The scent of the garden—once a sweet symphony of Glacial Lilies and Moon-Shadow Bushes—suddenly carried the sharp, metallic tang of cold sweat and suppressed bloodlust. Jai stood frozen, his "Arthur" mask nearly cracking as he gazed into Emma's emerald eyes. He had managed to reply to her words with the stammering humility of a commoner, his voice barely a whisper, but his heart was a war zone.
Alaric, standing a few paces back in his "Helmet" disguise, slowly relaxed his grip on the hilt of the phantom-blade hidden in his sleeve. His knuckles, which had turned white with the intent to slaughter everyone in the garden if Jai spoke the wrong name, regained their color. Good, Alaric thought, his cold eyes scanning the perimeter. The brat has learned to cage the beast. If he had called her 'Emma' with that tone of voice, we would all be feeding the roots of this mountain by sundown.
Mayor Fengyu clapped his hands, the sound echoing like a crack of thunder through the manicured greenery. He looked at Jai with a gaze that was both appreciative and predatory—the look of a man who had just found a very useful tool.
"Young man," Fengyu said, his voice smooth as polished jade. "I have seen many scholars who claim to know the earth, but they are all full of dog-shit and flowery prose. You? You spoke to the Glacial Lily as if you were its father. I like that. I really look forward to seeing you work these fields. Consider yourself the Head Gardener of the Silver Leaf District."
Jai bowed his head, his eyes fixed on the dirt. "Thank you, sir. I... I am honored. Did I truly get the job?"
"Don't act like a fool, Arthur," Fengyu chuckled, though there was no warmth in his eyes. "In my district, if you have talent, you are used. If you don't, you are fertilizer. You have the eye for the field. Even if I threw you into the mud of the rice paddies, I suspect you'd turn it into a paradise. You're secured."
The Mayor then turned his attention to James (Clement). He walked a slow circle around the broad-shouldered man, nodding at the sheer density of his frame. "And you... Clement. You have the body of a man who could haul a mountain. My construction crews are currently building the Great Pavilion for the Queen's Jubilee. They need beasts of burden who can carry star-stone without collapsing. You'll be on the front lines of the labor. Don't let me down, or I'll use those muscles to pave the road."
James gave a grunt of affirmation, his face a mask of dull, peasant-like obedience.
Finally, Fengyu's gaze landed on Maksood (Nolan). The boy looked fragile in his youth-disguise, his eyes reflecting a practiced, hollow sadness.
"Your son, Helmet," Fengyu said, addressing Alaric. "Nolan is still so young. He looks like a kitten lost in a storm. He probably hasn't even processed what happened to his mother or his grandparents, has he?"
Alaric let out a heavy, theatrical sigh, his eyes welling with those cursed crocodile tears again. "You speak the truth, Mayor. In the beginning, the poor boy would wake up screaming, asking where Ashley was... asking for his grandmother. I couldn't tell him they were butchered. I couldn't tell him their heads were snacks for the Queen's Drakes. Eventually, he saw the reality. He cried for three days straight—a silent, soul-crushing sound. But we didn't stop him. Loneliness only dies when you walk through the fire of its obstacles. He knows they aren't coming back. He knows there is nothing in the past but shadows."
Fengyu nodded, a rare flicker of pity crossing his ageless face. The Elves valued lineage above all else; to see a child's history wiped out by "human filth" was a sin even he couldn't ignore.
"Do not worry for the boy, Helmet," Fengyu declared. "I shall use my influence to enter him into the Aetheleon Academy. It is the Queen's own institution. Technically, any race can join, but the 'fear' of our prowess usually keeps the human trash away. If your son joins, perhaps he will be the spark that shows other mongrels that they can be useful. He will be trained. He will be educated."
Alaric lunged forward, grabbing the Mayor's hands and shaking them with frantic, "grateful" energy. "Thank you! Thank you, Sir! You are a god among men! My son will serve the Elves with every drop of his blood!"
"Good," Fengyu said, pulling his hands away and wiping them on a silk cloth. "And since you all have such... interesting muscular foundations, I've decided to invest in you. I will have my instructors provide you with basic power techniques and martial arts. Combat training is essential. In the Elf Kingdom, even a gardener must know how to kill if a beast wanders over the fence."
Alaric froze for a split second, a forced, tight smile stretching across his face. Basic techniques? Training from Tier-7 instructors? It's like a tiger being taught how to meow by a house cat. "Mr. Fengyu," Alaric said, his voice trembling with "humility." "What are you saying? We are just simple workers... laborers. How could we possibly train alongside your magnificent soldiers? We are unworthy of such secrets."
Fengyu's expression shifted instantly. His face went from "generous benefactor" to "apex predator."
"Unworthy? You don't get to decide that, human," Fengyu spat.
Suddenly, the air in the garden warped. A Tier-7 Mana Vortex erupted from Fengyu's body, the pressure hitting the group like a falling sky. To a normal human, this would have crushed their lungs and shattered their knees.
