Emperor of Steel

A black sun rose over the sky which was colored in twilight.

Humans and fairies fought desperately on the blood-reddened earth.

“Kill them!”

“The descendants of Abaron, dry away from the seeds of humans!”

“How dare the slaves act!”

“Stop them! Don’t ever take a step back, for the glory of mankind!”

As cries of anger and pain rose from both sides, the battle reached its end, the grey mist was hovering over the horizon.

The ones who were barely alive and those who managed not to die walked out from the mist. The blood-stained earth and the twilight sky began to turn gray.

It was time for everything to erode with silence, light, and death.

A silver giant broke through the gray mist.

The giant which had light in one hand and darkness in the other clasped both its hands.

Kwarrrng!

Along with a terrifying growl, a brilliantly colored rainbow stretched from the giant’s hand, and the gray mist began to retreat.

‘A dream?’

Erwin woke up to the shout of a morning hen.

Waking up she realized that she was in a strange place.

‘Village? I must have fallen in the field…’

Erwin recalled seeing a human knight when she lost her consciousness.

‘Was I saved by him?’

Knock, knock.

At the sudden knock, Erwin looked at her clothes.

Her wounds were all healed, and she was lying down in a small but comfortable bed. She wasn’t sure who the visitor was but knew that he wouldn’t harm her.

“Please come in.”

When the permission to enter fell, the door opened with an elderly knight coming in headfirst.

The unrefined beard and old armor which made him look like a mercenary of history.

It was evident from the mana waves that he was the same man who had come to her when she lost her consciousness.

“Is your body alright?” Asked the elderly knight.

“Yes, all thanks to you.”

When Erwin thanked him politely, the knight smiled.

“I am Erwin Lesa. And you must be…?” Asked Erwin.

“My name? you can just call me Rick. And you don’t have to feel grateful to me. It is natural to help someone in need.”

Erwin smiled a little at Rick’s words.

When she had first come across Luke, she remembered him saying something very similar to that.

Anyway, she was just glad to have met a nice person.

There were quite a number of humans who didn’t consider Elves to be of the same social statue and tried to make them into slaves of selling them off.

“But, Erwin was it? It is a name that I seemed to have heard a lot about…”

Erwin took Rick’s reaction normally.

More than a 100 years ago, she had developed the technique to artificially produce the magic stones.

The production of artificial magic stones brought about a revolution in the world of magic, and she had turned into a famous figure in the continent’s magic world.

The elder fairies weren’t very fond of her.

Because of that achievement, many people had heard the name of Erwin’s even though she wasn’t a wizard.

However, it wasn’t because of the production of the artificial magic stone that Rick had known her.

“Yeah, it is very similar to the elf who saved me. His name was…”

“Was it Erenes?” Asked Erwin.

When Erwin asked if it was Erenes.

Rick bumped his clenched fists and nodded.

“Right. It was Erenes. Around 20 years ago, he saved me and gave me some very precious medicine. Is he your father, Erwin?”

“No. he was my teacher.”

“Really? Huhu, this is a strange coincidence. I was saved by the teacher and I saved his disciple.”

Erwin’s eyes were red.

Rick’s words about it being a coincidence weren’t true. Erenes had the eyes which could look into the future.

‘Teacher, I am alive because of your arrangement.’

Erwin wiped the tears away from her eyes.

Rick noticed her emotional outburst and kept silent, so he looked at the window.

A guy cleaning the chimney on the opposite roof was staring at them.

Camouflaged as a cleaner, but it seemed like the man was a dark elf.

Probably the same gang of creatures he saw yesterday.

Honestly, Rick had a fairly bad relationship with the fairies. It was because he had helped a few men destroy their families.

However, it was a fairy who had saved his life.

He had tried to forget everything he did that for the past 20 years, but the pain and grudge in his heart hadn’t disappeared.

So, if possible he never wanted to go back to Volga Republic, so, when he saw a fairy from the Volga in there, he was very grateful.

‘Still far from weeping.’

Rick shook the thoughts from his head and asked Erwin.

“Miss. Erwin, did you commit any sins against the fairies of the Republic?”

“No, it is they who want to sin, and are after me. They…”

“Let’s talk more about this on our way. I think that it would be better for us to get out of this inn. Before anymore annoying men come in…”

“… understood.” Erwin responded.

Rick covered the window with the curtain.

In the meantime, Erwin along with Rick escaped from the back door of the Inn.

Soon after they left the village, they diligently ran towards the southeastern side of the Holy Arthenia Empire.

“I am very sorry that you have been involved in such a situation because of me.”

“It is okay. I am helping the disciple of his.”

Rick shook his hands saying that he didn’t mind while staring at Erwin and asked.

“But we can’t keep running away. And is there anyone who can help you?”

“There is someone to whom I need to tell something and it is more important than asking for help. Probably in Bless by now…”

“Bless? Well, it is nice that my destination is there too.” Answered Rick.

“To Bless?”

“Exactly. They heard from men that his son earned a huge title from the last civil war.”

Rick boasted but soon spoke with a mixture of loneliness and doubt.

“You know, a son who can’t be alive is getting…” Said Rick.

‘He can’t be alive? What the hell is the story behind it?’

She was curious, but Erwin wasn’t able to speak to Rick who had a long face.