Chapter 42 (1/2)

GDoc . I used to just use italics for spells, but due to the appearance of Elvish, I'll use with italics for spells…

Enjoy the chapter! I really enjoyed TLing this one! I think the arc is finally heating up!

Elven Village (Part 2)

”Please… don't kill me… I'm begging you…”

The little girl cowered while sobbing in a weak voice.

Bewildered, Wynn turned towards Kelvin and Locke.

But they also seemed dumbfounded.

”… it hurts”

”Ah, So- sorry!”

Wynn realized that he was clutching her right wrist tightly, so he hastily let go of her wrist.

While rubbing her right wrist, the girl curled up tighter, as if to conceal her body.

”Umm, I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, uh, hey, I won't do anything.”

With a stiff smile, he held his hands out and took a step backwards to show that he meant no harm.

Not expecting it to be a girl, Wynn's heart was also pounding furiously.

”Your words… Are you… from the empire?”

Still crouching, she looked up at Wynn's face. Her face still showed signs of trepidation.

”Umm…”

Wynn once again looked towards Kelvin.

Kelvin nodded in affirmation, and Wynn knelt down to meet the little girl's eyes.

The little girl wore simple clothes, and tied around her head was a light-colored kerchief, acting like a scarf. Her clothes were somewhat dirty, but they weren't dishevelled.

Although they were covered in tears, the girl's large eyes were beautiful. She appeared to be around Wynn's age. Her eyes were slightly swollen from crying, but she had an attractive face.

”We are from the Imperial Knight Order. I am Knight Cadet Wynn. That is the person in charge of our unit, Lieutenant Kelvin. And that is Apprentice Knight Locke. What is your name?”

”Sherry… Sherry Torc.”

”Sherry, is it? I'm sorry for scaring you. Is your wrist alright?”

Sherry nodded in response to Wynn's question. Her kerchief, which was s.h.i.+fted when the blankets were pulled off of her, came untied and fell off when she nodded.

”Ah…”

”Your ears…”

The ears were longer than a human's ears.

”No! Don't look!”

Sherry shut her eyes tightly and covered her ears.

”A half-elf, huh.”

Her eyes were a dark brown. All elves had blue or light blue eyes. There were no elves with dark brown eyes.

Sherry curled up and began to tremble when Wynn said the words ”Half-elf”.

”It's alright, don't worry.”

The three knights waited for Sherry to calm down. In any case, they couldn't do anything else, and there was plenty of time.

After waiting a while for her to calm down, she eventually stopped trembling.

”Are you from Torc Village? Could you tell us what happened?”

Sherry timidly raised her head. Tears once again started falling from her eyes. However, she was calmer than before.

She began to tell them of how Torc village was attacked, and of the tragedy that happened that day.

”What is it?”

”How would I know! Tell that to the elders!”

Rosefeld, the leader elf, spat out those words.

With an expression of disgust, he walked quickly as if to get away from the stone building where the humans were being held as quickly as he could.

Rosefeld's feelings became stronger when he saw the girl who was already being held in that building.

It was hidden by the scarf on her head, but he could tell what she was from her distinctive magic power.

A Half-elf– or as the elders would say, a Tainted One.

The elves lived in the forest, but that didn't mean that they spent all their lives in their communities. When they went out to hunt or forage, they would sometimes end up pretty close to human settlements.

Some of them ended up leaving the elven commune, yearning for the humans' towns.

That was fine.

The news about the human world that they brought back was important.

But some people kidnapped the elves that wandered in the outside world.

Many elves were flawlessly beautiful

That was because elves were closer to the divine than humans were. The ruling tribe of elves were High Elves.

That beauty stimulates the l.u.s.t of the humans, so elves were sometimes treated as s.e.xual commodities. As a result, some of the captured female elves would give birth to unwanted children.

The result of a union between a human and elf would be a Half-elf.

The elves couldn't tolerate their existence, since they were a mark of humiliation.

”s.h.i.+t! I just can't accept it…”

'Elves will repay any debt, but those who tarnish our pride will be given a suitable reward.'

That was the Elven Law.

That was why Rosefeld couldn't hold back his irritation.

Due to the Elders' old-fas.h.i.+oned thinking, they would repay kindness with hostility.

