“?”

“..?”

Alon couldn’t help but feel endlessly bewildered as he watched the woman suddenly shed tears.

She had simply been staring at him before abruptly starting to cry.

‘Did I… do something?’

A flood of thoughts raced through his mind, but naturally, he hadn’t done anything.

In fact, he hadn’t even had the time to.

The moment of confusion lasted only briefly.

“I’m sorry, something suddenly got into my eye.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“…I see.”

Alon could only reply hesitantly to the woman’s slow explanation.

No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like something got into her eye; it looked more like she was crying out of sorrow.

But since she insisted that was the case, pressing the matter felt inappropriate, so he decided not to dwell on it.

“……Shall we introduce ourselves first?”

“Yes, I am Lina, the head of the Greenwood Trading company.”

For a moment, Alon tried to recall anything about the Greenwood Trading company, but he quickly gave up.

‘It doesn’t seem to be a particularly famous Trading company.’

All he knew was the information he’d just heard from the attendant earlier.

“I heard you wanted to discuss something with me regarding gold crafts. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Then let’s hear it in detail.”

She nodded as she wiped her eyes again.

***

30 minutes later.

“Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“Did the discussion go well?”

“It ended well enough.”

“Oh, really?”

Alon asked at Evan’s surprised reaction.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s just… Normally, discussions with Trading company heads don’t end this quickly. And we’re talking about gold crafts, aren’t we? I assumed there would be a lot to negotiate.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

Alon nodded in agreement.

‘Indeed, the value of gold crafts is high.’

Gold itself was expensive, and the value of crafted gold items could vary greatly depending on the artisan.

Of course, Alon had a general understanding of these common sense matters, even if not in detail.

“Honestly, I was a little surprised too.”

“Why?”

“That it ended so quickly.”

In truth, Alon had been bewildered the whole time at how smoothly things had gone.

‘The terms were too good.’

Good terms, from Alon’s perspective, were naturally not a bad thing.

However, the better the terms for Alon, the worse they should have been for the other party.

At its core, negotiations were about balancing mutual benefits and losses.

If one part of the deal was advantageous, there had to be other parts that required compromise.

This principle had held true in all the transactions Alon had made with numerous Trading Companies so far.

Yet in this negotiation, even before they began, there were many terms disproportionately in Alon’s favor.

‘…Something feels off.’

That was precisely the point Alon found peculiar.

While the negotiation ended successfully, no matter how he thought about it, Alon couldn’t figure out what the Trading company was gaining from the deal.

‘Well, if I had to nitpick, it’s not exactly a losing deal for them either… But still, there were definitely parts where they could’ve been more ambitious. Why did they give up on so much?’

As Alon pondered further, he eventually shrugged his shoulders as he often did.

The outcome was good.

Since the contract didn’t put him at any disadvantage, there was no need to overthink it.

‘…Though I still don’t understand why she was crying at first.’

The fact that she’d burst into tears the moment she saw him left him puzzled as well.

“Oh, by the way, Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“They say the vice tower master has discovered a new formula.”

“…Is that so?”

With no time to dwell on his thoughts, Alon rose from his seat to head toward where Penia was.

***

Meanwhile, Lina, the head of the Greenwood Trading company—or rather, the Elf Queen Magrina, who had just been speaking with Alon—was lost in a deep sea of thoughts.

The human disguise dropped, and Perion, who had accompanied her as her escort, gazed at her with a somewhat peculiar expression.

The reason lay in the queen’s demeanor earlier.

‘…What was that?’

Perion couldn’t understand her overall behavior today.

The queen had left Greynifra, a place she absolutely should never abandon, to visit Marquis Palatio for a single reason.

To confirm whether Marquis Palatio was the Primordial Elf or not.

But inwardly, Perion believed this journey would yield little result for the queen.

If Philde—the highest-ranking wizard among the elves—was correct in her assumption…

Even if Marquis Palatio were the Primordial Elf and recognized his sister, Queen Magrina, he wouldn’t acknowledge her openly.

In other words, under such limitations, the queen had no way of discerning whether Marquis Palatio was the Primordial Elf.

Thus, despite the queen’s resolute conviction that she would confirm it by seeing him in person, Perion had maintained a skeptical stance.

However…

‘…Why did she shed tears?’

Although the queen now appeared deep in thought with a serious expression, Perion had undoubtedly witnessed it.

Just earlier, the moment she saw Marquis Palatio’s face, a single tear had streaked down her cheek.

Perion could confidently say it was the first time he had seen such a reaction from the queen.

