"Are you looking down on me?"
When Elsa read the words from Eliphis's lips, she could not help but freeze.
She saw that his face was colder than she had ever seen it before. His usually beautiful sea-blue eyes now flashed with a dark, ominous light, as if he might draw his sword and duel her in the next second.
The Light Eagle spread its wings, but beneath those pure white feathers were only blades.
But why? She had clearly brought back the method to defeat Wolnir. She should have been rewarded.
Elsa blinked in confusion, hoping that she had simply seen wrong.
But in the blink of an eye, Eliphis returned to his usual calm.
As always, he would never be stingy with praise for anyone who had made a contribution.
"Good job, Guts." He smiled and patted Elsa on the shoulder, his expression looking genuinely warm. "As expected of family I trust."
Feeling the commander's friendliness in front of her, Elsa could not react for a moment. Had she really seen wrong just now, or—
At that moment, Eliphis's hand on her shoulder suddenly tightened, and in a tone that left no room for evasion, he asked:
"What did you obtain after defeating Wolnir?"
A faint red glimmer flashed in his eyes, and the instant that light passed through them, everyone in the room seemed to pause for a split second.
Elsa's movements also faltered, appearing no different from everyone else.
But in truth, she had merely been lost in thought, which made her body react a little slower than the others. Because her reaction looked similar to everyone else's, no one noticed anything strange about her.
"We obtained—"
She explained everything they had obtained after defeating Wolnir, and the surrounding captains immediately began whispering again.
"So you can actually get that holy sword? This dungeon is way too generous!"
"I'm more interested in the Black Serpent. Don't you think black flames are really cool?"
"Guts really was our biggest contributor this time. Should we celebrate tonight?"
The praise directed at her made Elsa smile, but then she noticed Eliphis again. His expression was now very complicated.
Confusion, bewilderment, doubt, worry—it was hard to say why so many emotions crossed his face at once.
Then he seemed to realize something, and the hand gripping Elsa's shoulder tightened even more as he asked, "The reward for the first clear of Wolnir… could it be different from yours?"
Elsa nodded. She remembered that Luluwo had lamented not getting the first-clear reward, the LarvaTear, this time.
"Haa…"
For some reason, Eliphis let out a sigh of relief. Then he said to the captains, who were excitedly discussing the rewards, "Go investigate who exactly took Wolnir's first-clear reward. We need that information."
Everyone found the order a little strange, but since it was the commander who wanted it, they complied without question.
"Well done, Guts. I don't even know what words I should use to praise you anymore." As if nothing had happened, Eliphis praised Elsa like a caring patriarch. Those words made the listening captains all look on with envy.
But in Elsa's heart, a strange thought arose.
Before, whenever Eliphis praised her, she used to feel pleased too. So why did she feel nothing now? Why did she even find the commander's long speech a little annoying? Is something wrong with me?
Because of the good news she had brought, the focus of Eliphis and the captains' discussion shifted to how to destroy Wolnir's bracelet, and in the end, they decided to follow the method Luluwo had used successfully.
The meeting lasted until the afternoon. By the time it ended, a brightly dressed royal guard came running over and handed Eliphis an exquisite invitation.
"Lord Eliphis, Minister Oro will be holding a banquet tonight, and the princess will be attending as well. The minister has sent me to deliver this invitation to you."
"Mm." Eliphis accepted the invitation without much reaction. After the guard left, the logistics team captain, Aston, came over and asked:
"Commander, are you going to the palace banquet tonight? Then what about Guts's celebration party—"
"Heh." Eliphis chuckled softly. "I would never let something like this delay celebrating with family."
Aston smiled. "Then I'll go make proper preparations!"
After he left, Eliphis looked at the busy camp. His lips curved upward, but after a moment the smile faded.
His dream was, frankly speaking, audacious. He wanted to have his own country.
For that, an armed force firmly under his control was essential, and the Light Eagle was the foundation of his dream.
Guts was someone he valued deeply, not only because of her strength, but also because she obeyed commands perfectly. That was exactly the kind of subordinate every commander wanted.
So earlier, he had forced himself not to say, "Are you looking down on me?" He could not show his embarrassment in front of the captains. Even though his unique talent was powerful, he still needed to earn people's loyalty through everyday effort.
And the reason he held this dream was, in fact, rooted in another dream.
