Chapter 58: The Complicated Elf

“How did it come to this?”

Aiouwen looked at the severely weakened Maximus, her thoughts beginning to churn. With Maximus this weak, wouldn’t she lose most of her daily entertainment?

And judging by the looks of it, that perverted brute didn’t have the strength left to stand up and stop her from escaping. Did that mean she could regain her freedom right away?

Aiouwen had already been released from the dungeon by Maximus. 

She was now allowed to wear normal clothes every day while being kept under house arrest in the Duke’s Mansion.

Although she had no idea why Maximus suddenly loosened his restrictions on her, now that this situation had arisen, if she didn’t run, she wouldn’t deserve her title as an Elf Assassin.

Every Elf Assassin was directly sworn to the Elf Archon. They were the sharpest blades of the Elven City-State!

‘Even if I think about it this way, I’m not actually doing it.’

Thinking more carefully, humans were a short-lived species. Even a Grand Knight only lived around a thousand years.

As an elf with a baseline lifespan of three thousand years, Aiouwen, at over five hundred years old, felt she could easily outlast Maximus until he died of old age.

No joke—Maximus had imprisoned her for so long. If she couldn’t see that pervert die with her own eyes, she’d be tormented for the rest of her life.

So, to keep Maximus from dying too easily, Aiouwen didn’t hesitate to begin casting healing magic on him.

But the All-Father priests who had already arrived on the scene saw Aiouwen about to release magic, and golden Holy Light immediately flared up around their bodies.

“Elf! What do you think you’re doing?!”

If not for the collar around Aiouwen’s neck—the same type as Astraea’s—those priests would have attacked her directly.

Maximus was gravely wounded and unconscious. The news spread throughout the Royal Capital in no time. If not for Chief Paladin Lucius still being in the capital, the Royal Capital would have been in complete chaos by now.

The only Grand Knight still active in the Royal Capital was the Church of All-Father’s Chief Paladin. And with this turn of events, the Church, which had been suppressed by Maximus all this time, was beginning to stir.

Although they hadn’t made any major moves out of respect for the friendship between Lucius and Maximus, the Church now dared to send priests to interfere with Maximus’s treatment!

To be completely honest, if Maximus—the God-Chosen who had always suppressed their Church—died, the Holy Father would be more than delighted. The Church was powerful now, so even though Aiouwen wore Maximus’s collar, those priests dared to use force against her.

Eliminating an elf—what a wonderful prospect that would be.

Just thinking about killing the elf assassin who had murdered the previous king made the priests want to hum a tune.

Seeing the priests radiating hostility toward her, Aiouwen naturally didn’t bother giving them a pleasant expression either.

Meanwhile, Astraea, seeing the two sides at each other’s throats, didn’t overthink it and stepped to Aiouwen’s side with her hand resting on her sword.

No joke—if she didn’t help Aiouwen, was she supposed to side with those All-Father priests who wanted nothing more than to burn her at the stake? Even looking for death wouldn’t be done that way.

As for Luo En, that went without saying. He was the little elf’s guardian knight. Since the little elf had already taken her stance, he naturally wouldn’t stand on the opposite side.

The only one on the scene still desperately trying to treat the Duke was probably the sweating physician from the Order of Life and Reincarnation.

Just as the situation was about to explode into violence, Maximus’s door was pushed open. Everyone present except the physician turned to look at the person who entered.

“Let her try.”

Lucius, having pushed open the door, immediately assessed the situation on the scene. Although he was displeased with Aiouwen’s presence, he trusted his friend’s judgment. Since Maximus was willing to keep Aiouwen by his side, he must have been confident in controlling her.

Since the Chief Paladin had spoken, those priests had no choice but to comply. They reluctantly stepped aside, though the Holy Light around their bodies did not extinguish.

But then they thought again—if this elf had malicious intent and either killed or crippled Maximus, wouldn’t their Church be able to rise to prominence as a result?

The priests simply didn’t believe elves could harbor goodwill toward humans.

This way, if something went wrong, they could pin the blame on the elf. At worst, the Church would bear the charge of negligence in care—but compared to the Church’s rise to power, that was nothing.

The Paladin Lord’s move was truly brilliant!

Having successfully filled in the blanks in their heads, the priests calmed down and watched Aiouwen with expressions of anticipation, as if waiting for a good show.

Aiouwen ignored those rigid-minded priests. She only wanted to get Maximus back on his feet as soon as possible.

After all, she still had a hundred years of time to spend with Maximus. If Maximus didn’t make her float in the air at least three times a day, she would bite this bastard Duke to death!

Yanking the sweating physician aside, Aiouwen scanned Maximus’s condition and immediately cast healing magic.

