The Legacy of the Unknown Emperor

FLORIN TOWN, KINGDOM OF ETRIA

It was already quite late at night but both me and Tifa, the fairy, were still awake. I was worried that something would happen at night like an unwanted visit from a thief or even a man with dangerous intentions, because of the reaction that people had when they saw me with Karen, the young adventurer who had helped me in the afternoon. But as time passed I realized that it seemed that it was just my paranoia that everything would always go wrong, I put my stuff on the nightstand next door and went to bed. Tifa seemed quite curious about my things because between the moonlight coming through the window I saw how she checked the bullets in my gun. Seeing her reminded me that there were still many things I didn't know about this world, so I thought I'd ask the little girl what she knew.

"About what do I know about the world?"

"I'm just a fairy I don't know anything about current news!"

"I think that's a pretty dumb question."

"...

"No, wait"

"If you come from another world it would be normal that you know absolutely nothing about this one"

"So it's actually a smart question"

"Okay, I'll tell you a bit of information that everyone takes for granted."

"That way they won't notice you so lost, or as an idiot" Said the proud fairy as she sat on the edge of the nightstand.

"Thank you"

"How about you can tell me in general about the world or the races?"

"How are they related to each other?"

"Who is an ally of whom?" I said gratefully as I settled down to listen to her speak.

"Okay, that's fine"

"We can start with no one knowing for sure when the world was created or why."

"We don't know what life was like before the first ones arrived"

"But when they arrived they had a lot to do"

"Who were the first ones?"

"That's what I'm narrating! Don't interrupt me every 2 minutes."

"First I explain a part and then you ask"

"Forgive me, teacher Tifa"

"Okay the first ones or as the humans like to call them, the elves"

"They were the first sentient race to step onto the surface of the world."

"Or as they called it at the time Siniath Ambar"

"According to the lore of the elves and their stories, the elves came to Siniath Ambar from a huge stone that fell on the ground"

"The place where the impact was called Medui Tamn, and you can't guess where it is"

"Look girl, I just know that outside of here there are like 40 kilometers of nothing around."

"Currently I have no idea what this inn is even called

"Do you think I'll be knowing something like that?" I said really showing my ignorance of the subject

"Well, here's the fun part, right now we're right next to Medui Tamn." said the girl pointing to the window, from where you could partially see the huge hole near the town

"What humans know as Florin's Dungeon is the sacred place where the elves came into the world"

"A lot of time and things have happened since then so now hardly anyone human knows about it."

"Hang on a minute!"

"If it is sacred ground for the elves, why is there a human city right next to it?"

"Aren't they angry or offended?" I said I am surprised by this fact

"That is precisely where the story continues"

"When the elves reached the surface they are said to have encountered a hostile world."

"Hostile in the sense that everything was barren or lifeless"

"No one could live long term unless something was done about it."

"As the elves got to work, it is said that they all worked hard without stopping in the face of the incessant sandstorms"

"But despite the great efforts it was simply a titanic task, not even all the elves working were enough for the job"

"So it is said that they created a solution to their problem"

"According to legends, the elves created the Humans to help them build a land to live on"

"The humans were in charge of the heavy and difficult tasks, while the elves were in charge of supervising the project and the engineering"

"It is said that the first generations of humans were quite different from what they are today, during this time they were much more docile and calm"

"But how time passed humans too."

"And little by little the disgust of the humans grew."

"The humans died to do the hard work, and the elves just watched and ruled."

"I think I know where this is headed"

"The humans rebelled against the elves"

"A great war broke out, and the great horde of the brave made humans what they are today"

"The predominant race by a huge margin because they are the masters of war."

"Although the elves were superior in all aspects to humans, the latter demonstrated a facet that the elves, their own creators, did not expect"

"Courage" emphasize her now pointing to my dagger on the table.

"Among the other races they have a saying about the humans: Humans are not afraid to die if they know that they are helping their own, and even then they will cling to life by any means necessary."

"The elves killed the leader of the rebellion, but that only fanned the flames of war."

"For every human the elves killed, 10 more were ready to fight to the death."

"Yes, I know that part of them quite well."

"I once experienced something quite similar with them." I said remembering a little my past in Atlantis.

"The elves at the end of a brutal war were close to total extinction."

"They abandoned their cities along with everything else and took refuge deep inside the forests, in areas so remote that humans probably wouldn't bother to claim them."

"The great leaders of the horde of the braves, All royal families of humans are descendants of one of these leaders"

"They say they did what they did base on the will of the Unknown Emperor"

"But despite how much they have investigated, it seems that any information about this Unknown Emperor was lost over time."

