Damage Control
"But... Saintess... will the Hero really accept that? Especially after what happened before?"
"Which is exactly why I have come to you, High Priest. If you could speak to him on my behalf and convince him to accept me back into the party..."
"Saintess. You have already retired, and you are soon to become the Empress of this Empire. Why do you wish to rejoin the Hero's party?"
High Priest Radbod knew all too well what had transpired three years ago.
Furthermore, he could not comprehend her intentions, as her path now lay not on a perilous road of adventure with the Hero, but on the throne as the Empress ruling the Empire.
"Do you not know what my current standing is?!"
"It is only temporary. Once the Crown Prince ascends the throne..."
"Even now, the nobles in the imperial palace are constantly clamoring to have me expelled because of what happened three years ago. How long do you think I can hold out?"
High Priest Radbod was not ignorant of Emilia's precarious position within the palace.
Only a few months ago... before the Demon King's resurgence, her path had been paved with gold.
But ever since the new Demon King appeared, the public's clamor for the Hero had grown louder, precipitating her current crisis.
Had he known things would turn out this way, he would have tried to stop her, or at least persuaded her to part ways with the Hero on amicable terms when she abandoned him three years ago. Regret pricked at him, but it was already too late.
"Do not worry about that, Saintess. The Grand Temple stands firmly behind you, the Crown Princess. No matter what those petty nobles say, do you truly think His Majesty the Emperor could cast you aside?"
"But the Demon King's army is advancing, the neighboring kingdoms are falling one by one, and the Hero refuses to come to our aid... Everyone is starting to blame me for all of this!"
"How could that possibly be your fault? Even if it were, His Majesty would not dare cast you out if he has any grasp of the public sentiment."
"...?"
"Saintess, since the Demon King's return, the number of believers registering at temples across the continent has skyrocketed. What do you think that means? The worse the situation gets, the more our flock will grow. And the larger our flock, the more the Grand Temple's power will eclipse even that of the Empire!"
"Do you mean..."
Whether High Priest Radbod spoke out of concern for Emilia or to satisfy his own ambition was unclear, but either way, it was welcome news to her ears.
"Just hold on a little longer. I will personally look into the matter of the Hero's party. Even if it does not work out, do not worry too much, Saintess."
"Thank you, High Priest. But... what if the Hero looks for the apprentice saintess?"
"I have already devised a plan for that. Do not concern yourself with the affairs of the Grand Temple, Saintess. Leave everything to me. I will bring you good news shortly."
As High Priest Radbod finished speaking with a smile, the tension finally melted from Emilia's face.
The anxieties that had been suffocating her seemed to vanish, replaced by a look of relief.
"Then I shall place my trust in you, High Priest."
With the Demon King's army resurfacing after three years, the continent was plunged into extreme anxiety.
While humans scrambled to stockpile food in preparation for war or flocked to temples to pray to the gods in utter chaos, the Elf Kingdom in the northern forests of the continent remained entirely unperturbed.
As long as they possessed the protection of the Elf Queen—who was like the goddess's proxy—and the Dryads, the spirits and guardians of the forest, they had nothing to fear, even if the Demon King's army marched right to their borders.
Except for one person, that is.
On this peaceful morning, a woman with a particularly grating, shrill voice was screaming.
"Is... is that true?!"
"Yes, Princess."
"If you are lying, I will gouge your eyes out and throw them to the crows! Speak the truth!"
"It is the truth! I saw it clearly with my own two eyes!"
Having returned to the kingdom after leaving the Hero in the elven forest near the border of the Fiore Empire, Illuen was receiving a report on the situation from Ade, the Knight Commander, who had arrived late.
The report she was hearing made her doubt her own ears.
It was the news that the half-elf traveling with the Hero had summoned Elraim, the Water Spirit King.
High elves prided themselves on having the highest spirit affinity of any race in the world, second only to dragons.
For a half-elf—a mere mixed-blood hybrid, not even a pure elf—to summon a Spirit King was a revelation that could turn the entire Elf Kingdom upside down.
Until now, the hierarchy dividing high elves, common elves, and half-elves into nobles, commoners, and slaves had been justified by the pure bloodline of the high elves, who possessed lifespans, abilities, and spirit affinities closest to the ancient elves.
