Book 1 Chapter 141
141.
“Lady Sergia. Please straighten your back.”
“Yes.”
“Smile a little more benevolently.”
“…Yes.”
“Your voice is trembling. Is something bad perhaps happening?”
‘Something bad? If it's something bad, there's a lot of it.’
Sergia calmed her trembling lips.
‘Because there's *you*, injecting me with this dog-awful etiquette!’
As she entered the dressing room, Sergia screamed internally.
For Sergia, no, for Lunia, this moment was an incredibly terrible time.
Dozens of maids were moving solely for her.
They continuously brought splendid dresses and put them on Lunia.
All of them looked so expensive that they would elicit gasps of admiration.
Lunia had a fiery personality, but she was a girl of an age who loved to doll herself up.
There was no way she wouldn't be interested in pretty clothes and beautiful accessories.
‘But there's a limit to everything!’
It had already been several hours since she entered the Hero Dungeon.
When she first became aware of her situation, she was tense and agreed to the current circumstances to gather information.
She did not do anything that could be criticized even slightly.
Lunia found elven etiquette stifling, but she had lived as the heir to a prestigious hero family since childhood.
Recently, as the class representative of Seirun, she had been acting as an honor student everywhere she went.
Finding something stifling and not being good at it were two different things.
Therefore, Lunia had considerable confidence in elven etiquette.
But this was going too far, even beyond the limit.
‘If I take a deep breath, they make a fuss about it! If I blink, they criticize me for blinking! If I don't smile, they curse me for not smiling! No! You should at least give me a moment to breathe! Especially since we're preparing right now!’
Lunia was on the verge of a nervous breakdown from the man's incessant etiquette lessons.
And to be enduring it all under the guise of party preparations, her annoyance couldn't help but reach its peak.
Just how much more careful did she have to be once she actually went to the party?
‘I might go crazy.’
Even Seirun's notoriously strict etiquette teachers were merely charming compared to this man.
‘Calm down, calm down. First, I need to figure out the situation.’
Lunia looked at the face of the woman named Sergia, into whom she had been transmigrated, standing before the mirror.
Blue hair reminiscent of water, and large, lake-colored eyes.
She was a girl Lunia's age.
Lunia, who had been staring intently at her reflection in the mirror, smiled faintly.
‘It's not that I have princess syndrome… but I can be sure of this. I'm prettier.’
Lunia thought she was prettier than this girl.
‘Besides, I have a kind heart.’
If Leo had heard that, he would have asked if she had powdered her heart finely, but sadly, Leo was not here.
‘By the way, what era is this, and what's her social status?’
In the confined space, Lunia tried her best to gather information.
But among the dozens of maids, not a single one spoke to her kindly.
Let alone speaking to her, if their eyes met Lunia's, they would startle and quickly turn their heads away.
It was as if they were very afraid of Sergia.
Lunia found that fact extremely unpleasant.
‘No matter how ancient this era is, the maids' reactions are irrational.’
Even in her own time, there were plenty of authoritative families, and she had seen countless idiots in Seirun who thought they were chosen.
But there were no individuals who terrified their own kind to this extent.
Excessive authority is a flaw in elven society.
Erecting barriers of status is considered an act of the vulgar.
Lunia was no different.
But now, it felt as though social statuses were distinctly divided.
At every single gesture, the maids flinched and squeezed their eyes shut.
It was as if they feared being struck.
She could easily guess how hysterical and abusive this girl, into whom she had transmigrated, usually was.
‘She must be a woman with a faded personality. Just how ancient is this era?’
Even if she didn't know much, she knew it was an unimaginably distant past.
‘But I can't just ask what era this is.’
If she said something strange and aroused suspicion, the dungeon clear might get messed up.
For now, she had no choice but to be careful with every single action.
*Swoosh-*
Lunia, opening the dressing room curtain and stepping out, stood before the only man she could currently converse with.
The man stared intently at Lunia's appearance, then furrowed his brow.
“This seems to be the best, after all.”
He pointed to a dress.
“That's the dress I wore earlier.”
It was the first dress Lunia had worn upon entering the Hero Dungeon.
