ALL NOVEL Chapter 280
Elizaveta IV
She is the queen of the newly established New Commonwealth Kingdom of England after the Great Rift and the eighth monarch of the Windsor dynasty, with a full name of Elizaveta Lilybet Rose.
After the Great Rift occurred, England, like other advanced nations, faced dungeons and monsters.
In that process, the British royal family served on the front lines of the Great Rift or declared their support for Hunters alongside the citizens.
Particularly during the first Great Rift, the king of England died while encouraging survivors in Windsor Castle, which had self-supplying natural gas and oil, fighting back against the Great Rift and erosion.
While many privileged individuals and politicians around the world fled quickly, abandoning their people, the king’s unwavering encouragement to face disaster at the risk of death became an inspiration for the citizens of England and garnered support from many people worldwide.
After the Great Rift situation was brought to a close, the Windsor dynasty became the new owners of the Commonwealth, receiving even greater support than before.
A considerable number of British citizens desired not a constitutional monarchy but the revival of a ruling dynasty. However, the Windsor dynasty voluntarily signed over power to the newly established British Parliament and Prime Minister.
Thus, the British royal family maintained a stance of reigning but not ruling. From the perspective of the people who remembered the chaotic times of the Great Rift, simply existing as the royal family became a symbol of the new era.
And the current queen of such a noble dynasty exemplifying noblesse oblige is Elizaveta IV.
While she undoubtedly held no political power in the established constitutional monarchy, her very existence served as a spiritual pillar for the New Commonwealth and its people.
If she had been a normal queen, that would surely have been the case.
However, Elizaveta IV, Lilybet, was a Hunter.
Not just an ordinary Hunter, but one of the top S-grade Hunters in the world.
In principle, Awakened Ones manifest according to their innate talent and abilities, completely unrelated to lineage. But Lilybet was born surrounded by powerful mana and was recognized as an Awakened One from birth.
Since there had been almost no cases of Awakened Ones in the royal family before, officials initially kept Lilybet’s identity as an Awakened One a secret.
In fact, it was customary for not just the royal family but for politicians, high-ranking officials, and conglomerates to conceal their identities unless they were at least B-grade Awakened Ones.
Awakened Ones were considered obligated to register with the Hunter Association and become Hunters to protect the citizens. Failure to do so was regarded as shameful, and they could even be treated as criminals for being unregistered Awakened Ones.
From the perspective of the British royal family, it was reasonable to protect their future heir, Lilybet, from the dangers lurking in gates and dungeons.
They kept a tight lid on the matter and made every effort to avoid exposure to Hunters and Hunter Association officials.
The royal family’s efforts to protect Princess Lilybet were quite successful. The fact that she was an Awakened One could have easily been buried in darkness.
However, one thing they failed to consider was that Elizaveta Lilybet Rose had an imagination beyond anyone’s expectations.
Unlike her position as a princess, Lilybet was curious and interested in many things, much like a country girl.
She had many likes and even tried to like things she disliked.
There was a time she grabbed the collar of a royal guard and followed him around all day, putting him in a difficult situation, or she’d run around restlessly and pull dangerous pranks like she was a kid.
Because of her status as an Awakened One, she was stronger than most adults from a young age, so the maids couldn’t stop her.
The one quiet hobby Lilybet had was reading books and watching anime.
Since she was young, she had read fairy tales, novels, and various classic animations. Although Lilybet loved to run around, as a princess, her freedom was significantly restricted.
From her perspective, she wanted to explore the world freely, but the title of princess and heir to the throne felt like a cage and shackles she carried since birth.
To her, fairy tales and novels, and animations allowed her to feel free from that cage for a moment.
She longed for stories where a prince defeats a wicked dragon and saves the princess like in the fairy tales.
She loved fun, predictable, and childish stories.
She adored tales of rewarded effort.
She loved pretty things.
She cherished shining things.
She fancied romance.
Yes, romance.
From a young age, Elizaveta Lilybet Rose grew to love romance.
She didn’t care how others saw her.
For her, it was all about romance.
Living for romance.
Dreaming of her unique romance.
The problem was that this romance manifested itself in a rather unexpected and spirited form…
“Let’s spar!”
How on earth did Princess Lilybet end up saying that?
Seriously, what fairy tale had she read?
No, what kind of cartoon or anime had she watched? It remained a mystery to this day.
Anyhow, the first opponent Lilybet ever asked to spar with was the royal guard.
