Chapter 227: Prime Royal Family (2) (1/2)

My apologies for not posting yesterday. As some of you might have guessed, I was busy with Genshin yesterday…ehehe.

Anyway, we got jealous Jude last episode, so it’s Cordelia’s turn now. Next episode will be the last chapter of this elf mini-arc, but it’s quite long, so expect some possible delays again. But don’t worry, I personally find 228 as one of the funniest episodes of this series, so please look forward to it.

“Ahem, ahem. Then, shall we begin our conversation now?”

Three people sat around a round table in the room.

Princess Leica, Jude, and Cordelia.

Unlike Princess Leica who was still smiling despite the awkwardness, Jude did not hide his dissatisfaction while Cordelia was feeling resentful and embarrassed.

Anyway, it was impossible to reverse the situation.

So Princess Leica continued to speak, ignoring the atmosphere around her.

“As you may have already guessed, a commotion has occurred. Because the Spirit King has appeared.

Ynix, the Spirit King of Storms and Lightning.

It had already been 500 years since the seventh sword dance was lost, so it was the first time for most of the elves to see the Spirit King in person.

‘But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t meet other Spirit Kings.’

The Spirit Kings were kings after all, so it wasn’t easy to meet them.

Aside from their status, summoning them was also difficult.

“It seems to me that the Spirit King has never appeared, even if the sword dance was performed.”

Though he was still dissatisfied, Jude listened to Princess Leica and continued their conversation.

Princess Leica was relieved by this and nodded her head.

“Yes, it’s usually an ordinary Storm Spirit or Lightning Spirit that have appeared in the past.”

“Eh? So you haven’t seen a Spirit King, Your Highness?”

When Cordelia’s eyes widened in surprise, Princess Leica replied with a bitter smile.

“It has been a long time since the seventh sword dance was lost… I don’t know how old you think I am, but I’m actually still quite young.”

Cordelia furrowed her brows at Princess Leica’s response.

Not because she didn’t like the answer, but because she was curious.

‘How old are you then?’

You seem to be really young based on the way you talk.

But since you’re an elf, are you around a hundred years old?

“Moving on… So aside from Cordelia’s contract with the Spirit King, it seems like my knowledge of the sword dance is of high value to you.”

Jude said in a lowered voice, and Princess Leica frowned as if she had been stabbed at her sore spot. She then nodded her head.

“You’re right. First of all, the fact that the Banquet of Spirits has been restored is important. Being able to communicate with the spirits of storm and lightning that had been cut off once is highly valuable in itself. And well… If I say this, Midas will get angry, but since there’s only us here, I’ll say it… Anyway, even among the previous royalty, you could barely count in your hand those who had signed a contract with the Spirit King.”

The fact that they couldn’t sign a contract with the Spirit King wasn’t a big problem.

The problem was that Cordelia, a human, signed a contract with the Spirit King, but there was also a solution to that.

“That’s why, I’ll be praising you a lot in the future.”

“Praise?”

“Yes, something like that. Something like exaggerating the facts, I think? I’ll make you into an amazing person.”

Because it was much better than saying that the Spirit King was stolen by some random ordinary people.

A person worthy enough to be chosen by the Spirit King.

Something that justified that person signing a contract with the Spirit King.

“The two of you will leave this forest anyway.”

If Cordelia had been an elf, the situation would have been a little different.

Because Cordelia might be excessively deified and gain followers. And that would pose a threat to Princess Leica’s authority.

But Cordelia was a human who would have to leave the Forest of Eternity eventually.

[Jude, can we let her do that?]

[It’s fine. There are many cases in history where people get praised after their deaths even though they were seen as a competitor when alive, right? For their enemies, it’ll be fine if the dead person was given awards or honor since the person wouldn’t be able to do anything with those awards since they’re already dead anyway.]

A classic example was King Seonjo who originally struggled to undermine Yi Sun-sin’s military achievements to somehow keep Yi Sun-sin in check during the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592, but changed his attitude when Yi Sun-sin died.

[Hmm, I see.]

Cordelia didn’t know about any historical examples, but she nodded her head because his words made sense to some extent.

And Princess Leica spoke again.

“To sum it up, I want you two to match my words. I’ll hand over the settings I’ve made sometime tomorrow.”

“Setting?”

“Yes. Oh, I’ll listen to you too, of course. It would be much more plausible to mix in a little bit of truth.”

Princess Leica broadly smiled as if she found it fun, but Cordelia thought as she narrowed her brows.

‘She’s like Jude.’

No, Jude is better than her, I think?

But it was at that moment.

“We understand. If that’s the case, our side will actively cooperate with you.”

Cordelia flinched when Jude replied with a dark smile, but Princess Leica was delighted and breathed in relief because it was the first time she had seen Jude smile ever since she had entered this room.

“You have my gratitude.”

“It’s okay. Let’s continue our discussion then.”

Jude still had a stern attitude, but Princess Leica continued with a small smile as if this was enough for her.

“Regarding the Spirit King… Cordelia, can you summon the Spirit King?”

“Eh? Uh… I haven’t tried to do it yet.”

“Have you ever signed a contract with a spirit before?”

“No.”

At Cordelia’s answer, Princess Leica had a bitter smile as if she had expected it, and then she slightly moved her hand.

A wind seemed to blow from Princess Leica’s fingertips, and soon, a wind spirit in the form of a cute little girl appeared.