"It is believed that this person that the human leaders speak of was probably the one who lit the flame of the human revolution against the elves."

"The mind behind the revolution and its first leader"

"Someone who walked seeing the damage caused to humans by elves and thought of creating a better place for others"

"The name of the key person for humanity, the one who started everything for them and whose name is not even known"

image [https://i.imgur.com/hqCiMVB.jpg]

"So the elves were almost destroyed by their own creation and from that war, the humans spread throughout the world"

"Unfortunately after that, there is a rather turbulent era that we fairies are unaware of, but after this point, it was when they began to build their kingdoms and their disputes between them."

"The dark age was called, a time so harsh that humans hardly remember what happened"

"Enough information was destroyed during the battles, technologies, knowledge, history was erased, so much so that most of them do not know that they are next to one of the most important places in the world, the place where life most likely originated"

"Some humans, however, know that the site is important but do not know why, so they conduct research on it."

"The elves want the place back as it is the place their ancestors came from, but they don't plan to go to war with the humans after what happened."

"But one thing is certain, not even the elves themselves know what is at the bottom of that place. Because even the original elves were afraid of that place and forbade everyone from entering the place"

"That is why the town of Florin is so important because its dungeon is completely unknown to everyone"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Nobody knows what is at the end or what treasures may be hidden, along with the large number of resources that the dungeon produces from its monsters for example"

"And that is why there is a city next to such a dangerous place"

"Definitely a very interesting story"

"But what about the others? How did the others appear?" I asked, because there were still more things to know

"Well, the other races also have their stories and traditions, although they have not been as impactful for today's world."

"The dwarves say they were born from the first stone of the world"

"The first dwarves shaped the interior of the world, each natural cave is said to be the work of the dwarven ancestors"

"The dwarves were born from the center of the world and they were creating caves to be able to live"

"Expanding in the territory as their descendants did"

"The modern dwarves say that they come from a bloody civil war between the council of the hammers and the forgers"

"They discovered the surface by mistake when they were expanding their caves fleeing from their cities destroyed by their wars"

"They arrived long after the humans claimed the title of lords of the world"

"Humans amazed by their creations and crafts reached peaceful agreements with them and gave them land to build their kingdoms"

"The dwarves have a great alliance with the humans, in which they will basically help each other in case of problems"

"Although dwarves are quite homey and clinging to the lands of their ancestors, it is not at all uncommon to see them as scattered across the world as humans"

"It is almost certain that for every village of humans, there is at least one dwarf blacksmith or family of miners"

"When it comes to things related to minerals, the dwarves are the undisputed experts due to their long history related to the earth"

"And what about the beastmen?"

"Is there an origin for each variation of them?"

"I think the answer would be yes and no" the little girl crossed her arms showing resignation

"Of all the races, the Beastmen are the most recent to appear"

"Although each race tells how they appeared, the vast majority have quite common things"

"The summary would be that all beastmen are actually real animals of the forest"

"Animals that seeing how humans claimed the world and how nature could not stop them, they asked God ,this varies according to each tribe, to grant them the power of humans to protect the forests, their home"

"God grants their wish, but leave clear marks of each of their species of origin, so that in this way beastmen never forget who they really are and where they come from"

"Someone like you would certainly be a direct descendant of arctic foxes" she said clearly referring to my white animal parts.

"Beastmen normally live in tribes scattered throughout the world according to the animals they come from"

"The tribe of lions live in the savannah of fire, the tribe of bears are in the northernmost parts of the continent"

"The most common are the tribes of wolves, which like these are almost everywhere, expert hunters and warriors"

"The tribe of felines, which taking advantage of their agility is normal for them to be thieves or spies"

"Some influential humans always have contacts with this tribe"

"And the fox tribe, the normal ones, are quite cunning and intelligent, so they usually take care of trade or economy and administration."

"They were held in high regard by humans for their efficiency, at least before the war began"

"So if beastmen and humans used to be allies, why are they now enemies?" I asked

"Well, despite normally living in tribes separated by race, Beastmen had two fairly large kingdoms."

"One to the east of here and the other to the west, each one at each end of the continent."

"The eastern kingdom allied itself with the demons and used various families or individuals who had been living in the human villages to sabotage them before the war."

"When the demons attacked, the humans were met with the horrible surprise of the beastmen's betrayal, and how they had weakened the defenses or exposed the defenses of the humans to their enemies."

