The battle was over, that much was clear the moment the patriarch returned and restored the barrier surrounding his capital.

If you're asking about the outcome of all this conflict, the answer is more "nuanced." Let's break it down for the various parties that took part in it.

For the Umbryans, this battle, which barely lasted a day—with a big part of the chaotic scene only lasting an hour—was a disaster for the Umbryan family. While there were little to no civilian casualties, thanks to the intervention of a very avant-garde guest who immediately went to check on them upon noticing the abnormality, the toll was grimmer for the Umbryans who participated in the frontline. That frontline, by their initial prediction, was not meant to be a frontline at all, and that was their downfall.

No one was expecting the barrier to collapse, and for them to be facing these monsters on the frontline. So when it happened, many lives were lost pulling out their resistance, which, to their credit, didn't allow for a single monster to make it past the rampart of bodies they erected. So credits to the fallen ones and those that made it out alive.

For their patriarch, it was also a disaster with clearly nothing happening like he'd expected; obviously, he didn't expect his barrier to be so easily destroyed as it was. After all, that's why he erected it in the first place, and clearly, he didn't expect the battle against the Argyrian patriarch to go as it did.

Let's put it bluntly, he'd been outmatched, a word that would undoubtedly hurt his pride, but that's just how it went. Once again, credits to him for just surviving and managing to deal a big blow to the large chunk of the main army of stampeding monsters, because we only got a taste of a preview of it; most of the monsters were at their master's side, which really went in the Umbryan family's disfavor. So really, credit to him for making it out alive.

Now, for me, I'd say that while this isn't exactly how I hoped things would go when I made my way here, I'm someone who knows how to make do with what we had, so to me, the outcome is reasonable—not good, not bad, just reasonable. It would have been bad, extremely problematic if the patriarch somehow died to the Argyrian patriarch, but he didn't. It would have been good if, immediately upon his return from the frontline, that heavy blow made him admit his wrong ways and just accept my offer, but that didn't happen, at least not yet.

It's been three days exactly since the invasion, and since then, despite the patriarch's word of assurance that it wasn't going to happen again, the whole capital had been on their tiptoes fearing yet another invasion from the Umbryan patriarch and his stampede, but that didn't happen. So finally, I heard the capital was finally calming.

Yep, I said I heard because I only heard of it, from Aquaflora mostly, as she really got herself busy, as if she wasn't the type to claim to not like the capital and thus hole herself up in her room. Since then, we've hardly ever seen her because since the day of the invasion, Licht and I didn't leave the estate we were put in. Not the same estate as before—that estate was like every other structure of the capital, destroyed by that serpent attack. No, we were assigned to a different estate, eastward in a remote corner of the capital which, luckily, allowed it to be unharmed by that attack, so we were really cut away from witnessing any of the most recent developments in the capital. To be honest, the distance was nothing, but I believe the wise thing to do here was to let things simmer without much interference, and observe what happens next.

I was sitting in the estate garden. "Say, Licht, now that I think about it, there's something that I'd like to ask," she asked Licht, who was throwing lime leaves onto the fire of a camping stove to ward off the mosquitoes which at that hour of the night are quite annoying.

"Mh... What?"

"Did you happen to level up?"

Licht stopped in what he was doing, smiled, then confirmed her assumption with a nod. "How did you know?"

How did I know? echoed in her mind. Boy, you've been in an awfully good mood despite the tragedy that befell this usually peaceful capital.

"Just a hunch," I said, "but well, congrats. We gotta celebrate with the others when we get the opportunity."

"That's just a level," Licht said. "I don't think that's worth a celebration."

"Not worth a celebration? Tell me, how long has it been since you last leveled up?"

"54 years," he answered bitterly.

"You hear that? Half a century. That's literally before I even killed the King of Eldoria, and that was ages ago. If that's not worth celebrating, then I don't know what is."

