This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 285 - 265: The Orderly Inheritance of Silvermoon Tribunal

Chapter 285: Chapter 265: The Orderly Inheritance of Silvermoon Tribunal

When speaking of elves, one generally refers to the High Elves of the Silvermoon Tribunal and some Wood Elves scattered across various regions. The Drow Elves are in essence a branch of the Elf Tribe, but they are mortal enemies with the other elves.

The coming-of-age ceremony for female Drow Elves typically involves coming to the surface to kidnap an elf and bring them back to Gloomyland to perform a blood sacrifice for the Rose Spider Queen.

Generally, Drow Elves who can offer an elf as a sacrifice will receive a blessing from the Rose Spider Queen.

However, as elves became harder to capture, the Drow began to sacrifice their own people. Male Drow were often used as offerings to the Rose Spider Queen, and while such acts were unlikely to be recognized by the deities, they were done merely to prevent the Rose Spider Queen from inflicting punishment.

Over the years, Drow Elves have slain countless elves, creating a blood feud between them that is too dense to dissolve.

Interestingly, the Rose Spider Queen is actually among the Elven Gods and holds a very noble status.

The ex-husband of the Rose Spider Queen is none other than the Elf King, Corellon Larethian.

Corellon Larethian is said to be the most perfect elf, and any mortal who saw his true face would be irresistibly in love with him. His beauty, transcending gender and race, is leagues beyond Katherine’s allure.

He is also a formidable warrior, a powerful mage, as well as a philosopher, artist, musician... In short, many of the virtues and talents of the Elf Tribe are derived from this Elven King.

There’s an unverified claim that Corellon Larethian might be the strongest deity beneath Aeo. Of course, mages have differing opinions, believing that the Magic Goddess is the invincible deity beneath Aeo.

Regardless of whether this claim is accurate, it serves to illustrate the formidable prowess of the Elven King. Add to that the vast number of Elven Gods, Corellon Larethian can be considered one of those beings with the highest authority and power among the deities.

Therefore, when Amberser read in a book that the Rose Spider Queen’s ex-husband was the Elven King, he was extremely perplexed.

She divorced such a husband? How high could the Rose Spider Queen’s demands be?

Later, it was discovered that the Rose Spider Queen turned against her husband in a bid to seize his powers.

The title of being the wife of the Elven King was clearly not enough to satisfy Rose’s desires; she wanted more, so she gathered many evil gods and launched a rebellion.

This divine war was filled with twists and turns, but ultimately ended in the Rose Spider Queen’s defeat.

As punishment, Rose was transformed by the Elven King into a half-spider, half-human form. The Drow Elves, once part of the elves, also fell from grace and became the subterranean elves known today, with a culture marked by malevolence, brutality, and female supremacy.

Due to the Rose Spider Queen’s hatred for the Elven King, the Drow Elves and the surface elves became sworn enemies.

Tristan is a Drow Elf of Legendary Rank, who must have sacrificed many members of the Elf Tribe to gain favor with the Rose Spider Queen, receiving powerful strength and blessings from four goddesses.

Tristan must be guilty of heinous deeds—delivering her to the Silvermoon Tribunal might even earn a substantial bounty.

If one cannot create undead, then one must recycle waste; one cannot afford total losses.

Amberser wrote a letter to Katherine and mailed it at the post station in Dew City.

Dows like the Necromancy Codex that allow unrestricted communication over vast distances are rare; even the Elf Tribe might not have such long-range communication devices, and international communication usually relies on mailing.

Luckily, with teleportation circles, the letter should reach its destination within a day.

But this special express service comes at a steep price— just to send the letter, Amberser spent over a thousand Gold Coins.

It won’t take long to reach the Silvermoon Tribunal, but the Elven Kingdom has long since closed its borders, so all correspondence must undergo strict scrutiny before being allowed into the country.

Due to this delay, several days passed before Katherine received Amberser’s letter.

At first, Katherine was quite pleased; the lich remembered her after so long. But upon opening the letter, she saw that Amberser was as direct as ever, without a trace of courtesy.

The letter stated that the Drow Matron had been killed by him, and he inquired whether the Silvermoon Tribunal was interested in settling the blood debts of the Drow Elves, then subtly hinted at the matter of the bounty.

Lastly, he brought up Arthur Laine, asking when the Elven King might come to "verify his identity."

After reading the entire letter, not a single word of greeting was to be found.

