Volume 5, Chapter 21 – Fia’s Worries

Facing the dazed man before her, who looked as if he didn’t understand what had just happened, Fia tilted her head.

“Can’t you hear me?”

Fia hadn’t just arrived. She had used the Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea to sneak above Rabir’s group as early as when he had grabbed the village chief’s collar. However, out of curiosity about the high-tier adventurer profession and to confirm their true objective, she hadn’t acted immediately.

After a second of stupor, Rabir gradually came to his senses. Out of fear of death, he didn’t dare take his eyes off Fia, only pointing a finger at his companions who were twitching on the ground.

“What… what did you do to them?”

“Just mental magic. It’s what they deserved. I can’t guarantee the others, but the man who argued with you earlier is definitely dead.”

If they had been like this tall man in front of her and hadn’t attacked her with magic, she would have left their minds intact. Unfortunately, they had made the wrong choice.

Dead? Just like that?

If not for the chilling aura from Fia that still made his hair stand on end, he would have thought she was joking. How could a Seventh-Tier elf princess take out his Sixth-Tier companions with a wave of her hand? Yet, the facts were laid out before him. The princess had indeed used a single spell to defeat his companions one by one. If she hadn’t intentionally spared him, he would have been one of them.

Rabir, drenched in sweat, swallowed hard and asked in a trembling voice.

“You’re not… killing me?”

What a strange request, Fia couldn’t help but complain in her heart. She maintained her hovering posture and waved her hand as if joking.

“I’m not a demon who kills on sight. But if you insist on dying, I suggest you find a cliff to jump off, or go to the Netherworld and help Silvar fight the undead. Silvar welcomes all helpers.”

“Alright, that’s enough idle talk. I have a few questions for you. After you answer them, you can take your people and leave. Except for the man who attacked, the others have only fainted. As for whether they’ve become idiots, that depends on their own luck. Also, if you want to avenge your companions, I can give you a quick death and then ask those Lionfolk soldiers over there.”

Following Fia’s gesture, Rabir looked at the Lionfolk soldiers in the distance who were already showing signs of retreat. With a light snap of Fia’s fingers, the sound of the earth cracking echoed from all directions, and countless stone spikes, three or four times the height of a person, suddenly rose from the ground around the village. As these spikes were extremely dense, at a glance, it looked as if a giant’s hand had emerged from the ground and grabbed them all in its palm.

No, it was more appropriate to call it a cage of spikes.

Is this what true elf magic looks like… Rabir once again swallowed hard. It wasn’t that he had never encountered an elf who used elf magic, but those elves couldn’t create a cage to trap a village with a wave of their hand. Spells that could cover several thousand square meters were not uncommon, but to be able to cast one with just a snap of the fingers was far beyond his comprehension.

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Combined with the magic Fia had shown earlier that instantly incapacitated his companions, Rabir had lost all will to resist. Trying to play tricks on someone of this level was simply courting death. He hesitated for a moment before answering honestly.

“Please ask, Your Highness.”

“Hoh,” so he’s not the ‘rather die than submit’ type. Fia’s eyes widened in surprise. “Then the first question. Are you adventurers hired by the current king of the Cold Night, Chazo? Is your goal to capture Tilulu?”

“Yes. King Cha—that fool Chazo said that as long as he sees a body, dead or alive, the mission is complete.”

“You’re a Sixth-Tier warrior, right? Can you tell how strong Chazo is?”

“Well… he’s definitely not as strong as you, Your Highness.”

I know that, of course, Fia grumbled inwardly. If Chazo were stronger than her, Silvar wouldn’t have been dominating the Cold Night for so long.

“I mean specifically.”

“I don’t know the specifics either,” Rabir said with a troubled expression. “Chazo has always hidden his strength and always has a magic item on him that conceals detection magic. I only know that among the beastfolk, anyone who has challenged him has never returned alive. People speculate that he has at least Seventh-Tier strength. It is because of this that the people around him dare not oppose him, and the numerous tribes in the Cold Night recognize him as their king.”

Pinching her chin, Fia fell into thought.

“Then what do you think if I go and kill Chazo now? Would the beastfolk tribes accept me as their king?”

“Uh,” Rabir thought she was joking for a moment. He squeezed out an extremely ugly smile. “Your Highness has a fine sense of humor. Although the beastfolk revere strength, they only recognize other beastfolk. You are an elf; they would never recognize you. In their words, you do not have the Blessing of the Ancestral Spirit. For someone without it to become king would only anger the gods and bring disaster. Even if you have the power to move mountains, those beastfolk would not sincerely support you.”

