Chapter 30 Say Nothing

"...I'm repeating myself, but… I can only see how much effort and time you have put into growing stronger. You have reached a high level. And only you know how many other tricks up your sleeve you have in wait."

"And? Just get straight to the point, White-haired."

"W-White-haired…? Ahem. Princess, do you perhaps intend to fight our enemies? To struggle in a war against them? To raise our people to a dignified station, provide them with weapons, and what… fight?" Up till that moment, the elf was only calmly giving me a piece of his mind. What followed after was different.

For once, the kind White-haired grew aggressive, albeit only with his tongue, and made it clear I was being a huge pain for him. "The Demon Lords have united, Princess! When will you wake up!" he stepped forward and waved his arms around. "There's no single scenario in which we fight against such a powerful foe! Their army… What do you think? That we haven't sent the scouts on them? We did! It was then calculated by the mages among them that… it's terrifying but… the average level of their whole army… is above fifty! Yes! Fifty! How can we struggle against that? It is… enormous, Princess! They are the demons! They have obtained means to fight we cannot even—"

"That's enough!" I grew aggressive too, swinging my arms around as he did. "Don't you get it?! I feel for you people, really! But I'm not her! She's gone. W-W-What's even her name? I don't know! Can you tell me? Because I can't! I'm not your girl! I'm sorry, but she's gone!" Marking a pause with my words, I made sure he understood how serious I was, and how grave was my expression.

As it was, though, the elf just avoided looking at me. His sight was downward in self-pity. What was more he kept shaking his head denying all I said. Then, an idea came to me. "Hey, I know what. White-haired—and you too, the hideous elf—look at me. Look both at me. Right. Just like this. See your princess?" I said, with the iciest expression, devoid of all emotions, thinking back on all the humans I kind of slaughtered for fun on my first day, then frowned at them letting show all the indifference I felt for both of these puny, inferior creatures—then I unleashed it. My aura leaked off of me. Despite the fact it wasn't good for the Receptacle, I could show them at least a little of my true self.

At once, my shadow washed over them. They were plunged into the dark. So tiny they were, and so powerless. From the monster that stood in front of them, thick waves of bluish dark mana were let out, wildly dancing and spiraling all around. Fear was instilled in their heart, I still looked down at them with a listless expression, devoid of any emotions. Hastily after that, I brought a hand to my head. Moaning in pain, I discarded the notification warning about an Overload and heaved a long sigh. "Get it?" the monster said. Then, it was clear: the monster could swallow the elves anytime it wanted. "...I see you just can't give up, though. Do follow me, elves."

I understood it, now. I could be going wherever I wanted, yet I would never be away from these two. That's exactly why I would have to cross a line on them. I needed to deal with them. Was I not to do that, I would never see peace. Inviting them to follow me, they surprisingly tagged along. Without saying a word. It was clear to me they refused to heed my words, but I didn't expect them to just follow obediently. It was no carriage that led our group, at present. It was me. I led them, and not in the direction they wanted.

How could I deal with them? There was a limit to how I could let off of my real strength to them. Because when I did so, my body wasn't all right. A minute ago, I allowed myself to let the monster, that was I, show through, but it had been difficult on me. In a fight, for obvious reasons, it would be near impossible. That's why I needed a sword. They had swords, these two. Daggers, more specifically. They wouldn't give them to me, though. I thought of stealing the blades from them, but approaching the duo carelessly would probably get me in trouble. In spite of how powerful I was, compared to them, if I dropped my guard, who knew how many different ways of neutralizing me they had. Tools are magnificent things. I now understood the greatness of the human races. 'Nobility', huh?

Marching onward, I sparred the two of them a glance. The two adult-sized elves were having more trouble than me dealing with the thick forest, cutting their way through it with machetes. Following in my footsteps, they spoke privately among themselves.

They may have thought I didn't hear their messy little chitchat of a plan to capture me, but well, Mana Perception was versatile to no end, to say the least. The princess is really strong, they said. They couldn't underestimate her, or else they would be done for. The delusional elves still are calling me their princess, humph, I thought. Do as you please.

With Mana Perception, I could sense things, even far off. So expanding my senses to my distant surroundings, I could see around our area. When I first got to use the skill that way, it was quite demanding. I was trying to eat rats when I first used it this way, in order to see really far off to the best I could. Now though, it was another story. I wasn't so strained physically or mentally. I would just walk on, with my eyes shut, concentrating on seeing 'out', the wind gently caressing my hair as I went. When I buckled down to it, I sure could get stuff done, couldn't I? The more concentration the farther I could see. Or rather 'sense'.

Not farther than thirty meters, now, was a habitation. Surrounded by trees and bushes. A fine, little cozy home to someone. In that home… it was hard to see in, but I still could identify many things. And among these things, there was cookware. Shall I cook my two enemies some poisoned food in order to deal with them? No. Knives were part of the kitchenware I was targeting. And only that much would suffice me.

Oh, also, there was an old man, gently sipping on his teacup, right now. It must have been Gramps' house. I'm sure he wouldn't mind me borrowing him some tools anyway. So the old man was kind of a separate matter altogether. For a second, I nearly lost my balance. There happened to be a gap where I placed my foot. Right at the same time, the two elves, who up until now still walked calmly behind my back, made a rush for it. They saw I didn't stumble down and instantly fell back behind. I thought better of letting my guard down and stopped making an effort to see far away.

And very soon, the cozy little house was visible to them. With dumbfounded looks, they inquired about whose house it was. Were there even inhabitants that dwelled in this part of the forest before? They were familiar with the land, and that house was unknown to them. Sure, people still wandered across the woods, as the less dense parts of the forest weren't swarming with monsters, but that kind of house wasn't comparable to a tent. A light dimly lit the inside of the habitation.

It didn't take more than a minute for us to reach the door of that little house. I knocked on the door to inform the old man inside I'd be using some of his stuff. Well, I just thought it'd be good if he was alerted of our presence. After I did so, I turned back to the elves, a grin playing on my lips. "Are you guys ready?"

"Princess—"

"Say nothing," I ordered.

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