She never revealed personal emotions in front of others.

While she was certainly a compassionate ruler, she bore the weight of her royal duties more heavily than anyone and fulfilled them without fail.

Could she have truly sensed something from Marquis Palatio? In a way unknown to him?

‘But if that’s the case…’

Perion looked at her again.

By now, Magrina had returned to wearing the composed face of a ruler.

Not as a “sister” revealing fragments of emotion tied to the Primordial Elf, but as a clear and resolute “queen.”

Just as Perion considered risking impropriety to satisfy his curiosity…

“Perion.”

The queen, who had been silent since they left Marquis Palatio’s estate, suddenly spoke.

“Yes.”

Perion held his breath for a moment.

A fleeting mix of emotions crossed the queen’s face—regret, sorrow, and a faint smile—all gone in an instant.

After a brief pause, Magrina gave her command.

“…Place the Shadow Leaves beside him.”

“…! Shadow Leaves?”

“Yes.”

Shadow Leaves.

For those who guarded the roots of ‘Paggade’, the Shadow Leaves were a select group of elves who protected the queen from the shadows, each of them a sword master.

They were essentially the queen’s personal escort unit.

“Do you mean—”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“…How did you realize it?”

Perion’s expression reflected his bewilderment.

Magrina recalled the gloves worn by Marquis Palatio.

Gloves that only elves could use.

More precisely, gloves that could only be used by the Primordial Elf—

Her brother.

As soon as she saw them, tears had involuntarily flowed, but her certainty that Marquis Palatio was the Primordial Elf did not solely stem from that.

“I have my own way.”

“… …”

The queen answered with a smile and retrieved something from her robe.

It was an old ring.

A ring so weathered that it had lost its luster in many places.

Originally, there was only supposed to be one of its kind in the entire world.

“My own way.”

The Ring of Restraint that Alon had first obtained in the labyrinth now rested in her hand.

A ring gifted by the Primordial Elf.

***

At that moment, Alon was…

“Hm~ So the Trading company leader just poured out everything, then cried and laughed? Is that about right?”

Reviewing the earlier events with Penia.

“Well… The order might’ve been reversed, but that’s the gist.”

“Could it have been some sort of forced agreement… or something along those lines?”

Penia’s face briefly showed sympathy before Alon interjected.

“What exactly do you think of me…?”

She hurriedly waved her hands.

“Oh, no, no, not that! Haha… Maybe the Trading company leader just has… mood swings?”

“…Hmm, perhaps.”

“What a pity, at such a young age.”

And with that, their oddly comforting (?) conversation concluded.

***

It was dusk.

For Hidan, the regular meetings of the Blue Moon were generally a bit chaotic.

To be precise, they started quietly but grew more unruly as time passed.

While the meetings had always progressed this way, Hidan had never found them particularly bothersome.

Whenever discussions became excessively noisy or heated, Red Moon would step in to mediate and restore order.

However, at this moment, Hidan felt deeply uneasy.

The reason?

[You’ve all heard, right?]

[A birthday gift, huh—]

It was none other than the matter of the Great Moon’s birthday gift.

No, to be more precise, it was because of the discussions regarding the gift.

[Deus, just so you know, don’t go overboard with an outrageous gift.]

[I know.]

[Are you ‘really’ sure you know?]

[Yes, I plan to prepare something ‘appropriate.’]

[Hmm, same here. I’m planning something perfectly appropriate.]

[I feel the same. We mustn’t make the gift burdensome for Brother.]

The moons had started a subtle yet unmistakable competition.

[Hmm, everyone’s got the right idea. It seems we all understand that giving an overly extravagant gift could overwhelm him.]

[Yes, I completely understand!]

Hidan glanced over the other moons, including Yutia.

The moons wore relaxed, knowing smiles.

At first glance, it seemed as though their words could be taken at face value, but Hidan, who frequently roamed around gathering reports, knew better.

…The five moons were ‘absolutely not’ preparing “appropriate” gifts.

In other words—

[Yes, we must give something at the ‘appropriate’ level.]

[Right, I agree. At the ‘appropriate’ level.]

[Understood completely. ‘Appropriate,’ indeed…]

[…Same here.]

[Me too!]

In this repeated conversation, everyone, except for the cheerful Golden Moon, was carefully hiding their true intentions while gauging each other.

…All because they wanted to give the Great Moon a gift that would surpass the others.

Thus—

‘Do we really… need to go this far?’

Hidan felt his energy drain, stifling a quiet sigh deep within.