"You..."
Chris almost couldn't process the information Elashia had just told her.
And Elashia just smiled at her.
"You now have two choices—either choose to go to the citizens' assembly to defend yourself, which will be your last chance. I think you know this better than I do."
The trial at the citizens' assembly generally included two phases—first was the accusation.
After the accusation received support from two-thirds of the people, it would proceed to the next phase—defense.
If more than half the people voted "not guilty" after the defense, then the previous vote could be nullified.
But!
If the defendant failed to appear or was late during the defense phase when they were supposed to appear, they would be considered to have shown contempt for the citizens' assembly—the charges would be established directly without a vote!
Chris appeared very calm, not losing her composure at all due to Elashia's words.
"What about the other choice?"
Hearing Chris's question, Elashia showed an intriguing smile.
"Don't you know that better than I do?"
As a leader of a city-state, she understood the implications of Elashia's words all too well.
There were no garrison troops stationed in the north of the city-state right now; it would be child's play for enemies to enter.
And once the enemies entered the city, that would be trouble.
Just a few fires would be enough to turn half of Yage City into ruins.
The choices before Chris now were only two—either she would be wrongfully imprisoned, or half of Yage City would pay for her innocence with their lives.
Elashia smiled as she looked at Chris.
"However, you should know—as long as the Bal people set a few fires before entering, all the people of Yage City will immediately realize that all those previous slanders against you were nonsense."
"People's suspicions about you would immediately collapse without attack, wouldn't they?"
Faced with Elashia's question, Chris didn't answer anything, only asked her with a determined expression:
"Since you asked this question, I think—you already know my choice very clearly, don't you?"
Elashia asked with a smile:
"Aren't you afraid I'm lying to you? Just letting you miss the citizens' assembly trial and be thrown into prison in confusion?"
Chris shook her head, said nothing, just bent down to pick up the spear placed under the bed and walked toward the door.
Seeing Chris's reaction, Elashia showed an extremely satisfied smile.
Without doubt! This was the person she wanted!
For Chris, her credibility wasn't that high yet.
In her eyes, aside from the slight mystique brought by her ability to use magic, she was no different from other strangers.
And she had also very clearly informed Chris of her purpose in poaching people.
Chris knew very well that she had "no good intentions" toward her.
But she still chose to believe Elashia's words.
Elashia understood all too well why this was.
She wasn't trusting Elashia, this person she had only known for a few days.
The reason she chose to believe what Elashia told her wasn't because she was certain Elashia wasn't lying to her.
But because—she didn't dare to gamble.
She didn't dare gamble the city-state's future on her own innocence.
For someone with such extraordinary sense of responsibility—collective interests far outweighed her own.
So even though she knew what Elashia said might be false, she would still choose to believe.
She simply didn't dare to gamble.
"You really make me like you more and more..."
Elashia smiled at Chris from behind.
Compared to the paper characters in games designed to stimulate perverts, the radiance of humanity shining from the hero before her moved her even more!
"Please don't say things that could easily be misunderstood."
"BOOM!"
After responding to Elashia's words, Chris, already fully armed, directly kicked the door open with one foot!
This would be her last battle as consul, and she would never disappoint the citizens' expectations of her at this final moment!