The Elves’ Commitment
A large crowd had gathered in the open square in front of the Rhoden palace.
"When can we expect a response from the Great Canada Forest, Dillan?" King Karlon
looked expectantly at his elven companion.
The older man ran his fingers through his beard and furrowed his brow, staring off
into the distance. "About three days, I'd say. As soon we win over the high elders, they'll
call the reinforcements."
A look of concern washed over Princess Riel's face. Her voice was low, her steel-gray
eyes pleading. "Three whole days? And we're just going to wait here?"
Dillan smiled at the young girl. "I'm sorry, Riel, but there's little else we can do. Your
father entrusted you with an incredibly important mission."
Zahar and Niena, her two bodyguards, nodded in agreement.
Zahar made a fist. "The king would be proud of you. At this very moment, he's
preparing his soldiers for war and awaiting our return."
Niena, however, took a more measured approach toward their young charge. "Besides,
there's still much for you to do here in Rhoden, princess. For example, establishing a
relationship with Princess Yuriarna will do wonders for both of our kingdoms after
this battle has run its course."
Riel lifted her head and clenched her little hands into determined fists. "Got it!"
Yuriarna, who'd been watching this whole exchange, walked over to Riel and crouched
down, looking directly into the young girl's eyes. "That's right, dear. We're cousins,
after all, and there's much for me to tell you about life here in our palace. You can teach
me about your own kingdom too."
The two princesses smiled at one another.
"All right! So does that mean we're friends now?"
I sat a little way off in the square, trying to sketch the palace and its surroundings in
my diary. This image would be essential in order for me to remember exactly where
we'd be returning when I teleported all the soldiers and supplies over to Nohzan.
I'd finished most of the outlines and was now doing the shading. I wished I had just a
little more time to get all the details of the ornately decorated palace walls just right.
A voice spoke up next me. "Well, you're quite the artist."
Prince Sekt stood beside me, wearing a cheerful grin. Despite his warm appearance,
however, there was something cold in his demeanor. Ponta tensed at his sudden
presence and retreated slightly down the back of my helmet.
"Ah, it's just a hobby."
I turned back to my teleportation diary, but I could still feel his gaze on me. I stopped
drawing again and looked up at him. He glanced at Ponta, his gaze sending my furry
companion scurrying down my back.
Sekt bowed slightly. "I look forward to the elves' response."
He turned and walked away.
"Kyiii… Kyii!"
Ponta growled after Sekt as he grew smaller in the distance. For better or worse, the
prince was a pretty typical example of human royalty. Those who wore their hearts on
their sleeves, like Riel, were definitely in the minority.
Generally, social interactions went a lot smoother when people kept tight control over
their emotions, but Ponta didn't seem to care for this attitude, probably because it
could sense what people were really feeling under their false exteriors.
Though, now that I thought about it, Chiyome also kept her emotions closely guarded.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the black-clad ninja cat girl moving about the
square silently.
Her cat ears flittered about excitedly atop her head, as if trying to pick out individual
sounds from among the din.
Though she didn't usually let her emotions show, they were often at least somewhat
evident from her animalistic body language. Ponta was probably able to pick up on
that.
Considering Chiyome's recent interactions with Niena, it wasn't entirely fair to say that
she always repressed her emotions. Rather, she just worked really hard to keep them
under control.
It was easiest to tell how she was feeling when a tasty meal was involved.
Just then, a rather large chest suddenly appeared in front of me.
"Stopped drawing, huh?"
I turned my gaze up to Ariane's face. She was right, I'd kind of given up on sketching
the rest of the palace walls.
"I guess this is good enough."
I'd gotten most of what I needed, so I closed my sketchbook and put it back into my
rucksack.
"Thanks for bringing Shiden back here."
"Grweeen!"
I heard a loud yawn that could have easily been mistaken for a roar, and Shiden
stepped out from behind Ariane.
The human guards still weren't used to the sight of the giant driftpus, and they
stumbled over themselves in an effort to get away. The scene was reminiscent of a
slapstick comedy act.
Ariane waved her hand dismissively. "It was no big deal. Anyway, did you finish your
prep work?"
"I think I have everything in order, so long as I can easily teleport back here."
Truth be told, I only really intended to return to the Rhoden Kingdom in an emergency.
Not only would having an outsider like me in the palace be a security concern for the
guards here, but it would also draw unnecessary attention.
It wasn't really the time to worry about things like this, since we were in the middle of
a war with the Holy Hilk Kingdom, but once the dust settled, I didn't want the humans
to think that all elves could teleport around at will.
Once I actually teleported all of these soldiers to the battlefield, it would become real
to them.
I expected some soldiers would casually ask about the teleportation magic and show
some interest in it, but this was far from the general attitude.
I led Shiden through the square past Dillan, Ariane, and Chiyome before stopping in
front of Princess Riel.
"Well, I have to get going, princess. However, I promise to do my best to return to you
bearing good news."
She responded with a firm nod. "I'm counting on you, Arc! I'll be waiting here for your
safe return!"
Zahar and Niena bowed to me, a gesture that I returned.
"Well, I'd best get going."
"Kyii!"
I made my way back to Ariane and prepared to teleport.
First, we'd be heading to Lalatoya, in the Great Canada Forest.
"Transport Gate!"
A large rune of light spread beneath us on the ground, then everything went dark.
The next moment, we found ourselves in front of Ariane and Dillan's home.
Glancing up, I saw faint splotches of light through the heavy leaf of the massive tree
that served as their house. Elven homes truly were splendid feats of engineering and
nature.
To the side of the tree house lay a large, well-manicured garden, currently being
tended to by a dark elf woman.
She noticed us and gave a cheerful wave. "Welcome back, dear! And Ariane, you're
back too!"
The smiling woman was Glenys, Dillan's wife and Ariane's mother.
Not only was she physically gifted, like most dark elves, but she was also the one who'd
taught Ariane the art of swordsmanship, which spoke to her skill. Before Dillan had a
chance to get out a greeting of his own, she crossed the distance and pulled her
husband into a tight embrace.
"Nnngh!"
Dillan grunted from the pressure, but somehow managed to hold up under it. He
looked both apologetic for and suspicious of his wife's sudden greeting.
The tips of Ariane's ears flushed slightly at the embarrassing reunion between her
parents.
"Take it back to your room, jeez."
With a huff, Ariane led Chiyome into the house.
Dillan wrapped his arms around his wife and looked into her eyes.
"Well," she said, "you finished sooner than I expected. Now can we finally spend some
time together and relax?"
However, the look she got in return clearly wasn't what she'd been expecting. "I'm so
sorry, Glenys. Things have actually grown even more troublesome, which is why I had
Arc bring us here. I need to go to Maple at once, to speak with the high elders."
Dillan explained the connections he'd made with the human nobility and other village
elders, until his voice gradually began trailing off.
The once-warm smile on Glenys's face faded, and her face became a blank slate. "Ah, I
see…"
Glenys was slightly taller than her husband, and between her impeccable posture and
his hunched back, the difference in height only increased. Looking at their stances, it
was easy to tell who dominated the relationship.
The silence lingered, until Glenys turned her back on Dillan and returned to the house.
Dillan brought both hands to his sides and let out a low groan. "Gah, that really hurts…"
Though he sounded absolutely gutted, one could argue that this was better than
having no one to greet you at all. I decided to mention this.
"Well, wasn't that at least better than getting the cold shoulder?"
He thought it over before letting out a chagrined laugh. "I suppose you're right. That
would be worse." He smiled warmly toward the doorway his wife had disappeared
into. "We'd best finish up this little errand before her attitude gets any worse."
I nodded and brought my fist up to my chest, giving the armor a hollow thud. "I've got
a lot to do to get my shrine back in order… but yes, I'll give it my best, Dillan."
Not one to be left out, Ponta also let out a battle cry of its own.
"Kyii! Kyii!"
Dillan let out a deep breath, looking relieved. "All right then. I should head to Maple
right away. They'll need to convene a meeting of the high elders, but I think it would
do a lot of good if you attended as well. I'll need to get permission before you can enter,
though, so please be ready to leave by tomorrow."
I, of course, readily agreed. It had been my dream to set foot in the Great Canada Forest
capital of Maple.
"Roger that."
"All right, I'll be going."
Dillan waved over his shoulder at me and made his way toward the village's
teleportation shrine.
"Grweeeeeeeeeeeeeen!"
Not wanting to be forgotten, Shiden let out a loud roar and gave the empty saddle on
its back a frustrated shake.
I ran a hand through the furry white mane that ran down Shiden's back, eliciting an
excited sound halfway between a growl and a purr.
"Ah, right, buddy. How about I take you back to the shrine and replenish my supply of
spring water? How does that sound?"
"Kyiiiii!"
Ponta let out another cry to remind me that it was way past lunchtime.
"I know, I know. First, let's head back, and then we'll worry about food."
With that, I used Transport Gate to take us back to our forest shrine.
***
Ariane stretched luxuriously the moment she entered her house, in an attempt to work
the tension out of her muscles.
Chiyome followed her, and Glenys was close on both their heels. The older woman's
cheeks were puffed out in barely concealed anger, quite a different look from the
gentle smile she'd worn just moments ago.
