Over the years she spent serving in the army, Katerina had been in many situations where normal people would have become utterly shocked and lost their senses. Yet, she had had to control everything in order to be calm to give out orders as was expected from someone in command.
Thus, even in this situation, the instincts of a commander kicked in.
First, by discreetly putting her hand in her pocket, Katerina checked the trinket to see whether it had two-way communication.
Realizing that it was designed to only receive messages, she put it back in her pocket before assessing everything she knew.
Looking around, she observed the movements of the former Queen who was standing beside her.
Eldara's eyes were currently fixed on the little Elf girl, and there seemed to be something in the palm of her hand that she seemed to be caressing. Yet, even though Katerina was so close, she couldn't conclusively say whether it really was some sort of object.
Thinking back to the message she had heard, she realized that the voice had a certain sense of confidence; as if everything was in the speaker's control.
Katerina had heard such a tone before, but it was only from people who either stood at the peak of power or were in the highest echelons of command.
From this information, Katerina knew that some plan was unfolding which she had been thrown into without her volition.
Although she felt slightly disgruntled by this, she had to admit that the person who was in control had certainly done his research and had thought about everything before contacting her.
Even if her strong individualistic tendencies would not usually allow her to be coerced into doing something, she had an equally strong sense of duty which would definitely push her towards following the message as even the risk that those children would die if she did not act spurred her to action.
Narrowing her eyes into slits, Katerina became fully alert before beginning to move closer to the former Queen of Eldinor.
She knew she would only have a moment, and she had no intention whatsoever to waste it.
.
....
Meanwhile, the haunting tale of the little elf girl was slowly coming to a close.
After speaking innocently about everything she had endured so far, Lizzie ended her speech with these words:
"My brothers and sisters are still waiting there, and they are very scared. Timmie must have already soiled himself because of waiting for so long. Please save them. Please don't let the box go boom like how the guards always threaten us. Please."
Towards the end, her voice devolved into sobs as she couldn't help but think back to all those waiting in hope that they would go back to their parents.
Seeing the tears running down Lizzie's adorable cheeks, many in the crowd couldn't help but mirror the emotion.
In this case, having no experience had actually been in favor of the little Elf girl, as it allowed her to speak from the heart.
This enabled everyone listening to easily imagine themselves in her shoes.
Icy metal around their necks, so tight that they often couldn't breathe in properly.
Sleeping on cold, hard mattresses in absolute darkness and praying that it wouldn't become cold.
Huddling together for warmth when it did become cold, as they had no blankets to use.
Such horrific living conditions couldn't be seen even in the prisons run by the government.
"Monster!"
"Devil!"
"Kill the slavers! Save the children!"
After Lizzie stopped speaking, the crowds did not stay silent anymore.
With tears on their faces and boundless anger blazing in their eyes, the people of Eldinor started to scream for retribution.
What had been anger before devolved completely into fury because of the heartfelt tale of one little girl.
In fact, hearing everything, Eldra herself found herself crying and lost for words.
Looking around to see the woman who was responsible for it all, anger appeared on her face again seeing Eldara also had tears in her eyes.
With an expression of complete sadness, the former Queen of Eldinor constantly looked towards Lizzie while wiping her eyes of the tears that were appearing incessantly on them.
Although Eldra felt like she was consumed by rage upon seeing this, she followed Daneel's instructions: making sure to shut her mouth, she watched on to see whether the King of Lanthanor's estimation would be correct.
…..
Acting was one of the first skills learned by Eldara during her training to take over the family in her childhood years. In fact, she still remembered the lashings she endured when she wasn't fast enough to suit her mother's expectation.
Thus, at this moment, it was a piece of cake to make herself look like someone who was so affected by the story that she couldn't even speak.
Of course, she had been the one to decide on all the details. The others had suggested that they install proper beds and bathrooms, but Eldara had decreed that these conditions would break the minds of those little ones, making them all the more valuable when the time of sale came.
After all, to her, they were only assets. Thus, she couldn't care less about what they felt. All she wanted was a high payout which would fund her election campaigning for many years to come.
'It's time to end this farce', she thought before deciding to deal the finishing blow to her naive daughter.
At this moment, she couldn't help but sigh as although she had given Eldra all the training she could think of, she had neglected to train her in the one thing most required in a ruler: ruthlessness.
It was this ruthlessness which had enabled her to stay on the throne for so long.
And it was this ruthlessness which would ensure that she would win again.
Looking around, she noticed that the fury of the people was reaching a boiling point due to the sadness caused by the story they had heard.
At this moment, what would happen if the warehouse blew up?
Just a story had caused this much angst. What would the sight of hundreds of tiny body parts lying charred on the ground invoke?
Chaos. And a single-minded determination to catch those responsible.
With the warehouse blowing up, the last proof tying her to this entire thing would disappear in the flames.
Afterward, the only proof remaining would be the one against Eldra.
To people blinded by rage, a slight prod was all that was needed. Besides, Eldra still hadn't done anything to change her impression except somehow producing one of the elves who had been abducted.
This point itself could be turned against her. What if the accusation arose that Eldra had planned everything-using an abducted elf to rile up the crowd and then blowing up the warehouse after planting false evidence that Eldara was responsible for it all? The fact that she had managed to save at least one elf would put her on positive ground, and the 'false' evidence would point the crowd towards Eldara.
Of course, Eldara would be the one planting this false evidence, which she could use to 'expose' Eldra's plan to the people, resulting in her winning the election without any effort!
Although she still didn't know what exactly her daughter's actual plan was, Eldara felt that this plan of hers was foolproof. There would be nothing left to tie her to any crime, and she would also have a way to decisively incriminate her daughter. After all, it wasn't like this was the first time she was doing something like this. She had been the one to send information to a certain news organization that defamed her, yet she had 'exposed' this to the public after proving that it was wrong to turn them towards her and away from those 'despicable' contestants.
Of course, all her thinking and planning was after taking into account the assumption that no one powerful enough to disable the failsafes could enter the frey. The collars needed someone at the peak of the Warrior level to analyze them, and the bomb was the most expensive of them all: it required a Champion level powerhouse to deactivate. There was no one at these levels in all of Central Angaria, thus Eldara had no choice to plan after assuming that the escape of one slave was due to a fluke. After all, if someone like this did interfere and the slaves had all escaped, the Government would already be completely investigating the scene. Although she had been as careful as possible, she couldn't say with certainty that there was nothing at all left which tied her to the crime, especially if the Government had access to the prison. This was the reason she had installed the last failsafe in the first place. Now, by activating it, she at least had a chance to escape scot-free, and it was the last option available to her.
Thus, without sparing any thought for all the lives that would be snuffed away, Eldra proceeded to press the button on the locket she had been holding in her hand all this while.
While doing so, she prepared the speech which would sow the seeds of discord in the people, making them suspect that Eldra was the one responsible for it all.