Chapter 326
As the sun set on our first day in Oakfall, we had gotten settled into our room for the near future. It had six beds, with a storage trunk at the foot of each and two armoires at the opposite ends of the room. There weren't any toilets or baths. We had to find relief outside in public outhouses or the stream east of town, where people typically bathed, fish, and did laundry.
Nyra was jumping up and down on her bed, unfazed by the elf's outburst earlier. Thankfully, no one caught on who she was. Not yet at least. To my relief, Mio and Erma were easing up on her. They didn't tolerate her company, but actually enjoyed it.
Meanwhile, Elendir was sitting on her bed and staring up at the ceiling.
"Let me guess: You chose Oakfall to see how your people were doing?" I asked.
Elendir smiled. "It is foolish to try and conceal anything from a succubus. That is one reason. Every single one of these elves had made the choice to follow me in joining the Demon King and his war. Every single elf who had lost a loved one… was due to me making that choice. The other reason is to see if they were lacking in anything that I might be able to provide."
"And what about Tirnicia?"
"She…" The dark elven queen twiddled her fingers. "I failed because of my incompetence. Tirnicia isn't just missing an eye. We didn't see it since she was behind the counter, but her left leg is missing up to the knee. War is a terrible thing I wish on no one."
I reached down to hold her hand and gave it a squeeze. Elendir responded in kind, clasping with both of hers.
"But you can see the hope in their eyes that didn't so much as shine before. Thanks to you, of course, for reconciling my people and Goddess Everlight." Elendir rose to her feet and stroked my cheek with one hand.
"Heeey, quit flirting already! We're gonna go down and explore the town. Kana says he wants to take on some quests. Preferably some monster slaying. Pfft. Guys and their need to prove their worth, am I right?" Mio snickered on the way out, giving Nyra a ride on her shoulders.
"Damn it, Mio. It's got nothing to do with that!" Kana groaned.
The two of us laughed quietly to ourselves.
"If you're worried about Kana, there should be a magical weapons and armors shop or two in Oakfall. I wouldn't want to lose my Japanese language tutor," Elendir said.
"Sounds good to me." I grinned.
We put a hood over Nyra to avoid another encounter like earlier in the day. The last thing I wanted was to traumatize more dark elven veterans. Elendir looked for Tirnicia on the way out of the inn, but we didn't find her. Some other dark elf was manning the counter. We did, however, find Shayle knocking back shots of alcohol with some peers at a full table.
"Oh, Que—"
Elendir glared daggers at her.
"Errr… guys!" Shayle cleared her throat. "I found some old friends. Don't mind me. I'll probably pass out after a few more anyway."
"Let's move on." Elendir ushered us outside.
We stepped out into the cozy evening, sun-painted clouds rolling past and fireflies dancing around every lamppost. The season was nice and warm, a pleasant change of pace from the freezing winter of Tokyo in late December.
Elendir led us through Oakfall like it was a tour. A savory smell wafted up to my nose. Set up on the side of the road was a merchant roasting skewers over hot coals. Nyra and Mio were both drooling, eyes fixed on the morsels.
I figured we could stop by and grab some to eat, only to realize I didn't have any currency from this world. Elendir noticed right away and whipped out a bursting pouch.
"A dozen skewers, please." Elendir planted a small stack of silver coins on the stall.
"Coming right up!" The dark elf cook handed two to us at a time.
They were large chunks of meat, dripping with fat and brine. Like cubes of steak. Nyra finished hers in seconds. Her lips and chin were covered in oil. When I bit down on mine, an explosion of flavor filled my taste buds. Firm, melty, and with a hint of herbal spices similar to mint I didn't quite recognize.
"This is better than Wagyu…" Kana sighed in delight.
"Hold on. This is gonna taste better with this." Mio pulled out a bottle of hot sauce from her cleavage.
"You had that the entire time…?" I groaned.
"Never leave home without it!" She dabbed each cube of meat and gorged on them.