“Wow.”

It was like a fairy.

The wind spirit seemed to have the same butterfly wings as that of fairies.

“It’s not difficult to summon the spirit itself once a contract is made. Unless you and the spirit have a falling-out.”

Princess Leica moved her hand again to unsummon the wind spirit before she turned to Cordelia.

“You have just signed a contract with the Spirit King, so I don’t think you and the spirit are on bad terms already, but there is one more problem when it comes to summoning the Spirit King.”

“Is it mana?”

Princess Leica nodded when Cordelia answered reflexively.

“Yes, mana. Because it requires a tremendous amount of mana to just summon it.”

At this point, Cordelia seemed to understand what Princess Leica was talking about.

To summarize, she was asking Cordelia if she had enough mana to summon the Spirit King.

‘Now that I think of it, it was like that at that time, huh?’

When she thought about it, it was only after Red Wind reached the final tech tree in the game was she able to summon the Spirit King of Scorching Heat.

In short, it was like the ultimate skill that max level players could get.

“Please wait. I will try to summon it.”

Cordelia quickly spoke and closed her eyes as she tried to summon the Spirit King of Storms and Lightning.

When she called out the name of the spirit imprinted in her head at the time of the vow, she could clearly feel the existence of Spirit King Ynix, but that was it.

And Cordelia understood the reason why.

‘It’s not enough.’

Her mana was seriously lacking.

Even if she hadn’t reached the level of Count Chase, an Archwizard, she was still someone who surpassed the magic power of Adelia, one of the Royal Guard Magic Corps’ commanders.

But even with Cordelia’s magic power, it was still impossible for her to completely summon the Spirit King.

“As I thought, it’s impossible, huh.”

It was as Princess Leica had expected.

Even the high elves, whose magical power were superior to humans, had to raise their mana capacity for hundreds of years or more before they could summon the Spirit King.

So it was impossible for a human child, who would only live for a few decades, to have enough mana to summon the Spirit King.

‘On the contrary, this is actually better.’

She had mentioned this and that from the beginning, but if Cordelia was really able to summon the Spirit King, it would have been politically difficult.

‘Because she’s a human… It’s probably impossible for her to summon it during her entire life.’

Princess Leica breathed in relief again, but she soon felt sorry for Cordelia.

Even though Cordelia had signed a contract with the Spirit King, she couldn’t summon the Spirit King because of her lack of mana.

She wouldn’t be able to summon him even if she tried because of the limitations of her race’s lifespan.

It was simply a pitiful fate.

But Jude and Cordelia were thinking differently.

[What? Your mana’s not enough?]

[Yes, it’s not enough.]

[Will it still be not enough if you transform into Angel mode? Or a witch?]

[Well, I think it’s still not enough.]

[Then… will raising your angel rank do it?]

Because Cordelia was an angel and not an ordinary human.

[That’s why I want to hurry up. Jude, if we defeat Malekith, the Dragon Heart is mine, okay?]

[Hey, as I said before, Malekith is an ancient dragon, okay?]

[But we’ll defeat him anyway, right?]

[Well, that’s true.]

It was a powerful enemy that must be defeated in order to achieve the perfect happy ending.

[And… uh, that is. I’ll tell you about it later.]

[Have you thought of a way?]

[Hehe, that’s still a secret.]

Cordelia giggled and turned to Princess Leica.

“Anyway, we understand, Your Highness. Thank you very much for telling us about this and that.”

“Eh? Oh, yes…”

Far from being disappointed, Cordelia had a big smile, so Princess Leica was surprised. She then looked at Cordelia with warm eyes.

‘She’s a kind girl.’

You’re not showing your disappointment in front of me and Jude even if it’s hard for you.

I misunderstood you when I saw you, uh, threatening the fairies, but you’re actually a nice child.

“Your Highness?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right. Don’t be too disappointed. Since you’ve signed a contract with the Spirit King…. it will be easier for you to sign a contract with spirits of the same kind.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

When Cordelia answered nicely, Princess Leica smiled happily again before looking back at Jude and saying.

“And Jude, I want to ask you a favor.”

“Are you talking about the seventh sword dance?”

“Yes, it is as you said. I want you to pass on the seventh sword dance to us elves.”

One would normally say, ‘Yes, I understand,’ but not for Jude.

Instead of answering immediately, Jude was silent for a while, and Princess Leica understood the meaning of his silence since she was a crown princess.

“Don’t worry about compensation. I’ll reward you generously.”

“I understand. We’ll discuss that later then.”

You keep saying that you’ll reward us, but you have yet to tell us what you’ll be giving.

In fact, it was rare for Jude to reveal his innermost thoughts like this, but perhaps because of what happened earlier, his reaction was more harsh than usual.

But Princess Leica was very pleased with the fact that Jude had accepted it.

“Okay, then I’ll talk more about it tomorrow.”

There were a few more things to talk about besides the setting and the sword dance.

When Princess Leica got up from her seat, Jude and Cordelia also stood up, but she waved her hand as if saying that it was not needed, and said.

“You can remain seated. And as for what you were doing before… uh, you can continue doing that.”

Princess Leica blushed at the end before she turned around and hurriedly left the room.

And the two were left.

Jude wanted to put into action what Princess Leica had said, but not for Cordelia.

Instead of having reddened cheeks because of embarrassment, she turned to Jude with slightly narrowed eyes.