DKIE CH55.2: Community

The same night wind blew over the sleeping Luka after his work, and equally blew over every life on the elf island.

Visitors, flowers and trees, the little elves in their evening self-study session, the rangers on duty… the Council of Elders engaged in discussion and research, and so on.

In the magical world, countless people turned day and night upside down. In the entire forest, less than a third of the elves had truly entered dreamland.

Taking advantage of the teacher’s absence, an elf in the evening self-study session secretly took out his terminal.

There were still seven minutes and thirty-two seconds until his next life point was restored. The elf pursed his lips. Just as he was about to put it away, he suddenly noticed a new message notification at the top of the screen.

“Immortal Fish? A new game?”

While calling out to his friends, he impatiently installed and tried it.

The result was a great disappointment. This was not a game at all.

After exploring for a while, the so-called community was composed of multiple functional modules. At the top were [Community], [Messages], and [Me]. Among them, [Community] also included community check-in benefits, popular recommendations, and a chat hall.

For chatting? Isn’t that similar to a communication stone?

So boring.

“The teacher is here,” the elf sitting in the front row reminded in a low voice.

Everyone tacitly placed their terminals under their desks, using their music theory books as cover. When the teacher lowered his head to study the score, they couldn’t help but start studying it again.

[Popular Recommendations] became the choice for most elves.

This was the only column that looked potentially interesting.

As soon as they entered, before they could even scroll, the video at the top of the homepage began to play automatically. A roar came through:

“Then what is real?”

“You tell me what is real!!”

The elf was stunned by the roar.

The same sound rose and fell, and the interwoven effect was terrifying. After realizing what was happening, everyone fumbled to turn off their terminals.

“All of you, put them on the table and don’t move!”

It’s over.

I’m dead.

I’m going to return to nature.

They hated this video that had suddenly started playing.

The strict, elderly elf walked down from the podium, his eyes changing color with anger. Just as he was about to reprimand them, his tone suddenly paused.

Wait, the person in the video seems to be the High Priest.

The strict elder subconsciously took two more glances.

After the roar-style voice-over, the BGM seamlessly transitioned. The tune was exported by Luka from the rhythm game’s music library, and the second-hand sound quality was slightly noisy.

The High Priest, the Saintess… the King—all these elements were present.

The elder really couldn’t contain his curiosity about what had happened.

He began to watch with concentration.

The students who were originally worried about being scolded suddenly thought that they weren’t the only ones who had been caught. Their tension eased a little, and they also began to peek at the video playing on a loop on the desk.

They wouldn’t have known if they hadn’t looked. A look, and they were shocked.

In a corner they didn’t know about, the King actually suspected the Life Elixir was fake, and the Saintess was even asked to drink the Life Elixir herself!

The plot was too exciting. Now, who cared about being criticized later? They were all watching with rapt attention.

Because the video had been edited by Luka, the pace was very fast. There was a major twist every so often. During the viewing process, everyone had barely taken a few breaths.

When they saw the High Priest voluntarily snatching for it, and after failing, claiming he had embezzled it, they were both angry and nervous!

“Cunning Holy Court, damn priest.”

However, almost at the same time as their words fell, the High Priest was pierced through the chest by a sword. This plot development was too sudden. All the elves’ attention was almost drawn to the High Priest being stabbed, especially his expression, which was shown in high definition. After the video zoomed in, they clearly saw the look the High Priest gave the Saintess before he died.

Finally, the video paused, the screen magnifying the High Priest’s tragic death and the scepter that symbolized his status.

All the elves were stunned.

The suona suddenly rose, and a sense of sorrow filled the screen. A few lines of white text appeared sequentially at the end of the video:

[Young and reckless, always thinking one could be endlessly glorious. In the twilight of a hero’s years, one cannot escape the fate of being a discarded pawn.
In the moment before death, what was he thinking?]

The evening wind blew gently. The video was still on a loop. The teacher and students fell into a unanimous silence.

The teacher couldn’t help but look at the final frozen expression of the High Priest. Yes, before he died, what was he thinking?

This night, the emotions became inexplicably complicated.

There was more than one similar video in the popular recommendations. The content was largely the same, the difference being the background music and the captions.

Some videos only cut the scene of the High Priest being brutally pierced through the chest. The accompaniment was sad from beginning to end, and the captions were written even more sadly: [There are no lucky breaks in the conspiratorial field of politics. If it’s like this for someone as strong as the High Priest, what about you and me?]

In the forest, a bored ranger on duty happened to come across this sad version.

Like those passionate students, they had been hating the priest earlier, but when the priest died suddenly without causing any harm, their emotions inexplicably changed.

It wasn’t forgiveness. It was that he was already dead, and their post-viewing feelings had been elevated.

A priest who had already reached a high position was still abandoned just like that. In the end, he even had to hear the Saintess say, ‘You have disappointed us so much.’

The man is about to die, and you’re still making him reflect!

Are you even human?!

“Everyone is desperately trying to live…”

Just as they were feeling emotional, a line of lyrics jumped out without any warning, striking a deep chord in the hearts of fellow working people.

“That is a fear that those in high positions can never understand,” a ranger said with a complicated expression.

However, he did not know that those in high positions also had their own worries.

For example, the Council of Elders, who were in the middle of a discussion and reading messages. They had been directly asked by the Elf King to experience the newly added communication software.

One of the elders frowned after reading. “The Holy Court has ill intentions. The King must be careful.”

