Heavy Metal

"Come in."

The wooden door crept open as a man in armor stepped inside. His boots echoed faintly against the floor as he advanced. He removed his helmet and bowed his head, though not deeply, as if the man before him had little regard for such gestures.

"My lord."

At the far end of the chamber, the Baron of House Dulet sat slouched in a wide chair, one hand draped lazily over the armrest. A goblet of dark wine rested near his fingers. He was large, his belly pressing against the folds of a velvety robe. The room was excessive, cluttered with golden trinkets that caught the candlelight.

"Marcel? What is it? Speak."

The baron did not look at him. He sipped his wine and stared toward a corner of the room.

"Make it quick. I am not finished with that one."

The knight hesitated for a moment before speaking as he noticed to whom his lord was referring.

"We have received troubling reports from the outer patrols. Over the past two weeks, we have been losing men."

That finally drew a reaction. The baron's fingers twitched against the goblet.

"Losing men?"

He repeated, one eyebrow lifting.

"To what? There should be no beasts in the forest, and the elves are too weak to resist."

"We are uncertain."

The knight chose his words carefully.

"At first, it seemed like scattered attacks. Small groups went missing. Now, entire patrols have failed to return."

The baron turned his head slightly.

"Bandits?"

The knight nodded.

"That is the current assumption, my lord. Though the efficiency suggests otherwise. Something more organized."

A faint frown crossed the baron's face. He drained the goblet and set it down with a soft clink.

"And this has been happening for two weeks? Why am I only hearing of this now?"

The knight stiffened, a hint of indignation crossing his expression.

"My lord, we attempted to request an audience several times."

The baron's eyes narrowed.

"And?"

"We were denied entry."

Silence settled over the room. Irritation flickered across the baron's face.

"Denied? By whom?"

The knight did not answer at once. His gaze shifted slightly past the baron, toward the grand bed. The smell in the chamber had been strong from the moment he entered, but he had held his tongue. Only then did the baron seem to notice.

Behind him, half hidden by heavy drapes and dim candlelight, several figures were chained to the posts of an ornate bed. Slender bodies with pale skin marked by bruises and dirt. Their long ears left no doubt as to what they were.

Elven women, clearly under the influence of some concoction, stood with glazed eyes. Iron shackles bound their wrists, and all of them wore strange collars marked with unfamiliar symbols.

"Ah…"

The Baron finally understood what his knight was implying, and an ugly smirk spread across his face.

"I suppose I may have enjoyed myself a bit too much since the king made that decree but so did the other nobles!"

A dry cough escaped him as his amusement quickly faded. He raised a hand to his mouth, his thick fingers brushing through his facial hair as he considered the situation.

"It is probably just some wretched bandits trying to steal my elves. The other nobles would not dare break the treaty just to get a few of them. They already have plenty of their own to indulge in."

He stepped toward the bed and seized one of the chains attached to an elven woman. He pulled her closer and licked his lips.

"Do not bother me again until you have dealt with this. You should be able to handle a few bandits. If the mercenaries are not enough, send in a few knights."

The knight did not move. For a moment, it seemed he might speak again, perhaps to offer a warning or suggest another course of action, but the Baron no longer paid him any attention. His gaze was clouded with desire. There would be no discussion, and returning after another failure would likely bring consequences.

"As you command, my lord."

He bowed, deeper this time, then turned and left. The heavy wooden door creaked shut behind him, sealing the chamber once more in dim candlelight and the faint, suffocating scent of wine and sweat.

"Fool…"

The knight muttered under his breath as he walked away. Two guards stood by the door, but neither seemed interested in his words or even in their duty. They looked bored and almost about to fall asleep.

As he passed the other soldiers, most appeared distracted or uninterested, their attention drifting toward the elven slaves kept within the stronghold. The knight's shoulders slumped with frustration, his displeasure evident. Even so, he could not defy the Baron's orders, and sending more men than permitted would bring punishment.

He slowed as he reached the stone walls overlooking the land beyond. From this vantage point, he could see the distant town and the edge of the elven forest. Just as he turned to leave, something caught his eye, a flicker of light reflecting deep among the trees.

"... Was it my imagination?"

The knight mumbled to himself, then placed his helmet on and left. In the distance, where the strange bright light had appeared, a figure emerged.

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****

"That guy almost saw me. He seems stronger than the rest. Could he be the Knight Captain?"

"Is everything fine up there, Rusty?"

"It's fine. Just give me a moment."

Rusty replied to Teral, who was hiding behind one of the trees. His current mission was to investigate the Baron's fortress and find potential ways to attack it. What he saw before him was fairly simple. The outer wall was made of thick stone, but there was no moat. The walls were high, but not impossibly so. Rusty's gaze moved slowly across the structure and he took it all in.

"It shouldn't be hard to scale if we build some ladders, and their patrols are rather sloppy. It's doable."

From his elevated position, he could see everything. The stronghold where the noble lived was not within the human settlement for some reason. A few patrols moved through the small forest area, but they could be silenced quickly in the middle of the night. To capture this location, they would only need to scale the walls and take out the noble inside to send a message, and the time for that was fast approaching.

Two weeks had already passed since he was summoned, and their forces had been growing. Teral, his summoner, hardly ever slept as they freed elven slaves and brought them back to their new village.

"They're not expecting an attack and seem vulnerable. They don't have many D-ranks either."

Rusty muttered as he made his way down from the tree he had been hiding in. Below, Teral remained concealed among the dense undergrowth, and Lethira was there with him, her bow ready to fire at any moment.

"That's good for us, right?"

"It is. But you can't get careless. This won't be like the other battles, and more than likely, people will die."

Teral lowered his head at the response. His desire for revenge was strong, but now that more people were involved, casualties could not be ignored.

