Sahloknir was defeated.
His corpse turned to bone in an instant, and Choi Ha-neul absorbed the dragon's soul, sentencing his existence to eternal annihilation.
Delphine ran over to Ha-neul, her face a mask of disbelief.
"Simply incredible... You really are the Dragonborn of legend."
Ha-neul, having finished absorbing the soul, repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists.
She was likely gauging how much the dragon's soul had strengthened her physical form.
She then began peppering Delphine with questions she had—exactly what the Blades were, why they were being hunted by the Thalmor, and more.
Delphine answered everything before steering the conversation toward the Thalmor themselves.
"—And in my opinion, the Thalmor are definitely behind this dragon business."
"Why do you think that?"
"You know those bastards are hell-bent on taking over Skyrim, don't you?"
"Of course."
Lydia was the one who replied. Come to think of it, both Eloise and Lydia had approached and were now listening to Delphine's story. They couldn't exactly stay far away when such critical matters were being discussed.
"The dragon crisis has bled Skyrim dry. Between that and Ulfric escaping to keep this war dragging on, the whole province is in chaos. The only ones profiting from this mess are the Thalmor."
"So what do we do?" Ha-neul asked.
"We're still in the suspicion phase, so we need proof. I'm planning to infiltrate the Thalmor Embassy to steal some intelligence."
"The Embassy? How? I heard the security there is airtight," Eloise asked.
Delphine turned to her. "Elenwen, the Thalmor's First Emissary, hosts a lavish party for Skyrim's high society once a month."
"Aha. So we pretend to be guests?"
"Exactly. But the timing is shit—Elenwen already held her party three days ago. We'll have to wait about a month for the next one."
This worked out perfectly for me. I'd already been planning to set aside the main quest for a bit to progress through the Civil War anyway.
We made an appointment to meet at the Sleeping Giant Inn in four weeks, and then Delphine took her leave.
"Ugh... my legs feel like jelly..."
"Heh, good job, Miss Healer!"
Ha-neul laughed at Eloise's whining. I knew this would happen—so much for Eloise acting like a dragon would be no big deal.
"Wait, how did you even make the Atronach explode?"
"It requires a lot of focus, but I can control the Magicka inside my summons. I forced the Atronach to go critical on purpose."
"I was truly impressed as well. You're a natural-born tactician, Mister Bart," Lydia added from the side.
The corners of my mouth twitched as these beauties showered me with praise.
"Hehe, look, Mister's getting all happy!"
"I am not."
"My mother is going to be so shocked, isn't she? Hearing that I took down a dragon!" Eloise's heart swelled with the pride of having survived the hunt.
"Hey, I'm the one who actually killed it, remember?" Ha-neul pointed out.
"And that was only thanks to the healer keeping you patched up!"
With the dragon dead, the atmosphere had become quite festive. However, I had to be the buzzkill and deliver an important point.
"Anyway, we've got nearly a month until the next mission. I want to spend that time joining the army."
"You said you were joining the Imperial Legion, right?" Lydia double-checked. Eloise also seemed to lean toward the Empire rather than the rebel Stormcloaks.
"I'm strictly Team Stormcloak," Ha-neul insisted stubbornly. But I had a perfect idea to change her mind.
"Is that so? Then let's pay a visit to Windhelm. If your mind still hasn't changed after that, I'll join the Stormcloaks with you."
"Fine! You're going to regret that, Mister!"
Time to face reality.
It didn't even take five minutes on horseback from Kynesgrove to reach Windhelm. The two locations were practically neighbors.
We left the horses at the stables and walked toward the main gate.
The soldiers noticed us approaching and stopped us for an identification check.
"Welcome, kin. And welcome to you as well, Breton."
The Stormcloak guard warmly greeted me and Lydia since we were Nords, and even welcomed Eloise despite her being a Breton. However, his attitude flipped the moment he laid eyes on Ha-neul.
"You there. Altmer."
"Yes? What's the problem?"