Ariane called out to her mother as she stormed past. "What happened with Father?"
Glenys spun, her face contorted in anger. "Your father, Ariane, apparently has to go see
the high elders in Maple on some sort of big, important business. I thought he'd come
back early… Instead, he let me get my hopes up, then threw them away and went to
Maple!"
Ariane was a bit taken aback by her mother's behavior. Sure, her anger was justified,
but it was incredible that she'd managed not to let it out on Ariane's father.
Glenys had had an illustrious career as a soldier, and was known for hunting down
monsters throughout the Great Canada Forest. In combat, she could read an
opponent's tells before they even had a chance to strike.
There was just no way that Dillan could have teleported into Lalatoya and kept Glenys
from learning that he'd entered the village. Dillan didn't have any sort of military
training at all, so he was unable to keep track of where Glenys might be at any given
time.
Ariane sighed. She couldn't help but side with her father on this issue. It really wasn't
his fault.
"If he's already on his way, I guess that means we won't be going anywhere today."
She was speaking more to herself than to anyone else, but it made her realize
something: There was someone missing.
"Hey, Chiyome, where's Arc?"
"Hmm?"
Chiyome leaned out the open door to look around, then pulled back in and shook her
head.
"I don't see him or Shiden anywhere. I'm guessing they went back to the shrine so
Shiden could run free."
Ariane nodded.
Realizing that they were still wearing their battle gear and packs, Ariane gestured for
Chiyome to follow her upstairs.
"I guess we'll just take it easy for the rest of the day. There's no way the elders in Maple
will finish anytime soon. We have a spare room you can use."
Chiyome hesitated as she watched Ariane walk up the stairs, but then she shook her
head and followed soundlessly after the elven woman.
"Thank you for your hospitality."
Ariane just smiled, leading Chiyome to the room she'd be staying in for the night.
After getting Chiyome situated, Ariane went back to her own room, took off her leather
armor and sword, and put on the traditional tunic worn by many around town.
"Aaaah…"
She let out a deep sigh of relief at the sudden freedom of no longer having her large
chest confined. She then reached up to untie her hair and let it fall down her back.
With that done, she dropped back onto her bed, enjoying the feel of her lazy clothes
and the familiar scent of her own room.
Her mind went to Chiyome, left alone in a strange room she didn't know. She suddenly
felt a strong desire to check up on the girl and hopped back to her feet.
Upon stepping out of her room, Ariane found Chiyome looking up and down the
hallway hesitantly. She was no longer wearing her traditional ninja gear.
"Is everything okay, Chiyome?"
Chiyome tensed up, her tail going straight. "Ah, no, I… well, I just can't seem to relax.
My mind keeps going back to my comrades in Nohzan and Goemon in Delfrent."
The cat ears atop her head drooped as she spoke.
Ariane looked the younger girl over. She'd already taken off her gauntlets and shin
guards, but she was still dressed in all black. There was no way she could relax like
that.
A thought sprang to mind, and she dashed back to her room to get a set of clothes for
her younger friend. She knew just the perfect thing.
Ariane wore a large grin on her face as she held the clothes out to the ninja girl.
"So, what do you think, Chiyome? These were mine when I was younger, but I want
you to have them. Wanna try them on?"
Chiyome blinked her large azure eyes several times as she tried catching up to Ariane.
She slowly accepted the elven tunic and examined it.
Ariane wagged a finger in front of Chiyome's face. "Fretting won't do you any good
right now, so there's no sense in worrying! All you can do is try to relax, eat good food,
and get some rest. You'll never be able to fight if you don't take care of yourself,
Chiyome. At least, that's what grandpa always says."
Chiyome was grateful for Ariane's attempt to help her, and she started unfolding the
tunic in her hands.
Mountain people weren't affluent by any stretch of the imagination, and she'd rarely
possessed more than the bare minimum needed to survive. The outfit she held was
made of dark, earth-toned cloth, and was covered in beautifully embroidered patterns.
She stroked her fingers across it, enjoying the luxurious feel of the fabric. Her flittering
ears and wagging tail gave away her excitement far more than the expression on her
face ever could.
Ariane smiled down at the younger girl, but before she could say anything more, she
was interrupted by the sound of a stomach growling loudly.
Both women instantly put their hands to their bellies and glanced down, unsure
exactly who'd produced the sound. They looked up and locked eyes.
Ariane let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Well, I'm famished. I'll go ask Mom if there's
anything to eat."
She started off toward the kitchen at a slow jog.
"Mooooooom! Ya got anything to eat?"
The response wasn't what she'd been hoping for. "I haven't gotten anything ready yet,
dear. Besides, shouldn't you wash up first? You've been away for quite a while."
Glenys's annoyance was still evident in her voice.
Ariane pulled up the collar of her tunic and leaned her head down to sniff. Honestly,
she didn't think she smelled all that bad, but her chest did tend to get a bit musty from
being confined under leather all day. Besides, it'd hardly hurt to clean up while her
mother was cooking.
She headed back to Chiyome to suggest they wash up. "Hey, Chiyome, it's time for a
bath!"
Ariane didn't leave any room for argument, instead taking the younger girl's hand and
dragging her back downstairs. She threw open the front door.
Suddenly, she paused.
Chiyome, still not entirely sold on this idea, looked back up at Ariane in confusion. She
glanced around outside.
"What is it, Ariane?"
Ariane ignored Chiyome's question and narrowed her brow as she glanced around.
After a few moments of silence, she let out a dramatic sigh.
"I was hoping to have Arc take us to the hot spring outside his shrine, but it looks like
he's still not back. I thought he'd just gone to drop off Shiden…"
Chiyome's ears twitched. "Maybe Arc also decided to stop by the hot spring?"
Ariane could see Arc in her mind's eye, relaxing in the warm water. She glowered and
slumped her shoulders.
"You're probably right, Chiyome. I doubt he'll be back for a while."
One of Ariane's eyebrows twitched in annoyance. She ran her finger along it
absentmindedly.
"Oh well, guess we'll just have to use our own bath."
She dragged Chiyome toward the back of the house, out a door, and down a covered
path running through the private garden behind her home.
At the end of the path sat a small, mushroom-shaped building, a little way off from the
main house. Ariane opened up the door, revealing a changing room, and pulled
Chiyome in with her. She closed and locked the door behind them.
"We'll work up a good sweat here first, and then get some food in us. Hurry up and
undress."
Ariane grabbed the rope holding her tunic closed and gave it a tug, exposing her curvy
body to the open air.
Chiyome stood in silence, crossing her arms self-consciously over her still developing
chest.
"What's wrong?"
Ariane looked back at Chiyome in confusion, her perfect body on display. The young
girl shook her head and started stripping away her ninja garb.
The two women put their clothes in the wicker baskets sitting atop the shelves that
lined the walls of the changing room. Ariane then opened a pair of sliding doors
decorated with frosted glass and led the way into the bathing room.
In the middle of the room was a large tub built into the ground. It was lined with wood,
and hot water lapped against the sides in little waves.
Ariane made her way across the stone floor to a metal pipe built into one of the walls.
She waved Chiyome over and turned a knob on the pipe, sending warm water spraying
out over their heads from a faucet in the ceiling. Chiyome instinctively covered her
delicate cat ears.
A moment later, she felt Ariane's hands delicately running through her hair to wash
out the dirt. The older woman let out a gentle laugh.
"Your hair… It's all plastered against your head, Chiyome!"
She massaged Chiyome's scalp. The cat girl let her eyes close, basking in the sensation,
her tail wagging excitedly behind her.
Warm water was precious resource back in Chiyome's village. The idea of using it on
something as frivolous as this was unimaginable.
This was also the first time anyone had ever washed her hair for her.
Though she absolutely loved soaking in the hot spring outside the abandoned
mountain shrine, the feeling of having her head massaged under a shower of warm
water was pure bliss.
Her lips curled up ever so slightly, and she let out a small sigh as the tension began
melting from her body. Ariane continued rubbing her head, treating Chiyome like the
little sister she'd never had.
"Your hair's so beautiful, Chiyome. I'm jealous."
Chiyome was perplexed by this, and turned to face Ariane, her gaze gliding past the
older woman's delicate, snow-white hair to look her in the eyes.
"Really? I've always thought your hair was quite beautiful, Ariane."
Ariane smiled at the younger girl. "Thank you, Chiyome. But it's only natural to be
jealous of what other people have."
Chiyome's eyes dropped to Ariane's chest. "I guess…"
Ariane laughed, all too aware of what Chiyome was thinking. She crossed both arms
under her bountiful chest to make it even more pronounced.
"Oh, you wish you had something like this?"
Chiyome's face skewed into a complicated expression. She tried imagining herself in
the body of Tsubone, one of her peers in the Jinshin clan.
"Honestly, they seem kinda heavy. I can't imagine it feels great when they get sweaty."
She rolled her shoulders back and let them drop again, as if considering the weight.
Once the two finished washing off, they slipped into the tub and relaxed in silence, the
only sound that of dew dripping down from the ceiling to land in the tub with a faint
splash.