The Elf King’s gaze changed.

At first, he felt the video had shifted the focus.

From the focus of the Holy Court’s conspiracy, it had turned into a discussion about the vicissitudes of the world and the helplessness of the common people.

But this elder had just returned from outside and had not previously participated in the research on the Life Elixir. After watching the whole story for the first time from the video, he actually directly acquiesced that the High Priest had died because his conspiracy was exposed.

He raised his hand to signal for quiet, thought for a moment, and sent a guard to call over a few elves who were unaware of the situation, asking them to watch the video.

After the video finished playing, the Elf King did not give them a chance to breathe and directly conducted a post-viewing interview.

The elf who was asked had just recovered from the content and was still generally dazed. He subconsciously said, “The Holy Court is playing a big game of chess.”

The Elf King looked at the next one. “And you? What are your thoughts after watching?”

“Uh. Humans are really ruthless. Not only did they want to plot against you with conspiracies and tricks, but they also discarded a priest just like that.”

After listening to each one, the Elf King narrowed his eyes. “From where did you all see that the Holy Court designed a conspiracy?”

There was clearly no solid evidence in the entire video.

But these elves couldn’t explain it. After a long while, one finally broke the silence. “It’s just a feeling.”

“That’s right, I have that feeling too.”

“It’s not a feeling. Anyone who’s watched the video knows. The Saintess clearly killed him to silence him,” an older elf said steadily. “And look at the priest’s final appearance, he seemed to agree with it.”

“There’s another detail. He confessed too quickly, and he kept his head down when confessing, obviously worried about his emotions being seen through.”

“It was just embezzlement! At most, he would be punished when he went back. There’s no reason for a death sentence. There must be something fishy going on.”

The naturally meticulous elves, starting from their subconscious conclusions, began a series of detailed analyses worthy of master detectives.

They were just short of including the Saintess stepping out of the threshold with her left foot as part of the evidence.

Finally, their opinions were extremely unified. Those who know, know!

The Elf King: “…This matter may not be related to the Holy Court. I have checked with the other elders, and there is no problem with the Life Elixir itself.”

“No, Your Majesty, it’s already obvious in the video. The Saintess clearly didn’t dare to drink the Life Elixir herself.”

“Even if there’s only a ninety percent chance, it’s better to believe it than not!”

“Right, right, you must not be deceived.”

The Elf King’s fingers tapped lightly on the solid wood armrest.

Interesting.

If he had directly accused the Holy Court with the contents of the recording stone, his kinsmen would have certainly advised him to think twice, suggesting it might really be the priest’s own selfish desire.

But by changing the method, giving no conclusions, they instead became convinced it was related to the Holy Court, and even dared to refute him.

When did the previously all-important evidence become so abstract?

…

The night passed quickly in an exchange of post-viewing thoughts.

Before the sun rose from the sea level the next day, the dragon ship was already waiting by the shore.

The accompanying female attendant wanted to quicken her pace several times, but did not dare to pass the Saintess. Watching the other’s leisurely stroll, she was very nervous.

We should be leaving quickly now. Delays can bring changes. The Elf King is unpredictable. What if he stops us?

She could even feel many pairs of eyes staring at them from the forest!

The Saintess was as noble and calm as when she arrived. She even stopped.

“The misunderstanding has been cleared up. The Elf King is discerning and will not make things difficult for us without evidence.”

The female attendant was stunned. She had a feeling that this sentence was not meant for her.

The Saintess turned slightly to the side, her gaze passing over the female attendant to the rear.

The first rays of dawn shot out. It was as if stars were twinkling in the forest. The Elf King was walking out from the woods, followed by a group of elders.

“It’s not easy to come from afar. Why not stay as a guest for a few more days?”

The Saintess smiled slightly. “In previous years, the celebration of the founding of the human city-states was always managed by the High Priest. Now that something has happened to him, new arrangements have to be made.”

The Elf King did not press her to stay further.

The Saintess’s smile did not change, but she felt a little strange.

It was expected that the Elf King would not stop her, but for him to let her go so lightly without even a verbal jab was truly somewhat unexpected.

“I almost forgot,” the Elf King said. “Iliad asked me to pass on a message. He wishes you sweet dreams every night.”

The Saintess’s gaze darkened.

The dream invasion that day, it was discovered?

Keeping this child back then was truly leaving behind a disaster.

About two to three hundred meters away, Luka sat on a high branch, observing the change in the Saintess’s appearance, clearly feeling the coldness in it.

But he didn’t care. His focus was on something else.

“The celebration of the founding of the human city-states?”

That must be a good day, very suitable for my new product launch.

The corners of Luka’s lips curved up.

He had been worried about not having enough promotional material. Now, for drama, he had “My Demon King Father,” and for action, “My Sword-Through-the-Chest Saintess Mother.” It was hard to imagine how explosive the platform would be after it went online.

No need to crunch the numbers. Hundreds of millions of reads and clicks, easy!

Luka’s Diary Excerpt:

Visitors walk in and find that today there are no words, but a large hand-drawn maze.
After wasting three hours walking through it, a clown’s grimace jumps out from the inserted three-dimensional space.
“Hee hee! Trick or treat!!”
Saintess: …Psycho.
Demon King: What a psycho.
Quill Pen: Cute.
Elf King: Naughty.
Dragon Race: Very impressive! To be able to draw such a complex maze at such a young age shows great artistic talent. The three-dimensional folded space is also done very well. Keep it up, keep it up!

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