Arad's unruly savior

Imi always felt that she was actually quite evil, and in other people's eyes, she was even a bit scary and terrifying... Many of the trees in the Puppet Forest were actually human beings, and they were mutations after being cursed by magic. There were also corpses under the lush and blooming roses, and some people were so frightened by her "theatre" that they went crazy.

Now, seeing Gu Yu and Lucille praising their torture techniques to a fleshy skeleton, saying they didn't break any bones, please, the bones are fine, but what about the skin, the flesh...? Suddenly, I realize I still have a lot to learn.

Lucille, the arsonist, stood beside the skeleton, admiring it with an eye for art, and then asked, "Imi Witch, can you stitch this body back together?"

"Uh, yes, it's possible, but they're all dead already. What's the point? After you cut them into skeletons, their flesh and blood cells started dying off on a large scale the moment they left their bodies," Imiwu complained. Judging from the shape of the skeleton, it should be an adult male, but it's unclear whether he's a dark elf or a human.

If the most important soul is not present, even if the flesh and blood can be stitched back together, and even if every blood vessel and nerve is perfectly restored, it is now just an empty shell. In the sense of life, the other party is already dead.

Of course, if her soul is still intact, she has a chance to be brought back to life.

Gu Yu put down the blood-stained dagger, pointed to the skeleton, and said, "This is a mannequin, not a real person. Magic simulates warm flesh, blood vessels, and nerves. My sister won't let me do this in the palace."

The royal palace is the residence of the royal family and also the place where the queen and elders discuss state affairs, thus possessing extraordinary sacred significance.

So how could we let her kill people here so casually, especially with such a gruesome method, like cutting noodles into pieces?

The incident began when someone in the clergy suggested that the methods of punishment used by the Inquisitors were too extreme, resorting to torture such as branding, burning at the stake, crucifixion, and wheel torture at the slightest disagreement—methods that were extremely crude and brutal, lacking God's mercy.

Lucille listened carefully to the advice and decided to increase and improve the methods of punishment used by the Inquisitors. She contacted Gu Yu, who knew how to gouge out the heart, remove the bone, cut the neck, and pierce the kidney, and humbly learned from him to make the methods of punishment more refined.

The two shared a strong common interest in this area, hit it off immediately, and got together to find two human models to learn from each other.

"Together?" Gu Yu extended a warm invitation, knowing that the little witch was also quite adept at causing trouble.

"Uh, never mind, I still have to see Queen Maya. I brought her some local specialties." Imiwu quickly shook her head.

She was different from those two crazy girls. They were good at torturing the body and inflicting the greatest pain on flesh and blood, while the lineage of the Goddess of the Underworld was more skilled in the curses of the soul.

For example, the most famous ability is to transform into a tree. The process of transforming into a tree and the physical experience after becoming a tree are not very painful. What is painful is that after becoming a tree, one still has a clear consciousness and wisdom, has eyes and a mouth, but can never speak or move. The soul is sealed in the tree and can never escape. For decades, one watches the unchanging scenery and endures the endless torment of deathly silence until the consciousness collapses and one is completely transformed into a tree.

After closing the door to the two crazy girls' room, Imiwu walked briskly, her little face full of pride, carrying the gifts to the floor where Queen Maya lived.

Alicia, one of the Queen's personal guards, informed the Queen that she had just finished a meeting with the elders. Generally, the Queen does not receive guests, and even if she does, she needs to follow procedures. However, since Imiwu is nominally the Queen's adopted daughter, she is not subject to such restrictions.

"Lady Maya, godmother~"
With a lively and charming smile, Imi knocked gently on the study door, and after receiving permission, pushed the door open and entered, then turned around and closed the door.

Maya appeared to be alone in the room, but Imi knew that the leader of the Night Destroyers, Gu Yu's older sister You Yu, must be hiding somewhere that could not be detected by normal means.

"Look, look! I brought you something good!" Imiwu held up the gift in her hand, a treasure she had dug out of the basement of the Dark Mansion.

The treasures of the goddesses of the underworld throughout the ages are mostly there, including the "invisible magic chain" that was once used by Crazy Bear to sweep the floor, which could actually temporarily seal the transcendent. It was all dug out from the basement.

There are many things that Imi Wu doesn't know about in the basement, nor does she know their effects.

During her time back in the Demon Realm, Xiao Su and You Xia suggested that she do a thorough cleaning, make a detailed list, classify the items, and discover their value, so that some treasures wouldn't gather dust for years, which would be a shame. Then, the three of them could also appraise anything they didn't recognize.