Ariane broke the silence. Her words echoed throughout the room. "The more I think
about it, the more amazing it all seems."
Chiyome nodded, sensing what the other woman was thinking.
These two had spent their lives freeing their comrades who'd been tortured and
enslaved at the hands of humans. They'd tried to disguise themselves and sneak
around human towns in order to accomplish this. It was hardly an easy task.
That had all changed for both of them when they'd met Arc.
Arc used his peerless abilities to help them save even more of their enslaved comrades
than they'd ever thought possible. Since he never turned down an opportunity to help,
they'd now managed to free the slaves in entire countries.
"Once this battle's over," Chiyome mused, "there will be so many freed slaves that I
don't think we'll even be able count them all. The Jinshin clan will have its hands full
trying to figure out where to put them."
Ariane nodded. "Maybe the human kingdoms will even change a bit, once the Hilk
church falls out of favor."
Chiyome tapped her finger on the surface of the water and watched the ripples spread
in all directions. "Do you think there's a bright future awaiting our peoples?"
Ariane could only shrug. "It's hard to say. I think it'll be better than it has been."
"What do you think Arc'll wind up doing?"
This innocent question brought a smile to Ariane's lips.
"The same as usual. He'll keep on helping people and sticking his nose in anything and
everything that interests him… and then wind up blowing everything up in the
process."
The two women shared a laugh.
A peaceful calm once again descended on the room. They sat in the silence for some
time until a light growling sound interrupted their thoughts. Ariane stood up; it was
her stomach reminding her that it was time to eat.
"C'mon, we'd better hurry! Arc'll be back any minute, and I'm sure Ponta's starving!"
Chiyome followed quickly after Ariane, and the two left the bath behind.
***
In Maple, the elven capital of the Great Canada Forest, Dillan sat in the waiting room
of a magnificent tree house not unlike his own back in Lalatoya.
Sitting across from him was a large dark elf, the owner of this home. His muscles rippled
under his amethyst skin. A large scar running from the edge of his short-cropped
white hair and down the side of his face only made him look more intimidating.
He ran his fingers through his long white beard and fixed Dillan with an intense stare.
The man's name was Fangas Flan Maple, one of the central council's ten high elders.
He also happened to be Ariane's maternal grandfather, which made him Dillan's
father-in-law.
Fangas hung on Dillan's every word. "I see… Things really have taken a turn out there."
He crossed his muscular arms and snorted.
Dillan had just finished explaining the events that had unfolded in the Nohzan
Kingdom. It was all rather hard to believe.
Fangas knew that his son-in-law wasn't joking, of course, but that didn't make the
story anymore believable.
"Right when I thought we'd finally made some major in-roads with the Rhoden
Kingdom, here they are demanding the Nohzan Kingdom agree to all sorts of terms."
The high elder groaned, eliciting an apologetic bow from Dillan. However, when he
looked back up, Fangas wore a broad grin on his face. None of this was Dillan's fault,
as far as he was concerned.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been practically treasonous for Dillan to
have acted on his own like this. However, the terms he'd gotten the humans to agree
to were quite favorable.
"I suppose what's done is done. Besides, the terms are incredibly advantageous
toward us, even if they're only giving us rights that we should have been granted to
begin with. The bigger concern is whether this king can actually get his nobles to abide
by the new law."
Despite clearly having grown up on the battlefield, Fangas's concern with the human
legal system was one of many reasons why he'd been made a high elder.
Dillan agreed with Fangas's assessment. "That is certainly true. However, since the
humans do agree to abide by these terms, then I think it's incumbent upon us to hold
up our end of the bargain and provide them with soldiers. I doubt an opportunity like
this will come around again, so it's in our best interest to send troops."
Fangas continued stroking his beard, furrowing his brow as he listened to Dillan.
The implications this had for such a vast swath of land as the Nohzan Kingdom—not
to mention Brahniey, in the neighboring Salma Kingdom—were quite impressive.
According to Dillan's story, the Salma and Delfrent kingdoms were likely already a lost
cause. Reports that the capitals had fallen were already starting to trickle in.
Even if the ruling elite had somehow managed to survive, it would be difficult for them
to rule their kingdoms as they once had.
So, what would their next step be? Would a stable power in the region annex the lands
of all the remaining nobility, perhaps offering the nobles their protection?
In short, if Brahniey and the Nohzan Kingdom remained standing after this war, would
the nobles of the neighboring fallen kingdoms rise up together to form their own
fiefdoms, or would they seek out the strength of the remaining regional powers?
If the elves of Canada could join the Nohzan Kingdom and suppress the threat, then
there was little chance that any of the remaining nobles would risk an encounter with
a country backed by elves.
What's more, the current terms also dictated that all the mountain people be set free.
Fangas and his brethren were already in negotiations with the Rhoden Kingdom to
have similar terms put in place here, and they were making some headway under
Princess Yuriarna's leadership, though the king seemed uninterested in the idea.
If they were able to push this through, the mountain people would likely be the first
out of bondage in the Nohzan Kingdom, which might push the Rhoden Kingdom to
follow suit.
After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Fangas locked eyes with his son-in-law.
He let out a low groan. "Hmph. The problem is that we don't have much time to get
this written down on paper and distributed to all the necessary officials. Those in
opposition will make the obvious point that there are no assurances that the humans
will make good on their promises once we dispatch our forces."
Dillan offered a reassuring smile. "I don't believe that will be a problem. Considering
what Arc did back there, few would want to risk standing up against someone so
powerful."
Fangas grinned broadly as he thought about the havoc Arc had unleashed.
"Still, having the power to wipe out an army of nearly 100,000 undead… that's nearly
on par with a Dragon Lord. If Ariane herself hadn't attested to this feat, I'd never
believe it."
Before Fangas ever joined the high elders, he'd risen through the ranks as a soldier,
and was still well-known among the military class for his fighting prowess. But even
though he'd unleashed all manner of destruction upon his foes, none of it was
anywhere near the level of a Dragon Lord's power.
"I didn't see the actual events unfold, of course, but from what I saw of the capital in
Saureah, I'd agree with you."
Dillan had only heard about the events from Ariane and Chiyome, but the sheer
wonton destruction surrounding the capital, and the endless fields filled with the
charred remains of undead, spoke to the immense power that had been unleashed.
Princess Riel and her guard had also witnessed the event. While many commoners in
the capital still believed this to be the work of an angel, the king's advisors knew the
truth.
"We just need to prove to the rest of the high elders that there's no way the humans
would turn back on their promise now that they knew of Arc's power. So…"
Fangas gave a wide, toothy grin. "So you'd like permission for Arc to enter Maple to
attend a meeting of the high elders? First off, are you even sure that he is an elf? I
mean, he looks quite… different."
"That much I'm sure of. I've had Ariane keep an eye on him, and from what I've heard,
he has all the characteristics of an elf. In fact, he's even become a member of our
village."
The older man let out a sigh at this revelation. "Well, if you've already accepted him as
one of your own, then you hardly need my permission."
"Considering his rather… unique traits, I think it would do some good to have a few
more supporters in his camp. Between his black hair, red eyes, and darker complexion,
he tends to stand out."
This made sense to Fangas. "While there certainly have been elves with different
colored hair in the past, he truly is a unique specimen. It's probably best to address
that from the get-go."
There had been elves who looked like him in the past, but they were considered
peculiarities.
The most notable example was Evanjulin, the founding elder of the Great Canada
Forest. Though technically an elf, by most standards, she had some traits that were
entirely unique to her.
One of these traits was her rather large chest.
In terms of voluptuousness, dark elven women were unmatched. However, according
to the stories, Evanjulin was even more incredible to behold. This could also be seen
in her descendants, as all the women in Evanjulin's line of succession were wellendowed.
In addition to the founding elder, there were others with unique traits. The Great
Canada Forest was known to welcome all elves who'd been driven out of the plains,
which led to a fair amount of diversity. Maple also served as the last bastion of the
dwarves, a species largely believed to have been wiped off the face of the planet,
though this was generally kept secret from the humans.
Fangas finally addressed the awkward issue the two had been dancing around. "I'm
guessing not much needs to be said about how useful his teleportation magic would
be to us. On that point alone, I don't think anyone would even think about denying him
entry into Maple."
The two men were in full agreement. The reason for this was also quite simple.
Evanjulin had also been known to use teleportation magic, and she was the one who'd
created the magical teleportation shrines throughout the Great Canada Forest.
The teleportation shrines were a matter of daily life to the elves, but the founding elder
was the last living person known to use teleportation magic. This left the elves unable
to create any new teleportation shrines, which potentially made Arc an even more
valuable resource.
Dillan had one last concern that he wanted to clear up.
"Now, about the reinforcements we've requested… We'll be facing a vast enemy, and I
have doubts about whether we can actually win through traditional combat. I was
hoping that the central council would consider calling on a Dragon Lord."
Dillan frowned at his own request. As they'd just touched on, Dragon Lords were
known for the immense power they wielded. They were practically peerless in terms
of raw power.
There were four Dragon Lords currently living in the Great Canada Forest. They served
as guardians to the elves.