Alaric, James, and Maksood didn't even feel it. To them, it was like a mild breeze on a summer day. Alaric was a Tier-3 powerhouse; he could have wiped Fengyu off the map with a flick of his middle finger. But they were actors.
"Gah!" Alaric shrieked, his knees buckling. He began to shiver violently, his teeth chattering as he collapsed to the grass. James and Maksood followed suit, gasping for air and clawing at their throats, faking the "mana-suffocation" perfectly. They were "Tier-10" trash in this disguise, and they played the part with disgusting precision.
They had to maintain the lie. If they showed even a hint of resistance, the Queen would turn them into ash before they could even draw their real blades. They were waiting for the right moment to strike at the Rena Ninth Whisper Organization, and that required being invisible.
But then, the world stopped breathing.
WHAM.
The Twin Suns seemed to flicker and die. The sky over the Silver Leaf District turned a deep, bruised violet. A Tier-2 Mana Vortex—a force so catastrophic it felt like the mountain itself was screaming—descended upon the garden.
The pressure was beyond physical. It was spiritual. The marble walkways cracked. The rare flowers disintegrated into dust. Mayor Fengyu, the proud Tier-7 warrior, was slammed face-first into the dirt, his bones groaning under the weight of a true Sovereign.
Alaric, James, and Maksood hit the ground for real this time. Even for Alaric, a Tier-2 pressure was no joke. He had to funnel every ounce of his hidden mana into his internal organs just to keep them from liquefying.
But there was one anomaly.
Jai was still standing.
He wasn't just standing; he looked bored. His "Emperor Dominatrix" bloodline—a power that predated the very foundations of the Elf Kingdom—didn't recognize the Queen's authority. To Jai's cells, the Tier-2 pressure was nothing more than an annoying fly. He stood in the center of the devastation, his "Arthur" glasses perfectly straight, looking around at his fallen comrades with confusion.
Alaric, pinned to the ground, looked up and felt his soul leave his body. You stupid, golden-blooded idiot! Alaric screamed internally. Get down! Drop like a fucking sack of potatoes or she'll erase us all!
"Hey! Arthur!" Alaric hissed through gritted teeth, his voice barely audible over the roaring mana. "Drop on the ground! Now! Act like you're dying, you dumb fuck!"
Jai blinked, finally realizing the situation. He saw Emma, who was also standing—apparently, she had her own protection—and his heart flared.
"Arthur?" Emma called out, her voice shaky.
Jai looked at the horizon. A figure was approaching, walking through the Tier-2 vortex as if she were strolling through a meadow.
"Madam! Madam!" Jai shouted toward Emma, ignoring Alaric's warning. "Someone is coming! They are strong! You need to get down! If it's an enemy, they'll kill you!"
Emma looked at him, her eyes wide with a mix of amusement and terror. "Arthur, what are you—"
"Get down!" Jai yelled again, his protective instincts overriding his common sense.
Then, the figure arrived.
She was a vision of terrifying perfection. Her skin was the color of cream, her eyes two burning emeralds that seemed to see through the very fabric of reality. She carried a golden bow on her back that hummed with the power of a thousand suns, and around her neck hung a necklace of dragon-heart shards.
This was the Queen of the Emerald Sanctum: Raphael Vennis.
She stopped ten paces from Jai. The vortex around her calmed, but the air remained electrified. She looked at the humans pinned to the dirt, then her gaze locked onto Jai—the only one who had dared to stand in her presence.
"Mother!" Emma shouted, her voice changing from "gardener" to "princess" in an instant. She ran toward the Queen, her face flushed with anger. "How many times have I told you not to release your vortex in my garden? Look at the flowers! They're ruined! I have to replant everything now, you old hag!"
The Queen smiled, a cold, sharp expression. "Nothing, dear. I just wanted to see if the 'new guests' were worth the air they breathe. It seems most of them are the usual human garbage."
She turned her eyes to Jai. He was still standing, his eyes wide as he realized he had been shouting at a Princess to look out for her mother".
"You," the Queen said, her voice like a velvet noose. "Why are you still on your feet? Are you so arrogant that you think a Queen's presence is a suggestion?"
Jai finally felt the danger. He saw the Queen's hand move—a blur of white and gold.
POW.
A concentrated mana-punch, disguised as a physical blow, hit Jai square in the solar plexus.
CRACK.
His ribs shattered. His lungs collapsed. The force was enough to send him flying fifty feet backward, through a stone fountain and into a thicket of thorns. Jai hit the ground, coughing up a mouthful of dark, iron-rich blood. He finally fell to his knees, his head bowed.
"Mother! What are you doing?" Emma screamed, rushing to Jai's side. "He's a good man! He's the only one who knew how to fix the Glacial Lilies! Why did you attack him?"
