Cecil sensed with her whole body the reason why the Elf King was terrified of the existence within the ring.
[I’m telling you, the one who conferred me the name ‘Ald’ was the first elf ever born in this world. I’m like that guy’s shadow, you know. More precisely, I’m like his alter ego? That’s how I lived my whole life with the first elf. He was the only being I knew in this world, after all. And truth be told, the other species such as humans, beastfolks and whatnot are so hideous that I didn’t even want to converse with them. A human like you might not know, but elves are delicate creatures. Their minds will suffer damage if they see ugly things. That’s why we live inside the forest with our kind exclusively. Non-beautiful things are all impure. Sometimes, I hear nonsense like how you humans resemble us because you have a pair of eyes, one nose, and a pair of lips. If you put it like that, then shouldn’t it be fine to say that you humans all look alike? I don’t even understand… Hey, are you sleeping?]
“No, I’m not!”
Cecil wiped the drool off her lips in a hurry and willed her eyes to focus. But they started to gradually get heavier again as the storytelling resumed.
‘Save me…’
As she kept listening to Ald’s ceaseless prattle, she pinched her thigh.
It had been four hours.
During that time, Ald never once stopped for a break as he babbled about himself. How he came to be, what his name was, or what kind of being he was referred to as. Yeah, it was still fine up to that point.
But then the talk started to veer off course. When a story came up about how someone planted a new tree 851 years ago in the Elves’ Village and it turned out the tree had 18,376,261 leaves when counted, Cecil began to wonder why she was even listening to this. She tried several times to redirect the meandering topic back to the matter of compensation. But every time she did so, Ald would ask ‘Are you cutting me off right now?’ with a sharp look. When confronted with that tempestuous mood, she could do nothing but shrink back and say ‘Please continue what you were saying’.
That was how she realized the true terror of Ald. His endless conversation. That was the horror that terrified the Elf King so much.
‘Your Imperial Majesty, when will you come back?’
It was a time when she needed Estian the most, but she didn’t know where he was nor what he was doing, even though he would typically storm in once night fell. The night was growing late, yet there was still no sign of him. She wanted to ask him to replace her role as an audience for a while before she retires to a quiet place and blocks her ears. As Cecil kept on pinching her body here and there to keep her eyes open, Ald finally returned to the subject she had been long awaiting after the constant maundering.
[…So that’s how I ended up in a contract with the spirits to reside in that jewel. After all, can’t a being like me live anywhere I please? And fortunately, the spirits offered a fixed rate. You probably know this too, but interest rates usually never go down. Moreover, the state of the Spirit Realm at the time was unstable politically. Even the investment consultants I met that time all predicted a steady rise in rates.]
Cecil nodded her head at the new knowledge that spirits also conducted financial transactions.
[And so for 1,252 years, I’ve been paying it off every month, so now I only have 248 years of loan left. That’s why I worked hard to decorate the interior. But you…!]
“I’m very sorry.”
When Ald pointed his finger at her, Cecil once again got down on her hands and knees. Begging for forgiveness was the top priority.
Ald felt content seeing Cecil on her hands and knees.
‘Good, she totally thinks it’s her fault.’
Actually, the jewel didn’t shatter when she dropped it. There was some impact to some extent, of course. But it was when the Emperor hurled it towards the wall that the jewel Ald had been renting cracked flawlessly.
‘Why are all the Emperor dudes so brainlessly strong?’
Initially, he planned to pick a fight with the Emperor instead but had a change of mind when he glimpsed the sword on the man’s waist. Why was the black steel sword—that the elves should’ve taken with them when they left this land—in a human’s possession? Moreover, how could a human wield it so well? That weapon wasn’t supposed to be something a human could handle.
The black steel sword was the only thing that petrified Ald, because it was the only thing that could land a blow on his spiritual body. In the past, during the era of the continent’s pioneers, simply holding that sword—which had been forged by accumulating darkness—would kill everything in the proximity. It bore the force to annihilate those with spiritual bodies with a mere graze, not only those who had physical bodies.
‘Leaving aside the fact that I’m suspicious he might not be human, that Emperor guy definitely doesn’t look like someone I can fool…’
Although Ald only had a fleeting glance at him, he could tell the latter was someone who would immediately draw his sword out if he demanded compensation. He wasn’t someone who would listen meekly. Ald went into the destroyed jewel and rummaged for the insurance policy he had received when he took out the loan.
As if the heavens had abandoned him, a clause stating ‘Damages caused by humans are not included as a cause for payment’ was recorded in the policy. Then what should be done? Who should compensate him for the humble blow on the loan that he’d been toiling hard for 1,252 years to pay off? And then Ald saw it—the sight of Cecil bawling her eyes out because she thought she was the one who broke it.
‘It’s her! She can pay for it!’
Apparently, the Emperor adored her quite a lot. He saw an opening after the Emperor left and struck up a conversation with Cecil. Gazing at the kneeling woman, Ald spoke once again.