Licht still insisted it wasn't worth it, but rapidly changed his mind. After all, that was just him being shy about this; in truth, I could tell he was ecstatic about this level up.

"Once we're done with what we're up to here, I think we should have a window of free time in which we could go out in the wild to raise some levels before taking on our problematic patriarch. But that would be after we're done with what we're here for," I suggested.

Licht nodded. After a moment, he asked, "Can I ask, is this—allowing me to finally level up after so long—why you demanded that I tag along?"

I could see where he was coming from with that question. After all, it was I who through Bortz had asked Dungeon Master 07 to allow him to tag along, and one of the reasons I gave Dungeon Master 07 was to get him away from the inevitable battle between wannabe kings that would replace Alexander, whom I was planning on taking down.

Okay, I admit that makes it sound like I caused the problem and then offered the solution. But let's be honest: he was already stuck in a complex situation, whether I killed Alexander or not. So, me suggesting he come along to avoid the complications arising from Alexander's death was a helping hand they couldn't afford to refuse

Despite being an adventurer—a status that usually, due to its neutrality, keeps one away from the gaze of the two main factions that lead the Land of Men, namely the Faith and the Empire—he, due to the potential he displayed by unlocking the longevity skill, made himself the target of many wannabe kings and even kings who foresee themselves being replaced because that's happened a lot in the past few centuries. But truly, if it were only them, no doubt that his cover as an adventurer would have sufficed. Unfortunately, we got confirmation that just like “he” once had eyes for Dungeon Master 10 on his first incarnation, the Emperor had taken notice of Licht.

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The monarch that calls himself the One and Only is a very careful, zealous, and jealous man. An obsession of his is to remain the strongest man to ever exist and to do so, he doesn't hesitate to nip what he considers potential danger in the bud. This can come in several forms, one being the most expeditive one, just him killing them, the second is him reforming these potential dangers through an oath, in other words, making them a king, which is essentially him putting a leash on you because something a king has to accept is the fact that they'd never reach their fullest potential and that they are destined to be beneath and be an obedient hound to the emperor.

Of course, he could always, for the sake of survival, do what I did: becoming a king then, well, spit on the Emporor face, but I doubt anyone other than myself could do that without consequence.

Am I saying that out of arrogance? Partly yes, but also no. I was being pragmatic; there was a particular reason for which he didn't kill me even when as a king I refused to uphold my kingly oath, which in turn made it that when I forsake the oath I'd taken I suffered no consequence. This happened because of my circumstances, unique to me that unfortunately couldn't apply to Licht. Well, it technically could, but someone as pragmatic as Dungeon Master 07 wouldn’t allow that to happen.

Anyway, back to his question, I echoed, "You're asking if that's the reason I requested that you'd be sent over? Well... Let's say that it's one of the reasons, but not one of the main reasons."

"What's the main one?" Licht asked.

"It's..." I began, only to hesitate before ultimately choosing to answer, "Let's make a game out of this. If you manage to guess the main reason, I'll gift you with whatever you ask of me, so long as it is something that I can give. I'll give you three tries, so think about it thoroughly," I said, only to halt myself at the sight of something flying in our direction—a monster? No, there were no monsters inside the Umbryan domain. Instead, it was a sight that alerted neither of us, for it was just a long-eared witch descending upon us on her broom.

"You don't have to give me an answer today," I said, as our witch reached the ground.

"Hi, you two," Aquaflora greeted.

"Hi," Licht greeted back.

"Hi, you've been rare as of late," I remarked with a chuckle. "We've missed you over here. We were just talking about how monotonous our days have been, right, Licht?"

When I looked at Licht, I was surprised to see him playing along by giving a nod—a first, usually when I involve him he tends to just retract himself from everything.

"Spare me, at least today spare me," Aquaflora begged, retrieving a bamboo chair like the one Licht and I sat on before collapsing onto it. "I'm exhausted."

"Another hard day of helping the miserables?" I asked.

