Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

"Humans, why do you think people dislike pain and suffering?" Erenduill asked as he raised his wine glass slightly, prompting his butler to fill the glass with rosey red wine.

"What's there to like about them?" I lifted my brow, "isn't that a basic survival instinct? Pain and suffering will lead to death, and as far as I know, no species wants to perish."

I shrugged. I was not in the mood for a debate or a lecture, so I just answered him as textbook-ish as possible, but now my answer caused a few uninvited thoughts to pop up in my mind. The monsters I had killed while training my stats were also a 'species that didn't want to perish'.

"Exactly. It is as you said," Erenduill smirked, "but what if we could erase those fear? What if, instead of death, there was life and joy waiting at the end of our suffering?"

"That's also a common occurrence. You work, therefore you suffer, but money awaits you, therefore you'll be happy." I impatiently answered.

"Correct again. Sometimes, pain needs to come before joy. And likewise, destruction needs to come before resurrection." He grinned from ear to ear.

"...Are you implying that you're happy humans pillaged your village? Wow." I winced.

"Initially, I wasn't. I was shocked, sad, in denial, even," he chuckled lightly while swirling his wine glass on the table, "but now, I'm happy."

I looked at Jeanne and general Emilio with a 'what-the-heck' expression on my face, which they reciprocated.

"You're making a face as if I was a ghost, haha!" Erenduill laughed.

"Hmm. You're probably worse." I replied snarkily, since I didn't know how else to respond.

"That's up for debate. Look around you." He tilted his head slightly as his gaze went around the room.

I followed his gaze, and saw the employees of this castle bustling about, busy preparing our banquet. Elves of all heights, genders, and ages were all conversing with one another, even in the presence of their King, and us, his guests.

"What do you see?" He asked.

"I'm not sure I follow..." I frowned and tried to look around some more, but everywhere I look, nothing of importance was there, just suspiciously friendly elves when they were supposed to be a strict, hierarchy-focused race. Perhaps our info was outdated?

"I see happy people," the elf king answered, breathing in the smell of his red wine before finally taking one small sip, "do you understand now?"

"So you're saying that you guys are happier than before the pillaging." General Emilio answered instead, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Absolutely!" Erenduill exclaimed while laughing, "that's why I'm genuinely thankful for you humans!"

"Did you hate your father?" General Emilio asked.

"No, I loved my father. He was my king, and so I loved to serve him," the man with the luxurious yellow hair answered, "but as great as he was, he failed to make a difficult decision."

I said nothing and waited for him to continue speaking. So he loved his father as a citizen loved his king? Not as a family?

"Speaking of my father, when I was little, father gave me 3 jars of pure nectar as a birthday present," he started telling, "I loved them. And so did my friends."

"Uh, good for you?" I awkwardly said. Weird of him to reminiscent about his past now, of all times.

"Well, they asked me to share my pure nectar with them, but I only had 3 jars, while there were 10 of them." Erenduill smiled ever so calmly, but somehow, that sent chills down my spine.

"Just get some smaller containers. Don't overcomplicate matters." I replied.

"That's exactly what my father told me. That's why he died, he wasn't fit to be a king." He grinned.

"Whoa, whoa. How did we go from friendly nectar sharing to dying?" I shuddered.

"My father didn't get it. It wasn't the nectar that I should divide. It was my friends that I had to cut down." He explained using hand gestures, as if teaching a group of children.

I gulped, and waited for him to continue his story.

"Do you understand now? We elves thrive alongside nature, but as a result, we also perish with nature," he said, "and yet, nature never showed any signs of getting better. Days became months, and months became years, but never did I see nature winning and thriving."

His explanation was actually kinda true. Even in my era, nature had been declining rapidly, ruined by none other than us. Even though I was sure that most of us understood that we needed nature by our side to survive, and to let other species survive, but I guess a lot of us just thought something along the lines of 'that won't affect me, that will affect someone I don't know in the far future', and turned a blind eye.

