Elise barely fell asleep at dawn. However, she couldn’t get enough sleep.
Just as she had fallen asleep, Uls growled.
Karan had brought Uls in for Elise just before going to sleep.
Elise, wearing a thin slip and a robe, got out of bed and stroked Uls’s mane.
“Shh, Uls. Be quiet. Karan is sleeping.”
Despite Elise’s soothing, Uls’s fur was still bristled.
Elise looked back at the peacefully sleeping Karan. Usually, he would wake up even if Elise just tossed and turned, but today he was in a deep sleep.
Thinking he must have been tired, Elise put on another shawl and took Uls outside.
The warriors on patrol bowed their heads upon seeing Elise. Elise responded with a smile.
“Do you need anything?” Joseph asked.
“I just came out for some fresh air. Don’t mind me, Joseph. Carry on with your work.”
Joseph gave a brief reply and moved away.
“Uls, calm down now.”
Elise crouched next to Uls, who was still growling. Uls was staring intently at one spot.
The low rumble in his throat resembled a human warning.
“Uls, is there something over there?”
Elise’s eyes narrowed, remembering the special experiences she had shared with Uls.
“Is there a monster or something?”
Uls didn’t react but moved his jaw.
“You can’t run off alone, Uls.”
Elise gripped tightly the leash attached to Uls’s name tag.
It was a weak grip that Uls could easily break free from. However, instead of breaking free, Uls bit Elise’s collar and pulled.
“You want me to come with you?”
The collar tightened. After a brief glance back at the tent, Elise followed Uls.
Although Karan had told her not to do anything dangerous, she couldn’t let Uls run off alone.
‘His Highness said he could hear my voice from anywhere.’
Elise trusted Karan.
Uls passed through the campsite and entered the forest. The dense forest, where it wouldn’t be strange for a monster to jump out from anywhere, was so thick with trees that not a single ray of light penetrated. With visibility very low, Elise strained her eyes.
“Uls, how far are we going?”
Uls stopped not long after Elise’s question.
Uls lowered his body. Elise also tensed up and hid behind a tree.
Then, faint voices could be heard.
“…please support the Ivory Tower, Your Highness David. Otherwise… downfall… to Tetris…”
Your Highness David?
Elise peeked out and focused on where the sound was coming from. Through the bushes, she could faintly see two figures.
The owner of the purple robe embroidered with gold was Ember.
“I refuse.”
Her conversation partner was David.
“Your Highness David!”
Ember’s voice rose. Spark! Flames shot from Ember’s hand.
David was in danger.
‘Karan, please wake up. Your Highness.’
Elise called out to Karan with all her might in her mind.
“Did you call me?”
Then, in less than a second, Karan appeared. He enveloped Elise from behind as if pouncing on her.
“Your Highness? You, you can come this quickly?”
Shh. Karan put his finger on Elise’s lips and whispered.
“The concealment bird moved. Chase is nearby.”
Shortly after Elise had left, the concealment bird had come to find Karan. Chase’s movement had been detected.
Elise looked around.
At that moment, Uls’s fur bristled greatly. Elise and Karan turned their heads following Uls’s gaze.
They saw someone moving stealthily. It wasn’t Chase. It was a woman.
Uls’s growling grew more intense.
When attempts to calm him with “Shh, shh” proved futile, Karan moved his hand. He cast a concealment spell on Uls.
“Elise, stay here with Uls.”
Karan patted Elise’s shoulder.
“Are you going over there?”
“The atmosphere doesn’t seem right.”
In the brief moment they had focused elsewhere, David and Ember had started raising their voices.
“Are you going to rule Bedrokka with such a weak heart? It’s a misfortune for the people of Bedrokka!”
“Why are you doing this, Sage! What exactly are you coveting? Our goal is one. To catch Ragnaros!”
“That’s right! And the Ivory Tower will lead that capture! I’m saying incompetent humans should step aside.”
“Sage!”
David struck his chest as if frustrated. He, who rarely got excited, put his hands on his waist and fumed.
“It seems we can’t communicate. If that’s the case, there’s no choice. I’ll have to talk to someone who understands.”
A ball of light formed in Ember’s hand.
Elise, watching from afar, covered her mouth with her hand.
It was a magic that attacks the opponent by shooting lightning like a spear.
‘Ember intends to kill His Highness David. Suddenly, why?’
Elise was confused. The move Ember was making was so crude it was hard to believe she was an intelligent sage.
“What’s that in your hand? Put it away immediately. Sage, calm down.”
David, feeling his life threatened, stepped back one step, then two.
“It won’t be too painful. I’ll report that you died bravely confronting monsters.”
Ember raised her hand high. At the moment lightning flashed from her fingertips.
“No!”
