Chapter 99 - Fisherman's Profit (3)

Her crossed arms, her frowning face, and her attitude waiting for my words remained exactly the same.

However, her eyes were completely different.

Just a moment ago, she had merely told me to spout whatever I wanted. But now, her eyes were demanding an explanation.

"The reason the Meisters of the Dwarven clan were there that day was because they were searching for a place to build a new forge to replace the one that had reached the end of its lifespan."

She remained silent.

"If you had harmed or hindered them that day, the Dwarves, driven mad by the loss of their forge, would have all swarmed the North."

Clearly, an individual Dwarf is weaker than an Elf. Unlike High Elves who live for a thousand years, the Dwarven Meisters live for a mere 300 years at best. That difference in time was precisely the difference in strength.

However, that was only an individual difference.

An army of Dwarves fully prepared for war was a completely different matter.

Armed with their self-forged divine weapons and iron guns, the Dwarves were cast iron and fire itself. They were hammers that smashed anything to pieces, and flames that could burn anything down.

There was no way Sigrun didn't know what my words meant.

But despite that, she remained cynical towards my words.

"No matter how many of those trivial Dwarves swarm us, we just need to kill them all."

She finally opened her mouth after a long time, but I shook my head at her words.

"Even if you win, it would be a pyrrhic victory; by then, the iron guns of the Dwarves would have already burned down the forest you cherish so much."

People often referred to Elves as the innocent gardeners of the forest. It was a phrase that arbitrarily romanticized their obsessive attachment to the forest.

This was different from the truth. The reason Elves cherished and protected the forest was by no means because they loved the greenery.

[Fairies to the forest. Dwarves underground.]

It was because the land permitted to them was strictly limited to the forest.

A shrinking forest meant a shrinking kingdom territory, and a burning forest was no different from their kingdom burning.

And the Dwarven army, even in defeat, had the capability to burn their kingdom entirely to the ground.

"I have already bestowed a great favor upon the Elves."

I plopped down onto the sofa. Then, I sank deeply into the backrest and admired Sigrun's expression.

Her face had stiffened rigidly, and as even her remaining cynicism faded, all that was left was a lifeless dryness.

On that face, which looked like a doll made of clumped desert sand, her true nature gradually began to reveal itself.

A cruel madness flickered beyond her silver eyes.

"A favor is the generosity, or rather the mercy, that the strong bestow upon the weak."

She was warning me to know my place, to grasp my own position.

My eyes stung as if pierced by needles. My skin heated up as if branded by fire. My breath hitched and constricted.

She hadn't even revealed her true status yet; what she had done was merely a verbal warning.

My pride was hurt.

"If you're going to act petty and feign ignorance, then do so. I won't demand a price any longer either."

So I spoke even more brazenly.

"However, do not expect anything more from me. You were the one who betrayed our trust first, not me."

At that moment, Sigrun's faintly audible breathing completely stopped. She looked at me, creaking like a broken doll.

The moment I met that gaze, I knew.

That I had just crossed a line I shouldn't have crossed.

I had thoroughly provoked a mighty being who couldn't even be compared to the likes of a Warlord.

A monster who could perhaps crush someone like me to death with a single finger; nine times out of ten, I would die without being able to block even a single strike.

I didn't bat an eye.

She was an Elder High Elf who had already come here offended. Even if I subserviently catered to her whims and appeased her mood, I would inevitably end up with a leash around my neck.

Clinging to life with a leash around my neck like a dog was not my way. Of course, that didn't mean I wanted to die a dog's death right here either.

"Come out."

I whispered softly, looking straight at her, who looked ready to snap at any moment.

Even at my abrupt words, Sigrun showed no reaction.

"Mage of the pure white night."

But even she flinched and froze the moment I mentioned the White Night.

FLASH!

At that moment, in the room lit only by the hearth fire, a crimson glint suddenly appeared beneath the darkest shadow.

『I was just about to come out anyway.』

It was Ophelia, the High Lich who was revered by many men as the Mage of the White Night in life, but had now become a hideous skeleton.

The High Lich, who fully revealed herself from the shadows, glared at the Elder High Elf before suddenly clattering her jaw.

At first glance, it looked like she was smiling. Although the emotion contained within was far from welcoming, but rather extremely threatening.

Sigrun's shoulders hitched slightly.

『I warn you in advance,』

But before that twitch could lead into the Magic Swordsman's sword dance, Ophelia spoke.

『If that slight movement is the prelude to your vulgar dance.』

Geometric patterns abruptly revealed themselves all over the walls, the ceiling, and everywhere else.

Geometric figures made by overlapping five to seven circles each, and a language embodying the truths and mysteries of the world—they were magic circles that only those who had reached the level of a Mage could create.

『You shall experience the pure white night before the first tune even begins.』

Sigrun's body froze in place. Conflict surfaced in her silver eyes.

Her conflict was plainly visible to me.

She had come looking for me simply to vent her anger and issue a warning. Although she momentarily lost her reason due to my provocation, harming me would ultimately yield no benefit for her anyway.

In such a situation, the Mage of the White Night had unexpectedly appeared.

Before, it was merely a lack of profit, but from now on, it was a clear loss.

Magic circles filled the surroundings, but the only one who knew their exact number and the magic contained within them was the Mage herself.

That meant the one dominating this place was the Mage.

Of course, the Elder High Elf possessed the ability to sever the Mage's neck before she could even activate the magic circles, but that was a method that only worked on a living Mage.

