Chapter 44 : Chapter 44
Chapter 44
“Your Highness, what is the meaning of this sudden……!”
At the prince's sudden change of attitude, the count shot up and exclaimed, to which the prince explained.
“As the Moner family shows its faith, the royal family cannot break the covenant.
It would be best for the Moner family to conduct this investigation.”
The count tried to interject again, but the prince's firm voice was faster.
“The King must have been concerned about that part, which is why he sent me here instead of my older brother.
If the royal family breaks the covenant first, wouldn't the Moner family have no reason to keep its faith?”
At those words, the count, his face flushed red, let out a groan and sat back down.
This time, Ian spoke up.
“You should reconsider as well, Count.
The royal family absolutely does not want war, absolutely.
Right now, they might be able to act on your side, but would they help you to the point of breaking a covenant?
Knowing that the Moner family will demand blood as the price for the covenant?”
Rather than wage war against the Moner family, it would be a faster and more convenient method to kill the source of this mess and place someone else in his seat.
The count's body trembled as he clenched both fists at the blatant threat.
“Young Lord……!”
“Your Highness, since our positions are so different, I believe further conversation would be a waste of time.
It has been a great honor to meet you, Your Highness, but I shall take my leave now.”
Ian, who had risen from his seat, gave a polite bow to the prince and then smiled sweetly at the count who was glaring at him as if to kill him.
“By all means, if you should happen to acquire the head I want, even by accident, please contact me.”
As he said this, he swiped his thumb across his neck, and the count shouted as if having a seizure.
“Young Lord, you, until the very end!”
“Hahaha!
Interesting, Young Lord, you are truly interesting!”
Leaving the two contrasting shouts behind him, Ian left the Lord's Castle, the prince's lingering gaze following him.
* * *
“What in the world is that!”
The hunter captain looked around in disbelief.
All his other colleagues were sprawled on the ground, presumably dead, and he was the only one left standing.
These were elf hunters, no less.
Hunters who preyed on elves, beings blessed by nature who could commune with spirits and shoot bows from the moment they were born with the blessing of mana.
No matter how resplendent the knights were with their fancy swords and armor, he had thought, no, he was certain that in the forest, they could not be defeated.
Even he himself, though he had not obtained the mana training methods of the nobles, had reached the peak of a 3rd-class user, and not a single one of his comrades couldn't use mana, so that certainty was not arrogance, but mere confidence.
And yet.
“Just fall down already, you monster!”
The monster before him seemed perfectly fine even after single-handedly taking on all the hunters.
Every time the blood of the hunters gushed from her swung flail and soaked her body, he could catch a glimpse of her pearly white teeth.
She wasn't just fine; she was clearly enjoying this situation.
“Uwaaaah!”
He kicked off the ground and swung his sword, but it only managed to slice a little of her dark skin.
“N-no!”
The flail, swung at some point, filled his vision.
Clang!
At the same time, a sword swung from behind, and the captain lost consciousness.
* * *
“Miss Reina……”
Akasha, who had quickly blocked Reina's flail with her bow and subdued the hunter captain, looked at Reina with fearful eyes.
A hot steam, not yet cooled, rose from the sticky blood covering Reina, and her red-stained eyes, like those of a predator, constantly darted around in search of the next prey.
In the midst of battle, with her trait [Thirst for Blood] activated to its limit, she was less like a person and more like the incarnation of a legendary demonkin.
Of course, it was only possible because there were Rangers to help her whenever she was in danger, but even if she had been alone, it was impossible to imagine her losing.
“Ah!
I'm sorry.
The young master told me only to help with the revenge……”
Reina, who had been looking around for a while, came to her senses and bowed her head in apology.
“N-no.
There are still a few of them alive, and we captured their captain properly.”
Akasha turned her head and looked around.
One of the chains that had bound the Dark Elves for hundreds of years had been broken, so simply and futilely.
They had fled and run to the ends of the earth, following the teachings of their elders that it was better to avoid, that it would be safe if they hid.
The thrilling revenge she had dreamed of every moment while living along that seemingly endless escape route was sweeter than she had imagined, and so easy it made her feel foolish for having been afraid.
