Danmachi - Infinite Mana System! - Chapter 173 - Conflict Between Races.

[Chapter Size: 1800 Words.]
Third Person POV
Altena.

...

...

Riveria quickly opened her eyes as she approached.
"They are my father's royal guards!" she murmured, a little worried.

"I see... let's go," Lucius said as he continued moving forward, not too concerned about it.

The elves looked surprised to see the two flying toward them. The guards also looked up from the walls, but already knowing Lucius' abilities, they were not as shocked as the elves. As Lucius and Riveria appeared before them, they began to land smoothly on the ground.

Riveria let go of Lucius' embrace as he looked at the twenty elves there, narrowing his eyes.

"What do we have here..." he spoke calmly, while the elf in front of him still had an expression of both surprise and displeasure upon seeing them.

"Thalendir Vaeslyn," Riveria announced, naming her father's royal guard whom she recognized, as well as all the others from when she lived in the palace.

Silence lingered for a moment before the leader of the group finally processed everything he had seen and turned back to Riveria.

"Princess Riveria," he said, kneeling, followed by all the other elves upon hearing her title.

"Rise," Riveria requested, and they all quickly returned to their original positions before facing her again.

"Princess, your father sent us to find you as soon as..." he murmured, looking at Lucius with an unpleasant gaze.

"As soon as you heard the rumors, am I wrong?" Riveria commented in a neutral tone.

"Yes... it's true... Is it true that you are involved with this human?" he asked, shifting his look of displeasure away from Lucius and back to Riveria.

"Yes," Riveria admitted without hesitation, leaving not only the elf leader but all nineteen others wide-eyed. They had suspected, but hearing it from the princess's own lips was something hard to accept. "I am involved with this human," she added.

"But Princess! This... this... this is heresy!" the man called Thalendir shouted. They were standing a little away from the city's gates, where no passersby could hear their conversation, but even the guards at the gate heard the elf's protest.

"Perhaps it is, but I will do it anyway, as I have already decided," Riveria once again surprised them with her firm words.

"You can't be serious, Princess... Your lineage has remained pure for centuries, you are the king's only daughter... the heir," he spoke in a deeply frustrated tone.

"I am aware of that, but even so, I will not change my mind... So I intend to abdicate my right to the throne," she responded with authority.

"You can't be serious..." the guard murmured, still in disbelief.

"Don't worry about it. I will speak to my father when I visit him. Which I intend to do soon," she said.

"Princess, you know that you are the only one with the right to the throne in our race and kingdom! How can you betray our people in this way? Do you think the kingdom will accept this!?" the man commented with deep frustration, managing to keep his voice steady through sheer control, though it was becoming increasingly difficult.

"I never assumed my duties as heir to the throne, so I have made no oath to it. This was not what I had planned, but it happened, and I intend to marry this human. I will renounce any right I had to rule the elves!" she declared.

"No! This cannot be possible!" he murmured, unable to believe that the Alpha Princess could simply ignore an entire tradition of her family and race, even to the point of destroying the purity of the elven lineage. And all this for choosing an inferior race like humans.

Like the Royal Guard, all the elves there were convinced that other races were inferior to theirs, considering the elves the supreme race. Even Riveria had thought this way in the beginning, before leaving for Orario.

The royal elven guard, caught in his anger, took his eyes off the princess and turned to the human.

"You... you manipulated her in some way, didn't you, damn human?" the man pointed directly at Lucius, who had remained silent the entire time. After all, he knew that if he joined the discussion, a fight would break out. However, the elves now seemed quite insistent on starting a confrontation with him.

He simply smiled.
"Well, I may have flirted here and there with her, until I finally managed to get her to go out with me a few months later," Lucius took a step forward, speaking calmly.

Riveria said nothing, only stared at him. The Royal Guard merely raised an eyebrow.

"You certainly take pride in having the Elf lineage on the throne after so many centuries, don't you?" Lucius spoke, his smile widening even more.

The elves remained silent, just staring at him. Before anyone could respond, he continued:

"But let me tell you something... I will surpass Elf and his elves, and I will become the most powerful magical force to ever walk this world," he stated calmly, while the elves grimaced at his words.

"You... you believe that, human? That is impossible for you, even with the blessings of the gods!" one of the elves exclaimed, offended. After all, the Elf lineage was almost sacred to them. And Elf himself was nearly worshiped as a god.

"Either way, I don't really care what you think. If the king wants to speak with Riveria, don't worry, she will visit him at the end of this journey," he said, not omitting the fact that he would also be present at this meeting.