This cleaning was quite remarkable; many treasures resurfaced, some with significant origins, including items confirmed to be extinct in the Demon Realm. It was unexpected that the collections of the successive Goddesses of the Underworld were so rich.

Yu Xia stated that no matter which world you're in, skilled "doctors" never lack resources.

Queen Maya was elegant and noble, with a beautiful face that was exquisitely sculpted and stunning. She smiled and said, "You've come, Imiwu."

Her age is still very young by the standards of the Dark Elf race's lifespan, but she is still over two hundred years old. Humans can go through three generations or even more, so when Ye Lin asked her if she wanted an adopted daughter, Maya was not too hard to accept. Now she also likes the quirky little witch very much.

When Imiwu opened the gift she had brought to Maya, it revealed a dozen or so mysterious seeds, about the size of peanuts, dark black in color, and with very rough skin.

"What is this?" Queen Maya looked over in surprise, waiting for the little witch to introduce it.

The gift that Imi presented to her like a treasure must not be something simple.

"The seeds of the Bright Sunflower, oh, the reverse side is the Demon Flower Ao Suo," Imi Wu cleared her throat and proudly introduced.

Bright sunflowers can only grow in places with abundant magical energy. They take root in the earth, love heat, and mature plants are about the height of a one-story building. Their flower heads can be up to one meter in diameter. When they bloom and produce seeds, the entire flower head emits a bright light, illuminating a dark area like a street lamp.

Moreover, due to the characteristics of Bright Sunflower, planting just one in a field can accelerate the growth of other plants and increase yield.

Alternatively, planting them in dark places can also provide illumination.

In the Demon Realm, the Sunflower of Light was once thought to be extinct. Neither the fairy Katie, who wielded nature magic, nor the Green Witch of the Witch Forest could find the plant or seeds of the Sunflower of Light, which was quite a pity.

Then, Yimiwu found a bag in the basement, containing about fifty seeds. Some of the seeds had lost their viability after inspection, leaving about thirty seeds remaining.

She divided the seed in two, giving one half to the elf envoy Katie and the other half to Queen Maya in Dark City. The dark elves were exceptionally skilled in magic, the most outstanding among the elves on the continent of Arad, where elves were nearly extinct.

I believe the Dark Elves should have a way to revive and then mass-produce Sunflowers of Light.

After listening to Imiwu's explanation, Maya's expression changed noticeably when she looked at the seeds of the Sunflower of Light again. It was the joy of receiving something precious, and also a heartfelt emotion.

Without any formalities or excuses, Maya took the initiative to approach Imiwu, stretched out her arms and hugged her; she really liked the little demon.

The Dark Elf race has lived in the dark underground for many years and has adapted to the environment, but that does not mean they do not yearn for the light; their essence remains one of reverence for the light.

Currently, the Dark Elves typically use glowing ores for lighting, as well as extracting magic from lava caves to light magic lamps.

This has also led to a somewhat peculiar hobby among the Dark Elves: a fondness for collecting luminous objects, such as magic lamps and flashlights. While this generally meets their daily needs, Dark Elves are not averse to having more ways to obtain light.

The darker the place, the more one longs for light.

Imiwu, who was being held by Maya, was stunned for a moment and muttered:
"I guess I still don't really like big breasts, even my godmother's."

"Imiwu, what did you say?" Maya looked down at the swaying ahoge on her head.

"N-nothing... By the way, Maya, I heard from Alicia that you just held a political meeting, and it didn't seem to go very well."

"You found out? It's not a big deal."

It wasn't anything particularly secret, so Maya didn't mind telling Imiwu.

The story goes back quite a while. With the help of Ye Lin, the goddess Venus herself descended upon Dark City and gave the Dark Elves two choices.

If she were to lift the curse on the dark elves, restoring their fair skin, beautiful hair, and peaceful and kind hearts, then in return, she would also need to reclaim the dark elves' keen night vision, their resistance to cold and damp environments, and their agility in the dark, enabling them to quickly hunt down their prey.

In other words, the Dark Elf race will immediately find the underground environment unsuitable and must relocate to the surface world.

The second option is to temporarily maintain the Dark Elves' existing dark skin and monotonous gray-white hair color, but she will eliminate the Dark Elves' weakness of being afraid of direct sunlight at noon, and at the same time slightly alleviate the Dark Elves' skin color problem.

