Chapter 3
#03. Matching (3)
It was the day of Phelledia's founding festival, 200 years ago.
"Your Majesty."
"Resilia?“
Chancellor Resilia appeared before Iris, who had been so busy with the founding festival schedule that she barely had time to catch her breath.
"You look especially beautiful today."
"Oh my, Resilia flattering me like that? It seems the maids' efforts since early morning have paid off.“
Dressed to the nines in traditional attire for the founding festival, Iris smiled at Resilia's rare compliment.
"But what brings you here? I heard you were busy preparing for the festival."
"I left the preparations in the hands of the officials under my command.“
”Hmm?“
Iris was puzzled by Resilia's statement that she had left the festival preparations to someone else.
Given her fussy nature, she couldn't stand not personally managing and supervising every little thing. So why had she left something as important as the founding festival to someone else and come here?
"I have something urgent to report to Your Majesty."
"To me?"
"Yes. It's something I must tell you before the festival begins, so please forgive me for having no choice but to leave the preparations to someone else."
Iris dismissed the maids and headed for a nearby room, struck by Resilia's far more solemn demeanor than usual.
“I only added two spoonfuls of sugar, just the way you usually take it.”
“Hehe, thank you.”
Iris sipped the black tea Resilia had brewed herself, wearing a satisfied expression.
But the longer Resilia spoke, the more serious Iris's expression became.
"...Are you saying the Northern Empire is preparing for war?"
"Yes. It's information from a reliable source."
The very mention of war made Iris's head throb.
"It can't be us they're targeting... so who is it?"
"The Kingdom of Santala."
"The Kingdom of Santala?"
It made no sense.
At this point in time, even if the Northern Empire invaded the Kingdom of Santala, it would have far more to lose than to gain.
“They say a mithril vein was discovered recently near the capital of the Kingdom of Santala."
"Mithril..."
Mithril was a precious metal used in many fields, but it still seemed somewhat insufficient to justify going to war.
However, the discovery of a mithril vein also indicated a strong possibility that adamantium had been buried alongside it.
For the Iron-Blood Emperor, a warmonger, adamantium—an essential material for creating divine relics—was more than enough of a prize to risk war.
"Has the Kingdom of Santala requested support?"
"Yes. They sent an unofficial request through a messenger this morning."
That meant the Kingdom of Santala itself was already certain that war was coming.
If they had gone so far as to request aid from neutral Phelledia, the Northern Empire must be preparing for an all-out war.
Just before the founding festival, of all times, this problem had to arise... Iris had to swallow a heavy sigh.
"Refuse them."
"But Your Majesty, the Northern Empire is a military powerhouse that does not recognize the Goddess Church as its state religion. If the Kingdom of Santala falls into their hands, the Northern Empire will share a border with us."
"Even so, we cannot. If we send aid, our status as a neutral nation will become ambiguous from then on. It would be best to negotiate a peace treaty with the Northern Empire through later talks."
"...The Iron-Blood Emperor is not someone who can be reasoned with."
Iris rose from her seat with a resolute expression.
"Resilia, that's enough on this matter."
After leaving the room, Iris felt that her thoughts, already tangled by the preparations for the founding festival, had become even more complicated.
The Northern Empire was one of the great powers contending for hegemony over the continent; if war broke out between such an empire and the Kingdom of Santala, countless people would surely die.
The rivers and fields would be dyed with blood, and the number of refugees created by the war would be impossible to fathom.
Iris had the means to prevent such a tragedy.
That meant sending aid to the Kingdom of Santala.
If Phelledia sent aid, other countries whose state religion was the Goddess Church would also send aid to the Kingdom of Santala or condemn the Northern Empire.
Even the Northern Empire would find it burdensome to make so many nations its enemies, so there was a good chance the war would be scaled down—or not happen at all.
Despite knowing that, Iris couldn't choose it.
A neutral nation's status can be maintained only by remaining neutral for all time.
Even if many human nations currently regarded the Goddess Church—which revered elves—as their state religion, human time and elven time were different.
Iris was certain that, for elves, the Goddess Church's influence would wane in the not-too-distant future, and an age would come when humans no longer viewed elves as objects of worship.
To prepare for that day, she had to disregard the Kingdom of Santala's request for aid this time.
To avoid giving those who would one day bare their fangs at Phelledia grounds to claim that it had participated in a war, she had to be capable of turning away even from a war destined for a horrific end.
Because she was Phelledia's queen and the leader of the elves chosen by the World Tree.
She had no choice but to protect thousands of her own kind rather than tens of thousands of human lives.
'My decision isn't wrong.'
Iris looked somehow weighed down as she climbed into the carriage.
As the carriage drew closer to the holy site, the streets grew crowded with the people of Phelledia.
-Look over there! It's the queen's carriage!
-Your Majesty!
-Eek!
-Thank you for everything, Your Majesty!
The people's bright voices strengthened Iris's resolve, and she reminded herself once more that she had made the right choice, all the way until the moment she stepped down from the carriage.
Iris carefully approached the World Tree, the enormous tree whose top was invisible even when one looked up—the elves' mother and their one true god.
Iris quietly knelt before the altar of the World Tree.
Thin branches extending from the World Tree then formed a laurel wreath above her head and placed it upon her.
