Ch.778Perseverance leads to victory

– Crack!

The muddy field once filled with ash and remains was now hidden beneath pristine white snow. The majestic dragon remains had departed from the hills of the Sky Mountains.

From the center of the silent snowfield,

– Crack!

With a low noise of earth being torn apart, a black claw suddenly emerged.

The hand that sprouted like a seedling curved downward, gripping the ground like a hook, and then-

– Crumble…!

Through the collapsing soil, a large man rose up and burst forth.

Sharp claws, black membrane wings. Scales covered in wounds.

It was a black Dragonborn who had quickly hidden deep underground after realizing everything had gone wrong.

‘Took longer than I expected…’

The Dragonborn who had leapt onto the hill looked around the silent snowfield with no sign of human presence and breathed a sigh of relief.

After realizing everything had gone wrong, he had hidden underground during the chaos of battle, waiting for his enemies to disappear…

Even for the incredibly strong body of a Dragonborn, surviving for days without using mana or eating or drinking was no easy task.

If Haschal’s group had left the mountains just four days later, he would have either died hidden underground or been forced to emerge and be captured.

But Haschal had gone down the mountain, and he had managed to endure until then.

There was some achievement in this.

‘Returning alone would only get me killed by the enraged Pegasus. So, I might as well take this for myself.’

The Dragonborn smiled as he looked at the large bone fragment he was cradling in his left arm.

It was part of Nidhogg’s skeleton that he had snatched while hiding.

Thanks to the human priests who had poured holy light all over the hill to remove the Dark Mana scattered by Nidhogg, it was a perfectly purified premium item.

The Dragonborn looked around once more, then sat down, grabbed Nidhogg’s bone with both hands, and began to chew on it. The cracking sound echoed for quite some time.

======[ Feilandria, Several Days Earlier ]======

‘What should I do now…?’

In a small cave somewhere in the Sky Mountains, far from the hills, the deserter Feilandria sighed deeply as she looked out at the blizzard outside.

Her target, unlike the descendants of the Great’s Twelve Knights, was a monster that could kill a guardian with a single blow. She had fled quickly to save her life after seeing the chaos with the True Dragon and Dragonborn rushing in madly, but…

‘It seems they were all annihilated without inflicting much damage on the humans, and if I return to Alvheim alone like this…’

This wasn’t just one guardian falling in battle like before—it was a catastrophe where five guardians and dozens of patrollers were massacred.

Moreover, Eirnesia, who was the most senior among the guardians, had been captured and dragged away in the most miserable state…

If she returned now, she alone would bear all the responsibility and end up worse than dead.

‘…No. I really can’t go back.’

Feilandria gritted her teeth.

She couldn’t return to Alvheim. She hadn’t lived for hundreds of years just to become fertilizer for the World Tree or a slave with her ears cut off.

So what should she do?

If she just stayed here, the old men of the Senate would soon discover that the Sky Mountains expedition force had been annihilated and Eirnesia had been dragged to the torture chamber. Then what would happen?

When they learned that while the expedition force was all dead or captured and being tortured, only Feilandria remained unharmed.

‘…They’ll be certain I betrayed them.’

The moment the Senate noticed her betrayal, all of Feilandria’s power as a guardian would be stripped away. The ability to summon spirits, the World Tree’s protection that strengthened her body.

After losing all those blessings, all that would remain for Feilandria would be a weakened body unable to subdue even an ordinary human soldier. That would be the end of everything.

A fairy woman wandering without any power. There was no need to contemplate what that future would hold.

It was obvious she would be captured by vile men and made into a slave producing half-fairies.

‘The revocation of the World Tree’s blessing. Yes, that’s the problem. Then…’

Feilandria’s survival instinct dug into her mind, urging her to find a way to survive “safely.”

‘…Think. Let me think. The punishment for traitors, a way to avoid the revocation of blessings… No, how does the Senate distinguish between traitors and the deceased in the first place?’

A lightning realization struck Feilandria’s mind.

The World Tree’s blessing bestowed upon all fairies. It didn’t make sense that the Senate could track every flow and branch of that blessing.

If they had such ability, half-fairies, considered impure, wouldn’t be able to maintain even a semblance of the World Tree’s blessing. Though insignificant compared to pure fairies and unable to summon spirits, half-fairies were definitely reinforcing their physical abilities through the World Tree’s blessing.

