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Kykoo Leiva was in his royal chambers completely alone.
Once, this place was filled with a loving family. From childhood, he was raised with much affection and accompanied by a good family. He always wanted to have his own family and give his children the same love his parents gave him.
When he reached adolescence, he fell in love with his childhood friend, who was also his cousin. Since Kykoo could remember, she had been there for him in his worst moments. She was by his side when his parents died and Kykoo inherited the duty to protect the forest, as that was his father’s last wish, the former elven king, and made it his life's purpose.
But he also fulfilled his duties as a loving husband, as his wife was his world, and from the sincere love they had for each other, his wife became pregnant. He loved his son even before he was born.
When she was born and Kykoo saw her for the first time, it was love at first sight, but his heart broke when, using the Orb of Destiny, he saw that he was born with the hero's gift.
He saw that his wife rejected their daughter, and everyone present at the birth shared the thought that the birth of that girl was a great misfortune. He could do nothing more for his daughter than place her in a safe place where she could grow up as a hero: the kingdom of Dredprism.
The entire way to the empire was calm, but when the time came to say goodbye to his daughter, he kissed her forehead and saw her face for the last time. A tear fell from his left eye as he left. He sped away from the Dredprism Empire. He only cried silently as he moved away from the daughter he loved so much.
When he arrived in the elven forest, things did not get better. His wife was traumatized after the birth. There were days when it was manageable to be with her, days when she cried for not having their daughter by her side, and days of anger when she screamed that she should have killed the baby herself.
In short, she was completely broken.
This led to her death. The healers didn’t know the cause of her passing, but Kykoo knew she died of grief. He had not yet finished mourning his wife when problems began in the elven forest.
The climate became unpredictable, the land ceased to be stable, and some trees simply died. Kykoo panicked. He thought this could be an attack from the Demon King, but the hero was no longer in the elven forest and it was too late to offer Raiza's life to placate the Demon King.
So, Kykoo Leiva, with nothing left to lose, went straight to the demon territory and requested an audience at the Demon King’s royal castle.
Once in front of the Demon King, Kykoo knelt and said:
“Please, do not attack the elven forest. We just want to live in peace; we will not oppose you. Just spare our lives.”
The Demon King, with a face Kykoo did not dare to look at, responded: “I think you’re mistaken. I haven’t attacked the elven forest, and from what you said was happening to your forest... I’ll give you a natural sciences lesson completely free of charge. The world is in constant change. Sometimes there will be earthquakes, species will go extinct and others will thrive; forests will be destroyed and new ones will replace them over the decades. The world is in constant change. This is called climate change.”
He said these words emotionlessly, like a teacher explaining the alphabet to a foolish child.
“Your forest was destined to perish before I was even born into this world. It is normal for this to happen. You probably think you were protecting the forest, but you were only protecting yourself, since without that forest, you and yours wouldn’t know what to do with your selfish backs.”
Kykoo was stunned by the Demon King’s words but could not accept them.
“Well, that’s all I have to say. I never considered cowardly elves a threat, and I don’t even see your dear daughter as a threat. So go hide in your forest like the rat you are.”
Kykoo was frightened by the Demon King’s words and immediately left the demon territory.
The elven king could not accept the Demon King’s words, so he went to Gasthor, the leader of the ogres of the forest, to ask for his help. Gasthor told him it would be better to establish a new elven forest elsewhere, as he understood that any effort would be futile.
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Kykoo had lost his wife and daughter protecting that forest and would not accept letting it die without a fight. Gasthor, anticipating his intentions, fled with his people, which was not difficult due to their nomadic nature, pushing the elven king to the brink of collapse.
Kykoo broke an elven taboo and negotiated with humans. The kingdom of Rusthia agreed to search for and capture the ogres of the forest to enslave them and heal the dying elven forest. Many elves opposed these acts, but the majority supported Kykoo.
Over time, combined with the inhumane treatment of the ogres and the fact that, despite making them work day and night, the forest did not seem to improve and he had to share resources with the humans, led to those who had supported Kykoo now silently opposing him behind his back.
However, with no other options, they did not publicly oppose Kykoo Leiva.
And so, the great elven king was completely alone in the royal hall. Until he saw a white rat approach his throne while staring him directly in the eyes.
Kykoo, upon seeing the rat, showed no emotion; he simply stood up slowly, walked to a chest in the throne room, and fetched a bottle of wine. He went to a small table with two chairs, placed two glasses on the table, and looked directly at the door.
When the door opened, for a moment, he saw his beloved wife when she was younger.
That image made a small tear fall from one of his eyes.
“Hello, Father,” said the woman at the door, and the image of his wife blurred.
He clearly saw the woman: she was a warrior with an artificial arm and a face of true hatred.
“Raiza, please, sit down. I know you don’t want to, but see it as an act of mercy towards this pathetic man.”
