BXBX NOVEL Chapter 96: Chapter 96:Inside the Tree [3]
Beside her, on a smaller and less extravagant chair, sat Albert, who was staring at the cold food on the plate in front of him.
On the other side of the table sat, Lily, Alya, Liam, and Kevin... but besides the primary members of the main cast, there were also two other guests.
Ruby, who Alya had invited due to her saving them during the dormitory attack, and Irene, who had been coerced into coming by Lily, were awkwardly sitting side by side, staring at the countless utensils in front of them.
Breaking the awkward silence, Liana stood up from her chair, which very much resembled a throne, with its countless gemstones and size, and turned to her son, Albert.
"*ahem* Now that everyone's here.
As Albert's face turned a rose red, and he inwardly cursed the damned person who had stayed for OVER three hours, the queen continued.
"Everyone here should have already been informed about the situation tomorrow. However, that is not to say that the details are certain. For now, all we confirm is that an attack will occur on our realm."
"The details, time, and location are all variables for right now, so do NOT blindly trust what you have heard earlier."
Seeing the humans nod their heads, Liana delved into the defense and military side of things. He issued them special badges and explained the positions in which their defense forces would be located.
For ten years, she had not even spoken to a human, but here she was now, trusting them with most of their military secrets.
Glancing at her daughter, Alya, mid-explanation, Liana recalled how her daughter had pleaded with her to at least listen to her fellow human's words.
Unable to resist her daughter, Liana agreed and heeded their words, learning about the inevitable attack on their city.
Obviously, Liana did not fully trust the human's words despite Alya's constant vouching, as she knew of humanity's terrible nature, but in the end, she decided it was better to be safe than sorry.
If the attack happened, they would be prepared and ready to fight with strategies already set up.
But if it were the opposite, it would just result in a lot of wasted time and resources.
It was a simple choice: either be prepared for and save countless lives during a battle or lose some resources that they could regain later.
However, Liana had specifically left out the existence of the inside of the World Tree alongside the World's spirit.
Such information was too much to give to anyone; not even her daughter knew about those existences, as she had only disclosed it to Albert, her successor and the future ruler of the Elven realm.
Finishing up her explanation of the strategies, Liana sat down before continuing to dig into the food below them, prompting everyone else to follow suit.
Within a few moments, the silence was already gone as Liam and Kevin were already arguing about which of them would be able to kill a demon first.
On the other hand, Alya bombarded Lily with questions, trying to gather as many details as she could about the future attack.
It was her hometown with all her family, so seeing the usually calm Alya stressed and nervous wasn't surprising to the others.
Though, Alya didn't dare pry too far.
Within the main cast group, there was an unwritten rule already established.
"Do not ask Lily where she receives this information."
All four of them were among the smartest in the entire school, so they were able to see through Lily's flimsy excuses when she attempted to persuade them to help her.
Despite all that, they still decided to believe in Lily due to their friendship, and it ended up being true.
Time after time, every time Lily came to them with information about the future, the scenario would always occur, albeit with some changes.
At this point, it was normal for the group when Lily came to them asking for help, and all of them were happy to agree.
Thus, an unbreakable bond of trust and comradery was born within their group. From their perspective, it was easy to see Lily was hesitant and nervous about giving up her source of information, so the rest of the group created that unwritten rule to make her feel more comfortable.
At this point, the four of them were inseparable, despite how it may have seemed to outsiders who only saw the constant arguments.
Thus, Ruby and Irene were awkwardly left to eat their food in silence.
Of course, having invited Irene, Lily tried her best to drag her into the conversation. Still, with Alya's constant, understandable questioning and Liam and Kevin's arguments, such a thing was impossible.
Tired of the silence, Ruby turned to Irene before asking.
"So, did you get invited too?"
Irene, who felt so out of place, finally looked away from her food as she confusedly stared at Ruby.
"Invited to what?"
Impatiently tapping her figures on the table, Ruby pressed further.
"Their main party thing or whatever."
Putting down a glass of water, Irene's expression turned sullen as she responded.
"oh... that? I was invited at the start of the scho-"
*BANG*
*BANG*
*BANG*
Flicking her head from her food to out the window, Liana immediately checked her pager and saw the emergency alarm going off.
Using her exceptionally good sight, which she had been granted through one of her countless contracts with spirits, Liana peered towards the entrance of the clearing.
Demons.
Not two demons like the humans earlier had mentioned.
Not 5.
Not 10.
Not 20.
More than twenty...
Twenty was just the max Liana could see with her eyes from this location.
Two demons could be taken care of quite easily... but twenty demons could destroy the entire clearing and the tree and the thousands of Elves living inside without breaking a sweat.
Not skipping a beat, she returned her gaze to the confused Albert and others before loudly announcing.
"LEAD THE DEMONS TO THE TREE!"
A good ruler had to know how to choose between two bad options.
Reveal the World Tree's inside or have thousands of civilians die from the demons, which would be roaming the streets in a matter of minutes.
Now, she also had some trust in the humans due to the demon's attacks. The demons hadn't publicly made a move in hundreds of years, so calling this a coincidence would be far-fetched.
The humans in front of her had somehow predicted their attack.
Albert, who had never seen his mother in such a frantic state, immediately followed her orders, rushing out one of the windows.
Lily and others, who were somewhat surprised at the attack, immediately regained their composure and flooded out of the mansion through the double doors.