After the meal, we made it to our first quest board next to a fountain in the middle of an avenue. There were a lot of notices tacked on haphazardly, some brand new and others tattered from wear. Dark elves came up to the board as casually as someone would window shop on Earth. They plucked a notice or added one to the myriad of choices.
"How about this one? All it asks us to do is slay a pygmy calophant." Erma pointed to a request.
"Pygmy means small, right? I say we do it. I want to fight a monster like we're a group of adventurers," Kana said.
"A calophant is a hill-sized mammoth that awakens for a week every century to graze. Their pygmy counterparts are still as large as two-story houses," Elendir explained.
"Maybe not then…" He suddenly didn't feel like getting squished.
"This one right here says to deliver a gallon of milk and some rougan meat to a lady's house in town." I reached for the notice only to feel Kana staring at me. "W-What?"
"Saeko, where's your sense of adventure? We came to Elza to take on some quests that adventurers would take. Like in the isekai manga we used to read! You want to play a glorified deliveryman instead?" the lone human of the group exclaimed.
Of all the people to be so gung-ho after coming here, it had to be Kana.
"Actually, rougan meat is rather difficult to obtain. If this woman is asking for some, it means she is unable to do it herself. Rougans are landsharks that burrow just beneath the soil to ambush prey. I say it is more than a suitable quest for us to take," Elendir suggested.
We decided to go for it. If things went south, then we could just return to Oakfall and say we tried. The sun had completely set by now, so we figured the quest was best left for tomorrow and turned in for the night after buying some food.
Back at the inn, a few of us fell right to sleep. Nyra being among them. Erma and Kana passed out as soon as their heads hit the pillows. Elendir disappeared downstairs, and I could only assume she went to catch up with friends. Mio was reading some erotic manga when she shot a look in my direction.
"Elly just left. I say we do it now," Mio suggested.
"Ugh. I still don't know about this," I said nervously.
"If you're not going in, I'll just do it alone. What's it gonna be?" she asked.
I sucked in a deep breath and nodded.
The two of us kneeled next to the bed Nyra was sleeping on. She was sound asleep, curled up and clutching onto the cat plush Mio had given her. From here, I couldn't fathom she could have a single malicious thought in that head of hers.
Mio started first. Her aura slowly enveloped Nyra, and I followed suit to do the same thing. Our succubus magic activated, and we slipped into the slumbering girl's dream.
Right away, intense flames licked at our bodies. We were standing in the middle of a village engulfed by fire at night. Screams for help echoed from all around us. Dark elves, succubi, and demonic beasts pillaged houses and farms. They enslaved those too weak or slow to escape.
"Kuh… Is Nyra really… dreaming about this?" I shielded my face from the heat.
"It's not a dream…" Mio muttered. "This is a memory. I remember this place. A beastkin village we sacked for sex slaves. But how the hell is Nyra recalling it?"
"Could she have been here? As the Demon King? You know, observing the attack."
Mio folded her arms and thought long and hard until someone started whimpering behind a nearby barn. We traced the sound to Nyra, sitting between the back of the barn and a haystack. She had both hands pressed to her ears and eyes squeezed shut.
I was about to go to her until Mio stopped me.
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Mio said.
"Come on. She's clearly suffering." I frowned.
"Look, if we jump in now, Nyra might start suspecting us when we drop into her dreams again. Best we can do is give her a change of scenery. I'm kinda over this war stuff myself…" She gave a side-eyed glance at the battle unfolding.
I gave in to Mio's suggestion. We exerted our auras over Nyra's dream world again, taking control over it and transforming everything. A serene forest stretched into the distance. Clashing steel was replaced by chirping birds and insects. Heat from the raging fires subsided to a gentle warmth of the sun.
Mio and I were sitting atop a branch high in the canopy, staring down at Nyra slowly opening her eyes. The terrified demeanor shifted into relief and happiness in an instant. A rabbit suddenly hopped past her. Instinct took hold, and she seized the critter by the throat. Malice and violence flashed in Nyra's gaze, but vanished just as quickly.