He dreamed that one day, near the royal capital, an ancient trial would appear. When he passed that trial, his own kingdom, the "Country of Eagles," would rise from the ground.
Now that the dungeon serving as the trial had appeared, then where was the Country of Eagles? That was why he had been so desperate to defeat Wolnir.
When he heard Elsa say that someone had already gotten the first clear of Wolnir, he had truly panicked. But after Wolnir was defeated and the Irithyll of the Boreal Valley appeared, he calmed down.
This meant that the Catacombs of Carthus were not the whole dungeon. Yes, indeed—the Country of Eagles, that priceless treasure, would not be so easily obtained!
Perhaps only when he cleared Irithyll would he truly be able to obtain a kingdom!
But then again—
With his current reputation and status in the kingdom, as long as he could marry Princess Serina, the future queen, that too would count as obtaining a country of his own.
So ever since the day he came back after being brutally beaten by Sein, he had been wondering whether he truly needed to go all in on conquering the dungeon.
For him to devote himself completely to the dungeon, he would have to lose his standing in the kingdom overnight. And that, no matter how he thought about it, was impossible.
"Whatever path I choose, my dream will come true."
He stretched a hand toward the sky and clenched his fist against the sea of stars.
A strange purple light flashed across the night sky, as if responding to him, but he did not notice.
That same night, a lavish banquet was held in the palace, hosted in Princess Serina's name and presided over by Minister Oro.
The upper class was gathered in full force. The most powerful figures in the entire kingdom were assembled here.
In other words, if someone threw an explosive spell here, there would absolutely be no collateral damage. Maybe their karmic merit would even rise instead.
Amid this grand banquet, there was one young man who was a little on edge.
Count Charon from Bedford City was very nervous right now.
He did not understand why a count from a border town like himself had been invited to such an event. He seemed to be the least important person here.
Apparently, thanks to the Sein Dungeon, a great noble had formed a partnership with him and brought him here to see the world.
But that great noble was not by his side now. He had simply been left to wander about on his own!
Charon took a sip of champagne to calm himself down. Thinking about his recent financial situation, he felt like sighing.
That noble had previously reached a partnership with the Skyrim team, and then connected with him as well. The other party said he was interested in the sales prospects of Sein Dungeon-related products and planned to promote them throughout the kingdom.
With a great noble's help, Charon immediately agreed to the partnership. But reality slapped him in the face.
The people in the royal capital were interested in dungeon products, but they were not interested in the dungeon merchandise made by the Bedford family.
He was confused by this, because the reason people in the royal capital did not like the merchandise was that they thought it was made by country bumpkins, and therefore lacked taste.
What kind of bullshit reason is that? I make the goods, and you just need to buy them. Why are you being so picky?
Anger aside, he still had to calm down and think about how to open up the market.
As Charon scanned the guests at the banquet, he thought, If there were some heavyweight figure who took the lead in liking Bedford's products, maybe everyone else would follow suit and buy them too. Royal capital people love following trends.
Just then, some commotion nearby caught his attention. Turning around, he saw a group of noble young ladies gathered together like a flock of birds.
They were clustered around the banquet's main figure, Princess Serina, who sat quietly on the high platform.
This princess was the hot topic of the day, practically guaranteed to be the next queen. Minister Oro and Eliphis both supported her.
"If I can build a good relationship with her…" Charon quietly moved forward a few steps, wanting to hear what the girls were saying.
Princess Serina sat in her chair, gazing at her amber-colored wine as though lost in thought. Her expression looked somewhat melancholy.
Her posture was graceful and elegant, every movement perfectly in line with etiquette, like a high mountain flower—beautiful and untouchable.
Then the girls nearby began to say:
"Look at the princess's melancholy expression. It must be because Lord Eliphis isn't here, right?"
"Those two are basically made for each other. There's nobody more outstanding than them in the world."
"Hey, don't talk nonsense. Lord Eliphis never said he would marry the princess! The two of them are completely innocent!"
"I think you're just jealous~"
Serina could not listen anymore. She shut off her own hearing-enhancement magic, then sighed. Her exquisite face grew even more melancholy as she thought:
These damn old ladies are gossiping about me again. If I hadn't been forced into this, I would never even be trying to build a relationship with a pretty boy like Eliphis!
