Emperor of Steel

A deep valley to the east of the Volga Republic.

In the deepest level of the valley which had been enchanted with magic, was an old temple.

The temple had a roof made with numerous branches and creepers, small trees grew densely on the walls of the temple.

The only trace for it to be recognized as a temple was the front door, which wasn’t yet covered by nature.

Kiiik!

The old door was carved with antique wooden vines and an elven woman had opened the door.

“You are late, Erwin Lesa.”

Among the fairies who were seated around the round table, a fairy who made a sharp impression with the two pairs of wings behind him opened his mouth.

Hearing that, Erwin bowed and apologized.

“Sorry, Elder Nanas. But what is the reason that I have been called?”

The fairies who were gathered in the temple were the heads who represented each type of fairy.

It was kind of delegation, and Erwin wondered who she was and who was in the far South that had been called.

“The ritual of opening the door to the Spirit World, was it successful? Or was it a failure?”

She was not sure why they had called all the way to ask such a question, but she pretended to be calm and answered.

“Of course, it fails…”

Trying to say that she had failed, she closed her mouth when she realized that the gazes of the fairies were on here.

Their eyes harbored disbelief, displeasure, and doubt.

Not surprisingly, Elder Nanas raised his voice after smashing his fists on the table.

“How is it that the princess Reina has come back alive if the ritual was a fail?”

Chirp Chirp!

The door behind the room opened when Elder Nanas clapped his hands, and a Suin representative opened it, a familiar dark elf had entered.

“Sylvia!”

“I am sorry, Erwin. I did this thinking that this was for our fairies.”

Three months ago, Sylvia discovered that the new Pope of the Holy Arthenia Empire was none other than princess Reina, and informed Erwin.

Upon hearing the news, Erwin told Luke and asked Sylvia to keep the information secret.

If the fairies knew that Reina had come back alive, they would surely try to use her and open the door to the Spirit World once again.

And to touch Reina meant to be touched by Luke’s wrath, and Erwin didn’t want any other elf to anger Luke.

“If his anger is directed towards us, there will be no future for the fairies. Never ever can we be hostile towards that man.”

Though not as acquainted as Erenes, Erwin knew that Luke wasn’t an ordinary man. Though Erwin wasn’t on his side, she surely didn’t want to go against him.

Which was she had requested Sylvia to keep it a secret and ended up getting betrayed by the fairies for believing in her.

“Erwin, not some other men, but the successor of Erenes is doing this. What in the world are you doing?”

A Lycan chief, who had attended the meeting asked.

“That is because you shouldn’t touch the princess anymore.”

“We will touch! We were told that she was going to keep her promise.”

“She already did her share of promise.” Answered Erwin.

“But the door to the Spirit World isn’t opened yet! The promise is only kept when the door to the Spirit World is opened!”

Losing her temper, Erwin shouted against the fairies.

“Trying to force princess Reina?! You fairies have no sense of pride!”

“We do have. But maybe you have forgotten how many of our men have been sacrificed for the survival of the human race? Fairy hunting continues to happen all over the continent! At least for the future generations, the doors of the Spirit World need to be opened. For that, I can make sacrifices.”

“Catastrophe! What we mean is a catastrophe!”

Erwin sighed at the reaction of the fairy representatives.

“I really didn’t expect you to object to our needs like this. Then you leave me no choice. Imprison Erwin.”

At the order from Elder Nanas, a male warrior stepped up and held Erwin’s arms.

“Lightning Shock!”

Swak!

Erwin decided to manifest magic which the hand that had been held, and the warrior bounced off.

Seeing that, Lycan chief got up from his seat.

“How dare you resist our decision?”

“Huh, anything regarding my body, I decided.”

With that, Erwin disappeared in a second. She used teleport magic to escape from the temple.

“How could this be?! Catch Erwin! And don’t let her get to princess Reina!”

An elder member who was of warrior and wizards commanded their underlings, who began to chase Erwin.

Erwin wasn’t able to run much far.

There were numerous magic enchantments in the valley which had interfered with her teleport magic.

To stay away from the horrifying fairies who were chasing her, she ran around unlocking the security barriers.

“This is crazy! Everyone has lost their sanity!”

Erwin, who kept on running away, repeated the same words again and again.

In order to survive and improve the life of the fairies, it was needed for her to join hands with either princess Reina or Marquis Luke.

However, the representatives of them were desperate enough to force the doors of the Spirit World open even with abduction.

This was no struggle for survival.

The excuse for survival was to recreate the glory of the Abaron Empire, which flourished thousands of years ago.

‘Are things this bad?’

After the fall of the Abaron Empire, the fairies were persecuted by the humans for the following years.

They had already lost their rich lands, and they were often caught by humans and lived as slaves.

Good looking elves ended up becoming the soothers for humans, and the famous dwarves who were locked in the smithy shop made weapons and jewelry for the humans.

Even fairy pets, like watermen, were treated like pet animals and there were fairies who went extinct.

Such human atrocities continued for years, even to the present day, which made the fairies hide deep in the mountains and underground cities.

The grudge was totally understandable.

Elves, couldn’t hold back their anger when they saw human nobles treat fairies like slaves.

‘But to create grudge just to solve our own grudge?!’

Even the brutal humans of the current time were enslaved by the fairies and used for livestock during the Abaron Empire.

Revenge just repeated in history.

Even if the self grudge was solved, and the age of the fairies would come, one day again the human age was going to make an appearance.

So they had to admit what went wrong and try not to make history repeat itself.

Erwin thought that the only key for the new era was princess Reina.

She had never hurt any fairies and willingly participated in the ritual of opening the door to the Spirit World just as she had promised.

Only if the fairies had patience and hope, they would end up living in a better world.

Which was why she didn’t abandon or dislike her own race.

For Reina, both humans and fairies were the same. She didn’t want any of them to live an improper life.

And to force such a person for keeping her promise was unforgivable.

‘I need to tell this to Marquis Luke. I need to stop the tragedy from happening again!’

With the verdict which she thought was evil, Erwin ran all the way to capital Bless of the Holy Empire, where Luke was meant to be.