At the time, although the royal guard was retired, he had been a veteran Hunter with an A-grade designation from the Hunter Association. Naturally, this royal guard tried to kindly persuade Princess Lilybet to go back.
At first, he told her.
Of course, she shouldn’t.
To protect the princess’s dignity.
It was utterly impossible.
Using various excuses, the guard tried to flee, but Lilybet’s determination was unyielding.
“If you don’t spar with me, I’ll fire you!”
Eventually, faced with her ultimatum, the guard reluctantly agreed to the duel.
Of course, Lilybet showcased remarkable capabilities in various fields.
She demonstrated exceptional performance in all kinds of sports, including fencing, horseback riding, target shooting, and if she decided to focus on one area, her tutors said she would certainly surpass him.
However, the retired A-grade Hunter was on a different level.
Though it was labeled a spar, he had no intent of genuinely fighting Princess Lilybet.
He thought to entertain her until she was sufficiently satisfied.
BAM!
That was before a punch from the princess sent him flying.
“Huh…?”
“I won! Yay! Sparring is fun!”
That incident marked the first time Princess Lilybet, at 11 years old, genuinely tapped into her powers as an Awakened One.
“The first step to becoming a hero is decorated with victory! Wahahah!”
“………”
Though it was just a sparring match, and he had let his guard down…
An 11-year-old princess defeated a retired A-grade Hunter with a single punch?
That was no small feat.
The royal family, who had been hiding the fact that Lilybet was an Awakened One, had to rethink their position.
Originally, they wanted to ensure that the princess, even being an A-grade Hunter, would never be able to truly become a Hunter.
But with an S-grade Hunter, things changed.
An S-grade Hunter was a beacon of hope for humanity and a star that had overcome the Great Rift, a symbol of hope for many common people.
If that S-grade Hunter happened to be the heir to the throne, the royal family deemed it would only benefit them, not harm.
Ultimately, Lilybet underwent a rigorous examination.
At the age of 11, it was confirmed she was indeed an S-grade Awakened One by the officials and researchers of the Hunter Association.
At that time, Princess Lilybet’s ability was physical enhancement.
Simple yet exceptionally effective strength.
The researchers who assessed her abilities and mana stated that if she continued to grow this way, she could even catch up with Yeonseo, who was hailed as the world’s strongest Hunter. People around her began to cheer.
Of course, Lilybet was pleased too.
She was quite ambitious.
She wanted to become the Queen of England.
She wanted to be a strong Hunter.
And then…
“So what do I do now?”
In that moment, Lilybet fell into an overwhelming sense of emptiness.
It wasn’t a proper emptiness with a good reason.
Even though she felt she would achieve her desires, young Lilybet couldn’t shake the feeling that being a Hunter seemed quite dull all of a sudden.
Was it supposed to be this easy?
Was reaching the pinnacle, S-grade, meant to be this effortless?
“In cartoons… they work really hard. They train. They learn…”
There’s no protagonist born strong who easily overcomes every obstacle.
While there are stories like that, those were far from Lilybet’s tastes.
Lilybet loved romance.
Not just getting cooler but the kind of romance that has style.
Pretty, beautiful, and glamorous, but within it, she wanted to ignite a hidden passion.
She longed for the romance of training hard and reaping the fruits of labor.
The romance where if you put in the effort, you would be rewarded, where strength is gained at the end of enlightenment.
But right now…
“There’s no romance!”
There’s no romance.
At this rate, I wouldn’t even be able to spar properly and would become an S-grade Hunter out of nowhere.
I hadn’t worked hard, hadn’t done anything but would become an S-grade Hunter.
That was sad.
That was boring.
So Lilybet decided to change things up.
She would use all her abilities and talents, which could potentially make her stronger than Yeonseo, for something else.
She’d use them to implement the romance she desired as a princess.
“Aaaagh! Are you insane, Your Highness?!”
“Wahahah! It’s a success! It’s successful!”
Among the Awakened Ones, there was a power user called a Burper Trigger.
His ability was rather ordinary, allowing him to temporarily pump up an Awakened One’s mana. Being close to him for a long period often led him to become a Hunter instructor or an academy professor.
And Princess Lilybet requested for all her talents to be drastically altered.
Of course, typically, that would be impossible.
Burper Trigger abilities normally don’t allow Awakened Ones to limit or ruin their abilities themselves.
However, the princess ultimately succeeded.
Was it because a dozen Burper Trigger users worked hard?
Or was it because Princess Lilybet wished for it?
Whatever the reason, Her Highness’s abilities were turned upside down.
