When I pressed myself tightly against the window of the old archive room, I could clearly make out the figures inside.
I couldn’t believe my eyes; Fairy King Oberon and Queen Titania were standing there.
And kneeling right before them was our Luna.
Luna raised her head slightly, her voice laced with anxiety.
“My King, we must still investigate this human.
If he learns our true identity due to this hasty approach before we can explain everything, we might lose this valuable asset entirely.
If you could just grant me a little more time, I could convince the High Council…”
Before Luna could finish her sentence, Oberon raised his right hand sharply, silencing her.
“The High Council has no patience left, Luna!
If this process drags on any longer, you will completely jeopardize your seat on the council.
And then, not even those High Lords at the very back who support you will be able to shield you from my wrath.”
Luna suddenly stood up at the threat.
Taking a bold step toward Oberon, she raised her voice.
“Do I need to remind you who you are talking to, Oberon?
Do you honestly think I am blind to the dirty dealings you carry out behind the scenes with the demon lords and those upstart elf dynasties?
You must buy me that time, or else…”
The moment Luna said “or else,” Queen Titania, who had been waiting silently in the background, suddenly drew her shimmering spear and aimed it at Luna’s throat with lethal speed.
She then fixed her eyes on Oberon, waiting for a single execution order.
With a sinister smile on his face, Oberon began to pace slowly around Luna.
“You know too much, little elf…
Tell me, what is stopping me from killing you right here, right now, and pinning the blame on those foolish humans outside?”
Instead of showing fear, Luna chuckled softly.
She grabbed the sharp tip of Titania’s spear with her bare hand and placed it directly over her heart.
“Because you are no traitor, Oberon.
No matter how much of a senile old fool you are, you know the elves would never accept such a division.
No one in the council wants that.
You know better than I do what it means to lose power when the National Council is this close.”
With those words, she slowly pushed the spear down from her chest.
Oberon let out a deep sigh, stroking his long white beard.
“Those experiments…
They were absolutely necessary for the ascension of our bloodline, Luna.
Those so-called High Lords who want to wipe us off the face of this earth are growing in number every day, and a new one knocks on our door every single day.”
Luna turned her back and walked toward the door.
“Fine, don’t drag it out.
I will speak with that human personally very soon.”
As the conversation ended, they quickly left the room.
Behind the window, hidden under my invisibility spell, an involuntary smirk formed on my face.
I touched my cheek, grinning.
“Things are getting interesting…
Finally, some action suited to my taste,” I thought, snapping my fingers to teleport back to my room.
Since this world lacked anything resembling industrialization, the night sky was so clear it felt as though you could reach out and catch the stars in your palm.
Standing on the balcony, watching the massive-looking stars, I was already drawing up strategies on how to handle this elven conspiracy.
Right then, there was a soft knock on the balcony door.
It was Luna.
Without turning around, I said, “You may enter.”
As she stepped inside, the moonlight hit her skin directly, making her noble crest tattoos glow in the darkness of the night.
Back in the game, these tattoos belonged only to the purest elven dynasties, acting as an easy way to distinguish highborns from half-breeds.
Interlocking my hands behind my head, I continued to enjoy the view.
“What brings you here at this hour, Luna?” I asked.
“My Lord…
I heard from Lady Velmora that you are heading to the Ice Elf Kingdom,” she said.
As she spoke, she clasped her hands behind her back, bowing her head slightly as if asking out of shyness.
“I was wondering…
are you going there alone?”
I slowly straightened up and turned to her.
“No, Luna, we are going together.
Actually, I wanted to surprise you.
Ermo will bless us with the White Legion to protect us on this journey.”
At first, Luna remained completely motionless, processing what she had just heard.
Then her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open in shock.
“An estate of our own?!
And moreover…
the White Legion?!
I heard that legion consists only of the most elite warriors trained personally by Lord Ermo.
I specifically heard there are incredibly powerful beasts among them who have completely discarded their arrogant dragon complex!”
