490 Dinora

"An Oath-breaker object? What's that?"

"Why, isn't it obvious? This woman was an object in helping someone break an oath. It doesn't mean that the oath is broken, but the process has definitely started. It might actually be at the last phase, in fact. Such a task leaves behind elemental vibrations that can be spotted by a Hero, you know."

"Tell me everything you know about this. Aren't oaths supposed to be fool-proof? What kind of level of a spell is required in order to break one?"

"That… Is a good question. They are supposed to be fool-proof in this age. Young King, the spell to break an oath is at the Hero level, which means that there is definitely another Empire Spirit active here. Judging from the sharp ends of the ears of the individual in front of you, I gather that we are in the Elf Kingdom?"

Daneel only grunted in response, to which Drakos replied, "Oh. Then this is definitely very troublesome."

Hearing this, Daneel frowned even further but decided that he would continue this discussion in a more discreet place.

Instructing Olfax to leave, Daneel lifted the Mind Control spell on the elf maid before teleporting away.

After a few teleportations, he finally stopped when he was in view of the tall mountain on top of which the Capital of Eldinor, Elfaven was situated.

Gazing at that city which was vaguely visible, Daneel asked Drakos to continue.

"Young king, you must already be aware that there are three different paths to follow to gain power. The lone Mage path, the lone Fighter path and the hybrid path – which includes training in both areas. As a Dragon, I trained in the equal hybrid path, which means that I was just as powerful as a Fighter as I was as a Mage. Many chose this path, mainly because it offers the most flexible form of combat and the most options when one reaches the chasm that separates them from the Champion realm. Yet, there are some who choose the other two paths, either because of higher talent in those areas, or some specific interest. You must already know about elves; they are strong in magic, but weak in body potential. As such, even during the Age of the Empire, the strongest Mages of the armies were mostly elves. Following the same trend, the elf who was chosen to become the Empire Spirit for the Elf Kingdom was also a pure Mage, which turned out to be a problem. You already know that our corporeal bodies need a certain level of Energy in order to maintain our consciousnesses, and the Mage level of one decides the size, or power of one's consciousness. Although that doesn't mean that Fighters have much weaker consciousnesses, it is definitely a fact that their power doesn't affect the size of their consciousness too much, as opposed to how it is in the case of Mages."

"Whoa whoa whoa, stop for a bit. Drakos, you really need to learn to break up your long speeches, or otherwise, no one would be able to hear you out."

Daneel was already reeling from this long block of text, so he had to take a moment to assess it carefully before asking Drakos to continue.

"I'll keep that in mind, Young King. I was approaching the end anyway. As a pure Mage, the Empire Spirit of the Elf Kingdom could not be stored in a normal stone podium like the rest of us. Instead, the Emperor had to use a special construct made out of her own corporeal body. I guess that you must have checked the Kingdom for the parts of the Grand Inheritance, and must have failed because you found nothing in the core of their formation?"

As Daneel nodded vigorously, Drakos continued, saying, "That's because that part was stored along with her body that went through a special transformation in order to hold her consciousness even after her death. This was the only possible method, as transporting her consciousness from her body to the stone podium in the process that you saw was impossible. The idea is that if someone gains approval, they will be given access to the true location of her body, which was hidden away in a location even I cannot find. The Emperor had to take these measures, as he did not want it to be too easy to finish the race. The one who did finish had to be worthy. Now, the reason I said that this is troublesome is because she was one of the first to turn – even though the Emperor made many plans, he could not have accommodated for the changes in his vassals. Or maybe, he intended his inheritor to tackle these problems too."

Toward the end, as Daneel heard Drakos speak in a melancholy tone, he was reminded once again of that giant figure who had spoken to him in the message.

Indeed, he had to agree that that man did look like some legendary grandpa in those novels who would place multiple hoops in order for his inheritor to jump through to test whether they were worthy.

"Drakos, the history lesson is fine, but I want to know about the oath."

"Young King, the best method is to directly come into contact with the person who is in the process of breaking the Oath. Do you know who that is?"

"Of course. Get ready to deploy spells to hide us."

A few moments later, Daneel was strolling the streets of the capital city of the Kingdom of the Elves while looking around at all the development that had happened in his absence.

