Just one day after Ellie departed, the news of her capturing the Elf King spread throughout the Slane Theocracy.
Ellie immediately sent the Elf King back to the Jiao Country Capital of the Slane Theocracy that same day, and in front of the High Priests of the Six Scriptures, she had Sticky Rice Cake spit the Elf King out onto the ground with a 'pah' sound.
Seeing the Elf King in such a miserable state, the High Priests of the Six Scriptures seemed exceptionally pleased. However, amidst their joy, the old men's gazes at the smug Ellie were quite complex.
Initially, Ellie thought that by bringing back the Elf King, she should be treated like a hero, right?
However... what awaited Ellie was... that same gloomy hall again!
Besides, she had already met the High Priests of the Six Scriptures, so what was the point of being so mysterious? And she had even captured the culprit for them, so why were they interrogating her like a prisoner, just like at the beginning?
Completely unaware of what those old geezers wanted, Ellie could only patiently endure for now.
As expected, the first questions from those old geezers were about how Ellie managed to capture the Elf King.
Ellie didn't hide anything and told the truth directly. She felt that hiding it was useless, as Astrology Thousand Miles, who had likely overcome her reclusiveness, might be watching her. Furthermore, Uncle Schoonheim was present when she rescued Ti Du and Tilly, so even without Astrology Thousand Miles, those old geezers would seek confirmation from Shu'enbeimu. Therefore, there was no need to lie.
Although the details were omitted, Ellie explained the general process very clearly: after capturing Ti Du and Tilly, she used them as hostages, knowing they were desired by the Elf King. She then directly invaded the Elf Kingdom Capital, successfully met the Elf King, and captured him.
The subsequent question made it difficult for Ellie to answer: how did she come up with the idea of directly capturing the Elf King? This was indeed a tough question.
Although she could say something like 'a flash of inspiration' when she saw Ti Du and Tilly, those old foxes probably wouldn't believe such a claim, would they?
Moreover, she already had two prior 'offenses.' Although this time the Magic Kingdom wasn't involved, her act of merely capturing the Elf King of the Elf Kingdom, while technically completing the mission...
However, the Elf Kingdom had only lost a perverted king. Their main combat strength remained unaffected, and the mist still persisted.
Furthermore, the Slane Theocracy no longer had a reason to declare war on the Elf Kingdom. Now, it would be their turn to face difficulties. It was well-known that for the Slane Theocracy, the Elf Kingdom had long been considered traitors, and the elves' status in the Slane Theocracy had long been that of slaves.
Didn't the Theocracy originally send the entire Fire Extinguishing Scripture team, and even a 'nuclear bomb' level character like herself, with the intention of annihilating the Elf Kingdom?
But she, this 'nuclear bomb,' had taken it upon herself to capture their leader. Wasn't this causing trouble? It would be very difficult for these old geezers to clean up the mess.
However, they still had to observe the Elf Kingdom's reaction after losing its king. If they clamored for revenge, then the war would continue.
There was no reason for it, but such a situation should not occur. After all, Tilly was a smart person. If the abominable Elf King's deeds were made public, no elf in the Elf Kingdom would want to avenge that pervert.
So, this long-standing war should be considered over, unless the Slane Theocracy shamelessly insisted on completely annihilating the forest elves before stopping.
However, such a scenario was exactly what Ellie wanted to see. At that point, the Magic Kingdom could openly provide assistance to the forest elves, and the old foxes of the Theocracy should also consider this point.
Getting sidetracked, as for how Ellie answered that difficult question from those old foxes, it was naturally by shifting the blame!
Ellie directly placed the blame on Zesshi Zetsumei, immediately revealing the details of Zesshi Zetsumei's duel with her before her departure. She even exaggerated, saying that Zesshi Zetsumei's challenge made her realize that the source of this war must be the Elf King. So, as Zesshi Zetsumei's 'friend,' wouldn't it be perfectly fine to capture the Elf King and let her exact her revenge personally?
Well! Although the actual situation was that Ellie had already read the script and knew, her sophistry seemed to be accepted by those old foxes. After all, it involved Zesshi Zetsumei, and they should know how terrible Zesshi Zetsumei's personality was.
If she found out that Ellie was sent to exterminate the forest elves instead of her, she would naturally cause trouble. They had initially warned Ellie not to let Zesshi Zetsumei know about this.
After Zesshi Zetsumei was implicated, all those old foxes fell silent. After all, besides Ellie, Zesshi Zetsumei was their strongest trump card in their eyes. If this matter wasn't handled well, there might be some negative consequences.
While those old foxes were silent, the door to the dark hall was violently pushed open. Ellie looked back and broke out in a cold sweat.
This was no exaggeration, because the one who pushed open the door was Zesshi Zetsumei herself, the very person Ellie had just blamed. And... she was fully armed, just like that day. This was clearly a prelude to trouble!
In front of these old foxes, I couldn't use those unsavory tricks! There was no way to fight Zesshi Zetsumei like this!
