In This Life, I Will Raise You Well, Your Majesty! - Chapter 71

The Moon on Water (3)

Translated by WookEdited by Wook

 

Aran at the top, and warriors of other native tribes at the bottom.

 

Their situation in the middle was dire.

 

“Well, uh.”

 

Shamir smacked his lips and looked back at Elisha. Elisha was standing indifferently, but there was still no sign of giving up.

For that person… not this time.

 

“Your Majesty.”

 

At Shamir’s call, Elisha turned to look at him.

 

“Didn’t Your Majesty say that you have a place to return to?”

 

“…”

 

“You want to go back somehow, right? Then just wait. I’ll get you back, so hold on, okay?”

 

With a sudden remark, he pushed Elisha’s body out of the slope. Elisha’s body slid off the rock she was standing on and floated into the air.

 

“Uh!”

 

“O-over there! Get her! Get her!”

 

Screams poured from above and below.

The moment everyone’s eyes turned to Elisha, Shamir started running toward the side of the slope, not up and down the slope.

 

They took their eyes only for a brief moment, but he was already disappearing into the distance.

 

“Get her! Right now!”

 

After Aran shouted out loud, he stomped on the rock and stepped down, and took a big leap from one point. Despite his huge body, he was agile, and his every move was intimidating.

 

He grabbed Elisha’s arm and pulled her back towards him just before she plummeted to the ground. Aran’s body rotated in the air and changed its position with Elisha.

But just before they fell to the ground, Elisha turned her body, grabbed Aran’s arms,  and went inside. Naturally, it became Elisha who headed to the ground.

 

“Do you want to die?!”

 

Aran shouted, but the sound was quickly overshadowed by something else.

 

Paaang!

 

Before Elisha hit the floor, she was buried in a wide stream of water that caused her to soar. Next to her, Aran checked the stream surrounding him with wide eyes. He must have seen it before when she shot the arrow, but seeing it at first glance and checking it so closely seems to have a different feeling.

 

As Elisha stirred her fingertips, the stream of water subsided once, and their bodies fell to the ground.

Of course, it was not dangerous at all because the height was low.

 

Elisha stood on the ground on her own and looked at the tribesmen of the native tribes surrounding her. Those who trembled every time her gaze touched excitedly repeated the words “incarnation of Sionil” over and over again.

 

They were ready to kneel down immediately, but the mood did not last. Aran came up behind Elisha and grabbed her slender neck with one hand.

 

“Chieftain Aran, what the…!”

 

The people of the other tribes, who were staring at her, shouted in surprise, but Elisha, the real party involved, was indifferent without a single expression on her face.

Aran muttered like a self-talk.

 

“I didn’t mean to make you greet them so intensely. The cowards will either kneel down or run with their tails tucked between their legs, while the puppets will be screaming with their spirits high. Did you do that on purpose? Showing off your energy just in time? Shamir said your mana gets a little tangled when you fight against the monsters and you shouldn’t overdo it for a while. Was this all planned?”

 

Ah, was that what he said?

 

If someone doubted that the opponent was not using their strength properly even though they didn’t give up their escape, they would surely wonder if they were giving an excuse by revealing their weakness. It was a very good excuse.

 

However.

 

“I don’t know how reliable the words of that traitor are now.”

 

As he sneered, Aran gently pressed his thumb against Elisha’s prominent neck bone. The rest of his fingers also gained strength in turn. One could see her slender neck turning red and blue in real time.

 

“Isn’t that a problem?”

 

The chieftains and warriors of other tribes frowned, but did not rush to meddle. It was natural for each tribe’s possessions to belong to the chieftain.

If Aran became the grand chief through the conference, and took the incarnation of Sionil as the centerpiece of the desert tribes, she would be the mother of all tribes, so there would be some room for involvement.

 

Aran was satisfied with the atmosphere formed as he led. Until the warriors who pursued Shamir returned.

 

“I’m sorry, Chieftain.”

 

“He was so fast that we couldn’t keep up.”

 

Aran’s eyebrows twitched, but he didn’t press the clan warriors anymore while everyone was watching.

Aran threw Elisha towards them. In the haste, the warriors tried to pick her up, but Elisha stood in balance on her own.

That upright will was very offensive to Aran.

 

“I have a lot to teach you.”

 

Aran muttered and waved his hand.

 

“Take her. Shamir may come again, so don’t relax.”

 

“Yes, chieftain!”

 

After the warriors answered loudly, they surrounded Elisha and moved around the basin, moving up the ramp that was made gently by cutting rocks and covering them with soil. Elisha’s hair, which was swaying, glistened in the moonlight.

 

“Come to think of it, that hair color…”

 

At that time, one of the native chiefs murmured.

From the sudden betrayal and escape of Shamir, who was famous for being the closest aide to Chieftain Aran and driven all kinds of waves even within the desert tribes, to the woman who appeared with tremendous intensity.

 

They didn’t think of it when they just arrived, but the silver hair and sky blue eyes were very rare. And the woman had both of them.

 

Immediately, the person who was currently the most-talked on the continent came to everyone’s mind. When the ability to use water was added to that, the reality that could not be subtracted emerged.

 

“…Could it be…”

 

“No way.”

 

Still, Aran put a wedge on those who tried to deny it somehow.

 

“Thank you all for coming with so much in the words of one important thing. Thanks to you, we were able to protect the incarnation of Sionil. Doesn’t heaven seem to help our native tribes to become one?”

 

No one answered. None of them denied it. Everyone was already an accomplice.