While it wasn't entirely without precedent for the elves to ask a Dragon Lord to join
them in battle, this had only happened when Canada itself was under attack. The
Dragon Lords were merely performing their roles as guardians.
There was also the fact that the elves had never engaged in any large-scale military
maneuvers that might call for mobilizing the Dragon Lords. Plus, Dragon Lords tended
to be free spirits, traveling the lands as they pleased. They weren't exactly easy to
contact.
Fangas leaned forward and gave Dillan a few hearty slaps on the shoulder. "That can
certainly be arranged! In fact, just the other day, the Dragon Lord Felfi Visrotte
accompanied Eevin back to Maple. We can ask her ourselves."
Fangas let out a boisterous laugh at the wide-eyed look Dillan on Dillan's face.
"Felfi Visrotte has really come here?! And with my own Eevin?!"
An image of Dillan's elder daughter sprang to mind. He shook his head and steered the
conversation back on track.
"That's not important right now. I'd like to ask you to do whatever it takes to convene
a meeting of the high elders tomorrow. I will be meeting with several others shortly,
in order to lay the groundwork."
"Understood. Can I leave Arc to you?"
"He'll be here tomorrow."
Dillan stood and bowed to his father-in-law, then left the room.
After seeing Dillan off, Fangas made his way to a large war hammer hanging from the
wall. He gave it a few good swings, the weapon tearing through the air with a loud
whoosh.
The high elder grinned.
"It'll be nice to be back on the battlefield."
***
I arrived at the teleportation shrine in Lalatoya just as the sun began peeking over the
mountains off to the east.
The shrine was of similar construction to Dillan's house, and was crowned with a
massive network of leaves and branches spreading every which way, casting dark
shadows around the base of the tree.
I was joined at the entrance by my faithful helmet companion, Ponta; Ariane, who was
desperately fighting back a yawn; and Dillan, who would be serving as our guide.
Chiyome, unfortunately, hadn't been granted permission to enter Maple, since she was
one of the mountain people, so she would stay in Lalatoya with Glenys.
After entering the shrine, we found ourselves in a large hall with a vaulted ceiling and
pillars running along the perimeter. A circular platform had been built in the center of
the room, its intricate runes glowing eerily upon it.
The shrine's attendant spoke with Dillan briefly before directing us to step aboard the
platform. After the teleportation pad was turned on, the runes let off a blinding flash,
and I suddenly felt as if I were floating.
When my eyes adjusted again, we were in an entirely different place.
No, that wasn't exactly true. We were actually in a very similar place, except the
building was a lot bigger and more ornate than the one we'd just left, and there were
multiple teleportation pads here. We were now in the teleportation shrine in Maple.
There were also a lot of guards in the room.
Dillan spoke briefly with them before receiving permission to leave the building. We
made our way toward the exit.
"So, I finally get to see Maple!"
"Kyii!"
Even given the dire circumstances that had brought us here, I was excited about the
opportunity to see the elven capital. My excitement was so contagious that it even
spread to Ponta, who let out a cheerful mew and wagged its tail in anticipation.
The cottontail fox attracted a great deal of attention from the elves we walked past,
probably due to how rare it was to see spirit creatures out in the open.
It hit me just how different things were here when compared to the quaint little village
of Lalatoya. Maple was a massive, sprawling city full of towering tree buildings as far
as the eye could see. Everywhere I looked, elves went about their day.
Thanks to the large number of shops that lined the streets, and the staff in front of
them trying to drive traffic inside, a huge crowd had already formed despite the early
hour. It was nothing like what I'd seen even in the largest of the human towns. An
indescribable sense of wonder welled up within me.
I also noticed that there were some non-elves mixed into the crowd, much shorter
than the rest. They couldn't have been more than 130 centimeters tall.
If it were their height alone that was different, I would have written them off as elven
children, but these figures looked quite a bit different from the elves. They had
muscular arms as thick as logs, barrel-chested bodies, and thick beards that grew to
their waist. Their ears were pointed, but nowhere near as much as the elves. My eyes
followed a few of them as they moved through the crowd in front of us.
"Are those…?"
Ariane cut me off before I could finish. "Yep, those're dwarves. They were wiped out
of existence in the human countries a long time ago, but quite a few of them still live
here in Maple."
Dillan tossed a warning back over his shoulder. "Remember, don't tell the humans
anything about their existence here."
Ponta and I both nodded, swearing ourselves to silence.
As Dillan led the way through the busy city streets, Ariane filled me in on how the
dwarves had come to live here, and why their existence was such a closely guarded
secret.
"Huh, so the dwarves were hunted for their superior blacksmithing skills?"
Ariane concluded her short history lesson. "Our founding elder, Evanjulin, was the one
who decided to offer the dwarves our protection, which is why you must never speak
of them outside Maple. Do you understand, Arc?"
She looked deep into my eyes, as if to emphasize the point.
"I understand. I'm a Lalatoya now, after all." I puffed my chest out with pride.
"Kyii!" Ponta chimed in as well.
I noticed that we were attracting a fair bit of attention, though there wasn't much we
could do about it, given how much a hulking knight in gleaming silver armor tended
to stand out.
Ariane didn't seem to care for this, and hurried after her father. I had to double my
speed to avoid getting left behind.
Everywhere I looked in Maple, there was something new and exciting. Even the
towering apartment complexes built into the trunks of the massive trees seemed to be
a beautiful amalgamation of nature and science fiction.
I was especially taken with the aerial walkways suspended between the buildings,
something that would be difficult to pull off using even the most sophisticated
techniques back in my world.
I started falling a little too far behind for Ariane's liking. I felt her grab the collar of my
cloak and yank me along after her as she tried catching up to Dillan.
"Listen, I understand this is all new to you, but you can come back for a tour some
other time. Right now, we've got Chiyome and a slew of other people counting on us,
so we've gotta focus."
She had a point. I'd let the excitement get to my head. "I'm sorry, Ariane. It's just all
so… different."
We arrived at a large, open space, at the center of which stood an enormous tower. At
the very top, a modest amount of leaf cover spread out in all directions.
The tree tower was both thicker around and taller than the Lord Crown, bringing
baobabs to mind, though it was difficult to accept the fact that the thing standing
before me was an actual, living tree.
It reminded me of…
"It's like a real-life Tower of Babel."
Soldiers stood guard at the entrance built into the base of the tree. Their eyes all
instantly fell on me as I approached.
One of the guards called out to Dillan. After a brief word, we were quickly waved in
through the entrance and into the expansive lobby.
Looking ahead, I spotted a large reception desk staffed by several smiling receptionists.
The whole scene was reminiscent of a lobby in an upscale office building.
One of the receptionists made a gesture as soon as he spotted Dillan. A woman came
out from a back room and motioned for us to follow her. She led the group to a space
with several large, cylindrical rooms, and directed us to enter one of them.
The cylinder was somewhat on the small side, and consisted of a large platform with
a large, round crystal set in the center.
The woman reached out and pressed her hand against the surface of the crystal,
causing it to glow. I suddenly felt as if I was ascending.
"Huh?"
From what I could tell, the floor was silently moving up through the cylinder, gliding
so easily along the walls that it was almost hard to tell what was happening. It took
me a moment to realize that this was an elevator, though it seemed almost insulting to
refer to it as such considering the technology at work here. The floor was simply
floating up the shaft, with no wires or supports of any kind.
I'd always figured that elevators like this were the domain of sci-fi anime, but seeing
it at play suggested otherwise. I walked around the room, enjoying the strange
sensation of the floor moving beneath me.
The woman smiled shyly at my strange behavior, though Ariane didn't seem to find it
so cute. Her cheeks burned red, and she covered her face.
The floor slowed below us before coming to a stop. The woman gestured for us to
follow her out.
We found ourselves in a corridor that ran along the outer perimeter of the tower,
giving us a view of the entire city of Maple.
I made my way to the window and looked down. "This view is absolutely
breathtaking…"
I could see a forest of tree buildings, along with something that looked like a stadium.
Directly in front of me, a massive lake stretched as far as the eye could see. A fine
morning mist hung low over it, but I could still see the vague outlines of ships moving
across its surface.
The sheer beauty of the scene cut me to the core. A part of me wished that I could
nominate it as a world heritage site. But, when I thought about it, there were a lot of
places in this world that deserved to be considered heritage sites. It was hard to say
where to draw the line.
From the valley of the Dragon Wonder, which tore through the earth, to the Lord
Crown, home of the Dragon Lord; from the Calcut mountain range, dominated by
powerful monsters, to the Black Forest, down on the southern continent; there was no
shortage of natural beauty here.
My wonder was cut short, however, as Ariane's hand grabbed my collar and yanked
me back to reality once more.
"If you don't hurry up, I'm just going to leave you here."
I turned to find an annoyed look on Ariane's face. Behind her, I could see Dillan and
the other elf waiting for us.
"Ah, I'm sorry."
I mumbled an apology and hurried over to where they stood, in front of a pair of ornate
doors with flowering vines carved into them.
As Dillan and I had discussed beforehand, I unhooked the waterskin hanging from my
waist and slipped the reed straw through the gap in my helmet to drink the mystical
water I'd picked up that morning from the mystical spring near the Lord Crown.
