Volume 1 - CH 11.1

Now that we had successfully formed an alliance, we could finally return to the royal capital. I immediately went to the hut where Lucia and the others were waiting, and found two Dark Elves there. Both of them were dressed in magician-style robes, which indicated that they were not elves living here.

They were looking at us curiously, but when they saw Elle, their eyes widened in surprise and they came closer to her.

「Elmair, you're alive. I thought you'd been killed in the failed raid.」

「I'm so glad! You were able to escape to Leshiana after that.」

A couple of men and women talk to Elle in a friendly manner. Apparently, they were Elle's friends. Elle, who had no memory of the Demon Empire, listened with a troubled face as the two spoke to her. Judging from the fact that she didn't understand what they meant, it seems that they were speaking to her in the language of the Demon Empire.

「What is it with you people? Coming up to us out of nowhere and not even saying hello? And you're dressed like that, are you from the Demon Empire?」

「Hmm? That language doesn't belong to the Demon Empire. But it's not Elvish either.」

「You're a hero of the Kingdom, aren't you? I believe you have the ability to translate.」

Because Alec spoke to them, our identity was instantly revealed. I wondered if their relaxed attitude, even though they knew we were a heroes, was a sign of their confidence that they could easily defeat us.

Alec and Sagami had already taken a step back and were drawing their weapons. It seems that they are willing to do so. But the other side, knowing that we are the heroes, is still showing a relaxed attitude. There may be some secret plan. It would be a mistake to start a battle without a fight.

「The people of the kingdom are savage. As soon as they see an enemy, they try to cut them down.」

「That's a normal reaction. You are just cowards for not taking a stand when you see an enemy, aren't you?」

The two sides are giving off a tense vibe, but I'm going to stand back and watch. I'm sure the elves will jump on me if I fight here. I don't feel any sign of them now, but I'm sure they're watching us from a place we can't see.

「Oi, you there! Why are you trying to run away when your friends are trying to fight!」

「Think about it. I didn't come here to fight you guys. What's the use of wasting time fighting?」

「Even if you don't want to fight, there's no greater gain for us if we can defeat the heroes. After defeating these two, you will be next.」

Oh, right, I haven't done anything heroic lately, so I didn't really understand the importance of us. I think Alec, who showed a lot of success in the battle at the fortress, is the one they want to defeat here.

Then the man suddenly cut at me. Unfortunately, the attack didn't reach me because of the barriers put up for the battle, but I was a little surprised. It woke me up from my sleep, but the lack of sleep was quickly making me irritated.

「Elle, do it.」

「As you wish, Master.」

At my signal, Elle activated the <Ice Statue>. Since Elle was behind them, she was in the best position to attack. They didn't expect to be attacked by someone they thought was one of their own, and they were trapped in the ice, completely unable to avoid it.

Alec was stunned to see the two of them incapacitated in an instant. Sagami was a little surprised, but quickly took stock of the situation and readied his armament. I guess he knows that it's not over yet.

「I've neutralized them.」

「No, there are magics you can use even if they can't move. Didn't you learn that from your last mistake?」

As expected, the ice is thinning little by little. It must have activated some kind of magic that melted the ice inside. Cracks appeared on the surface of the ice, and two people came out through the ice from inside.

「Elmaire! Why are you listening to that guy!」

「Wait, Elle didn't seem to understand what we were talking about earlier. Maybe the kingdom's people brainwashed her or something.」

「When I brought her back, she already had no memory of what happened before, so I just made her my apprentice.」

I also erased her memory, but I don't need to tell them that much. The two of them, who immediately grasped Elle's condition with my words, are trying to activate their magics towards me, as if they are trying to defeat me first. These guys don't seem to be able to chantless either. It would have been a shame to have handed Adriana over in that town.

『O God, let the purifying fire consume the enemy before me!』

『O God, give me in my hands the blade of condemnation with which iniquity destroys men!』

The two of them activated their magic. A man sending a mass of flames towards me, and a woman with a sword of light out to cut me. However, before their attacks could reach me, a number of arrows pierced their bodies.

When I looked in the direction of the arrows, I saw several elves with bows at the ready. It seems they were watching us after all. They took one look at the two fallen men and disappeared back into the forest.

「I had no idea that the elves were still watching us nearby. ......」

「It seems that using fire in this forest is still dangerous.」

Alec and Sagami were also taken aback by the sudden event. The elves had left, but what were they going to do with the rest? Are they just going to leave them here?

I looked at the two collapsed people and saw that their chest was moving. It seems that both of them are still alive. They had been shot all over their bodies, but the fact that they weren't dead was probably because they had been pierced in the right place.

If they were aiming for the right spot, then the elves of Leshiana are full of skilled archers.

It was a hell of an ending, but I'm going to find out why these guys came to the forest in the first place.

I stunned them as they moaned in pain, unable to stand up, and moved them to the warehouse next to the hut.

※

When I arrived at the hut, I tied up the two dark elves and used the <Magic SealingSigil> to make it impossible to activate the magic. In addition, I also applied a <Magic Stampede>, so even if the seal is broken, I don't have to worry.

「Is the magic sealing procedure finished? I'd like to get some information out of them.」

「I can do that. I'm confident in my abilities in such matters.」

「Okay, I'll leave it to you then.」

Both of you wanted to get information from them, but I wanted to try something with them, so both of them left them to me. And I'm not lying, because I'll get the information out of them as well.

