Late at night.
A forest a short distance from the Elf Kingdom.
“Hahaha! With this, it’s all over!!”
The dark elf, her body marked with glowing purple tattoos, clutched a dark red object and burst into thunderous laughter.
“Stop it, Master Cadencia!”
“It’s no use, Queen of Elves! It’s already beyond control!”
The Queen of Elves, leading wounded elven troops, tried to stop the dark elf, but Cadencia shouted louder, pouring magical power into the red core fusing with her hand.
“The Empire’s S-Class Magic Core, [Fafnir]!! With this hellfire, I will sound the drums of war across the continent once more! And the beacon… is the World Tree!”
Flames erupted from Cadencia. The wildly surging fire engulfed her body, and her hair began to shimmer like lava.
“Master Cadencia! Stop! If you go through with this, you’ll die too!”
A black-haired woman in an imperial uniform, head of the Imperial Intelligence Agency, cried out desperately.
“To steal the Empire’s S-Class core and try to reignite a continental war… are you insane?!”
“I’m not! I’m perfectly sane! If war could end with a single treaty, I wouldn’t have joined in the first place!”
Cadencia rose into the air, arms spread wide, and shouted:
“This is a war you started! The dark elves will burn the World Tree. We won’t stop just for the advancement of elves! This isn’t mere terrorism—it’s a noble sacrifice for true progress!”
“Nonsense.”
Thump.
With heavy footsteps, a man stepped forward, gripping a greatsword.
“This peace was hard-earned. There must be no more war.”
“Sir Wilhelm…!”
Hans Wilhelm.
The continent’s shield raised his gaze toward the soaring dark elf.
“Twelve years is enough. It’s time for peace.”
“You don’t mean…!”
Hans Wilhelm pointed his greatsword at the sky, and magic flared explosively around him.
“No! Your wounds from the last battle—!”
“This is nothing!”
Blood flowed from Wilhelm’s mouth as his mana surged wildly. Still, he clenched his greatsword and leapt into the sky.
“For the peace of the continent!!”
“Sir Wilhelm!!”
Hans Wilhelm flew high toward Cadencia. His greatsword radiated a massive aura, and Cadencia extended her core-fused hand toward him.
“Burn, Red Devil! If you die, the continent will plunge into war once again!!”
A baptism of flames burst forth with a demonic roar.
But Wilhelm, enveloped in his own mana, sliced through the inferno with his greatsword and charged ahead. Even engulfed in fire, he advanced—
Shing!
His blade slashed through the dark elf.
But—
“Kihahaha…! It’s useless…! Even if I die, the core will explode…!”
As Cadencia fell, she channeled the last of her magic into the core.
“Sir Wilhelm!”
“Cough… the core is going berserk…! No…! If this continues, there will be a massive explosion…!”
“Please…”
Wilhelm grasped his greatsword with one hand and seized the unstable core with the other.
“For the continent.”
“Ah, no! That’s—!”
“No more war.”
KABOOOOM!!
A massive explosion surged toward the sky as if to overturn the world.
. . .
Crackle, crackle.
The explosion rewound, and the footage on the monitor returned to the beginning.
“Team Leader, is this much footage enough?”
“Can you make it look more like it was secretly filmed—worse image quality?”
“The issue isn’t the video quality. It’s the scenario and dialogue.”
“It’s fine. It’s propaganda for Alliance citizens anyway.”
Crackle, crackle.
“Even the Empire’s pro-war faction won’t be able to argue for continued conflict after Wilhelm did this.”
“Those warmongers don’t seem like people who’d be moved by a hero’s death… And why are we, the Imperial Intelligence, glorifying Hans Wilhelm?”
“Because.”
Imperial Intelligence.
“If we build public goodwill like this, it might pave the way for Hans Wilhelm’s defection to the Empire later.”
The truth of a certain person’s whereabouts was top secret, never to be known by ordinary citizens.
“Enough. Call the illusion mages. Let’s redo the beginning of the footage. Show that we suffered greater losses, and exaggerate Cadencia’s rampage.”