'It had to be.
The hunters had no time to use poison or traps.'
They probably didn't realize until the very end that they were the prey in this hunt.
Akasha looked at the fallen captain and filled her lungs with the forest air mixed with the acrid scent of blood .
As if to never forget this moment.
“Why did I live so foolishly until now?”
As she quietly muttered to herself in the face of the sudden emptiness, Reina's bright voice came from behind her.
“Because that was the only way you knew.
I learned that there are things you can't see until someone takes off your blindfold.”
“Until someone takes off your blindfold… is it.”
After she finished speaking, Akasha beckoned her members over with a hand gesture.
Now it was time to repay the human who had gifted her with light.
* * *
Late at night.
“Did they fail after all?”
Treon nervously paced around in circles, biting his fingernails.
“Damn it.
I shouldn't have just let them go like that.
Surely they won't sell out our name?
We can just feign ignorance, but……”
“Perhaps they captured an elf and fled?”
“Those guys?”
“Even the knights know the royal family has moved because of the dispute between the two domains.
Don't you think those guys who have lived by their wits would know too?
It seems they realized it was a death trap and ran away……”
At the knight's plausible words, Treon's expression crumpled.
The slave hunters might have been coming and going from the castle recently and grasped the atmosphere here.
With the royal family now involved in the dispute between Obsol and Moner, if word got out that Obsol's eldest son had invaded Moner's territory to acquire slaves, Obsol's position would become difficult.
Anyone with half a brain could figure out that Obsol would try to kill the hunters to silence them.
“Ugh… It would be a relief if they managed to escape……”
It wasn't a difficult task, just as the hunters had boasted.
It would be fortunate if they got a slave, and if not, they could just quietly slip away.
A simple task, if you could call it that.
There was no way to guard that vast forest with just a few hundred soldiers, so unless they moved incredibly foolishly, they wouldn't get caught.
“Still, just in case, let's wait until this evening.”
The unsettling feeling just wouldn't go away.
He shivered and headed into the campsite tent to escape the night air.
* * *
That night.
Ian, who had followed Lina to the campsite, looked at Treon with eyes as cold as the moon in the night sky.
“There, that's the bastard who tried to hunt the elves.”
“……”
“Doesn't it piss you off?”
Ian, his face contorted in a deep frown, spoke irritably as he looked at Akasha.
“That bastard should be hiding in his own Lord's Castle, yet he dares to set up a camp here, not even far from the western forest, and wait.
Just how stupid is he?”
Ian pointed at the knights strolling around the tent.
“Look at that foolish sight, will you?
Trying to hide their identities, they're not even wearing armor.
They didn't even paint over their armor crests, they just came wearing monster leather.
What do you have to have in your head to make such a stupid choice?”
Both Ian and Akasha knew the reason well.
They had nothing to fear.
Even after invading Moner's territory, even after hiring elf hunters to enslave the elves of the western forest, they never thought they would be attacked, and until now, no one had ever punished them.
So they couldn't even imagine any other enemies.
“They don't think of you as enemies, or even as prey.
They just think of you as toys, like stray dogs on the street that they can catch and play with.”
Rare and beautiful toys, perfect for playing with and showing off.
Ian's black eyes turned to Akasha.
“Doesn't it piss you off?”
Akasha said nothing, just lowered her head.
Tears, shed in uncontrollable anger, quietly soaked the dry ground.
That was what it meant to be a Dark Elf.
If they revealed their power, the nation and the church would raise a fuss about the cursed Dark Elves stirring, so they had to remain silent despite having power, and be hunted helplessly.
Laughably, they had to stand by foolishly, watching as the very people who claimed to fear the cursed elves locked their friends and family in iron cages.
Without even knowing that it was the will of the god they so fervently followed.
“It pisses me off.
That an incompetent bastard doesn't know he's incompetent and acts up, that he thinks he can get away with pulling that shit right in front of my domain and return alive.
That's why I'm going to make the Moner family a domain that no one can ever look down on again.”
Ian's hand gripped Akasha's shoulder.
