Chapter 2112: Honor

Upon hearing the words of that young Elf, the atmosphere on the side of the Golden Autumn Courtyard suddenly stagnated; not only was Crown King Helien's face ashen, but most of the guests instantly sobered up.

As one of the parties involved, Xia Duo felt even more furious; this Taier Aishi tradition, or rather, this Taier Aishi ritual, was by no means a good thing!

In the current Elf World, Taier Aishi is also known as a "Honor Duel," usually a dueling ritual used by Elves of a certain status to "persuade" the other party when they have a disagreement.

Yet this Honor Duel is often not honorable at all. First of all, the duel is to the death, which in itself is nothing, but linking it to a "disagreement" essentially means if you cannot be persuaded by reason, you must be physically eliminated!

Secondly, and most crucially—the main reason Xia Duo believes it does not deserve to be called an "Honor Duel"—is that it allows followers to act as substitutes.

Therefore, basically in the Elf history he has read, Elves who died in Honor Duels were either those in low positions of power or unlucky followers; true superiors rarely died in Honor Duels.

Finally, Taier Aishi cannot be refused. After all, since it is a life-or-death duel, the other party's opinion is not actually important—provided, of course, that both sides are Elves and their statuses are comparable, not too far apart.

Because the original meaning of Taier Aishi was "a fair debate conducted by the Teu'Tel'Quessir people," which later gradually evolved into a duel.

When Xia Duo was in the 【Projection Plane: Maiyuelita Sukanweisa】, he had witnessed Taier Aishi rituals more than once with his own eyes; some involved verbal debates, others involved duels, and both sides were very restrained, without much hostility.

But by the time of the 【Projection Plane: Evereska Independent】 timeline, Taier Aishi had already turned into the so-called "Honor Duel," and the reality of the Main Plane is the same.

Xia Duo, of course, could not possibly agree to such a duel, not only because he is not an Elf and thus not within the scope of Taier Aishi, but also because the Taier Aishi ritual process is cumbersome and has many restrictions on the means used; at the very least, he could not just take a War Spell and blast the other party directly.

The fact that he is not an Elf can be circumvented; after all, Taier Aishi is itself a dueling ritual that has undergone conceptual extension, and expanding it from Elves to all Wisdom-bearing beings is actually not abrupt.

The cumbersome process and many restrictions are not really problems either; if it were just to relax, compared to this characteristic banquet that is about to go off the rails, Xia Duo would actually rather play something more substantial.

But this is a duel, a life-or-death duel; regardless of winning or losing, it is not a good thing for him.

If he loses, it goes without saying—that is death; even if he wins, the other side likely possesses considerable status and background, and killing them would simply be provoking a source of trouble that he would never be able to shake off.

If he does not kill them, it is even more troublesome, because that means the other party could kill him at any time when he is at a disadvantage to complete the duel, and this is legal.

At least in the Northland, where Elf rules almost dominate, it is completely legal.

Xia Duo cannot guarantee that he will always have the upper hand or that there will never be a day when he is down on his luck; he cannot leave himself such a huge hidden danger.

Furthermore, the pretext for today's duel is too childish; just because he once defeated Furuisi, an Elf jumps out to challenge him to a life-or-death duel. If he agrees to this one, then if there are enemies next time, wouldn't they not even need to find a reason?

No matter what, it is impossible for Xia Duo to agree to this duel, but he did not directly refuse either; instead, he remained silent, looking at the other party with interest.

Of course, this also depends on Crown King Helien's attitude.

Having invited guests over, only to have one's own subordinates initiate a life-or-death duel against a guest at a welcome banquet—regardless of the outcome or whether the guest agrees—Helien is effectively being slapped hard in the face.

And to be slapped by his own nominal subordinate at that—how could a king who is determined to achieve true centralization of power endure this? Even at a banquet that is traditionally an occasion for indulgence, he rose in anger.

Just as he was about to reprimand, Xia Duo spoke first, saying to the young Elf standing before him: "You want to initiate a duel against an ally; is this appropriate?"

Netheril and Yierlan both belong to the Northland Alliance, so calling them allies is not a big problem, it is just that when everyone is an ally, such a title seems too cheap.

Sure enough, upon hearing Xia Duo say "ally," the young Elf immediately retorted: "Allies do not bring a fortress into an ally's home."

"Then are you questioning the decision of the Crown King and the Council?"

"Nonsense, I am merely expressing doubt about you defeating Master Furuisi."

Looking at the other party's slightly evasive eyes, Xia Duo understood; not to mention that he had the high-level officials of the Northland countries as witnesses when he defeated Furuisi, but for a perfectly good welcome banquet to suddenly turn into a trap—it would be strange if no one was behind it!

So he blurted out, "Who sent you?"

"I—"

The young Elf subconsciously looked behind him, but before he could realize he had been tricked and become angry from embarrassment, another calm voice sounded from across the room:

"Lord Xia Duo, please forgive us. At first, I only mentioned your heroic deeds to the child; I did not expect him to ignorantly initiate a Taier Aishi duel against you. But tradition cannot be defied; I hope you will fulfill his desire for martial advancement."

Good grief, Xia Duo thought, good grief; if this were in the human world, one who didn't know better would think the Elf who spoke and this young Elf in front of him were enemies!

Yet the more the other party acted this way, the less he wanted to let them have their way, and it could not be the kind of "not having their way" that involved Crown King Helien stepping in to intervene.

In fact, if Helien were to step in, perhaps the other party would get exactly what they wanted!

And Helien realized the trap at this moment; the traditional forces within Yierlan are not small, and they are not limited to his opposition camp—many of his supporters are also among them.

Tradition and centralization of power do not actually have much conflict; except for a very small number of fanatics, most Elves who respect and follow tradition do so based on the principle that tradition can bring them more benefits.

If it cannot, then tradition is not necessarily impossible to abandon; just like Yierlan's centralization reform, both supporters and opponents can find reasons in tradition, but the final decision on which side to take depends on their respective interests.

It is just that respecting tradition has already become almost an instinct, integrated into every aspect of the Elf race; the impact of breaking tradition is hard to estimate.

As Crown King, if he gives his supporters and the public the impression that he likes to break tradition, that is not a good thing.

Thinking of this, Helien glanced with almost undisguised disgust at Elder Yinsuo in the seat on his left; for the other party to deliberately pick this occasion to stir up trouble—did they really think he had no bottom line!