Katherine was nearly fuming; that lich truly didn’t worry about her at all.

However, Katherine was only angry for a little while, after all, what Amberser said were important matters.

The Drow Elf is an unforgettable stain for the Elf Tribe, and also their greatest source of pain. A Legendary Drow Elf is definitely a criminal listed on the Silvermoon Tribunal’s must-kill list.

This time Amberser really did a great favor; even the Silvermoon Tribunal owes him a favor.

Therefore, Katherine hurriedly took the letter to find the Elven King... Strictly speaking, it should be the former former Elven King.

After the last batch of magic-addicted elves at the Silvermoon Tribunal accepted the seal, Katherine announced her crimes to the Elf Tribe, serving as a final explanation for her abdication as the Elf Queen.

It was her foolishness and arrogance that led the Elf Tribe to the brink of extinction and caused severe losses to them.

Therefore, Katherine took the blame to resign, and accepted the collective trial of all elves.

The verdict came out quickly; the Elf Tribe decided to forgive her.

This was not because the Elf Tribe was soft-hearted; who could bear to inflict punishment while looking at Katherine’s face?

Moreover, she had admitted her mistake.

Thus, the former former Elven King, Hildas Tera, had no choice but to issue a decree in his own name. Because of Katherine’s mistakes, all her honors and treatments would be stripped, which meant — demotion to commoner.

This was already the severest punishment; any harsher, and he feared many elves would rebel.

Even with this punishment, many elves thought it was too harsh, considering Katherine’s intentions were good, and she had shared her power with the Elf Tribe selflessly, not knowing such sharing could bring side effects.

The new Elven King, Aldalian Tael, was among them, and he even planned to lift this punishment for Katherine right after assuming office.

Then this new Elven King suffered a beating from his grandfather, done by none other than Hildas Tera; the new Elven King was his own grandson.

The Elf Tribe didn’t have a hereditary monarchy; typically they would select from legends within the kingdom, and all elves would vote together to choose the next king.

Katherine’s election, of course, passed unanimously, with her competitors even choosing to campaign for her.

Aldalian Tael was that competitor back then. Upon learning that Katherine was running for Elven Queen, he immediately started touring to speak, on the theme of "Why Katherine Should Be the Next Elf Queen."

It could be said that, in the whole Silvermoon Tribunal, this new Elven King was Katherine’s most ardent fan.

When Katherine resigned, Aldalian immediately chose to run for the election, using every possible method to take over the kingship from her. Ultimately, Aldalian won by a significant margin.

This wasn’t just because Aldalian’s grandfather was once the Elven King and had made tremendous contributions to the Silvermoon Tribunal, but also because Aldalian was highly capable in his own right.

At a young age he rose to Legendary, and during Katherine’s reign, Aldalian was her right-hand man, akin to the King’s Hand, handling the kingdom’s affairs extremely well. He even managed to increase the birthrate of the generally reproduction-averse Elf Tribe significantly, a feat enough to secure his place in history.

Aldalian’s succession was regarded as the will of the people, and even though his grandfather cast a dissenting vote, in the end, he could only accept the outcome.

Who would have thought that Aldalian would attempt to overturn his own decision as soon as he ascended the throne, prompting the elderly elf with white hair to cast aside his political status and take his grandson home for a severe thrashing.

Poor Aldalian, who was himself a Legendary Ranger, didn’t even dare to dodge and could only suffer the beating until swollen and bruised.

In the end, the elderly elf used his seniority to quash that nonsensical order but still couldn’t prevent Aldalian from lavishing gifts on Katherine as if to return her former queenly status.

Luckily, Katherine was aware of her faults and never accepted these gifts, living secluded like a ordinary elf in a modest house outside the royal city. Of course, it was unthinkable to let Katherine actually live in the commoner’s area, as that would throw the whole region into chaos.

Therefore, it was still quite easy for Katherine to enter the royal city.

With a simple notification, Katherine arrived in the royal city and met the new Elven King.

Aldalian appeared to be a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth, with the typical looks of the Elf Tribe: handsome and with an elegant demeanor.

There were two white-haired old men beside Aldalian, one of whom was naturally Aldalian’s grandfather, the former former Elven King, and the other was an old man in a platinum robe.

The roses and scales embroidered on that robe told Katherine that this man must be James Watson, the Supreme Decree of the Laine Empire.