Chapter 6
“Lady Friella! Move those materials faster!”
“Sorry!”
The troll foreman’s roar rang out across the work site.
Even though she had once been an Elven Queen, she had no choice but to bow and scrape before the troll foreman at the work site.
Without him, she had no way to earn enough to live.
In Taepyeong City, money was more important than anything else.
Without money, it was impossible even to live in this city.
“Tsk, elves cost more in labor, so move it quicker!”
“Understood!”
Friella bowed to the foreman with a smile, but clicked her tongue when she saw him walk away.
“Tsk... If only the foreman weren’t here, I’d just—!”
Her fist twitched, but she soon let out a heavy sigh.
“Let’s just quit. It’s not like getting worked up will improve anything.”
Her mood sank.
She never could have imagined being treated this way when the Elven Forest was still lush.
In an era when times had changed and cities outnumbered forests, even elves who had lived only in the forest had to keep pace with the times.
Most elves left the forest and moved to the cities, and Friella was no exception.
As queen, she had to set an example.
If they all stayed in the forest like this, extinction was plainly inevitable.
She had led the way by moving to Taepyeong City, and she did not shy away from hard work.
Of course, because of the leisurely lifestyle she had enjoyed in the forest, she had experienced plenty of ups and downs along the way.
Still, she was somehow adapting.
How much humiliation had she endured in the process?
This much was nothing.
Besides.
‘I’ll let it slide today.’
Today, she was in a good enough mood to overlook a little thing like this.
Because.
For the first time in her life as an elf, there were signs of a rosy romance brewing.
-RomanceElf : Ooh... Where can you find a young man these days who readily swipes his own card for a complete stranger? This is 100% a green light.
The first comment posted after she shared her story.
The community member’s reply, assuring her that it was a green light, gave her confidence.
‘Elves are pretty stunning.’
Friella had been famous even among the elves of the Elven Forest for her exceptional beauty.
The High Elf Queen possessed the looks and figure everyone admired.
Apparently, even the sweat and dust from manual labor couldn’t hide her beauty.
“It wouldn’t be strange if he’d fallen for my looks.”
Hehe.
Of course, even if it was a green light, she couldn’t do anything right away.
She knew that, too.
She knew that, to him, she was merely a construction worker.
An Elven Queen?
She also knew that, realistically, the authority that came with her position meant nothing in Taepyeong City.
So she would have to take things slowly.
She didn’t want to let him slip away.
The feeling of loneliness had tormented her terribly after she had been alone for so long.
By elven standards, the part-timer wasn’t handsome, but he had a pleasant, well-balanced appearance.
‘He’s my type, in his own way...’
Friella didn’t even know the part-timer’s name yet.
She had told him her own name, but she hadn’t even heard his.
For now, perhaps she could get closer by becoming familiar with his face and building up his fondness for her.
Besides, he was human.
Humans had supposedly been sexually attracted to elves since ancient times.
“We’ll each spend our lunch break as we please and meet back here at one!”
“Ahem, shall I go pay him a visit today?”
She should show her face often.
She didn’t have anything in particular to buy yet, and her pockets were empty because she hadn’t been paid, but seeing his face once wasn’t difficult.
With that in mind, she headed for the convenience store.
But then.
-How dare you mock me? You’ve already scammed me, and now you have the nerve to act shamelessly!
Shing!
When she arrived at the convenience store, she saw a Death Knight threatening the part-timer with his sword drawn.
A torn-open bread bag lay on the counter.
And a Ttibu-Ttibu sticker.
The Death Knight was radiating anger.
And the part-timer was floundering helplessly before him.
She knew that Death Knight, too.
Before Taepyeong City was founded.
Back when the Demon King’s Army and humanity were still at war because no treaty had yet been made between them.
Back when there were still quite a few humans.
The former Demon King’s Army Commander, now unemployed, whom she had encountered several times on the battlefield.
The Death Knight Agunda.
The unemployed man who now collected Demon King’s Army Ttibu-Ttibu stickers out of longing for the Demon King was making a scene.
“Huh? What’s going on here?”
What on earth was that lunatic thinking, drawing his sword?
“Hey, why don’t you put that sword away?”
At her words, the Death Knight Agunda turned around.
-Elf Queen... It has been a long time.
“What kind of disturbance are you causing in a convenience store?”
-Hmph, if you don’t know, shut your mouth and stay out of it, you bitch. This is between me and this swindler.
“Swindler?”
-That’s right. This convenience store swindled me. The odds of getting a low-level monster sticker like a slime from Demon King Bread are clearly less than five percent. But I got seven slime stickers today alone. And the fact that not a single Army Commander sticker came out is an insult to me...
“...Tsk.”
She had thought there might be some grand reason.
“You’re causing a scene in a convenience store over that?”
She was dumbfounded.
“Get lost. I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll let it go.”
-How absurd. What right do you have to decide whether to let it go?
“So you want to die one more time after all these years? I don’t think you ever beat me even once.”
-You’ve got a long tongue for someone with nothing to her name who’s reduced to construction labor.
The Death Knight’s sword was pointed at her.
He was getting on her nerves again after all this time.
One eyebrow furrowed, she looked at the part-timer standing behind her.
He was watching her and Agunda with startled eyes.
She waved at the part-timer.
