CH 34

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─ ─ An hour has passed since the sounds of battle disappeared from the elven village.

The bandits tied up by Gustav and the male elves are gathered one after another in the center of the village. There was a sense of relief in the village, freed from the rule of the bandits, for the first time in a long time.

Parents and children who had been separated by the bandits were happy to be reunited, and some of the girls were so relieved that some of the elves began to cry. The injured had been treated. There were no casualties, and it was the happiest of happy endings.

But the reality is that this is not the end of the story.

“Hmmm… what should we do?”

The elves called Grandfather, who is the oldest in the village, let out a heavy sigh. In one of the dwellings, the elder elves, who are the most important leaders in the village, are gathered and sitting together. And there was also Spera, the village’s number one magician.

“I never thought that the Demon King’s army would move again. Wasn’t the Demon King defeated by the heroes in the first place?”

“No, I heard that the Demon King, like the heroes, is also passed down from generation to generation, and after 300 years, the time must have come. So, what are you going to do?”

“Well… it’s not good that the location of this village is known…”

Spela also opened her mouth gravely to the elder elves who were speaking out loud.

“What you mean by ‘bad’… is that [the destruction of the village] 300 years ago will happen again?”

“Yes.”

The Grandfather nodded.

“Spera, at that time you were only a newborn, so you didn’t know. But here we are, having survived those horrid days to this day… and it’s a disgraceful way to run away.”

“…Don’t say that, Grandfather. I certainly don’t have any memory of those days. But I know it through the books that have been left behind. I know that the elves united as one and stood up to the Demon King in order to protect their village. And as a result… that we have lost many casualties.”

At these words, a muddy silence falls over the room. The elder elves gritted their teeth. From their grief-stricken expressions, it was clear to Spera that the memories of that day were still etched in their minds with fresh wounds.

“The books said that many good and young sorcerers had been lost. So, in order to keep babies and children like me alive, those who were left had to flee, didn’t they?”

“…Mm, yes. Forgive me, Spera. Your father and mother were the last ones…”

“Grandfather, let’s not delve too deeply into that story. Now let’s talk about the future.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“The matter is urgent. We have to think about what we will do if we abandon this village again.”

Spera’s voice sounded dignified as if to break the heavy atmosphere.

“The executive of the Demon King’s Army came to this Elven village and was defeated by Gustav-san. As a natural course of events, there will be some kind of response from the Demon King’s Army, suspicious of the executive who never returned.”

“Mm, I suppose so. Next time, there is a possibility that a more powerful executive than this one, or an army large enough to destroy this village, will come in.”

“Yes. Therefore, we must leave this village at all costs and flee to another place before that happens.”

Spera’s words brought a bitter look to the faces of the elder elves.

“Everything Spela says is right. We built our village in this magical forest 300 years ago because it was the safest place to be out of sight and out of touch. If we leave this forest now…”

“But if we don’t escape, we will be wiped out at worst. The fact that it is difficult to confront the Demon King is a truth built on precious sacrifices, isn’t it?”

“Mm…”

The older elves are once again silent. Then it was the old man who broke the silence for a while.

“… we must go down to the kingdom.”

“Down to the kingdom…?”

“Abandon your village. In the true sense of the word.”

The grandfather squints sadly.

“I’m talking about leaving the elven villages and having the people accepted into the kingdom.”

” Grandfather, that’s not…”

“We have no choice. We can’t stand up to the Demon Lord’s army on our own.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“It pains me to close the curtain on the long history of the Elven Village, but I would not trade it for your lives.”

At the grave tone of his speech, Spera stopped talking. The other elves were also disturbed by the idea, but no further alternatives were put forward.

“Done. Then… we must ask Lord Gustav to take this matter to the Kingdom at any cost.”

“Well, yes.”

“The only problem is that we don’t have much money to give to the kingdom.”

“We’ve had almost no contact with the outside world for the last few hundred years.”

“Mm. We have little gold and silver. Certainly not enough to accommodate all the people of this village. But we can’t give up because of that. I’ll go and rub my head on the ground and ask for it…”

The grandfather was about to stand up, but…

“Wait. I’ll go myself.”

It was Spera who stopped him.

“I’m the one who has the most contact with Gustav-san at the moment, and I’m sure he won’t mind if I go and talk to as a representative.”

“But then…”

“In addition, I also owe him a debt of gratitude for protecting me from the monsters on the way to this village. Since you have also withheld your Thanks for that, it would probably be easier for them if you told them all at once.”

“Mm-hmm. That’s true, but…”

Spera managed to persuade the anxious Grandfather to leave the residence. The first thing she did was to go to her house, which she hadn’t been back to for some time. In her room, which had not changed at all, Spera did not even breathe a sigh of relief.

Slipping out of the dusty clothes she had been wearing, she also took off her underwear.

“…phew.”

Spera washes her face with water from a jar and wipes herself quickly with a damp cloth. She pulled a pair of rarely worn pearl-white underwear from the shelf and selected a relatively newly tailored, open-bosom outfit from the closet and put it on. She also combed her hair, and then stood in front of the stand mirror for the last time.

“…Okay. This will probably work.”

Spera murmurs, as if speaking to her reflection in the mirror.

“I was rejected earlier… probably because I looked dirty. I’m sure Gustav will like this.. shouldn’t he..?”

Spera huffed as she realized that she was becoming increasingly weak, and slapped her cheeks with both hands.

“No, no. It’s for the sake of the village, I have to be firm. If we want the kingdom to welcome us elves, we will surely have to scrape up all the little gold and silver the village has and offer it to them. If we don’t do that, the kingdom might be targeted by the Demon Lord’s army, and there is no merit in sheltering us.. And we also won’t have anything to give to Gustav-san.. So..”

Spera took a deep breath, as if she was ready.

“So, no matter what it takes, I have to satisfy Gustav-san with just [my body].! I will do my best, I will!”

With a final enthusiastic look in the mirror, Spera put the perfume on her wrists and left the house to look for Gustav.