"No!" the elf suddenly murmured, pointing his staff at Lucius.
"Our king ordered us to take you by force! The elves will not allow the princess to keep walking with a human in the middle of this heresy!" he exclaimed.

The other elves prepared for battle.

"Well... I can see your magical strength," Lucius said, observing them carefully.
"You must be level 4, and the others behind you, level 2."

Among them were not only mages but also warriors wielding bows, arrows, and swords. Lucius then continued:

"Riveria is level 6, and I am currently level 4... But I can tell you that I am much stronger than that. The question is: do you really think you can stop us?"

The elves hesitated. The one who seemed to be the leader clenched his teeth upon hearing that. He was certainly not in a comfortable situation.

Lucius observed for a second before glancing at Riveria for a brief moment.

"Well, let's go. We have nothing more to do here," Lucius said.

"You can't just walk away, you damned human!" Thalendir shouted, unwilling to let things end like this. He would never allow this to continue and would fight anyway, regardless of the low chances of victory.

But before he could react, a fireball struck him directly, throwing him far away. The other elves watched, stunned, as they saw their captain being launched several meters before an explosion drew everyone's attention.

The citizens entering Altena and the guards on the walls turned their gazes toward the chaos that was beginning to unfold.

"Well... Now there's a question, and it is: do you really want this fight?" Lucius asked calmly, his gaze dangerous as he addressed the other elves.

The elves hesitated, some taking a step back, preparing for combat but with a certain caution. Around Lucius, several fireballs began to form without him even making any conjuring movements, using his old spells once again.

"Lucius, please, don't kill them," Riveria cautiously requested from behind him. After all, despite the confusion, she didn't want her people to be massacred.

Lucius didn't respond to her and looked ahead, past the group of elves, directly at the explosion he had caused, where an elf emerged, staggering from the destroyed area.

"You think you can just walk away?!" the elf growled in the middle of the flames.

The captain emerged, slightly burned but clearly frustrated, glaring at Lucius with hatred.

"Man, I'm getting tired of these insults. Next time we meet, I won't demand any submission from you, after all, I don't belong to your kingdom," Lucius spoke, his tone filled with impatience.
"But you'd better show some kind of respect, because I will no longer tolerate hearing everything you've said from the beginning until now."

Suddenly, the fireballs surrounding him shot into the sky at high speed, reaching 30 meters in height before beginning their descent.

"Prepare for battle!" the elf shouted just as the fireballs began descending toward the crowd, falling like missiles.

The flaming spheres crashed down like meteors, exploding upon impact with the ground. The captain, who had been thrown back, was hit the hardest, receiving multiple fireballs at once. Screams and explosions echoed all around.

"The groups weren’t killed," Lucius said, reassuring Riveria, as the explosions erupted near the entrance gate.

Chaos took over the place. People uninvolved in the fight began screaming in fear and running in panic, while the guards started announcing the battle through Altena’s communication crystals. The fight was over before it had truly begun—debris was sent flying through the air, and flames spread across the battlefield. They hadn't even been able to resist a single move from Lucius.

Several elves were lying on the ground, but some still managed to stand, staring at Lucius in pure terror.

"Well, this is my answer. Tell your king that everything will be settled, either through discussion or in battle. Farewell," Lucius said coldly.

Riveria approached him, and in an instant, the two shot up into the sky, leaving the elves behind, struggling to help their fallen comrades.

Riveria had a slightly proud expression, but she quickly shook her head. This was the path she had chosen.

"I also won’t let anyone insult you anymore," Lucius said suddenly.

"Alright," she murmured at last, adjusting herself more comfortably in his embrace.

And so, they vanished into Altena’s sky.

Meanwhile, Athena remained standing in the middle of the dispersing crowd, which was slowly calming down after Lucius’ departure. She could still hear a few distant explosions coming from that area, but only she could clearly see what had truly happened.

Her eyes gleamed, absorbing every detail of what she had just witnessed.

"She intends to renounce her throne, her rights, and even her own race... all of it for someone else? Just for love?" Athena murmured to herself.

Then she clenched her fists, feeling an uncomfortable irritation rise within her.

"That’s why I hate love... and men," she muttered under her breath, casting one last glance at the fading glow of Lucius disappearing over the horizon.

"Is there a problem, Goddess Athena?" the director approached, noticing her expression.

"It’s nothing... Just some thoughts. In any case, send a team to the north gate, to see if the elves intend to cause any more trouble..." the goddess replied before returning to her duties and leading her family back to the main tower.