Chapter 262

Chapter 262

(262) The secret of Dark Elves

Translator: Tseirp

Yesterday night, I was able to cross quite a considerable distance thanks to my run .

By noon that day, we arrived at the entrance to the Great Forest .

Quite a number of trees were growing densely in the forest .

Rarael traveled with a carriage so there should have been a wide path but I couldn’t find one .

There was no other choice so I transferred the desert runner back to My World and Shumei and I walked on foot .

I used Hawk’s Eye to observe the forest from the sky .

Hn, I couldn’t find a place that seemed to be a settlement .

“Let’s move further in for now . ”

I didn’t use the Hiding or Remain Unknown skill so that the Dark Elves would notice us .

A forest that humans have not touched was hard to traverse as expected and we were quickly stalled .

I could travel by jumping on the branches of the trees if I was on my own but what should I do now?

Just as I was thinking —

” —!”

I caught an arrow that was about to pierce Shumei .

At the same time, Dark Elves with bows and arrows appeared surrounding us .

They all had the appearances of young girls . The girls had silver hair and brown skin and they were all wearing masks .

I heard that the male Dark Elves were hunting in the depths of the forest .

“Hume, do you enter knowing that this is Dark Elf Sacred Land?”

“Please say that before shooting! I am Ichinojo! I come as friends of Rarael‧Mi‧Modan!”

I raised the amber brooch and announced .

The Dark Elves all stopped moving the moment I did that .

Then, a familiar Dark Elf leaped from the branch above and landed in front of me .

“You are earlier than expected, Ichinojo . ”

“Yeah, I have some minor business . ”

“And this girl is —”

Rarael looked at Shumei standing beside me .

Shumei stared at Rarael’s face .

“It has been a long time, Rarael-sama . ”

And she lowered her head .

” … Perhaps, Shumei?”

“Yes . ”

It seemed that they were acquaintances .

The Dark Elves formally apologized for firing the arrow and we were led to their village .

The houses were all treehouses made from branches . It was no wonder that I couldn’t find them when I searched from the sky . There didn’t seem to be any open spaces where they cut down the trees .

Also, as I heard from Rarael, the village was only made up of girls .

I was certain that if the Dark Elves that surrounded us took off their masks, they would all have beautiful features .

Dark Elves were all beauties .

We were guided to the largest tree house called the meeting place .

In that room, everyone sat on the floor and the conversation started .

I explained the reason we came to the five Dark-Elf representatives .

“I see — so you guys came here for that . ”

The exceedingly simple reply was a little unexpected .

“You don’t seem surprised . ”

“Ah, we already know that the Principality’s army is marching toward this forest . Shumei, your father has given us that information in secret . ”

As expected, His Highness the Prince had asked the Dark Elves to escape in his own way .

“In that case, why have you not run? The difference in number is significant . Do you believe you are able to win? Do you plan to fight guerrilla warfare in the forest?”

“That’s impossible . If we fight, we will all be captured, sent to the church, face trial in the so-called demon trial and be made into slaves — or in the worst scenario, sentenced to death . Although the chance of everyone dying in battle might be a lot higher . ”

“In that case, why —”

“We can’t run . We have something we must protect . ”

“The item you must protect is more important than your lives?”

Rarael stood up when I asked that .

“Ichinojo, please follow me . I have something I want you to see . Shumei, sorry but please wait here . ”

“Rarael-sama!”

The entourage of Dark Elves stood up and tried to stop Rarael but Rarael shook her head with a smile .

“Don’t worry, he is all right . ”

What exactly did she want me to see?

“Ichinojo, are you adept at moving through the forest?”

“I believe I am able to jump from tree branch to tree branch . ”

“I see, then let’s take the short cut . Follow me . ”

Rarael said as she showed off her amazing jumping ability .

I chased after her .

After jumping between tree branches for 30 minutes, we leaped down and entered a hole .

” … Ha, ha, I didn’t expect you to follow behind me without losing your breath . Perhaps you look like a Hume but you are actually an Elf?”

“No way . But I understand why Rarael asked Shumei to wait . It would probably be hard for Shumei to come here . ”

“That’s not the only reason . ”

We delved into the dim cave .

After passing through the cave, I saw — a huge tree covered with leaves that glowed golden .

“This — a golden tree? But I didn’t see it from above?”

The tree shined under the sunlight — I definitely would have noticed it when using Hawk Eye .

“The cave we passed through serves as a barrier so it can’t be seen from the outside . ”

And then, Rarael cautioned me to not step on the golden tree roots as she explained .

“This is our Dark-Elves’ god, the Golden Tree — it’s sapling . ”

“Sapling!? This!?”

You’re kidding! No matter how you look at it, isn’t it a hundred years old great tree?

It can grow even larger?

I see, so this was something like the Dark-Elves’ Sacred Tree .

I was convinced .

But the story didn’t end there .

“Ichinojo, there were only women in the village, right?”

“Yeah — you mentioned that the men were hunting in the depths of the forest . ”

“That’s a lie . The Dark-Elf is a female-only rare . ”

“Eh?”

Are the Dark-Elves only capable of giving birth to females?

Or they expel their males … that doesn’t seem to be the case .

“We Dark-Elves are not capable of bearing children . When the Golden Tree matures, it will drop a fruit with a single large seed and countless small seeds . The large seed will be nurtured as the next generation Golden Tree while we Dark-Elves will eat the small seeds . After eating the seeds, the Dark-Elves will be pregnant with children . I don’t know why we are a race like this . Although we are called Dark-Elves, we are a completely different race from the other races, even including the Elves . ”

Born from the seed of a plant, I never heard of such stories before .

” … You don’t believe me?”

“No, I do . I have not heard of it before but I have acquaintances who are born through unique means . They look and behave like humans so I can accept if Dark-Elves are such existences as well . Although I am surprised . ”

” … I am glad I spoke to you . And so we can’t leave this Golden Tree . Even if we have to fight with humans . ”

“Why do you tell me this?”

“We will definitely lose . And when we lose, we intend to disappear along with this Golden Tree . Shumei may not be able to accept it so maybe I wanted someone to know this story at the very least . ”

Rarael said and gently touched the bark of the Golden Tree .

The princess striving to protect the things she wishes to protect and the Dark-Elves who are prepared to die for the sake of protecting that which they must .

And I, my unemployed self who wanted both protect that which I wish to protect and that which I must protect, pondered .

” … Hey, Rarael . Can’t you replant this Golden Tree at a different location?”

“Hahaha, don’t speak of the impossible . Unfortunately, such a place does not exist . This tree is difficult to move and more importantly, when the Golden Tree matures, it will exceed a hundred meters in height . It can’t be hidden without a barrier . And we do not have the skills to re-establish such a barrier . ”

I guess so . A place where nobody will find it, there’s no way such a place exist —

No, there is a place where definitely nobody will find .

I was struck with an idea .

Now then, I had two choices .

I can help the Dark-Elves if I break the promise that I must keep .

So, what would I choose?

The choice was obvious .

“Rarael, if you plan on dying, do you mind lending your ear to what I have to propose first?”