Book 1 Chapter 849

849.

Hwa-reureureuk- Tak! Tatadak!

The forest is burning.

For countless years, the forest, which was like a home to innumerable elves, was engulfed by flames.

The fairy forest, located in the south, held a very special meaning for the elves.

A long time ago.

It was the place where the Fairy King and the Elf King first made their pact.

To the elves, it was a sacred place.

Countless elves would even come to this land to give birth to children conceived in foreign lands.

And this place was special not only to the elves but also to the fairies.

For unfathomable ages… a forest carefully tended by the fairies.

For the fairies, it was like a second home, after Fairy Land.

That place was being burned by a terrible, monstrous aberration.

By Silasuna, the Demon Queen's daughter, Princess Thalatunia, the spider princess.

"The Fairy King has been defeated!"

"The King's treasure, the Ring of Life, has been stolen!"

"Where is the Elf King! Why doesn't he show himself!"

"It is said that the Elf King, Ergen, perished fighting against Tartarus!"

"Surely a new king must have been elected to succeed him!"

"Why are the High Elves not upholding the pact?!"

The fairies fell into a panic.

The elves' sacred land was burning.

Yet the Elf King did not appear.

Not only the Elf King, but the noble High Elves were also absent.

The Fairy King, Grawin, had lost his right hand while defending against the demon queen's army.

In the process, the Ring of Life, which could be called the fairies' treasure, was also stolen.

Everything was at its worst.

"The Elf King has refused the pact with our Fairy King!"

"Barharun has surrendered to Tartarus!"

"How could this happen!"

"To cast aside a thousand years of connection so easily!"

Urgent news poured in.

Barharun, the city of the High Elves.

The place where the highest authorities of the elf race gathered.

The leadership that effectively ruled all elves on the continent.

They had betrayed them.

Barharun's betrayal meant that the High Elves had abandoned the world.

"Fairy King!"

Grawin, with a pale face, appeared before the fairies.

"Father…"

Silorod looked at the weakening Fairy King with despair.

Grawin was dying from Silasuna's curse.

"Is there truly… truly no hope…?"

Grawin looked at the sky turning gray and felt despair.

Fairies are powerful mythical beasts.

However, it was impossible for the fairies and the remaining elves alone to stop the endless tide of demons and monsters from Tartarus.

A powerful army was needed, but Barharun, which could have sent that army, was no more.

"Will this world truly perish like this?"

"I don't like that."

When the Fairy King spoke of despair.

Someone appeared who denied that despair with such confidence.

It was a beautiful elf with a still youthful face.

"Who are you…?"

"My name is Luna Rubynance."

The elf, introducing herself as Luna, showed a staff to Grawin.

"Folium…!"

The magical staff, which had been a symbol of the Elf King for generations.

Even though it had been a long time since Folium recognized the Elf King.

The fact that Folium was still the symbol of the Elf King remained unchanged.

It was astonishing that such a young elf possessed Folium, and even more so that Folium acknowledged her.

"Are you the new Elf King…! As expected, the elves have not abandoned the fairies! The surrender was a lie! Where is the army?! New Elf King!"

Grawin smiled brightly.

Seeing Grawin like that, Luna shook her head.

"No. I am not the Elf King."

"…"

"Therefore, I don't have an army either."

"Then… why do you have Folium?"

"Ah, this?"

Luna smiled.

Grawin found her smile incredibly beautiful.

"I stole it because it looked useful."

"Stole?"

But with the words that followed, Grawin's jaw dropped.

"Well, Folium acknowledged me, so I am its rightful owner."

She said it shamelessly with a faint smile, but it wasn't wrong.

"Then… can I assume you are the rightful next Elf King?"

"I have no intention of becoming king."

"What?"

To Grawin's bewildered expression, Luna said,

"The surrender of Barharun… is true."

With a grim face, Luna looked at the sky that was beginning to turn gray.

"When King Ergen died, the High Elves chose betrayal despite being able to fight. The elves will no longer follow the High Elves. They will not gather under the name of a king."

"…"

"The destruction of the fairy forest… cannot be stopped at this moment."

The elves currently do not have the capacity to stop the darkness of this era.

"Are you going to abandon your homeland?"

"I intend to leave for a while. If we stay like this, many fairies and elves will die."

Although it was a short conversation, Grawin could tell that the elf before him was not an ordinary elf.

Elves are a race that never abandons their pride.

And this fairy forest was one of the elves' long-held pride.

She intends to save the elves by abandoning the fairy forest.

'In times like these… the elves might need such a leader.'

But the woman before him refused to become king herself.

"What do you want to be?"

"A star."

"A star?"

"Yes. I want to be a being like a star shining in the night sky. Literally, a being much greater than the Elf King."

Watching Luna smile, Grawin thought.

'I might have met an absurd elf.'

The young Silorod watched their conversation and thought.

'Cool.'

He thought the elf, who did not lose her radiance even in this desperate situation, was incredibly cool.

"Luna Rubynance."

"Yes."

"Make a pact with me."

"I am not the Elf King?"

The Fairy King only makes pacts with the Elf King.

That was an old tradition.

"There is no reason to keep that anymore."

Saying so, Grawin made a pact with Luna.

"Pact member."

"Yes."

"May I look at your hand?"

"Are you going to read my fortune?"

"It's similar."

Grawin laughed.

Luna showed her hand.

In the urgent situation of the demon queen's army attacking.

