Chapter 321

Chapter 321

Zeon and Briel returned home.

Briel smiled pleasantly the entire way back.

That was because the moment when the magic power generator she had struggled to create brought light to the underground kept coming back to her.

She did not think she would easily forget the faces of the people who had shed tears of joy.

Briel thought she wanted to help them again next time.

‘And someday, I want to give a magic power generator to my village too.’

She glanced at Zeon.

She saw the side of Zeon’s face as he walked with a blunt expression.

His strong jawline, sharp eyes, and stubbornly closed lips.

He was merciless to enemies, but to those on his side, he was more comfortable than anyone.

If she asked him, he would take Briel back to the village where she had originally lived even now.

Regardless of her covenant.

But she could not return to the High Elf village.

Even if she wanted to, the High Elf village would not accept her.

As their name suggested, High Elves were a noble race.

They held purity and nobility as principles.

They did not consider an elf stained by worldly matters or humans to be one of their own. Even if that elf was a daughter born from their own womb.

Because Briel knew that, she had never once told Zeon she wanted to return to her village.

In the past, she had thought that was only natural. But after spending a long time with Zeon, her thoughts changed.

The underground world had begun to change with the arrival of the magic power generator. They longed for a better life than now and wanted to advance.

That desire for change was not bad.

Nobility and purity were good, but in the end, if everyone else advanced while the High Elves alone lived isolated in their village, they were bound to be left behind.

The village she had lived in needed change as well.

Briel thought this was that very moment.

‘Later, once things in Neo Seoul are somewhat settled, I’ll go to the village with Zeon.’

She did not expect them to welcome her warmly.

To High Elves, kin who had lost purity were no longer family.

It was fine even if they did not welcome her.

She merely wanted to give them a catalyst for advancement.

A magic power generator she had made would be enough of a catalyst for them.

Having organized her thoughts like that, Briel drew in a deep breath.

“Hoo!”

“Why?”

Zeon looked at Briel with a puzzled expression.

Briel smiled and answered.

“Just because!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Just because.”

“I see!”

Zeon also smiled faintly.

While they spoke, they arrived in front of the house before they knew it.

Briel tilted her head.

That was because people she had never seen before were standing in front of the house.

They were people whose entire bodies were covered in loose robes.

Their faces could not be seen because they had pulled their hoods low, but Briel recognized their identities at a glance.

‘Elves!’

It was the unique scent of elves that only another elf could feel.

Although it had been greatly diluted because they had lived in the human world for a long time, the scent of elves still remained.

Zeon also recognized their identities.

Especially the identity of the elf from whom the strongest scent was coming.

“Lady Serian......?”

“It's been a while, Mr. Zeon!”

The elf he had singled out pushed back her hood and spoke.

The woman, whose skin was as white as snow and whose hair and brows were platinum-blond, making her look like a white fairy from afar, was Serian, the ruler of the North District.

Zeon asked,

“What brings you here?”

“I came because I wanted to thank you, Mr. Zeon.”

“You didn’t need to come in person.”

“Thanks to you, we were able to stop Eli before she caused an even greater disaster. It’s horrifying just to imagine what might have happened if we had failed to stop her.”

“It’s fortunate we were able to stop her before it was too late.”

“It was thanks to you, Mr. Zeon. Because you removed all the Gu, we were able to prevent a catastrophe. So I had to come in person, at least to offer my thanks.”

Serian’s attitude toward Zeon was extremely respectful.

She was treating Zeon as an existence of equal standing to herself.

That was how much she acknowledged him.

Suddenly, Serian’s gaze turned to Briel.

From the moment Serian and the elves appeared, Briel had pulled her pointed hat low. That was because she did not want to draw their attention. But in the end, she could not avoid being noticed.

Serian sensed the fragrance unique to a High Elf from Briel.

She bowed her head slightly to Briel and said,

“It is an honor to meet someone so precious.”

“Tsk! Keep it down. Don’t announce it so loudly that the whole neighborhood finds out.”

“Yes!”

“I’m going in first.”

Briel hurried into the house.

‘Maybe it was better when I was soaked in drugs.’

When her body had been steeped in drugs, the pure fragrance unique to a High Elf had not been emitted.

But from the moment she completely escaped the drugs, the fragrance possessed only by High Elves had begun to flow from her.

Elves born and raised in Neo Seoul could not know what Briel’s fragrance meant, but elves who had crossed over from Kurayan like Serian recognized it instantly.

For Briel, who wanted to live quietly, it was quite bothersome.

Even in Kurayan, High Elves had been regarded as noble existences.

They were noble beings who connected gods and elves. That was why even other elves had treated them as divine.

Although they had crossed over to Earth along with Kurayan’s destruction, the elves’ perception of High Elves still had not changed.

That was why Serian took a respectful attitude as soon as she realized Briel was a High Elf.

‘At least it ended there because Zeon was here. If I’d been alone, they would definitely have dragged me to the North District. They would’ve shut me in some little room and pressed me to commune with god.’

Briel clicked her tongue.

They probably wanted to hear some answer from god, but there was no way the gods of a destroyed world would answer. Perhaps when Kurayan perished, all the gods had vanished with it.

In any case, Briel had no interest in communing with god.

That was the duty of the other High Elves living in her hometown.

THUD!

Briel entered her room and shut the door.

Right after that, Zeon and Serian entered the living room.

All the other elves remained outside.

Serian looked around inside the house and said,

“So this is what the inside of the fortress looks like.”

