Somewhere on the continent, very far from the elven kingdom, a young man was sitting on a red velvet sofa reading a scroll.

The room was luxurious.

Marble walls with golden moldings, silk curtains covering enormous windows, a thick carpet covering the entire floor, and carved wooden furniture that probably cost more than the average family earned in a lifetime.

The man had blonde hair combed back with a couple of strands falling over his forehead.

His face was young, he couldn’t have been past twenty-five, with sharp features and blue eyes that moved quickly over the scroll.

When he finally finished reading it he let it drop onto the table in front of him.

And he sighed.

"Damn..." he murmured, running a hand over his face with an expression of evident stress.

The scroll was a financial report.

Specifically, the calculation of the compensation the empire owed to the widows and children of the soldiers who had died at the settlement they had outside the Great Forest.

The settlement had been completely destroyed a few weeks ago.

"Eight hundred soldiers..." he said, looking at the ceiling with a furrowed brow. "And not a single survivor who can explain to me what the hell happened there."

He rubbed his eyes with his fingers and let out another even heavier sigh.

"The royal treasury is going to cry this quarter," he muttered, recalling the total payment noted in the scroll.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Emperor Joseph," said a voice from the other side. "The guest has arrived."

Joseph straightened on the sofa instantly.

The back that a second ago had been hunched from exhaustion went straight, his shoulders squared, and the stressed expression was replaced by one of calculated courtesy that seemed practiced in front of a mirror.

"Let him in," Joseph said, adjusting his shirt collar.

Then the door opened and an elf stepped through.

Young, probably the same apparent age as Joseph, though with elves you could never know for certain.

He had silver hair reaching his shoulders, pointed ears, and grey eyes that swept quickly around the room before settling on the emperor.

The elf wore traveling clothes that had at some point been elegant but were now wrinkled and stained. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"I am enormously grateful that you receive me, Emperor Joseph," he said in a polite voice that tried to project calm. "My name is Vincent and I come representing—"

"Please, no need for formality!" Joseph interrupted, getting to his feet with a wide smile and walking toward him with open arms. "I am delighted to have a representative of the great elven nation here in the Eldia Empire."

The elf blinked a couple of times at the emperor’s sudden enthusiasm.

"I must confess you took me by surprise," Joseph continued, gesturing to a sofa across from his for him to sit. "I even carved out a slot in my packed schedule specifically for you."

Joseph sat back down on his sofa and crossed his legs with a casual gesture, while the elf took a seat across from him.

"Emperor... I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood the situation," the elf said anxiously.

Joseph raised an eyebrow.

"We are not a delegation from the elven kingdom..." the elf said, lowering his gaze slightly. "We are refugees."

Joseph’s smile froze on his face for a second.

"Refugees?" he repeated, tilting his head.

"That’s right."

"What do you mean by that?" Joseph asked, leaning slightly forward. "Was the elven kingdom destroyed?"

"Not exactly..." the elf replied, pressing his hands against his knees. "But what happened was just as bad or even worse than that."

Joseph looked at him in silence, waiting for him to continue.

"Ten days ago, there was a violent coup in the elven capital."

"Huh?"

"There were no negotiations, no ultimatums, no trials... They simply came in, killed whoever opposed them, and took control of everything."

Joseph listened in silence with his usual polite smile, but his gaze had turned much colder.

"Before the situation got even worse and the chaos spread throughout the entire kingdom," the elf continued, "several nobles chose to escape. We took a ship at the port and sailed until we found a safe place to take refuge."

"I’m very sorry to hear that... truly, it’s a tragedy," Joseph said in an apparently sympathetic tone. "And might I ask who was responsible for the coup?"

The elf tightened his fists on his knees.

"It was the work of a group of humans," he replied in a tone that didn’t hide the resentment. "Humans who conspired with the queen to monopolize all power."

Joseph went completely still.

"Are you certain of what you’re saying?"

"Completely certain," the elf replied with firmness and evident bitterness. "The group’s leader appeared out of nowhere, proclaiming himself the Emperor of Death. Then the queen introduced him before the entire capital as her husband and new ruler... and the executions began shortly after."

Joseph stayed silent for a long moment.

His blue eyes were fixed on the elf in front of him but his mind was clearly somewhere else.

"That’s why we came here, Emperor Joseph," the elf said, leaning forward with an expression that combined desperation and hope. "We need your help to return to the elven kingdom and remove that man from power."

"..."

"As far as we know Eldia is the second most powerful empire on the central continent," the elf continued. "If you support us with troops and resources, we can organize a counteroffensive and—"

"And why would I do something like that?" Joseph interrupted.

The elf stopped mid-sentence.

"...Excuse me?"

"I asked why I would do something like that," Joseph repeated in a tone that had changed completely.

The courtesy had disappeared along with the smile, replaced by a cold, calculating expression.

"The Eldia Empire gains absolutely nothing by helping an inferior race like yours," Joseph said, crossing his fingers on his lap.

"What... what are you saying?" the elf stammered.

"That you’re slow at everything," Joseph said in a tone that no longer bothered to conceal its contempt. "No wonder your kingdom has been stagnating for centuries."

The elf shot to his feet from the sofa.

"How dare you—?!"

Joseph snapped his fingers.

The sound echoed through the room, and instantly the side doors the elf hadn’t even noticed burst open.

Dozens of soldiers in full armor with drawn weapons flooded in from both sides of the hall, surrounding him within seconds before he could even react.

"What is this?!" the elf shouted, spinning in every direction.

The soldiers lunged at him immediately.

They twisted his arms behind his back until he fell to his knees, immobilized his legs, and before he could shout, gagged his mouth and covered his head with a bag of thick fabric.

The elf struggled desperately, but it was no use. Within seconds he was completely immobilized.

Joseph rose from the sofa and calmly smoothed his shirt.

"I also want you to capture everyone else from the ship," he said with complete calm. "Without exception."

An assistant who had entered with the soldiers bowed.

"And then, Your Majesty?"

"Prepare a delegation to go to the elven kingdom," Joseph said, walking toward the room’s window.

"Right away, Your Majesty."

"And make it a large delegation," Joseph added, looking out the window toward the city’s port where the elves’ ship could be seen still docked at the piers. "I don’t want our new friends to think we don’t take them seriously."

"As you command."

The assistant withdrew quickly and the soldiers began dragging the elf out of the room while he kept trying to shout through the cloth stuffed in his mouth.

When the door closed and the room fell silent, Joseph remained standing at the window with his hands behind his back.

"Let’s hope we get along well..." he murmured in a quiet voice. "Emperor of Death."