Light and Darkness (5)

"We greet the Great One."

Kanian and the elders knelt on one knee in perfect unison, offering their tribute.

Their posture radiated an extreme, almost painful reverence.

The way elves behaved before dragons.

It offered a glimpse into their shared destiny.

— Come to think of it, I did suspect that anyone who caught the scent of your blood might mistake you for a dragon.

Aleon, it seemed, had anticipated that a situation like this might arise.

But me?

Unbelievable.

Since I had never once considered such a possibility, all I could manage was an empty laugh.

And yet.

Even as I received their near-absolute obeisance, it didn't feel awkward in the slightest.

If anything, it felt like the tribute I was rightfully owed.

So this is what Dragon Bloodline does.

Come to think of it, they had seemed oddly at ease with me from the moment we met.

Apparently it was the instinct carved into the blood of dragons at work.

Wait a moment.

Hold on.

If the dwarves reacted to me the same way, wouldn't that mean I could commission them to craft items for me?

The greatest dwarven masters possessed skill enough to forge even Mythic-grade armaments.

But reaching them required climbing to the Tower's upper floors, and even then, they were known to be hostile toward humans—having them craft anything was considered all but impossible.

But if I were the one asking?

It suddenly seemed entirely possible.

I'll think about that when the time comes.

First things first.

"You may rise from your formalities."

"As you command."

At my words, the elven queen and her elders straightened immediately.

Quick on the uptake, weren't they? Who would have imagined the day would come when I'd handle elves—dark elves no less, famous for their warlike temperament—like extensions of my own hands and feet?

"So I just have to shed blood here?"

"N-no!"

At my words, Kanian's face went deathly pale.

"I committed a grave discourtesy without realizing who you were. Your mere existence is proof enough. Please, pluck out the eyes of this ignorant girl and make of me an example to all."

Kanian prostrated herself again, pleading desperately.

Really? She was supposed to be the queen of the dark elves, and she trembled like this?

Marveling anew at the stature of dragons, I raised her back to her feet.

"That won't be necessary."

"Ah!"

At my words, a shiver ran through her whole body.

Was it really that moving?

In any case, it was time to ask my questions.

The long-running war of Light and Darkness.

It had to be tied to a scenario quest.

"It is……"

As my questions continued, the contents of the scenario quest slowly came to light.

And with every word, my eyes grew wider and wider.

Meanwhile, at that very moment.

The Ascenders' Community.

It was still blazing away with talk of Unknown.

Among the posts asking after Unknown's whereabouts, someone had left a comment that brushed right up against the truth.

But not a single soul believed it.

The test for the initial skill grant on Floor 5.

Unlike all the floors before it, that one was presided over directly by "young Heavenly Dragons."

Or rather, more precisely, they stepped forward as examiners to evaluate the Ascenders.

And the Ascenders who received their evaluations, without a single exception, got an earful of bitter condescension.

Only those at the level of the Seven Ascenders were spared the worst of it.

Naturally, people were already dying to know what words Unknown would receive.

People were curious.

Would Unknown go see Omar, or not?

And if he did, what would he do to him?

And meanwhile.

In the Middle East, at that very moment.

"Damn it. I think I'm royally screwed."

Omar, having checked the Ascenders' Community, gnawed at his fingernails.

At the same time, he clawed at his own head over what he'd done in the past, squeezing his eyes shut.

"You insane fool! Why on earth did you poke the nose of a sleeping lion!"

How could he have known?

That the stray cat he'd taken for a passing wild creature would become a colossal beast capable of bringing down the very sky—the monster called João.

He had a choice to make.

For when he eventually met Unknown.

Would he smash his head into the ground and beg for mercy?

Or mobilize every ounce of his strength and face Unknown in battle……

— Yeah, right. If begging for mercy isn't the play, I just need to run as far and fast as I possibly can.

This was the monster who had taken down João.

The last thing he wanted was to face such a monster.

Tearing at his hair yet again, he racked his brain, over and over, on how to escape the typhoon bearing down on him.

"…and that is how things came to be."

The long explanation finally drew to a close.

"Ha."

I let out an empty laugh.

Why?

