Chapter 205: The Elf's Journey Rides the Wind (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 205: The Elf's Journey Rides the Wind (1)
Alfia, acting as the Elf Queen's messenger, left the Great Forest and set out on a journey.
A false rumor was spreading that the Elf Queen had taken a consort.
Her official objective was to visit the elven villages scattered across the continent and correct this misinformation.
Her true purpose was to find Karami.
He was the very person who had started the lie about being the Elf Queen's consort. He had said he was going to the beastkin nation to meet a fox, but now, he was apparently with an Ice Princess.
She suspected that if she left him be, he might never return. Alfia needed him.
The longer they were apart, the more wounds appeared on her body.
The first place Alfia sought was the dusky forest where the dark elves had made their home.
It was a dark and gloomy forest where colossal shadowtrees blocked the sun, preventing any light from ever reaching the ground. The only sources of light were the phosphorescent mosses.
Dark elves specialized in assassination and infiltration. Any outsider who set foot in their territory would die a lonely death, vanishing without a trace.
But Alfia was an elf.
She was not on bad terms with the dark elves.
All elves traced their roots to the Great Forest where the World Tree stood; they had simply evolved to suit the different environments they lived in.
Moreover, Alfia was a warrior acknowledged by the Great Forest, so she was welcomed by the dark elves. She was able to deliver the Elf Queen's decree without any trouble.
“You’ve gone to a great deal of trouble for nothing. We dark elves knew from the beginning that the information was false. There is no way the Queen would have made a thousand-year vow with a lowly human.”
“I know, right? Well, I’ve delivered the letter, so I’ll be on my way.”
“Wait.”
As Alfia turned to leave, the dark elf elder called her to a halt.
“O, strongest warrior of the Great Forest, acknowledged by the World Tree. Would you not grant our dark elf warriors a lesson?”
“That’s a pain…”
“I ask this of you.”
She couldn’t refuse.
Most of the dark elf warriors participated in the duels, and Alfia had to face them all. Only then was she allowed to leave the forest.
Her next destination was the Ancara Desert.
The desert elves.
The Shandrael, Those Who Walk on Sand.
Elves were reclusive and hard to meet. Of course, anyone who went to the Great Forest had one chance to meet them. They would die afterward, but the chance was there.
Elves were a mystical race, but the Shandrael were even more so.
The Shandrael were the only elves who did not live in a forest. They were nomads without a fixed settlement, moving according to the desert’s oases and the constellations.
Of course, Alfia had no trouble finding them. She just had to ask the desert spirits, and they told her right away.
It was Alfia’s first time seeing the Shandrael.
Having adapted to the desert environment, their bronze skin glowed with health. Their hair was a lighter blonde than other elves, and their eyes were as blue as an oasis.
As they were elves, their beauty was a given.
“The Queen sent me.”
Just as with the dark elves, she delivered Ivrelia’s decree.
The Shandrael elder showed no particular surprise.
“You have endured much on your long journey. Please, stay and quench your thirst.”
“It’s fine. I have a spirit.”
With a contract to a water spirit, one could be supplied with fresh water anywhere. You could quench your thirst or wash yourself as you pleased.
And for the Shandrael, who wandered the desert, it was an absolute necessity.
“You command a high-ranking water spirit! In that case, would you not help our children form contracts with water spirits?”
Spirits had a habit of following higher-ranking spirits. When a young elf tried to contract with a low-ranking spirit, the adult elves would often help.
And the being Alfia harbored was a Servant, a class beyond mere spirits. A whole cluster of spirits was already peeking out, interested in the Servant.
“Ah…”
Once again, Alfia couldn’t refuse.
*
“Thank you. Please come again. And please give our regards to the Queen.”
Receiving the farewells of the Shandrael, Alfia left the desert.
She had helped thirty elves form contracts. Not a single one was with a low-ranking water spirit; the lowest were mid-rank.
Thanks to her, the Shandrael now possessed the largest number of mid-rank water spirits since they had left the Great Forest.
Her business in the desert finished, Alfia flapped her wings of wind and swiftly moved to the next location.
It was the final destination on her mission as the Queen’s messenger.
Eisengar, the permafrost region where the Snow Elves lived. It was also the starting point of this whole consort incident.
The thought that Karami might be somewhere here made it difficult for Alfia to contain her excitement. Her heart pounded relentlessly.
With the help of the spirits, Alfia headed for the Snow Elves’ settlement. They had made their home in a coniferous forest, living in igloos.
Alfia delivered the Queen’s letter.
“Hmm, my apologies. It seems our misunderstanding has caused the Queen trouble,” the Snow Elf elder said, apologizing sheepishly.
With that, Alfia’s role as a messenger was over. But her own business was just beginning.
