Chapter 633 - Concubine and Rumors

Chapter 633: Concubine and Rumors
Translator: 
imperfectluck 
 Editor: 
Kurisu

The higher-ups in the Moonwheel Capital probably felt quite complex emotions right now. The Northlands Elven Empire’s revival and the return of the Gold Elf Empress had all likely been a direct slap in the face to them.
The Moonwheel Capital elves had originally wanted to restore the Elven Empire to glory. They would have completed the revival of the empire, and could die in glorious battle this way. However, they were then informed that they weren’t the proper Elven Empire… this face-slapping was rather severe.

I’m going to sacrifice myself for the sake of the Elven Empire! My sacrifice will be worthwhile and recorded in the elves’ history to encourage future descendants… What? I’ve been exiled by the Elven Empire? And I’m considered a traitor?

If it wasn’t for the urgent crisis right now, Moon Elf Empress Afina could probably be called the most pitiful person of the year. She would likely become a laughingstock for quite a long time to come.
Afina had just happened to establish her own Elven Empire and proclaim herself the Elven Empress right when Gold Elf Empress Harloys appeared with the three Gold Elf royalty God Equipment pieces. Harloys also had the support of all four Superior Elf species, and the Northlands Elven Empire had a far more proper status than Afina’s… Afina had declared herself to be Elven Empress, but it turned out that the rightful Gold Elf inheritor was still alive, so claiming to be the Elven Empress had become nothing more than a joke.
Like all ancient species, the elves highly valued proper status and traditions. The Superior Elves who learned the truth all had their belief in the Moonwheel Capital Elven Empire severely shaken, not to mention the ordinary elves. Right now, even if the moon elves survived the demon wave calamity, it was likely that their Elven Empire dream would be shattered. Naturally, the leading moon elves were feeling quite awkward.
As for why the moon elves were felling complex emotions rather than simple fear or loathing? That was because the first action the Northlands Elven Empire took after its establishment was to offer to save
their own people
.
It was quite evident what this offer truly meant. If you accepted the offer to come help save you, you would be an elf of the Northlands Elven Empire rather than belonging to some other country or people.
Accepting the offer of assistance would be the equivalent of recognizing the Northlands Elven Empire. However, not accepting the offer…
It seemed like nobody would be so foolish not to grab this lifesaving opportunity in this time of dire crisis.
And so, the elves were in inner turmoil, unsure of what to do. However, the upcoming demon wave wouldn’t give them any time to be indecisive.
Tremendous amounts of the aura of Chaos were pouring through the dimensional cracks. The forest which had been full of wild creatures of nature suddenly became the elves’ trouble. The wild beasts were unable to resist against the corrosion of Chaos, and transformed into Chaos demonic beasts in large numbers. All the villages near the Moonwheel Capital had urgently requested assistance. These dangerous demonic beasts desired to taste flesh and blood.
There was no such thing as dimensional stability anymore. Reports were constantly pouring in about demons appearing at some location. In fact, ever since the clouds covered the skies, the Moonwheel Capital had yet to see the sun or moon again. Panic was spreading under this perpetual darkness. The elves were forced to use the power of nature or other arcane magic to maintain an artificial light that would help to restore their morale. However, the high upkeep required to maintain this artificial light truly pained the archmages and arch druids.
The Moonwheel Capital had already ordered all nearby villages and scouts to abandon their positions and return to the capital. However, there were some elves who hadn’t returned in time, still hoping that they could make it through this crisis without having to leave their homes. When elven villagers started being attacked by demonic beasts, the Moonwheel Capital began to send out rangers and druids to help the remaining villagers move to the capital.
Even so, bad news was being brought to the Moonwheel Capital on a daily basis. It seemed that even dealing with merely the prelude to the demon wave was quite difficult for the elves.
Of course, things weren’t nearly as bad as they seemed. The Superior Elves were using every moment to train and gather their elite forces and organize themselves for cooperation in battle. However, the ordinary elves wouldn’t know about such a thing. Not only that, since all the elven mayors and town leaders had tried to conceal the reality of the demon wave’s arrival, along with the Moonwheel Capital Elven Empire’s attitude of denying that the demon wave would happen, panic and anger from feeling like they were lied to started spreading amongst the ordinary elves.