Then, the Dark Elf race began to expand into the surface world, stabilized, and gradually acquired enough habitable land on the ground before seeking to remove more of the curses and shackles.

Venus promised that she would return.

Queen Maya pondered this matter deeply, believing that if she chose the first option now, she would not only fulfill the wishes of her ancestors, such as the Holy Spirit Lord Aragorn and the First Hero Rommel, but she herself would also become an unprecedented hero of the Dark Elf race, the greatest monarch to snatch victory from the hands of the gods.

However, the Dark Elf race was to immediately undertake a massive migration, moving entirely from the underground space to the surface, almost forcing them to abandon all existing buildings and cultivated farmland... In this sudden change, the people were bound to suffer immense turmoil and pain, after all, the Dark Elves were already accustomed to life in the underground space.

Just like in those distant years, a group of elves was suddenly cursed to become dark elves. The inability to adapt to the environment led to a sharp decline in their population, and the entire race almost collapsed, until the appearance of the Holy Lord Aragorn.

Therefore, Queen Maya chose the second option for a more secure transition.

During the recent council meeting, Maya and the Senate had a dispute over the fact that, now that the Dark Elf race's eyes were no longer afraid of the midday sun, they could gradually expand into the space above ground.

Vannes has always had a very low utilization rate of its surface space, and some of its territory is currently being used by the neighboring Principality of Belmar.

So, as the Dark Elves expand into the surface world, should they also include the Dwarves, who are currently in a very weak position and also live in the underground world?

The Senate believed that the dwarves could serve as artisans for our great dark elf race and live as vassals of our race in the future, but it was impossible for them to cede any territory to the dwarves, and the situation of a country within a country was absolutely not allowed to happen.

In short, the idea was to break up the dwarves and integrate them into the dark elf race, making them perpetual vassals.

"Then what do you mean, Maya? Do you want to give the dwarves a piece of territory?" Imiwu asked.

Maya frowned first, then slowly shook her head and said, "As a monarch, I naturally will not allow a state within a state to occur."

"The current leader of the dwarves, upon learning of this, begged me to grant them a place to thrive, considering the dwarves' and dark elves' shared responsibility in sealing the evil dragon Spitz."

The goddess Venus herself descended upon Dark City and had a private conversation with Queen Maya, offering two choices. However, Venus did not pay attention to the dwarves, who were also involved in the "Naxos" incident, as if she had forgotten about this race.

Maya thought of Noipera, a city that was originally the territory of the dwarves, or rather, their land, but was later conquered by the Holy Lord Aragorn and occupied as the territory of the dark elves.

"So I proposed an idea at the council meeting: to return the Neupera region to the dwarves, in order to demonstrate the tolerance and virtue of us dark elves. In return, the dwarves would have to swear an oath not to wage war against the dark elves and to serve them."

After Maya finished speaking, she gave a helpless smile, and the Senate rejected her idea.

Of course, since she now holds absolute power and has centralized authority, unifying everything about the race, the opinions of the Senate can be disregarded, and she can directly bypass the Senate to implement her own policies.

However, Maya did not want to become a cold-hearted dictator. On major issues concerning the race, she was still willing to listen to the Senate's opinions before making a perfect decision.

Imiwu thought for a moment, then shook her head and muttered, "I'm hungry~ I'm going out to get something to eat~"

slip!
"Come back!" Maya's pretty face turned cold, and she quickly reached out and grabbed the little witch's shoulder.

This girl has always been like this, extremely curious about everything and wanting to get to the bottom of things. But once she realizes the seriousness of the problem and has to make a choice that affects the future of many people, she immediately comes up with a bunch of excuses and runs away.

“You are my adopted daughter, the princess of the dark elves. How can you share my burden?”

With a look of struggle and stubbornness, Yimiwu said, "You said it yourself, I am just an adopted daughter. I will not inherit your throne in the future. The one who will inherit the throne is your child with Yelin. I need to avoid suspicion."

"By the way, did you ask about Ye Lin?"

Maya shook her head. The council meeting had just ended, and Imiwu had come to show off her treasure. She hadn't had a chance to tell Yelin yet.

Moreover, this is, after all, a matter for her, as the monarch, to resolve; it is the monarch's duty. Ye Lin is not the monarch; he has always been very sensitive to the monarch's power and has never interfered.

Imiwu advised, "You are her wife, he is your husband, and your child will inherit the throne. It's normal to ask for his opinion."

(End of this chapter)