Chapter 154: Agents Of Destruction

The moment Nyx heard her sister wanted to ban guns, she froze.

Then she whirled around, marching directly toward Leona with an expression of utter disbelief.

“What are you saying, Leona?” Nyx’s voice was sharp, exasperated. “Why would you want to ban guns?”

“Fine! I’ll leave the war aside, even though I really, really want to go and teach those humans a lesson.”

She said with a look of malice on her face.

“For your sake, for the sake of peace, I’ll set that aside for now.”

She took a breath, visibly trying to calm herself.

“But guns? What do guns have to do with anything?”

She shook her head, frustration bleeding through every word as she said,

“We’re not going to immediately start a war with them. We’re not going to invade anyone. We’d just be training with them, learning to use them, having them for protection.”

“So, what’s wrong with that?”

She stepped closer to her sister, her voice dropping but losing none of its intensity.

“And besides—for the first time in forever, I’m actually interested in a ranged weapon.”

“You know I’ve always been bored with bows. They’re fine, but they don’t excite me. But a gun?”

Her eyes gleamed.

“That thing is fascinating. It’s powerful. It’s elegant in its destruction. And now you want to take that away before I even get a chance to try it?”

“…Why’s that?”

Around them, the other elves leaned in.

They too wanted to know—what was wrong with having such weapons?

Luca had given them compound bows, and that was wonderful.

Why were guns different?

Leona looked at her sister for a moment. Then she turned to address everyone, her voice calm but heavy with the weight of her words.

“I’ll give you a very simple answer.”

She paused, gathering her thoughts and finally said,

“Imagine we get guns from Luca. Imagine we train with them, become proficient, store them away for emergencies.”

“In the distant future, if war becomes necessary, we have this advantage. It sounds perfect, doesn’t it? Beneficial. Safe.”

Nyx nodded vigorously. “Exactly! So why—”

“Now imagine…” Leona continued, overriding her. “…that just one of those guns falls into human hands.”

The clearing went still.

“Not even the gun itself.” Leona elaborated. “Imagine the idea of a gun reaches them. The concept. The knowledge that such a weapon exists and how it might work.”

Nyx blinked.

“What? That won’t happen. We’d never—”

“I’m not saying one of us would give it to them deliberately.”

Leona cut her off.

“I’m not accusing anyone of treason. But accidents happen. Losses happen. And if a gun—just one single gun were to end up in human possession, what do you think would happen next?”

Leona answered her own question.

“The humans would take it apart. They’d study every component, every mechanism, every detail. They might not understand it immediately—all of that is new to them…”

“…But they are not stupid.”

Her voice hardened.

“We look down on humans. We call them barbaric, primitive, brutish. But they are scheming. They are clever. They are constantly trying to advance, to improve, to conquer.”

“That’s what makes them dangerous.”

She looked around at the gathered elves.

“So, they will fail a hundred times, a thousand times, trying to replicate it. But eventually…”

“…eventually they will succeed.”

The horror was slowly dawning on faces throughout the crowd.

“And the moment they succeed…” Leona continued. “…it’s game over. Not just for us. For the entire world.”

Murmurs of confusion rippled through the crowd.

The entire world? What did that mean?

“This world is primitive right now.”

Leona continued, her voice taking on a grim quality.

“Compared to Luca’s world, compared to what we had with mana, we are living in a primitive age.”

“Swords, bows, arrows—these are the tools of our time. They require skill, strength, training. They have limitations.”

“But guns?” She forwned. “Guns have no such limitations. A child can kill a warrior with a gun. A coward can kill a hero. Strength, skill, courage—none of it matters when faced with a bullet.”

She looked around at her people.

“Right now, the balance of power in this world is maintained by these limitations.”

“It takes years to train a skilled archer. It takes strength to wield a sword effectively. It takes courage to face an enemy in battle.”

“These things create a natural order.”

Her voice dropped.

“But if guns become common? If everyone knows how to make them? That order shatters. Suddenly, every petty thief, every jealous neighbor, every coward with a grudge has the power to kill.”

“And they will use it.”

She pointed at the humans’ continent.

“Humans would use them against each other.”

“And with them, Kingdoms would fall.”

“Wars would become massacres.”

“The strong would slaughter the weak from a distance, without ever looking them in the eyes.”

“Chaos. Pandemonium. The entire world thrown into bloody chaos because we introduced a weapon this world wasn’t ready for.”

The silence was absolute.

Elves looked at each other, faces pale.

What Leona described wasn’t just frightening—it was apocalyptic.

A world where everyone had guns, where killing was easy and distance meant safety, where the balance of power shifted to whoever could manufacture the most weapons the fastest.

“That’s…” Lulu whispered, her usual playfulness completely absent. “That’s terrifying.”

“It would be the end of everything.” Another elf murmured. “Not just us—everything.”

Nyx stood frozen, her expression cycling through emotions—anger, denial, and finally, a grudging understanding she clearly didn’t want to feel.

Leona sighed, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. She turned to look at Luca, who had been watching silently throughout.