[Well, this is fine. Since you’re so determined to compensate, I’ll drop the matter as long as you give me your precious money.]
“Is that true?”
[The sum I’ve already paid off plus whatever I have yet to pay. That’s also including the recompensation for mental damage and the costs for my interior. If we break it down, the loan was 250 gold a month, twelve months in a year, for 1,500 years. That would bring us to a total of 4,500,000 gold. Adding that to the recompensation for my mental damage and the frugally accumulated expenses for the interior I’ve decorated the past 1,252 years, we’ll have a sum of 10,000,000 gold. Pay it in full.]
“…”
Hearing that, Cecil stayed silent for a moment before crawling to pick up something on the floor. Then she stood up and made a beeline for the terrace, where she flung the object with all her might. It sailed towards the nearby pond, hitting the head of a sleeping swan, then the head of an adjacent duck, before flawlessly diving into the bowl containing coins that have been tossed into the pond. Ald watched the scene in a daze and clapped, but when he realized what that object was, he let out a scream,
[Y-You! What are you doing?! To my house!]
Looking at the yelling elf, Cecil beamed radiantly and said,
“Just sue me instead.”
‘It’s already so late.’
It had grown very deep into the night while he was busy discussing with Cain the preparations for the selection of the Empress’s lady-in-waiting. Estian headed to the Empress’s Palace in a hurry. When he arrived, the servants who were standing by greeted him gladly.
“Welcome, Your Imperial Majesty!”
Seeing the servants so restless, Estian could tell that something had happened. He spoke in a low voice,
“I’m pretty sure I told you to inform me if something happens.”
“Please forgive us! But to say that it’s something worth informing Your Imperial Majesty is…”
Suddenly, the door slammed open and Cecil came out while shouting.
“These won’t do! Others… Oh, Your Imperial Majesty, you’re here?”
“…What are you doing?”
Cecil, who burst out from the room, had a slew of jewelry draping her entire frame. Seeing that, Estian shot a glance at the servants who simply wore an expression that seemed to say ‘Yes, that’s why we didn’t inform you!’ and nodded. Why was she suddenly adorning herself at this time of the day? He regarded her in astonishment and narrowed his eyes.
“Why aren’t you wearing clothes?”
“Your Imperial Majesty was the one who left me undressed!”
Of course, it wasn’t like she was completely undressed. She was still wearing the basic top and bottom underclothes underneath a negligee. Even though all the servants here were all female, he hated it when they kept glancing obliquely at Cecil. Estian slipped off his mantle and covered her in a fluid motion, then hoisted her up in his arms. He did hate seeing the servants looking at her, but above all, he felt tormented.
He initially thought it amusing to decorate her with jewelry earlier in the day. But seeing her almost naked body bejeweled, he somehow felt as if a groan would escape his mouth. And here he thought he’d just sleep tonight since he didn’t want to wake up a sleeping person. Judging by how she was wide awake enough to be adorning herself with such vigor, it seemed like it would be fine to spend a passionate night. As he entered the room, contemplating such things, Cecil exclaimed,
“No!”
Then she writhed out of his embrace and scrambled over to the servants again to issue a command.
“What do you need so urgently?”
At that question, she replied,
“Jewelry! Lots of them! The huge ones!”
“How about this oneee…”
Cecil rubbed her eyes which were threatening to close and lifted her hand to hold out a rather big ruby. Laid out before her were not only the jewelry she received from Estian during the day but also those that weren’t brought out previously. There was a reason for this situation. Ald had proposed an alternative to Cecil who would rather get sued. It was to find him another jewelry he could dwell in if she couldn’t pay up. Since she began looking for a piece of jewelry for his residence, a few hours had passed, and it was obviously growing bright outside.
[Nope. Fail. The craftsmanship isn’t intricate.]
Ald shook his head looking at the ruby Cecil offered. At his response, she slammed her head onto the desk in frustration. Looking at her from the seat across, Estian stood up and waved his sword in front of Ald.
“Can’t you stop being picky and just choose whichever?”
[H-Hey! Put that sword away! Oh my god, a human is murdering a spiritual being! Your descendants will be cursed for generations! For real! It’s our specialty as spiritual beings!]
“I have no plan to have anything of that sort anyway, so I guess I can kill you.”
Hearing that, Cecil, who was facing down, perked up her ears. But Estian didn’t notice her reaction and drew his sword closer to Ald.
[Ah, please! Let’s talk it out. Talk it out! The jewel that I’ll go into is…]
“Shut up. I’ve heard that five times now so if you repeat that I’m gonna cut you down.”
[You mean you’ve only heard it five times!]
‘As expected, I should just kill this punk.’
Estian thought that hearing Ald’s reply and his grip on the sword tightened. Just then, Cecil abruptly raised her head from the desk. Her face was wreathed in smiles.