“Is that so?”

Fia was suddenly interested. Based on the strength of the Elf God, if a god wanted to bring disaster, they would surely have to do it themselves. At that time, she could meet the god the beastfolk believed in directly.

But then again, Nola had said she met her god in the Weeping Mountains in the south of the Cold Night. As long as she went there, she should be able to see Nola’s god. That was much more reliable than legends.

“The Blessing of the Ancestral Spirit? An interesting phrase. Alright, that’s all my questions. You may leave.”

“Thank you, Your Highness!”

As if granted amnesty, Rabir quickly ran to his companions. He paid no mind to their comfort, simply tying the unconscious ones, who may or may not be alive, into a bundle with a rope and using [Flight] to drag them all into the moonlit forest.

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Fia first glanced at the Snake-folk villagers behind her, who were looking at her with fear-filled eyes. Then she glanced at the Lionfolk soldiers who had already run to the edge of the cage and were trying to climb out of the [Dragon’s Fang] prison. Unlike Rabir, these soldiers were the regular army of the Cold Night. Now that the Cold Night had declared war on Silvar, there was no reason to let them go.

Though she thought this, Fia dispelled the Dragon’s Fangs blocking the soldiers’ escape. She didn’t do this to spare them, but because someone outside the cage was already taking care of them for her.

“Hmph!”

With a cold snort from Radric, the vanished [Dragon’s Fang] once again shot out from the ground. Only this time, it was as if the fangs had eyes, appearing right under the soldiers’ feet. With a series of shrill screams, the dozen or so Lionfolk soldiers soon became souls under the stone spears.

Hey, that’s too bloody.

Fia clicked her tongue inwardly. She wished Radric would be more considerate of the people around him before killing. Not everyone was indifferent to corpses; there were still children here.

Having dealt with the soldiers, Radric walked step by step to Fia’s side, his tone clearly dissatisfied.

“Elf princess, you let those adventurers run away?”

“I’ve already neutralized their combat ability with mental magic. They will be idiots for the rest of their lives.”

“…You are more ruthless,” the dissatisfaction instantly vanished. Radric looked at Fia with reverence. “To become an idiot is more humiliating than being killed directly. The princess is indeed a Witch of Miracles. Your methods command my respect.”

That phrasing and metaphor are too strange. Isn’t ‘Witch of Miracles’ supposed to be a compliment?

“We owe you another debt. If you need us in the future, please do not hesitate.”

“Save the pleasantries. Take care of the people in the village first. I don’t speak the beastfolk language, so calming them down is up to you and Tilulu.”

“Mm, that is Tilulu’s job.”

Nodding his deep purple dragon head lightly, Radric went to check the surroundings of the village for any stragglers. As for Tilulu, she arrived at the square a few minutes later with Claire and the others.

To Fia’s surprise, when her companions got out of the carriage, apart from Claire, even Anastasia and Liti looked at her with fear, not daring to approach, as if she had become a frightening monster. This was especially true for Tilulu. When Fia took a step towards her, intending to have her comfort her followers, Tilulu’s face was instantly filled with tears, and she hurriedly hid behind Liti.

“What happened?”

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Fia stopped, a wry smile on her face.

“I don’t know why, but suddenly sister feels very scary…”

“Even though it’s Your Highness, my skin feels cold…”

Liti and Anastasia said hesitantly one after another. This made Fia instantly realize—she had activated [Deterrence] when dealing with the adventurers and had forgotten to turn it off. That’s why her companions were afraid.

No wonder the villagers were looking at her with fear earlier. With [Deterrence] active, it would be strange if they weren’t afraid. However, looking at Claire, it seemed she wasn’t affected by the spell. By that logic, [Nation-Toppling Beauty] probably wouldn’t make her look cuter in Claire’s eyes either?

Although she really wanted to try it right now, she felt it would make the situation awkward. Fia had to suppress the thought. There were still villagers here, after all. Better to wait until bath time to secretly try it.

As for now, she should take this opportunity to learn the beastfolk language. She already had some ideas for the Cold Night.

Deactivating [Deterrence], Fia walked towards her companions with a wry smile. They would rest in this village for the night. As for the future, Fia planned to think it over calmly when she was alone.

…

Late at night.

With Tilulu acting as a translator, the Snake-folk in the village finally let go of their fear of Fia, tremblingly hosting her and letting her group sleep in the most luxurious wooden house in the village.