The real Elven Empress from the Northlands will save us! She’s brought reinforcements; she’s forgiven our sins. There’s still hope for the elves…

This rumor started to swiftly spread. Even though most elves were only half convinced by this rumor since the Gold Elves had been dead for tens of thousands of years already, far too long a time ago for most of them to know about, the seeds of this rumor still started to spread.
As for the Moonwheel Capital Elven Empire, they were naturally quite angry about this. However, there would always be many rumors during any time of war. It would be impossible to find the source of the rumors.
What, you’re asking me if it was us that spread the rumors in the first place? Would you believe me if I said it wasn’t us?
Haha, but with us spreading such rumors, our arrival would attract even more attention. Then, we would wave the flag of the Gold Elf everywhere, giving more veracity to the rumors. It would be impossible for the moon elves to hide this information even if they wanted to.
We were willing to help the elves. However, we definitely wouldn’t be foolish enough to work for free with zero benefits. We activated every single spy we had in the Moonwheel Capital in order to spread the rumors as far and wide as we could.
The more rumors there were, the more detailed they became. Even the fact that the floating airships would arrive became known beforehand.
This was an open scheme. Unless the moon elves refused to accept reinforcements, they could only grit their teeth and bear it.
Currently, I had just finished dealing with all this. I was quite astonished to see Reyne, whom I hadn’t seen for so long.
I met Reyne on the bridge of the Mizar airship. Two strangers were by her side.
One person was a tall blue-haired female knight who had a pretty appearance and nice figure. Even though she was wearing bright red armor, there was the aura of magic around her. This feeling was familiar… She seemed to be a dragon’s descendant.
The other one was a black-haired female noble who seemed to be about fifteen or sixteen years old and was of an average height. She seemed rather weak, but if I saw her family crest correctly—a tiger and lion both wielding shields—she was from the Fenso Family, one of the top three mega families of the Suolo Federation.
I wouldn’t have paid too much attention to them if they had only been regular strangers. However, the tall and average-sized women were currently holding onto Reyne’s right and left hands, and they sat down adjacent to Reyne on either side. If I recalled correctly, this represented…

Greetings, Your Highness Roland. I am Helen Winston, concubine to Her Highness Reyne. You… You should be quite familiar with my older brother Halent.

This tall southern beauty had a copper, healthy, and sexy skintone. Judging from her aura, she was probably the forceful type, but she actually appeared rather hesitant right now.

Hello, Your Highness Roland. I’ve long since heard about you. I am Avi Fenso. I’m also Her Highness Reyne’s concubine.

When the black-haired noble girl spoke to me, I discovered that she was even younger than I’d thought she was. She had to have intentionally applied a great deal of makeup to make herself look older. She sounded only thirteen or fourteen years old.
Both women were looking at me with some astonishment as well as hostility, along with other complex expressions.

Pu!

I couldn’t take it anymore, and almost spat my saliva on them in laughter.
The next instant, I realized that it would be a severe diplomatic gaffe if I did so, so I hurriedly stood steady and did my best to hold it in.

Your Highness Avi and Your Highness Helen. Nice to meet you. I am Roland Mist.

And then I automatically reached out my hand for a kiss on the hand greeting… But, actually, I was taking this opportunity to lower my head and laugh manically.

Hahaha, Reyne, you little brat, such a day came for you? So funny!

