Book 3: Chapter 2-1: Double Agent
I shook my head at Raffas words that offered to give up the Fire Foxes and spoke.
Thats no good. Even if we were to offer them up there is absolutely no guarantee of them letting us live in peace.
I said as long as we give them up well be fine! Believe me!
On what basis are you saying this?
Thats..anyways if we offer up the Fire Foxes well be saved.
Raffa argued desperately. However, I already knew he was a traitor actually
Even if provisionally, the Fire Foxes are the citizens of our country Erucy. I will not be selling out our citizens.
Fire Foxes are our comrades!? What are you saying!? This is an Elf Village!
Raffas loud and hateful voice made Kuus shoulders slightly shudder.
I impulsively wanted to grasp her shoulder to help her calm down. However, doing so at this moment would only show a weak point.
I cant believe in this foolish and baseless argument. I even explained before that we cannot win with just Elves. From now on I intend to bring in other races, not just Fire Foxes, depending on the situation. That is the purpose of naming ourselves as Erucy. Raffa, just shut up from now on.
I wont! What do you guys think!? The enemies will be 3,000no more! Even if we fight we cant win. We have no choice but to surrender. Cant you understand that what I say is right? Not only thatif weif we just give the Fire Foxes then!
Raffa desperately turned and looked at everyone trying to find an ally. Yet no one nodded in agreement.
At this moment Roleau opened his mouth.
Raffa, weve been in plenty of hopeless situations. Yet in each of them the Chief has led us past them. I will believe in him and apply myself to become one of the elites.
Roleau have you gone mad?
Plusdo you think I can trust the words of a traitor? Chiefits fine already right?
Yesgo ahead.
At that moment Roleau signaled and some of the vigilante corps appeared and captured Raffa. Raffa looked up with a demonic expression as he glared hatefully at me.
Raffa Im sorry to have been forced to trick you in such a way. Butwe know that you met secretly with Imperial Soldiers and leaked intelligence about Erucy. We have witnesses who saw first-hand so there is no use in making excuses. We only let you go so you could leak unimportant or beneficial info and to root out any other traitors.
The reason I had let Raffa attend this meeting was to see if there were any other people who would work with him. After observing Raffa for the past few days and his current actions in the meeting, there was no need to question our conclusion.
Saying that if you give up the Fire Foxes youll be saved was something the Empire told you isnt it?
Yeah, thats right. But, what I said is the truth. So if we offer them up well be saved. Thats what the Empire told me.
You can stop saying it. I wont be selling out our comrades.
Damn it why!? Its obvious that its better for us! Why cant you understand!?
Raffas desperation and anger echoed in the room.
Raffawhy did you betray us? If you had leaked vital information Erucy could have been directly destroyed. Be they Elves or Fire Foxes, all of us would be dead or slaves.
In the first place we hadnt allowed Raffa to come in contact with vital information even once.
The greatest worries had been about the crossbows and the Fire Fox magic stones that Kuu had donated to Erucy. There was a risk of either of them being stolen, but the crossbows had serial numbers engraved in them. Furthermore those who had them were under strict supervision and had been told that they would be heavily punished if a single one were to be lost. In the case of the ones in the warehouse, they were being monitored 24/7 by elves that we trusted.
For Raffa both things were unobtainable.
For that reason, no matter what he leaked it would only be at the level of how many fighters we had, the performance of the crossbows, and individual combat ability.
Such things wouldve long been discovered by Imperial forces. The only true info they might have obtained was that I had been bluffing when I said there were stronger people than me in the village. These sorts of things had been bait for Raffa to observe his movements so there was no issue.
..I talked to him.the Empires Lurvish guyhe informed me that that was our only path of survival. What Ive done can be considered betrayalbut this was done to save us.
I see, so that was his reasoning. He decided to dishonor himself in an attempt to stop what he saw as a reckless and hopeless battle.
Those thoughts led him to not feel much guilt.
They even said thatif us Elves surrendered theyd return themMy wife and mythat Lurvish bastard said they were still alive. See Cyril? If it was your Lucy whod been taken and you were told the same thingwhat would you DO!? Abandon her!? Can you even do that???
Weve gotten off topic for a while now. After he claimed his betrayal was all for the sake of Elves he suddenly cried about how it couldnt be helped because they had his wife hostage.
Raffa truly wasnt in a proper state of mind.
As for meI would not follow the Empires orders.
You can say anything! Are you that cold of a man to abandon the woman you love??
Nope. Even if I obeyed them theres absolutely no way she would be returned to me. Think about it. Once they got their hands on the Fire Foxes, why would they purposefully repay a puppet who has lost their usefulness? Especially when they were an important source of magic stones and a woman capable of birthing more elves.
Up until now, the only reason they had not kidnapped every single Elven woman was because it was far easier for Elves to conceive children with each other. The efficiency of having an Elf Village was much higher and they could even collect taxes while they were at it.
If they were unable to satisfy their need for elves by having us sacrifice them, they would instead breed their own using our women even if the efficiency was lower.
At this point, I sincerely doubted that Raffas wife was still alive and even if she was there was no way they would let go of one of the few female elves that they had.
Especially when they rarely ever chose women as sacrifices. Those they had chosen were Raffas wife who had been weakened by disease, Lucys weak bodied younger sister, and old elven women. Each and every one of them could not be expected to do manual labor or bear more children. There was no way they would survive or be let free.
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