5.
Should We Get Rid of Her Right Away?
“Hey, look. That weakling is coming.”
A dwarf with a red beard under his chin said to the griffin standing beside him.
The dwarf’s name was Glio, and the griffin’s name was Gitt. At Glio’s words, Gitt stood up straight and put on a serious face.
“You look like one of those proud statues people put in front of towns.”
Glio snorted and poked Gitt in the side. Gitt smiled at Glio, but quickly returned to looking serious as the “weakling” elf walked into the audience chamber.
The elf’s name was Leif. He had long platinum-blond hair and a very strict-looking face.
“Is everyone here, Glio?”
“Yeah.”
Glio answered lazily with a nod.
“I don’t see Wayne.”
“It’s a full moon tonight. He couldn’t make it. Werewolves have a hard time with that, you know.”
“Still, we need a weekly report. Did he send anything in?”
“Here! One from me, and one from Wayne. Happy now, you report-obsessed elf?”
Grumbling, Glio pulled out two reports and handed them to Leif. Leif scanned the reports with his sharp green eyes.
Then suddenly, he frowned and looked straight at Glio.
“Glio, what is this?”
“What do you mean? That’s the report I worked hard on!”
“No, this part.”
Leif pointed to a line in Glio’s report.
“‘Thangs flying outta the earth’…? Did you mean ‘Snakes flying up from underground’?”
“Close enough.”
“Close enough?! Glio, I’ve told you—these reports will be kept for future generations!”
“So what?”
“So what?! Aren’t you embarrassed? You’re a representative of the underground region of the Kingdom of Raten. And you still can’t spell correctly?!”
Leif fanned his face with his hand. Maybe from all the yelling, his face had turned completely red.
“You’re going to give me high blood pressure!”
“Maybe it’s just you being too fragile in the first place.”
Glio pouted.
Gitt couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. But then—uh-oh—he accidentally made eye contact with Leif, who was now glaring at him.
“Gitt, don’t think you’re any better! Look at this part of your report.”
“Huh?”
“What is this? ‘The wether is strange. Snowstorm in March…’ Did you really write ‘wether’ instead of ‘weather’?”
Leif raised his voice again, looking frustrated.
Gitt scratched his head and walked over to the desk. He plucked one of his feathers and dipped it into ink, then wrote:
“Note of the Day: Check speling carefuly.”
“‘Speling’? Did you seriously just misspell spelling?”
Leif, who had excellent eyesight, caught Gitt’s mistake from across the room. With an exhausted expression, he pressed his fingers to his temples.
“Say something. You meant to write ‘spelling,’ right?”
“Uh… probably?”
Gitt couldn’t confirm or deny. He just looked away awkwardly. While the small chaos continued inside the audience room— Footsteps could be heard from outside.
Glio, Gitt, and Leif all turned their heads at the same time.
A tall, handsome man with black hair and gray eyes walked in.
“Prince Zenon!”
All three shouted at once. The man, called Zenon, gave a nod and sat down on the silver throne. He had a strong and noble aura that matched perfectly with the throne’s elegant style.
That’s our ruler, the three advisors thought proudly.
Leif quickly started his weekly report.
Glio and Gitt watched him act so polite and respectful in front of Zenon, and whispered to each other in disbelief.
Is this really the same guy who yelled at us over typos?
But Leif didn’t care. He kept reporting, and Zenon quietly nodded as he listened.
“That’s all, Your Highness.”
“Anything else to report?”
When Zenon asked, Glio and Leif shook their heads.
But Gitt seemed to remember something.
“Yesterday, while I was patrolling near the magical orchard… I saw something strange.”
“Strange?”
“The thorns that cover the orchard suddenly moved. A path opened up, and someone went inside. It looked like a human girl… and a bear.”
“A human girl and a bear?”
Zenon narrowed his eyes at the word human.
“I tried to investigate more, but a monster appeared nearby. I had to go deal with it.”
“I see.”
“Shall I go take care of that human girl right now?”