Although it was called the most luxurious, it was actually just a small cabin left by a hunter. The inside was clean, but besides that, there were no other merits. Everything was very simple. A few logs put together with a cloth over them made a bed, and even the wood chips on the surface of the logs hadn’t been scraped clean.

However, since the Snake-folk did not have the habit of sleeping on beds and all slept in burrows in their houses, Fia’s group had no other options. Besides Anastasia and Tilulu, who could adapt to any environment and decided to sleep on the beds, everyone else went back to the carriage to sleep. As for Radric, he took on the task of keeping watch and helping the villagers count their losses. According to Tilulu, when she became queen, she would repay these losses tenfold, which could be considered winning over the hearts of the people.

Now, Fia was walking alone on a small path around the village.

Although the Cold Night was south of Silvar, due to its high altitude and the fact that it was deep winter, the temperature was still very cold. If there was a little more moisture in the air, it would be snowing heavily by now.

The cold wind that blew across the plains slipped into her collar. The cold made Fia tighten her thick cotton dress. To get warmer, she put on her silver Foxy-Fox Gloves and summoned a floating [Fairy Fire] beside her. After doing all this, Fia let out a long breath of white mist, and her body relaxed.

This worried look really isn’t like me.

She couldn’t help but shake her head lightly.

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The reason she was walking alone at night was because she had something on her mind.

From the current situation, although Tilulu was the orthodox royal of the Cold Night, she lacked factional support, making her the best candidate to support. Making her a puppet that she could control was undoubtedly the most beneficial choice for Silvar.

However, Radric would never agree to this. Nola was a prime example. Radric’s expectation for Tilulu was for her to become the true queen of the Cold Night in every sense, not just a puppet with the title. Even if she helped Tilulu a lot, Fia didn’t think he would go against his original intention of protecting her and allow Fia to control her.

As for testing Radric’s attitude, that was the most foolish approach. It would only make him vigilant and completely cut off this path.

Of course, Fia wasn’t without a once-and-for-all solution, such as secretly killing Radric. Then there would be no obstacles, and the unsupported Tilulu would naturally choose to rely on her. But such a treacherous act was despicable, and Fia would not do such a vile thing.

So, the feasible method at present should be to try to gain Tilulu’s trust and become an extremely important existence in her heart. This way, she could both let Tilulu become the true queen of the Cold Night and also influence the situation there in the future, ensuring that Tilulu would not do anything to harm Silvar’s interests, and even manipulate her decisions through emotion. In the end, Radric wouldn’t stop her either. This plan was good for all three parties.

Although it started from the point of using Tilulu, if she didn’t do it, she couldn’t help her restore her kingdom. With Tilulu’s own strength, it would probably be difficult for her to defeat that beastman named Chazo in her lifetime.

Thinking back, if she balanced the interests, she didn’t owe Tilulu anything. As long as she treated her sincerely, cared for her like a younger sister, and didn’t let her do anything against her will or against the interests of the Cold Night, it would be fine. She was only helping Tilulu to prevent the Cold Night from being detrimental to Silvar, not to suck its blood to supplement her own. This was good for everyone.

At this thought, Fia’s guilt lessened a lot. The thought of using an ignorant little girl had made her feel very uneasy.

Her steps gradually slowed.

Now that the general idea was confirmed, the next step was to formulate a specific plan. How should she become someone important to Tilulu?

Fia had no experience in cultivating relationships. Both Anastasia and Liti were people who had deep connections with the Eldest Princess from the beginning. Anastasia was saved by her, and Liti was her sister. As for Milu, she had simply taken her in and not believed the so-called prophecy that Milu would bring misfortune. These things couldn’t be used as an experience for Tilulu.

The method she used with Claire was feasible, but she couldn’t get close to Tilulu with the goal of marrying her. Putting aside the fact that she already had Claire, for a little girl even younger than Liti, anyone with indecent thoughts should be executed by cannon.

Then I can only start by getting to know each other? Although she didn’t have much experience in developing intimate relationships, she knew that all relationships started from spending time together and getting to know each other. As for what to do after that, maybe she should ask Claire… No, Claire didn’t seem experienced either. Asking Liti might be more appropriate.

Having no life experience is so troublesome.

Just as Fia was complaining in her heart, she suddenly heard Claire’s voice from behind her.

“Do you have something on your mind, Fia? To suddenly come out here alone.”