Right beside him was his mother, and then his grandparents, and behind them were a long line of people.

He caught no glimpse of the ones actually carrying out the torture, but that was even more horrifying. In a way, it had almost been like his ancestors were being forced to do all that to themselves.

As he came back to his senses, Gerhart collapsed to the ground and knelt without any hesitation.

An eternity of that…just thinking about it made him take a p.i.s.s in his pants. As the one who enjoyed inflicting pain so much, there was probably no one else who could understand better exactly what that meant.

No! He didn't want it! Whatever this d.a.m.n ball wanted, he would do it!

"Please save me! I have sinned!", he said, even though he didn't mean it.

Fear was the only thing directing his actions, and if this were a real G.o.d, he might have been turned away, with some statement such as 'your heart isn't pure'.

Yet, this was exactly the result that Daneel wanted.

"Realization is the first step. This is what you must do…"

As Daneel said this hypocritical c.r.a.p and continued to give instructions in detail, Gerhart listened without missing a single word, his eyes s.h.i.+ning with relief that he wouldn't have to face what he had just seen.

That was all that was on his mind. He didn't care about anything else.

After Daneel was done, he used the Mind Control spell to make the elf go back to sleep, following which he silently promised all the poor humans here that they would be free, soon.

He had a lot of stops to make, so Daneel hurried away and got to work.

If he were stronger, he might have chosen to do this in a different way: Mind Control worked in such a way that a person could be actively controlled and influenced by him if he wished, remotely. Yet, this would take up a little of his Mageroot. Even though it wasn't a lot, when the matter became that of hundreds of elves, it just wasn't enough.

Hence, he had no option but to dispel the spell on them, while leaving no traces whatsoever that they had been Mind Controlled. He trusted the power of fear, so Daneel wasn't too worried that this would backfire on him in any way.

The list given by Joselyn was very exhaustive. By the time he was done, according to Daneel's guess, all those whom he had visited, if taken together, would mostly have as much wealth as a Kingdom, itself.

Most of this wealth had been acc.u.mulated for decades of centuries, as most of these elves were those whose traditions and 'habits' had been pa.s.sed down, daughter to son, son to daughter. There was no discrepancy in gender: in the list, at least 40% of them were female.

With the preparations done, Daneel realized that he was on a very tight schedule. It was around 3 A.M in the night, and he knew that Joselyn would be going ahead with her own plan at noon, today.

Before that, he had to make this happen.

So, Daneel immediately rushed to his quarters to grab some quick rest, as today would be a very tiring day.

…

The next day, Maylana the elf was humming a little tune to herself while going about her business.

Since the events of the Elf Carnival, she had changed so much that she was almost unrecognizable from the sad, crying, brooding elf who had had her heart broken by the Queen.

The reason for that change…was the King of Lanthanor.

That moment, when the King had marched forward with his army into the red veil, knowing that it might mean certain death, was the defining one of her life.

She had always thought that she was unlucky, and that bad things happened to her repeatedly.

Yet, seeing someone march forward even in the face of death had driven all such negative thoughts out of her mind.

These were humans who hadn't hesitated to sacrifice themselves for a race which had treated them with scorn and prejudice for centuries! If that wasn't inspiring, then what was?

Even later, when she had seen the King walk from family to family and bring them to life, she had been captivated by this das.h.i.+ng man who had done more for the elves than anyone else since antiquity.

She had heard the other elves talking. Apparently, as he had seen it happening and because his was their neighboring Kingdom, he had the option to let them all die and then invade an empty Kingdom to reap the riches and expand his own Kingdom.

h.e.l.l, if it were any other normal King who had inherited their throne, many elves said that that would mostly have happened, and that the elves might have ceased to exist, altogether.

That had given birth to an interest in her to find out what made the King different. Hence, after everything had died down, she had made a trip with the allowance given to her by the Palace to the Kingdom of Lanthanor, where she went to the capital to take the tour of the King's life.

When she had seen the tiny house which was smaller than any even she had lived in, she hadn't been able to believe it. That was where that man had come from?!

This had changed her even more. If someone like that could forge forward without complaints and accomplish something so momentous that he would be known for, probably, eternity, then how was it right for her to bemoan her 'bad luck' and contemplate suicide?

She had gone back to Eldinor a changed woman.

Before leaving, she had gone to the Bank of Angaria, where, to her surprise, she had even received a loan, on seeing which she had burst out into tears.

Determined to turn her life around and equipped to do so, she had returned and leased a portion of land, which she began tilling and farming in in the ways taught to her by her family.

In the process, she had come up with some interesting ideas for trinkets that would really help in farming, and that was the reason why she had been in the capital for 4 days: she was looking for someone to make those trinkets. Although many kept rejecting her, the changed Maylana never lost hope.

Right now, she was heading to another trinket designer, but, on the way, she stopped in her tracks as she saw a sight which made her widen her eyes with shock.

Wasn't that…Lady Irfina, one of the most reputed elves of the capital?

Why was she…walking in front of a large group of humans, most of whom were b.l.o.o.d.y and injured?

Had she saved them, perhaps?

No, something was definitely wrong.

This delegation had caught the eye of others, too, and along with them, Maylana followed.

Soon, she came across a sight she would never forget.

In the large square in front of the Palace of Eldinor which was meant to hold thousands of people for important events such as elections, there were many such delegations present.

Most of the elves were dignified and famous ones, known for their rich heritage and skill in various fields.

Only, right now, they were all standing in front of groups of silent humans in a strange position.

Their eyes were fixed on the sun, while their hands were kept straight and raised above shoulder level.

Their eyes were leaking tears because of directly looking into the sun, but only smiles were on their faces.

They were constantly muttering something, and as Maylana got closer, she heard what they were saying.

"Praise the Light."

Over and over again, they were saying this.

At this point, Maylana noticed something else, too: in front of each of them was a pole, on which a long parchment was placed.

Curious, she walked up to one of them, but as she read it, she stepped back with terror.

"I confess that I am the cause of all the crimes below. I have sinned, but I now beg for salvation by Praising the Light!

76 humans killed by drowning.

89 humans killed by boiling.

156 humans killed during torture

…"

Like this, the list went on and on.

As Maylana started to go from parchment to parchment, she didn't spot a man standing in the shadow of a building nearby, looking at everything going on with a grim smile on his face.

So far, everything was going according to plan.

A communication eye was also live, broadcasting all this to the Network, which meant that Joselyn must be watching.

Just as Daneel was about to send a message to see if she would respond, a chill pa.s.sed through his spine.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! ….

Multiple thunderclaps were heard in the sky, as 7 individuals teleported into the air right above where all this was happening.

Daneel actually recognized four of them. The man standing in the middle was the Head of the High Council, and beside him was the Hero who had sworn to follow him.

Toward the end were the two Heroes who had attacked and almost killed him.

For the first time, the Head looked furious. His pupils were dilated, and his face was an angry red in color as he screamed, "WHO DARES TO TRY AND SNEAK IN? COME OUT! COME OUT AND FACE THE HEROES OF ANGARIA!"

[System informs host that all 7 targets being scanned are at the Hero level.]

His jaw dropping, Daneel got a single question in his head, while he took a step back and b.u.mped into the wall in shock.

All he had wanted to do was start a fake religion. Why the f*ck had that warranted an all-out attack by more Heroes than he had ever seen in a single place?

What the f*ck was even going on?!