"Put this on, it'll help heal faster."

The elf, known as one of the most beautiful races on the continent, was a rare sight, as they seldom left their home, the World Tree. Yet, here was an elven woman, applying herbs to a long wound across a human man's chest. It was a scene rarely seen.

"This kind of wound would heal on its own, you know..."
The man, feeling embarrassed by the elf's angry expression, tried to brush it off. But the more he spoke, the sharper her gaze became.

"Don't ever pull such a reckless stunt again."
"I can't promise that. I didn’t become a member of the Crimson Wardens to abandon my comrades."

Usually lighthearted, often joking more than being serious, the man, Richard, now spoke with an uncharacteristic seriousness in response to the elf’s words.

"I can't return home until I kill Sataniel."
"Richard... that wasn't your fault. Don't carry the burden of guilt."
"No, it was my fault. If it weren't for me, our master wouldn't have been taken down like that."

Despite the elf's reassurance, the memories of that fateful day flooded back to Richard, and his face twisted with rage, looking almost demonic.

"Sataniel’s creation was the original sin of the elves. You were just a human caught up in it."
"Siphris, none of this is your fault."

The two continued to argue over who was to blame until, eventually, they both burst into laughter.

"Regardless, thanks to you breaking through their blockade, we were able to secure these."
Siphris held a bundle of documents, one of which contained an illustration of a certain plant.

"If ‘this’ falls into Sataniel's hands, the entire continent may be plunged into darkness."

Lucian Sataniel—once regarded as a noble leader among the elves and the head of the sentinels, none had ever imagined he would become a servant of the night.

"Elves are not a great race. I desire true immortality," he had once said.

Siphris clenched her fists in anger, recalling the massacre that took place hundreds of years ago when Sataniel, in his pursuit of immortality, became a servant of the night. Thousands of elves had bled, and even now, the scars had yet to heal.

The servants of the night, a race believed to have been eradicated millennia ago, could not be killed by the sword. They could transform into bats or wolves, and their immortality was true, far surpassing even the long lifespan of the elves. However, their curse demanded they drink the blood of the living, specifically the strong, as payment for their powers.

In the ancient past, all the races of the continent had united to fight against them, eventually driving the servants of the night to extinction, save for one. Their leader, the Trueblood Karis, could not be killed, so the elves had sealed him within the World Tree. It was this act that had set off all the tragic events that followed.

The sentinels, the most elite of the elves, were tasked with guarding this seal. But the tragedy struck when Sataniel, the leader of the sentinels, broke the seal and transformed into a servant of the night himself.

The dark elves, who inherited the powers of the servants of the night, became the cursed children of the elves, and the Crimson Wardens were born to hunt them down in secret.

"We must find the Blue Flower before Sataniel does."

The Crimson Wardens' mission was to find Sataniel, who had been hiding for centuries, and finally end the threat of the servants of the night once and for all. After years of searching, they had uncovered a clue about his location and learned that he was desperately seeking something: the Blue Flower, a mythical plant.

They needed to get their hands on it before he did.

"Ada, what did you pick up this time?"
When Ada left the house earlier, she had been in clean clothes. But now, she returned to the estate with Rasch, covered in dirt and dust.

"Ada is going on an adventure!" she had declared after breakfast, demanding a packed lunch. Naturally, Rupert couldn’t let her go alone, so he sent Sir Own and a few soldiers to accompany her. However, they soon discovered that keeping up with Ada's "adventure" was no small feat.

'Does she even need to breathe?' Own, who had yet to reach the Expert level of knight training, had trained in mana techniques but was exhausted just from following Ada as she dashed through the forest. He hadn’t expected to be completely drained of energy from merely trying to keep up with her.

While Ada had once been obsessed with playing The Dog of Flanders, staying close to the village, her current fixation on Pinocchio had her running through the woods, mountains, and fields. Ada and Rasch were unstoppable forces, and Own often found himself wondering if Ada was secretly at the Expert level of knighthood, given her superhuman stamina.

“This is the fruit Ada picked! It’s for you and brother!” Ada proudly pulled various items from her bag: fruit, oddly shaped stones, and branches.

"What is that?"
Among the things she produced, Rupert noticed a squishy, jelly-like substance in her hand, causing him to panic.

"This is Ada's toy!"
"Oh, that? It's slime remains," Own replied casually as Ada played with the jelly-like material.

"Slime? But isn’t that a monster?!" Rupert was horrified to see his daughter holding a piece of a monster, even if it was a low-level one.

Rupert reached to take the slime remains from her hand, but Own reassured him.

“It’s fine. Without the core, the slime’s body is just harmless gelatin.”
Hearing this, Rupert let out a sigh of relief.

"Did Sir Own take down the slime?" Rupert asked.
"No, it was Rasch."

Own shook his head and pointed to Rasch, who had swiftly destroyed the slime's core when Ada had recklessly approached the creature in the forest. Rasch’s movements were so fast that even Own had barely caught a glimpse.

‘Am I even needed here?’ Own, who had once doubted the stories about Rasch single-handedly defeating a dark wizard, now believed them completely. Rasch’s actions reaffirmed that Own's presence was unnecessary.

“Wait a minute... did you say gelatin?”
"Yes. When the core is intact, the slime secretes an acidic liquid, but once the core is removed, it turns into harmless gelatin."

Rupert’s eyes widened as he processed this information. Without another word, he bolted toward the workshop, leaving Ada behind, confused and pouting.

“Hey! This is Ada’s treasure!” Ada grumbled, still holding a beautiful blue flower she had brought from the forest. There was a secret spot deep within the estate’s woods that only Ada and Rasch knew about—a cave with a hole in the ceiling that let in sunlight, where a pond shimmered in the light and blue flowers bloomed.

‘Bark!’ Rasch barked as if telling her something.
"You want me to eat this?" Ada asked. Rasch nodded.

Whenever Rasch found something delicious in the forest, he always shared it with Ada. So, without thinking twice, she popped the blue flower into her mouth, only to grimace at the bitter taste.

‘Yuck! This tastes awful!’ Ada had expected something sweet but was disappointed by the bitter flavor. Yet Rasch kept nudging her to eat more.

Despite the taste, Ada plucked a few more flowers to take back home and stuffed them into her bag. Now, she was upset that her brother had run off before she could show him her treasures.

“I’ll give it to Dad instead!” Ada decided, holding the blue flower high in triumph.

"Why didn’t we think of that before? Of course, slime! It’s perfect!"
Rupert ran into the workshop and immediately told Crun, who was working on film production, about the slime discovery.

Crun shouted with excitement, as if he had just had an epiphany, much like Archimedes shouting “Eureka.” One of the biggest problems they had been facing in producing large quantities of film had been solved so easily.

Slimes, a low-level monster, were weak and posed little threat to humans. While some dangerous variants existed, most slimes couldn’t even burn clothing with their acidic secretions, and when touched directly, they caused nothing more than mild irritation.

“People would line up to sell us slime remains for a single copper coin!” Crun exclaimed.

With the Mage Tower nearing completion of the requested items and alchemists making progress on the celluloid needed for the film, the timing couldn’t have been better.

As the first step toward creating animation neared completion, Rupert and Crun shared their excitement and began brainstorming what their first animation would be.