The Freed Slaves Are Obsessed

"Where are we going now? Are we really treasure hunting?"

"Yes."

"Wow~ Treasures of a lost ancient kingdom? This is like something out of a legend! I'm so excited right now. I wonder what kind of things people made back in the day?"

A sled pulled by frost wolves.

Perka, sitting across from me, chatters endlessly.

I should’ve left him behind when I had the chance.

Perka had thrown a tantrum, lying on the ground and insisting he come along.

He wasn’t my slave, so I didn’t need to take care of him. I tried to brush him off lightly, but then the guy shifted his target to Ashies.

A perceptive little rat.

He wasn’t exactly a friend, but he’d become someone she saw every morning. It seemed they had grown closer. Ashies asked to bring Perka along, leaving me no choice.

Whatever the case, the fact that Ashies was taking an interest in something was a good sign.

"Don’t get too excited. We're here to fight magical beasts, not for a picnic. Don’t expect me to take responsibility if something goes wrong."

Our current mission was to retrieve the treasures Darka had asked us to find. It was the final chapter of the Lake Fortress storyline.

Eliminate the leaders, recover the treasures, and deliver them to Darka. In return, he would grant us Lazurite, along with hints about the Frozen Kingdom.

With Ashies' near-complete combat capabilities, defeating the magical beasts wasn’t a problem. The hard part was locating them.

Darka had given us a map, but like most maps in games, this one had its flaws. The markings were faint, barely legible, and cryptic phrases were scrawled at each location.

The first time I did this, it was a nightmare.

With the abundance of monsters in Aisengar, it was hard to tell if the one you hunted was the right one. On top of that, the drop rate for treasures was atrocious, making the grind even more frustrating.

Of course, over time, as playthroughs and guides accumulated, it turned into just another quest.

Fortunately, I still remembered the details.

The first target:

A transparent monster slumbers within the glacier, having swallowed the treasure.

The Crystal Serpent. A snake-like magical beast.

Its passive skill nullifies magic, so it has to be taken down with physical attacks.

The fairy of the serene snowfield. With a silver bowstring, they carve death into the snowy plains.

That would be the Snowfield Elf.

Crude figures shrouded in the hatred of extreme cold, trampling the snowfields alongside horned beasts.

And lastly, the orc leader.

This list sucks.

The serpent was manageable, but the elf and orc were the worst of the lot. The elf was elusive and powerful, while the orc had sheer numbers on its side.

If the serpent was a single-stage encounter, the orcs spanned three stages, tripling the time investment.

Since this wasn’t a game, there wouldn’t be “stages,” but I doubted the orcs would be any less abundant.

"Wow~ Fighting magical beasts. They’re terrifying, but when you fight, it’s like watching a piece of art. It’s not scary at all—it’s just beautiful. Watching you makes me want to be an artist instead of a blacksmith."

Back in Doomheim, Perka was like an emotionless doll, hammering away all day. Now, he was practically glowing. Anyone would think he was on a leisurely trip.

"An artist, Perka?"

"Nope. I’m a blacksmith. My goal is to become a better blacksmith than my father."

"Torvar?"

"That’s right. As much as I hate to admit it, my father is a master smith. The worst as a husband and father, but his skills are real."

"Sounds like you don’t get along with him."

Perka nodded fervently in agreement.

"That man only cares about work. He wasn’t even there when my mother passed away—too busy tending the Magmar Flame."

"Keeping the Magmar Flame is a duty of the Ember Steward, isn’t it?"

"No matter how important work is, what could be more important than your family’s final moments? Don’t say things like that. If you keep it up, even Karami will lose his temper."

"You’re right. It’s not polite to meddle in someone else’s family matters."

Perka’s hostility made me drop the subject.

As we chatted, the sled arrived at our destination: a dense coniferous forest with sharp, towering trees.

The first target I chose was the Snowfield Elf. It was the closest.

We dismounted and began walking deeper into the woods.

Whoooosh!

A sharp wind howled between the trees.

The eerie atmosphere made it feel like something could jump out at any moment.

Perka hunched over, scanning the surroundings nervously.

"Do elves really live in places like this? Don’t they usually live in great forests near the World Tree?"

"It’s the same reason not all dwarves live in Doomheim. Somewhere out there, there are probably dwarves who live in forests."

As Perka said, elves originally came from the Great Forest near the World Tree. That was the place I had left behind in Arpia.

But long ago, some elves left the Great Forest and settled in other regions: shadowy woods, deserts, and even these snowy forests.

Of course, compared to their homeland, their numbers were much smaller.

"I’m starting to feel a little uneasy."

"About what?"

"Elves are extremely wary of outsiders. With a dwarf in the group, they might act even more hostile."

It wouldn’t be surprising if they shot arrows first and asked questions later. We needed to tread carefully.

"Let’s move as quietly as shadows."

"Shadows? What’s that about?"

"It’s just a saying. You know, like ‘move so stealthily that not even a mouse or shadow notices.’ Got it? Then let’s go."

Perka chuckled in disbelief.

"Ashies, if you sense anything unusual, let us know right away. Don’t keep it to yourself like last time."

"Unusual...?"

"Like if elves are nearby, for example."

"Like them...?"

Ashies pointed to the treetops. A figure was perched on the tall conifers.

Their thick fur clothing looked no different from that of Northerners, but, as expected, their ears were long.

Long Ears.

Elves of the Snowfield.

So much for moving unnoticed; we had been spotted from the start.

