Emperor of Steel

The road to the South.

A coach that moved into the village next to the road.

While the horsemen were changing the horses and smoking their cigarettes for rest, the passengers of the coach had gone to the nearest tavern to rest their necks and eat something.

Among the passengers was a woman, who was dressed as a pilgrim.

Like the goddesses, there was a cloth covering their head and ears, and in the hand was a long cane which was wrapped in cloth.

Going to the alcohol bar counter, she had looked at the owner and asked,

“A Cold beer here.”

The owner took the money from her hand seeing the stern look she had.

Some other customers who were in there couldn’t help but murmur or click their tongues at the scene.

Knowing about the pilgrims; they had to follow in the footsteps of the saints and live an empty life.

But of course, it was comfortable for them to go on a carriage and drink from the middle of the day.

The only people who condemned such act were the old men and women. The young people, showed generous eyes as they all thought, ‘So what if they have a drink?’.

Even if she was expressionless and cold, the woman was surely very divine looking.

She was no less than the elves who were called as the incarnation of beauty.

“Here is your beer.”

The host has poured beer into a tin mug and served it to the woman.

The woman was trying to slightly loosen the stiff expression she held, soon turned disappointed. The moment she touched the beer mug, it felt lukewarm.

“I asked for a cool one?”

“That is the coolest thing in here.”

Beer was normally stored in the cool underground warehouses. In case of the high-end pubs of the city, ice was collected.

It was unknown if the host was just being unkind to the pilgrim who seemed unfaithful to her vows.

And the woman had no intention to drink a lukewarm beer, she memorized the spell and focused it in one hand.

“Cooling.”

With bright light, ice got stuck in the glass.

When she smiled at her effort by slightly lifting the beer mug to drink, an old wizard from the corner of the tavern approached her and asked,

“Excuse me. Are you by any chance Erwin Lesa?”

“…”

The woman, or Erwin Lesa like he had said, had a sudden change in her eyes.

The wizard who noticed the change in her gaze, spoke with a grin,

“Then I guess it was true. A genius elf wizard who had revolutionized the development of magic by developing artificial magic stones. I saw you a decade ago at the initiation, and to meet you again in such a place…”

When Erwin had appeared, the wizard was keeping a close eye on her to see if his assumption about her had been right.

As she used her magic, he was convinced of her identity.

Although there were people with similar appearances, there were no two people who had the same mana waves.

At the words of the wizard, the people in the tavern were shocked.

The fact that she was an Elf was a much more important fact for them than her being the one who brought the artificial magic stones and revolutionized the magic engineering.

“Elf he said? Then she sure must be the most beautiful.”

“But, do elves drink?”

“Maybe a revolting elf. Maybe a republican.”

“Disguised as a human, maybe a spy from the Volga.”

There were a lot words being spoken about her, that was when Erwin decided to leave.

“Hold on a moment, Miss Erwin!”

The wizard hurriedly went after her.

But when he got out of the bar, she had already disappeared.

At the current situation, there were just a few places which knew how to make artificial magic stones properly, including the ten famous Magic Towers.

If she was the one who developed it, she could be sitting on a cushion made of money if she wanted.

However, she noticed the trick the wizard was trying to use, which was why she had disappeared without saying a word.

“Dammit! I wanted to find out how to make an artificial magic stone…!”

The wizard who was upset stomped his foot.

‘Those humans.’

Erwin, who teleported into a faraway forest, frowned upon the behavior of the humans.

After leaving the Volga Republic, it was just once or twice that she had tried to avoid meeting eyes with the humans.

‘Tch, the beer seemed delicious…’

As she was about to drink the beer, she could feel how fresh it was.

In the current time, not just the elves, just every race of the fairies had equal right to live.

The treatment of looking at them as slaves had been reduced, however, the prejudice and the discriminatory gazes had remained.

At the same time, the Volga Republic had a lot of fairies than humans, so it was less discriminatory.

That wasn’t the case for the Baroque Empire.

Most of the fairies except for a few, lived deep in the thick forests and mountains, they were often rejected by the empire.

In the recent years, the situations had gotten worse because the fairies had been giving their power and support to the Volga Republic.

The fairies were being treated as citizens of the Volga Republic or rebels of the Baroque Empire.

“A cut off wind will form in this country? Master must have gotten very old.”

But when she thought about it, after listening to how he said it, she had no choice but to follow the words.

‘If I head down, I’ll see the wide southern sea.’

The reason why Erwin was going along the forest road was because of it.

Not far from the end, smoke was rising.

If it was just a normal smoke, then the firemen would have cleared it out.

But after a while she saw a red smoke rise high, Erwin rushed towards it.

The red smoke was a sign that a place which held the fairies had been invaded.

And if she could reach there, she could help them out.

“Oh, it’s late.”

When Erwin had arrived, the situation was already done.

A fairy village had been attacked, they had around 10 families living there.

All over the village, nothing but fires could be seen, the carcasses of the families were lying on the ground.

Most of them were sick, or old with low-quality weapons.

‘This isn’t the work of the military. Only slave hunters use that noose.’

More importantly, there were a few of the fairies who had been taken. If she didn’t hurry, then she wouldn’t be able to save them either.

“They wouldn’t have gotten that far.”

Seeing the signs of the wagon and the footprints that led out of town.

Erwin hurried to catch them.

Her cold eyes have been burning, hotter than ever!