Because the situation before me looked far more serious than I'd imagined.

The elves have been completely torn to shreds, haven't they?

……

Aleon said nothing in response.

The shock seemed to have hit him hard.

It couldn't be helped.

According to Kanian's account, countless elves now lived within the forest enclosed by this Barrier of Light and Darkness.

Broadly speaking, they were divided into ordinary elves and dark elves.

Long ago, in the days when the Great Sage still lived, both elves and dark elves had supposedly united under his name, enjoying the greatest golden age in elven history.

But that golden age did not last.

After the Great Sage abruptly vanished, the elves and dark elves lost their way, and some of them crossed over into the Sky Tower.

In the early days after their arrival, the two races supposedly cooperated and lived in harmony.

But then, at some point, dissonance began to surface between the elves and dark elves.

Their falling out was the inevitable next step—and it widened, little by little, until they had come to regard each other with open enmity.

And it didn't stop there.

And even then, they splintered further?

It was maddening to even contemplate.

The dark elves alone had fractured into over a dozen tribes.

Which meant that every one of those tribes had its own queen revered as the dark elf queen—a dozen or more of them in total.

The elves were no different.

With the two races split into dozens of factions, conflict broke out constantly—not just between elves and dark elves, but within each race as well.

And those conflicts, too, swelled into ever greater feuds, until in the present day, elf bled elf and dark elf bled dark elf.

Even within their own kind, they were locked in savage, blood-soaked struggles.

This land had become an endless river of elven blood.

No wonder Aleon was shattered.

The "Great Sage"—that has to mean Aleon.

Yes. These people were, for all intents and purposes, his descendants.

That was why Aleon had looked so elated when he first ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠met the dark elves.

Aleon, are you all right?

……I think I need some time alone to process this.

His shock ran deeper than I'd realized.

He squeezed his eyes shut and bowed his head.

I had never seen him so despondent.

I'd grown rather fond of him by now, and seeing him like that made my chest ache for no good reason.

That was when it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠happened.

Ziiing!

A brilliant white light gathered before my eyes.

It painted a single message.

So this was the scenario quest after all.

How was I supposed to solve this?

I wanted to consult Aleon, but Aleon was currently in no state to think straight.

I'll have to talk more with Kanian first.

Clicking my tongue at a quest that looked staggeringly difficult, I turned my gaze back to Kanian.

"How do relations stand between your tribe and the other dark elf tribes right now?"

"We… don't really have relations as such. Though it's true that our tribe's strength is the weakest… of them all."

Kanian said with a drooping expression.

It seemed hers was the smallest, weakest faction even among the dark elf tribes.

Come to think of it, their scale had felt modest, lacking any real sense of strength.

In any case, her words gave me a splitting headache.

If this drags on forever, there's no winning here.

Dilly-dallying would get me nowhere.

I'd have to unite the dark elves in the opening move, then settle accounts with the elves.

The easiest route is subjugation by force.

If I went the way of force, I was confident.

They, too, were bound by the Tower's restrictions, their power constrained to roughly Floor 4 levels.

My strength could overwhelm them without question.

But.

Do that, and Aleon might well weep tears of blood.

These people were his descendants.

Resolving this without force, if at all possible, was the best option.

"Do the other dark elf tribes only fight with each other? Is there never any occasion where they meet face to face?"

I asked without much hope.

But.

The answer caught me off guard.

"Oh! No. Every night the full moon rises, the queens of each dark elf tribe gather for a council."

Oh ho. Nights of the full moon meant roughly once a month.

That explained why I hadn't seen any tribe driven to outright annihilation—so they did keep some final line. Their council must have kept things from escalating past the point of no return.

"When is the next council?"

"In three days' time."

Perfect.

That day, I would settle accounts with the dark elf queens.

How?

I'll have to trust in my Dragon Bloodline.

The dice were cast.

From this moment on, I was a dragon.

Sovereign of the elves—a mighty, exalted race.

Right! Let's see how well I can play the part of a dragon.

And then, three days later.

"This is the place?"

"Yes, Lord Hajun."

Assuming my draconic identity, I attended the dark elf council together with Kanian.