Chapter 141
“Sergia, please straighten your back.”
“Yes.”
“Smile a little more kindly.”
“…Yes.”
“Your voice is trembling. Is something wrong?”
‘Something wrong? There are plenty of things wrong.’
Sergia tried to steady her quivering lips.
‘It’s because of you, forcing this damn etiquette on me!’
As she entered the dressing room, Sergia screamed inwardly.
For Sergia—no, for Lunia—this moment was pure torture.
Dozens of maids moved solely for her.
They kept bringing lavish dresses and dressing Lunia in them.
Every outfit looked expensive enough to draw gasps of admiration.
Lunia, with her fiery personality, was still a girl at the age where she loved dressing up.
Of course, she was interested in pretty clothes and beautiful accessories.
‘But there’s got to be a limit!’
It had already been hours since she entered the Hero Dungeon.
When she first realized her situation, she had kept her nerves steady and accepted what was happening to gather information.
She made sure not to do anything that could draw attention.
Lunia found elven etiquette stifling, but she had grown up as the heir to a heroic house from a young age.
Recently, as Seiren’s first-year representative, she always played the role of the model student wherever she went.
Finding it stifling and not being good at it were two different things.
So Lunia was actually quite confident in elven etiquette.
But this was way, way too much.
‘If I take a deep breath, they fuss over it! If I blink, they scold me for blinking! If I don’t smile, they make a fuss about not smiling! Seriously! They should at least let me catch my breath! And I’m still getting ready!’
With the man in front of her relentlessly drilling etiquette, Lunia was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
On top of that, this was all supposedly for a party, which only made her irritation boil over.
Just how much more would she have to endure at the party?
‘I might actually lose my mind.’
Even Seiren’s notoriously strict etiquette instructors were nothing compared to this man.
‘Calm down, calm down. First, I need to assess the situation.’
Standing before the mirror, Lunia looked at the face of the woman she was possessing—Sergia.
Blue hair reminiscent of water and large, lake-colored eyes.
A girl about Lunia’s age.
Lunia stared into the mirror and grinned.
‘It’s not like I have a princess complex… but I can say this for sure. I’m prettier.’
She was convinced she was better looking than this girl.
‘And I’ve got a good heart, too.’
If Leo had heard her, he’d probably ask if she meant a good heart or a thoroughly beaten one, but unfortunately Leo wasn’t here.
‘Anyway, what era is this? And what’s her status?’
In this confined space, Lunia did her best to gather information.
But not a single one of the dozens of maids tried to talk to her.
They wouldn’t even meet her gaze, flinching and turning away whenever their eyes met.
It was as if they were deeply afraid of Sergia.
Lunia found this extremely unpleasant.
‘No matter how old-fashioned, the maids’ reactions are just bizarre.’
Even today, there are plenty of authoritarian families, and she’d seen enough arrogant idiots in Seiren.
But no one terrified their own kind to this degree.
In elf society, excessive authority is considered a flaw.
Only the vulgar build walls between classes.
Lunia was no different.
Yet now, she clearly felt a strict hierarchy.
At the slightest gesture, the maids flinched and tightly closed their eyes.
As if terrified of being struck.
It was easy to imagine how hysterical and cruel this girl must have been.
‘She must have a rotten personality. Just how ancient is this era?’
She didn’t know, but she could tell it was an unimaginably distant past.
‘But I can’t just ask what era it is.’
If she said something odd, it could complicate clearing the dungeon.
For now, she had to be cautious with every move.
Shhh—
Lunia stepped out of the dressing room and stood in front of the only man she could talk to.
He stared at her and furrowed his brows.
“I suppose this one is best.”
He pointed to one of the dresses.
“That’s the one I wore first.”
It was the first dress Lunia had put on after entering the Hero Dungeon.
“Yes. No matter how many times I see it, that one suits you best.”
A vein popped on Lunia’s forehead.
‘Then why did you make me go through all this?!’
Swallowing the urge to lash out, Lunia went back into the dressing room to change.
After coming out and adjusting her jewelry and makeup to match the dress—
Knock, knock—
“Come in.”
“Eter.”
“What is it?”
“There’s a small problem…”
“What’s happened?”
A man who looked like a knight entered the room.
Lunia perked up her ears at the conversation between the two.
Noticing this, Eter jerked his chin toward the door, and they both stepped outside.
‘Hmm. Must be a secret.’
Click—
The door closed.
An opportunity to gather information had come.
Even the smallest detail—Lunia didn’t want to miss it.
Perk—
She sharpened her hearing, stretching her pointed ears.
“There’s been an intruder in the underground prison.”
“An intruder?”
“Yes. The one who hurt Sergia’s fiancé during today’s lesson has escaped.”
“What?”
‘Heh! I can hear everything, you fools.’
Lunia smiled meaningfully to herself.
No matter how good an elf’s hearing, an untrained one wouldn’t have caught that.
But as a candidate for Hero Officer, Lunia was different.
Though she couldn’t use [Aura], she had diligently trained to sharpen her senses with [Mana].
‘If I don’t train like this, I’ll never catch up to him.’
Thinking of Leo, Lunia kept focusing on eavesdropping.
‘If they’re talking so carelessly, this girl must not have outstanding [Mana] abilities. I’ll have to be careful not to use magic or spirit arts in front of others. And, she has a fiancé…’
Even small details were clues, and Lunia was piecing them together quickly.
“Excuse me.”
“Y-yes!”
The maid applying Lunia’s makeup blanched.