Kykoo poured the two glasses of wine.
Kykoo took his glass with great elegance while seated. Raiza, standing, took her glass, drank it in one gulp, and threw the crystal glass to the floor, shattering it.
Although Raiza was acting very hostile, Kykoo was happy just to see her and to drink the wine he had saved for so many years, either for when he saw his daughter again or for the day of his death.
“I’m truly sorry. Since becoming king, I’ve only done bad things as a king, as a father, and as a man. I couldn’t take care of your mother, I couldn’t take care of the forest, nor could I take care of you. Everything I’ve done has been horrible. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I’ve wanted to say this out loud for a long time.”
Kykoo was crying like a small child and took the bottle of wine, trying to pour another glass to drown his pain in alcohol, but his hands were shaking so much that he only spilled the wine on the table.
Raiza, witnessing this pitiful spectacle, simply drew her sword in complete silence.
…
…
…
The mist barrier that protected the elven forest disappeared. The elves became agitated; that barrier had been there for as long as they could remember to protect them. All the elves gathered in the plaza in front of the royal hall, as was the protocol in emergencies.
The elves didn’t have a castle as such; they only lived in houses around the great tree that was the center of the forest. Only the royal family lived inside that tree, and in front of the entrance to the great tree was the central plaza. It was arranged this way so the elven king could give speeches comfortably to his people.
But this time, the king was not there to give a speech. They only saw a tall elven woman coming out of the throne room.
“King Kykoo Leiva is dead, and with him, this forest will die. You have two options: stay and die along with this forest or follow me and found a new home,” Raiza said to the astonished elves.
One of them exclaimed, “Wait a moment, look at her face! It’s the late elven queen.”
All the elves were filled with conflicting emotions. The protective mist had disappeared, and some believed that the former queen had risen from the grave to punish them.
Raiza responded, “No, the queen was my mother. I am Raiza Leiva, the Elven Hero.”
One of the elven high commanders, who supported Kykoo’s ideas, said, “That woman is an impostor. Princess Raiza Leiva was born dead.”
He conjured a powerful ancient magic capable of destroying a castle to attack Raiza, but she used her counterattack with her sword and returned the blow, splitting the elf in half and filling the central plaza with his blood in front of all the other elves.
“Well, that’s one down. Does anyone else want to die along with this forest?”
Both the high commanders and the civilian elves fell silent and knelt before Raiza, recognizing her as their new queen. Seeing that the elves were still complete cowards, Raiza took control of the situation.
“I order all the elves to gather in the plaza, including women and children. This forest was doomed to death, but I see in your eyes that you already knew that.
I made the decision that my cowardly father could not make. We will create a new and better forest with the help of the forest ogres, but they will be our equals. I will not tolerate any discrimination, and above all, I must deal with the true culprit behind the destruction of the elven forest: the demon king.
Thanks to the advancement of his army, the climate changed, and that’s why our beloved forest ended up in this state. I will make sure our new forest does not share the same fate. I was born to be the hero because the goddess knew we were in danger, and my duty is to protect you.
While I face the demonic army with my companions, you will be safe with the leader of the forest ogres, Lord Gasthor, who will take my place until I return with the head of the demon king. And if anyone wants to oppose me… well, you can imagine what fate awaits that person and their entire family.”
I was shocked by Raiza’s speech, as it not only had the tone of a general’s speech before going into battle but was also filled with lies just to keep the elves under control.
In truth, she is a dangerous woman.
Raiza ordered the elves to hold hands with Gasthor.
“I now have a mission. While I’m gone, Gasthor is in charge of you. I’ll check in from time to time to make sure you’re behaving well, and Gasthor, if any of them misbehave, teleport me to correct them,” Raiza said while imbuing her mana into the teleportation orb before handing it back to Gasthor, who used the orb to transport the elves, leaving behind a bunch of multicolored butterflies.
I guess she didn’t have enough rats for so many elves; it was still a beautiful sight.
“Well, that annoying task is finally over. I suppose my mother was right; I ended up being the reason the forest was destroyed.”
Raiza said this with a melancholic look on her face. Kharla took Raiza’s hand; she didn’t say a word but calmed Raiza a bit. Chizze hugged Raiza from behind, and well, it was my turn.
I took her other hand and said, “I won’t pretend to understand your feelings. Even if you don’t consider me a friend, remember that I am your ally, and I will help you whenever I can,” paraphrasing the words she said to me a long time ago.
She hugged the three of us very roughly while saying, “Don’t try to act all great while copying my words, idiot.”
She let us drop to the floor and said, “Alright, now we need to keep moving towards Amster.”
At that moment, I didn’t know, but the old elven forest was located in the monster zone between the Dredprism Empire and the agricultural country of Kisphe.
So now we would have to go to the country where Raiza was raised to become the hero of humanity.
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