If you asked the people who was the true ruler of Angmar, most of them would probably say something .
━At the moment, it's the Lioness Family, isn't it?
The Angmar Family, which had ruled the world since the age of myths, fell with the defeat of the Demon King. Among the four families who brought him down, the Lioness Family became the only one enjoying prosperity.
After endless funerals, the Tarantera Family was only left with the tyrant Queen.
The Draco Family disappeared from the world.
And the Belhwak Family's heir died, leaving behind a giant mess.
Compared to the Lioness Family, which stood firm like a roaring lion, everyone else was treading the path to downfall.
The Lioness Family had a steadfast pillar, their patriarch, Reinhardt.
And with the eldest daughter inheriting the hero's weapon and the wise eldest son, they were guaranteed a future laced with gold.
Rumor had it that the eldest son would inherit the throne from the Spider Queen.
Thanks to this, the present Lioness Family was enjoying unprecedented prosperity since the dawn of creation.
Their power and influence were so vast that they could even count the trees in a small village. There was no secret in the world that Elganes Von Lioness, the eldest daughter of the Lioness Family, couldn't uncover if she set her mind to it.
And Elga was a skilled weapon wielder.
Elga stepped out of the carriage and walked in silence.
━Hey, did you just see that? Where are those swarms of imps going-. Were there always so many imps in Ark?
━I don't know. Let's go check it out next time. It should be fun!
The festival was riddled with people noisily chatting and laughing, but Elga's expression remained calm and composed, more so than ever before.
She had felt this tranquility on the night before the subjugation of the barbarian chieftain. Elga's mood now was just as cool as it was then.
'Let's go somewhere quiet for now.'
She needed a quiet space.
A place where she could solely focus on her intuition and inspiration.
So she went back to her room, closed the door, and made sure she wasn't being watched or eavesdropped on.
'Lately, it feels like someone is constantly watching me. Could there really be evil spirits…?'
No, that couldn't be. All she could see were the birds perched outside the window, preening their wings.
"What? Did you just curse at me?"
The birds simply continued grooming their feathers as if nothing had happened. How foolish.
'Looks like I'm too sensitive these days.'
Soon after, Elga drew the curtains and pulled out the bundle of documents she had hidden in her embrace.
Documents with a lion-shaped seal.
The envelope was black.
The black envelope indicated Level 0 classified documents beyond Level 1, and was ruled by the Lioness Family to destroy after reading.
With a slight tension on what was written, Elga finally opened the document after lightly breaking the seal with the sharp tip of her nail.
She extracted one paper after another from the thick stack. Although Elga usually found things like books or manuscripts boring to look at, there was no hindrance in her blue eyes as she read the words. Ṙ𝐚ɴОВĘ𝘚
「List and prices of persons sold in the slave market on X/XX/102X.」
It was a tabulated list of the names, characteristics, origins, and prices of those sold in the slave market.
As Elga read through, a familiar name soon reflected her eyes.
「Theo Gospel: 30 gold. Highly priced for being a prophet.」
It triggered many thoughts.
Flipping the pages, Elga read through the rest of the entries. What she was looking for was information about slaves priced around 10 gold, not those with high prices.
Eventually, she found a paragraph that caught her attention.
「Unknown: Male. 10 gold. Nameless slave. Blue eyes. Brown hair. Small stature with a delicate body. Not suitable for labor. Sold to a celebrity for 5 gold.」
This was probably what Elga was looking for.
Elga turned the page.
Behind it, there were several more pages filled with information about this "unknown" slave, neatly organized by the old and experienced steward, Rowan, as per Elga's request.
「Seized among the loot of Witch Forest bandits-.」
「Said to have been an unconscious 'log' when they first found him.」
「According to the testimony, at some point he suddenly regained senses and started speaking gibberish-.」
The more information Elga gleaned, the more she felt like she was falling deeper and deeper into a quagmire.
One thing was certain, though: the man she knew might not be who she thought he was.
She knew there was something being hidden, but she never expected it to be this peculiar.
'He said he was a descendant of a fallen family. The story doesn't add up.'
But a "log"? Even though Elga had no interest in magic, she roughly understood what that meant. And that it couldn't be anything good.
Then someone knocked on the door.
━Lady Lioness, it's almost time. Shouldn't we discuss our tasks for the vote counting tomorrow?
She opened the door to see a girl with silver hair and sparkling red eyes. Mirna, one of the few girls who could speak so boldly to her.
"Come on. And, please hold this for me."
"You'll see when you look at it. It's glow-in-the-dark garlic."