, “Don’t trust too much in what Eg has said.”

Egbert: “I’m not called ‘that human,’ I’m called Egbert.”

Roy nudged the shoulder of Egbert who was introducing himself. “The little master is reminding you that part of your speculation about the current situation is wrong.”

Egbert was greatly shocked. “So what I just said was incorrect?!”

He was first stunned, lost in thought, then suddenly realized. “No, it should be correct… wait… I see…!”

Egbert completely understood.

His eyes were bright, his thinking clear, his articulation precise.

“We actually don’t need to let Bartholomew leave the aquatic environment at all. Compared to his future that’s destined to be unpleasant after being suspected, what we need to focus on more is actually that when Bartholomew is suspected, he’s more likely to be given new orders by the Beast King. As long as that king gives some preamble like ‘if you can’t do this, then you’ve truly betrayed’…”

“——Then we’ll be in big trouble!”

“This is equivalent to releasing a tiger back to the mountain.”

“Indeed, I didn’t think comprehensively enough, only considering forcing Bartholomew to be pushed by the Beast King toward our direction. But I didn’t think that when facing current death versus possible future death, most intelligent life would prioritize avoiding current death. And this way, it would also make those with brains think that the next death might also be avoided…”

Egbert’s muttering left Roy, who had only meant to tease him, with his mouth agape.

Lan Zhe sneered coldly. “Quickly close that mouth of yours that could fit a whole coo-coo egg.”

Roy: Cursing and swearing.jpg

As for Egbert…

“Worthy of being Lord Su Li, to have seen those possibilities so early!”

Su Li covered his face, his features crumpling, unable to control showing a pained expression.

Other monster beasts: So are all humans prophets?!

Drag them out and execute them.

What was even more ridiculous was that Egbert’s attitude was always that compared to himself, the one who was smarter had always been Lord Su Li.

Su Li: I’m not, I didn’t, believe me!

But this kind of self-rescue attempt had long lost its effect.

Give up.

…Su Li truly chose to abandon treatment in a real sense.

Just like no matter how much he disliked cilantro, he wouldn’t go trampling other people’s cilantro fields.

So be it.

Su Li showed a smile that could be called holy, his tone warm as if enhanced by top-tier sound equipment. “The me you see, rather than being one of my aspects, the me you see reflects your own characteristics.”

Egbert’s face, which had been beaten black and blue from his previous attempt to farm mermaid experience, was turning pink.

What was this?

This was clearly Lord Su Li acknowledging his growth and pointing it out in front of everyone!

Of course Egbert knew he couldn’t see all of Su Li clearly, but just seeing one aspect was enough to make him overjoyed.

Rounding it off, this sentence that seemed full of reading comprehension requirements was equivalent to Lord Su Li praising him in front of numerous humans and monster beasts!

Egbert was happier than during New Year.

Su Li, who was not happy and even somewhat withdrawn, showed a weary smile.

Matilda, trying to interpret this smile, said in a ghostly tone, “I don’t want to admit at all that those barely visible considerations I see in you would be any characteristics I also possess.”

“But there’s one point I can’t deny…” Matilda showed a smile so brilliant it made the giant dragon feel dazzled.

“Your existence, while not enough to make me comprehend life and understand the meaning of living, has made me know the ‘correct path’ I must take before death.”

Su Li: …You all just be happy.