Volume 4, Chapter 1 – 100.5

On an autumn evening, a carriage sped across the grasslands.

This was the territory of the vast Silvar Kingdom, the foremost power on the Northern Continent, founded by the elf race, who were distinguished by their pointed ears, powerful affinity for natural magic, and innate mana surge.

It was a domain at least three times the size of the Milcandis Holy Kingdom. If one were to include the unclaimed islands to the west and parts of the Netherworld to the south, Silvar’s territory would be even larger.

It must be said that some four thousand years ago, Silvar’s territory was not nearly so vast. In fact, at that time, Silvar was in a sorrier state than the current Cold Moon Alliance. While the Cold Moon Alliance was mired in internal tribal strife, it still maintained an area slightly smaller than the Milcandis Holy Kingdom. Four thousand years ago, however, the elf race held a territory less than one-fifth the size of the Milcandis Holy Kingdom.

The Elf Kingdom of that era was just like their appearance: delicate, slender, and unskilled in combat. They lived day by day, relying on natural magic to ripen wild fruits.

Adhering to the creed that building cities would destroy nature and cause them to lose their ability to use natural magic, the elves had not even formed villages or towns. They lived scattered in tribes, regarded as a fragile race by all on the World Tree Continent. Anyone could step on them. If not for the fact that their lands were near the frigid Frostlands, unsuitable for human habitation, the elves would have long since become a race of slaves.

This situation changed with the appearance of an Elf Saint four thousand years ago.

Saints were beings chosen by the gods, possessing power beyond that of mortals. They could be native inhabitants of the World Tree Continent or, like the founding king of the Bart Duchy, people from another world. This Elf Saint was a native. He emerged at a critical moment when the elves’ living environment was being encroached upon by monsters from the Frostlands. With unparalleled strength and eloquence, he united the various tribes. At the same time, he led from the front, guiding the elf warriors of each tribe to repel the monsters.

Had he done only this, the Elf Saint would have merely been called a hero. But he did one more thing. On the night of his success, he invited the chiefs and priests of every tribe to a banquet. Then, with swift and brutal force, he slaughtered them all. Backed by the prestige he had accumulated among the soldiers of the various tribes over the years, he completely ended the elves’ tribal past. He declared himself King and established the first elf city.

With the advent of cities, the history of the Elf Kingdom began. It could be said that without this Saint, there would be no ascendant elf race. Therefore, every generation of the Elf Kingdom’s king worships this figure who could be called a hegemon.

As for why the elves were able to establish an overwhelming advantage over other races after founding their nation, the reasons are quite simple. First, because of their innate mana surge, elves learn magic much faster than humans, allowing them to form magic-wielding legions more quickly.

Second, elves possess a lifespan far longer than that of humans. Even a short-lived elf engaged in heavy labor their entire life could live for at least two hundred years. With this longevity bonus, even if an elf’s rate of accumulating their maximum mana was slower than a human’s, their combat experience was more than enough to bridge the gap. On a real battlefield, a single elf warrior could often engage several humans at once without being at a disadvantage.

Finally, while elf fertility was lower than that of humans, it wasn’t by a large margin. Coupled with their natural magic that could accelerate crop growth, the result of increased food production, expanded living space, and long lifespans was a population explosion.

Consequently, it was difficult for any single human nation to stand against the organized elves. In fact, the single nation of Silvar occupied the entire northeastern corner of the World Tree Continent. If it weren’t for the ocean to the west, the Frostlands to the north, and the barren Netherworld to the south, Silvar would have long ago swallowed up all the surrounding human countries. As for the east, that was the edge of the World Tree Continent—a sheer cliff.

Of course, this process sounds easy, but it took a full four thousand years for the elves’ territory to reach its current state. For one, the elf race had not yet achieved a significant scale in its early stages and developed in secret—the downside of a long lifespan was that it took a full century for one generation of elves to mature.

Second, constrained by terrain, the elves’ territory fell into endless internal strife after expanding to roughly its present-day size. Silvar itself was founded only four hundred years ago. Although the current king of the Elf Kingdom is not the founding king, he is the second. If the age of the elf dynasty were converted to human years, its rate of change would be comparable to, if not faster than, that of humans.

Therefore, for a long-lived race, Silvar was in fact a new and young kingdom.

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“It’s just as Anastasia said. After entering Silvar, the carriage’s speed has picked up quite a bit.”