The Mage of the White Night was a High Lich.

Severing her neck wouldn't stop the spells from activating.

Sigrun's gaze turned towards her own feet. Right beneath her feet, complexly intertwined and overlapping magic circles were glowing.

CLACK.

She stealthily let go of the sword hilt she had gripped at some point.

"I've never heard that you came down south of the mountains."

The madness and anger from a moment ago were no longer visible on her face as she spoke with a deliberately troubled look.

"If I had known, I would have come to greet you much sooner."

Sigrun, having returned to her usual self, stared intently at me.

"Your Highness. Bringing another woman into your bedchamber when you have a fiancée is an unbearable insult."

It was a reprimand for bringing in the Mage of the White Night and using her as a shield.

"You were the one who broke our trust first."

My answer to that remained consistent.

It was Sigrun who had visited with ill intentions in the first place, and it was she who had denied our superficially maintained mutually beneficial relationship out of pride. It was also she who had tried to coerce me with force.

"Quarrels between lovers are common; if breakups were announced every time, would there be any lovers left in the world?"

Even at her gentle, coaxing voice, I simply snorted.

"Fine. I will admit my rashness and pay the price for the favor Your Highness has bestowed."

She finally spoke, as if throwing her hands up in defeat.

"I will completely bind the nineteen Sword Maidens to Your Highness."

At first glance, it sounded as if she were granting something grand, but in reality, it was an offer that brought no great loss to her.

She had attached the Sword Maidens to me in the first place to serve as her eyes and ears, but as long as the Mage of the White Night was by my side, that intention could no longer be fulfilled.

Furthermore, Ophelia had previously referred to the Sword Maidens as mixed-blood fairies rather than purebloods. To Elves, who cared about bloodlines to a terrifying degree, the mixed-blood Sword Maidens were by no means their kin.

In other words, Sigrun wasn't handing the Sword Maidens over to me; she was throwing them away.

"I'll gratefully accept them."

However, just because Sigrun treated the Sword Maidens like trash didn't mean I had any intention of doing the same.

The Sword Maidens, who were skilled in stealth and covert operations and whose own martial prowess rivaled that of decent knights, were definitely useful talents even if I couldn't completely trust them.

If their awkward relationship with their former master could just be settled, I would have wanted to make them my subordinates first.

With a few words, Sigrun formed a covenant, renouncing all her rights over the Sword Maidens.

Just in case, Ophelia imbued her covenant with binding force, and only then could the Sword Maidens truly escape the Elder High Elf's influence.

"Are you satisfied now?"

At Sigrun's words, I firmly shook my head.

And I told her. That restoring broken trust required much more effort.

Frowning, Sigrun asked if there was anything else I desired.

"Unlike the Dwarves, we don't tend to hoard very valuable items."

Watching her ask if there was truly anything that would meet my expectations, I smiled in triumph.

The best at fortification and metallurgy were the Dwarves, and the most outstanding at magic and gathering were the Elves.

And what I desired was the essence they gathered, the very blessing of the forest.

"Elixir."

The secret medicine of the fairies.

Sigrun frowned at my words.

"Do you even know what an Elixir is?"

"As much as others know."

"Not only is the Elixir not a secret medicine granting immortality as humans claim, but it's also an item where you lose far more than you gain if consumed incorrectly."

Sigrun added one more thing.

"Especially for a promising knight like Your Highness, the loss would be even greater."

She wasn't making excuses because she didn't want to give it to me. She genuinely believed the Elixir wouldn't be helpful to me. She looked as though she were worrying that her future feast, which needed to be aged for a long time, might somehow spoil.

"So are you going to give it to me or not?"

When I pressed her, she hesitated for a long time before abruptly turning her body around.

"I hope this isn't mere reckless greed."

Right before disappearing out the window, she added a remark as if she had just remembered.

"Keep your eyes on the lands beyond the mountains."

And as she lightly vanished out the window, a small whisper drifted on the wind.

『With the master of the mountains in the wrong place, of course there's such a commotion.』

I looked back without realizing it.

There, the High Lich who had ruled over a stretch of the Frost Mountains was staring at me with hollow eyes.

* * *

I hurriedly dispatched Rangers to investigate the situation beyond the mountains.

"How long has it even been since the war ended for me to have already become this lax?"

I reproached myself.

Sigrun's final words were no different from a scathing rebuke.

It was also a warning to my heart, which had unconsciously grown dull amidst my smoothly flowing daily life.

I steeled my resolve and stood a sword upright in my heart.

Only then was I able to realize it.

The clouds of war that had already approached right before Winter Castle.

However, I was not as anxious as before.

Winter Castle was ready to meet and fight the enemy at any time. Though still incomplete, over five hundred knight cadets were tempering themselves day and night, and a new Ranger legion the size of a full corps was diligently traversing the mountains, ingraining the sense of real combat into their bodies.

Furthermore, the armies of the Northern lords that would gather here at any given command amounted to a staggering three legions.

I quietly waited for the Rangers to return.

But the Rangers I was waiting for did not come; instead, an owl arrived and pecked at the window of my bedchamber.

Tight in its sharp talons, it grasped a vial sloshing with a mystically colored liquid.

It was the secret medicine sent by Sigrun, the Elixir.

Without a shred of hesitation, I uncorked the vial.

WHOOSH.

I savored the dense fragrance that instantly pierced the tip of my nose.

The abundant blessing of the forest itself.

The thing I needed most right now.

It was the essence of mana.

I drank the secret medicine.