Zenon thought for a moment, then shook his head slowly.
“No. Let’s observe for now.”
“But if it really was a human who entered…”
“That’s exactly why we need to investigate more.”
Zenon frowned slightly and continued.
“Those thorn bushes haven’t moved for centuries. But now a human girl just walks right through? It’s too strange.”
“I agree.”
“Keep an eye out for anything unusual. Don’t rush in or attack.”
“Understood.”
“Then I’ll see you all next week.”
Zenon stood up and walked out of the room. The three advisors watched him leave, all with proud looks on their faces.
He’s the perfect king. They truly respected Zenon. Because ever since he came to Raten, everything had changed.
There used to be four territories in Raten:
the underground region, the forest region, the mountain region, and the glacier region.
Each area had powerful monsters that terrorized the people.
They had tried to fight back with knights and armies—but the monsters were too strong.
Even when they killed some, more appeared.
The monsters robbed, tortured, and killed innocent people.
Everyone had lost hope…
Until Zenon arrived.
He showed incredible strength and began destroying the monsters one by one. He even defeated the Manticore—the most feared beast of all—easily.
From that day on, the monsters began to retreat. They didn’t dare go wild like before.
Zenon had achieved so much in such a short time, yet he never asked for anything in return.
He wore the manticore’s skin as a cloak and continued patrolling the forests,
as if to keep the peace himself.
Later, the elders from the four regions held a meeting. They agreed to give all their ruling power to Zenon, and begged him to become their king.
At first, Zenon didn’t seem interested in the throne. But when they told him his rule would stop monsters from invading again, he quietly accepted.
But that was it.
He didn’t hold a royal ceremony, didn’t build a grand castle, and never acted greedy.
Even after becoming king, he still walked the land and protected people from danger. That’s why most of the citizens didn’t even know what their king looked like.
Only a few had ever seen his face— the ones who knew the truth.
That Zenon was powerful… but also kind. That he couldn’t ignore injustice, and always protected the weak.
“Hmm…”
Elnore opened her eyes to the morning sunlight coming through the window.
She didn’t get up right away and just rolled around in bed. The mattress was so soft and warm, it was hard to move. As she lay there, memories from the night before floated through her mind.
Everything had felt like a dream.
The deadly thorn bushes had moved when she touched them, opening a path. Beyond it was a magical orchard… and a cozy little house.
Someone had written a note saying they had been waiting for her. They gave her the orchard and the house.
And inside the house was everything she could ever need.
Elnore slowly sat up and thought, This place feels like a dream come true.
If Una was okay with it, she wanted to stay here forever— baking sweet desserts, making friends with animals, and living peacefully.
I wonder who owned this place before me… I wish I could thank them in person.
She stood up from bed, still thinking about the mysterious previous owner.
Then Una, still half-asleep on the carpet, sniffled and asked,
“Elnore, you awake?”
“Yeah. Did you sleep well, Una?”
“Of course! This carpet is so soft, I could sleep here all day.”
“Still, let’s eat breakfast first.”
“Breakfast?!”
Una jumped up.
She hadn’t eaten since last night, and her stomach was growling.
“What’s for breakfast?”
“Let’s go pick the tastiest fruit from the orchard!”
“Great!”
Smiling at each other, they headed outside.
The orchard looked even more beautiful in the morning.
There were sparkling dewdrops on the leaves, blooming flowers, and new fruits hanging on branches that they hadn’t seen the night before.
They picked big red apples and juicy pears— the kind you’d normally only see in autumn.
Back inside, they ate until they were full. The fruits were so sweet, they tasted like they were filled with honey.
After their first hearty breakfast in a long time, they stepped outside again to enjoy the sun.
Then they decided to head to the nearby village to buy some simple supplies—like flour and butter.
Elnore said she would make an apple pie when they got back. Una was so excited, she rushed off toward the village with Elnore on her back.
Just hearing the words “Elnore’s apple pie” made Una’s mouth water.