The elf’s arrowhead swirled with a gale. It was imbued with the power of spirits.

"Rami. Get back."

Ashies stepped in front of me, keeping her eyes on the elf. However, contrary to my fears of immediate hostility, the elf didn’t fire.

Instead, they whispered among themselves before descending to the ground. Even as they approached, their wariness was evident.

Peeking out from behind me, Perka whispered, "What are they saying?"

"Not sure. I have no idea either."

This was an unexpected turn of events.

A female elf, who appeared to be the leader, stepped forward. Unlike the elves of the Great Forest, her hair and pupils were an icy blue.

"Who are you? What is a mere human doing carrying his aura?"

"His aura?"

"That of the World Tree, of course."

"Ah, I see."

Now it made sense.

I was blessed by the World Tree, wasn’t I?

It was a buff I received after liberating Arpia, drastically boosting the stats of elf slaves.

Beastfolk with keen senses occasionally mentioned a faint forest-like scent around me. Dwarves, with their duller senses, didn’t notice it at all.

But for elves, the ones who revered the World Tree as a god, it must have been overwhelmingly obvious.

"You know something. Speak the truth, unless you want your blood painting the snow."

Even if they lived outside the Great Forest, an elf was still an elf. They worshipped the World Tree as a deity, and its blessing marked me as untouchable.

There was no reason to back down. I stepped forward confidently to face her.

"Ha, this is amusing."

"What did you say?"

"I am a human blessed by the World Tree. A blessing that, for generations, was only granted to the queen of the elves. Do you not grasp its significance?"

"W-what does that mean...?"

My assertiveness visibly unsettled her.

The thing was, I had no idea how to explain it either. Nothing concrete came to mind.

In such situations, there was always a reliable strategy.

"Do you really not understand?"

Push the other party to make assumptions. Create the illusion of knowing more than you do.

The elf’s expression grew grave. I could practically hear her mind racing.

Her eyes widened in shock.

"Could it be...?"

"Indeed. Exactly what you're thinking."

"The queen’s consort?"

Oh.

That escalated quickly. I expected her to think of me as just a benefactor.

But if she wanted to make that leap, who was I to stop her?

"You're only realizing this now?"

"Impossible. The queen of the Great Forest taking a human as her consort? Do you expect me to believe that?"

"Not a single word of this is a lie. I and Queen Evrelia exchanged vows under the World Tree’s blessing. The aura you sense flowing from me is proof of that."

"...This is madness. Complete madness. An elf—no, the elf queen—forming a pact with a human?"

"It signifies the changing times. In a world where even gods are not eternal, love alone remains immortal."

"Ha..."

The elf let out a hollow sigh and lowered her bow.

It seemed, against all odds, I’d managed to get through this unscathed.

"What brings the queen’s consort to Aisengar, and with a mole in tow?"

She shot a glare at Perka, who flinched.

As a half-dwarf, his dwarven traits weren’t immediately obvious, but apparently her disdain ran deep enough to notice.

"I’ve come to retrieve the royal treasures in your possession. Do you know of them?"

"I do. But why do you need them?"

"To return them to their rightful owner."

I glanced at Ashies, and the elf followed my gaze.

As expected of a long-lived race, she seemed to piece together the story of a kingdom lost to history. Staring at Ashies, she nodded to herself.

"Remarkable. A survivor. Though, she seems to have become a doll."

"Will you hand over the treasure, or shall I take it by force?"

"Don’t worry. We elves, proud as we are, do not covet what belongs to others. If its owner asks for its return, it is only right to comply. Wait here."

The elf excused herself briefly and returned with a shimmering blue tiara. She handed it to Ashies.

"I hope it brings you good fortune."

"Th-thank you...?"

Ashies stared at the tiara, unable to take her eyes off it for a long time.

"Well, we managed to get the first treasure without any trouble. Shall we head back?"

"Wait. I have a question."

The elf stopped us as we turned to leave.

"Consort of the queen, what is your relationship with the Princess of Snow?"

How to answer this...

If I said she was my slave, it might stir unnecessary trouble.

After a moment of thought, I came up with the perfect response.

"I am the one who stands by the princess’s side."

A knight. That’s what comes to mind when one mentions a princess, right? And knights are cool.

+++++

After Karami’s party left, the elves remained in the forest, frozen in shock from his words.

The one who stands by the princess’s side.

This could mean one of two things.

The first: a knight.

Someone who literally guards the princess.

But Karami, by any measure, was far from being a warrior.

He could not possibly be a knight.

That left the second option.

A prince.

While Karami’s appearance wasn’t quite up to elven standards, it was delicate enough. To their eyes, he looked more like a prince than a knight.

In this otherworldly realm, it wasn’t strange for a princess to have a prince consort. But in Karami’s case, it was different.

"The queen’s consort... having an affair?"

It all made sense now.

Why else would the queen’s consort travel to such a remote land?

All of it was to have a clandestine affair with the princess behind the queen’s back!

That wretched scoundrel.

They wanted to expose this vile truth to the world immediately. But doing so would also cast blame on the elf queen.

For failing to keep her consort in line and allowing him to stray, it would not just disgrace the queen but tarnish the entire elven race.

The once-proud elves would see their dignity crushed, falling lower than even dwarven burrows. This must never happen.

One of the elves penned a letter, attaching it to a bird’s leg.

The message was bound for the elven elders scattered across the continent.

This was a crisis that demanded immediate attention.