On the surface she kept smiling politely and raised her glass to the young ladies, while in her heart she cursed so viciously that even words from her hometown's rural dialect came spilling out.
God, did you get it wrong? I should be the bestselling novelist Starlight Liliane, happily staying at home writing stories for the Sein Dungeon, not Princess Serina sitting in this suffocating banquet doing social obligations!
I should be at home eating hotpot, singing songs, thinking about what to write for my next book. Who knew why Eliphis suddenly came to my door, saying, "A bloodline detection spell revealed that you are the lost child of the current king," and dragged me back here!
My late mother never said my missing father was the king!
Serina's heart grew more and more miserable. At first, she had wanted nothing to do with becoming a princess, but Eliphis had made his eyes glow red and ordered her to take on the role.
At that moment, she realized that this guy was using some kind of mental control ability on her, and the people around them had no reaction at all.
If I weren't naturally gifted and immune to mind control, I'd already have fallen for it.
So Serina had no choice but to pretend to be controlled and obediently come to the royal capital, living the life of a princess that everyone envied. She was a writer, and had once even worked as a stage actress, so she knew noble etiquette inside and out.
Every day in the palace, she lived in fear. She discovered that Eliphis often flashed red eyes at others, and the people around them seemed completely unable to see it.
Too terrifying. What kind of ability is this? How many people has he controlled?
So Serina, just an ordinary person, chose to lie flat and give up. She also saw through Eliphis's plan. Wasn't it just that after she became queen, he would use her to rise and control the kingdom? Since resisting was futile, she simply chose not to.
Of course, if the conditions were right, she would still try to struggle a little.
Looking at the glittering people around her, she sighed inwardly:
After all, I still want to marry a tough guy like Ornstein or Artorias.
She was a huge fan of the Sein Dungeon and especially loved the heroic stories that appeared in it. She had fallen for Ornstein's appearance at first glance.
Rather than remain here as a puppet princess, she would prefer to have Ornstein spear her to death.
Serina looked bored and did not want to talk to anyone, so she turned her hearing-enhancement magic back on.
"Someone gave my father a gift before. Guess what it was? It was actually a decoration from that Sein Dungeon. Ridiculous—who would give that kind of thing as a gift?"
"There are a lot of Sein-related products on the market lately. I have no interest in them. After all, they're made by country workshops."
The young ladies' words carried clear disdain for the Sein Dungeon, and Serina heard every bit of it.
These damn old ladies are slandering Sein again!
She clenched her fists immediately. These noble girls had been sent by their parents to build a good relationship with her, all in order to show loyalty to Minister Oro and Eliphis.
Wait—Serina suddenly realized something. Doesn't that mean they wouldn't dare offend me, and would have to obey my every wish?
A smile immediately appeared on her lips. She stood up and walked toward the young ladies, planning to turn the tables for the Sein Dungeon.
The young ladies saw Serina come down toward them on her own and immediately composed themselves, bowing a little nervously.
"Princess, you—"
"You were talking about the Sein Dungeon just now?"
The young ladies exchanged glances and nodded one after another. "Could it be that you, Princess, also—"
"That's right. I, um—cough—I greatly admire that dungeon."
Realizing she had nearly lost her composure, Serina quickly coughed.
Her sudden statement made the unfinished words "Could it be that you, Princess, also hate Sein?" get stuck in their throats. Their faces turned red from holding it in.
Serina blinked and said, "Do you all like Sein too? I really wanted someone to keep me company and chat with me, but I just couldn't find anyone who understands Sein."
Hearing that, the young ladies immediately remembered their parents' instructions to build a good relationship with the princess, and quickly replied:
"Yes, yes, I like it too."
"Like it? I love it. When people give gifts to my family, they even send Sein Dungeon products!"
"I'm a Sein Dungeon fan, you know~"
Hooked.
A curve formed at the corner of Serina's lips. She clapped her hands and laughed. "That's wonderful. Meeting so many fellow fans at once makes me so happy."
The young ladies were also smiling happily, completely unaware that hell was about to begin.
Serina kept throwing out all sorts of Sein-related questions one after another, and the young ladies echoed her with forced agreement. Cold sweat ran down their faces, because they knew absolutely nothing about it.
Yet the princess liked to ask questions as if she were quizzing them, so they could only rack their brains to answer, each of them looking extremely uncomfortable.