But now, a half-elf—someone treated as little more than a slave—had summoned a Spirit King that even the Queen could not call upon. This portended a chaos far greater for the Elf Kingdom than the resurgence of the Demon King.
"So... what happened after that?"
"She summoned Elraim and extinguished the forest fire... in an instant."
Commander Ade, still haunted by the vivid memory of that moment, choked back his breath as he continued his report.
"She... put out that massive fire all by herself?"
"Yes. I had only heard of it in legends... I never dreamed a Spirit King actually existed. She summoned a torrential downpour and unleashed a deluge of water, turning the forest into a sea in the blink of an eye."
It was a feat utterly impossible for an ordinary spirit.
Commander Ade had no reason to lie to Illuen, the princess and heir to the throne.
Besides, Ade was not the only witness. His subordinate elven knights and the elves residing in that forest had all seen it happen.
"How many people were at the scene?"
"Our knights, along with everyone in the village capable of summoning water spirits, went... It must have been around three hundred people."
"...Damn it..."
A curse word, something one would never expect to slip past the lips of a refined and noble high elf princess.
Any other elf would have gasped in horror, but Commander Ade did not bat an eye, as if he were already well-accustomed to it.
Instead, he was worried about what dark thoughts might be brewing in Illuen's mind.
He feared she might order the execution of everyone who had witnessed the Spirit King. The dread was so intense that a faint tremor shook his leg as he knelt before her.
"You made sure to silence the villagers, right?"
"Yes. I made the situation abundantly clear to them."
"Damn it... Lowly wretches. We should have just slaughtered them all right then and there..."
More than the Spirit King itself, Illuen feared the rumor that a half-elf had summoned it.
If the rumor spread from that village to the rest of the kingdom, it could jeopardize her claim to the throne.
Commander Ade hesitated, clearly not finished with his report. After a long pause, he forced himself to speak.
"Um... also, Princess."
"What is it now?"
"It seems the villagers are suspicious about how the forest fire started."
"What?!"
"They know that the only ones who entered through the Fiore Empire border that day were you and our knights..."
Illuen clutched her head, tearing at her hair.
The fire she had set to trap the Hero had spread far beyond her expectations, causing catastrophic damage to the forest.
That forest was famous for its beauty, a place where even the Queen went to vacation.
If the Queen found out she had set fire to it... No, even before that, if the Dryad, the guardian spirit of the forest, caught wind of this, there was no telling what disaster it would bring upon the Elf Kingdom.
In the worst-case scenario, the Dryad would abandon the forest, stripping it of its divine protection.
The lush woodland, which had thrived for centuries without pests or disease, would wither and turn into a barren wasteland in an instant.
"Word of this must never get out. Even if we have to slaughter every last villager!"
"What? S-Slaughter them...?"
"Yes! If rumors spread, neither I nor you and your family will survive! Do you want that to happen?!"
"I... I understand, Princess. I will take care of it."
His pride as the commander of the princess's knights, coupled with the faces of his family living in the kingdom, flashed before his eyes, reminding him of what he had to do.
Knock, knock.
As Illuen and Ade were speaking, a knock sounded at the princess's bedroom door. An elf, seemingly sent by the Queen, entered and bowed politely.
"Princess Illuen, Her Majesty the Queen requests your presence."
"M-Me...?"
"Yes."
The Queen had not summoned her since the incident with the Hero's party three years ago, and her recent disastrous attempt to lead the allied forces in the Horon Kingdom, which had ended in their total annihilation.
If she had a clear conscience, a summons from the Queen would have been welcome news. But with so many skeletons in her closet, she could not shake a deep sense of dread.
"I... I understand. I will go at once."
"Forgive me, but Her Majesty commanded that you accompany me immediately."
"..."
For the Queen to demand her immediate presence meant one of two things: either there was urgent news, or she had already caught wind of the incident in the elven village.
"I... I see."
Illuen followed the messenger toward the Queen's office.
Commander Ade, who had been kneeling throughout the report, rose to his feet and headed toward the knights' barracks to execute his own solution.