I thought Nyra was going to kill the rabbit. Instead, she let go and watched it dart away.
"Guess we can check her dreams again tomorrow night. If that's good enough, how about we ditch this place and grab a dark elf prostitute?" Mio suggested.
"You go on ahead. I'm going to stay here to watch her a little longer," I said.
"Blehh. Fine. I'll stay with you." She pouted.
Come morning, Nyra was a lot chipper than normal. She had a skip in her step and a smile to her face. After refreshing ourselves in the brook outside of Oakfall, we split up back in town to get some things in order. Elendir was in charge of picking up a wagon for us to transport the rougan back. I left Kana and Nyra in her care.
Meanwhile, Mio, Erma, and I went to buy some food and camp supplies in case the quest made us stay out late. On the way to meet them at the edge of town, we took a shortcut through an alleyway between two townhouse buildings when a group of dark elves blocked the exit. The stinkeyes they were giving us could burn a hole through the wall. Some of them even brandished clubs and black jacks.
"Uh, oh. Looks like trouble," Mio whispered.
"You came to the wrong town, light elf. Just because you strolled in with a couple of succubi doesn't mean you're safe," a dark elf said venomously.
"My wife lost both her legs in the war. Only fair I break both of yours." Another smirked.
"As for you two." A third stared us down. "We'll make sure to leave your pet mostly intact."
Erma heaved a sigh. It looked like she had resigned herself to a beating and stepped forward to receive her due.
"Wait, you guys can't be serious. Hurting my thrall is no different than messing with my property. I can't let you do that," I said.
"P-Property…" Erma shuddered at my words.
"Yeah, and besides." Mio slapped the light elf's ass and grabbed a handful of her cheek. "Doesn't it look like she's getting punished enough?"
"Hnngh… Ahh… To be humiliated by succubi in front of my tainted counterparts… how vexing, and yet…" Her face turned deeply red and breathing more ragged.
Great. Now Mio just flipped Erma's switch. But it seemed to work. The dark elves grimaced and backed away.
"Tsk. Keep her on a tight leash. If we ever see her wandering the town alone, there's going to be a thrashing." The first elf who had spoken pounded a fist into her palm.
The others followed suit with their own threats before leaving.
"Shoulda guessed a light elf in Oakfall would ruffle some feathers." Mio scoffed in their direction.
"Alright, Erma. You can stop squirming. We're not going to fuck you in an alleyway either. Elendir, Kana, and Nyra are waiting for us," I said.
"Oh." Erma's shoulders drooped.
We returned to the group, who were waiting by the southern exit of the city on a simple wagon. Impatience creased their faces. When they saw us, Nyra lit up first, but Kana and Elendir breathed a sigh of relief.
"What took you so long? We thought something had happened. Elendir was about to head back into the town to look for you guys," Kana said.
"We actually ran into some dark elves who wanted to pick a fight with Erma. I can't imagine what would've happened if we weren't with her." I shook the thought away before it took shape.
"I see." Elendir frowned. "I did fear something like this might happen."
"You needn't worry about me. I'm more than capable of holding my own in a fight, especially after learning several of Earth's martial combat. I don't ever intend to find myself maimed or killed," Erma explained.
"That's great and all, but even the most skilled martial artists try not to get jumped to begin with…" I sighed.
We set out into the forest with the wagon pulled by only a single horse. Shayle wasn't accompanying us, but she had asked around where rougans could be found. Some war buddies provided her with a location some hour or so walk from the city, and she relayed the info to us.
Unlike the jungles of Emerald Dardaria, the forests around these parts weren't especially thick or treacherous. It was more like a tranquil hike through the wilderness. The scariest thing I saw during the ride was the wagon driving through a poor spider's web.
"I believe it is around here that rougans were last sighted," Elendir said as we came to a meadow clearing.
