Chapter 535
Chapter Title: The City Beneath
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535.
“Lackeys of the Pureblood Society!”
“Unforgivable!”
Lunia’s face contorted as she watched the elves closing in on her, shouting.
“Right now.”
A vein popped on Lunia’s forehead.
“Who are you calling…”
Her tightly clenched fist swung ferociously.
“...a member of the Pureblood Society?!”
*Crack—!*
“Guh?!”
The elf who had charged straight at Lunia took a blow to the jaw and collapsed on the spot.
At the same time, the knights surrounding Lunia tightened their encirclement, their swords aimed.
Lunia scoffed at the sight and snapped her fingers.
*Snap—!*
*Fwoosh—!*
The elves who had been rushing to subdue Lunia flinched back in surprise.
Watching them, Lunia narrowed her eyes.
‘There’s no killing intent.’
Her opponents clearly held animosity toward her, but they didn't intend to kill her.
If they had, Lunia wouldn't have stopped at a mere threat.
‘Even so.’
Lunia’s eyes narrowed further.
‘These people aren’t mages.’
It was astonishing.
Only those who had learned stellar magic were permitted to enter Eldon.
Yet here were people who were not mages.
Moreover, they were openly hostile toward the Pureblood Society.
‘What in the world is going on?’
Just as Lunia frowned slightly, Eiran swung her sword.
A gentle breeze blew from the gracefully swung blade.
But that breeze soon became a raging blizzard that swept over the attackers.
“Dodge!”
“A m-magic swordsman!”
Flustered voices echoed through the air.
“Damn it!”
“To have such skill at her age!”
“I-Is the Pureblood Society really too much for us…!”
“Don’t give up! If we’re caught, we’re dead anyway! It doesn’t matter what happens to us! Think of the others waiting for us!”
Amid the despair-filled cries, a woman’s voice rang out, urging them on.
“Who is it that’s waiting for you?”
“Hah!”
The female elf knight, startled to see Eiran suddenly right in front of her, swung her sword instinctively.
*Clang—!*
Parrying the swift blade, Eiran let out a small cry, “Hup!” and flicked the sword away.
She had used the strength of her wrist to momentarily push back her opponent’s weapon.
Overwhelmed by the unexpectedly brutish force, the female elf knight lost her grip on her sword.
“Nngh!”
The female elf knight hastily gathered her mana and began to chant an incantation.
‘Wind-attribute stellar magic.’
Listening to the chant, Eiran quickly identified the type and range of the spell.
*Cra-cra-crack—!*
A storm raged.
Eiran swiftly moved out of the spell’s range.
Using that brief opening, the knight retrieved her dropped sword and took a stance.
Seeing her opponent’s ready posture, Eiran’s eyes widened.
“You… Where on earth did you learn that?”
At Eiran’s bewildered tone, the knight shouted back.
“Hmph! Are you surprised that traitors like us can use stellar magic?!”
“No, that’s not really what I meant…”
“You people probably think you’re fighting for a great cause! But you are by no means righteous!”
“That’s not…”
“Prepare yourself!”
“Ugh.”
Seeing that her opponent had no intention of listening, Eiran grimaced and shrank back.
But she soon mustered her courage and spoke.
“Can you tell me why you attacked this place?”
“Because people are starving!”
At those words, Eiran’s eyes widened slightly, and she turned her head.
After glancing at the warehouse they had attacked, she looked back at the female knight.
Like all elves, she was quite beautiful.
But there was a sword scar on her cheek.
From that alone, it wasn't hard to tell she was a knight who had seen battle.
Her firmly set lips conveyed a sense of stubbornness.
Her wide-open eyes revealed an unshakeable conviction and sense of responsibility.
‘She’s not lying.’
Eiran could tell at once.
And Eiran knew.
She knew that the Pureblood Society these people opposed was twisted.
In this land, where none who couldn't learn stellar magic could set foot…
People who couldn’t use any magic, let alone stellar magic, had attacked the council like a band of thieves.
And their goal was to steal food.
Eiran knew.
The world she sought to protect was not entirely beautiful.
That was why, seeing them, she could understand that they were facing hardships she could hardly imagine.
‘And most importantly… that stance resembles the swordsmanship passed down in the Ersar family.’
That was why Eiran had been so surprised to see the female knight.
Could this really be a coincidence?
“Miss Lunia!”
“What?”
“Let’s surrender.”
“What?!”
Lunia’s eyes flew open at Eiran’s words.