“Yes. Indeed, no matter how I look at it, that one seems to suit you best.”
A vein throbbed on Lunia's forehead.
‘Then why did you make me suffer like a dog until now!’
Suppressing the urge to ram into him, Lunia went back into the dressing room and changed her dress again.
It was when Lunia, having emerged from the dressing room, was adjusting her accessories and makeup to match the dress.
*Knock-knock-*
“Enter.”
“Lord Aether.”
“What is it?”
“A small problem…”
“What kind of problem has occurred?”
The man who entered the room looked like a knight.
Lunia perked up her ears at their conversation.
Aether, glancing at Lunia, gestured with his chin for him to step outside the room.
‘Hmm. It seems like a secret conversation.’
*Click-*
The door closed.
An opportunity to gain information had arrived.
Even for something trivial, Lunia did not want to miss this chance.
*Perk-*
She perked her pointed ears, enhancing her hearing.
“An intruder has appeared in the underground dungeon.”
“Intruder?”
“Yes. The person who harmed Lady Sergia's fiancé during today's lesson has escaped from prison.”
“What did you say?”
‘Hmph! I can hear everything! You guys.’
Lunia made a meaningful expression inwardly.
Even an elf with excellent hearing, if untrained, would not have heard those sounds.
But Lunia, a hero cadet, was different.
Although she couldn't wield aura, she had diligently trained to awaken her senses acutely using magic power.
‘Because if I don't undergo such training, I won't be able to catch up to *him*.’
Thinking of Leo, Lunia continued to focus on eavesdropping on the conversation.
‘Seeing them converse so unguardedly, it seems this girl doesn't have excellent mana abilities. I should refrain from using magic or spirits in front of others. And she has a fiancé…’
Gathering clues from even minor details, Lunia quickly put her mind to work.
“Hey there.”
“Yes, yes, ma'am!”
When spoken to, the face of the maid who was applying makeup to Lunia's cheeks turned pale.
“So-so sorry! Please forgive me!”
Watching the maid kneel and beg for forgiveness, Lunia looked up at the ceiling and sighed.
‘Just how badly behaved must this girl have been in her life?’
To have such a fit and apologize just for being called.
“You haven't done anything wrong. So there's nothing to apologize for. I merely have a question I wish to ask.”
“Yes, yes, ma'am!”
“Is my fiancé okay? I heard he was hurt.”
The maid, still unable to shake off her fear, replied.
“Yes… I heard that Lord Hyrkyan suffered a serious injury due to an unforeseen accident during today's lesson. However, he said he could attend His Royal Highness's birthday party, so you need not worry.”
“His Royal Highness?”
“Yes.”
Lunia's face took on a strange expression at the unfamiliar word.
*Whoosh-*
In the meantime, Aether re-entered the room.
With the same impassive expression as before, he bowed his head upon seeing Lunia, who had finished her preparations.
“You are truly beautiful enough to not disgrace the name of a princess, Lady Sergia.”
‘Princess? A princess?’
Lunia also knew that there was a time when elves had the status of a princess.
The problem was that it was 5000 years ago. And what's more, it was before the Age of Calamity.
‘Wait! A princess? Then this is the era of 5000 years ago?’
“Let us go to see His Royal Highness before heading to the party hall, Lady Sergia.”
Aether bowed his head and escorted Lunia.
Even while being escorted, Lunia's mind was furiously working.
‘If this is a world before the Age of Calamity… the world we've entered is one of three.’
Among the heroes recorded in the Hero Records, only three are officially known to have lived before the Age of Calamity.
Risinas, the King of Wisdom.
Dweno, the God Blacksmith.
And Luna, the Nebula's Progenitor.
‘This current world is clearly related to elves, no matter how I look at it! That means! If it's before the Age of Calamity, then this is Lady Luna's world!’
Memories of meeting Luna before resurfaced.
The Nebula's Progenitor, whom she had met for a fleeting moment after defeating the Skeleton King.
The appearance of the great Progenitor, different from the image she had held, yet more beautiful than anyone else and possessing an irresistible charm.
At that time, she couldn't even have a proper conversation.
‘Ah! Here, I might be able to converse with the Progenitor!’