"The tribe of wolves released very dangerous wild animals in the cities "

"The feline tribe killed the best human warriors the same day the war began."

"The fox tribe had run away with the money, leaving only loss and chaos for those who trusted them. "

"Obviously not all of the beastmen betrayed the humans, quite a few individuals continued to help the humans."

"Mainly those who had lived with them since childhood because they did not know anything else and considered themselves members of the human people. The western kingdom even helped the humans by joining the alliance as well"

"But even so the damage was done, those were the exceptions, the humans captured the vast majority or had them under heavy monitoring"

"The beastmen who aided the humans weren't above suspicion either, but at least they treated them better."

"The western kingdom was forbidden to get directly involved in the conflict, so they were in charge of creating weapons and armor to send to the human kingdoms"

"Over time the beastmen began to migrate to the Western kingdom, where they knew they would be better treated, others were taken in caravans of prisoners."

"That's why in a place as far east as Etria, seeing a fox girl like you is quite strange and most likely an enemy, that's why you're not so welcome here"

"And what about the demons? why did the war start?"

"That is precisely the problem, it is not known"

"One day the demons came from the east, from the sea and began attacking the humans almost immediately"

"But seeing as the beastmen had allied themselves with them beforehand, it was certainly a fairly well-planned operation"

"The theory is that these demons most likely come from farther east than anyone had previously understood, probably from another as yet undiscovered continent"

"And that these demons are trying to establish themselves here to increase their influence"

"We fairies believe that the Demon Lord is just the title of the commander of the expedition and that there is probably someone even more important"

"Without a doubt, you are very well informed about the world, many things that you have told me are not public knowledge" I said coming to this conclusion because of everything Tifa had been talking about.

"Well, lastly, we fairies come from the fairy kingdom, a fairly large floating island"

"For fairies at least, for tall people, it is surely no bigger than a common church"

"Due to the stupid rumor about wishes, we consider all other races enemies"

"Apart from all the other dangers that abound in the world such as snakes or terrifying spiders"

"Because we are always in constant danger we spend a lot of time collecting information from everyone else"

"Several groups of fairies come down to earth for these information-gathering missions"

"I'm actually a plant researcher"

"My job is to research plants and their behavior for the benefit of my race"

"I was currently working on finding plants from the underworld that we could grow back in the fairy kingdom."

"Or at least that was before they caught me in the middle of the search in the middle of my investigation."

"But how was I to know that there could be humans lurking so deep in the forest!"

"I thought it was a completely safe place" Tifa said quite angry, kicking a piece of cookie.

"I'm sorry that's what happened to you, it sure was really scary for you"

"It was no, it's still terrifying"

"I'm still not calm about this."

"It's just that it's the only thing I can do, for now if I'm not with you they'll kill me for sure"

"You may not see it that way, but fairies are not born like other races."

"Each family of Fairies has a sacred tree, which bears fruit very rarely."

"Which when buried and cured for a long time originates a flower that when opened reveals a new fairy."

"Our parents are the couple who take care of the fruit of the tree, which will only grow with the necessary love and care"

"So in a certain way it indicates how fragile we are, a small plant, and that we are surrounded by a world so hostile to us" Suddenly her attitude began to change, she began to speak more slowly and her voice was deeper.

"Where a false step can be our last"

"I just wanted to make a better life for others with my work"

"But now all that is ruined thanks to the big people"

"I didn't even get a chance to apologize to my father for our last fight."

"He was worried about my safety and he didn't want me to go on an expedition."

"I ignored him and now looks where I am..."

"..."

"I should have listened to my dad.."

"..."

"...hic..."

"...."

"AAAAAHHH!!" The little fairy began to cry uncontrollably.

"...."

"Dad ...mom..."

"miss you...."

"...."

"AAAAAHHH!!"

My reaction, remembering what Tamamo always does with me, was to do the same as her. I took Tifa with one hand and moved her next to me. We both covered ourselves with the blanket and I tried to hug her very carefully because of how small she was.

"Calm down, I'm here"

"..."

"Everything will be alright"

"..."

"I'm going to protect you"

"..."

"Rest for now, in the future we will see together what we can do about it"

"..."

"Rest for now"

I told her what I would have liked to hear if I were in her place. I was with her for a long time until she calmed down a bit, and with a little more time she even fell asleep in our arms, holding one of my fingers, seeming to indicate that she didn't want me to go away. I did the same to her and slept this way with her so that she could rest as calmly as possible. Tomorrow would be the day I would go to do reconnaissance in the dungeon, and my curiosity about that place had only grown after hearing the fairy tale.