I raised an eyebrow slightly.
For a slave elf, possessing such high-level military intelligence was incredibly intriguing.
But keeping my suspicions hidden, I adopted a nonchalant attitude.
“I wouldn’t know, we’ll see about that when we meet them tomorrow.
We set out in a week.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to sleep soon.”
Luna slowly brought forward what she had been hiding behind her back since she arrived.
It was a candle of sorts, engraved with strange runes.
“My Lord…
This is a small gift representing my loyalty and devotion to you.
I hope you like it,” she said.
Then, bowing politely, she closed the balcony door and left the room.
I picked up the candle and examined it.
Its body was fused with copper alloys, meaning it would burn with a green flame when lit.
Looking back at the stars thoughtfully, I walked over to my desk and quickly penned letters to Scatroj and Enwoybi.
They were casual check-in letters, but between the lines, I noted that I would visit them personally within a few months to discuss highly critical matters face-to-face.
It would take a few weeks for my letters to reach them, and about the same time for a reply.
I must have dozed off on the lounge chair on the balcony.
In the early hours of the morning, I awoke abruptly to Kyso pounding wildly on the front door.
“Uncle!
Uncleee!” he shouted in his tiny, cheerful voice.
Thanks to the mana mechanism I had set up at the door, I sensed that he was waiting in the corridor along with elite royal guards.
With a single mental command, I automatically unlocked the door.
By the time they walked in, I was already in the bathroom, splashing cold water onto my face to shake off the sleep.
The moment Kyso burst into the room, he ran to me and jumped onto my lap.
“Uncle, uncle!
Father and my brothers are waiting for you downstairs!
There were these super-duper tall men, and their white armor looked so cool!”
Smiling at him, I pinched his nose.
“I’m cooler than them, kiddo.
Come on, show me these tall men of yours.”
I lifted Kyso onto my shoulders, left the room, and we began walking downstairs.
When we reached the palace’s lower courtyard, I saw about ten legionnaires lined up in flawless military formation.
The moment they saw Kyso on my shoulders, they saluted in unison like a single body.
I lowered Kyso back to the ground.
Just then, a scout from the White Legion flew down swiftly from the sky and landed beside us.
The haste and panic on his face were conspicuous.
He knelt before Ermo.
“My Lord!
We have an urgent and massive problem,” he gasped, out of breath.
“The Demon Lord has besieged our northern border fortress with a massive, hidden army never before mentioned in our reports!
They brought enormous siege towers and battering rams with them.
I am receiving real-time updates through the magical communication channels we established.
They have completely surrounded the fortress, but they haven’t launched a major assault yet.
They are just waiting, but their numbers are overwhelming!”
Ermo shrugged with a slight chuckle.
“So what?
Are you telling me my grand legions can’t wipe out a handful of rogue demons?”
The scout lowered his head even further, dropping his voice.
“My Lord…
I fear some influential elf dynasties are complicit in this treason.
According to the latest intelligence from our spies, the elven dynasties are marching toward the fortress with their own armies, bringing high-tier ancient spirits with them.”
I frowned.
There was no logical reason for the elves to attack dragons out of the blue.
Back in the game, these two races were practically absolute allies.
There was a glaring divergence in this scenario.
Ermo looked at his chief lieutenant and gestured toward the other soldiers with a nod.
His lieutenant caught the order instantly and began shouting at the legionnaires to take battle positions.
Finally, Ermo turned to Velmora behind him.
“Tomorrow morning, all legion leaders will attend an emergency strategy meeting to report on the current status of their garrisons!”
He then turned to me, a sheepish expression on his face.
“Kaan, my friend…
I’m so sorry, but your luxury vacation plans are going to be a bit delayed.”
I laughed.
“No worries, bro.
War always comes first.”
Meanwhile, Luna was coming down the stairs, her luggage already packed.
I ran up ahead of her and held up a hand to signal her to stop.