The speaker was a young girl leaning back against the carriage wall, stretching languidly. Her long, ink-black hair flowed down from her formal dress and spread across the seat. The delightful curve of her chest was revealed in the sunlight streaming through the window. Because the black and white dress had a backless design, even her evocative armpits and smooth, fragrant shoulders were exposed to the light.

Anyone would think they could smell the girl’s fragrance just by looking at her.

The relaxed expression on her face filled her elegant posture with a lazy grace. From any angle, she looked like a noble lady of high status.

“Well, it’s Sister Ana, after all. She remembers this kind of thing best. Besides, even if she didn’t say so, you should have guessed that the roads in our Silvar would be better than in human kingdoms. Silvar rarely has those roads full of potholes that become impossible to travel on when it rains.”

The respondent was a younger girl sitting on the side of the carriage. Though also a girl, the purple-haired girl’s facial features and demeanor held more youthfulness and liveliness. With her hands braced on either side of her body, she looked down at her calves, which were clad in white over-the-knee socks and dangling beneath her white dress. She seemed rather bored.

As if remembering something, the purple-haired girl suddenly looked up at the more elegant black-haired girl.

“Aren’t you studying magic today, Sister?”

“I want to try tonight. I have something I want to experiment with today.”

“No wonder you haven’t been outside today. It’s a pity this is a carriage prepared by the Holy Kingdom. If it were our dragon carriage, we could be sleeping on soft cushions to pass the time right now. Ah, this is a perfect opportunity to learn how to drive an eight-legged horse from Sister Ana. My butt is going to get calluses from sitting in this carriage all the time.”

As she spoke, Liti arched her back to stand up and patted her bottom with both hands.

Fia couldn’t help but find it amusing.

“Didn’t you just teach me that ‘as a princess, one shouldn’t say words like ‘butt’?'”

“That depends on the occasion! Court etiquette is for outsiders to see. It’s just you and me here, so it’s fine to relax a little. I’m going to find Sister Ana outside, then. Even little Milu is starting to learn how to drive a carriage, I can’t lose to her.”

“I’m guessing Anastasia definitely won’t teach you.”

Driving a carriage was something commoners and servants did. As royalty, if Liti were known to be learning how to drive a carriage, she would be severely reprimanded by her etiquette tutor and ridiculed by other nobles for lacking dignity.

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Faced with Fia’s doubt, Liti puffed out her chest proudly.

“As long as I act cute with Sister Ana, she’ll teach me.”

“Don’t bully Anastasia too much. If someone sees, not only you, but Anastasia will be punished too.”

“This is sisterly affection, sisterly affection! Don’t worry, Sister. I won’t let anyone see her teaching me. If I spot anyone on the road, I’ll dive right back in.”

“As long as you know to be discreet.”

Letting Liti learn how to drive a carriage wasn’t a bad thing, so Fia let her be. The spacious carriage was suddenly left with only Fia inside.

Out of boredom, Fia took out “The Secret History of Witches” and began to learn about the history of the World Tree Continent.

A week had now passed since the group left Byrne City. According to Anastasia’s estimates, they would arrive at Silvar’s royal capital, Blossom, in two days. As proof, the Golden Holy Tree in Fia’s vision was much clearer than before.

Normally, Fia should have been nervous about the unknown future in the royal capital, but the truth was, she didn’t feel the slightest bit of anxiety, only that the journey was incredibly dull. This world not only lacked mental connections but didn’t even have an instant messaging network. People’s forms of entertainment were extremely primitive—nobles could play chess, ride horses, and hunt, while commoners could only turn off the lights at night and make babies. At first, Fia could alleviate her boredom by looking at the scenery outside the window, but now she was wholeheartedly wishing for some bandits to show up and give the journey some excitement.

Unfortunately, this wish was hard to fulfill. Silvar’s public security was excellent. In the past five days, forget bandits, Fia had only seen two or three refugees. Almost every day, they would encounter patrolling soldiers clearing roadblocks and monster nests, a sight never seen in human kingdoms.

A powerful, prosperous, and confident nation.

Just from the behavior of the people along the road, Fia could get a general picture of the country. It was no wonder the elf race could contest territory with the undead from the Netherworld to the south. If not for the fact that magic in this world could create storms, the elf race would have probably turned the sea between them and the Milcandis Holy Kingdom into an inland sea long ago.

Just as Fia was thinking about such things, a flash of white light shot into the carriage. Fia instinctively raised a hand to shield her eyes. Although it was already late September, the last vestiges of summer’s power had yet to fade.

Did Liti run into travelers so soon?

If she remembered correctly, Anastasia had deliberately chosen a less-traveled path to reach the capital in secret. Since dawn, Fia had barely seen a soul.