The elves surrounding them also looked on with surprise.
“You…”
As the female knight stared at Eiran in astonishment, Eiran plunged her sword into the ground.
“We’re not with the Pureblood Society.”
Eiran said, looking the knight straight in the eye.
“And we’re certainly not from this city. We’re students from Seirun.”
“Students from Seirun?”
“That school for all the high-and-mighty nobles?”
‘High-and-mighty nobles?’
Lunia furrowed her brow as she listened to the elves murmuring amongst themselves.
“We know all about the Pureblood Society’s true nature and the twistedness of this city. So, won’t you tell us?”
Eiran said with an unwavering expression.
“The reason you have to do this.”
At her words, Lunia scratched her head vigorously.
She then sighed, stood beside Eiran, and crossed her arms.
“Wh-what should we do?”
“...We’ve been delayed. Let’s take these two and get out of here for now.”
The elves nodded in agreement.
Still on guard, they surrounded Lunia and Eiran.
Eiran asked the female knight walking beside her.
“That swordsmanship from before, who taught it to you? It doesn’t seem like you’ve been learning it for long.”
“...I learned it from someone who has been helping us recently.”
“...”
Hearing the knight’s answer, Eiran’s expression grew somber.
‘Perhaps… he might be where these people are headed.’
***
*Booooom—!*
Hearing the explosion from the direction of the council palace, Leo narrowed his eyes.
‘Aren’t Lunia and Eiran over there?’
He could feel the entire city thrown into an uproar by the sound of the blast.
‘I should probably call it a day.’
Leo expanded his extrasensory perception to find Chen Xia.
He had expected her to be far away since they had just parted, but his eyes twitched.
He couldn't sense Chen Xia’s presence.
Leo broadened the range of his senses even further.
Still, there was no sign of Chen Xia.
If Chen Xia had intentionally hidden her presence, even Leo with his extrasensory perception would have trouble pinpointing her from a distance.
But there was no reason for Chen Xia to hide her presence.
‘She couldn’t have gone far in such a short time. The most likely possibility is that she was taken by someone.’
Chen Xia was by no means weak.
In Leo’s eyes, it was clear that she would soon grow into a powerhouse worthy of the name ‘hero’.
Kidnapping someone like her without a sound would be impossible even for other heroes.
‘But *she* could probably do it.’
Berkia, the one Leo and Chen Xia were currently pursuing.
She would be capable of taking Chen Xia while avoiding Leo’s senses.
‘If Berkia is the culprit, then why?’
Why would she take Chen Xia?
Because she was human?
Or…
‘Did she realize she’s a descendant of Bihar?’
Ever since Chen Xia learned of Leo’s true identity, she had been learning the swordsmanship and aura breathing techniques used by Bihar from him.
Berkia would have seen through that in an instant.
‘I should regroup with Lunia and Eiran first.’
Leo headed back to their lodgings.
***
Lunia and Eiran wore expressions of shock.
“Where on earth is this place?”
“As you can see, we are underground.”
“N-no, I get that, but… why is there a city like this beneath Eldon?”
Lunia asked urgently.
At her question, the female knight let out a small sigh.
“I’m sure you both know that Eldon is the greatest nation of mages among the elves.”
“Yes.”
“And you probably know why Eldon was able to become the greatest nation of mages, right?”
“Because this land is imbued with the power of the stars.”
“That’s right.”
The female knight sighed deeply.
“First, let me introduce myself. My name is Rel Konea.”
“Konea? Are you from the Konea family?”
“You mean the notoriously stubborn Konea family?”
“Miss Lunia.”
Eiran, who had been surprised, chided Lunia for her harsh remark.
But Rel only smiled bitterly.
“It’s not an inaccurate description, so it’s fine. Besides, I don’t have any particular pride in my family. They treated me like an outcast anyway.”
The Konea family.
A prestigious house with influence ranking within the top five among the elven race.
Having produced heads of Eldon’s council for generations, they were renowned for being users of stellar magic second only to the Tingel family.
The reason they could boast a reputation on par with the Seirun-based Tingel family...
...was because of the unique nature of ‘Eldon’, the nation they had founded.
The land where Eldon was situated was imbued with a powerful stellar force.
A thousand years ago.
A meteor had fallen on this land, and its stellar power had naturally seeped into the earth.
The source of stellar magic is stellar mana.
As a result, the land naturally produced many stellar mages, and stellar magic itself underwent dramatic development.
And with that, the Pureblood Society naturally took root.
