The Warden's eyes had flashed dangerously once she saw Lone healing Shan'len and she immediately brought her hand to the metal-encased whip at her waist.

"Nine-tails, I'd suggest you step away from my prisoner. Since you were so magnanimous to cure his wounds, he will recover his strength soon enough and become a danger," the Warden said with an authoritative and bloodlust-filled voice.

Lone turned around and curtly replied, "Fuck off."

'Really, what the hell is wrong with this world? Sure, Shan'len was an asshole and a traitor, but he doesn't deserve this kind of treatment. It's almost like what Sophie went through when she was captured by the Templars... The incompetent pricks can only use violence to try to get information out of him, huh?' Lone was genuinely disgusted.

Perhaps he would have overlooked this if Shan'len's eyes hadn't been removed. That was the main injury that linked him and Sophie in Lone's mind, so it was understandable that he held some pity for the prejudiced man.

Some anger flashed across the Warden's face before she shook her head and laughed briefly.

Removing her hand from her whip, the Warden said, "How funny. The man who offered to cut off ex-elder Shan'len's arm is looking at me in disgust for treating him like a prisoner."

"Like a prisoner?" Lone was trying his very best right now to avoid falling to his rage and letting Void seep through his mental defences. "If you don't treat your prisoners, especially those of your own kind, as people, then my apologies for having some sympathy for them." His voice was riddled with sarcasm.

"I forgive you. Sympathy is, after all, a trait of the weak, and who would I be if not a person that forgave the weak for their mistakes?" The Warden closed her eyes as she smiled at Lone.

Looking at the King, Lone said in full earshot of the Warden, "I really don't like this old bitch."

Of course, Lone had used Clicker's power on her and saw that she was actually an XX-ranker and over four-thousand years old.

The Warden's smile cracked for a second before she lowered her hand to her whip once more. "We have a fantastic correctional facility on the fourth floor. I'm sure you passed it on your way down here. Perhaps you'd like to take a tour?"

At this point, the previously silent King decided to stop this nonsense. "The both of you, we did not come here to bicker. And you, Warden, I remember telling you to treat Lone as if you were talking to myself or Great Elder Lipsilk. Possibly you are the one in need of correction?"

The Warden looked surprised at the King's words. "Very well. So he's that important, is he?"

"He is," Ele'hunda nodded without hesitation.

After the trial that falsely accused both Lone and Sophie, King Ele'hunda had sworn to listen to and support Lone regardless of what he wanted so long as it benefited the tree in the end.

The King might have been a musclehead with a short temper, but he was anything if not a man who always kept his promises.

For the first time since their meeting, the Warden looked at Lone with some respect hidden behind her contemptuous gaze. "I wonder what you did to gain such trust in His Majesty?"

"I wonder. It's not like I revealed two traitors to the world tree or anything," Lone spat out.

He then looked at Shan'len who was now standing on his own two feet. "Can you tell me why you needed to talk to me now? I know it's rich coming from me since we've had a pretty shit relationship up until now, but depending on what you say, I'll get Ele'hunda to lessen your sentence or maybe even free you, with some restrictions, of course."

The King didn't oppose Lone's words, so Shan'len leaned against the walls and laughed bitterly. "I wanted to apologise."

"Pardon?" Lone was confused.

Shan'len looked at him like he was a fool. "I was wrong to judge you just because you weren't an Elf."

The ex-elder's legs trembled before he slid down the wall and sat on the floor again. "I've always believed our kind to be superior to all others, even the detestable Grey Elves and Dark Elves."

A very painful expression flashed across Shan'len's face. "But I learned something while I was in here. I was wrong."

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"Why? Why were you wrong?" Lone genuinely didn't expect this change in Shan'len. 'He's like a different person... Just what the fuck did this woman do to him while he was in here?'

"You proved what I had feared, Nine-tails, no, Lone." Shan'len's voice was so bitter and full of spite that it was nearly suffocating.

"Not only did you not hesitate to heal my wounds, but you also offered me water and even spoke on my behalf to the feared Warden of Hal'ral." A look of longing covered Shan'len's face. Clearly, he could recall the delicious flavour of the water. It was a divine taste to a man like him who had been deprived of his senses entirely until a few moments ago.

Lone still looked puzzled. "But that was nothing..."

"That's exactly why. It was nothing to you." Shan'len laughed. "While I have sinned, everything I did was for the better of the world tree. I really did mean what I said back during your trial. I am more loyal than any other Elf to the tree."

Lone frowned. "The Mind Eater Bug. Those aren't easy to get unless you're on good terms with the Taslo Empire. They're the only ones that have access to the Sand Bug Clan that produces them. I can't see why being chummy with a group of Humans who want the world tree's energy could possibly benefit it."