A five-hundred-year-old elf’s magical mastery was naturally nothing compared to Astraea’s kindergarten-level skills. Dozens of complex Magic Circuits layered in ring upon ring, emanating mana fluctuations comparable to a human Archmage.

Even when Astraea had infinite mana before, her healing magic couldn’t hold a candle to Aiouwen’s.

Under such overwhelming healing magic, Maximus’s shattered Bone Plates visibly knitted back together at a visible rate, and the scars on his body disappeared without a trace.

“Not bad. No scarring.” Aiouwen nodded in approval of her own healing magic, which she hadn’t used in a long time.

Before her, Maximus lay on the bed, no longer bearing any trace of injury. Astraea curiously used her mana to observe the Duke’s condition in detail, only to discover that even the internal damage within his body had been greatly healed.

The priests, who had never given Aiouwen a good look, were utterly dumbfounded to see that the elf was actually healing Maximus. But that didn’t matter—even if Maximus recovered fully, the fact that he had harbored the assassin of the former king had already spread. This time, his reputation would take a heavy blow.

When that happened, the Church would flourish all the same.

Aiouwen was ready to stop, but Maximus still hadn’t woken up.

Sensing something wrong, Aiouwen increased her mana output, casting healing magic at maximum power.

Wrapped in elemental particles nearly bright enough to blind, every miscellaneous internal injury on Maximus’s body was healed by Aiouwen.

But Maximus still lay there, unconscious.

Now it was Aiouwen’s turn to sweat profusely. Confused, she stopped her mana output and repeatedly probed Maximus’s body with a puzzled expression.

Yet no matter how she probed, she could only conclude that Maximus’s body had fully recovered to a healthy state.

This shook her confidence. After doubting her magical abilities for a moment, Aiouwen muttered to herself, “That’s not right. Why won’t this bastard wake up?”

Lucius stepped forward to observe his friend’s condition.

Holy Light erupted from his body, and the radiance—purer than that of the priests—enveloped Maximus.

But when his Holy Light penetrated to the area around Maximus’s heart, his expression changed immediately.

Lucius blurted out, “There’s a wisp of Black Qi inside Maximus’s heart!”

His Holy Light could suppress ordinary Black Qi, but the Black Qi in Maximus’s heart was clearly no ordinary substance. When Lucius’s Holy Light struck it, it hit like a wall and could not advance a single inch further.

No wonder Maximus wouldn’t wake up. If he did wake up in this state, he’d be no different from those Brins emitting Black Qi.

But how was this supposed to be handled? Should they ask the Holy Father to intervene?

That was out of the question. The Holy Father’s Holy Light was probably not even as pure as Lucius’s own. At this point, only divine power could resolve this.

“Prepare a ritual immediately.”

Lucius turned and ordered the priests.

The priests were reluctant, but Maximus was after all blessed by the All-Father. As unwilling as they were, they couldn’t just watch the Duke be corroded by some unknown force—because that would not only damage the Duke’s prestige but the Church’s as well.

If an elf assassinated him, one could say the Duke brought it on himself. But if he was corroded by some strange power, what could they say? Only that the Church was useless?

Just then, a flash of inspiration struck Luo En.

He recalled that when his soul had met the All-Father, the All-Father seemed to have instructed him about something.

When encountering pollution, try having Astraea play her flute.

Luo En had almost forgotten about that. Now it seemed those Black Qi traces might be exactly what the All-Father had called pollution.

With that thought, Luo En patted Astraea’s little head.

“What?”

“Teacher Astraea, I want to hear you play the flute.”

“Here? Let’s wait until we get home.”

Astraea was confused. While Luo En did genuinely enjoy listening to her play, this wasn’t exactly the right occasion. In such a solemn setting, if an elf suddenly jumped out to play a tune, people might think she was playing a funeral dirge for Maximus.

Luo En said solemnly, “Right here, Teacher Astraea. This is what the All-Father told me.”

That made Astraea hesitate.

“This… this… fine, but I’m warning you, if anything goes wrong, it’s on you.” Astraea couldn’t resist Luo En’s insistence, so she agreed to give it a try.

She took the Whistle, now marked with quite a few golden patterns, from the cloth pouch at her waist and brought it to her lips.

She played a traditional elven piece, its melody flowing and serene, fully conveying the composer’s sense of loneliness.

Legend had it that this song was composed by an elven playwright after living alone in the deep mountains for five hundred years.

As for those deep mountains—they were now territory of the Human Kingdom.

As the flute’s notes rang out, golden light erupted from Astraea’s body, shooting into the heavens. The dense aura of the All-Father drove those priests to kneel and prostrate themselves immediately.

A miracle!

That day, the Royal Capital was bathed in the radiance of the divine.