Luna dropped her bags in surprise, looking at me with curious eyes.
I gripped her firmly by the shoulders.
“Luna, a slight glitch occurred at the northern border.
Demons and some elves have besieged the dragon fortress.
You must stay here at the palace for now.
Don’t worry, Ermo and Velmora will take excellent care of you.
I’ll be back shortly; I need to go check what’s behind all this,” I said.
Luna placed her hands over mine on her shoulders and slowly lowered them.
She opened her mouth to say something, but without waiting to hear her words, I snapped my fingers and teleported directly to Scatroj’s border city.
My feet hit the ground as I teleported into the massive forested area outside the city.
Placing my hands on my hips, I looked at the distant walls.
“Well, well, well…
Look what our old Demon Lord has pulled off.
That was his sole purpose in the game too, the lunatic,” I muttered.
However, the moment the words left my mouth, my knees buckled.
A wave of terrible exhaustion washed over my body.
Holding onto the hollow of a massive tree nearby, I managed a controlled collapse to the ground.
The moment I tried to activate my mana to cast a protective barrier around myself, my mouth filled with a horrendous fluid, and nausea hit me.
Feeling suffocated, I leaned sideways and spat it out.
Looking at the puddle on the ground, I froze.
I had spat out dark, crimson blood.
Bringing a hand to my trembling lips, I muttered, “Damn…
Is this blood?!” Meanwhile, a piece of information flashed in the corner of my mind, just like the warning screens in the game:
[SYSTEM WARNING]: If you use direct teleportation magic across vastly long distances on the map, a certain amount of HP (Health Points) will be sacrificed relative to the distance covered, regardless of your current mana capacity.
(Long-range blind teleports are strictly NOT RECOMMENDED = X)
Back in the game, my HP pool was so gargantuan that I wouldn’t care in the slightest about such minor drops.
But in this real world, things didn’t work that way; the pain and physical damage here were entirely real.
I immediately opened my inventory, pulled out a shimmering [Purifying Potion], and chugged it in one go.
The potion’s effect slightly revitalized my body.
Supporting myself against the tree, I stood up with difficulty.
“Damn you, Scatroj!
Of all the shitty places to settle down, you had to pick one this far away!” I cursed under my breath.
Since I was in a deserted forest entirely outside the city, I figured it wouldn’t cause any trouble, so I released a fraction of my massive mana.
A powerful wave of mana surged through the forest.
I knew Scatroj would sense this ancient power instantly; I leaned back and waited.
As my eyes scanned the high city walls in the distance, I noticed a silhouette atop one of the bastions.
Looking closer, I realized the person standing on that high tower, looking at me, was Scatroj himself.
Watching me from afar, he was stretching his arms, as if doing warm-up exercises before a workout.
“Are you seriously going to jump down from there just to test me?” I murmured.
Scatroj threw himself off the walls, straight into a drop of hundreds of meters.
I closed my eyes as he vanished from my field of vision, skyrocketing into the depths of the forest.
The moment I felt his mana in the air, I wove a massive, flexible, invisible barrier out of my mana at his exact landing point, cushioning his fall.
Bursting through the trees, he stopped right in front of me, walked straight up as if nothing had happened, and gave me a tight hug.
“Welcome, my Kaan!
I was just reading that letter you sent back at the palace.
What brings you here so early, my friend?
Is there a problem, or did you just miss me?”
Without breaking my serious expression, I explained the siege at the northern border, and the alliance between the elven dynasties and the demon army, detail by detail.
After listening to my explanation, Scatroj leaned against a thick tree behind him, his face darkening.
“Hmm…
Yes, this is indeed a major issue.
No matter how much of a Demon Lord that attacker is, he would never dare face the dragons alone without massive backing.
Like you said, those arrogant elves are definitely behind this.”
I took a step toward him.
“Yes.
I also sent an urgent letter to Enwoybi explaining the whole situation in thorough detail.
