The maritime trade of the Kingdom of Michel was almost monopolized by the Watertown Merchant Association.
Geographically on the Lemoria continent, the Kingdom of Michel bordered the sea to the south and east. Sailing north could reach Arcadia, where the beastkin lived; sailing west could reach the Kingdom of Yazlar, one of the three great human kingdoms. Adding the merfolk who inhabited the oceanic kingdom of Atlantis, all three were major trading partners of the Watertown Merchant Association.
The elven kingdom of Midgard was a landlocked country. It had never been a trading partner of the Watertown Merchant Association. On the contrary, the Kingdom of Michel had many nobles and dignitaries interested in elven treasures and rarities, as did the Kingdom of Yazlar. (TN: It says Midgard, so I guess it's Midgard.)
The Watertown Merchant Association believed there were business opportunities to be found, so they occasionally extended their claws toward distant Midgard. Therefore, it was no longer news that the Watertown Merchant Association had made enemies with the elves.
"—Come out! Devil who desecrates sacred beasts! Get out here!"
"How dare you! This is not a place for you to run wild!"
It's really noisy outside.
Enrique sighed. From the moment he had actively taken out the crystal shoes made from a unicorn's horn, he knew this day would surely come. The status of unicorns among the elves and the status of the Phoenix among the beastkin were two different concepts. The Phoenix had extremely strong combat power, so although the beastkin revered it as a sacred beast, they had no particular objection to outsiders capturing it. If you could catch it, that was your skill. After all, the ashes of poachers burned to death by the Phoenix each year could circle the Lemoria continent three times—come if you want.
Unicorns, however, were treasured and protected by the elves, who placed great importance on the unicorns' safety.
So taking out the [Unicorn Crystal Shoes] meant that elves would definitely come looking for trouble. The Kingdom of Michel was quite far from Midgard, but that didn't mean there were no elves within the Kingdom of Michel's borders.
Enrique slowly walked to the second-floor balcony and glanced down at the courtyard, where well-equipped guards had completely surrounded an elven girl.
Bright silver hair and eyes as deep as the night sky were characteristics unique to the "Moon Elf" branch of the elven race. Enrique had no particular interest in elves, but he had to admit that the elves living in Midgard were indeed naturally beautiful. Even while glaring at Enrique with a face full of anger, the elf girl's delicate features remained captivating.
"Hmph... finally stopped being a coward, did you?"
"Who could sleep listening to wild dogs barking?"
"You—"
"Listen, my time is very precious. Let's get straight to the point, elf." Enrique didn't even have interest in asking her name. "I'm guessing you came here for the unicorn's horn, right?"
"You've finally exposed yourselves! Several months ago, the villains who attacked Midgard were undoubtedly your Watertown Merchant Association! I will return the sinners to the holy capital for judgment in the goddess's name!"
"Oh."
Enrique's attitude was the complete opposite of the impassioned elf girl. He could barely suppress the urge to yawn—this person might be the most boring elf he'd ever encountered.
"So, your evidence?"
"Evidence?"
"The Kingdom of Michel is a nation of laws. If you don't even understand evidence, could it be that all elves in Midgard are barbarians with muscles for brains?"
"Don't you dare insult our elven race!" The elf girl angrily flicked her cloak, her graceful figure flashing momentarily. "People throughout the streets and alleys are talking about how you made crystal shoes from a sacred beast's horn to please a woman, letting that woman trample all over it at her feet!"
"That is indeed true." Enrique nodded. "But what does that have to do with what you said before?"
"...Huh?"
"Everything must follow logic. Midgard was attacked several months ago, and I used [Unicorn Crystal Shoes] to court a woman—what connection is there between these two events?"
"You made crystal shoes from the horn of a sacred beast obtained by attacking Midgard—isn't that an obvious fact?"
"My unicorn horn was bought from the black market."
Enrique didn't even blink as he spoke with complete righteousness. Seeing his confident appearance, the elf girl wavered for a moment.
"No, that's not right! You're talking nonsense!"
"You know it in your heart, don't you?"
Already looking down from above, Enrique gazed at the elf girl with a hint of pity.
"It's true that unicorns are sacred beasts you focus on protecting, but your current Elf King—Oberon VII—frequently wages wars, and the protection of sacred beasts is far less than before. The unicorn horns flowing into the black market have long exceeded the number of unicorns that died in that attack incident."
Unicorn—as the name suggests, its precious horn is only one and extremely small in weight. There was no method other than mass slaughter to obtain more horns. Unicorns could only survive in Midgard, meaning they couldn't be taken elsewhere for breeding—hunting was the only means. Although some players believed the game operators would replenish them like a monster respawn mechanism, the truth was that the number of unicorns was indeed constantly decreasing.
Some things are precious precisely because they are rare. If the officials replenished them without limit, how could unicorn horns be as sought after as they are today?
"Ugh..."
This was the one fact the elf girl couldn't find a single word to refute, unable even to be stubbornly defiant.
Elf King Oberon VII had no reverence for unicorns whatsoever. He believed the elf guardians protecting unicorns were completely wasted talent, incorporating large numbers of elves who originally guarded unicorns into the army and deploying them to the war front.
Since then, the safety index of the elven sacred beast unicorns has plummeted drastically, with unicorns frequently meeting misfortune. The reason that incident several months ago caused such an uproar wasn't because it was the only time unicorns were harmed, but rather the difference between "thieves" and "bandits."