“I heard a man claiming to be the Queen’s consort came to visit. Do you know anything about him?”
“I don’t know much about that human, but the captain of our guardians spoke with him. She might know something.”
“I see.”
As Alfia was about to go find the guardian captain, the elder called out to her.
“Say, strongest warrior of the Great Forest. By any chance…”
“I refuse. After all the trouble you caused, you have some nerve.”
“Urk…”
The elder was at a loss for words.
Alfia soon met the guardian captain.
After listening to Alfia’s explanation, the captain searched her memory of her meeting with the man.
“He came here. A man with black hair and black eyes. He was human, but he carried the aura of the World Tree.”
It matched Alfia’s knowledge of Karami. She, too, had sensed the aura of the World Tree from him when they first met.
“Who is the Ice Princess?”
“A human woman who was with him. She is the princess of a kingdom that has vanished from history.”
She didn’t quite understand, but just from the description, she could tell this was no ordinary person. Feeling a sense of unease, Alfia asked anxiously.
“Is she pretty?”
“She was so beautiful it was hard to believe she was human. She could rival most any elf.”
Elves, a race beautiful by nature, had very high standards for appearance. For an elf to say someone could ‘rival an elf’ was the highest form of praise, one not given lightly.
Such a beauty was at Karami’s side. Alfia bit down hard on her finger, a nervous habit.
“Do you happen to know where they went?”
“I don’t know their exact location. But if you go northeast, there is a frozen kingdom. It has a barrier, so outsiders can’t enter, but you never know. They might be there.”
It was a vague answer without any certainty, but she had no other information. Alfia flew blindly toward the northeast, the direction the guardian had indicated.
It’s not as cold as I thought.
Alfia was well aware of the notorious reputation of the permafrost region of Eisengar.
They said that if an outsider set foot in Eisengar unprepared, the cold would freeze them to the bone, and they would die standing.
She’d heard that the relentless blizzards would prevent you from taking even a single step.
Moreover, the elves of the Great Forest, who lived in warm forests under the sun, were particularly weak to the cold.
So Alfia had planned to keep a fire spirit constantly wrapped around her body, but the reality fell far short of the rumors. It was like winter, maybe just a little colder.
Perhaps the northerners had spread exaggerated rumors to boast of their own strength.
“Is that it?”
Flying through the sky on wings of wind created by her Servant, a city came into Alfia’s view. She landed in the middle of it.
Alfia tilted her head. The guardian had said there would be a barrier protecting the kingdom, but she didn’t sense any magical device.
All that mattered to Alfia was that she had gotten into the city, so she didn’t think too deeply about it. She began to look around, wandering through the city.
“It’s incredibly beautiful.”
Alfia had thought the Great Forest, which embodied nature itself, was the most beautiful place. But the Frisian Kingdom was comparable. It was as beautiful as something out of a fairy tale.
The strange thing was that there wasn’t a single person. Instead, the city was filled with ice statues.
A child holding their parent’s hand.
An old couple sitting on a bench.
A noble in a carriage.
They were vivid and exquisitely detailed.
It felt as if they would come to life the moment the ice melted.
Moreover, perhaps reflecting the creator’s taste, the statues exuded a warm and harmonious atmosphere. They were residents befitting a fairy-tale village.
What was chilling was that such statues filled the entire city. Who on earth could have performed such a large-scale work?
“Why are they so excited?”
While Alfia was slightly thrilled by the unfamiliar experience, there were others who were far more excited than she was.
The ice spirits.
The moment she entered the kingdom, the ice spirits began to zip around excitedly. She didn’t know why. They were always creatures whose thoughts were impossible to fathom.
Alfia passed through the streets and entered the castle.
A garden of flowers, the ice knight order guarding the castle, butlers and maids. In the grand throne room were statues of courtiers, and the king and queen.
As Alfia wandered ceaselessly through the castle, she suddenly sensed a presence. She cautiously walked toward it.
There was a person there.
Her atmosphere was similar to the ice statues, but she was unmistakably a person.
Unlike the ice blocks, which were vivid but ultimately just sculptures, she was moving. Where her hands touched, an ice person was created.
The ice spirits played around the woman, flying in circles. The woman, who had been watching the suddenly appeared spirits, turned her head and spotted Alfia.
“…?”
A beauty so captivating it was as if an enchantment had been cast on her appearance, forcing one to stare, mesmerized.
The moment she saw her, Alfia knew.
This woman was the Ice Princess.
And, like herself, she was a slave who had been liberated by Karami.
“So you’re the Ice Princess.”
Azyeth tilted her head.
Then her pupils dilated.
“Tinkerbell…!”
“…?”
With that one slow word, Alfia defined the person named Azyeth.
This one isn’t normal, either.