“In reality, it didn’t go that far…”
“Dead men tell no tales. It’s true Cadencia tried to burn the World Tree, isn’t it? We’re just subtracting some facts and adding others to reshape the truth.”
Swish.
“By the Emperor’s command.”
—
—
The war between the Alliance and the Empire has ended.
Fear lingered, but for a brief moment, peace seemed possible.
Then came the explosion in the Elf Kingdom.
So massive it looked like a meteor had fallen from the heavens, the blast shook the entire continent, and word spread quickly through the Elf Kingdom and beyond.
The continent’s shield, Hans Wilhelm—gone.
Grand Sword Master Hans Wilhelm had vanished.
The Alliance demanded answers from the Empire and the Elf Kingdom regarding his disappearance, and a joint investigation team led by Princess Sylvia was dispatched.
The results were grim.
The only footage from the Imperial bodycams embedded in soldier uniforms showed Cadencia rampaging, and Wilhelm suppressing the core.
Talks of war reigniting surfaced, but in the two weeks since the explosion, nothing had happened.
Was it the shock of Wilhelm’s disappearance at the hands of war criminal Cadencia?
Or the hope that, since no body was found, Hans Wilhelm might still be alive?
“Cut the nonsense! There’s no way he’s dead!”
Perhaps it was belief. That someone like Hans Wilhelm—facing even an S-Class core—couldn’t have died so easily.
Despite the disappearance of their greatest hero, the armistice remained intact.
And so—
With the war hero gone, and Princess Sylvia suddenly losing her fiancé—left half a widow—
“Diela!”
In a small rural village in the Duchy of Sendarang.
“Diela! Where are you!”
“Yes, Mother!”
A simply dressed young woman rushed out of the Arsin Barony mansion at the sound of her name.
She had long white hair braided on both sides. Despite her timid demeanor, she had a striking figure that radiated warmth, even without a corset.
So striking, in fact, that others in dresses might display open jealousy over what they lacked.
“Don’t dawdle!”
“S-Sorry…!”
The youngest of the baron’s three daughters, Diela, looked downcast and deeply intimidated.
“I’m sorry I was late, Mother…!”
The tall middle-aged woman in a vivid red dress narrowed her eyes.
“Mother?”
“I-I’m sorry. Baroness.”
“Yes. Make sure you say that. Anyone would think I gave birth to you.”
“…….”
The retainers of the barony were well aware of the subtle tension between the Baroness and the third daughter.
After the death of the baron’s first wife, the Baroness had married into the household, and the hierarchy naturally favored the late wife’s older children.
“What’s with that look? Do you think I’m some woman who rolled in the mud on the battlefield?”
“N-No, ma’am.”
The Baroness had saved Baron Arsin’s life during the war with the Empire, and through that, earned her position.
“Be careful. People like me risked our lives on the front lines so people like you could live comfortably behind them.”
“…”
“Did you hear me?”
“Y-Yes, Baroness. The Kingdom will always remember your service. Of course.”
“Good. Now go inside and start writing the invitations. We must prepare for the party and find suitors for your sisters.”
“How many invitations…?”
“All noble families, of course. And reply immediately when you receive their answers. Ah, I’m busy now, so I’ll be going.”
The Baroness left, fanning herself with a luxurious feathered fan.
Creak.
The mansion door shut. Diela, left alone in the hall, let out a deep sigh.
“Miss, that…”
“It’s alright. Once Father wakes up… things might change.”
A maid approached, offering a handkerchief. Diela accepted it, wiped her eyes, and smiled faintly.
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Ah, well… that man has woken up.”
“Oh? Really?”
“Yes. But…”
Thump, thump.
From the second-floor hallway, a young man appeared.
He wore a plain white shirt and pants—no different from a servant. He looked around nervously, clearly unsettled.
“Um…”
“Are you alright?”
“Um…”
Diela rushed over, and the young man looked around anxiously.
“Who are you?” (Hans)
“Ah, I am…”
“And…”
He swallowed hard and carefully spoke.
“Would it be alright if I called you… Miss?”