The other elf took this opportunity to slide into the room, closing the door behind her.
A moment later, she stepped back out and told Dillan that we had permission to enter.
We found ourselves in a large, open room that was only modestly decorated, devoid of
the excesses we'd seen on our way up here. At the center of the room stood a large,
circular table with eleven people sitting around it. It had no positions of high or lower
rank.
The majority of the attendees were elves, though I did notice a burly dark elf, as well
as someone who looked like a dwarf I'd seen earlier this morning. These must have
been the ten high elders of the Great Canada Forest and the grandchild of Evanjulin,
otherwise known as the third founder.
Some of the high elders were leaning over and whispering among themselves. Their
eyes were on me, but I figured this was pretty normal, given the armor I walked
around in. People loved to talk.
A reserved-looking man sat at the far end of the table. "I'd say it's been a while, Elder
Dillan, but we've seen you quite frequently as of late."
He appeared to be in his forties, and wore his long, green-tinted blond hair tied up
with an intricately braided ribbon. He also wore a necklace, and several decorative
pieces of jewelry, but there was nothing pretentious about his demeanor.
The man had a strict, stately look about him. I could tell at once that this was the third
founder, Briahn Bond Evanjulin Maple.
The whole room went silent.
Dillan made his way to the elder and bowed, before turning to greet everyone else in
the room.
"Thank you all for coming here on such short notice. I appreciate you taking time out
of your busy schedules."
Founder Briahn smiled. "I see great value in this opportunity, which is why I made the
arrangements to gather everyone here today."
Several of the elders in the room looked taken aback by this. Did it mean that Founder
Briahn was in favor of supporting this action? Things had gone askew before the
meeting even started.
Dillan smiled brightly and nodded one last time to Briahn before turning to face the
rest of those seated. "Now, before I get into the matter we're here to discuss, I'd like to
introduce my companion, and the newest member of Lalatoya Village, Arc."
Several people exchanged skeptical looks at this.
I stepped forward and slowly raised my hand to my helmet—a sign for Ponta to hop
down to my shoulder so I could take it off.
"My name is Arc Lalatoya. I look forward to working with you in the future."
I gave a small bow, Ponta clinging to my shoulder for balance, then looked back up at
those gathered. I caught several smiles, but they seemed to be directed at Ponta more
than me.
The high elders looked me over and openly discussed their misgivings.
"He certainly looks different."
"I've never heard of any elves with red eyes and black hair."
"His ears are certainly elven, and he's built like a dark elf."
"I didn't expect him to look so strange."
Apparently, at least some of them had been told about me beforehand.
Once the murmuring died down, Dillan spoke up again. "Arc accompanied me to the
Ruanne Forest, along with my daughter, Ariane, and a girl belonging to the mountain
people. After we parted ways, they went on to a human country known as the Nohzan
Kingdom. On their way, they encountered a member of the Nohzan royal family, who
requested their services."
This was met with several confused looks.
"I'll keep the story short, but essentially, Arc offered to take on this request in exchange
for the royal family imposing a new law. Much to everyone's surprise, they agreed."
Dillan reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. He unfolded it and set
it down in the center of the table.
"I apologize for the crude map, but the Nohzan Kingdom is located here. For reference,
here is the Ruanne Forest and the village of Drant, where our comrades live."
One of the high elders raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, but what does this map have to
do with what you were just talking about? Can you get to the point?"
Founder Briahn silenced the man with a stern look. The high elder crossed his arms
and leaned back in his chair, nodding for Dillan to continue.
"Thank you. As I was saying, I'm sure you're aware of the fact that we sent
reinforcements to Drant after they suffered heavy casualties at the hands of an enemy.
However, does anyone know where that enemy came from, or what their motives
were?"
Dillan looked around the table. When no one responded, he continued.
"Originally we'd just written the attackers off as monsters, but it's come to light that
Drant was, in fact, attacked by undead soldiers created by humans."
The high elders stared back in surprise at this information.
"You mean to say that humans were able to create undead?"
"That's inconceivable! I've never heard of such a thing!"
"Now wait just a minute! How did you come to this conclusion?"
Dillan ignored these questions. "We learned of these human-made undead straight
from the mouth of one of the high-ranking officials in the organization that created
them—a cardinal of the Holy Hilk Kingdom, essentially the equivalent of a high elder."
The high elders exchanged glances. They still seemed unconvinced about the accuracy
of this information.
"This cardinal used the undead to attack the Nohzan Kingdom, which is the threat that
Arc and his comrades put an end to. By the time the information reached me, it had
come to light that the situation was far worse."
Dillan tapped the Salma and Delfrent kingdoms on the map, and indicated where their
respective capitals were thought to be located.
"The Holy Hilk Kingdom formed its undead soldiers into multiple armies and attacked
the capital of the Salma Kingdom with approximately 200,000 soldiers. Among their
ranks are some of the same monsters that attacked Drant."
Founder Briahn closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, though it looked as if he'd
already heard about this.
I was impressed that, despite their shock and disbelief, none of the high elders
interrupted Dillan as he spoke. In fact, several of them had assumed similar postures
to Founder Briahn, suggesting that they'd also already been told about these events,
and knew them to be true.
One of the others spoke up. "Assuming what you say is true, does this mean that the
group that attacked Drant was just a scouting party? And that the full force will soon
be descending?"
Dillan nodded. He pointed back to the map. "The capital of Delfrent was also attacked,
with an army of around the same size. According to our most recent reports, both
capitals have now fallen. This means that an army of nearly 400,000 is encircling the
Nohzan Kingdom, as well as our reinforcements in Drant."
Another high elder raised her hand. She wore a puzzled look on her face. "I'm not sure
I understand. Of course we need to do what we can to save our fellow elves, but what's
the reasoning behind rushing to the aid of this Nohzan Kingdom? What's the point?"
Several high elders nodded in agreement.
"I think it's time to discuss the terms that Arc arranged as payment for his assistance.
You see, he insisted that the humans free all enslaved elves and mountain people
immediately, and completely outlaw the practice going forward."
Many of the elders looked shocked.
"And the humans actually accepted such terms?! What could he possibly have offered
them in return?"
It was a fair question.
Dillan hadn't actually mentioned yet that we'd wiped out an army of 100,000 undead.
There was a reason for this. If we came out of the gate with such absurd-sounding
claims, it would hurt the believability of the rest of our conversation.
"A noble overseeing the neighboring lands has also agreed to these terms. Therefore,
it is in our best interest that these countries survive. Two kingdoms have already fallen
to the undead armies of the Holy Hilk Kingdom, which means that only two influential
humans remain in the region. If they, too, were to fall, that would put a quick end to
this bright future we've secured."
This seemed to shake the high elders, though Founder Briahn was the first to speak.
"Be that as it may, there's a more important issue at play here. We can take this as an
opportunity to reveal how unjust the Holy Hilk Kingdom truly is. The two rulers have
agreed to attest to the wrongs committed by the cardinal, and the pontiff himself, and
stand against them, which will allow us to put an end to the Hilk religion once and for
all."
Most of the high elders were quick to voice their agreement, though there was one
who expressed doubt, choosing his words carefully, so as not to offend the founder.
"B-but what proof do we have that the humans will make good on their promises? I'm
worried that they'll turn their backs on us as soon as the threat has passed."
The high elder next to him grinned at this. "Then I suppose we'd better show them
just how strong we really are, so the thought won't even cross their minds."
Many elders nodded in agreement with her suggestion.
It was Dillan's turn to drive the point home. "Whether we help the humans or not, in
the end, we simply cannot avoid a fight with these human-made undead." Some
around the table looked skeptical, so he continued. "I beg of you to think this through.
We aren't yet sure how the Holy Hilk Kingdom has managed to produce undead, but I
believe we can with certainty say that they're using some kind of dark arts."
An awkward silence fell over the room.
Founder Briahn spoke up. "Corpses. It has to be."
The entire room tensed. It was something that everyone had guessed, but no one
wanted to acknowledge. The undead we'd encountered so far were all humanoid in
form and outfitted in metal armor.
The ingredients to make each undead warrior were relatively simple: armor, weapons,
and, of course, a body.
The big question, then, was where were they getting all these bodies.
In the case of the Hilk church, the most obvious answer was from their cemeteries.
We weren't exactly sure what happened to the bodies of the undead we'd already
killed, or to the citizens who fell at the hands of the undead, but it seemed entirely
plausible that the corpses could be taken back to the Holy Hilk Kingdom in order to
provide more raw materials for their armies.
Basically, they could be multiplying like rabbits.
Considering how easily the neighboring kingdoms had accepted the Holy Hilk's
teachings and handed over the elves and mountain people, it was pretty easy to
imagine what made up the majority of these armies.
Ariane turned her golden eyes toward me as she came to this same conclusion.
The high elders scowled, but no one offered a better idea of how to address the issue.
The room fell into silence once more.
If we were to leave the Hilk alone, it would be all the more difficult to stand up to them
later. We were left with no option, other than to fight.
One of the high elders cleared his throat. "I understand that we simply cannot ignore
the Holy Hilk Kingdom any longer. Given this, we need to figure out how to send our
forces to join the fight. Do we even have enough boats between Saskatoon and
Landfrea?"
