ELFORIA

Sword of Light and Darkness

'What the heck is that sword doing in this world?! '

"I swear I lost that sword somewhere about a few thousand years ago. And it's here? " she murmurs.

The sword in possession of the Emperor was originally hers, back when she was the ******** of the M******* R*****. That sword is extremely dangerous. It was imbued with the same power as hers, light and darkness.

She knew it full well. That thing could obliterate this world in a blink once the balance of power inside it is broken.

Those old hags even punished me severely after I lost it.

Eloise knew at that moment that she needs to get her hand on that sword. The only problem is, she couldn't just take it. That sword sort of has a mind and will of it's own. When she lost it, it wasn't supposed to be found and used by anyone unless it is recognized by the sword. That is why she got complacent even if she lost it. She thought no one could gain the approval of that fickle sword.

'So what is this?!'

The sword will recognize her, that'd for sure. She was it's master. But... will it allow her to take it?

"Witch of the Forest of Valeria... what is your name?" Eloise was pulled out of her reverie, only to meet the burning red orbs of the emperor.

She remained quiet. Enchanted by the crimson red color, which almost seemed like blood. Something about that eyes captivated her. It's as if it's pulling her soul, inviting her to stare too much deeply and never avert her gaze.

She remained quiet for a good minute, until the Emperor once again spoke. "Answer my question, woman."

'What the hell was that?'

"My name is of no importance." This time, Eloise returned the same intensity of the look this Emperor is giving her. "Why have you summoned me, Emperor of Krissus Empire? I am not a person under your rule."

***

"Long story short, you want me to find the seal and close it, then help you exterminate the remaining monsters?" Eloise asked, summarizing the things that these two huge guys in front of her said.

"Hmm... What would I get in return?"

"I could give you a title and a huge amount of wealth. How about one-hundred million gold coins, and a land of your choice?" The Emperor offered.

'100 million gold?! This emperor sure is rich.'

"Ehem. I don't need the title, instead, why don't you give me a hundred and fifty million gold? As for the land, I want to legally own the entirety of the Forest of Valeria." Money is better than title, cause what would I do with it?

"Hmm... That would put a dent on the imperial treasury."

'Nevermind this conversation, why is this emperor wearing a metal mask? His entire face is covered aside from his eyes. I wonder, does he look hideous?'

"That's my offer, I don't plan on working for free." Eloise said, contemplating wether to just grab the emperor's mask and remove it.

'I wonder what he looks like?'

"Fine. We'll give you a hundred and fifty million gold and the ownership of the forest, but you must finish the task I gave you within a year. All monsters must be killed within that time-frame."

***

A few days later...

" Should I have asked for the sword instead?" Eloise murmured while scratching her head.

'I was too blinded by the golds that I completely forgot about the sword. Holy cheese.'

"I'll just find another way to get it back." She sighed and then brought her eyes back to the map in front of her.

"Hmm, where should I start? I've already pinpointed the locations of the broken seals where monsters are creeping out from. But it's too many to finished in just a week or two. And I also need to find the other seal to strengthen it, then exterminate the monsters lurking in the whole empire." She scratched her head. "This is really too much work."

'Hmm. Should I just ket darkness swallow this empire whole? '

"But who will pay me if I obliterate everything? What a bummer." In the end, Eloise decided to fix the bigger seals first.

Larger and stronger seals indicates that the monsters coming from 'who-knows-which- dimension-it-is' are much stronger and bigger in number. Closing off and sealing those portals first is much more ideal.

"City of Uzhin? Isn't that the place rumored to have the most delicious desserts?" And because of that, Eloise immediately departed.

She could actually teleport to reach her destination faster, but since the Emperor promised to pay for all her expenses while she's working on closing the seals, wouldn't it be better to enjoy luxurious traveling?

She could enjoy riding the cruise ship, the floier ovre (some sort of an airplane in Elforia), and the views while traveling as well as the foods.

Feels more like a vacation than a mission. HEHE. I'll squeeze every money I can get on that damn red eyed emperor.

On the other hand, somewhere in the Krissus Empire.

"Your highness, Emperor Levinus? Are you feeling alright?" the imperial secretary.

"Will you bring me a cup of tea? I felt a chill all of a sudden..."

***

"Eyy, this thing is huge." Eloise sighed looking up to the huge-a*s portal in the sky in the middle of the plains (which has already been ruined by these monsters).

The surrounding is filled with the fresh corpses of different kinds of monsters that Eloise killed. If a citizen of the city who was brave enough to approach this monster-crazed area saw this, that Elforian might faint from shock.

But of course, despite the river of blood and the ocean of corpses that surrounds her, our female lead's OOTD remained untainted.

"This thing would cost at least 0.01% of my mana." Then, she raised her hand and aimed it towards the portal before releasing a huge amount of darkness that later on engulfed the whole portal.

Normally, creating and closing a portal or a portal's seal needs a bunch of calculations and planning. But hello? This is Eloise we are talking about. This measly portal would never stand a chance against her power.

It ended too easily, everything was going well. That is, until she encountered something quite difficult to handle.

A few hours later...

"Uh-oh. Now, this is bad..."