The Paranoid Elf Queen Turned Me Into Her Sister

Volume 3, Chapter 17~Its Death Is More Terrifying Than Its Life

The gold-haired Elf girl calmly gazed into the silver-haired girl's eyes. These beautiful eyes were like a bright, tranquil night sky, so clean and pure that not a trace of impurity could be found.

“Miss Dylin, it's meaningless for you to ask someone without a name ‘who are you’.” Piece looked at Teresa without any emotional expression, as if she knew her true identity from the moment she saw Dylin.

“Asking a question that I cannot answer, and don't know how to answer, is also the same.”

“However, it's coming soon.” Piece looked profoundly at the sky dyed red with blood. “With the complete decline of the Empire, that day won't be far off.”

“You said the Empire is going to perish?” As one of the currently somewhat influential Light Race countries, no matter how bad this country was, its demise would certainly cause many incidents, especially since the relationship between the Light Race and the Demon Race was still unstable and required the Empire's strength to maintain balance.

“It's just the law of nature. Whether you wish for its demise or not, you cannot stop this process.” Having said that, Piece walked towards the city gate.

Teresa and Yimi exchanged glances.

“You go follow Piece first. I'll be right there.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Whether it's humans or Elves, there's a custom of being buried in the earth for peace.” Teresa looked at the unclaimed corpses inside the smoke-filled city fortress.

“Their relatives also perished in this disaster. No one will claim these homeless corpses. I thought, at least bury them in their hometown so they can rest in peace and not be exposed in the wilderness.”

Hearing this, Yimi gave Teresa a complicated look, then turned and left without speaking.

Just as Teresa was about to get to work, she found a small figure beside her, holding a shovel she didn't know where she got from.

“You?”

“Digging by yourself without tools, who knows how long it'll take.” Yimi handed the shovel to Teresa expressionlessly. “Found it in that storage room.”

“Thanks.”

“I just thought you were too slow. If you couldn't finish in half a day, I'd have to wait too long.”

Although that's what she said, while Teresa worked, Yimi still helped on the side, burying these homeless corpses one by one.

By the time they finished digging and burying, it was already nearing evening. The lingering red in the sky, she didn't know if it was stained by the fierce fire or just the remaining sunset glow.

The two returned to the small wooden house. Piece stood there, her silver hair stained with a few vibrant highlights by the setting sun.

She seemed to have been waiting here for them for a long time.

Seeing Teresa and Yimi arrive, Piece said nothing. Her legs, which had been standing still, began to move, just like a quest NPC who would absolutely not take the next step until the protagonist reached a specific location.

“Hey, was your earlier deduction just a guess?” Following behind Piece, Yimi asked.

“I don't know either, but those words felt like they had been stuck in my chest. When the suspicions and guesses matched up, I just uncontrollably said them all,” Teresa mused for a moment.

This was clearly just her speculation, but to her surprise, her heart felt a strong sense of conviction about this speculation, as if she had witnessed it herself.

While speaking, the sound of the stream grew closer. Teresa looked at Piece, who was walking ahead. The place she was walking was downstream of the stream, which was the location of Corpseblossom.

Yimi frowned. The smell that made her feel unusually uncomfortable was getting closer. With a slightly unpleasant expression, she hid behind Dylin, extremely repulsed and disgusted by that smell.

Teresa felt the same way. Unlike when she was in a human body, in an Elf body, this unpleasant smell was like a layer of ink smeared on her five senses.

By the time they reached the spot where Corpseblossom grew, Yimi had completely shrunk behind Teresa, pinching her little nose. Her twin ponytails swayed like a rattle drum with the shaking of her head. She tugged at Teresa's hem, wanting to leave this place as quickly as possible.

“Can we leave here quickly?” Staying here, Yimi felt that her five senses and intuition were dulled quite a bit, as if covered by a black cloth. The aura of this flower was truly too bizarre.

“The flower, it got bigger?” She had only seen it a few days ago. Teresa had some impression. Compared to last time, Teresa clearly felt that the petals, stem, and stamen of this flower had grown a little larger than before, at least half a circle.

“This flower is the flower of the Empire's demise.”

“When the flower is fully open, the Empire will not be far from its demise,” Piece said profoundly.