But it seemed like I didn't need to fight Zesshi Zetsumei, did I?
"Where is the Elf King?" Zesshi Zetsumei's first words upon barging in were this. See! Her target was indeed the Elf King, and it had nothing to do with me... I'm relieved!
"I handed him over to the Chief Priest." Ellie immediately sold out those old foxes to avoid further complications, fearing that those old foxes might still want to keep the Elf King alive for some conspiracy.
Looking at the fully armed Zesshi Zetsumei, it should be those old geezers who were scared. After seeing Zesshi Zetsumei turn her gaze towards them, Ellie, as if an unconcerned bystander, quickly stepped aside and whistled, watching the show.
"Hand him over to me!" Zesshi Zetsumei said coldly. After those old geezers remained silent for a long time, finally... someone spoke up.
"Our original intention was also to let you deal with him personally."
Oh? Is that so? Then what was the meaning of interrogating me? Ellie couldn't help but grumble inwardly. Ellie was quite suspicious of whether those old foxes really wanted to keep the Elf King alive to make some trouble. But that scumbag Elf King must die!
Zesshi Zetsumei, having received a response, sneered and left. Ellie also very decisively slipped away with her. Anyway, there was nothing more to say. As long as the Elf King was handed over to Zesshi Zetsumei and the scumbag's death was confirmed, Ellie felt that her mission of coming to the Slane Theocracy for a business trip was basically over.
After all, the Slane Theocracy's internal structure was not like the Empire, where the Blood Emperor's word was law. It was indeed difficult to internally divide a country where religion established political power, at least at this stage, she couldn't achieve it.
Moreover, the main reason was that she no longer wanted to work under the scrutiny of those old foxes. Besides, she had already obtained a lot of intelligence about the Slane Theocracy, and more importantly, her contact with Zesshi Zetsumei was the biggest gain from this undercover mission.
"May I ask why you are so fond of that bastard Elf King?" Ellie followed Zesshi Zetsumei out, and so she deliberately feigned ignorance and asked Zesshi Zetsumei.
"..." Zesshi Zetsumei didn't answer but slowed her pace and glanced at Ellie.
"Well! Everyone has things they can't talk about. Just pretend I didn't ask." Ellie shrugged, indicating that she actually knew the reason completely, and it was precisely because she knew that she had brought the Elf King back.
"He is the person I dislike the most." Zesshi Zetsumei said quietly.
"Is that so? Then who is the second person you dislike?" This answer piqued Ellie's interest. The first most disliked was the Elf King, but who was the second?
"..." Zesshi Zetsumei fell silent again, only stopping and staring blankly at Ellie. After a long while, she finally spoke.
"You."
What? That's not fair! I brought back the person you disliked the most for you.
Oh! Why did I become the second most disliked character?
That makes no sense, does it?
According to Zesshi Zetsumei's previous character setting, didn't she say she wanted to marry someone stronger than her? No matter what creature, as long as they were stronger than her, it would do. I had dueled her and proven I was stronger than her. According to this setting, shouldn't I be the most liked person?
How did I become the second most disliked person? That makes no sense!
"This... I haven't offended you, have I? I even helped you bring back your enemy, so why do you still dislike me?" Ellie asked, feeling depressed.
Originally, the biggest gain from this trip to the Theocracy was to make contact with Zesshi Zetsumei and earn her favor. It should have been that way, but now she was her second most disliked person. What did that mean?
"..." This time, Zesshi Zetsumei didn't answer Ellie again, only giving Ellie a meaningful look for a while, then walked away without looking back.
Uh... Did I do something to annoy her again? It shouldn't be, Ellie stood there, completely bewildered.
Ellie learned from Gelos that the Elf King had been brutally killed by Zesshi Zetsumei, reportedly leaving no corpse. Uh... Zesshi Zetsumei acted too quickly. Ellie had wanted to personally witness how that scumbag was tortured by Zesshi Zetsumei. What a pity.
However, this counts as resolving an incident, right? But Ellie couldn't feel happy. Although that perverted scumbag Elf King was eliminated, wouldn't she become the person Zesshi Zetsumei disliked the most?
This was not good. Her intention in bringing the Elf King back and offering him to Zesshi Zetsumei was to gain her favor.
After all, the Magic Kingdom and the Slane Theocracy would eventually have a war. As the strongest human, gaining Zesshi Zetsumei's favor would naturally be beneficial.
However... the current situation seemed to be counterproductive. Hmm... If it really came to it, she could only kill her later when she met her again as Elizabeth.
Although it was a bit regrettable, after all, that fellow didn't appear much in the original work, but according to her setting, she was bound to enter Ainz's harem eventually, so Ellie also had a tiny bit of goodwill towards her.
But now that she was her most disliked target, there was nothing she could do. If they fought when they met again, she would just have to kill her. Anyway, even facing her fully armed, she wasn't afraid of her at all. And without various restrictions, she could easily play with her until she died.
The strongest combat power on the human side was nothing more than this.
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