… A month ago, Elesol visited the Great Elder with her sister in the sweltering heat of the desert winds that enveloped the elder's tent. The leader of the Scarletborn greeted them. The Great Elder’s face, more withered and frail than Elesol remembered, seemed even more so than when she had last seen him.0

“Hello,” Ellie said.1

— It has been a long time.0

Elesol signed with her hands.0

“It has been a long time indeed. The children who were once so little have now grown into adults,” the Great Elder said with a gentle smile.0

— Now is not the time to reminisce about the past.0

“There is no need for haste.”0

Elesol narrowed her eyes. The Great Elder's gentle and compassionate nature, once something she admired, now felt like an irritation she could no longer overlook.0

— Please, take this.0

Elesol handed over the document, its pages detailing a meticulous plan for the assassination of prominent targets, including Deculein, and the liberation of prisoners from the concentration camp.0

“… You have prepared thoroughly,” the Great Elder said, his expression growing harder as he began to read the document.0

However, his response remained unchanged from the first.0

"Child, such actions would only perpetuate a cycle of hatred.” 0

— Then.0

Elesol slammed against the table.0

— What are you thinking, Great Elder? Our people stand on the brink of extinction, shrouded in a fog as impenetrable as night and as treacherous as a crumbling cliff.0

"Child, what are your thoughts?”0

— It is simple. We must resist to the point where the cost of oppressing the people of the Scarletborn far outweighs any benefit gained.1

If the Empire sought to oppress the Scarletborn and confiscate their wealth for a gain of one hundred, her plan was to retaliate with harm twice as great. In this way, she aimed to strip their oppression of the Scarletborn of any benefit, reducing it to an act devoid of any merit or value.3

"What does the Empire stand to gain by oppressing...1