Lunia's eyes sparkled brightly.
To converse with the Progenitor!
What a dream-like phrase that was?
‘To talk about magic with Lady Luna! To receive advice about magic from Lady Luna! To be praised by Lady Luna! That means it's possible! Please let this be Lady Luna's world!’
Lunia felt her heart pounding.
Yet, outwardly, she perfectly maintained her etiquette.
Lunia, walking down the corridor, reached a massive door carved with a tree design.
Knights, who appeared to possess immense skill even at a glance, stood there.
The knights paid their respects to Lunia, then opened the massive door.
*Creak-!*
Instantly, beyond the door, an abyss-like darkness was visible.
A pitch-black darkness where nothing was visible.
Seeing it, Lunia felt her face stiffen.
‘What… what on earth is this?’
She quickly regained her composure.
In the meantime, the darkness vanished, and the scene of an audience chamber unfolded before her eyes.
‘Did I see wrong?’
She wondered if she had seen a hallucination.
But Lunia swallowed hard.
Her instincts were telling her.
To prepare herself thoroughly.
Lunia took a deep breath.
“Lady Sergia.”
Aether sent a chiding gaze.
A moment ago, Lunia would have felt annoyed, but now she didn't even have the leisure for that.
Lunia, ignoring Aether, carefully stepped into the audience chamber.
Instantly…
She felt goosebumps all over her body.
She quickly calmed her trembling body.
And she feigned composure.
But her heart was screaming.
‘Here… what on earth is this place!’
She wanted to escape this place quickly.
Her breath caught in her throat, and cold sweat ran down her.
But Lunia was the only one feeling the pressure.
“Welcome, my daughter, my Princess.”
A benevolent voice was heard from the high throne.
“Happy birthday, Your Majesty.”
Raising her head and seeing the Elf King, Ergen, Lunia held her tongue and acted the part of a high-ranking princess.
*Smile-* She flashed a lovely smile.
And then, Lunia finally saw it.
She also understood why she felt such primordial fear in this space.
The vast audience chamber was the interior of a giant ancient tree.
Lunia didn't know it, but this place was the very heart of Barharun, the city of the High Elves.
Inside the World Tree in Barharun.
A sacred place that only opened when the Elf King visited Barharun.
The interior of the World Tree, called the elves' treasure, was literally vast.
They used that place as the Elf King's audience chamber.
Behind the Elf King's throne was a massive empty space.
At least everyone else in this place perceived it as an empty space.
Lunia, seeing what was visible behind Ergen, clenched her fists so hard that her fingernails dug into her palms.
If she didn't do this, her hands would surely tremble like aspen leaves.
‘…What… what on earth… is that….’
In the empty space, a deformed monster Lunia had never seen before lay dormant.
A monster that would never be visible to the eyes of the inhabitants of this false world.
A monster visible only to Lunia, the real one.
She didn't worry about screaming.
Let alone screaming, she found it hard even to breathe.
She barely managed to hide her quickening breaths.
And she was grateful that the monster before her was in a deep sleep.
‘Is it a monster from Tartaros?’
The monster, by its very existence, instilled fear.
A monster enveloped in black flames all over its body, as if it would incinerate everything at any moment.
Something flashed through Lunia's mind as she thought that far.
Suddenly, the content of a fairy tale book she had loved so much since childhood came to mind.
The fairy tale book that made Lunia yearn for heroes… for the great Progenitor.
A wicked villain appeared in that fairy tale book.
‘That wicked primordial evil roared at the great heroes, "Kroaaargh-! I'll devour you all!"’
‘How clichéd! How clichéd!’
Why? Why did the content of the fairy tale book her mother used to read so playfully suddenly come to mind?
What could be the reason that her childhood self, who used to boo at that incarnation of evil, came to mind?
‘Anyway, the great heroes will defeat them!’
Perhaps it was a dying vision?
Or was it because she knew that there were no longer any great heroes to defeat that primordial evil?
The reason didn't matter.
Anyway, Lunia had realized what this monster before her was.
‘It's… too… identical to the fairy tale book.’
Lunia squeezed her eyes shut.
‘Erebus.’