“Of course.” She said more quietly. “Not everything from your world is dangerous, Luca. The medical treatments you’ve given us—those are wonderful.”

“Those save lives, heal wounds, make people better. If knowledge of medicine spread across the world, that would be a good thing. A blessing.”

She gestured at the gun.

“But this? A weapon that can kill dozens in seconds? A tool designed specifically for mass destruction? That’s different.”

“That’s not a blessing—it’s a curse waiting to happen.”

She met Luca’s eyes directly.

“I’m not saying guns should never exist in this world.”

“Maybe someday, centuries from now, when society has advanced enough to handle them responsibly. When there are laws and systems and balances to prevent chaos.”

“But now? In this primitive, fractured world, with humans already hungry for conquest?”

She shook her head firmly.

“No. For now, we should stick with bows and arrows. They require skill. They require training. They require looking your target in the eye.”

“They don’t turn killing into something a child could do by accident.”

She looked back at her people—at the elves who had, just moments ago, been ready to march on the human continent with guns in hand.

“We need to advance. We need to grow stronger. But we need to do it in a way that doesn’t destroy the world in the process.”

While everyone was coming to terms with what she was saying and realising how foolish they were moments ago, Leona turned towards Luca.

And suprisingly her gaze was different now—vulnerable in a way they rarely saw from the former matriarch.

The usual cold mask had cracked, revealing something raw beneath.

“I know I have absolutely no power over you, Luca.”

She began, her voice quieter than before.

“I have no right to say any of this. I treated you poorly when you first arrived. I was cold, suspicious, unwelcoming. And right now, you’re the one in charge of everything—these supplies, these weapons, this knowledge.”

“I have no authority over you whatsoever.”

Luca watched her calmly, saying nothing.

“But I hope you’ll listen to me anyway.”

Leona’s voice trembled slightly.

“Not as someone giving orders. Not as a matriarch demanding obedience. Just as an elf who is terrified for her village’s future.”

“Or more personally…”

She glanced at Luna and Lulu, who stood frozen, watching their mother with expressions they couldn’t hide.

“…for my daughters future.”

She turned back to Luca and said with genuine concern and sincerity in her voice.

“Please. Consider what I’ve said. Don’t let our past misunderstandings color your judgment.”

“Just…think about it. For all our sakes.”

The plea hung in the air, raw and honest.

And honestly Leona doubted if her words would hold any sway right now.

After how she’d been acting with everyone and how she sided sides with the males, she thought that no would listen to her.

But, unexpectedly, another elf stepped forward.

It was Tamsin—the same young elf who had earlier volunteered to take up a gun for her little sister’s sake. Her face was pale, but her voice was steady.

“I…I agree with Lady Leona.”

She swallowed hard.

“A few minutes ago, I was excited about guns. I wanted to learn. I wanted to be powerful. But now…”

She looked down at her hands.

“Now I realize that holding a gun means holding the future. If even one of those weapons leads to the kind of destruction Lady Leona described—massacres, genocide, chaos—I don’t want that on my conscience. I can’t carry that.”

“Same here.”

Another elf nodded vigorously.

“Having guns would make us feel safe now, but what about later? When humans figure out how to make them? When they turn them against us?”

“We’d be right back where we started, only with more bloodshed.”

“We can fight with bows.” A third added. “We’ve done it for centuries. We’ll keep doing it. It’s who we are. We don’t need guns.”

And just like that, elves stepped forward, adding their voices to the chorus.

“I don’t want guns.”

“Bows are enough.”

“We’ll advance, but our own way.”

“We don’t need shortcuts that could destroy everything.”

One by one, the elves voiced their agreement.

The crowd that had been swayed by Nyx’s bloody vision was now swayed by Leona’s cautious wisdom.

Then Luna stepped forward.

Luna glanced at her mother, then at Luca as she proclaimed her stance,

“I also think we don’t need guns right now.”

She paused, choosing her words carefully and continued saying,

“Maybe someday, when the world is ready, we could develop something similar. But that should take generations—not be handed to us overnight.”

“Hehe. A shortcut to power that could destroy everything?” She shook her head. “I’d rather take the long road.”

Leona’s eyes trembled. She hadn’t expected her daughter—the one she was still estranged from, the one who barely spoke to her to support her.

And to her surprise it wasn’t just Luna, but Lulu also bounced forward, nodding so frantically her twin tails whipped around.

“Yeah! Yeah! Whatever everyone just said! I agree completely!”

She then struck a pose, pointing dramatically at nothing as she said,

“Besides, I don’t even need a gun! Give me a bow and I’ll fire ten arrows in a second! I’m basically a gun already!”

A few elves chuckled despite themselves. Others rolled their eyes affectionately.

But the laughter died quickly as all eyes returned to Luca.

The entire village, except Nyx, who stood silently with crossed arms was looking at him with hope and fear mingled together.

They had made their stance clear.

They didn’t want guns.

They didn’t want to become agents of chaos.

Now they waited for his response.

Luca looked at them with a pensive gaze.

Then his brow furrowed.

And finally—

“You guys…”

He tilted his head, confusion evident.

“When did I ever say I was going to give you guns in the first place?”

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