It was quite impressive: new areas of gathering had been built for people with like-minded interest to gather and share knowledge, there were more parks for kids to play in, there were advertisements for schemes that would reward parents for having more children which was to combat the declining elf population, and there was even a more robust policing force that was patrolling the streets and making sure that there would be no delinquents.

Just like he had thought, this Queen was quite capable.

Wasting no more time, Daneel directly teleported inside the central palace and was soon standing in the middle of a court session that was going on.

This was the true power of a Hero – nothing and no one could stop one in the Central Continent. If it were a Champion, the core formations of a few kingdoms might at least hope to detect one, but a Hero was just too much to handle.

This was why Daneel had awakened Drakos, and he was glad that he had done so.

The throne room of the Kingdom of the Elves was smaller than that of Lanthanor: apart from the central, large throne, there were only around 20 seats on which the ministers were seated.

Although there was empty space behind the seats for spectators to stand in, currently, there was no one there.

Setting his eyes on the Queen of Eldinor, Daneel saw that she had changed.

When he had first met her all those months ago, she had still had the naïveté of someone who had led a sheltered life, despite the fact that she had been doing the dirty work of her mother.

That Eldra had been filled with hopes and dreams even though she didn't let them be displayed outward, but this one… This one seemed to be a cold, dead husk.

Her face was set in a rigid expression of seriousness, and it didn't change no matter what news she heard. She ordered welfare plans and executions with the same tone, almost as if nothing mattered to her anymore.

It was as if someone had leached the life completely out of her, leaving behind an empty shell of the person she had once been.

At this moment, looking at her, Daneel couldn't help but actually feel pity.

What had she been through to turn her into someone like this?

The last time he had come here, he had been in a hurry, so he hadn't called on the Queen, which was something he regretted now as he wondered whether he might have been able to change anything if he had noticed this earlier.

This had definitely been an oversight on his part: just because he was confident in the oath, he had neglected to go see how his 'puppets' actually were, even though he had reason to believe that they might be doing something which they shouldn't be.

This… was definitely one of the banes of having too many things to do.

"This is the individual, yes. I can see that… She is in the final phase! Dinora has been busy…"

"Dinora? That's her name?"

"Yes. It was where the name of this kingdom was derived from. I knew her quite well, in fact. But even then, she always had something… crazy about her. I still remember when she chased me to – ahem, a story for another time."

[Target "Eldra" has been found to be under the effects of a weak Mind Control spell.]

Daneel had just been getting curious due to the almost fearful tone with which Drakos had just talked about the Elf Empire spirit, but the message from the system made him furrow his eyebrows.

An Empire Spirit was not supposed to be able to cast spells without taking control of one's body!

This was true in all the cases he had seen so far, including that old man.

Did that mean that…

"Young King, you must realize that this woman is under a Mind Control spell. But it is very weak. Dinora was the best Mage among us all, and as such, it is possible that she must have learned how to cast low powered spells during her long millennia of solitude. If anyone is capable of it, it would be her. The only consolation is that the Mind Control spell is very weak, so much so that the target can break through it if they try hard enough. Young King, whatever this woman has done, do not take it at face value. She has definitely been influenced by that crazy elf. Oh, and by the way, she is definitely not temporarily possessed, as the special process in which she is stored makes temporary possession, like I'm doing, impossible."

Yes, there had definitely been something between this ancient Dragon and that ancient elf.

Putting that to the side for now, he continued looking at Eldra, trying to decide what to do.

There was a major problem here – how was he supposed to decide what he was going to do with her if he didn't know which decisions of hers were her own, and which had been influenced by the Mind Control spell?

He couldn't just indiscriminately decide to kill her, if she wasn't the one responsible.

"Drakos, I need to know since when this woman has been under the influence of the Mind Control spell."

"Hmm. I have a suspicion, Young King. Does this woman perchance have kin who might have done some bloodthirsty acts which might not have made much sense?"

"Yes, but that person doesn't exactly fit your description. Her actions were justified by herself for her own means."

"Good. Take me to her body, or whatever remains of her."

Puzzled, Daneel teleported to the grave of Eldra's mother, which was quite grand despite all of her wrongdoings.

After a few moments, Drakos spoke in a grave tone.

"Young King, this elf… reeks of blood. If I'm not wrong, she has killed hundreds of her own species. I know now how Dinora is casting spells. Now, to answer your question – the elf above came under the effect of a Mind Control spell when she spoke to this elf last, right before her death."