"Oh, right. My favorites are the Albinaurics. If I could get a helmet modeled after their appearance, that would be great." Serina said this with deliberate wistfulness.
Albinaurics? That name sounds kind of impressive. Could they be knight-type monsters in the Sein Dungeon?
One noble young lady smiled and said, "Princess, I also have related business at home. If you want one, why not let me personally bring it to you another day?"
This cunning woman actually wanted to gain time alone with the princess! The others were instantly alarmed. They could not let her get ahead, so they all hurriedly said they could also provide Albinauric helmets.
"If you like, I could even wear the helmet and come see you myself!" someone flattered.
"Really?" Serina's eyes lit up. "Actually, I know a little projection magic too. Why don't you put it on and show us right now?"
Huh? What kind of request is that?
The young lady who had spoken froze, thinking it over in confusion. In the end, she reluctantly nodded.
Albinauric sounded pretty impressive. The helmet probably looked very cool. As long as it helps me build a good relationship with the princess, it'll be worth wearing!
Then she saw Serina casually pull out a fat little Albinauric helmet with huge eyes, cute and chubby-looking.
"..."
The entire hall fell silent.
"This, th-this—"
The noble young lady looked like she was about to cry. What the hell was this thing? Why did it look so ugly?
"Come on, hurry and put it on. I almost overused my mana making this thing." Serina wore a kind smile.
"I, I—" The noble young lady was trembling all over. If she wore this thing in public, wouldn't her life be over? But you don't want the princess to hate you, right?
"I'll wear it!"
And so, an Albinauric appeared in the crowd, so out of place that even the musicians fell out of rhythm.
The young ladies all looked at it in shock and took a step back.
"Haha, you're very interesting. I really admire you."
Serina could barely keep her smile under control. She patted the "Albinauric" on the shoulder and said, "You absolutely must come to my afternoon tea party."
So… does that mean I've built a good relationship with the princess?
The noble young lady under the helmet did not know whether she should cry or laugh. Why did she feel like crying so much?
Charon, who was secretly watching from the side, could not help but break out in a cold sweat as well, thinking that the princess really was black on the inside.
Still, he had not expected the princess to be so interested in Sein. He had to seize this opportunity!
Just as Serina was planning to take the young ladies to the garden to play hide-and-seek with helmets, Charon pretended to walk past the crowd, letting a gilded medal of the Four Knights Under the King slip from his pocket.
"Sir, you dropped something."
Serina picked up the medal, and the moment she looked at it, she could not tear her eyes away.
"My apologies, Princess. I troubled you." Charon pretended to apologize nervously, just as Serina's eyes began shining brightly.
"Sir, where did you get this medal?"
"This? It's the newest product made by my family's workshop. Are you interested in it?"
Serina showed a surprised expression and said,
"Could it be that you are from that Bed—"
"That's right." Count Charon bowed elegantly and said with a smile, "Charon of House Bedford, at your service."
Not long after this banquet ended, the rumor spread: "Princess Serina likes the Sein Dungeon."
The nobles who wanted to build a good relationship with the princess immediately began studying everything about Sein and scrambling to buy dungeon products.
Soon after, influenced by the nobles, people living in the royal capital and the surrounding cities also started following the trend. Since the nobles had already bought up most of the Sein Dungeon products, everyone else turned their attention to related merchandise instead, and the most popular of all was naturally the Bedford family's products.
As a result, Bedford's stockpiled goods were rapidly sold out. They successfully opened up a new market, and their business began to thrive.
Influenced by this trend, people who wanted to make money from the nobles also poured into the Sein Dungeon, which indirectly caused the area around the Light Eagle's base to become packed with people, eventually forcing them to relocate.
Even so, the single teleport gate near the royal capital was no longer sufficient, and the spectacular scene of people lining up to enter the dungeon returned once more.
The number of people challenging Wolnir skyrocketed after a great noble offered an enormous bounty for Wolnir's crown.
But even with the strategy guide released by the Skyrim group, the vast majority still could not defeat Wolnir. Just collecting Pokéballs to catch the Rust Monster stopped many people in their tracks.
As the royal capital's attention on Sein kept rising, people naturally began to notice the group at the very front line.
According to an adventurer known as "Lion" Leon, they had made a new discovery—how to enter the Irithyll of the Boreal Valley.