Chapter 504: Chapter 21: The Battle of Yadesi River (5)
The Battle of the Yadesi River in the Silver Moon Fourth Year, June, for the first time, revealed the aspect of Giant Snake City to everyone. From strength to morale, in every aspect.
Although neither side managed to destroy the other, nor achieve a true victory, it was generally believed that Giant Snake City had won. Isn’t that normal? After all, the Elder Council, with its history of tens of thousands of years, had sent all its elders yet still couldn’t make Giant Snake City submit and had to retreat. Doesn’t that prove the power of Giant Snake City?
It had already proven to everyone that it was a giant that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Bloodline Elder Council.
This was the first truly emerging power on the turbulent Keltos Continent, truly implementing the justice Gray had hoped for from top to bottom. Pieced together bit by bit by Gray’s adopted son, Jones, it was more than just war and destruction, but also creation. *Even though in this turbulent world, creation was still closely tied to war.*
After the war, surprisingly, the Elder Council did not request to renegotiate with Giant Snake City. Even when Jones sent out an invitation for renegotiation, there was no response, like a stone sinking into the sea.
*"Why won’t they negotiate with us? If they don’t negotiate, how will the war end? They can’t swallow us, and we can’t swallow them. This is not the result we wanted from the war."* With this, Jones was quite puzzled.
*Everything seemed to have come to a standstill.*
At this time, Jones did not know that the High Court was experiencing a dramatic ideological change. This was unprecedented in the thousands of years of Blood Clan history. The descendants of the Blood Clan were questioning the authority of the Elder Council, questioning their way of life, and even questioning the entire world. They needed to re-examine everything and redefine themselves. Perhaps, they needed a fresh start.
Two months after the Battle of the Yadesi River, in Silver Moon Fourth Year, August, several princes of the Sambo family appeared in Giant Snake City.
Not just the Sambo family, but also Ganggro, Nikolaus, and representatives of several other Bloodline families accompanied them.
Jones received them in the main hall on the mountain of Giant Snake City Castle.
That was a hall several times larger than the main hall atop the High Court Cloud Blood Castle, just recently completed. The layout was somewhat similar to that of the Blood Castle’s hall, with a podium, audience seats, and a central platform. The difference was that Giant Snake Hall did not resemble an arena.
Every seat here was a high-backed chair, including the audience seats. Sitting row by row in high-backed chairs were Liches, dwarves, elves, gnomes, and even several goblins. Adelle and Belle were among them too.
Oh, and there was also the Hydra. Behind Jones’s seat was a massive platform, which was the place of Hydra Snake Ophelia. The nine snake heads stood high, right behind Jones. Overlooking everything. Large flags with the emblem of the Nine-petal Snake Flower hung from the four walls.
The scene was more solemn than the arriving Blood Clan Lords could have imagined.
After an awkward cough, Prince Louis, the leader of the envoy, bowed solemnly to Jones, *"Honorable Lord of Giant Snake City, Hydra Knight Jones Dracula, it is an honor to meet you. We are representatives of the Bloodline beneath the High Court Elder Council."*
The other Blood Clan Lords also bowed one after another, including Prince Harries, Tiris, and Belle’s father.
Their movements were slow and elegant.
The members of the Giant Snake City council in the audience seats watched silently.
"Giant Snake City welcomes your arrival, my friends," Jones said loudly, "I am pleased to inform you that the Sambo family’s properties in Giant Snake City have always been well-preserved, without any loss."
*"Thank you!"* Prince Louis took a deep breath and responded loudly, *"As a member of the Sambo family, we sincerely thank you! Thank you for not taking out your anger on us because of the war! Thank you for your mercy and understanding!"*
*"It is what I should do. May I ask, are you representing the Elder Council?"*
Adelle sat not far off in the audience seats on a high-backed chair, leaning on the armrest and resting her chin in her hand, quietly watching her father standing in the center of the hall.
*"No, Honorable Lord of Giant Snake City, Hydra Knight,"* Prince Louis replied, *"The Elder Council has abandoned its guidance over the Bloodline descendants. We have come to represent ourselves. As I said earlier, we represent the Bloodline beneath the High Court Elder Council. The tragedy of the Yadesi River made us realize that the Bloodline and Giant Snake City will coexist on the Kolin Peninsula. At least for a long time to come. We have come to seek a way to coexist. We look forward to your dialogue. We look forward to being accepted by you again."*
*"Thank you very much for your honesty. Such honesty benefits us all,"* Jones stood up and said loudly, *"As a sign of sincerity for dialogue, I will pardon, under the framework of Giant Snake City law, all crimes committed by the Bloodline during the war, including those of the Elder Council. The confiscated property of the Bloodline Lords during the war will also be returned. While the war has caused us mutual harm, we support dialogue, we support peace. We never wanted hatred; that should not be the reason to blind our eyes. Of course, since it is a dialogue, you must be prepared that you will not get everything you want."*