“To do that, I have to become a real scoundrel.
Only then can I beat down the bastards who ignore and insult the Moner family, and trample on those who look down on us to rise up.”
Hearing the scoundrel's vow, Akasha held back her sobs and spoke, her voice like scraping metal, as if chewing on the words.
“We, too, will become the demons they so cursed.
We will become demons and give those who feared us so much a reason to do so.”
Ian, a crooked smile on his face at the satisfactory answer, said cheerfully.
“Then let's start with that stupid bastard over there.”
Ian raised his hand and whispered.
“All units, ready.”
He looked back at the Rangers who drew their bows at the command.
They would now become objects of fear.
The whole continent would one day know the terror of arrows pouring from the darkness.
Then, no one would dare treat the Dark Elves carelessly again.
He raised his head, looked at the sky, and took a breath.
The cold air filled his lungs.
“Fire.”
As he lowered his raised hand, ten arrows left their bows without a sound, and right behind them, another ten arrows followed.
Only after more and more arrows adorned the sky did a knight who spotted them shout.
“Enemy attack!
Surround yourselves with mana and defend!”
The knight, who seemed to be a better commander than expected, quickly gave the order, but the arrows, imbued with both mana and spirit energy, shattered the mana the knights hastily raised and pierced their limbs.
The knights of Obsol, who had taken off their armor in the first place, collapsed without putting up any real resistance.
“Kuaaak!
Retreat, retreat!”
“The young master!
Get the young master!”
“The arrows are imbued with mana!
Don't try to block them, just run!”
While the panicked knights moved about in confusion at the sight of their comrades falling in an instant, the Rangers narrowed the distance, firing arrows without rest.
“D-Dark Elves!”
The moment someone recognized Akasha's dark brown skin and shouted, her curved sword split the knight's head.
“Sisters!
The time for revenge has finally come!”
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
As Akasha's clear voice echoed, the 11 Rangers responded by clashing their curved swords.
Most of the knights were already crawling on the ground with arrows stuck in their limbs, and what remained was a one-sided slaughter.
Dozens of curved swords, bathed in the moonlight, gleamed elegantly.
* * *
“Duke, will this really be okay?”
At Lina's question, who was looking at the battlefield with a worried face, Ian, who was also watching, answered.
“Hmm?
Doesn't it look okay?
It seems they're a bit excited since it's their first real combat, but since they went in after killing most of them from a distance, it should be fine.
If things get dicey, we can join in too.”
“That's not what I mean… Still, he's the eldest son and a knight of Obsol.
Won't it be a problem if we kill them like this?”
“What are you talking about?”
Ian said in a playful voice.
“Where are Obsol's knights?
All I see are intruders in suspicious clothing.”
Those bastards came without even wearing their domain's armor to kill the elf hunters and silence them.
Since they would have to smuggle the elves if the hunters succeeded, they naturally didn't report their passage through the domain's borders, and they used bribes to move when coming and going from Lier.
In other words, the only one who knew they were here was Lina, who had been tracking them from the beginning.
“We caught the vicious bandits who had been tormenting the three domains for so long, and guess what, those bastards even invaded the Moner family!
The weak Moner family, trembling in fear, suppressed the bandits and-”
Ian spread his hands wide playfully.
“They 'accidentally'!
discovered the eldest son of the Obsol family there!”
At Ian's absurd words, Lina's mouth fell slightly open as she stared at him.
“Will Obsol believe that?”
“They won't want to believe it.
But there's someone who has no choice but to believe it.”
“Who's that?”
Seeing the battle coming to an end, Ian raised his head and silently gazed at the moon, which was shining brightly and illuminating the darkness.
“The King.”
All the pieces were in place, and the picture was complete.
Now, how would the king move?
“If even the King doesn't believe it, the House of Moner might just become the Nation of Moner .”
Neither Moner nor the King would ever want to start a war, but a man can dream, can't he?
“The Nation of Moner… that name's kind of lame.”
That's our dad's surname.
Oh, right, it was Ian's dad.
Ian, who chuckled it off, let his gaze rest on the battlefield.
|