Teresa gazed at this purple-black, pus-blood-stained, foul flower. The location where this flower grew was very hidden. Few local people would come downstream. This flower seemed to grow deliberately avoiding human presence, growing on both sides of the riverbank without affecting the flow of the stream.

“Does Miss Piece hope the Empire perishes?”

“A meaningless question.” Piece didn't turn her head. “Whether the Empire perishes or struggles on, it has nothing to do with me. Its existence and demise are merely manifestations of objective laws. Its accumulated problems are too deep to be reversed; it's just not yet terminally ill and on the verge of death.”

This girl was like a passerby, an absolutely neutral observer. She showed neither pity for the people oppressed into demons, nor resentment towards the corrupt Empire. For her, good and evil were merely positions.

“Miss Piece, I remember you saying that everyone living in this world has their own mission. Since you don't even have a name, what is your mission?”

“My mission?” Piece turned her head and looked at Teresa abruptly with those eyes, which were as flawless as crystal yet devoid of luster.

“If you find it inconvenient, just pretend I didn't ask.”

“I am waiting for other pieces.” Before Teresa finished speaking, Piece answered without hesitation.

“Other pieces??” If a person with normal logical thinking heard this, they would definitely think this girl looked pretty, but unfortunately, she had something wrong in her head.

“What are these other pieces? What can you do after waiting for them?”

Facing this question, Piece remained silent. She just kept staring at Teresa without moving her gaze. Only when Teresa felt a bit numb on her scalp did she move her gaze away, and with slightly parted lips, she said, “Be careful.”

Teresa's gaze sharpened. She moved aside, her hair flying up, and an arrow grazed past her shoulder.

Looking at the small hill not far away, the officer riding a tall horse appeared on the hill with his subordinates, grinning at her.

“I knew you guys wouldn't be well-behaved. I specially sent a few people to follow you. Didn't expect to actually find something unexpected.” Saying this, the officer shifted his gaze to Corpseblossom. “This disgusting flower is the product of your conspiracy with the cultists, right??”

“I was wondering why incidents have been happening frequently recently and there were more and more cultists. So you were the ones causing trouble.”

These guys followed them?

A trace of surprise flashed in Teresa's eyes. Logically, if she was being followed, it should be impossible for her not to sense it.

Looking at Corpseblossom, Teresa barely reacted in time. When she entered the downstream area, the foul smell emitted by this flower was too strong. The Elf's perception was also too acute, and her attention was completely drawn to this flower, making her oblivious to the tail following behind.

“Forget it, it doesn't matter. With evidence that you colluded with the cultists, even if you are students from Coleman Academy, don't think you can get yourselves out of this!”

“Go! Take down this white-haired witch and her two accomplices!”

With the officer's command, the well-trained Lancers rode out, forming a pincer formation, surrounding the three of them completely to prevent them from escaping.

“Tsk, twisting facts.” Yimi said coldly in a low voice.

Piece said nothing, ignoring the soldiers surrounding her and eager to act.

“Act! Tie them up.”

Teresa raised her longbow and first shot down the Lancer who attempted to lay hands on Piece with an arrow. She plucked the bowstring, and five arrows appeared on her bowstring.

After recalling those fragmented scenes in her mind, Teresa felt that her proficiency in using Divine Authority had improved further.

“It's Divine Authority!” The officer frowned. His war horse neighed, its hooves entwined with a dark flame. Holding a long spear, it charged towards Teresa. The faint icy flames on the horse's legs made him look like a death knight coming for a life.

Teresa unleashed Divine Appraisal on the officer.

Name: Caroli Budien.

Race: Human

Domain: [Iron Cavalry Domain]

Physical Resistance: 6

Magic Resistance: 3

Alchemy Resistance: 3.5

Divine Authority Resistance: 2

Domain Effect: Damage taken by the mount is halved.

Divine Authority: [Fire-Ravaging Iron Cavalry]

Can apply Fire-Ravaging to the ridden horse, gaining a speed boost and making mounted attacks carry Divine Authority flames.

With the acceleration boost, the sparks on Caroli's spear tip changed from initial flames to a spiral shape, carrying a terrifying oppressive force that tore through the air.

Teresa released the bowstring, and five light arrows shot out, easily deflected by the spiral sparks on Caroli's spear tip.

Teresa then threw Verdant Fragrance onto the ground. The growing sprouts quickly turned into rough thorns and collided with the spiral spear. With bursts of cracking sounds, the thorny bushes were knocked apart.