After confirming that Alec and Sagami had left, I put up a soundproof barrier to prevent people from hearing me, and woke them up with the <Awake>.

The multiple deployments were tiring in their own way, but I had no choice.

They quickly regained consciousness due to the effects of the magic, but when they realized that they were tied up, they immediately began to flail about trying to break free.

「You bastard, untie me!」

「Do you know what's going to happen to you if you do this to us?」

「You're being held captive, but you're acting tough. Why don't I let you know the difference between our positions first?」

「I won't give up any information even if it gets me killed.」

Hearing the man's words, I kicked the woman in the stomach without hesitation. There was a dull sound as if I had kicked a leather bag full of water, and the woman was slammed against the wall.

The woman was spitting blood from her mouth and jumping up and down as she was hit in the stomach, which was completely unanticipated and defenseless.

「You bastard, why did you kick Lily! I'm the one you should be aiming for!」

「What's the point of kicking you? Look, if you don't answer my questions, she's going to get kicked instead. If you want to help her, you better answer fast.」

「Ja-Jasper, ...... I'll be fine. ...... Don't listen to anything he says. ......」

So the woman is Lily and the man is Jasper. Well, I'll forget about it tomorrow. She's a bit groggy from the kick, but she's doing the best she can. But that's not good enough. It's not enough to make a man ready to die.

「Jasper, you say, if you tell me everything honestly, I'll let her go. Of course, if you don't tell me, I'll just keep going.」

「...... I refuse. She'd rather die than give in to such threats」

「I see.」

I roll the woman onto her back and stomp down on her chest as hard as I can. There was a dull thud, and I felt the bones break. The broken sternum must have lodged in her lung. Blood was pouring out of her mouth, and she couldn't even speak as she thrashed about, spitting out blood.

The man looked at my actions with a dumbfounded expression. I guess he didn't expect me to kill her out of the blue.

A little while later, she stopped moving and died with an agonized expression on her face, her eyes wide open in extreme pain. The man who saw this also came to his senses and stared at her, struggling desperately with his bound body that could not move as he wished.

「What the hell have you done!?」

「You're the one who said it was okay to die.」

「But that doesn't mean you can't kill her out of the blue!」

I cast <Resurrection> on the woman so that the man can see her. Her broken body was restored to normal and she quickly regained consciousness, spitting out the remaining blood in her mouth and looking at me with incredulous eyes.

The man, too, was surprised to see her suddenly waking up after he thought she was dead, and seemed unable to speak.

「...... What the hell did you do to me?」

「You died, so I brought you back to life. Just that.」

「!!!」

「It's impossible for such magic to exist!」

Both of them respond to my answer as I expected. They both thought that if they died they wouldn't have to give up the information, but now that they're dead and escape is impossible, they have expressions of despair on their faces.

They were prepared to be killed, but there was no way they were prepared to go through anything more painful than death.

In fact, the information has already been obtained through <Memory Reading> when they were brought here, so there is no need to make these guys tell me anything. What I'm doing now is a way of thanking them for what you did earlier and also to relieve stress.

「If that's what you think, then do what you want. You don't have the freedom of choice anyway.」

「If I tell you ......, will you just let her go?」

「Jasper!?」

「!! I'm sorry, Lily. I was confused.」

Apparently, the guys have a surprisingly weak mentality. And looking at his attitude towards women, I don't think these guys are just colleagues. Looking at the man's memories again, it turned out that she was actually his lover.

While I was thinking about what to do with this information, they were having some kind of conversation with their eyes. Their attitude of trust in each other seemed to spark something in me.

Then suddenly, the devil whispered in my mind. Wouldn't it be interesting to break the ice between these two?

「Oi, you said, you're Lily. Turn around.」

「What? Mmugh!?」

The moment she turns to face me, I put the aphrodisiac I confiscated from Natalia in her mouth.

She swallows it reflexively and tries to spit it out, but in my experience, once it's in her mouth, it's too late. I think she took several times the amount I did.

「W-What did you give me to drink?」

「It's not poison, don't worry. More importantly, I've changed my mind, and I'll have you obey me.」

「How foolish ......」

「Well, I knew you would say that. Let's make a bet.」

「What's the bet!? Hmm!」

「What you've just taken is an aphrodisiac. I'm leaving now, but in the meantime, you can do as you please with that man. When I return, I'll ask you again what you think. You can do whatever you want in there, of course, but if you try to unbind him or get out of here, you lose.」

「W-what a bad taste. Nnhh ...... Okay, I guess I have no choice to ride along......?

「Thank you for quick on uptake. Good luck with that.」

It seems that the effects of the aphrodisiac have already begun to show. It was far more than the right amount, but I don't know what's going to happen. If it was a human, they would have gone insane for sure, but let's hope for the strength of the elf's mind.

Before leaving the room, I put a <Calming> on the man. The effect is simple: he will be able to remain calm and not become agitated or panic under any circumstances.

Isolate the room with a reinforced ward for the magician's confinement, and lock the door with a <Lock>. Now they can't get out. All I had to do was to come back after a while.

According to the information I got from the man, those two have come to form an alliance with Leshiana. If the negotiations failed, they had a plan to attack Leshiana by force. If they do not return, adventurers hired by the Demon Empire are scheduled to attack tomorrow morning.

The adventurers numbered about two hundred, but some of them were known as dragon slayers. This can be used for Elle's training. I think I will sneak out this evening and go raid the encampment.

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