"Then maybe just the two of us could do it. I've gotten stronger thanks to the Great Tree."

Before Teral could continue, Lethira interrupted him with a smack to the back of his head.

"What is this kid even saying?"

"W-what was that for?"

"For being a giant idiot. This isn't just your fight, Teral, and you're not the only one who wants revenge on these humans."

"But…"

Teral tried to say something, but the elven woman shook her fist at him.

"Do you want me to smack you again?"

"N-no…"

Rusty, who had been standing there, started chuckling. Over the past weeks, he had watched these two elves grow closer, along with many others. Lethira was close to reaching D-rank, and Teral's mastery over the armors had improved to an incredible degree. He had even achieved something Rusty once thought impossible. He had learned to summon living steel armors on his own.

"Let's head back, you two, before someone sees us."

"As you wish, great spirit!"

Lethira nodded at Rusty, who, for the time being, could communicate with her through the human head he wore below his helmet.

"Just call me Rusty."

"I must refuse, great spirit."

Surprisingly, the elves had accepted his ability rather quickly. They did not find it too strange that he could control bodies by wearing them. Because of this, he could finally communicate with everyone without relying on Teral to translate.

For now, luck was on their side. The humans did not seem to be taking the conflict too seriously. The elves were a peace-loving race, mostly pacifists who had long abandoned warfare. Those who were capable of fighting had left these lands long ago.

Rusty had learned much from the elf elder about the history of this world and how the wood elves had come to live this way. Long ago, a massive war had taken place, one that claimed the lives of many elves along with other races. Their strongest fighters had either gone into self-exile because they did not wish to interfere with the lives of non-combatants, or they had perished in the great war against monsters that had occurred centuries ago.

Some elves still remembered those times, having lived through them, but humans had long since forgotten. As their numbers grew, they began to expand. It seemed they now needed more land to sustain their population. The old pacts that once prevented them from attacking the elves were ignored and forgotten.

The forest was quiet as Rusty, Teral, and Lethira made their way back toward Aetherfalls. Only the soft crunch of leaves and the distant calls of night creatures broke the silence. Teral walked a few steps behind, his expression troubled.

"…Rusty."

"What is it?"

"Do you really think we can win?"

Rusty did not answer right away. His metal boots pressed into the soil as he walked, his vizor fixed ahead.

"We can."

"But once we do, you will probably have to manage for a while without me…"

"You have said that before…"

Rusty felt confident about taking the Baron's stronghold, but he was far less certain about keeping casualties low. Worse still, once they attacked and freed the other elves, the humans would finally understand what was happening, and he would not be there when that moment came. His mission would likely end with the Baron's death. After that, Teral and the others would have to face everything on their own.

"We can't keep relying on the Great Spirit. Don't underestimate elves. We'll be fine once our kin decides to fight. Those humans won't stand a chance!"

Lethira smiled and raised her bow high as she looked up at the bright moon above. Rusty nodded at her enthusiasm and wondered if she was right. He knew that once the humans became aware, they would send some kind of retaliatory force against the elves. However, considering how they had been handling things so far, it was possible they would not take the threat seriously.

"It's good to have high morale. Be sure to tell that to your kin once we head out."

The two elves weren't sure how to react to Rusty's thumbs up, so they simply nodded. After running through the entire night, the trio arrived at the settlement they had named Aetherfalls. The name had spread naturally among the elves, passed from one to another until it became what this place was: a ruin reborn, a last refuge.

As the three stepped through the worn palisade, the atmosphere shifted immediately. What had once been a hollow, abandoned settlement was now alive with purpose. The goal was clear. Free all elves and avenge those who had been killed.

Fires burned in controlled pits as a vegetable stew was made. Elves moved between the old structures, repairing roofs, reinforcing walls, and tending to the wounded. Others trained in small groups, their movements still slow but no longer hesitant. At the center of it all, the Great Tree stood tall, no longer sickly but radiant.

Its leaves shimmered faintly under the daylight, casting soft green hues across the village. The roots that once lay dormant now pulsed slowly, bringing life where there had been none before.

'Even though I've seen it before, it is still a strange way to gain strength.'

Rusty thought to himself as he looked at the tree. The ritual the elder had described was not something he had expected. In human temples, people would grasp a holy relic while a priest cast a spell to activate a class change. For the elves, a fruit was the focus of it all.

These fruits now grew all over the tree. Once an elf reached the threshold, they had to eat one. Afterward, they would fall into a deep slumber for a few hours as the transformation took hold. In a way, it was similar to a monster transformation, but it required an external trigger. To produce the fruits, the elder elves performed strange rituals around the tree, communicating with it through a form of elven magic he did not understand.

"Is it time?"

His thoughts were interrupted as a young man approached them, one of the new elven warriors. Many others followed behind him, all of them watching Teral. They had all changed their classes. Most now wielded bows or short blades, while some had become mages capable of controlling plants, wind, and water.

"It is…"

Teral's voice was quiet. It carried a trace of doubt about what he had set in motion, but when he met the other elf's gaze, his expression hardened.

"The time has come to take our people back, to avenge everyone the humans have taken from us!"

The gathered elves straightened. Some tightened their grip on their bows, while others rested their hands on newly forged blades. There was fear, of course, there was, but beneath it, something far stronger had taken root over these past weeks. A resolve to reclaim what they had lost and bring peace back to the forest.

Rusty remained still as he listened to his summoner speak. He had once been a shy boy marked by tragedy, but he was quickly growing into a man. The people around him now looked to him for guidance.

'I wish we had more time, but this will have to do…'

As the elves spoke, he glanced at his system. A timer was ticking down, one that had never appeared before. The summoning had a limit he had not known about. If he failed to complete the mission within the next four days, it would all be lost. Still, the elves were determined, and he would do everything in his power not to fail them.