“Your Highness, the Eldest Princess.”

The cold tone announced the speaker’s identity.

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It wasn’t Liti, but Renee.

Now that the Flame King was dead, the value of the once-inaccessible Byrne City had instantly soared, and Renee’s investigation of the city was concluded. To prevent any news from leaking and to be able to switch off driving with Anastasia, Renee was returning to the capital with Fia’s group.

Of course, that was the reason Renee gave to Anastasia and the others. In reality, Renee followed Fia for no other reason than to act as her bodyguard. Normally, Renee would adopt the tone of Prince Schain’s faction, but when it was just Fia and her, Renee would perform small tasks for Fia with immense humility, like pouring tea, wiping down a stone stool, and placing a soft cushion on it.

It sounded wonderful, but Fia didn’t feel that way at all. In Renee’s eyes, she was the master strategist Thanatos. Renee’s excessive admiration, coupled with Thanatos’s own delicate position, made it difficult for Fia to find the words to say she wasn’t as amazing as Renee thought.

Not only that, because she had pretended to be Thanatos before, Fia was now too embarrassed to tell Renee that she had forgotten her past. She had to continue maintaining the persona. To make matters worse, she couldn’t find a reason to send Renee away, so she could only let Renee follow them on horseback.

Perhaps only when she met the Captain of the Imperial Guard, Erin Slate, could she clarify everything.

For some reason, Fia had a feeling things wouldn’t be as simple as she thought.

“What is it?”

Because there was a risk of being overheard by Liti and the others outside, Fia had to adopt a cold attitude. Through the corner of the curtain lifted by Renee, Fia could see Liti looking back at her.

“We will reach the royal city in a few days. There are some matters I must inform you of beforehand.”

Renee dropped the curtain and sat on the side of the carriage, slipping a piece of paper into Fia’s hand with an almost imperceptible movement.

She had written down what she wanted to say to avoid being heard by Anastasia and Liti outside.

Fia instantly understood Renee’s intention. She used [Telekinesis] to unfold the note in her palm and glanced at its contents without being obvious.

『100.5』

For a moment, Fia thought she had misread it and couldn’t help but check the note again. The truth was, the note really only contained these few numbers written in the elf language.

What was this for?

Fia couldn’t understand. In her short yet incredibly long life, she had never encountered anything like this.

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Subconsciously, Fia looked up at Renee’s face, only to be met by Renee’s emerald eyes staring intently at her. Those eyes were filled with an unprecedented solemnity, as if they were about to discuss a matter of extreme importance.

This must be a secret code used by the elf princess and her subordinates, like Morse code.

In a flash, Fia thought of a clue to this string of numbers, but without enough samples, it was impossible for even the most brilliant person to decipher a code.

Since you knew to write it on paper, you should give me time to write my answer on paper too! What’s with this expression that expects me to answer immediately?!

Fia screamed internally, but Renee’s expression didn’t look like she was going to give her any time. This meant that in the past, she could have given Renee an answer without writing it down.

This is bad.

Fia’s chest tightened. Her secret about forgetting her identity as Thanatos was about to be exposed. This itself wasn’t a fatal issue; her memory loss would be known sooner or later, so it made no difference if Renee found out now or later.

The real problem was that back in Byrne City, because she hadn’t trusted that Renee was on her side, she had acted like Thanatos and ordered Renee to do various things, including taking her own life, as if she were the real deal. To admit her memory loss now, at this crucial moment of exchanging codes, would not only be humiliating but would also earn her a scornful eye-roll from Renee, possibly even shaking her loyalty.

Even if she were to tell Renee the truth, she should pick a better time.

This feeling was like an ordinary person accidentally stumbling into a mafia meeting spot, only to be mistaken for the transaction partner by the boss and invited to sit down for business. There was no other choice but to bite the bullet and play along.

Fia felt the urge to run away. If only she had just trusted Renee from the start, none of this would have happened—but then again, in that situation, who in their right mind would have trusted Renee immediately?

No… maybe I should be more honest.

Lies only beget more lies, and pride makes it increasingly difficult to come clean. Rather than letting the lie grow bigger and bigger until the truth becomes impossible to explain, it’s better to clarify everything from the beginning. Besides, she had already confirmed Renee was an ally, so it should be fine to be frank.

Fia glanced at Renee’s expression again. Her solemn face was now tinged with impatience. Time would not allow her to think any longer.

It seemed there was no escaping this trial.

Fia couldn’t help but sigh in despair.