Watching the scene before her, Histori twitched the corner of her mouth speechlessly.
‘No way, isn’t this too casual?’
‘One second ago she had a knife to their necks to escort them to the Elf Queen, and the next second she just releases them on the spot?!’
‘Fine, release them, but then she casually reveals her identity? What’s that about?’
‘Letting these two elves know before they leave that she brought outsiders into the Elf Palace, planning to make them regret it for life?’
‘If I had known it would be handled this way, I might as well have pretended to be crazy and just said, “I suddenly remembered that we’ve actually caught the real culprit, so you’re no longer needed now.”‘
…
After seeing Amir’s current appearance, the two cowardly elves who had originally only wanted to escape punishment silently opened their mouths wide.
They exchanged a glance, then fled back the way they came without a word.
No, rather than fleeing, perhaps “leaping” was more appropriate.
Facing the passage that led straight down to the underground, the two elves jumped without hesitation, and in a few seconds they had completely disappeared into the darkness.
“…Hero, are you just going to let them go like that?”
Using the corner of her eye to look down the passage, Histori said helplessly to Amir—
“They’ve seen what we look like, and they know we’re definitely not elves. The first thing they’ll do when they get out is report us to the guards, right?”
“From their past actions, I don’t think they’ll voluntarily report us.”
Amir shrugged her shoulders and said calmly—
“Besides, even if they do report us, it doesn’t matter, because we’re already here.”
As she spoke, Amir extended her right hand and pushed open the stone slab above her head that was carved with strange runes.
A soft, pure milky-white light spilled down through the crevices of the stone slab, illuminating the dark secret passage.
“Let’s make this quick, Histori. As soon as we get the sacred artifact, we’ll leave immediately.”
“…Okay.”
Histori told herself to get used to Amir’s ways as she took a deep breath and pulled her hood lower.
Then, following Amir’s lead, she leaped up through the opening of the stone slab and silently jumped into the interior of the Elf Palace.
—
When Histori’s feet first touched the ground, she even had the illusion that she was stepping on clouds.
Completely different from the natural and primitive tree houses outside, the interior of the Elf Palace was astonishingly vast.
The decor was dominated by pure, flawless white jade, and the dome was inlaid with countless gems that sparkled like stars.
The entire building had no vulgar opulence, only a sacred, ethereal feeling that made one want to bow down in worship.
In the center of the palace was a huge fountain pool carved from white jade, emitting a faint mist all around.
Hovering directly above the fountain pool was an ornate golden cup of ancient design, surrounded by a faint golden light.
It seemed that was the Elf race’s sacred artifact, the legendary Cup of Life.
At that moment, the golden cup was slowly and weakly pouring clear water into the fountain pool below.
In addition, standing quietly in front of that golden holy grail was the back view of a woman with a gentle temperament, wearing a floor-length pure white dress.
She had pale golden hair that cascaded down like a waterfall, and on her head wore a crown woven from slender emerald branches.
Even just standing there quietly, she gave the impression of overlooking the entire palace.
…That was the ruler of the Elf Forest, the Elf Queen they spoke of.
“Um, Lady Amir, the owner is still there. Shouldn’t we find a place to hide and wait for her…”
Before Histori could tug at Amir’s sleeve and suggest they jump back into the pit together, the Elf Queen, who had been gazing at the holy grail, turned around and cast her amber eyes over the two girls behind her.
“Oh? A human, and a demon.”
An ethereal voice reached Histori’s ears from the direction of the Elf Queen.
An elegant and calm smile hung on her face as she said placidly—
“I’m quite curious. Two beings who should be mortal enemies, sworn to fight to the death, are actually traveling together on a cold, late night and have barged into the Elf Palace uninvited.”
The Elf Queen tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, nodded slightly at Amir, and gave an elegant bow—
“Good evening, Lady Amir. My name is Freya Windfell, the current Elf King, and the hundred and thirty-second branch extended from the Elf Sacred Tree.”
“Now, may I ask you to tell me the purpose of your visit tonight?”
…
Amir casually pulled off her cloak, stored it in her storage space, then took two steps toward the fountain and said without any concealment—
“I need your Cup of Life.”
“…Is that so? I see…”
Hearing such a direct statement, the Elf Queen did not seem angry.
She just pursed her lips, shook her head at Amir, and then stepped away from the fountain.
The golden holy grail, which had been floating in midair and steadily pouring clear water, immediately stopped flowing the moment the queen stepped away.
It swayed slightly in the air, then weakly fell into the center of the fountain.
“But, as you can see now, the Cup of Life is broken.”
The Elf Queen walked back to the fountain, then extended her right hand and used her power to make the holy grail float up again—
“Since two months ago, it no longer gushes out holy spring water imbued with life energy at any time like before. Now it only flows ordinary water.”
“To keep other elves from noticing and causing panic, I tried using the sacred tree power stored in my body to nurture the spring water at first, but that was only a temporary measure and couldn’t last.”
“So, to prevent the divine power in the Elf Spring from thinning, I had to use my authority to alter the structure of the Elf Palace and channel the water that still flowed from the holy grail directly underground.”
To prove her words, Freya lifted her fingertip and pointed slightly at the water in the pool.
A stream of water floated up out of nowhere.
Under Freya’s guidance, it splashed toward Histori, then rushed straight into the secret passage beneath her feet, surging all the way down.