However, Grawin seriously looked at Luna's palm and said,

"Oh dear, you have no luck in love."

"I don't think I'll be entangled with a strange man."

"It's not that the other person is strange. You'll probably have a lot of frustrating experiences."

"Hmm?"

The elves and fairies preparing for evacuation looked at the two with bewildered expressions.

A moment later.

Grawin laughed.

"Luna."

"Yes."

"This child will be my successor."

"……?"

"She is the true pact member with whom you will face the future."

"What about you, Grawin-nim?"

"I will not leave this forest."

"Father!"

Silorod looked bewildered.

"I will remain until the very last moment to ensure the elves can evacuate safely."

Grawin smiled.

"That is my pact."

"The High Elves… we have broken our pact. So, you don't need to fulfill that pact, Fairy King…"

"No. This is necessary."

Grawin said resolutely to the flustered Luna.

"I will fade away soon anyway."

She had been poisoned by Thalatunia, and the demon queen's curse was eating away at her body.

"Betting my remaining lifespan on the future is not a bad choice."

"…"

Grawin smiled.

"You help the elves and fairies evacuate."

"…Yes."

Luna nodded and helped people with magic.

"Father."

"Silorod."

Grawin looked at his successor.

"As the successor of the Fairy King, be her pact member."

"Is there… hope?"

"…"

Looking at Silorod who asked earnestly, Grawin closed his eyes.

Fairy King Grawin possessed the ability to see the future.

However, Grawin did not use that ability.

It was a power with great consequences, and knowing the future of others was not pleasant.

But Silorod knew.

Grawin had seen the future of the woman named Luna just before.

"When the demon queen's army invaded the fairy forest. I glimpsed the future."

Grawin looked at the gray sky.

"The world was destroyed."

Silorod gasped at those words.

"It should have been so…"

Grawin smiled faintly.

"Only her future… I could not see."

He saw Luna's back as she prepared for evacuation with magic.

She used great magic effortlessly at such a young age.

"You say you cannot see the future…"

"It means she is someone who will carve out her own future."

"…"

"It means she is the hope with the power to change the future of a world that is destined to be destroyed, Silorod, my son."

"Yes, Father."

"Do not despair. As her pact member… try to envision a future where the fairies cultivate this world again."

"Yes."

That was the first meeting between Silorod and Luna.

Luna, leading the elves, tried to save the world somehow.

But it was too much for her alone.

Luna was always confident.

But in Silorod's eyes, he could see.

As if a flower were wilting.

Hope gradually disappearing from her eyes.

Luna was slowly consumed by despair.

She tried to rekindle the flame of hope by gathering the power of the elves to reclaim the fairy forest.

At that time.

They appeared.

The foolish one and the surviving hero.

***

"Leo-nim?"

Leo opened his eyes at Melina's call.

It was already dawn.

Leo threw off his blanket and got up.

"Did you have a dream? You slept more deeply than usual for Leo-nim."

"How do you know I slept deeply?"

"Usually, when I watch you sleep, you open your eyes right away."

Leo sat up and massaged the back of his neck.

"What did you dream about?"

"Just, an old dream."

Leo said indifferently.

"It's not a dream from my memory, though."

"Yes?"

Melina's eyes widened.

Looking at the startled Melina, Leo glanced towards the entrance of Fairy Land.

'That was Silorod's memory.'

Her first meeting with Luna.

And it must have been my first meeting with him.

'It was incredibly vivid…'

As Leo furrowed his brow.

'During the Lumen entrance exam… when I conquered Alby's world, I received the Fairy King's pact as a reward.'

Based on that reward, I made a pact with Kirian.

However, the subject of the pact was not Kirian, but Silorod.

'So, strictly speaking, Silorod and I are in a provisional contract.'

A pact is a contract of souls.

Therefore, it was not strange for Silorod's memory to flow into Leo's mind.

'The problem is that a fairy of Silorod's caliber would not fail to control his own thoughts.'

Leo's eyes, looking at the forest, held a hint of impatience.

'Is he in bad shape?'

Just then.

THUMP-!

The ground trembled.

Melina's eyes widened.

THUMP-! THUMP-!

A grotesque monster appeared from beyond the forest.

Seeing that, Melina's expression turned bewildered.

"Thalatunia?"

It was Thalatunia, who was defeated by Alby, the sorcerer with demonic eyes.

But it was different from the appearance Melina knew.

Thalatunia, despite having existed for 5,000 years, was only maintaining its life force by swallowing the Ring of Life.

It had existed as a monster with only its destructive instincts remaining, having lost its highest-level demonic form after Luna took away its sanity.

But its current appearance…

"Indeed… it is the appearance from before being defeated by Luna 5,000 years ago."

"Yes? Then did a hero dungeon occur in Fairy Land?"

Melina's expression turned serious.

"…I don't think so."

Leo's eyes glowed with magic.

He perceived Thalatunia's true nature.

"It's an illusion."

'Is it related to the dream I just had?'

Thalatunia appeared in the dream as well.

"It feels too real for an illusion."

"Indeed. It's an illusion conjured from the Fairy King's memories."

WOOSH-!

Leo summoned his sword.

"We need to break through the barrier as quickly as possible."

We don't know what's happening in Fairy Land.

But one thing was certain.

'It seems Silorod doesn't have much time allowed.'

Leo bit his lip.

'I might not be able to see Silorod's end.'