Chapter 505: Sacrifice To Great Dragons

Since they weren’t familiar with Green Tier treasures, it was clear most of them had crossed the first bottleneck in the Pseudo 3-star realm with ease.

Leo suddenly recalled something that Sylrael had said: many elves were her immediate cousins.

"What was the size of the territory your clan chief ruled in your previous world?" Leo asked.

"Eh?—ah, I guess... around twice or thrice the size of the city we are in," Naelith answered immediately. Since Leo had asked directly, and she was a slave, she couldn’t refuse to answer.

"Hmm... what position did your parents hold within the territory?"

"My father hadn’t inherited the position yet, but he was about to be handed responsibility for defence affairs after my grandfather retired... and sister Sylrael is the daughter of the clan chief."

Fuck! I knew it.

Leo immediately realised they belonged to the proper noble line.

No wonder they were this strong and had managed to hold an entire Secret Realm on their own for so long.

"So... according to that, shouldn’t you already be familiar with Green Tier treasures? They are only one step above White Tier."

Naelith shook her head.

"My Lord, that’s not the case. I guess you don’t know since you never asked, but in our world, the maximum strength an individual could reach was Low 3-star, and that was solely reserved for the dragons. For us elves, it was Peak 2-star and... uh..."

She hesitated.

"Say whatever is on your mind."

"Humans could only reach Mid 2-star at most... so Peak Green Tier treasures are considered national treasures."

She had also wanted to say that almost all humans in her world were barbarians with crude bodies, nothing like Leo or the humans of this world, but she refrained from saying it in case it offended him.

"Oh..."

Leo had come across a new piece of information.

Many worlds apparently had different strength limits.

In the previous world, there had been a limit of mid-1-star for humans, that too only physically... well, at least that was what someone could normally achieve.

"Anyways, that was the story of your previous world. I’m not saying it wasn’t important, but things change, and you can see that yourself. You’ve reached a level of strength where you could defeat the strongest individuals from your previous world. So these treasures, though valuable, are necessary for the current you. Take them. And just so you know, the tall tree in the territory that all of you climb for training is a Mid Yellow Tier treasure."

Naelith’s mouth fell open at the revelation.

Leo took advantage of her stunned silence to ask another question.

"By the way, what are the chances your family will come looking for you?"

Since they were so strong, surely the other children and the parents themselves would also be powerful.

And unlike Sylrael’s group, which had been sent out to explore the world, most of them would likely have remained together. There was a high chance that their entire territory had appeared as a Secret Realm and integrated into this world, meaning their family members could now be searching for Sylrael’s group.

At that, Naelith’s expression became solemn.

Leo could have sworn he saw her perpetually straight, pointed ear droop slightly.

"My Lord... the way we were told to leave the tribe and establish a new settlement... it was more like a banishment. We were sent away to die."

Her voice grew quieter.

"Because we were assigned no strong individuals other than Sister, who was only Low 2-star at the time. And even she could be considered a case similar to ours... we were expelled."

"Huh? Why? Sylrael seemed like a very promising and capable heir, and I’m sure it’s the same for you and the others."

"She was the 8th in line... and a hurdle."

Realisation dawned on Leo.

"But the chief should have done something about elders scheming against the younger generation, right?"

"Our chief was very sick at that time, and most of the elders were far away helping repel a dragon invasion in a neighbouring country," she explained.

"And the time for selecting the ’Chosen Ones’ who would carry the legacy of the tribe into distant lands had arrived. Many groups ranging from 50 to 100 members were formed, but somehow our group only had 19 due to a lack of manpower. And instead of compensating us with stronger individuals, only Sister was assigned to us."

A trace of bitterness appeared in her eyes.

"And that wasn’t even the worst part. Somehow, the higher-ups approved it, and we were sent away."

As Naelith continued, Leo felt as though she was voicing grievances she had carried for a very long time.

At that moment, all he could do was listen.

"In our tribe, we call such groups a sacrifice to the Great Dragons for the tribe’s prosperity. But everybody knew it was simply a convenient way to eliminate competition for heirs who had the possibility to possess greater influence and power."

She lowered her gaze.

"In the end, we could only leave while enduring mocking gazes looking down on us."

Naelith’s ear immediately perked up when she realised she had spoken too much.

"I am sorry for speaking so much, My Lord. But yes, it is highly unlikely that anybody will be looking for us."

"Wait."

Leo wasn’t about to leave such an interesting story unfinished.

"Let’s go back for a moment. So you’re saying most of the elves in your group were promising heirs from influential families within your tribe? And Sylrael is the direct descendant of the clan chief? Then some elder heir orchestrated everything and sabotaged your group to secure the inheritance for himself?"

Naelith nodded.

"Yes, My Lord. That’s true. But please don’t let it bother you. Even if it was unfair, it was our fault for not having enough influence or power to counter such tactics. The Chosen Ones are selected every 150 years, so..."

She paused before continuing.

"In the end, it was our responsibility to survive."

"But still, no matter how much scheming was involved, approving only 20 people for a new settlement? Do they want inbre—uh..."

Leo quickly abandoned the uncomfortable topic and shifted elsewhere.

He knew inbreeding was a common practice in this world and could very well have existed in the elves’ world too, but 20 was far too few.

At that point, regardless of how magical a world was, the progressive offsprings would surely end up retarded... well, at least that was what science had proven in his world.

"What about males? Don’t tell me female elves in your world were capable of giving birth by themsel—"

"NO!"

Naelith immediately refuted him, her face turning red in embarrassment.

"S-sorry, but that’s not how it works. Normally, groups are formed with nearly equal numbers of males and females. Even then, we are expected to assimilate with other tribes or with other tribes’ Chosen Ones along the way."

"Ohh..."

Leo finally understood.

Sylrael’s group was truly a prime example of perfect sacrifice, with no males among them.

Because while reading about dragons in the library, he had come across an interesting section.