“Heh, you wet-behind-the-ears Coleman girl, save your flashy Divine Authority for setting off fireworks in the arena.” Caroli mocked. “Do you think you can compare to the Empire's regular army just because you spent a few years in the academy??”

Looking at the charging warhorse, Teresa held the bow in front of her.

Caroli raised his long spear high and exerted all his strength to thrust it towards Teresa, determined to shatter Teresa's domain with this single blow.

However, at this critical moment, Caroli suddenly became distracted, followed by dizziness. He quickly turned his horse around and attacked his own teammate with a 'turning back spear' move.

The soldiers were startled to see their boss's long spear pointed at them. They forgot to dodge, and dozens of soldiers along the way were sent flying and shattered by Caroli, who couldn't stop his charge.

“What's going on?!” Seeing this, Caroli, who had sobered up, looked with a sense of foreboding at Yimi, who was protected by Teresa behind her. The veteran's intuition told him that this girl was causing trouble.

Mental attack, Divine Child??

Caroli narrowed his eyes, put away his playful attitude, and instantly became serious.

“You, ignore that Divine Princess girl. All of you, take down that gold-haired little girl!” He issued orders, sending all the soldiers to capture Yimi.

Having experienced many battles, he knew that once a Divine Child, who was not good at close combat, became a target, the entire team would be affected. Divine Princesses and mages would have to divert their attention to protect the Divine Child from threats, thus tying down the entire team.

As he expected, Teresa was too distracted to protect Yimi.

Caroli shifted his gaze to Corpseblossom behind Piece.

Regardless of whether what that white-haired witch said was true or false, this flower must be destroyed.

Of course, with years of military experience, Caroli didn't think a flower could cause such a big mess, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, he was hoping to gain merit with this strange flower and these few people.

Mounted on his horse, Caroli activated his Divine Authority. Sitting on his sturdy warhorse, he moved as if on flat ground, man and horse united. Pointing his long spear, he launched a charge towards Corpseblossom.

Seeing this, Piece silently moved her body slightly to the side, so that she wouldn't be hit by Caroli.

This witch was quite sensible; she didn't choose to resist to the end.

Caroli scoffed in his heart.

What he didn't know was that Piece, looking at Corpseblossom, muttered to herself, “Every cause has its effect.”

“Perhaps this is fate?”

Teresa was busy dealing with the soldiers surrounding her and had no time to worry about Caroli.

“Swish swish swish!!” Caroli grazed past Corpseblossom. Vines and petals scattered everywhere.

Striking hard with her bow on the neck of a nearby soldier, then following up with a powerful knee strike to the man's vital area, Teresa turned her head just in time to see this scene.

Corpseblossom, was it destroyed by the charge? Just like that??

Teresa looked at Piece with hesitation. She remembered Piece telling her that Corpseblossom was impervious to swords and spears, and even Divine Authority couldn't do anything to it. How could it shatter with just a poke?

“Haha, you products of heresy have been eliminated. What else do you have to say?” Caroli laughed coldly, looking at Piece. However, in response to his mockery, Piece said nothing, only silently closed her eyes and remained silent.

“Not a word to explain? It's alright. Once we reach my military camp, there are plenty of ways to make you say every single word. Hahaha, by then I'll make sure you feel so good you ascend to heaven...” Caroli spoke exuberantly. Piece looked at him calmly, or more accurately, she watched something gradually rising behind him.

“Cough cough cough...” Yimi coughed violently, covering her mouth and nose, slumping into Teresa's arms. At this moment, Teresa's face was even more extremely pale.

Behind this ostentatious Imperial officer, a wisp of eerie purple-black mist rose from the shattered stamen of the broken flower.

This mist was like a gas evaporated from the flower's sap, so thick it seemed like water could drip from it.

“Sir, behind you, behind you!”

“Behind me? What's behind me?” Caroli turned his gaze nonchalantly, then his eyes widened when he saw the poisonous mist coalescing into a skull behind him.

“Before, I lied to you,” Piece suddenly said to Teresa. “Corpseblossom is not unbreakable. On the contrary, it's very fragile.”

“But even if it can be destroyed, no one would ever dare to do so, because...”

“Its death is far more terrifying than its life.”

“Originally, it could have lasted a few more decades,” Piece closed her eyes again.