Chapter 146 – Bullying Honest People

“What did you say? The elves agreed to give us a Seed of Nature???”

On the same night the elven council made the decision to give the demons a Seed of Nature, Alice received a call from Heris reporting to her about the elves' decision.
However, the information Heris conveyed was obviously very different from what Alice expected.

Originally, Alice thought that with the enmity the elves held toward the demons, there was no way the elves would agree to the demons' demand for a Seed of Nature.
Meanwhile, the demon army could surround the Elven Forest without attracting anyone's suspicion so long as the elves refused to hand over the Seed of Nature.
Alice could also utilize this opportunity to spend a few more days in the elven village and learn all of the elves' unique taboos.

Afterward, all she needed to do to resolve this conflict between the demons and elves was to have the “Demon King” take action and publicly express that she was the one seeking to acquire a Seed of Nature.
In that case, the “Demon King” would become the focus of this conflict.
While the demons would still end up attracting some hatred from the elves, the “Demon King” would be shouldering the brunt of the elves' hatred.

But… What Alice did not expect was for the elves to willingly hand over a Seed of Nature… What was up with this situation?

“We're not sure about this situation, either.
We, too, thought that the elves would refuse our demands initially.”

Heris was also confused by this situation.
She knew that the elves were a stubborn bunch.
Moreover, due to the history between the elves and the demons, the elves had a very terrible opinion of the demons.
So, logically, the elves should have outright refused the demons' absurd demand for a Seed of Nature.

However, while the elven patriarch had indeed refused to cooperate initially, after Heris gave him a cursory warning, the other party quickly wimped out.
After holding a meeting for around half an hour, the elven patriarch had responded to Heris, saying that the elves were willing to give a Seed of Nature to the demons.

Honestly, even Flaman and the other Heavenly Kings were dumbfounded by this outcome, let alone Heris and Alice.
They even suspected that the elven patriarch and elders might have been hit with some kind of curse that lowered their intelligence.

This is…difficult…

Alice, who currently stood in a remote grove, scratched her head.
Because it was already late at night, the disciplined elves had mostly returned to their homes already.
So, no other people were present in this part of the forest.
It was also for this reason that Alice had chosen to answer Heris's call here.

Although we can forcibly send the army still, doing so will unnecessarily create a bad image for the demons.
The elves' hatred for the demons will also worsen.
Moreover, the elves might also realize that the demons might only be using the Seed of Nature as a cover for a greater purpose.

Although it was unlikely that the elves would figure out the demons were only surrounding the Elven Forest to prolong the March Academy's field trip, it would still create the misunderstanding that the demons might be plotting a grand scheme.
This, in turn, would also worsen the demons' image and create unnecessary fear.

After pondering for a moment, Alice asked Heris through the phone, “Did you state the quantity when you were asking for the Seed of Nature?”

“Huh?” Heris was momentarily stunned when she heard Alice's words.
Then, after pondering for a moment, she answered, “I didn't.
The Seed of Nature's importance to the elves goes without saying, so even if they were to give it away, they would only give one away.
There has never been a precedent where the elves have given multiple Seeds of Nature to one particular country, so I didn't specify the quantity.
But they should be giving us one seed only.”

“That settles it, then.” Alice nodded despite Heris not being able to see her actions.
“Tell the elven patriarch that the demons have received his sincerity and that you'll be sending people to retrieve four Seeds of Nature from the elves tomorrow.”

Heris never thought that someone could be so shameless.
However, after thinking about it, Alice was going to become the Demon King.
Meanwhile, none of the past Demon Kings were good people.
Moreover, compared to the heinous actions of the past Demon Kings, Alice's shameless action was insignificant.
“I understand… But what if they really decide to give us four seeds?”

“Don't worry.
That won't be possible,” Alice said, chuckling.
Outsiders might not know how many Seeds of Nature the elves currently had, but Alice had a loli insider revealing all of the elves' secrets to her.
So, she knew that the elves only had three Seeds of Nature right now.
The elves couldn't hand over four seeds even if they wanted.

Of course, if the elves had a fourth Seed of Nature hidden and decided to hand it over as well, Alice had no choice but to admit defeat and figure out another way to learn the elves' taboos in the future.

It's a pity the power armor is too clunky.
Otherwise, I could've just shown up in it and asked to read the elves' taboos directly.

After hanging up the call, Alice touched the pendant on her neck and sighed.
Although the power armor could help her disguise as the Hero, it could, at most, let her cast taboos while standing in place.
So long as she interacted with others at a close distance, others would easily notice the stiffness of the power armor's movements and grow suspicious.

Although Alice felt a little guilty for messing with the elves like this, the elves wouldn't suffer any actual losses at the end of it all.
After all, once the “Hero” and the “Demon King” intervened, this conflict would end with the demons leaving empty-handed.

If the elves failed to notice anything strange, they might even thank her for “saving” them.

After putting her phone away, Alice decided to return to her room.
However, before leaving, she pulled out a pair of black panties from her pocket and held it in her right hand.
Then, using the mana the panties provided, she cast Mind Search.

Mind Search was a simple spell she heard recently learned in school.
When cast, the spell would scan for all living creatures within a specific area, the search radius dependant on the user's Mana and Mind stats.
Alice had also used this spell on this deserted grove before answering Heris's call.

Meanwhile, with her significantly boosted Mana and Mind stats, Alice could effortlessly envelop the entire Elven Forest with her Mind Search, let alone a small part of it.
She could even see the Milu Rabbit burrows underground.

However, unlike when she first visited this deserted grove, Alice received a different result when she used Mind Search this time.