Blood Elf Monarch

Early the next day, Tristan headed toward Illiana's room. He had already told Tobias to personally take care of the little mess in the palace courtyard, so he was not worried about individuals who should not know finding out.

Recalling yesterday's events, Tristan's eyebrows unconsciously furrowed. While it was true that he got a lot of Blood Essence from those creatures, it was still not enough in the end.

'These upgrades are just too expensive.'

Even so, he did not plan to give up upgrading them. After all, they were essential for his survival.

"Follow me. I need to show you something," Tristan said to Illiana. He did not elaborate and turned around to head to his destination.

"This is… the dungeon of Prontea City?" the dark elf questioned when they arrived in front of their destination.

She could not figure out why Tristan brought her here. According to the information she knew, this place was just a place where offenders were kept prisoner. Although there were some slightly dangerous individuals kept in this place, in the end, none of them were noteworthy enough for her to keep in mind.

Tristan only smiled when he heard her question.

When the guards saw that their king had arrived with a guest, they immediately saluted and made way for them to enter.

As their footsteps echoed deeper into the dungeon, Illiana noticed something strange.

'It's too empty.'

Although Prontea was never a city known for having a lot of criminals at all, it was too empty compared to the Prontea dungeon she knew about. There were a few prisoners here and there, but most of the cells were empty.

Even though she had never been to this place, she was not so unknowledgeable as to not notice how strange it was.

She even began to suspect that Tristan was dragging her into something bad.

'Is this why he didn't bring that purple-haired woman along?' she even thought to herself. Although she trusted Tristan to an extent, she was never the type to give anyone her complete trust. She was not a child, after all.

Even so, despite her suspicions, she did not say anything and only followed Tristan with her guard slightly up.

After going past the quiet cells for a while, they finally arrived at an area deep below the surface. As Tristan opened the iron door, they were immediately greeted with the sharp smell of rust.

Illiana's eyes slightly widened when she saw what was behind the iron door. Inside, hundreds of prisoners consisting of mostly Asgardians were chained to the walls and the floor. Although the dungeon was filled with prisoners, it was not noisy with the talks and shouts of the prisoners. Instead, the prisoners inside the dungeon were all silent; only the clanking sound of metals could be heard from time to time.

When the individual 'guarding' the place saw that Tristan was here, he immediately rushed to greet him.

"My king, you have come!" a slightly round elf hurriedly ran and bowed.

It was Uriel, the fat elf who was now one of Tristan's most trusted people.

Tristan only nodded in response. It seemed that the elf had lost some weight while he was tasked here, but Tristan did not really care and went straight to business.

"How has everything been going?" he asked the elf in front of him.

"Everything has been going well, my king," Uriel reported. He was exhausted, so it was only now that he only noticed that someone also came with Tristan. Although he did not know Tristan's exact aim in bringing her here, he roughly knew what to do.

"Please follow me," Uriel bowed before walking ahead of them.

As they walked closer to the chained prisoners, Illiana could observe their state more closely. Their complexion was pale, their breathing was weak, and fresh slice marks could be seen all over their bodies.

There was no trace of light in their eyes; it was as if their life had been sucked dry from them.

As the three walked further in, they began to see people in uniforms inside the prisoners' cells. Each of them brought a dagger and a medium-sized basin. The prisoners tried to get away from the people in uniforms, but they could not even move their bodies, much less struggle away.

When they walked past the cells, they could barely make out the weak and hoarse pleas from the prisoners.

"Please… let me out…"

"I'd rather die than stay here, please…!"

"Why must you... do this…?"

Uriel's hand slightly trembled. Even though he was not very sharp, he could vaguely hear them.

'I should really get used to this…' Although he felt that the thought was not quite right, he had no other choice.

After walking for a short while, they arrived in front of another iron door. This was a private room where Tristan usually discussed certain matters like discussing with Uriel about the matters in the dungeon.

Uriel opened the door to the private room and bowed. After Tristan and Illiana entered the room, he closed it and went back to do what he had to in this place. He could not afford to slack off with the task Tristan assigned him.

"This is…?" she looked at Tristan with a questioning gaze. Although she had an idea as to what this place was after seeing the people in uniforms and prisoners' condition, she still wanted to hear it directly from the man who brought her here.

Tristan smiled. "A blood farm."

She had expected the answer, but she was still in disbelif. Even so, the dark elf was not disgusted or afraid. On the contrary, she was amazed. In her eyes, these prisoners were not only useless baggage, but problems to the kingdom. If they were not, then why were they thrown into a prison like this place?

For Tristan to turn such trash into resources, the dark elf was impressed. At the same time, she understood why Tristan chose to bring her to this place with him.

"Our dungeon has quite a lot of prisoners as well. If you'd like, we can have them supply you with blood as well," Illiana offered with an understanding smile.

Tristan showed a surprised look in response.

"Oh? Are you really willing to do that? Are you sure your father won't oppose it?" he casually asked.

"Isn't that the reason you brought me here?" she asked back. "If you really cared about my father's opinion on this matter, you wouldn't have brought me here in the first place."

"Well, I'm sure you'll find a way even if he disagrees," Tristan shrugged. "It's really easy to talk to smart people after all."

The dark elf only chuckled.

Seeing that she was in a good mood, Tristan continued speaking, "That's not the only reason I brought you here though."

Without waiting for Illiana to respond, Tristan took out a ring.

Illiana, who was curious about what this was about, became a bit confused when she saw the ring in his hand. Feeling the dark elf's gaze, Tristan satisfied her curiosity through action.

As Tristan took out the objects from the ring, Illiana's face showed a look of astonishment.

They were cubes of frozen blood.