“You call it a fortress too?”

“Mr. Zeon’s house is simply known as the fortress. I’ve heard it reported that way, so it became a habit.”

“Tsk!”

Zeon clicked his tongue.

It was not that he disliked the name fortress.

He disliked receiving enough attention that his house was called a fortress.

Zeon offered Serian a seat.

“It’s humble, but please sit.”

Serian smiled and sat down.

“Thank you. There’s a good energy in your house, Mr. Zeon.”

“Good energy?”

“Just entering makes me feel good and at ease. This is my first time experiencing something like this.”

“It’s no different from anywhere else.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

Serian looked at Zeon with a meaningful smile.

As expected of an elf who had lived three hundred years, she realized this place was no ordinary location.

Just entering this place made her mind and body feel refreshed, and an unknowable vitality flowed through her entire body.

It was the first time she had felt this way since coming to Earth.

Serian thought there was something special in Zeon’s house.

She even wanted to stay here as long as possible if she could.

She was curious about what made this place special. But Zeon, the person concerned, did not seem to have any intention of satisfying her curiosity.

Zeon asked,

“So I don’t think you came merely to thank me. What business brings you here?”

“First, I wanted to repay you.”

“Repay me?”

“Please accept this.”

Serian held out a small box to Zeon.

“What is it?”

“Please open it yourself.”

With a puzzled expression, Zeon opened the box. Inside was a small key.

“What is this?”

“It is exactly what it looks like. A key to enter Elharun.”

“Why give this to me?”

Zeon looked at Serian in surprise.

Elharun was a city created by the nonhuman races who had crossed over to Earth.

A key that allowed entry into a city for nonhuman races alone, a place absolutely forbidden to humans.

Zeon could not understand Serian’s actions.

“Isn’t Elharun a place that must never be known to humans?”

“But you already know Elharun is near Magadan, Mr. Zeon.”

“That is a different matter.”

“It is not different.”

“I would like a detailed explanation.”

“To be honest, I wanted to hide Elharun’s existence to the end. That was why I kept Elharun’s existence secret even from my closest aides.”

“Then why did your mind change?”

“Do you remember the incident where Balrog was summoned?”

“Yes!”

It would have been strange if he did not remember.

That was because the one who had summoned Balrog was Damian.

Damian, who had lost his father to the nonhuman races of Elharun, had come to Neo Seoul with the White Bear Caravan and caused an unprecedented incident.

In the aftermath, all of Neo Seoul had to suffer for quite some time.

Damian had staked everything to learn Elharun’s location, and in the end, he had even thrown away his own life.

That incident had dealt Serian a great shock.

She had begun to question whether Elharun was truly something that needed to be hidden to that extent.

Serian had visited Elharun once in its early days and had never visited again.

That was because she had not had the time to visit while protecting the nonhuman races living in Neo Seoul.

By the time she had organized the North District to some extent and gained room to breathe, she no longer felt the desire to visit Elharun at all.

Too many years had already passed, and her bond with them had faded.

Elharun was a terribly closed-off city.

They did not share internal news of Elharun even with Serian. Because of that, Serian had no idea how Elharun had developed.

“To be honest, I was deeply shocked then. I couldn’t understand what Elharun had done to plant such enormous resentment in one person. Burning away everything one has for revenge? That is something utterly incomprehensible according to elven thought. That was why I grew curious about Elharun’s internal circumstances.”

“So that is why you are giving me this key?”

“To be honest, I do not know whether that key still works. A hundred years have passed since the barrier was first created. Perhaps they no longer even remember the existence of this key. A hundred years is that long.”

“What will you do if I find Elharun and destroy it after receiving this?”

“To be honest, even if I did not give you the key, you would be able to enter Elharun if you chose to, Mr. Zeon. So in truth, the key has no meaning. Even so, the reason I am giving you this key is that it is like a bribe asking you to think of me at least once and show some mercy for their circumstances.”

“A bribe.”

Zeon toyed with the key in his hand.

To be honest, Zeon did not yet intend to find Elharun.

He would go there someday, but there was no reason that day had to be now.

Zeon put the key into his chest and said,

“Very well. I will keep this key.”

“Thank you.”

“It feels strange for you to thank me after giving me a gift.”

“The truth is, I was worried about what I would do if you refused to accept it.”

“Then you yourself have no intention of going to Elharun?”

“If there is one thing I realized after coming to Neo Seoul, it is that nothing can be achieved by insisting only on pure blood. In Kurayan, perhaps elves were a remarkable race, but on Earth, things are different. We are merely one race among many. We marry other races, give birth to children, and those children have children of their own as we blend together.

That is how the current North District was created. There are not many pure-blooded elves left in the North District.

But everyone has adapted well to Neo Seoul. By contrast, what about the elves who insist on pure blood and live in the desert?”

“Most of them live miserable lives.”

“That is right. If the world has changed, the races who crossed over from Kurayan must change as well. But the ones in Elharun chose isolation instead of change. I can tell from the fact that, at some point, they stopped contacting me. It means they do not want to tell me their circumstances. I believe Elharun made the worst possible decision. They too need a catalyst for change. I hope you may become that catalyst, Mr. Zeon.”

“Conversely, I may destroy Elharun.”

“That would be their fate.”

Serian’s voice held a bitter emotion.

No one wanted their own race to be destroyed. But if they were left isolated like this, they would destroy themselves.

That was the law of the world Serian had learned in Neo Seoul.