Originally, Princess Lilybet’s ability was physical enhancement.
Simple but effective ability.
Princess transferred her entire skill set and mana resources elsewhere.
Just like the story of The Little Mermaid, who traded her voice for legs to gain a body, an S-grade physical enhancement user, Lilybet, became a D-grade Enchantress.
She traded her powerful physical enhancement abilities for an ability utterly unrelated and distanced from that power.
If she’d taken a sword-related ability or a physical mutation ability similar to physical enhancement, or even if she just had fire manipulation abilities, her ability efficiency wouldn’t have been so destroyed.
But the princess loved it.
She absolutely loved it.
“Now I can really spar! Now I can truly train!”
Thus, she began as a D-grade Enchantress.
And immediately thereafter, the princess ran away from the royal palace and snuck into low-level dungeons filled with Goblins and Slimes.
Enchantresses, as the name suggests, are Awakened Ones who imbue objects with their mana to enhance them.
Naturally, their direct combat strength is on the low side. If this continued, it seemed the princess would be trapped again in the cage of the royal palace.
She enchanted a stolen sword with her mana in order to somehow bash a Goblin’s head in.
With joy in battling and pleasure in training, losing track of time and days, she faced off against Goblins and grew stronger.
Eventually, her sword broke, and bare-handed, the Goblins attempted to take the defenseless young girl as their breeding sow, but in this crazy twist, Princess Lilybet enchanted her fists and tussled with them. By the time she knocked down a dozen Goblins, she had succeeded in enchanting stones and sticks, slaying more Goblins in the process.
While it sounds easy, at the time, Lilybet was truly wrestling with death.
When food ran out, she munched down fruit stored in a Goblin village to survive.
At one point, when sleeping, she was ambushed and nearly became a Goblin broodmare.
She almost drowned in a dungeon stream when a Slime tried to engulf her while she washed herself.
Ultimately, Princess Lilybet’s runaway saga only ended when royal officials were horrified and began searching all over England for the missing princess.
Yet in that time, the princess genuinely became strong.
She felt she had grown stronger.
Princess Lilybet felt proud of the results that came from her hard work.
Her hands hardened, her skin scarred, and while she faced many frightening foes, she felt good nonetheless.
This was sparring.
This was training.
This was a fight for her life.
This was a blood-soaked combat.
This was romance!
Yes, romance!
It was romance!
“It’s romance! Wahahah!”
“Ugh, I was worried something had happened to the princess…!”
“I’m glad you’re safe!!”
“Wahahahaha! This is fun! It’s so much fun!”
This was an event that left both royal officials and the Hunter Association wide-eyed in disbelief.
A mere D-grade Enchantress… no, a child who was only 11 years old had come out alive from a dungeon filled with Goblins and Slimes.
Of course, she would later be scolded thoroughly by family and royal relatives, but with mere incidents like that, they couldn’t stop this madcap romantic princess.
Thus, the princess continued to work hard.
Training, sparring.
She kept searching for and pursuing the romance she loved.
Training every day.
Grabbing guards to practice with.
Even if she fell defeated, she would spar again.
Working hard and being rewarded.
And then she kept on working hard.
Working and working hard.
Even when her body bled profusely and hurt as if she could die, she didn’t stop.
“To my beloved citizens and subjects…”
And finally, the day Princess Lilybet became the Queen of England.
“I became an S-grade!”
“Pardon?”
“Excuse me?”
“What did you say?”
The world’s first S-grade Enchantress was born.
Ability name: [Machine Infection].
Elizaveta Lilybet Rose was now a reality.
○○○○
“Wahahah! I’m fine!”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know it was really the queen…”
“Then will you spar with me just once?”
“I’ll just buy you meat instead.”
“You cold-hearted scoundrel!”
And today, Lilybet… no, Elizaveta IV was enjoying some meat as a gesture of apology with Shia.
“Hey, but doesn’t it seem like our blonde Saint is quite popular?”
“Yes, it appears Ms. Olgania really likes Shia unnie.”
“Wait, what did you just say!?”
“You startled me. No, not big Olgania, but little Olgania.”
“Ah… Sorry, Yeonhwa.”
Teresa and Yeonhwa briefly considered changing their hair to blonde.
‘But doesn’t she know how to tell lies…?’
As Teresa sipped on grape juice, she thought about the sight of Shia bowing in apology to Elizaveta IV and suddenly wondered.
Could it be that she didn’t actually thump the queen on purpose with the thought of ‘when else would I get to hit the Queen of England!’?