I was hoping to be able to at least get near Mona, but it doesn't seem like that will be possible. The girl's fear of me is already bad enough, but the worst part is that each time she sees me she starts calling for her parents... I don't want to remind her of them.

So I decided to let the other elves take care of her for now. Since I agreed to become queen I probably won't be able to do it myself anyway. And it seems like they were not joking about becoming my servants, after all, they even started calling me mistress like Irvan, which seemed to annoy him for some reason.

"JUST HOW STUPID ARE THEY?!" But not as much as that newspaper annoyed Arana. She's been completely furious ever since she read it. "You'd think that the rulers of the continent should be able to tell when a swindler is trying to scam them!"

Apparently, there was a meeting of the various rulers of this continent just the other day, and the 'goddess of wind' showed herself there. Arana seems convinced that it was actually Cureva... I know that it must have been an impostor since Vilde told me that the real goddess of wind was dead, but it's not as if we have any actual proof that it was really Cureva... Eh, it was probably her.

"But isn't something like this to be expected of her?"

"What worries me is how fast she did it, there's no way she could have known for certain that you were going to become the queen of the demon wasteland. Was she just guessing? Or did that simply not matter to her plans? I have no idea of what her goals are."

"At least she didn't tell them that they should go to war. So it's not really as bad as it could have been."

"If she had told them to go to war, they would not have believed that she was the goddess of wind."

"Eh? Why not? It's not as if the goddess of wind is known for being a pacifist or anything like that, and she already told them that I'm evil."

"It's not that. The issue is that the idea that you are both powerful enough to warrant all of their countries joining forces against you and that they are going to have to fight against you is not something that they'd want to believe. On the other hand, 'I'm a goddess and I'll have a hero solve all your problems with minimal effort from your part' is something that they were all happy to believe."

"That makes no sense. Wanting something to be true does not make it more likely to be true."

"People are not that rational. They might not have believed something completely absurd, but all Cureva needed to do is provide enough 'evidence' to make them think 'Well, I guess it COULD be true'."

I see... Cureva really knows how to manipulate people. But Arana is also really smart, she was able to figure it out so quickly.

"And the one she appointed as a 'hero' was that cat girl we've met a few times, right?"

"Last time, we encountered Cureva when she was around, and now this... And that girl also seems to be compatible with the world relic of light. This cannot be a coincidence, there's a very strong possibility that Cureva is in contact with that girl. But she probably does not know anything about my sister, if she did, she would have tried to hide their connection a bit better. Other than that there's also that guy who used wind magic against her in the meeting."

"Couldn't that just be that Cureva has-"

"Don't even say that."

"I'm just saying that if his magic was rank 10 and it was turned against him-"

"Cureva's wind magic is NOT rank 20! That's ridiculous!"

"Well, I have rank 20 magic..."

"Yes, and it's about time you accept that you are pretty ridiculous."

Uh...

"So you think that he was her accomplice?"

"It could also be that she has some trick that I don't know about. But seeing how his action resulted in Cureva's goddess performance being more convincing, the most likely possibility is that they are just working together."

"I see... But that 'Alber' guy is a really famous mage, right? Even I've heard about him."

"He was the most powerful mage in this continent until you showed up. Ranna, tell us what's known about him."

Ranna's face is hidden by the papers that she's holding.

"The 'grand mage' Alber was born in the Magnel kingdom just over 200 years ago, in a village near the border with the demon wasteland. However, that village was destroyed in an attack by demons, he lost his family and became blind as a result."

If that's the case, he must really hate the demon wasteland...

"After that, he dedicated himself fully to studying magic and gained the title of 'Archmage' at the age of 18. Then he joined the army and took part in a 'preemptive attack' against the demon wasteland. However, that was his only battle as a soldier, he left the army immediately after.

He continued to develop his magic in the next few decades and managed to reach rank 10 in both wind and water magic. Unlike some other mages that prefer to be left alone, he continued to help the Magnel kingdom in any way he could and became a popular and influential figure in the country.