Aquaflora nodded before responding, "So many lives were shaken by what happened," turning blind eyes to the sarcasm. "I tried to help the best I could, but I barely got enough MP left to heal 37 of all the people that I could have helped before my fatigue percentage got to the roof," she sighed.

Swamp witch isn't just a nickname Goblin had invented for her; it was the name of her class, or to be more precise, her subclass. As a class, it allowed her heightened compatibility with two main affinities: spiritual and nature affinity, and within the latter lies was a healing sub-affinity into which she'd invested some points, which allowed her, in turn, to acquire healing skills that she'd been putting to great use over the past few days.

"I looked at her and couldn’t help but notice her strangely good mood. Well, 'good mood' might not be the right term; 'lively' would be more accurate. She was lively, just as she had been yesterday and the day before. It used to feel odd because I couldn’t understand it. I was lively too, perhaps even in a good mood, and Licht was as well, but we each had our own, very different reasons for feeling this way. So, I was curious about what made her so lively. I was confused, at least until yesterday. She came back from the capital late at night, as she did today, ranting about how miserable the people were, and then I finally understood."

"They must be grateful to you for everything you've done for them these past few days," I commented, amused.

"Nowhere as much as they are to you," Aquaflora responded. "You've never visited the capital since the attack, so you don’t know this, but you're a celebrity out there."

"A celebrity, huh?"

"Yes, they've all seen you save them. At first, they mistook you for a fellow Noctil elf, one of the patriarch's clan leaders, but they've finally learned who you are. They used to call you Chainmaiden, but today I heard many call you Binding Queen."

"Binding Queen, huh?" I sneered. "I don't mind the 'Queen' part, but why does the first word make me look like a tyrant?"

"You don't look impressed," Aquaflora remarked.

"It's because I am not," I answered. "I'm the last person they should look up to as a hero. I'm not interested in being their hero."

"Yet you saved them."

"Yet, I saved them," I nodded along. "But I only did so because I accidentally killed them in the battle I was involved in. I frankly do not care the slightest about these people; I just did not want to be a terrible guest to our ‘pleasant’ host."

"Every time," Aquaflora sighed heavily. "You really like being a terrible person."

"Not particularly," I answered. "I'm just not fond of being what I'm not. Don't get me wrong, though; I have nothing against heroes. I find you people admirable."

Aquaflora made a face.

"Oh, what?! You're not going to tell me you're not a hero, aren't you? Especially when a few days ago you mentioned having no fondness for a place like this since it reminded you of the Argyrian capital, yet here you are, leaving us early in the morning, coming back to us late at night to do what? To help these people you claimed to have no fondness for. If that's not what a hero would do, then I don't know what is."

Aquaflora bit her lips, then in a low voice said, "I'm not a hero."

"Oh," I went on. "Please explain to us how so. Did you lie to us when you told us how you feel about this place and its people?"

She shook her head.

"Then are you being a hypocrite with that help you're giving these people? Are you helping out because there's something that you expect of it?"

She shook her head even more vigorously.

"Then please enlighten us."

Silent, then hesitant, it took her a moment before finding her words. Once she did, she explained, "I didn't lie about what I feel about this place, but it's changed because I realized something as they were being torn apart, as they feared that the monsters would come back, how they revered you after saving them that they..." she took a moment to find the right words, but she ultimately did. "That they're like humans."

Listening to her, I cast a glance at Licht to confirm that he heard the same thing as me, and from the look on his face, it seemed that yes. If one had to summarize in one sentence what could be taken of what she said, it's that the problem she had with elves, be it Umbryan or Argyrian, is that she is blaming them for not being human. She is basically blaming elves for lacking humanity.

I burst out in laughter.

That sounded like a speech that typically would come out of the mouth of the ever-so-hateful Goblin, yet no, it just came out of that sweet-looking girl.

"Here I was thinking that I finally started to understand you better…."