Even Heroes Have Fan Fiction

The Council was the most important administrative body of the Elven race. They were basically responsible for all major affairs within the elven territory, from the regular clearing of labyrinths to the construction of Calanris... Even the elven guards were directly under their jurisdiction.

Even the appointment, dismissal, and selection of the Elven Queen were decided by the members of the Council.

There was a saying among the elves: as long as one could gain the Council's support, anyone had the potential to become the Elven Queen.

However, the members of the Elven Council were quite mysterious, and no one knew their true identities.

They were not aloof entities looking down from on high, but rather scattered among the common people... Perhaps the middle-aged woman you bumped into while grocery shopping every day could be a Council member.

Therefore, the elven commoners generally never opposed the Council's decisions. The choices they made were genuinely for the prosperity and development of the elven race.

A large crowd had gathered in the square in front of the Council Hall. Most were elves, but there were also some outsiders who had come to watch the spectacle.

In public places where people gather... street vendors are bound to appear.

There were a few stalls on the edge of the square, but no one was shouting to peddle their wares; they remained as completely quiet as if they were lifeless.

They weren't selling any hot food, so there was no smoke or fire. Instead, they offered exquisite, pre-made pastries, such as green sticky rice balls and the like.

The elven palate was relatively light. Outsiders actually found it hard to get used to traditional elven cuisine, whereas dishes modified by humans were highly praised.

Xia Lun and Aina ordered a shaved ice. With a wave of her small hand, Aina had the vendor add every flavor of fruit jam available at the stall, ensuring that almost every bite would taste different.

Such was the extravagance of the Demon King.

The stall owner even planned to give them another serving of shaved ice for free, but was immediately stopped by Aina's icy glare.

Xia Lun's attention, however, was not on this. He looked at the vendor's ice maker thoughtfully.

A bowl of water was poured into one end of the ice maker, and it came out as ice cubes from the other opening.

"A magic tool. It's quite amazing, isn't it?" Aina scooped a spoonful of pink shaved ice and stuffed it into Xia Lun's mouth. It was strawberry flavored.

Xia Lun nodded. Such things didn't exist a thousand years ago.

It wasn't just for weapons; magic tools seemed to have been applied to all aspects of daily life... Xia Lun just hadn't really noticed it yet.

Another spoonful of yellow mango-flavored shaved ice was brought to Xia Lun's lips.

Aina had scooped quite a lot. Xia Lun swallowed it in one gulp, his teeth chattering slightly from the cold. "Aina, you can just eat it yourself."

"Xia Lun, you don't love me anymore."

Xia Lun: ?

"In the past, no matter what I fed you, you would eat it without hesitation." Aina sighed. "Xia Lun, you've changed. You don't love me anymore."

Xia Lun: ...

Aina stuck out her tongue. "I'm just kidding."

Xia Lun: "Heh... hehe."

"Xia Lun, your laugh is so perfunctory... You don't care about my feelings at all." Aina pouted, somewhat dissatisfied with Xia Lun's reaction.

Xia Lun raised an eyebrow. What game was Her Highness the Demon King playing?

"Xia Lun, do you not like it?"

"Like what?"

"I read in human novels that women who act spoiled like this easily gain affection." Aina flipped her hair. "You don't seem interested."

"No, Aina, you've got it wrong. It's not that acting spoiled gets you affection, but rather that because a woman is already loved, she can get away with acting so pretentiously spoiled." Xia Lun patted Aina's head. "You just need to be yourself. No matter how you are, I will like you... By the way, what novel were you reading?"

"The Hero's Temptation."

"Cough!" Xia Lun nearly choked on his own saliva. "What is that?"

Aina: "It's a fictional fan work featuring the Hero as the protagonist. It's about the romantic entanglements between you and a group of noble ladies, with a bunch of women seeking life and death over you... Don't worry, Xia Lun, I didn't insert myself into it."

"You actually read this kind of stuff?" Xia Lun found it somewhat unbelievable.

"It's alright." Aina narrowed her eyes. "Watching a group of women get jealous over you is quite interesting. Plus, the thought that in reality, you can only be mine makes me even more excited."

Xia Lun didn't know what to say. He never expected Aina to have such a peculiar taste.

Aina: "That Village Chief Ninika we met in the Nameless Village before... I saw quite a few similar novels on her bookshelf."

Xia Lun's eyes widened slightly. When Ninika said she was his fan, was this actually what she meant?

Aina pondered for a moment. "If you expose your true identity, you might be able to sue those authors for a large sum of gold coins in compensation..."

Xia Lun's face darkened with exasperation, and a vein finally twitched on his forehead. "Forget it."

Xia Lun's gaze shifted to the front of the Council Hall. A group of people was gathered there, but no one was speaking; they were all very quiet.

"What are they doing?"

Xia Lun casually asked the owner of the shaved ice stall from earlier.

"Oh, today is the day a new Elven Queen is chosen." The stall owner, who was human, answered Xia Lun's question enthusiastically. "The Elven Queen is replaced every hundred years. The Queen is selected by the Council through a special method, and until the results are announced, no one knows who the next Queen will be..."

"A special method?"

Xia Lun had always thought the Queen was elected by voting.

The stall owner continued to explain, "That's right. It is said that the elven astrologers divine the next Queen... Anyone has a chance to become the Elven Queen, even your wife, sir."

"Another serving of shaved ice, with all the fruit jam flavors." Aina waved her small hand.

"Coming right up!" the stall owner said cheerfully.

"Can someone who isn't an elf also become the Elven Queen?" Xia Lun was a bit surprised.

"Yes. Three hundred years ago, one of the Elven Queens was human. She made outstanding contributions to the development of the elven race. However, she passed away after only fifty years on the throne, and the elves held a funeral of the highest caliber for her." The stall owner pursed his lips toward the crowd outside the Council Hall. "The people who come here are actually all harboring a sliver of unrealistic hope."

Xia Lun nodded. Perhaps the power wielded by the Elven Queen wasn't as great as he had imagined, but the value of the title alone was already immeasurable.

Choosing a Queen through divination... How truly unusual.

Could it be related to the Spirit World?

Xia Lun remembered Aina saying that witches obtained their powers through the Spirit World. The elven astrologers might be a similar existence.

And when mentioning the elven race, and then the Spirit World... one naturally couldn't avoid the Divine Tree of Life.

So... were the successive Elven Queens chosen by the Divine Tree of Life?