“Hoaaahm”

I woke up at my usual time at dawnbreak.

“Nghh”

I wiped my eyes and saw my breakfast at the table beside my bed.

I am Merula Zenith, the current Queen of the Elven realm, and Elves as a whole, blessed by the Gods of Fertility, Justice, and Nature.

Lately, I've been having breakfast in my room instead of the dining hall. Is it because of working too hard to fix and govern this realm? Well, it is. But it’s also because I'm excited about one thing.

Void dwellers.

About 7 months ago, the broadcasting tower caught a mysterious transmission. At first, I didn't think much of it, but after investigations were done by the wizards who used the broadcasting tower, they concluded that the mysterious transmission originates from beyond the great void.

Theories were given, and the most prominent of which is that the fallen races who were banished to the great void somehow managed to survive. Although, many saw the theory as ‘ridiculous‘ and ‘impossible’, until we sent a simple message to the great void in the direction of the transmission, and got a response.

The response was “This is the Government of the Terran Republic, we have received your ..uhm.. Message. And we would like to communicate further, reply to ....”

or something along those lines.

Over the course of 5 months, we agreed to establish formal relations, and they’re sending an Ambassador here too!

We also learnt about them over the course of 5 months too.

Who would have known that the void dwellers we contacted were the most hated race of all time! Humans!

Short history lesson, Humans were banished from the Holy realm because they are too prideful, arrogant, and deceitful. Even their creator, the mother Goddess of creation, Lady Terra, is ashamed as to what she created.

Long story short, the entire Holy realm went to crusade against the Humans, and we banished them.

Knock knock knock

“Come in” I said as I brushed my blond hair.

“Pardon the intrusion”

As expected, Aila entered. She is my guardian knight, Aila Arcturus. She has been guarding me since we were still children, and she does her job well.

“You majesty! You’re brushing your hair wrong!” Aila said as she rushed to me and took the brush.

“Here, I’ll brush it for you”

“Thanks” I replied while still being half awake.

“You’ve been sleeping late, lately, your majesty. Are the Human void dwellers big of a deal?” said Aila while she brushes my hair.

“Yes! They are! Have any other races contacted someone from the great void? As the Elven realm got first contact with the void dwellers, we’ll have a monopoly on diplomatic relations with them, as we are the first who contacted them,”I explained to Aila.

“But.. they’re Humans. Can we trust them?” Aila asked with suspicion.

“I don’t know, we’ll see when they get here” I answered honestly.

“...”

She continued brushing my hair, while I ate my breakfast.

We made small talk, talking about the recent gossip of the higher nobility, our friends' weddings, and politics in the Holy realm.

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Time seemed to pass very quickly while we made our fun talk.

*

After having breakfast, and having a bath. I got to my office, working once more, with Aila following close behind me.

I sat on the office chair, made from the finest of leather. I shuffled the papers that were prepared by the maids this morning, and began to read up on the latest situation.

The late Beastman chief died, I’ll send my condolences later.

Some low-ranking noble was caught in a scandal, boring.

Oh, a Duke was also caught in a scandal, also, boring.

Ah, right, the gods are holding their yearly meeting today, and… the topic of discussion is… the expansion of entertainment…. Well I’ll look into it later.

Hmm? More trouble in Thulia? Those dark Elves are always making trouble aren’t they?

Thulia, located in the region of the Dark Elves exclusion zone, is the home to Dark Elves. In fact, it is their homeworld. In the beginning, there are two races of Elves, the High Elves, which is us, and the Dark Elves, which is them.

We went to war to decide who should rule the Elven realm and the Elven race as a whole, the High Elves won, and we decided to keep the Dark Elves in Thulia, and restrict their access to the whole realm.

However, the Dark Elves called us discriminatory, and demanded that we lift the restriction on Thulia. The King at that time didn’t like that one bit, and he burned the once green world of Thulia.

No wonder, the Dark Elves are undermining Crown authority every chance they get.

“Hey Aila..” I called Aila

“Yes, your majesty?” said Aila as she bowed her head. By the way, she’s been standing there all this time while I read the papers.

“What’s the current situation in Thulia?” I asked Aila while my eyes were still glued to the paper pertaining to Thulia.

“The Viscount we sent were killed the instant he tried to introduce changes” Aila answered nervously.

“Well.. just great, looks like i need to send the Royal Army again” I sighed.

I stood up and walked to the glass cabinet, and took a calming potion, which I always have in stock when I’m working.

“Say, Aila, on the topic of Thulia, do you think that it would make a great present to the Human void dwellers?” I asked Aila after I drank a calming potion.

“...You’re giving Thulia away, Your majesty?” Aila confusedly asked me back.

“Well, since many of our problems are coming from Thulia, I thought it would be nice to give this problem to the Human void dwellers. After all, they also need a place to settle, after being in the void for so long,” I answered.

“But your Majesty is giving away core Elven world to the suspicious Humans from the void! What would the nobility think of you?.. Pardon my words..”

“They’ll thank me later when the cause of all of the Elven realm’s problems is lifted” I said as I shrugged my shoulders.

I put the now empty calming potion back into the glass cabinet and walked towards the office chair.

“Well, what do you think of the Human void dwellers, Aila? Do you think we could trust them?” I asked Aila as I sat back on my chair.

“Uhm.. I think they’re very suspicious, in the first place, can you live outside the Holy realm? Especially in the great void, a place that doesn’t even have any worlds in it. Also, if there are Human void dwellers, there should be other fallen race void dwellers too, like the Hadarian race, the Threal race, and the other thousands of fallen races who were banished from this Holy realm! We could trust them for now, but we’ll need to exercise caution when dealing with Humans, this rule has become the norm in society. Humans are liars and are good at deceiving people” Aila answered honestly, she spoke loudly and clearly.

“Is that so..” I said “well, thanks for you opinion, Aila”

“My honor is yours, your Majesty,” said Aila as she bowed her head.

“You are dismissed”

Aila bowed her head once more and left the office, leaving me alone to work in peace and quiet.

“Well, i think it’s time to write my condolences to the new Beastman Chief”

I spent the rest of the day writing my condolences and congratulations for the coronation to the new Beastman Chief, usually leaders of the realm, like me, are invited to the coronation. However, I abstained today, for the reason of being too busy with internal issues. And I am.

Meanwhile, in the President’s office.

“Did I hear that correctly? You’re sending me, a civilian Ambassador, to an unknown galaxy, possibly filled with hostile civilizations, and quote irl Lovecraftian horror end quote, using a newly produced ship with an untested drive that just came out from experimentation just years ago? Plus, I’m meeting Elves! It’s like meeting an entire species of my wife! Except, they're not Humans nor are they a subspecies of humans! What am I supposed to do!?” the Ambassador ranted.

“Sir Hawkes, you just need to establish a formal diplomatic contact with them, get on their good side, and negotiate to build an embassy there”I told the Ambassador calmly.

This is Ambassador George Hawkes, an experienced Ambassador, but he has a split personality disorder, one of them is an easily panicked person who would jump at the slightest interference, and the other is a professional who has helped him in the past 70 years.

Basically, he has two sides, a scaredy cat, and a professional.

Seems like the right person to entrust this mission to.

“I’ll also assign a marine squad on your command, to protect you from the possible threats that might arise” I said as I looked him in the eyes.

“Ok… when do I depart?” he asked me in a quiet tone. He must’ve been intimidated.

“Next Earth week”