Rougans were large and strong enough to destroy carriages. We didn't want to be riding on one when they surfaced. I put Nyra on my shoulders, and we strolled into the flora-carpeted meadow. Kana sneezed as we kicked up a cloud of pollen.
"Ugh. Allergies in Elza are so much worse than on Earth. It's probably going to do me in sooner than a monster." Kana wiped his nose and frowned.
I was about to tease him about buying alchemy potions to help with that when Erma tensed up.
"Wait." Erma lifted a hand and motioned for us to stop. "Do you feel that?"
The ground trembled, as if a colony of billions of ants were burrowing underneath us.
"It's the rougans! Saeko, Mio— to the sky!" Elendir shouted.
Mio lifted Kana into the air, and I flew up with Nyra on my back. Two scaled beasts breached the ground where we were just standing. Giant gaping maws opened in an attempt to swallow us, their razor sharp teeth ready to tear bone and meat to shreds. Having caught nothing though, one quickly burrowed back into the earth. The other hit the hard surface of the earth and looked confused.
It gave us a full view of what the rougan looked like. As large as a bull, the front half of its body appeared to be a cross between reptilian and shark. The back and limbs were closer to a pangolin, with incredibly long and sharp claws perfect for burrowing large amounts of dirt. Shining black and green scales covered most of the body like some kind of tank. Before Mio and I had a chance to fire magic at it, the second burrowed into the earth.
Erma's eyes darted all over the ground, meanwhile Elendir retreated up to a boulder.
"What are you doing? Get up here!" Elendir shouted.
"We're not going to complete the quest without killing a rougan. I'll create an opening, and the rest of you will attack!" Erma instructed.
The light elf remained firm where she stood, even stomping the earth to lure the beast. Nyra started pulling on my hair with one hand and pointed afar with the other. A third burrowing rougan was approaching Erma from behind and had no idea.
"Good catch, Nyra!" I fired a bolt of ice, forcing the rougan to veer off.
The two that had originally attacked us broke surface again, lunging right for Erma. Everything turned cold for a brief moment. Elendir conjured a giant spear of ice. It staked through the body of one Rougan, suspending the massive creature in mid-air.
Erma jumped out of the way as the second rougan landed, and Mio summoned chains from dark portals to bind it still. The third didn't go for Erma. Instead, it jumped for Elendir on the boulder. The dark elf performed hand gestures, creating a magical barrier which the rougan slammed into.
"Get me in there, Mio!" Kana exclaimed.
"You got it!" Mio swooped in with Kana, who was wielding an enchanted sword. He swung, and the momentum brought the blade slicing through the final rougan like cutting butter, bisecting it in half.
Everyone cheered at a job well done and hoisted the three rougans together. They had enough meat for a barbecue of their own, and Elendir suggested we do just that before going back to Oakfall.
"So, this little one saved me, did she?" Erma smiled at Nyra.
"Saw the third before any of us did," I said, although I suspected the legate of all people probably sensed it coming.
Erma ruffled Nyra's hair, putting the girl in a giggling fit. Just looking at her innocence got me thinking about what Mio and I saw in her dream. All that destruction…
I put it to the back of my mind. However, as we were getting a fire started, I heard the brushes behind us rustle. Twenty dark elves emerged from the forest, all of them wielding bows with arrows nocked on the bowstring and swords leveled at us. They also all wore black bandanas on their wrists, just like…
"These don't look like the same ones from the alleyway," Erma muttered.
"Maybe. Maybe not. But I suspect I know who is behind them. It's you, isn't it? Tirnicia!" Elendir shouted into the underbrush.
The tall dark elf innkeeper strolled out of the forests. She walked with an uneven but controlled gait. A prosthetic leg was fitted on her left up to the knee.
Tirnicia tapped her eyepatch. "I may be missing one eye, but I still recognize the Demon King. Smaller than I remember. Unless… you're going to try and convince me that's not him?"