To be born as one of the chosen in a chosen land.
For the purists, those words must have been intoxicatingly sweet.
“But contrary to what is known to the outside world, the stellar power flowing through this land was depleted long ago.”
“What? But isn’t the Tingel family still producing many stellar mages?”
“Yes. That’s because stellar power still flows through this land.”
“Huh? What do you mean…”
“It’s because of that.”
Rel pointed with a look of disgust at a tower rising from the center of the underground city.
It was covered in all sorts of magic circles.
“That’s…”
“Everyone living in this underground city is incapable of using stellar magic.”
Rel’s face twisted.
“And that tower siphons their life force, making stellar power flow throughout Eldon just as it did before.”
Faced with a shocking truth that far surpassed anything they could have imagined, Lunia and Eiran stared in horror.
“...At first, they imprisoned criminals here.”
“Ah…”
Lunia’s eyes widened as she recalled something.
There was a time when Eldon had actively taken in criminals from all over elven society.
“But soon, that wasn’t enough. So the Eldon council came up with an idea. To create a class system unknown to the outside world.”
Rel’s face contorted with disgust.
“Those with no aptitude for stellar magic… would be confined underground and turned into livestock for supplying stellar power.”
Lunia felt her mind go blank.
What kind of expression would Luna make if she saw this?
Eiran, too, stood with a deathly pale face, her hands trembling.
“Didn’t anyone try to overthrow this system?”
Lunia asked hastily, and Rel bit her lip.
“The elves sent here were said to have accepted their lives. They had grown accustomed to this life since they were old enough to understand. It wasn't as if they lacked anything to live on. They just didn't know the outside world.”
Rel’s expression clouded over.
To live, complacent with reality.
From their perspective, they might have lived in relative contentment.
But from Rel’s point of view, it was a wretched existence, unable to live their own lives, with everything under control.
“But recently, food has become scarce, and the atmosphere here has grown tense.”
“Is the food shortage because the Pureblood Society’s influence in elven society has weakened?”
“That’s correct.”
The northern part of the continent is a land of winter.
As such, they had to rely on external sources for most of their food.
Normally, the Pureblood Society’s power was strong, so they could have used that influence to allocate a large portion of food to Eldon.
But with the recent decline in the Pureblood Society’s prestige, securing food had become difficult.
Rel explained that she had discovered the existence of this city long ago, and after the shock, she had severed ties with her family and the council.
She had then come here voluntarily to look after the people.
“How… how could they do this to their own kind…!”
Rage flared in Eiran’s eyes.
“If they’re suffering from a food shortage, can’t they just leave this place?”
“There’s a barrier around the underground city. No one can leave unless they have learned stellar magic.”
“But the people who went to get food earlier couldn’t use stellar magic, could they?”
“An outsider who recently found this underground city helped us with that.”
“An outsider who found the underground city?”
“Yes. We are heading to where she is staying now. For the moment, she is the one in charge of this city.”
At Rel’s words, Lunia wore a puzzled expression.
‘She came to the city recently and became its leader?’
While she was looking bewildered, Rel arrived at a building.
And she knocked.
“Come in.”
At the voice from inside, Rel opened the door and entered.
The small house opened directly into a living room.
And at the sight before them, Lunia’s and Eiran’s jaws dropped.
Rel, too, looked baffled.
The scene on the table was completely out of place in this underground city where food was said to be scarce.
The table was packed with plates, and on them were mountains of delicious-looking food.
And sitting on one side of the table was Chen Xia, her hands trembling as she stuffed food into her mouth.
“M-Miss Lunia? Miss Eiran?”
Chen Xia’s eyes widened as she called out to them.
“S-save m…”
“Do we have guests?”
A beautiful woman with an impassive face appeared in the living room, holding a pot in her hands.
Seeing the woman, Lunia’s and Eiran’s eyes widened.
“You must be the friends Xia mentioned?”
Berkia smiled faintly.
“Teacher… what is this…?”
Rel asked Berkia cautiously, and Berkia replied.
“Ah, she’s like a granddaughter to a friend of mine. She seemed to be eating poorly and looked so thin, so I was making her some food. Xia, you have to finish it all, understand?”
“I can’t eat it all…”
“You can’t be a picky eater.”
Chen Xia’s face turned deathly white.
Soon, Berkia’s gaze shifted to Lunia and Eiran.
“You two look quite thin as well.”
For some reason, the two girls felt a chill of terror at her warm words.