The soldier had let the rest of us pass without a second thought, but he dragged things out specifically with Ha-neul. He even went as far as accusing her of being a Thalmor spy.
Naturally, an indignant Ha-neul flatly denied it, but the soldier's suspicion didn't fade easily.
"We vouch for her. She has nothing to do with the Thalmor."
"That's right! I hate those Thalmor bastards too!"
Thanks to Lydia's defense, she was finally allowed entry, but the guard gave her a warning that he'd be watching her before letting us through.
'That's weird. Ralof and Gerdur were so nice...'
Ha-neul likely thought the guard was just being hyper-sensitive due to the war as she stepped into Windhelm.
But inside the city, the discrimination was even more blatant.
As soon as we entered, we saw a Dunmer woman being harassed by two Nords.
"Tell us the truth. You're a spy for the Imperial Legion, aren't you?"
"Me, a spy? Don't make me laugh."
The Dunmer woman snapped back in denial as a middle-aged Nord hurled false accusations at her.
"Watch your back at night. I'll find proof eventually."
Regardless of her response, the Nord men just walked away without a single word of apology.
Windhelm has a much higher Dunmer population than other cities. In fact, there is an entire residential district just for them called the Gray Quarter.
Morrowind, the home of the Dark Elves, had fallen into chaos following the Oblivion Crisis of the Third Era and the eruption of Red Mountain in the Fourth Era.
To make matters worse, Argonians from Black Marsh to the south had invaded, turning the place into a living hell even worse than war-torn Skyrim.
This led many Dunmer to flee Morrowind, wandering across Tamriel as refugees.
Among them, those from the capital of Blacklight—located in the northwest of Morrowind and very close to Windhelm—ended up settling here.
But life in Windhelm was far from easy. The Nords of the city subjected them to constant discrimination.
Even the Jarl, Ulfric, had effectively abandoned them. Yet, since they couldn't return to their destroyed homeland, the Dunmer lived on, barely scraping by while enduring the daily insults hurled their way.
As soon as the two men left, I took Ha-neul over to the Dunmer woman.
"Excuse me. Could you tell us what just happened?"
"Sigh... don't bother me. Are you accusing me of being a spy too?"
"I didn't mean anything by it. I just wanted my friend to understand the reality of the Stormcloaks."
The Dark Elf gave Ha-neul a once-over before sharing the 'truth.'
She explained the severe racism of the Nords and the treatment elves received in this city.
Ha-neul was horrified by the unbelievable facts. To drive the point home, I led her toward the Windhelm docks.
"Hey, pointy-ears. This isn't the place for you."
"What's a High Elf doing in a dump like this?"
Ha-neul had been doubting the Dunmer woman's words, but after being picked on by Nords several more times on the way to the harbor, she started to realize the testimony was true.
Once we reached the docks, I called out to an Argonian laborer.
"Sir. Why are you working out here in the cold instead of inside Windhelm?"
The Argonian carrying supplies at the harbor looked at me as if I was being ridiculous.
"Are you really asking because you don't know? The people of Windhelm call us a primitive, filthy race. Unlike the Dunmer, we aren't even allowed to live inside the city walls."
"I... Is that true?!"
The Argonian's words were nothing short of a shock to her.
"Do you see now?"
Having seen the ugly underbelly of the Stormcloaks, Ha-neul suffered an internal conflict. I took the chance to persuade the confused girl again.
"The Stormcloak rebellion has thrown society into such chaos that the Thalmor are the ones profiting. The Imperial Legion only signed the treaty with the Thalmor because they had no choice if they wanted peace."
"I... I can't believe this..."
She was still reeling from the confusion.
Granted, there were rare exceptions like Brunwulf Free-Winter and a few other Nords who treated other races with kindness, but they were few and far between.
Ha-neul finally turned away, my words finally sinking in.
"To be honest, it's still hard to process..."
She seemed unable to escape the shock yet. I patted her on the shoulder.
"Let's head back and take some time to think about it."
With our unpleasant experience in Windhelm finished, we returned to Whiterun.
Naturally, we moved there in an instant thanks to my magic.
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