"That's why I quickly came to a simple conclusion." Erenduill smirked, and my body tensed up when I saw his eyes glinted with a mix of malice and happiness.

"Kill the elves! Reduce their number, our number. So that the few of us who survive can truly bask in nature's gift without having to scrape by." He raised his wine glass, face filled with joy.

I shot a glance at Firiell, who watched her mom's brother with a horrified expression on her face.

"And how convenient it was, that you humans came at the right time to kill my father, alongside with my sister and our kin! Now that I'm the king, my ideology won't be shunned anymore," the corner of his lips perked up, and so did his eyes, "now my ideology is the rule. I am the rule."

"Stop with your nonsense," I interjected, "don't talk about your deceased sister like that in front of her child."

"Oh, my sister?" He stopped to think for a while, "ah, I remember her, of course. A pity that she died. She would've been perfect as my advisor."

I looked around, and strangely, none of the elves batted an eyelash. This dude was talking about committing homicide on them, his own people, and yet they were just like 'understandable, have a great day'?

Wow, so this was what Elena meant by hierarchy-focused. Nothing else mattered once the King willed something, huh. Even his family were just 'royals' in his eyes. Spooky.

"Look around you once again, humans! Have you finally understood?" Erenduill laughed, "we are happy. We could eat, laugh, be safe, and sleep in peace without worrying about how we will eat tomorrow. Do you still think my idea is crazy? You can't deny that my people's lives are much better now."

"Hence, the end justifies the means, huh?" I asked.

"Exactly. And that's partially why I brought you guys here. Let's have a mutually beneficial deal, shall we?" He motioned his finger, and his butler took out a scroll of paper and opened it, revealing a beautifully painted elf who looked exactly like him, but with a much more childlike joy on his face.

"Isn't that your brother we met earlier? The one going on and on about killing humans?" I asked.

"Yes. It's good that you've met him, so we can skip the introductions," Erenduill smiled and took a sip out of his wine glass, "I want you to help me control him."

"Control? How?"

"Please kill my baby brother and bring his crest to me." Erenduill stated with a smile on his face, as if this matter was just another day at the office.

"Scandalous," I scoffed, "why don't you just do it yourself if you're the king? You're strong enough to handle your jittery baby brother."

"No, a crest bearer can't kill or injure another crest bearer," he waved his finger, "that's probably intended to keep the peace within the royal family. But in reality, that only birthed more convoluted ways to kill each other, like poisoning, starving, or directed suicide. How ironic."

"Then, you should do that instead of asking us. I bet you don't see anything wrong with those methods." I replied. The way he explained it to me, with his distant gaze, made it seem as if he had witnessed them all, or perhaps experienced some of them, even.

"Even though he's not the smartest, he's still my baby brother." Erenduill smiled and closed his eyes.

What? Now he cared for his brother?

"We received the same training for years since we were children. We're strong. He won't be easily killed by such means, nor will my underlings be able to stand against him." He grinned, but I could see veins popping up on his clenched fists.

Ah, so he didn't care, after all.

"That's why I figured asking you would be the most cost-effective," he clapped his hands together, "I would like to avoid more casualties on our side, if possible. I like this balance."

"And what can you offer us in exchange?" General Emilio suddenly spoke up.

"A throne. That's why you came here, am I wrong?" The elf king replied with a sickly sweet smile.

"Why would you give up your throne for this?" I crossed my arms in front of my chest. This development was way too suspicious. I mean, why would he pick us, of all people?

"Who said I'm offering mine? I would never step down as a king for as long as I'm capable. I will only step down if someday I became unfit to be one." He laughed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Then whose throne?" General Emilio inquired with a frown.

Man, this whole political shebang was making my head spin. We hadn't even sorted out the problem with Firiell's parents and the pillaging done by other humans, and yet, new events just kept unfolding even before we uncovered the mysteries at hand.

"I will offer you the minotaur's throne." Erenduill said with a grin on his face.