Einherjar Becomes Valkyrie

With Nia walking behind her, Elena walked beside the Order Master heading towards the courtyard.

A royal court messenger, something that had never happened since the formation of the Order of Saint Eclestine twenty years ago, therefore all those who heard about it rushed into the courtyard.

Emerging into the courtyard, Elena saw a pair of Wyvern Knight standing next to their flying beasts.

「I am the Master of the Order of Saint Eclestine, and this is Lady Elena Lutrel」

Both wyvern knights focused their eyes on Elena and for a pair of seconds their thoughts stopped, however, they quickly recovered showing their professionalism.

One of those wyvern knights stepped forward and unrolled a large parchment to begin reading its contents.

「For their great feats in battle, taking the lives of at least twenty enemy knights, causing the collapse of one of the flanks of the enemy army and subsequently leading the army to victory in defense of our kingdom, His Majesty the king and the court royal grant Lady Elena Lutrel the title of Baroness, as well as the territory of Izana 」

While the commotion filled everyone present and Elena herself was speechless, the second wyvern knight walked up to Elena and displaying a small and beautiful wooden box, which he opened to display its contents.

Inside that wooden box were a silver ring, the physical symbol that supported the title of nobility, and a scroll that was undoubtedly the property title of the aforementioned territory of Izana, as well as a mytril ingot of about five hundred grams in weight, probably an additional reward instead of gold.

「Baroness Elena Izana, please」

The knight closed the wooden box and offered it to Elena.

Upon acquiring her own title of nobility, Elena, who did not directly bear the name of her family for being a woman, she was forced to take the name of her territory as her own. Simply put, it could be said that Elena was marrying the received territory. Women could not inherit a title of nobility, but they could receive them if they were granted directly by the king.

While wondering why the royal court was doing something so unexpected, Elena took the wooden box in her hands.

「You have my thanks」

Elena adhered to standard protocol and thanked as someone who carried a higher title than that of a knight.

「It was an honor, Baroness Izana」

Both knights bowed respectfully, then bid farewell and mount their wyvern and take flight.

Does fate really want me to build my own pretty girl's paradise? For a second Elena had this absurd thought that she quickly dismissed, it was clear that there could be nothing good in this.

「Sir, do you know where the territory of Izana is located? 」

The Order Master came to his senses when he heard Elena asking that question.

「I-if I'm not mistaken, it is located near the border with the kingdom of Sadora, Baroness...」

「I see」

Ignoring the looks of consternation around her, Elena opened the wooden box and took the silver ring and then placed it on her left hand. She was no longer a naive child, Kaname's memories had forced her to mature quickly, so Elena quickly understood what the royal court was up to by giving her these awards.

No doubt the royal court and the king had not yet given up on the issue of provoking a large-scale war with Sadora, as for the new plan, this was easy to understand. Elena would be recognized as the main responsible of the victory, and by granting her a noble title as a prize, they would give her a territory on the border, giving the Sadorinos the opportunity to seek quick revenge by murdering her, which would be used as a pretext to start openly a war with the backing of the Varest people.

「Sir, I thank you for taking care of me during these three years, as for Count Aleyn, I will take care of thanking he in person」

Count Aleyn was the founder of the Order of Saint Eclestine. As for Elena's words, these were clearly parting words, by obtaining a title bestowed by the king, Elena was being removed from her order directly by the leader of all knights in the kingdom, the king himself. Therefore, no one could object to a single word.

Elena did not give the Order Master time for an answer, with Nia behind her, Elena walk to her horse which had appeared on its own in a timely manner. Of course, it was Elena who had mentally ordered the horse to come

After extending her hand to Nia to help her ride alongside her, Elena ordered her horse to leave the headquarters of the Sait Eclestine Order quickly, Elena did not want to give anyone time to try offering her congratulations full of hypocrisy and envy.

「Elena-sama, what shall we do now?」

「First let's find an inn to spend the night, then we will go to sell this mytril sword to get more gold. Tomorrow we will leave the city and use warp to return to Dur, from there it will be easier to find the territory of Izana. The rest we will plan once we see what Izana consists of 」

With the warp spell consuming a little over half of her magic power, Elena didn't want to risk returning to Dur today with too low a magic power level.