Chapter 28: Set Up

Chapter 28: Set Up

Upon reaching this point, Airael completely relaxed, a sincere smile spreading across her face as she spoke, “Lord Iiscate, I see your determination, so here’s to a fruitful collaboration between our two races moving forward! I believe that with our combined efforts, we can certainly withstand the Human Race’s invasion.”

Iiscate, pulled from his thoughts, looked at Airael and declared, “The Treemen will await your orders, Your Majesty!”

Airael was momentarily taken aback.

What does that even mean?

Why are you suddenly calling me your boss?

Though she had thought about cooperating with the Treemen, she never intended to take them in as subordinates.

Yet here we are, she wasn’t thinking of making them her underlings, and they voluntarily pledged their loyalty instead.

In a flash, Airael found herself completely confused about the situation.

Observing Airael, Iiscate spoke with a tinge of shame, “Your Majesty, there’s no need to be so surprised; I believe this decision is the best choice for now. While our Treemen possess formidable combat abilities, we are rather inexperienced when it comes to actual warfare.”

Upon hearing this, Airael nodded in understanding.

That’s true.

She had never heard of the Treemen engaging in battles with other races.

It seemed they had only had minor skirmishes with Elves in the past.

And those skirmishes hardly qualified as wars; furthermore, since so much time had passed, the Treemen’s experience in warfare could be considered non-existent.

In comparison, the Elven Race was different.

Although, in recent years, they too had focused on recuperation and had not engaged in large-scale battles, the Elves had dealt with warfare almost daily before that.

Their war experience was vast.

All that knowledge had been preserved.

Longevity granted the Elves ample time and energy to learn those things.

With this realization, Airael couldn’t help but admire Iiscate, the ancient Treeman.

To take such a large gamble on her!

He’s either incredibly wise or exceedingly foolish.

Having pondered all this, Airael promptly said, “Lord Iiscate, thank you for your trust. Please rest assured, I will ensure that the Treemen warriors won’t be sacrificed in vain.”

Hearing Airael’s promise, Iiscate smiled with great satisfaction.

He looked just like a kind, old grandpa.

Airael suddenly shook her head, banishing the image of Iiscate as a kind grandpa from her mind.

That smile of his now seemed a bit creepy to her.

In an instant, a wave of thoughts flooded Airael’s mind.

She suddenly had an inkling that she might have been set up.

Even though the Treemen lived a secluded life and appeared honest, having lived so long, they should have become quite cunning.

What just happened was likely a show put on for her and the surrounding Elves, just to secure her earlier promise.

Just like he said, the Treemen were not adept at warfare.

In the games of strategy and deception, they simply couldn’t compete against the Humans, who had seen countless battles.

This meant in confrontations with the Humans, they could only rely on the Elves.

And with her as the Elven Queen promising to protect them, the chances of the Treemen’s warriors being used as fodder by the Elves would be significantly reduced.

With the unsettling thought that she might’ve truly been played, Airael felt a wave of disappointment wash over her.

Although everything was going well—successfully uniting the Elven Race and the Treemen, and gaining command over the Treemen warriors—Airael couldn’t shake off that nagging feeling lingering in her heart.

Because of that, as she made her way home, her spirits remained quite low.

“Your Majesty, you seem quite unhappy; can you share what troubles you?”

Having observed her for a while, Hela finally couldn’t help but ask.

“Teacher Hela, what kind of Treeman do you think Lord Iiscate is?”

Instead of answering Hela, Airael shot back with a question.

Mainly because she couldn’t openly express her thoughts about what had just transpired.

It was all just her personal conjecture without solid evidence to back it up.

Hela’s brow furrowed in thought, and she responded, “I think Lord Iiscate is… a tolerant and… approachable Treeman.”

Airael was momentarily speechless.

Could it be that all of that was just her imagination?

While Airael contemplated, Hela continued, “Speaking of which, Your Majesty, your previous actions were rather impulsive. You’re the esteemed queen; how can you just bow down to others?”

With Hela bringing it up, Airael immediately puffed up her cheeks, saying, “Teacher Hela, let me ask you this: if two Elves are good friends, and one Elf injures the other for some reason, which Elf should apologize to the injured one to seek forgiveness and mend their friendship?”

“Should!”

Hela replied without much thought.

“Similarly, since our Elven Race has harmed the Treemen, if we want to repair our relationship, I should naturally apologize on behalf of the Elven Race to the Treemen.”

Hela understood but still found it hard to come to terms with that.

Even if an apology was to be made, there was no need for Her Majesty to bend over and bow to a Treeman!

Seeing Hela still struggling with it, Airael pressed on, “Teacher Hela, since I am the queen of our Elven Race, I must set an example. If we’ve harmed others, then we should apologize to seek forgiveness.”

After Airael said this, Hela finally accepted Airael’s previous actions in her heart.

However, Airael knew her internal struggle far too well.

She had to realize that the entirety of her actions might very well be the result of that old fellow’s scheming.

All that talk about being tolerant and approachable was nothing but deceit!

In other words, even if she hadn’t bowed and apologized, the outcome could have potentially been the same.

At this moment, the only thing Airael could do was grit her teeth and swallow her pride.

The pain in her heart was truly indescribable; voicing it might not earn her any sympathy—she might get labeled in all kinds of ways instead.

Sigh—!

In the end, she was still too naïve; those old-timers who had lived long were all clever as foxes.

Ultimately, Airael could only let out a deep sigh and remind herself to be more prudent in her actions in the future, looking deeper into things.

That way, she wouldn’t end up suffering a huge loss.

Though she might have taken a bit of a hit during this visit to the Treemen, at least the result wasn’t all that bad.