Volume 6 - CH 13

Chapter 13 – The Participation of The Elves

Having the elves’ archers on the battlefield was like foul play. They don’t even need Eto’s buffs or enchantment. They have a longer range and higher accuracy than the guards at the castle gate. Although it doesn’t sound that much, the power that the elves showed when they silenced the guards at the first gate in a blink of an eye was just that overwhelming.

When Eto asked the Commander to let the elves participate in the battle last night, the Commander always tried to make problems for Eto by saying that he couldn’t trust them or that they might be planning something. And when Eto was wondering what he should do, surprisingly, it was Ronaldo who came to calm the Commander and told him that he just had to let Eto and the elves do what they could. Well, although grateful, that also made Eto want to ask what Ronaldo was planning.

After that morning battle, no matter how stupid the Commander is, he should be able to realize the usefulness of the Elven Archers. He even held Sunny’s hand and invited him to join the Knights. And next to him stood Ronaldo, who was talking with the other elves with a smile.

Even among the elf archers, Sunny’s shooting skill was one of the best. And when Sunny fired an arrow, the sound of the strings being pulled was abnormal, likely because he is using a pretty strong bow. The accuracy is also outstanding, and he can also fire his bow continuously. Even the enemies on the wall fell into disorder when one of their Captain was slaughtered by Sunny’s arrow. Then, the other elves besides Sunny calmly shot the enemy soldiers that had fallen into disorder. Seeing such coordination from the elves, no one probably wants to turn them into enemies.

The Knights, who are gaining momentum with the participation of the elven archers, are preparing to start the battle to break through the first gate in the afternoon. This time, the Knights reinforced the battering ram with metal, and the personnel who used shields to block arrows and magic attack were also incorporated into the battering ram team, leaving only a few soldiers with shields to protect them. In other words, this time they used this tactic in anticipation of the power of the elven archers.

However, in the afternoon, just before the battle was about to begin, things beyond the expectation of the attackers occurred. Three hostages of one man and two women were hung at the second gate on the fort side with both of their arms tied. And a man wearing full-body armor stood on the castle gate.

“Listen, the insolent persons who invade our land! How preposterous of you to use elven archers in a noble battlefield! Every time an elf shoots an arrow, we will cut their ropes! If you are okay with that, go on!” The man shouted at Eto and the Knights.

The man actually pulled his sword from his waist and brought the sword closer to the rope tied to one of the hostages. Eto and every one on their side can see even from a distance that the male hostage is afraid, making Eto irritated of himself who couldn’t do anything.

First of all, if the hostages are dropped from the height of the castle gate, they probably couldn’t be saved. Even if they lived by chance, they will eventually lose their lives from a serious injury. This gives the Knights two options. Either abandon the hostages and let the elven archers show their full potential, or seal the elven archers. And the Commander, in the end, chose the latter and the afternoon battle was canceled.

In the tent for the operation command, the Commander, the Hero’s party, the Knight’s Captains, Eto, Narl, and Sunny were called in to hold a strategy meeting. One of the Captains stood up at the beginning of the meeting. He is a man with a slender face like a stage actor.

“Currently, we are in a situation where our enemy’s used hostages as a shield, causing the Elven Archers to be unable to participate in the war. In that case, just like the original strategy, let us Knights break through the first gate by ourselves!”

The man lifted his right arm up, as if he was drunk on his own words. Some showed their agreement to the man’s words, but the majority just listened to him with sour expressions.

Sure enough, not even the Commander can agree with the man’s words. If there is no way to break through the two gates while ensuring the safety of the hostages, even the Commander couldn’t see the ending where they can capture the fort. In addition, given the physical strength of the hostages, they don’t have the time to try strategy after strategy again.

“Hero-sama, do you have the skill to directly destroy the castle gate?”

The Commander asked while being ashamed.

“Mirei and I indeed have a way to destroy the gate with a single blow.”

“Oo! By all means, please use that skill to open the castle gate–”

“However, if we use that method, the lives of the hostages brought to the walls will be in danger. If the hostages are gathered in one place we might at least be able to do something about that, but it is impossible now that they have their limbs tied up and hung.”

“I see…”

“Ee. I think we should use our strength as a last resort. You can understand what I’m saying, right?”

Ronaldo looked at the Commander with a strong gaze.

“Y-yes. I understand.”

Hero Ronaldo says he will release their power when the Commander decides to sacrifice the hostages. That made Eto surprised, because he never expected Ronaldo to make such a harsh decision. In addition, Ronaldo said he and Mirei could destroy the castle gate, which has excellent physical and magic resistance. In other words, they can destroy it with a single blow using skill or magic.

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When Eto still belonged to the Hero’s party, the two didn’t have that much power. And when he looked at Lana, she nodded lightly in reply to him.

‘Hee, so they really have such a skill.’ Eto thought.

It seems that the Hero’s party weren’t spending their time aimlessly.

The decision to sacrifice the hostages surely wasn’t something that could be decided at a moment of notice, thus the discussion became stagnant.

“Eto, do you have any suggestions?”

When the place was about to calm down, Ronaldo asked with a serious expression. However, Eto couldn’t help but suspect that Ronaldo might have an ulterior motive by asking that. Because Eto thought there was no way Ronaldo needed his opinions, and Eto thought Ronaldo probably wanted to shame him by jumping on his mistakes.

‘Besides, since when does this guy address my name casually? I don’t really mind, but… I feel like the way he spoke to me also changed.’ When Eto thought about something like that, the Commander yelled at him.

“Hero-sama is asking for an opinion from an adventurer like you! Answer him immediately!”

The Commander had his face flushed in anger.

‘An adventurer like you, huh, what a downgrading way to say that’ Thinking like that, Eto stared at the Commander. And perhaps finding Eto’s gaze unpleasant, the Commander was about to yell again, saying, “Y-you bastard!”. That was until Ronaldo raised one hand in front of the Commander.

“How is it, Eto?”

It seems Ronaldo wanted to hear Eto’s opinion no matter what. Thus, Eto sighed in his heart.

“Well then, Hero-sama said that you and Mirei-sama have a skill that can destroy the castle gate. If you don’t mind, can you tell me what kind of skill it is? If you can destroy the gate for sure, there is a strategy I would like you to try.”

Eto regained his calm and began to speak his proposal.