“I’m sorry! Please forgive me!”
The maid dropped to her knees and begged for forgiveness.
Lunia looked up at the ceiling and sighed.
‘Just how badly did this girl live?’
All she did was call out, and the maid was already trembling and apologizing.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. There’s nothing to apologize for. I just wanted to ask you something.”
“Y-yes!”
“My fiancé… is he all right? I heard he was injured.”
The maid, still terrified, answered,
“Yes… Sir Hirkian was gravely injured in an accident during today’s lesson. But he said he’ll be able to attend His Highness’s birthday party, so there’s no need to worry.”
“His Highness?”
“Yes.”
The unfamiliar term made Lunia’s face twist oddly.
Crash—
Just then, Eter came back into the room.
With his usual blank expression, he bowed to the now fully-prepared Lunia.
“You look beautiful, Sergia. Truly worthy of the title of princess.”
‘Princess? Did he say princess?’
Lunia knew elves once had princesses.
The problem was, that was 5,000 years ago—before the Age of Calamity.
‘Wait! Princess? Does that mean this is 5,000 years ago?’
“Before going to the party, let’s go see His Highness.”
Eter bowed his head and escorted Lunia.
Even as she was escorted, Lunia’s mind was racing.
‘If this really is a world before the Age of Calamity… there are only three officially recognized heroes in the Hero Record known to have lived before that era.’
Lysinas, the Wise King.
Dweno, the Divine Blacksmith.
And Luna, the Founder of the Nebula.
‘This world is clearly connected to elves! If it’s before the Age of Calamity, this must be Luna’s world!’
She remembered meeting Luna before.
The Founder of the Nebula, whom she’d met briefly after defeating the Skeleton King.
She hadn’t matched her expectations, but the Founder had an unforgettably beautiful and captivating presence.
They hadn’t even managed a proper conversation back then.
‘Ah! Maybe I’ll get to talk to the Founder here!’
Lunia’s eyes sparkled.
Talking to the Founder!
What a dreamlike thought!
‘Talk with Luna about [Magic]! Get advice from Luna! Be praised by Luna! I could really do that here! Please, let this be Luna’s world!’
Lunia’s heart raced.
Even so, outwardly she maintained perfect etiquette.
As she walked down the corridor, Lunia arrived before a grand door engraved with a tree.
There, knights of obvious skill were standing guard.
They bowed to Lunia, then opened the massive door.
Creak—!
Suddenly, beyond the door, there was an abyss of darkness.
Pitch black, not a thing could be seen.
Lunia felt her face freeze.
‘What… is this?’
She quickly regained her composure.
Just then, the darkness faded and the audience chamber appeared before her.
‘Did I see that wrong?’
She wondered if it was a hallucination.
But Lunia swallowed hard.
Her instincts were screaming.
Brace yourself.
She took a deep breath.
“Sergia.”
Eter shot her a reproachful look.
Normally, Lunia would have felt annoyed, but there was no time for that now.
Ignoring Eter, Lunia carefully stepped into the audience chamber.
In that moment…
She felt goosebumps rise all over her body.
She quickly calmed her trembling form.
And pretended to be calm.
But inside, she was screaming.
‘What is this place!’
She wanted to run away.
She couldn’t breathe; cold sweat dripped down her back.
But only Lunia seemed to feel the pressure.
“Welcome, my daughter, princess.”
A kind voice sounded from the lofty throne.
“Happy birthday, Your Majesty.”
Lunia raised her head to see the Elf King, Ergen, and kept her words few, acting the part of the highborn princess.
She smiled sweetly.
And then, she saw it.
She understood why she felt such a primal fear in this place.
The vast audience chamber was the inside of a giant ancient tree.
Lunia didn’t know it, but this was the heart of the high elf city, Barharloon.
Inside the World Tree, in Barharloon.
A sacred place that opened only when the Elf King visited Barharloon.
A place revered as the treasure of the elves, the inside of the World Tree was truly immense.
This was the Elf King’s audience chamber.
Behind the Elf King’s throne was a vast empty space.
Everyone in the room perceived it as empty.
But Lunia, staring behind Ergen, clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms.
Otherwise, her hands would be trembling uncontrollably.
‘…What… is that…’
In that empty space lay a monstrous, misshapen creature Lunia had never seen before.
A monster invisible to all the false residents of this world.
Only the real Lunia could see it.
She wasn’t even worried about screaming.
She couldn’t even breathe.
She barely managed to steady her breath.
And she was grateful the monster was in a deep sleep.
‘Is that a monster from [Tartarus]?’
Its very existence inspired terror.
A monster wreathed in black flames, as if it could burn everything in an instant.
As Lunia’s thoughts reached that point, something flashed through her mind.
Suddenly, she recalled a storybook she had loved since childhood.
A book that had made her long to become a hero… to become a Founder.
In the book, there was a single villain.
‘The evil primordial being roared at the great heroes, ‘Roar! I’ll devour you all!’’
‘So cliché! So cliché!’
Why now? Why did her mother’s playful reading of that storybook suddenly come to mind?
Why did she recall herself as a child, mocking that embodiment of evil?
‘The great heroes will defeat it anyway!’
Maybe it was her life flashing before her eyes?
Or maybe because she now knew there were no great heroes left to defeat that primordial evil?
Whatever the reason—
One thing was certain.
Lunia now realized what the monster before her was.
‘It’s just like the storybook…’
Lunia squeezed her eyes shut.
‘Erebos.’