Even without her explaining, it would be quite easy to guess what had happened. Reyne was now a queen. She had also long since passed marriageable age. In that case, for the stability of her rule, she would have to carry out one of the most important duties of any ruler—getting married.
Even if she didn’t want to have an official marriage, having concubines would be absolutely required. Something like a political marriage would be a definite requirement, and since she was the renowned Yuri Princess, this meant that other countries sent female nobles to her instead… It was likely a compromise after Reyne rejected all male candidates. It was probably known through all of human society now that the Yuri Princess was completely uninterested in men.
Reyne now had two concubines. One was the younger sister of Halent, the dragon knight emperor of Bardi. The other was from one of the most important noble families in the Suolo Federation. They were both princesses from human mega empires. This was befitting Reyne, who had the status of the ruler of the entire Mist Alliance. It was one hundred percent certain that these were political marriages that represented the alliances between mega empires. It would be impossible for Reyne to refuse.
Political marriages regarding the royalty had their own unwritten rules that were quite reasonable. It was nice if the married couple got along as they could then be a regular husband and wife. If they didn’t get along, the emperor would still do whatever he wanted, while the concubine would become a decoration in the palace. As for whether or not the concubine could also find her own lovers to relieve her boredom, that would depend on the magnanimity of the emperor.
There were also plenty of previous examples of those with homosexual preferences in history. There were quite a few emperors in history who had been gay. Some concubines were also lesbian, although that wouldn’t be publicized. Things would still be the same no matter the sexual preference.
Reyne would definitely need a husband for her official marriage. That was because she would need to leave behind descendants and start a family, and people would need to see this to accept her… Hahaha, when she was forced into a marriage with a man because she had no descendants, I would be able to enjoy the show yet again!
I originally thought that Reyne had agreed to take two concubines of extremely high status in human society to block off all other pressuring marriage proposals. However, I noticed that these two girls were looking at Reyne in quite a different manner.

His Highness Roland looks just like a male version of Her Highness Reyne…

‘Hey, girl, where are you touching me? Where’s the dignity of a concubine? You can’t just casually touch a man’s chest!’
The black-haired girl had a lovestruck expression as if I was her lover. The next instant, she came to an astonished realization as she hurriedly backed away. But, when she saw my face again, her expression once again became enthralled as she reached out her tiny hand to me.

Miss, please respect yourself…

I backed away and rejected the hand of Concubine Avi who seemed rather confused between me and Reyne. I then glanced over at Reyne, who had a helpless and dismayed expression. I was no longer able to take it anymore, and instantly laughed out loud.

Hahaha, little brat Reyne, so today came for you after all. How does it feel to be forced into marriage?

The guards around her instantly backed up one step and all pretended to be looking elsewhere as if they heard nothing.
Reyne shook her head helplessly as she pulled on a red rope attached to a bell next to her. All of her guards immediately exited the vicinity. Unlike eight years ago, Reyne was a ruler in both name and actuality. It seemed that her pride and so on were now important.

Cough, Brother Roland, it’s actually like this…

Right when Reyne started speaking, just the way she addressed me caused the dragon descendant princess to viciously glare at me as if I was her enemy… maybe more accurate term would be
love rival
?
But soon, I was immersed in Reyne’s story which sounded like a tale out of legends. She had invited two princesses high in status to be her concubines to block off all other proposed marriages just like I thought, but mysteriously underwent a series of adventures together, and the two concubines who should have only been her spouses on paper truly fell in love with her after the adventures… That was the summarized version of what happened.
The more Reyne recounted her story, the more bitter her expression became. But at the end, she had a super serious expression filled with sincere passion as she looked directly at me.

…So actually, there’s only pure friendship between us. Who I really love is—


Perhaps it’s only friendship now, but one day friendship can turn into love! Love as passionate as fire and thunder!

The blue dragon descendant princess’s eyes were filled with fiery love. She interrupted Reyne’s passionate attempt at declaring her love. At this instant, Reyne’s expression was as if she had just eaten some insects. I almost laughed out loud yet again.

Yep, yep, I believe it. Heterosexual partners should only be for the sake of having descendants. Only love between those of the same gender, which requires so much sacrifice, can be considered true love!

Right after I said this, the two concubines’ expressions became far friendlier towards me. It seemed that they had also been under much pressure.
This was all truly so amusing. If it wasn’t for how busy I was, I could probably laugh all day. However, I truly did have some actual matters to talk to Reyne about. I could only shake my head as I asked her, 
Reyne… Your Highness Reyne, has your bloodline ancestor, that bastard younger brother of mine, contacted you recently?