"I was... desperate," Shan'len replied.

"Desperate for what?" Lone asked.

Shan'len looked between Lone and the King before he sighed. "I wanted our people to continue living even after the world tree died. Everyone was aware that it was a lost cause. The famed Soul Oracle Rakmul, and even the Dryads of Mount Kakrim were both helpless and unable to cure the tree of an Ancient Darkness Dragon's curse."

A look of deep regret filled Shan'len's eyes. "I made contact with the Taslo Empire in secret. I knew the council would never agree, but we were all aware that the tree stood no hope of surviving for another century. We needed somewhere to live safely once the great barrier disappeared and the tree wilted. We are a strong people, but the Humans vastly outnumber us."

Lone could put the remaining pieces together by himself. "So you decided to choose the apparent lesser evil. Become subjects, probably slaves, of the Empire instead of facing total annihilation."

"Yes." Shan'len simply nodded in response.

"But couldn't you have asked the other trees for aid? I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure they'd take you in." Lone's argument was sound.

"And give up the chance of us regaining our independence? Never." Clearly, Shan'len's patriotism was at a self-destructive level.

"So why the sudden change of heart? I mean, I can guess, but I want to hear you say it," Lone said.

"A particular Foxkin showed up and started to purify the tree of Ythmagobla's curse. At first, I thought it was a hoax. I was sure that you were a spy sent by the Dragon himself to lower our guard before he swept in and destroyed us. How much further from the truth could I have been?" Again, Shan'len's voice was full of bitterness.

"Once I had spent some time in here being... interrogated, I realised that you revealing Foru as an agent of Ythmagobla would have been nothing but detrimental to the Dragon's grander schemes. It was then that I had to accept that an outsider and a non-Elf actually possessed the ability to ward off such a powerful and evil curse." For some reason, Shan'len tone, while genuine, was lacking a certain... joy. It was like this fact greatly upset Shan'len even though he should have been happy about the tree's recovery.

Shan'len's inherent distaste for other species was obviously a deeprooted issue and not something that would disappear overnight.

"Then why did you involve an Elf, Tal'hat'mata, if you care so much about your people?" Lone questioned with some anger in his voice.

The King stepped forward. "I can answer that. Shan'len's son was one of the people in the raid that were all wiped out except for Tal'hat'mata. He's always resented the child for it."

"For such a petty reason...?" Lone was dumbstruck. "For something that was beyond her control... She would have died if I hadn't removed that bug!"

Shan'len stayed silent as he listened to Lone's shouting.

Lone wanted to punch Shan'len, he wanted to hurt him, he wanted to kill him. 'He's been suppressing her all of this time, and just to prove that I was a follower of Ythmagobla, he was willing to kill one of his own people and was okay with it because he held a grudge?!'

He could feel the rage building up inside of him. Lone's eyes briefly flashed a pitch-black before he exhaled deeply and calmed himself down. He would not let Void take control of him again.

Lone turned around and left the cell. He looked at the Warden with icy eyes and said, "Kill him or keep him imprisoned here, just don't ever torture him again like that. There's no need. He's confessed already."

As soon as he said that, Lone left the fifth floor and began walking out of the prison by himself.

"Your Majesty, your orders?" The Warden asked Ele'hunda.

The King stroked his beard in thought for a moment. "Kill him. Do it cleanly. I wish to respect Lone's will."

"As you wish," the Warden replied with a bow before she entered Shan'len's cell.

He offered no resistance and allowed her to stab his heart, killing him instantly. Even as an X-ranker, Shan'len was still susceptible to fatal blows despite being an entry-level Cosmos-ranked being.

King Ele'hunda left Hal'ral shortly afterwards and returned to the palace. 'Lone wished to see me about something, did he not? I wonder why he simply left... Regardless, I need to prepare for the Taslo Empire and Ythmagobla's forces... Without the Radiance Dragon, Garadia, do we even stand a chance against a weakened Ancient-level being like Ythmagobla?'

Ele'hunda was immensely stressed out. If his anxiety wouldn't kill him, Ythmagobla certainly would. He could only hope that Lone truly did have a plan to deal with the Darkness Dragon.

However, even then, all four of the Dragon's Generals were XXX-rankers while the tree only possessed two people that strong. Lipsilk was also in bad health, so the King couldn't help but frown deeply.

'If we somehow manage to escape this danger, I swear on the tree that I'll make it my life's mission to build stronger ties to other species and gain alliances. If only I was more like my daughter as I was growing up... Skel'la, you were right all along...' Ele'hunda couldn't help but recall his late wife, the Queen of the eastern world tree as his mind was flooded with anxiety.