Phelledia's founding festival was an important ceremony in which they prayed to the World Tree, their mother and one true god, for abundance and peace in the coming year.
On Phelledia's most important day, when no one was allowed to interfere, an entirely unexpected turn of events occurred.
-W-What is that...?!
-Huh? The World Tree...??
-That's impossible... It has never done that before—not even once!!
-Is something wrong??
-Your Majesty...
The crowd murmured incessantly, none of them able to hide their bewilderment.
"W-World Tree...??"
It was actually retreating, as if the World Tree were rejecting Iris.
Iris had ascended the throne and the founding festival had been held three times since then, but nothing like this had ever happened.
Like an abandoned child, Iris stretched her trembling hand toward the World Tree, but it merely withdrew its branches farther, as though it still did not want to touch her.
At the sight, the crowd's murmuring grew even more agitated.
Just as the knights, unable to let the confusion continue, were about to calm the crowd, a voice loud enough to reverberate throughout the entire holy site rang out.
"She's a sinner!"
Everyone turned toward the owner of the voice at the utterly irreverent declaration directed at the queen.
Quite a few people could not help but be stunned by the identity of the woman standing at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the altar.
Iris was no exception.
"R-Resilia...?"
Resilia, the kingdom's chancellor, was glaring at Iris with her sword drawn.
"People of Phelledia! The World Tree is enraged after coming face-to-face with a sinner so vile that even associating with her is unthinkable!“
At the noblewoman's sudden appearance, the people wisely bowed their heads.
And every knight commander released killing intent toward Resilia.
The killing intent released by a knight who had reached that realm was an intangible blade capable of killing a person.
Yet Resilia, taking the killing intent of those knight commanders head-on, did not even flinch.
The knights could hardly believe their eyes. That was no chancellor—it was a traitor. How could a mere civil official withstand killing intent unleashed with murderous intent?
"You finally lost your mind, you wench!"
"Chancellor! Even if you are the chancellor, how dare you show such disrespect to Her Majesty!"
"Do not twist the World Tree's will!"
Several high-ranking nobles raised their voices, but Resilia paid them no heed.
In fact, the sight of her calmly walking toward Iris was enough to make the knights see red. The enraged knights drew their swords and moved to block her path.
"Stop! Only Her Majesty is permitted beyond this point!“
”How dare the likes of you try to set foot in the holy site!“
”Traitor!”
A blue aura gathered around the swords of the three commanders of the knight orders guarding the royal family.
Even in the face of this overwhelming proof of superhuman strength—something no ordinary person could ever oppose—Resilia did not so much as blink.
What bloomed at the corners of her mouth was not the gentle smile she usually showed the servants, but pure mockery.
"Pfft, queen, my foot.“
"Y-You... you blasphemer!!!“
The gentle First Royal Knight Order commander's face twisted into a demonic expression.
Just as his sword, swung like a flash of light, was about to reach Resilia's neck, a knight in a black cloak who had appeared from nowhere blocked the commander's blade.
“Resilia! You've finally lost your mind! How dare you bring an outsider into the holy site?!”
“The knight commander is nothing special.”
“You bastard!!”
The enraged knight commander began exchanging blows in earnest with the unidentified knight.
Dozens more black-clad figures appeared before the knights who stepped forward to join the fight.
The knight commanders were aghast at their arrival. Where had they come from?
The Royal Knights were a small, elite force.
Every one of them was a veteran who had awakened aura and reached the level of being able to release it. Yet the enemies, too, radiated an aura equal to that of the knights.
What was more, about three of them, including the man fighting the knight commander, had reached the same Master level as the commanders.
"Stop them."
"Yes."
At Resilia's command, the mysterious group charged the knights.
At first glance, their numbers and abilities seemed comparable, but the gap became clear once they clashed.
Even though they gave off Expert-level aura, they were not the equal of the knights. At best, they could only stall them.
Of course, that was precisely Resilia's objective.
While they held the knights at bay, Resilia swiftly reached Iris in a single burst of movement.
”Resilia!“
Although Iris cherished Resilia more than anyone, Resilia had long since crossed any line that could be forgiven.
Iris was gentle, but she was also a monarch.
Kindness alone could not govern a country. Sternly punishing a subject who crossed the line was also a virtue of a monarch.
The World Tree's reaction had confused her, but not enough for her to overlook Resilia's atrocities.
”Please don't be too angry, Your Majesty.“
Although her lips were smiling, her eyes were not. Wearing a chilling smile, Resilia suddenly committed an outrage no one could have anticipated.
”Resilia!!“
A scene unfolded that left everyone aghast—Iris, the nobles, and even the people of Phelledia packed into the square.
”So this is what it feels like, World Tree.“
It was an unprecedented crime: an elf, no more than a creation of a god, had directly laid a hand on the World Tree's divine body.
It was a capital crime so grave that even destroying her entire clan nine times over would have been insufficient punishment, but the incident did not end there. Even more astonishing things happened in succession.
"T-The World Tree?!"
"No way! How could it embrace a woman like that?!"
The crowd was rendered speechless when branches extending from the World Tree wrapped around her as though embracing her.
"You may be angry now, Iris?”
A sinister, ominous smile spread across Resilia's face as she gazed at Iris.