The fact that the Senate, with the ability to withdraw the World Tree’s blessing, didn’t cut off the blessing given to half-fairies was evidence that they couldn’t distinguish between blessings given to fairies and those given to half-fairies.

‘But the old men know exactly the status of guardians and patrollers. Whether they’re alive or dead, suffering or fine. If they can’t distinguish the recipients of blessings, how is that possible…?’

There was only one answer she could think of.

‘…The spirits were the issue.’

The contract spirits given to patrollers and guardians. There was no other reason.

It was like attaching name tags called spirits to distinguish the flow of blessings whose owners were unknown. That was Feilandria’s reasoning.

‘Then, if I release all the spirits connected to me…’

The fairies of the Senate wouldn’t be able to distinguish which blessing among the countless branches was connected to Feilandria. Perhaps they might even judge that she had died like the other fairies.

Of course, all this reasoning was merely Feilandria’s own speculation, with no guarantee or confirmation that it would actually work.

However…

‘…Anyway, it’s not like I have any other options.’

Even without confirmation, giving up would only bring about the worst future, so Feilandria closed her eyes tightly and released all the spirits connected to her.

—-

Five days later.

Feilandria came down from the Sky Mountains, wearing a hood to cover her ears, humming a tune.

It had been quite some time since the situation of the expedition force had been reported to the Senate, yet her body hadn’t weakened at all, filling her with joy.

Her prediction had been correct. After releasing all the spirits that had been assigned to her, the Senate couldn’t distinguish which blessing was Feilandria’s, making it impossible for them to revoke her blessing!

‘I just need to hide for a few decades like this.’

By then, neither the Empire nor Alvheim would be able to care about her.

Alvheim, having failed in their attempt to assassinate key figures of the Empire, would be too busy dealing with the aftermath to care about someone like her, and most of the imperials who knew her face would either be dead or have forgotten her face by then.

As long as the World Tree’s blessing was maintained, she could easily handle thugs who might be attracted to her appearance even without spirits, so all Feilandria had to do was hide her ears and blend in among humans.

Freedom from a life of obedience to the Senate’s will, bound by the leash of blessing revocation—the first taste of liberty in hundreds of years.

Smiling at the incomparably sweet sense of liberation, Feilandria cast aside her duties as a guardian and took her first step toward a new life.

======[ Haschal ]======

For three days after being introduced to the mansion, we stayed indoors, resting.

We washed our clothes that reeked from long camping, filled our stomachs with proper meals instead of dried meat or hastily boiled stew, and slept in soft beds instead of sleeping bags.

Fortunately, I only had nightmares on the first night.

The terrifying “Kill Rurik, Your Majesty” dream that I recalled with horror disappeared obediently after I woke up the next morning shaking as if with malaria and moved Rurik’s taxidermy to the reception room.

Frider was somewhat displeased, but thanks to removing Rurik’s taxidermy, I was able to sleep normally the next night and the night after, which was a great relief for me.

“Mmm… sister…”

On the dawn of the fourth day.

Having woken up earlier than sunrise, I smiled at Lena who was hugging me tightly with a peaceful smile on her face, and used the tentacles of Karma of Murder to remove the handcuffs and shackles.

Yes. Surprisingly, or perhaps fortunately, the restraints Frider had devised were effective.

Whether it was because I was restrained by chains or because my sleep-talking had somehow disappeared, I couldn’t tell.

Either way, the fur sleeping bag I had slept in was unharmed without a single pressed mark, and after confirming this, Lena crawled into my bed from that night on, hugging me like a pillow as she slept.

Of course, just because the sleeping bag was intact didn’t mean Lena would be safe too, so that night I had to ask Frider to stay up and watch over us while Lena and I slept.

I asked him to quickly separate Lena from me if I started sleep-talking and might hurt her.

“Sure, why not. It might be fun to watch you sleep like that.”

Frider nodded willingly and became our night watchman.

And nothing happened.

The next morning, Lena and I woke up perfectly fine.

According to Frider, who had watched over us all night, I had slept quietly as if dead, and it was actually Lena who had sleep-talked, hugging me and nuzzling like a cat.

It was truly fortunate.

Thanks to this, on the third night, I was able to sleep soundly with Lena with complete peace of mind.