His attitude towards the demon wasteland seems to be somewhat contradictory. Each time someone proposes another attack against the demon wasteland like the one he took part in, he uses all of his influence to stop it. However, he's also famous for hunting down the strongest demon lords. Ever since the time he left the army, there have been a total of seven powerful demon lords such as Kalroth that attempted to unite the wasteland and attack the surrounding countries. Alber killed 4 of them before any armies even had the chance to start fighting."

Hearing Ranna talk for so long with that monotone voice of hers is almost hypnotic... If I understand correctly, it seems like that man always goes after the rulers of the demon wasteland. Does that mean that he's going to come after me?

"I wonder how Cureva could have taken someone like that to her side..." Arana seems to be focused on suspecting him, but I'm not so sure about that...

"Luna, could I have your attention?" Ranna taps me on the arm, it seems like she cannot reach my shoulder. "If it's not too much of a bother, would you mind giving me back my car?"

"Your car?"

"Yes, since it was so big we decided that you would use your storage magic to store it. But now that we have an entire castle, that no longer seems necessary."

Ah, that's right, I was keeping Ranna's car in my storage. Ranna's car...

Oh. OH!!! Oh...

"Uh... I think that you made a mistake. M-maybe someone else put it in their storage?"

"I do not think that there's anyone else around here that can store an entire car."

"W-well. I don't have it!"

"Luna..."

She's squinting her eyes. She's not buying it... I need a distraction.

*CRASH*

"Thank goodness! I mean. What was that noise? I must go and investigate! We'll continue this conversation in a few years!"

"Luna! Wait!"

Ranna tries to chase after me, but I can run faster.

---

 

"So it was you. I was not expecting to see you again this soon."

"Sorry, I forgot to open the door before entering..."

"You really need to stop doing that."

That noise was Karin breaking a door. I don't know what she's doing here, I thought that she had gone back to the beastkin country.

"Please! I nyed your heeeeeelp!"

"Eh? Wait. Stop crying and tell me what happened."

"I... sniff. I've been exiled!"

"Exiled!?"

"I have nyowhere to go! Please, let me stay here! I could be your bodyguard or something!"

"I don't need a bodyguard. But we do have a lot of room in this castle."

"Luna, wait." Arana grabs my arm and takes me to the side. She talks to me in a low voice. "Do you know how much any country would give to have someone above level 300? There's no way that they would get rid of her without a very good reason?"

Does that mean that Karin did something bad?

"Could you please tell me why you were exiled?"

"After I brought those prisoners back, the king came to meet us. I had nyot seen him in a long time so I gave him a hug."

What? I know that giving a king a hug is not very appropriate but is that a good enough reason to exile her?

"That doesn't seem like such a big deal."

"It's nyot! The king is really tough! He can heal a few broken bones in no time!"

"Oh."

"But they told me that this had already happened too manya times."

"Oh."

"And that they told me 'don't hug the king' just seconds earlier."

"Oh. Well, it will be fine."

But then Arana takes me to the side again.

"Luna, we already have too many things on our hands right now. We cannot take care of her. Didn't you see what she did to that door? She's going to turn the castle into a mess."

"I promise that I'll keep her under control!"

"And don't you remember how much she ate last time she was here? I don't know if we can afford to feed her."

"I'm sure that we can get enough food somehow."

"She could be dangerous, you heard what she just did to that king."

"Don't worry, if she breaks your bones, I'll fix you right away."

I give Arana a thumbs up.

"THAT'S NOT VERY CONVINCING!!!"

"Please, Ara. Can we keep her?"

"You only want her here because her wisdom is even lower than yours, don't you?"

"That's only half the reason."

"Are the ears the other half?"

"There's also the tail... But more importantly, I'm sure that she's a good person."

"Ah... Fine, just don't say that I didn't warn you."

Looks like I managed to convince her. Arana worries too much, I'm sure that Karin will not cause any trouble.