Rosefeld walked straight to the largest building in the village, where the Elders were, while recalling the day he had met with the elders. He thought of his brothers-in-arms from the past–

”s.h.i.+t! Resist it! If we fall here, this front will crumble. The pride of us elves are at stake!”

Rosefeld cut down the spider monsters that were leaping at him.

'There's too many of them!'

He gasped for air as he looked around him.

His comrades had numbered almost a hundred, but only a third of them were left. Moreover, none of them, including Rosefeld, were unscathed.

It was a dismal situation.

Quite a long time had pa.s.sed since the battle started. Elves had more magic power than the other races, but even that had its limits.

Rosefeld's own magic power and stamina were already rock-bottom.

All of the other elves lined up with him were also breathing heavily.

Their enemy, spider-shaped monsters the size of a cow, had slowly cornered the now injured elves with their reckless leaps, and were closing in.

All the fatigue that he had ignored in the heat of battle came cras.h.i.+ng down upon him as he rested.

The exhaustion he felt made it feel like his arms and legs were made of lead.

The spider monsters slowly tightened their encirclement, their fangs chattering. Their fear slowly intensified, like a silken noose around their necks.

The cause of it was–

'No, I should worry about that later! We're already lucky that that monster already left, since we would have no chance of winning against it. Instead, I should focus on the mess in front of us.'

He shook his head. The existence that led the horde of monsters was no longer on the battlefield. The monsters right here have nothing to do with that existence anymore.

They couldn't hope for reinforcements.

The whole battlefield faced a similar crisis. Since the Demon Lord appeared on the battlefield, their allies were defeated one after another.

It was a hopeless war of attrition, a fight against despair.

Even worse, there was n.o.body near Rosefeld's group to provide support. Rather, even if there were, they wouldn't be able to help.

”s.h.i.+t! So it ends here. Then I should take out as many as I can!”

Rosefeld gripped his tattered sword, imbuing the remainder of his magic power into it. Strengthening his body, he glared at the spider monsters that were about to jump at any moment.

”Let them come! Show them the resolve of the elves! Take as many as you can with you to h.e.l.l!”

”Yes Sir!!!”

The other elves responded to Rosefeld's rallying cry. They channeled the rest of their magic power into their swords, intending to fight to the end.

The spider monsters leapt off the ground, their fangs making an eerie sound.

They would fight to the death. Blood and flesh were scattered through the air. Another life, extinguished.

Rosefeld and his comrades fought desperately, but they were hopelessly outnumbered.

Completely overwhelmed, the number of elves still standing slowly decreased.

Time became meaningless to them. The seemed to have fought for an eternity.

Rosefeld lost track of how many monsters he had slaughtered.

The tip of his sword had already bent, but he still impaled the monsters through sheer strength.

”Behind you, Rosefeld!”

”Tch!”

He forced himself to turn around at his comrade's warning– and his feet slipped.

'd.a.m.n it!'

He didn't know whether he slipped on the blood of his comrades or the fluids of the monsters. He lost his balance.

He tried to recover his footing, but all the strength left his legs due to fatigue, and he was pushed down by a monster.

'So this is it.'

The monster's fangs drew near.

The elf who had warned him was already occupied by other monsters, and wouldn't come to his aid.

Rosefeld braced himself for death.

Then suddenly–

<split!>

The head of the spider monster that had pinned Rosefeld down went flying as the gleam of a sword flashed by.

'What?'

Crawling out from under the collapsed monster, what Rosefeld saw was–

”You elves! Get inside the wall I made! The medics will treat you with healing magic as soon as they can! Hurry!”

His saviour was a young man with long blonde hair tied behind him, and narrow blue eyes. Among the humans, a knight clearly was successively giving out orders to his subordinates in a clear voice.

”Humans? You humans … saved us?”

”Can you stand?”

Rosefeld realized that the knight held out his hand and called out to him to help him up.

”Ah, yes. Thank you”

Saying his thanks, he took the hand.

The man who killed the monster that had pinned him down smiled gently.

Rosefeld questioned whether or not this was a dream.

”You might not be able to believe that humans had just come to your aid, but it would be bad if you guys fell here and we got attacked from behind. That's why General Zaunas ordered us to support you.”