Another elder piped up. "Transportation is certainly an issue, but there's also the
problem of sheer numbers. Even if we were to assemble all the soldiers from every
village throughout Canada, at best we could bring together an army of around 10,000.
How much help would this actually be in the face of 400,000 undead?"
The high elders all began talking animatedly about the logistics.
"We actually have a solution to both of these problems," Dillan said. "First, concerning
transportation, Arc has something to share."
Dillan turned to me. Apparently, that was my signal to show off what I could do.
"Dimensional Step!"
As all eyes focused on me, I disappeared, only to reappear behind Founder Briahn. The
high elders looked around frantically, their eyes so wide they threatened to pop out of
their sockets.
"He's gone!"
"What in the name of…?!"
The first to spot me was the hulking dark elf named Fangas—Ariane's grandfather.
Founder Briahn simply looked over his shoulder and smiled.
"Teleportation magic… We haven't seen this since the time of the founding elder."
The men and women around the room finally noticed me, shocked expressions on
their faces. Even those who'd already heard about this from Dillan couldn't seem to
believe their eyes. Apparently, hearing about something and seeing it in practice were
entirely different.
One of the high elders looked incredibly excited by this development. "If this really is
teleportation magic, then I'm beyond impressed! May I ask how many you can bring
with you?"
The high elders awaited my answer.
"I actually have two types of teleportation magic at my disposal: short- and long-range.
I just showed you my short-range teleportation magic. My long-range teleportation
magic allows me to travel to any location that I've previously visited, regardless of
distance. The only restriction is that I need to have a clear memory of the location.
Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to test the exact limits of how much I can bring
with me, so that I cannot say."
All eyes in the room were fixed on me. One by one, the elders asked questions about
the extent of my abilities, and I did my best to answer them.
One of them stood up and approached me. She ran her finger along my white Belenus
Holy Armor and blinked her green eyes. "Can you teleport me somewhere then?"
She looked much younger than the rest of the high elders, maybe in her thirties, but it
was always hard to tell with elves.
Ariane glared at me and the woman running her hand over my armor.
Other voices burst out, and hands shot up.
"Me too!"
"I want to go!"
I looked to Dillan for permission. He responded with a nod, so I decided that letting
them try it for themselves would probably be faster than explaining.
"All right, you three, step over here, and I'll take you to Drant."
The high elder woman let out a squeal of anticipation and reached up to my shoulder
to scratch under Ponta's chin, who let out a long mew.
"Kyiiiiii!"
We were soon joined by the other two elders who'd expressed interest. Founder
Briahn and Fangas also stood up, crossing their arms expectantly. Dillan shot me a wry
smile.
Apparently, I'd be taking five of them.
Before I could teleport us to Drant, however, I had to make sure I committed the room
we were in to memory. Otherwise, we faced the very real risk of never being able to
come back.
Thanks to the rather modest appearance of the room, I could take it all in with just a
quick glance. Once I was satisfied, an image of Drant to mind.
"All right, let's go. Transport Gate!"
A glowing rune appeared on the floor at my feet and began spreading out, until all five
of the high elders were standing within it. Then the rune flashed, the world went dark,
and we reappeared someplace entirely different.
One of the elders cried out in astonishment, pointing at three large trees that
corkscrewed together. The whole village was built among the large roots that stuck up
from the base.
"Well, I'll be! I've heard of those trees… This is certainly Drant!!!"
Another of the elders looked around in disbelief. He knelt to pluck a couple of blades
of grass from the ground, popped one into his mouth, and began chewing.
He mumbled to himself. "Hmph, it's bitter. I guess this isn't just an illusion then."
Founder Briahn was smiling from ear to ear. "Well, this truly is amazing."
Off in the distance, we could see the people of Drant preparing the village for the
upcoming battle. I was glad to see that they'd taken our warning to heart.
Judging from his intense gaze, Fangas felt the same.
Some of the high elders were beginning to wander away, so I figured I should end the
field trip.
"Well, we can't keep Dillan waiting all day. We'd best return. Transport Gate!"
The rune appeared at our feet once again, and a moment later, we were back in the
tower in Maple.
When we reappeared, the high elders still seated at the table looked at us incredulously.
Dillan smiled. Ariane let out an annoyed sigh.
The one high elder popped another blade of grass into his mouth. "So, we really did
teleport, didn't we?!"
"Thank you for that," another high elder whispered. "I loved every minute of it."
"Kyii?"
Ponta let out a confused yelp, and I felt my faithful companion being yanked off my
shoulder and dragged down my back.
Looking over my shoulder, I saw Ariane glaring daggers at me.
"Welcome back, Arc."
Dillan resumed his explanation. "So, I think that addresses the issue surrounding
transportation. Next is the concern you raised over our numbers. I was thinking of
asking the Dragon Lords to help us. As some of you already know, Felfi Visrotte is in
our capital as we speak."
Most of the high elders let out excited gasps.
"If we can get Felfi Visrotte to join us in battle, then all our problems will be solved!"
"Would the legendary Dragon Lord really agree to help us?"
"That would be amazing…"
However, a few of the elders seemed unconvinced.
Dillan frowned. "Actually, there's one small hitch with getting her to help."
The once-excited high elders murmured among themselves, their faces clouding with
worry.
Dillan glanced over at me.
Suddenly, the chamber was filled with an ominous voice, coming from the other side
of the door. "Well, well, well. I guess it's finally my turn. You shouldn't leave a girl
waiting, Dillan."
The high elders looked around in confusion.
The door flew open, a blast of wind filling the chamber.
"Hyah?!"
"Kyii?!"
"Whoa!"
Ariane slid behind me, using me as a human windbreaker, while Ponta was blown back
a few meters. The cottontail fox quickly dashed back and jumped onto Ariane's
shoulder for protection.
Once the wind died down, two mysterious figures walked casually into the room. One
of them appeared to be a large woman, standing around two meters tall, with two
large horns growing out of her forehead. Her long, violet hair rustled as she walked,
and her violet, lizard-like eyes darted about as she took in the room.
She had two small wings growing out of her back, a pale body with hourglass
dimensions, and a large chest that jutted out—in fact, that was where many people's
eyes went first. Most notable, however, were the dark scales that ran from her
shoulders, to her arms, and down her back, like natural armor.
A similarly scaled tail, almost as long as she was tall, grew out of her lower back, its
tip full of jagged crystals.
Considering her sudden appearance, and what we'd just been discussing, it seemed
obvious to me who she must be.
"Dragon Lord Felfi Visrotte…"
She turned her gaze toward me and grinned.
"Bingo, kid. Is that right, considering where we are? Maybe 'righto,' 'I have been
summoned,' or something like that would be better?"
She put a finger to her chin, as if thinking it over.
Between her intimidatingly large stature and natural body armor, she struck a rather
imposing figure. However, her friendly, casual manner of speaking gave the opposite
impression. She managed to exist in two different extremes at the same time.
Though she spoke differently from Villiers Fim, the other Dragon Lord I knew, they
were very similar in appearance.
Ariane stepped out from behind me and cleared her throat.
That's when I noticed that the woman who'd followed Felfi Visrotte into the room was
a dark elf like Ariane. They shared the same powerful golden gaze, though this
woman's hair was shoulder-length. She seemed to be glaring right at me.
There was something about her face that reminded me of Glenys, but it didn't click
until I heard Ariane shout out.
"Sis?!"
So, this was Eevin Glenys Maple—Ariane's older sister.
Dillan smiled in Felfi Visrotte's direction. He turned back to me and nodded. The
Dragon Lord's face lit up, and she smiled.
"Huh, so you're that Arc Lalatoya guy Eevin was talkin' about. You do strike an
interesting figure, I must say. I can see that your spirit is different from most. Actually,
you're a lot like Eva, now that I think about it."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Founder Briahn watching us with great interest.
Felfi Visrotte didn't seem to notice this. She walked toward me, her long tail swishing
along the ground. She made a slow circle around me, inspecting me from head to toe.
Her reptilian eyes were practically slits as she gazed at me.
"I've heard about you from Dillan. He said he wants me to help you all out in a little
battle. But I want a favor in return. Whaddya think?"
We were about the same height, so I had little choice but to maintain eye contact with
her.
"Hmm, well, I'll certainly do what I can. What did you have in mind?"
The edges of her lips curved up at this.
She waved a scaled hand dismissively. "It's nothing big, I promise. I'm not gonna eat
ya or anything. I just need you to help me and the little one here with a game of sorts."
I cocked my head to the side, not quite sure what Felfi Visrotte was asking of me. She
raised her large tail and prodded my leg with the sharp, crystalline tip.
"I want you to join me in the stadium for a little playtime. If you make sure I have fun,
then I'll help you guys out in your little battle. You in?"
She beamed at me, turning her voluptuous body from side to side, causing her large
chest to sway. It took all of my willpower to focus on the conversation, and keep my
eyes on her face.
Under normal circumstances, Ariane would have butted in by now, but apparently she
thought better of interrupting a Dragon Lord. Even so, I could still feel her gaze boring
into me.