Most of the elven dynasties are under his rule right now, but those radical minorities in the council are always dangerous.”
Scatroj began to chuckle under his breath.
“I knew these war-torn days would come sooner or later, my friend, but for it to break out this early is truly frustrating.”
He then waved his hand in the air, projecting a magical hologram before us.
It was clearly a map of a dark demon city.
“Look, Kaan.
I made a secret pact with this city located on my border and the three strategic fortresses around it.
They are completely under my dominion right now.
This is a covert alliance; no one on the council must hear of it.
According to the intelligence I gathered from them…
the Ice Elves, as you know, are one of the few elven communities on earth that preserve their true identity and ancient culture.
And they possess the legendary ‘Five Great Spears.’ Each of these spear wielders has the power to annihilate an entire army single-handedly.
But right around the time you bought Luna from the slave market, one of these five spears suddenly vanished into thin air, written off by the tribe as ‘killed in action.’ Normally, I wouldn’t care, but…
just keep an eye on that girl by your side, Kaan.
There are very bizarre similarities in both of their backstories.”
Chuckling softly, I ran my hands through my hair, messing it up.
“Man, the good ones never find us, do they!” I said, landing a hard punch on Scatroj’s armored shoulder.
“So, tell me.
Are you with us in this war, or are you staying neutral?”
Before I could finish my sentence, he drove a punch so solid into my chest it almost took my breath away.
“Is that even a question, you bastard!
Of course I am with you!
But leaving the border personally with my armies right now would trigger massive rebellions in my territory.
You know, that damn demon council business…
Those senile fools at the head are nagging me at the palace every single day because I still don’t have an heir.
But don’t worry; I will send my most elite legionnaire unit under Kaju’s command to support you very soon.”
I nodded in approval.
“That’s more than enough, my friend.
Thank you.”
As our conversation concluded, I snapped my fingers and teleported back to my room in the palace to completely shake off the teleportation damage.
I immediately threw myself onto the bed.
Waiting for the purifying potion to heal my body, I hugged the pillow tightly.
Luna must have sensed my return right away from the mana fluctuation in the room, because she burst in suddenly without even knocking.
Coming right up to the head of my bed without asking for permission, she asked in a panic, “My Lord!
Are you alright?!”
I looked at her with dull, exhausted eyes from under the pillow, remaining stretched out.
“I’ll be perfectly fine in two minutes, Luna.
Calm down.”
Luna immediately sat on the wooden chair beside me, anxiety still lingering in her eyes.
“My Lord, Lord Ermo is currently in the emergency war room with all the legion captains.
He left an order saying, ‘Have Kaan swing by the moment he returns to the palace.'”
Closing my eyes tightly, I pressed the pillow against my head; my stomach was completely empty, and I was starving.
“I don’t care about any of them right now…” I muttered.
Without asking, Luna suddenly placed her hand on my forehead; her skin was cool since she was an ice elf, checking my temperature.
“You really don’t look well, My Lord…”
Turning my back to her, I pulled up the blanket.
“I’m just a bit sluggish, it’ll pass.”
When she pulled her hand away, Luna put her hands on her hips, her tone resolute.
“Then I am heading straight to the kitchen to make you a wonderful, healing soup, My Lord!” she said, and quickly rushed out of the room.
Under the influence of the potion and exhaustion, I fell fast asleep in bed…
When I opened my eyes, there was no scent of warm soup in the room, nor was Luna anywhere to be seen.
Darkness had already fallen outside.
Sensing that something was wrong, I tried to connect with Luna telepathically through my mind.
However, the moment my mind reached her mana frequency, it encountered a horrific magical interference—a literal spell jammer.
This was the Dragon Palace; there was no way such magical interference could exist in the heart of the Sun City, let alone a spy infiltrating it.
The moment I realized something was amiss and that Luna was in danger, I leaped out of bed, threw on my clothes, grabbed my spear, and dashed out the door.