“I’ll handle this problem customer.”
Looks like she was about to show off her skills for the first time in a while.
***
The match was decided in an instant.
The fight was so fast it was impossible to follow with the naked eye.
I doubted my own eyes.
Blue light surged from Friella’s body, and then it was over.
-Kuh...
“Apologize properly for making a scene with the part-timer.”
I clearly remembered only that the Death Knight had been lifted into the air and toyed with by her power.
The Death Knight’s armor went tumbling across the floor, and the black spirit inhabiting it vanished for a moment before returning to its original form.
Even so, the inside of the convenience store was silent.
I still knew nothing about Taepyeong City, but I did have some common sense.
I could tell how extraordinary the sword the Death Knight had drawn was.
I could also tell how tremendous the prickling power emanating from the aura around his body had been.
I understood that the reason he was a Level 5 problem customer was that he possessed power that made him nearly impossible to drive off.
A monster like that had been subdued in a single blow.
The feat she had displayed before my eyes was clearly beyond what an ordinary being could accomplish.
“That was incredible...”
The queen really was a queen, apparently.
She had taken out the Level 5 Death Knight problem customer whom even the veteran convenience store part-timers dreaded in a single strike.
Her fluorescent vest emblazoned with “Safety First,” along with the hard hat on her head, only made her strength stand out more.
An elf smashing a Death Knight while decked out in construction gear.
That was kind of cool, too.
The Death Knight lowered his sword as if he had lost the will to fight.
The black haze rising from his body writhed.
The red glow shining inside his armor turned toward me.
After stealing a glance at Friella, the Death Knight bowed his head to me.
-S-sorry. I caused a disturbance. I apologize.
“Take all of this with you.”
Having received his apology, I held out the bread from the torn-open bag to him.
-Understood.
He obeyed surprisingly readily.
The Death Knight gathered up the bread and left the convenience store like a dog running away with its tail between its legs.
“Tsk, why be so stubborn when you were going to end up like this? It’s not as if you’ve ever beaten me.”
“Is that really all right? He’s not going to come back for revenge, is he?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t let him do anything. He may not look it, but he’s a coward. Once he’s been beaten, he won’t come looking for trouble again.”
“......”
I quietly listened to Friella as she spoke while watching the Death Knight disappear into the distance.
“You saw him regenerate, right? He’s a nasty one. That’s why he’s survived despite losing to me over and over. He used to be such a nuisance. Whew, back in my day, these guys used to swarm me every time. I had to fight several of these monsters at once. You have no idea how hard that was... If not for the Hero and the other capable warriors, Taepyeong City probably would have ended up belonging to the Demon King’s Army.”
Drunk on victory, she shrugged her shoulders.
Unprompted TMI poured out of her in a steady stream, but I listened with a smile.
She had been a problem customer yesterday, but today she was my hero.
“Ahem-ahem, he’ll come back later to apologize for causing trouble. If he causes another disturbance, call me. I’ll take care of everything.”
Perhaps she noticed the bored look in my eyes as I listened to her old stories.
She cleared her throat and changed the subject.
“Thank... you.”
“Ahem! I only did it because helping people in trouble is an elven virtue, so don’t worry about it.”
The corners of her mouth twitched upward.
“Would you like to buy some Elven Chips?”
“I would, but I don’t have any money today. And I didn’t bring a branch to barter with, either...”
Why had she come to a convenience store if she had no money?
That question crossed my mind briefly.
Today, I decided to give the woman who had become my hero a small gift.
“I’ll buy them for you.”
“You will? Really?”
“Yes. You drove off the problem customer, so I should repay you.”
“Oh-ho~. You have better manners than I expected, part-timer. All right, I won’t refuse if you’re buying.”
Though she had been avoiding my gaze because she said she had no money, she brightened at my offer and headed for the snack aisle.
“La la la♩♪~~.”
She hummed as she picked up the Elven Chips.
“You can take one more.”
It was the first time I had seen her look so happy.
Once I had rung up the two bags.
“By the way.”
Friella stood in front of the counter, fidgeting as she watched my reaction.
“What’s your name? I think I’ll be seeing you often from now on...”
“Kim Min-cheol.”
“Kim Min-cheol... So I can call you Min-cheol, right?”
“You can call me whatever you’re comfortable with.”
“Hehe, then, Min-cheol, if anything troublesome happens from now on, call for Friella. I’ll come running to take care of it like this.”
Laughing heartily, she held the two bags of Elven Chips tightly against her chest.
“I’ll enjoy the tribute you gave me. Thanks to you, I’ll be able to have a pleasant day today.”
As if she had finished everything she came to do, she turned around regally and left the store.
The dignified figure who had just subdued a Death Knight in a single strike seemed to overlap with her.
She was certainly an extraordinary elf.
But before the automatic doors had even finished closing.
-Ta-da~♩♬♪!!!
A raucous trot ringtone rang from her pocket.
“Yes, Foreman! Oh, I’m sorry! I just stepped outside the tower for a moment during lunch... You want me to finish the work quickly? Understood! I’ll be right there!”
The High Elf Queen bowed until her torso was nearly parallel to the floor and groveled the instant she answered the phone.
I couldn’t help letting out a small laugh as I watched the back of the fluorescent vest recede into the distance.