Considering she wanted me to join her in a stadium, something told me that Felfi
Visrotte didn't intend for us to build sand castles.
Dillan already seemed to know what she was going to ask. As to why he hadn't
bothered to mention it to me, I figured it was because he knew I would have refused.
Perhaps the Dragon Lord had even asked him not to say anything.
Felfi Visrotte flashed me a peculiar smile.
I recalled what she'd said a moment ago: "You're a lot like Eva."
My guess was that Eva was a nickname for Evanjulin, the founding elder and creator
of the Great Canada Forest. She must have meant that there was a quality we shared.
From how she was talking, her conversation with Dillan must have been enough to
interest her in me.
I let out a heavy sigh. "May I ask the terms of the battle? And when it will take place?"
Her face lit up.
***
Maple's stadium was, in a word, enormous.
From the outside, it reminded me of the Roman Colosseum. Though, unlike its realworld counterpart, this one was made up of massive wooden pillars reinforced with
stone, giving it a rather unique look.
Once we stepped inside, however, things really took a turn.
First off, there were few seats for spectators. Sure, there was some stadium-style
seating rising two or three stories into the air, but it looked like more of an afterthought
to fill up some of the space between the walls and the grounds.
The majority of the stadium was devoted to the arena itself, suggesting that it hadn't
been built with spectators in mind.
According to Ariane, the stadium had been built primarily as a place for soldiers to
train, and was rarely used for spectating.
One of the training features was a pair of rising doors on the east and west ends of the
stadium. Beyond the west-facing door was a large, heavily reinforced tunnel that led
right out into the Great Canada Forest.
The reason for this was simple: The elves would lure monsters out from the forest and
into the stadium, and use them to practice their fighting skills.
Sometimes, they would simply leave the gate open in a sort of endurance battle, where
soldiers could see just how many monsters they could slay. But this also wasn't really
an event that crowds were invited to.
Now, however, the stadium was practically overflowing with people. I could hear the
shouts and cheers of the crowd before I even entered the building.
The already-limited seating was packed full of elves, dark elves, and dwarves clamoring
to see. I couldn't help but wonder how they'd all heard about this on such short notice.
We'd only left the large tower—known as the central council building, according to
Dillan—a short time ago, after Dragon Lord Felfi Visrotte's sudden appearance.
I'd been advised to head to the stadium shortly after noon, since they still had some
preparations they needed to complete. By the time I got here, it was already packed.
Whether the Dragon Lord had spread the information herself, or the people of Maple
were merely starving for a good fight, I couldn't say. However, I was left with little
choice but to do as Felfi Visrotte wished, and let her have her fun.
After all, we'd be fighting undead armies on two fronts this time.
Assuming that I was powerful enough to take on the enemies that had laid waste to
the Delfrent and Salma kingdoms, I would still need another person to take on the
army that I couldn't fight.
Though she had a rather carefree demeanor about her, I could tell that this Dragon
Lord was different from Villiers Fim, whom I'd seen reduced to coughing fits just from
getting a bit of water up his nose.
On some level, I could understand the need to engage with her to get her amped up
for the fight ahead, but I was confident I'd be able to do that. There were far better
fighters than myself out there.
Felfi Visrotte was most certainly one of them.
Looking out at the seating running along the perimeter, I spotted a special section
raised higher than the rest. Ariane, Eevin, Dillan, Briahn, and the high elders were all
there to watch the fight.
Looking closer, I also spotted a ball of green fluff, Ponta, dangling from Ariane's arms
and sniffing at Eevin.
I stepped through the eastern gate and into the stadium proper, but Felfi Visrotte was
nowhere to be seen.
As soon as I appeared, the crowd burst into cheers.
Many of the spectators appeared to be soldiers, so I figured I should show myself off a
bit, since we'd soon be fighting together.
I stepped into the center of the event space, took my Holy Shield of Teutates in one
hand and drew my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg with the other.
The moment I did, a powerful blast of wind came down from the sky. Looking up, I
saw a humanoid figure with a pair of tiny wings on its back slowly lowering itself to
the stadium floor. Dragon Lord Felfi Visrotte had arrived.
Apparently, I wasn't going to be fighting her in dragon form.
I had no idea how large her dragon form actually was, but if she were any bigger than
Villiers Fim, the stadium wouldn't be able to contain her.
As soon as Felfi Visrotte landed on the stadium floor, the mini tornado she'd kicked up
evaporated.
Another massive cheer erupted from the crowd.
"Well, they sure seem excited! Teehee! Anyway, are you ready to play? I'm not gonna
take it easy, ya know."
No sooner had the words left her mouth than Felfi Visrotte launched toward me like a
missile. She came in swinging hard and fast with an overhand strike.
I barely had time to think. I tried to deflect the blow with my shield, but the sheer force
of the impact felt like it would rip my arm right out of its socket. I unconsciously
stumbled backward when the next strike started coming.
"Nngrah?!"
I heard a thunderous crash, like a freight train smashing straight into a wall.
"Now, see that? You'll never win if you only play defensively." There was a gentle lilt to
her voice.
My intuition told me that something bad was about to happen, and I felt my body jump
back automatically.
It turned out that I was right. Her armored tail came whipping out at high speed, the
sword-like crystalline protrusions missing me by a hair's breadth. The pointed tip of
her tail slammed straight into the ground, kicking up dirt and rocks.
Felfi Visrotte smiled. "Huh, I didn't think you'd see that coming. Looks like your
reflexes are better than I reckoned."
She whipped her tail out for another strike. If she managed to land the blow, I knew
I'd be in pretty bad shape.
This time, I used my sword to catch the crystalline protrusions and deflect them. I took
another step back to put some distance between us.
The longer she kept me on the defensive, the worse things would be for me.
Considering that she was able to attack with both of her hands and her tail—all
independently of one another—she had the clear advantage. Worse, each of her blows
could prove fatal. I was hopelessly outclassed.
The only thing keeping me in the fight was all the combat training I'd done with Glenys.
I'd be dead if it weren't for that.
Blow after blow, I felt like I was being pummeled by a giant.
She barely missed me with a downward swing. Just as she was about to bring her fist
back into an uppercut, I swung my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg straight toward
her, sending a spray of sparks high into the air.
To my surprise, she'd caught the sword, blade first, with her scale-covered hand.
Had it been anyone else, such a mystical weapon would have cleaved them in two. In
fact, I'd even landed a blow on Villiers Fim during our first encounter. And yet,
somehow her armor was able to hold up against my blade.
The whole stadium filled with the awful screeching of metal on metal, making my ears
ring. Throughout the stands, spectators threw their hands over their ears to block out
the auditory onslaught.
I couldn't help but notice the wicked smile on Felfi Visrotte's face. "Well, color me
surprised! I never figured you'd try to take me head-on like this. I love it!"
Even though we were locked in place, I remembered that she still had a two-meterlong tail at her disposal.
Well, might as well make the most of her praise.
"Rock Fang!"
The ground at Felfi Visrotte's feet began rumbling. Then, large, fang-shaped rocks
jutted out around her, as if a giant beast were trying to swallow her whole. However,
the Dragon Lord flipped backward through the air, deftly avoiding the jaws of stone.
She swung her tail, using its razor-sharp tip to chop them down.
I watched, helpless, as my attack was reduced to rubble.
Considering how strong she was, I wondered if she'd even needed to jump out of the
way in the first place. But she seemed to be enjoying the battle.
"Magic, huh? Pretty impressive, kid, but a little weak for my tastes."
She smirked. This was a game to her. And here I'd thought I was going to be the one to
draw first blood. She'd put a swift end to that fantasy.
Well, no sense holding back.
"Wyvern Slash!"
I sent three Wyvern Slash attacks at her tail, trying to keep it at bay. However, she
deflected every one of them. The energy blades dissipated upon hitting her arms, the
scattered waves of energy slamming into the ground, kicking up a fierce dust cloud.
I couldn't see anything… which hopefully meant that she couldn't, either.
"Lightning Damper!"
No matter how fast you might be on your feet, lightning is always faster.
I felt the air begin sizzling as electricity filled the air. A moment later, my world went
white as the lightning bolt struck. My ears felt like they were about to explode as a
thunderous roar washed over me.
I was pretty sure the stadium was large enough that the attack wouldn't kill any of the
spectators, but there would almost certainly be some injuries.
When my vision cleared, I saw many of the spectators hunched over, covering their
ears; one downfall to elves' superior hearing was that they were susceptible to loud
noises.
Felfi Visrotte, however, seemed fine. Despite the scorched earth all around her, there
was a small circle that remained completely untouched. Somehow, she summoned a
barrier to protect herself from the lightning.
I was starting to fear that there was nothing she couldn't do. My mind raced to try to
come up with another plan.
"Now that was a surprise, kiddo! But is that all you've got? It hardly even tickled."
She brushed some dust from her violet hair, acting as if my attack had been little more
than an annoyance.
"Nnngh…"
She seemed to have noticed that I was holding back out of a desire not to hurt any of
the people watching. But how could she tell?
"I'll show ya how it's done!"
The Dragon Lord suddenly launched six energy balls toward me.
