Chapter 107: The Stoic Commander's Dark History? Even Her Majesty the Queen Gives a Thumbs Up

The team trekked deeper into the Silent Forest.

All around them, the trees had long since withered, their bare branches twisted into grotesque, claw-like shapes that pointed accusingly toward the lead-gray sky. The decaying soil released a sickly sweet stench, a perfume of rot that clung to the air. A dense, suffocating aura of death permeated everything, pressing down on their chests and making each breath feel heavy.

Celeste kept a sharp eye on her surroundings, but her mind was a whirlwind of complaints.

‘This undead territory has such terrible taste,’she griped internally.’It’s basically a giant, open-air landfill! If you lived here every day, even a skeleton’s bones would probably get stained black from the fumes, right?’

Selene, on the other hand, was practically buzzing with enthusiasm. She used the hilt of her sword to poke at a gnarled vine covered in sharp bone spurs. “Sis, look at this thing,” she whispered to Celeste. “It looks like a sea urchin that leveled up and became a plant. Do you think it’s crunchy?”

A vein throbbed at Celeste’s temple. She slapped the sword hilt away. “Can you please put away your foodie’s sense of adventure? Be careful it doesn’t decide to have you as a snack first.”

Nearby, Su Wan’s brow was deeply furrowed. The frost swirling around her fingertips was more intense than usual, a visible sign of her exertion. Yet, even with her magic at full power, she could feel the ambient death energy invisibly suppressing her ice abilities. The constant strain left her face pale, but her gaze only grew more determined, as if she were locked in a silent, stubborn battle with the environment itself.

Xia Lian gripped her shortbow tightly, her knuckles white. She moved with a practiced lightness, her eyes nervously scanning every inch of the blighted ground for traps or ambushes.

After a long stretch of somber marching, Celeste finally broke. She couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer and looked toward the solitary, armored back leading them.

“Commander,” Celeste called out, her voice shattering the oppressive silence. “I have a question, though I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to ask.”

Eldara’s footsteps halted. She turned, her crimson eyes scanning Celeste. Her tone was as cold as ever, but it lacked the usual sharp edge that kept everyone at arm’s length. “Speak.”

“It’s just… that undead lord from before, Mogras,” Celeste began, carefully choosing her words to make her nosiness sound more like a serious academic inquiry. “His hatred for you seems to go far beyond simple enmity between factions.”

She paused, gauging Eldara’s reaction. “He called you a ‘traitor’ and said something about you desecrating the art of death… It sounded more like there’s some kind of personal grudge between you two?”

The moment the words left her mouth, the ears of Selene, Su Wan, and Xia Lian all perked up in perfect unison. Their gazes locked onto Eldara, burning with an intensity that could melt steel.

Eldara fell silent for a moment. She looked up, her gaze lost in the slivers of sky visible through the tangled, dead branches. When she spoke, her voice carried an unidentifiable, distant quality.

“Mogras is one of the lords of the Withered Legion. He is a purist, a zealot who believes that death is the ultimate end, the only path to absolute tranquility.”

“Mm-hmm, and then?” Selene’s eyes sparkled, her face practically screaming, ‘Spill the tea! I’m ready!’

“And I,” Eldara’s tone took on a hint of self-mockery, “pioneered the path for the living to become Death Knights.” She let that hang in the air. “He hates me because I possess something he can never have—freedom.”

“Freedom?” Su Wan asked, her expression puzzled.

“Mogras has long since been completely consumed by undeath,” Eldara explained. “His very soul has been branded by a higher-order existence. He cannot disobey or break free from the commands of his superiors. He is nothing more than a marionette controlled by strings.”

She let out a short, cold laugh devoid of any humor. “Whereas I, and my knights, also command the power of death, but our will remains our own.”

“In his eyes, the living wielding the power of death is theft—a desecration of his sacred art. In reality, he is simply jealous.” Eldara’s voice was flat and final. “Jealous that I can master death without surrendering my freedom.”

Celeste’s inner gossip-monger was practically vibrating.

‘Oho! We’ve hit the jackpot! The core drama! A battle of ideologies! Envy, jealousy, and hate! I know this script—it’s the classic case of a salty old-timer getting mad that a talented newcomer changed the meta!’

“So, he’s just a sourpuss?” Selene slapped her thigh, her summary both blunt and surprisingly apt.

“Sourpuss?” Eldara tilted her head, clearly puzzled by the unfamiliar term.