Raphael Vennis glided forward, her boots not even touching the grass. "Whoever stands in front of a Queen must kneel. It is the law of the world. He looked like he was unaffected by my vortex, so I thought he was a 'strong person.' But look at him now. He's weak. Just another fragile, pathetic male from that shithole Human Kingdom."
Alaric, still pinned by the residual pressure, felt a vein throb in his forehead. You arrogant bitch, he thought, his fingers twitching toward his blade. If I wasn't in this mask, I'd show you what 'weak' looks like. I'd decorate this garden with your royal entrails.
But he stayed silent. He stayed "Helmet."
The Queen looked down at the Mayor. "Fengyu. Who is this human trash, and why did you allow them entry without my explicit permission? You know the rules about the border filth."
Fengyu scrambled to his knees, his face pale. "M-madam! I intended to bring them to you! But I thought it best to take the permission from the Princess first. She approved their temporary stay in the Silver Leaf District!"
Raphael Vennis let out a dark, mocking laugh. "The Princess? She's a child who loves weeds. Her 'approval' is worth as much as a peasant's fart."
She paced back and forth, her emerald eyes glowing. "I've heard the rumors from the North. That fucking bitch Beatrice... the advisor to the Human Sovereign. I know she has a 'Dragon' daughter and a 'Dragon' grandson. That grandmother-whore is hiding something foul. I've sensed the draconic rot spreading toward our borders for years, but I had no proof."
She stopped and looked at Jai, who was still wheezing blood. "Now, I have 'evidence' right in front of me. These humans... they claim to be refugees from a 'Dragon' attack. It sounds like a story designed to win our pity. Beatrice is a cunning cunt; she would send spies disguised as broken men."
She looked at Fengyu. "I'm not in the mood for games. Kill them. All of them. Burn their bodies and feed the ashes to the mountain drakes. I won't have the smell of Beatrice's spies in my kingdom."
Alaric's heart stopped. This is it. He prepared to release his Tier-3 seal. He would try to fight with the Queen first, then Jai and others might have time to escape and i am going to sacrifice myself, and they would have to fight their way out of the kingdom. It was suicide, but it was better than being executed like cattle.
Mayor Fengyu stood up, his hand hovering over his jade-hilted sword. "As you wish, My Queen."
He drew the blade. The silver steel hummed with a Tier-7 killing intent. He stepped toward Jai, who was too injured to move.
"Die, human," Fengyu whispered.
The blade whistled through the air, aimed directly at Jai's neck.
"NO!"
Emma threw herself in front of Jai, her arms spread wide. The Mayor's sword was moving too fast to stop.
Jai's eyes flared gold. In a burst of pure, unadulterated adrenaline, he lunged forward, his shattered ribs screaming in protest. He grabbed Emma by the waist and spun her behind him, taking the full force of the Mayor's strike across his own shoulder.
SHLICK.
The blade bit deep into Jai's collarbone, slicing through muscle and scraping against the bone. Blood sprayed across the white petals of the nearby flowers.
"ARTHUR!" James, Alaric, and Maksood screamed in unison, their "disguises" momentarily forgotten in the face of Jai's injury.
Jai didn't fall. He gripped the Mayor's blade with his bare hand, the steel cutting into his palm, and stared directly into the Queen's eyes. His blood was hot, his vision was tunneling, but he didn't blink.
The Queen stared at him. She saw the blood. She saw the way he had protected her daughter—a move no spy would make, as it would mean certain death. She saw the raw, stubborn refusal to die in his eyes.
"Halt," Raphael Vennis commanded.
Fengyu froze, his blade still lodged in Jai's shoulder.
The Queen walked closer, her emerald eyes narrowing. "A spy would have run. A spy would have used a hidden technique to save himself. But you... you used your own body to protect a 'Princess' who isn't even your own kind."
She looked at Alaric and the others, who were trembling with a mix of fake fear and very real protective rage.
"Fine," the Queen said, her voice cold but final. "You are not spies. You are just foolish, sentimental humans. You have my permission to live in Sylvanis Peak. But hear me well, Arthur—if you ever stand in my presence again without kneeling, I will personally slice your body into ten thousand pieces and feed them to my beasts while you are still alive to hear them chew."
She turned and began to walk away, her cape fluttering in the mana-wind. "Fengyu, fix the human. I don't want a corpse rotting in my daughter's garden. And make sure they start their work tomorrow. I want results, not more drama."
Emma collapsed next to Jai, her hands trembling as she tried to stem the flow of blood from his shoulder. "Why did you do that? You idiot! You could have died!"
Jai looked at her, a faint, bloody smile touching his lips. "I told you... Madam... a man who loves flowers... doesn't let them get stepped on."
As the Queen's silhouette vanished into the mists, Alaric closed his eyes, exhaling a breath he hadn't known he was holding. The residency was won. The mask was secure.
The revenge arc had truly begun, and it was starting with the blood of a Chenwongo spilled on the soil of the Elves.