I barely managed to dodge them, the air sizzling as the balls whooshed past. They hit
the ground and exploded violently, pitting the earth with large craters. With each
successive blast, it became harder and harder to maintain my balance as the ground
disappeared beneath my feet.
Several more balls of light formed around the Dragon Lord and launched in my
direction.
I was a sitting duck.
"Dimensional Step!"
I teleported behind her and slightly to the side, just out of her line of sight. Gasps
erupted among the spectators when they caught sight of me again.
"Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg!"
A surge of purple electricity ran up my sword, and it began glowing. A blade of light
grew out of it, doubling in size, crackling with the fury of a thousand lightning bolts.
The Dragon Lord figured out where I'd teleported to and smirked, her eyes locking on
to the electric sword.
"Oh, whaddya got there? That's a new one."
Another volley of energy balls flew at me, but they were no match for the Holy
Thunder Sword of Caladbolg, which cleaved them in half.
With all the dust floating around, I felt like I was standing in an early morning fog,
though that only lasted for a moment. Felfi Visrotte shot out a blast of wind to clear
the air. Seeing my chance, I teleported behind her again.
"Dimensional Step!"
With my electric sword held high, I teleported again and again to keep her guessing,
until I finally swung my blade right down toward her back.
KACHOOOOM!
I was absolutely stunned to see her grasping the part of my blade that was made of
pure energy. She gave it a violent shake, throwing me off balance.
"Well, well! This just keeps getting more and more interesting! But ya know, with your
sword crackling like that, I don't know how you plan on getting the drop on me. Listen
kid, I'm not gonna say that attacking from behind is the coward's way out, but ya really
need to start using your head."
I watched her smirking face, never letting go of my sword. "Nng… So… do you mind
telling me how you're able to hold the… Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg?"
Purple bolts of lightning continued surging up and around the blade, which she held
as if it were nothing. The electricity seemed to have no effect on her.
It was then that I noticed her body had begun emitting a light glow.
Now that she'd stopped moving, I was finally able to get a good, clear look at her. We
locked eyes.
"Dragon Lords aren't easily harmed. If I really wanted to use the power of my scales, I
could put an end to your magic right here."
As she spoke, I saw her tail rise up behind me, its crystalline tip pointed forward.
Without warning, it launched straight toward me.
I desperately tried to yank my sword away from her. By sheer accident, I unleashed all
the pent-up electricity in the blade, blasting her hand away.
"Haugh?!"
Felfi Visrotte's eyes went wide, and we both moved back to put some distance between
us. She launched back in, striking at me with her tail. I deflected the blows with my
lightning blade, every strike resulting in an ear-splitting clash.
We broke for a moment, and she glared at me.
The fact that she was able to grab the lightning blade without suffering any damage
was proof that magic had no effect on her.
Assuming the glow her body was giving off had something to do with how she was
able to nullify magical attacks, it meant that she was also immune to physical strikes
in that state.
That in turn meant there was no way I could beat her. Unless…
There was something about her reaction earlier that suggested I'd caught her off
guard. But if I ever hoped to win, I'd need to throw everything I had into this.
Up until now, I'd always tried—and even practiced—to limit my power as much as
possible.
That was because, unlike in the video game, the more magic I put into an attack here,
the less control I had over it. If I lost control of a magical attack, then it could strike
pretty much anything, or even ignore my intended target.
That's why I worked hard to practice restraint during my free time at the shrine, or
back in Lalatoya.
However, it was clear that weakened magic would have no effect on Felfi Visrotte's
impenetrable scales.
It was time for my secret weapon.
I tossed my shield to the side, grabbed the hilt of my sword with both hands, and held
it at the ready.
"Come forth, Guardian of Time! Aion, I summon you!"
A large rune appeared on the ground beneath my feet and began glowing. It looked
like the inner workings of a clock, with intricate springs and cogs all moving together
in unison.
The rune began warping, and a giant snake with the head of a lion appeared from its
center.
The snake-lion coiled itself around my feet and worked its way up my body. To anyone
watching, it must have looked like it was attacking me. But all was going as planned.
Felfi Visrotte watched with a bemused expression on her face.
This wasn't going to give me the deciding advantage, but I figured it best to at least
show off everything I had.
The lion head made it all the way up to my shoulder and flashed its fangs, then it bit
my neck.
My armor took on a snake-lion design as flames began licking out of the gaps in my
armor.
Summoning Aion would lock the player's status for a full three minutes. Due to the
high casting cost, and the short window in which you could use it, the demon was of
limited use. However, you could do a great deal of damage while you were invincible.
This also meant that I didn't need to worry about her attacks.
"Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg!"
I put all of my power into my attack this time, thick bolts of purple lighting surging up
the blade as it began glowing. I focused my attention on the blade, willing the out-ofcontrol lightning storm to form along it.
"Nnnngraaaaaaaw!"
The sheer power flooding through my body brought up the memory of when I'd
summoned the Archangel Michael and used its Ruby Flamma ability, whipping my
flame-engulfed sword around without a care for who or what it struck.
I had to force my mind back to the task at hand and get the rampant magical energy
under control. It was a bizarre, indescribable sensation, as I fought to both unleash my
power and rein it in at the same time.
"Here I come!"
I raised the sword in both hands and launched toward the Dragon Lord. Though I
would have teleported under normal circumstances, I didn't have it in me to do so now.
A large grin spread across Felfi Visrotte's face—she was enjoying this. Hundreds,
maybe even thousands of balls of light began appearing around her, before flying at
me.
It felt like I was standing in the middle of a meteor shower. However, I made no effort
to block the blows and continued focusing my power.
The blasts landed around me, blowing massive craters in the ground. Fortunately, due
to Aion's power, each blast that landed was deflected harmlessly to the side. I felt like
I was standing in the middle of a hurricane of hand grenades.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaagh!!!" I let out a fierce battle cry and closed in on my enemy.
Just then, another orb of light skimmed past my head and exploded, sending my helmet
flying… which meant that Aion's power had just worn off.
I'd spent so much time trying to get the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg under my
control that I'd run out of time. If another blast hit me, I'd be done for.
The dust in front of me cleared, and I caught a glimpse of the Dragon Lord. She was
grinning from ear to ear.
Right at that moment, her tail came lunging in, and I raised my sword to strike…
"Nnggh…"
The spear-like tip of her tail glanced across my shoulder, gouging out a chunk of flesh.
I felt a splash of warm blood on my face, but just my skin had been torn. Only a flesh
wound.
I looked up to see that all the electricity had dissipated from Holy Thunder Sword of
Caladbolg… and it was buried about halfway down the blade in Felfi Visrotte's
stomach, blood gushing from the wound.
The crowd fell silent in shock.
I let go of the sword's handle and looked down at my trembling hands. They were
covered in blood… her blood.
Felfi Visrotte's head went limp, and she fell to her knees.
From a distance, I heard a faint voice break through the static in my head. "What do
you think you're doing, Arc?! Hurry up and heal her!"
I turned to find Ariane screaming at me, desperation on her face. I came back to my
senses and rushed over to the Dragon Lord. As soon as I arrived at her side, however,
Felfi Visrotte reached down and yanked the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg out of
her stomach and threw it right at me.
Swooooosh!
I watched as the hilt of the sword closed in on me and knew that it was too late to
dodge. Without a helmet to protect me, it smacked me right in the face, sending me
tumbling backward.
I'd decided to drink some of the mystical spring water from Lord Crown before this
event, to keep my body in its elven form. I could smell the copper scent of blood as it
poured from my nose.
I couldn't make sense of what had just happened. I watched in stunned silence as she
picked up the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg, slung it over her shoulder, and
glanced back at me.
She was smiling brightly, and pointing a finger in my direction.
"Ya got me good, kid. But not good enough."
"Wha?"
The gaping hole where the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg had pierced her stomach
was gone. There was no scratch, or any other mark for that matter.
"B-but… how?"
I held a hand to my face to suppress the pain as I looked at her.
Felfi Visrotte shot me a teasing grin and casually ran a hand across her stomach as if
nothing had happened.
"There's something you should know about Dragon Lords' human forms. They're a
little… unique. An injury like that is nothing to us. I can't tell you all our secrets, but
let's just say that normal people would never be able to pull it off."
The way she spoke seemed to imply that the Dragon Lords were immortal.
"And no, that doesn't mean we're immortal."
Somehow, the fact that she could read me like an open book was the most terrifying
thing of all.
"Anyway, I had a really good time, kid. Why don't we end our little playdate here?"
She stabbed the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg into the ground in front of her and
turned to look at Founder Briahn.
"All right, let's talk about that little battle you need help with!"
Founder Briahn nodded firmly and stood in unison with the other high elders. He
turned to address everyone in the audience.
"Listen here! The people of the Great Canada Forest will soon engage in the biggest
battle we've encountered since our founding. I ask you to fight not just for your own
village, but for those of our comrades and our allies!"
The stadium responded with a thunderous cheer.
As I lay on the ground, I took comfort in the fact that I'd at least helped secure the
might we'd need to win this battle. I reached up to cast a healing spell on my face.
"Haaah… it's been a quite a day."
I stared up at the darkening sky and let my mind wander.