 

***

 

Elisha was not confined to the former prison, but in a fairly large tent surrounded by warriors. After a while, it was quite noisy as people who were outside the basin also came inside.

 

Darkness subsided under the light. The quiet time when the noise subsided stayed for a while and then disappeared.

As the air gradually warmed from the scorching sun, the entrance to the tent opened and tall women with dark brown skin typical of a desert tribe rushed in with a bunch of things in their hands.

 

A quick glance showed that the women were not wearing any jewelry or anything like that. It seemed that it was Elisha who should be tense, but the women approached Elisha with a lot of caution.

 

When a woman touched the clothes she was wearing, Elisha frowned and stayed still. Tattered dirty clothes came off.

The women who wiped the exposed white skin with a cloth moistened with water, dressed Elisha in white clothes. Then a woman tried to remove the pendant from Elisha’s neck.

 

Slap!

 

The first time Elisha reacted greatly, the women stiffened in amazement. However, Elisha did not do more than that.

They hesitated to approach her, but she stayed still. The women were not warriors, and they did not want to offend the opponent, so they just let go of the pendant.

 

The women were rather clumsy, so it took a long time compared to Elisha’s usual attendants back in the palace. A woman glanced at Elisha in particular, but she did not speak to her.

 

When it was all over, the women took everything they had brought in, including the clothes that Elisha had taken off, and disappeared. As she was left alone, Elisha looked down at the ornaments they filled her with.

 

They were quite heavy, but there were no gems embedded in them. Jewelry made of only gold and silver was of no use to Elisha.

Trying to take advantage of the chaos of the conference seemed to have become useless at this time.

 

“Hmm.”

 

It is actually rare for things to work out the way one wants. Usually, when they don’t, there must be a series of processes to find a better way.

 

So the real problem isn’t how things work out. In some cases, one cannot even untie the knot because it is tied too tightly.

 

Elisha walked over to the table and chair in the corner of the open tent and sat down. There were food and drinks on the table, but all the glasses and plates were made of wood just in case.

 

At any other time, she would not neglect to eat or drink because it would help her body, but not today. Since there was a change in the event and she was included in them, it was right to be careful.

 

As Elisha took her eyes off them, the entrance to the tent opened. She wondered if light would leak in, but a darker darkness casted over her.

A man of great stature in the shadow staggered in and approached Elisha. He glanced at Elisha, who had finished dressing up, from top to bottom, then checked the table top.

 

“What? You can’t eat them because you’re such a precious person?”

 

While in prison, Elisha ate whatever was given to her, but it didn’t seem like that person would be interested in that.

When there was no answer from Elisha, Aran’s black eyes shone.

 

“I should teach you one thing first.”

 

Aran lifted the wooden goblet on the table with one hand and reached out his other hand to her. He gripped Elisha’s chin with his right hand and, using his thumb and third fingers, squeezed both of her jaws inward, forcing her to open her mouth.

Then he poured the water from the goblet into her gaping mouth. Elisha shut her throat without averting her eyes from Aran’s, letting all the water spill out of her mouth.

 

Her clothes were wet, but she didn’t care.

 

“Ha!”

 

Aran snorted and gave his hands even more strength. Elisha forcibly bit the inside of her cheek with her molars and bled.

 

“Cough!”

 

Blood was vomited, and the water pouring out was mixed with red.

 

Pagakk!

The empty wooden goblet split in Aran’s left hand. His other hand was still holding Elisha’s face.

 

“Desert women are obedient and quick to give up. This is a place where you can’t survive without that. You will soon be the same. From now on, you will have to live as a desert woman.”

 

As he was about to shout out of the tent to bring water and a change of clothes for the incarnation of Sionil, he heard the voice of a tribal warrior.

 

“Chieftain, Chieftain Bahum is looking for you.”

 

Aran looked down at Elisha and slapped her chin hard. Elisha almost fell off from the chair, but she quickly grabbed the edge of the table and pulled herself up.

 

“Let’s see how long you can do that.”

 

  

As he left, Elisha wiped her bloody lips with the back of her hand.

 

“See what?”

 

Afterward, Elisha checked if her head was still well attached to the neck. Elisha muttered and spread her palms. Undine, with her ponytail bouncing, sat in the concave part of her palm and looked up at her.

 

“What should we do now?”

 

Presuming the worst situation, the strength that she had saved was about to run out due to this escape. The fact that she told Rohan not to worry because she was a precious hostage was also insignificant because she was still exposed to danger.

 

Elisha had only one chance left to change the plate that was pushed in front of her. If the former aim was simply to survive, the difference was that there was no going back now.

 

One of the ways was to cause Undine to run wild. She didn’t know how far the range would be, but it would be enough to completely turn the table and start anew. However, Elisha would not be on the starting line.

 

“Because once the runaway starts, it can’t be stopped on its own.”

 

Either she couldn’t handle the aftermath of the runaway, or she would have no choice but to get caught up in the runaway she had caused.

Dying was always an option at any given time, but Elisha always chose to survive even if it was more difficult, painful, and disastrous.

 

So this time too. She didn’t stand up to die. She was just waiting to increase her chances of surviving even a little.

Shamir was one of them. The most useful card at the moment. She treated him as a non-essential variable as it was not held in her own hand, but that was okay.

 

Regardless of Shamir’s complete escape or return, the desert tribes prepared and cared for him, and that alone created a room for Elisha.

 

Also, when she wiped the wound on the inside of her cheek with her tongue, the women from earlier came back and changed Elisha’s clothes.

And in the evening, the conference began.