A woman hiding in the bushes sprang out.
“Iris!”
Iris rushed forward, casting a protective spell in front of David.
Grr, woof!
This time, Uls chased after Iris.
“Finally caught you!”
From the opposite side of where Iris had emerged, Chase jumped out and pulled his bowstring.
“Iris, what are you doing!”
Ember shouted, just about to complete her casting.
“Sage, what are you doing! Your Highness David, I’ll save you!”
Iris blocked David’s front. Ember tried to nullify her magic belatedly, but it was too late.
If she abandoned the casting now, she would be in danger. With no choice, Ember finished the casting.
Her hand flashed.
At this rate, Iris would be hit!
Elise immediately realized what Iris was up to.
‘She plans to cover up her crimes by saving His Highness! Then was it also Iris who made Ember and His Highness David fight?’
She felt goosebumps.
She couldn’t let Iris create a foothold for her comeback. Just as Elise was about to move.
Whoosh, an arrow cut through the air and thud, it struck Iris’s shoulder.
“Aagh!”
As Iris’s body crumpled, the lightning that barely grazed her tore through her shield and struck David’s body.
“Aaaagh!”
It was lightning that Ember had shot with the intention to kill.
On the other hand, Iris had only put up a weak shield, thinking only of saving herself.
Though weakened by tearing through the shield, it was enough to cause David intense pain.
“Your Highness David!”
Elise rushed out.
Karan subdued Ember, and Uls pounced on Iris’s body.
Smoke rose from various parts of David’s clothes.
“Your Highness, you must stay conscious!”
Elise held him and shouted. David’s eyelids were fluttering, about to close.
“El, Elise… if I…”
David tried to leave his last words.
“No! I will definitely save you. Your Highness, you can’t die like this!”
Elise, who owed a debt from David’s past death, wanted to save him this time.
Wiping away falling tears, Elise looked back at Karan.
Karan, who had knocked Ember unconscious, handed her over to the concealment bird and approached.
“The magician’s state is strange. She’s rambling like someone intoxicated, her eyes completely unfocused.”
From the conversation with David to using attack magic without rhyme or reason, it wasn’t like a sage at all.
“Later, Your Highness. We need to move His Highness David quickly.”
Karan looked down at David. He picked up David, who was in poor condition.
At that moment, the concealment bird that had subdued Chase approached.
Chase was overflowing with composure.
“Elise, did you see? I caught Iris. I caught that wicked woman.”
Chase’s eyes didn’t seem to even see that David was dying. Or perhaps he was acting so composed because he did see it.
When one of the concealment birds tried to stop Chase from moving forward, he became angry.
“Let go! I am the prince of Bedrokka. Now that His Highness David, the crown prince, has fallen, I am the only prince who can act on his behalf.”
Karan’s eyebrows twitched.
“If you don’t want to create a diplomatic dispute, let go!”
“You’re an attempted murderer.”
Karan smirked, raising the corner of his mouth. Chase returned the same smile.
“Who could punish me? This isn’t Tetris land, is it?”
The Abandoned Land was a neutral zone. A stateless area, where those who had committed serious crimes sometimes fled. And they all became monster food.
“It’s not Bedrokka land either.”
“If I have committed a crime, I’ll be judged in Bedrokka’s court. Right, Elise?”
Elise, not hiding her irritated expression, grabbed Karan’s collar.
“Your Highness, according to international law, Chase is…right. And right now, His Highness David is urgent.”
Karan, looking at David who was breathing faintly, nodded to the concealment birds.
They released Chase and stepped back a couple of paces.
Chase grinned.
“Elise, I’ll give that criminal to you. It’s my gift.”
Chase pointed at Iris, who was unconscious and pinned under Uls.
“Well then, see you at the next meeting.”
Chase believed he would take David’s place.
Elise’s jaw tightened firmly.
In the game set up by Iris, Chase had claimed the trophy of victory.
‘I’ll definitely turn this around.’
Elise glared at Chase until the end.
****
When Chase appeared at the Bedrokka campsite, a small commotion arose.
“My brother was attacked by a vile witch. His injuries are severe, so we decided to move him to the nearest Tetris territory. Everyone is to return to Bedrokka.”
“Are you sure?”
David’s aide asked. Chase’s face, which had been covered in sorrow, turned cold in an instant.
“Do you not trust me? A prince of Bedrokka? How dare you?”
Feeling a threat to his life, the aide quickly bowed.
“Not at all!”
“If you have doubts, ask the prince of Tetris. He was there too.”
With the cold gaze and the mention of an eyewitness, those who had harbored doubts closed their mouths like clams.
“We’re returning to Bedrokka. I will report directly to His Majesty.”
Chase hurried the return to Bedrokka.
