Chapter 1296 A Livestock Farm...
Chapter 1296 A Livestock Farm...
1296 A Livestock Farm...
"That does change everything." Felix frowned.
Felix knew that the alliance could handle anything thrown at them by the demons, but this was going to be really tough to deal with.
The fact that the seven princes were capable of resurrecting themselves anywhere made it close to impossible to eradicate the demons no matter how hard the alliance tried.
They could weaken them and even conquer the entire seven demon realms...But, as long as the seven princes were alive, they would always be able to demonize the living and create a neverending army.
"We have to come up with something to deal with them." Queen Alfreda said.
"Hmm, we can invade their memories and find out all the locations of their spread-out body parts." Queen Allura suggested.
"First, it's doubtful if even they knew of their locations as they can just give them to their subordinates and tell them to hide them. Second, those princes are clearly too strong for us to risk capturing them instead of straight out killing them."
Emperor Lokhil retorted.
"Let's leave this for later." Minisiter Aquiris said as refocused on Felix's discussion with Queen Danika.
"The seven princes' immortality is what helped them conquer our universe." Queen Danika sighed, "Back in the day, my race had an entire empire covering more than 20% of the seven realm demons' territory. There were other races just as strong if not stronger than us. We ruled our side of the universe and lived in a conflicted but manageable situation. All of this changed when the seven princes were born and began spreading evil energy on each planet they stepped on. From mere seven princes, hundred, thousands, and before we know it, millions of demons were born and an unfathomable number of planets have fallen. Against this common enemy, all empires and kingdoms have created an alliance and fought against them."
"You failed?"
"No, we actually succeeded in killing most of the demons and even six princes besides Lucifer." Queen Danika shook her head, "But, we had no clue at that time about the princes' immortality. They went into hiding for a long duration, taking their sweet time to build new armies. When our empires started raging actual wars with each other for territory, they launched their attack and ended up triumphing over us at our weakest. Ever since then, the empires began losing their territories and people at a rapid pace until the seven demon realms were born."
"The only citizen left from those empires were either used in farming areas or had escaped to the edges of the universe and rebuilt their civilizations." Queen Danika smiled wryly, "My people are the last line of the Luminaris race and as their Queen, I feel obliged to try everything to keep our bloodline alive."
"That's why you offered to turn your race into a farm under Lucifer's allegiance when you saw me." Felix stated.
Queen Danika nodded her head with a tint of shame in her eyes.
"Mind if I ask how it works?" Felix inquired.
"You knew?"
Queen Danika tightened her fists under the table while keeping her expression as stoic as possible.
"It wasn't difficult to guess."
The moment Felix learned about the demons' food and their way of getting it, he already foresaw that the demons would always prioritize a peaceful treaty with other races.
A peace treaty in the sense that the demons wouldn't need to invade their targets' territories and let them live a peaceful life.
However, they would be forced to hand them a constant supply of captives to keep both parties alive!
This was the real meaning of becoming a demon's farm as those races existed for the sake of the demons' survivability!
The demons were smart enough to realize that the moment they get rid of their 'livestock', they would lose any more sources of food and end up without their rationality.
In this case, the Luminaris' royal family was clearly in a peace treaty with the Netherlings.
Otherwise, there was no way both parties would have coexisted for such a long time on a single planet!
Queen Danika found it difficult to talk about this as it was really not a pleasant subject.
"It must have been hard."
"You have no idea..."
Queen Danika bit her lower lip until it was about to bleed.
"No one here is going to judge you. I just want to know how does this 'farm system' works." Felix comforted.
He truly had no plans to judge her as he wasn't put in a similar scenario before. This scenario was far more brutal than anything one could go through.
To be given two options, either peacefully sacrificing a portion of their race or having them all killed off, was no simple choice to make.
"My late husband has always refused to cooperate with the Netherlings and agree to turn our kingdom into a farm. He has paid the price for his stubbornness and caused more than 60% of our people to get either demonized or killed off. Almost all of the cities across the continent have fallen under his rulership." Queen Danika spoke with a look of resentment, "I know that he was the king and he has the royal family's dignity to uphold, but this should be an option only if he had a chance to win against those villainous demons!"
"As much as I take pride in my race and kingdom, I knew from the start that we have zero chance of defeating the Netherlings. Our bodies are weak and our elemental abilities can't be used when our energy stones mines have been raided by the demons and destroyed. We were utterly hopeless to their invasions and he still refused to accept the deal...He could have saved us all, but he was too proud to surrender...Too proud..."
Tears stung her eyes as she thought of the carnage that had followed her husband's refusal to surrender to the demon invaders. The streets had run red with the blood of her people, their screams still echoing in her ears.
"If he had listened to me, we would have had much more of our citizens still breathing and alive." Queen Danika lifted her head and looked at Felix with moist reddened eyes, "See, I made the right decision, right? I made the right decision..."
It was like she was asking for a confirmation to ease just a bit of her crippling guilt about turning her kingdom into the Netherlings' livestock farm.
God knows how much of her own citizens she actively handed to the Netherlings' demons. Whether it was one or thousands, the guilt would eat anyone alive...
"There are no wrong or right decisions in your situation." Felix narrowed his eyes, "There are just results...In your case, your bet has paid off and your bloodline has been saved."
"As long as you are a member of the SGAlliance, your race won't need to worry ever again about demons." Mika added calmly.
Queen Danika lowered her head and left her tears falling unchecked...She knew that her anger and guilt would never fade, but she would carry them with her always.
A reminder of the cost of her husband's pride and her weakness as a ruler who couldn't protect her citizens through and through...
When Queen Danika regained control over her emotions, she cleaned herself up and restored her royal image...If it wasn't for Felix and Mika being outsiders and of a much higher position than her, she would have kept everything bottled up.
But now, she was somewhat at peace with speaking about the farm's details.
"I don't know about other demons and their farm deals. but the one erected with the Netherlings is simple in nature."
Queen Danika shared, "On a yearly basis, I have to release at least a hundred random citizens above the age of eighteen to the wilderness. Whatever happens to them won't be the capital city's problem."
"The citizens are okay with this??" Felix raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"They aren't dumb..We never had a problem with a yearly batch before since all adults understand that the only reason the capital is still standing is because of this secret peace treaty." Queen Danika smiled bitterly.
If Felix managed to come to the conclusion that the demons and Luminaris' were in a deal to keep the balance. then it was obvious that the rest of the Luminaris would be on to this.
Since they were getting kicked out of the city instead of being handed directly into the demons. This gave them at least a bit of hope of survival.
"We direct them to hidden underground locations and give them some resources to live by. Our part of the deal is done and it's up to the demons to find them."
"Why did the Netherlings accept this deal?"
"Just like we have no choice but to do this to ensure our bloodline survival, they also have no choice but to accept our conditions." Queen Danika said coldly, "I refuse to hand my people directly in their hands..That's my bottom line."