Eldia, the continent of life, beauty and death. Mother Nature is generous and merciful with her diverse and lush flora, home to a vast array of climates and with them, an equally vast amount of plant species, including tall, towering trees, winding vines and flowers, bright and colorful grasses, and a myriad of other flowers and shrubs. The soil gave and gave without requiring any payback. Here all the different creatures live in harmony with nature and with each other.

That's probably too bold of a statement.

Ever since the human empire consolidated from all different tribes and harnessed the power of magic crafting, there has not been a single time when Eldia wasn't embroiled in conflicts. With their superior technology, they waged endless war to expand their territory and absorbed other races into their empire, often as second-class citizens or even worse, outright slaves. Beastkins, dwarfs, centaurs, trolls,... all were fed into the human's growing war machine.

The only other power that could stand up to the Empire on the continent rested on the other side of Eldia, namely the Holy Elvish Kingdom of Sylvanthor. From their humble beginning deep in the forest, elves with their outstanding magical power and an innate ability to channel them have grown to absorb the territories surrounding them. One could say that the elves were the original powerhouse of Eldia until the empire of human challenged their superiority. An elf, objectively speaking, are more powerful than a human, but what they lack for quality the human made up from quantity, both in bodies and weapons. Recent victories suggested that their ship is steering on the right path.

And that concluded today's history lesson. The tutor after bowing gracefully made her exit.

I let out a big yawn.

Many years ago, when I realized that not only I was reincarnated but to a different race and society as well, I had quite the existential crisis. Things were especially tougher when you were born into royalty. The etiquette lessons, magic lessons, the balls... they were brutal (╥﹏╥) Now that I adapted to this lifestyle, it is not that bad. It is busy, yes, but compared to the never-ending cycle of overwork from my past salaryman life, this is miles better. It's like you going to school a second time.

However, it seemed that no matter where you go, people just can't find a way to live peacefully together. It's even more so in this continent which is a hotpot of different races. Coming from a relatively peaceful society and imagine a future where I had to lead an army into battle surrounded by enemies ... nope, nope, nope. Just thinking about it made my body shiver.

Yup, as expected it's best to leave such things to Mom. She can do anything after all, even war and stuff. 

"Caught ... you!"

Suddenly I felt something gripping me from behind. Soft, silky hair brushed against my skin while the smell of lavender permeated my nose. After much struggling, I managed to wrest myself from her evil clutch.

"Mom! I told you not to do that anymore! I'm already an adult!"

"Teehee, it's just a habit~ beside Elena is just too cute~" 

Despite my best efforts, the person pulled me back into her embrace once more. This time I can only let out an internal sigh and surrendered to my fate. It has been 16 years already and she never changed one bit, ever since I regained consciousness and my past life's memories. Queen Mother Alora has already been there for me. Granted much of the raising was done by the maids but in every step growing up, I was accompanied by her incessant spoiling. This is not good for your child at all you know!? Had I not been reincarnated with my adult memories intact, I would have grown into a haughty brat by now. I wondered why my treatment was so different with that other person...

"Don't you have duty to attend to, Mom? Skipping work is not good you know."

Alora grinned.

"It's true that I'm a little busy at the moment ... but skipping precious time with my cute daughter is an absolute no-no!"

"Is it about the war with the humans? They are stepping up their attacks quite a lot, aren't they?"

Hearing my words, Alora patted my head with a gentle smile.

The royal lineage of this kingdom sure was something else, even if she was my mother, seeing such an ethereal beauty up close really did some damage to my heart. Soft and elegant, with sharp, perceptive eyes and a delicate face combined with her breathtaking silver hair with no sign of aging, a true symbol of the finest beauty the elvish race had to offer. I was taught that silver hair was the unique hair color for royalty in Sylvanthor, none other had it. The maids in the palace mostly had blonde hair, while the common folk I saw during the few trips outside the palace mostly were black. 

Well, since I'm her daughter, Elene is quite the beauty herself fufufu~ the only thing lacking was in the chest department (╥﹏╥) but it will grow okay?!

Truth be told I hate it whenever she does this since technically I'm already well into my twenties in my past life on Earth and combined with this life ...

Ehh, it's best not to talk about certain things, right?

I still disliked her headpats though.

"Fufu, as expected of my daughter, you catch on things quick. Yes the human to the East is a nuisance, I will admit that their new-fangled 'technology' gave us quite a challenge. They can't invade our kingdom directly yet but if this continues, they might even conquer more land from our tributaries. This would be very bad for our reputation as the leading nation West of Eldia."

Alora took a deep breath.

"That's why we must think outside of the box and find a solution to reverse this. Luckily, our court magician had found something very interesting. Perhaps this could win us the war and even more."

Her mouth curved into a sinister smile.

"You will know soon enough."

Oh no.

I have lived with her far too long to not notice every time she did that something bad was going to happen to someone. The last time she did that a bunch of rebellious people were sent to jail for a long time.

How long you ask? 

Long enough to make an age-defying race like elf goes mad.

Well, it's not my business anyway, so who cares right? It's not like she will hurt anyone close to me, she loved her family too much for that. She was also a very pragmatic queen who wished the best for our people, so I trusted her to do the right thing.

After a loving kiss on my forehead, Alora and I parted ways.