“It means… he’s salty,” Celeste explained succinctly.

On Eldara’s perpetually icy face, the corners of her mouth twitched upward by a few imperceptible pixels. She seemed to understand and even gave a slight, almost microscopic nod. “A very vivid metaphor.”

“Then… Commander, how did you even think of pioneering this path?” Xia Lian asked in a small voice, her tone filled with reverence. “It must have involved incredibly rigorous and lengthy research, right?”

At this question, the disciplined muscles on Eldara’s face stiffened for a split second. Her red eyes flickered, as if she were recalling something distant and more than a little embarrassing.

“The lifespan of the Elf Race is… very long,” Eldara began slowly, a rare hint of awkwardness creeping into her voice. “We often live for thousands of years. Consequently, our adolescence is also much longer than that of humans.”

She paused, then added, “And the rebellious phase of our youth is often the golden age when elves are at their most imaginative and creative. Many of our greatest inventions and discoveries were born during that period.”

Celeste was instantly overjoyed.

‘Hahaha! After all that epic buildup, she’s basically saying this whole thing was a masterpiece from her chuunibyou phase! An elven rebellion phase sounds so high-class. I wonder if they also did the whole singing, dancing, and rapping thing?’

“Becoming a Death Knight while still among the living was precisely my… invention… during my rebellious youth,” Eldara admitted. Her tone was calm, but Celeste could practically feel her struggling to maintain her aloof persona.

Selene couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.

When Eldara’s cold gaze swept over to her, she immediately slapped a hand over her mouth, but her shoulders continued to shake like a leaf in a storm, so overcome with mirth she looked like she was about to fall apart.

“At that time,” Eldara’s tone finally carried a hint of “back in my day” pride, “I just felt that those old fogies in the Council of Elders were so boring, always going on about ‘revering life and staying away from death.’ The power of death is so potent, so why should only the undead be allowed to use it? I simply refused to believe in that nonsense.”

Celeste applauded wildly in her mind.

‘This girl really went big for her rebellion! Other people just run away from home, smoke, drink, or get a bad perm. Her rebellion was to found an entire sect and create a whole new character class! Now that’s what I call ambition!’

“What happened next?” Su Wan was completely enthralled by the story.

“Later, I succeeded,” Eldara’s reply was nonchalant, as if she were merely describing how she’d finished a piece of homework. “I studied the composition of the undead and the laws governing death energy, and I successfully integrated it into my own body without any negative impact on my biological functions. Then, I took my research findings to Her Majesty the Queen.”

“Her Majesty didn’t scold you?” Selene asked, craning her neck with curiosity.

“She praised me. She said I did a great job.” Eldara’s chin lifted slightly, her voice tinged with a dash of spirited pride she didn’t even seem to notice. “The Queen said, ‘Young people should have a bit of drive to break conventions,’ and then she approved the founding of the Silent Watch Knights.”

‘Damn, the Queen is a real one!’Celeste gave a mental thumbs-up to both the monarch and her subject.’As expected of a badass who clearly played hard in her youth and isn’t afraid to admit it. Birds of a feather.’

“Alright, that’s enough small talk.”

Eldara’s tone shifted abruptly, becoming sharp as honed steel. Her gaze tightened, her eyes like two cold probes piercing the distant darkness.

“There’s a situation ahead. On guard.”

The relaxed, chatty atmosphere was instantly torn apart. Everyone’s nerves snapped taut.

Celeste followed Eldara’s gaze. At the edge of the forest, the horizon that should have been pitch-black was now glowing with an ominous, fiery red. Faintly, carried on the foul wind, came a distant cacophony—the clash of battle, the crackle of magical explosions, and the thunderous groan of collapsing buildings, all mixed with the thin, desperate screams of people.

In the flickering firelight, the silhouettes of thick human city walls and towers loomed, looking like a lonely island besieged by a sea of hellfire.

“Is that… a human town?” Su Wan confirmed in a low, tense voice.

“Correct.” Eldara’s voice deepened, each word sounding as if it were coated in shards of ice. “And it is currently falling.”

A knot tightened in Celeste’s stomach.

‘Well, so much for a simple recon mission. The side quest just got upgraded to a main story event. This is going to be a mess.’

“Prepare for battle!” Celeste’s voice rang out, clear and resolute. “Girls, a random event has been triggered. Get ready to steal some kills!”

[Elysian’s Note:

Having a good time with the story?

Every single bit helps immensely:

Thanks a ton for making this journey possible!]