Chapter 151
Chapter 151
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 151
Chapter Title: Ceasefire with the Elves
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It felt just like déjà vu.
Thompson blasting away the elf knight, Barundel clearing the path right behind him, Kayla sowing chaos on the battlefield with her flame magic...
Paht! Paaht!
And me, teleporting in.
The battle, which had seemed to be tilting against us just a bit, flipped in an instant. Before long, I'd arrived at the heart of the elves' strategy hub.
Yeah, right there where Erveheim was.
Step, step.
Just like last time, I walked forward slowly under the wary gazes of the elves perched in the surrounding trees.
Ahead of me, Erveheim stared at me with a look of utter disbelief, same as before.
Her face seemed so stiff that I gave her a little wave.
"Long time no see?"
"...What is it this time?"
Yeah, not in the mood for chit-chat, huh.
I wasn't either, so I cut straight to the point.
Swoosh.
I held out a sheet of paper I'd prepared in advance and opened my mouth.
"It's a ceasefire agreement. As I said before, the dwarves don't want war."
"You came here just to deliver this?"
"Yes."
She nodded, and suddenly Erveheim burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Uhuhuhu!"
What was so funny? As that question crossed my mind—
Hwak!
Her face twisted in an instant, and she glared at me like she wanted to kill me.
Her furrowed brow made her feelings plain.
"Who the hell do you think you're treating like an idiot?!"
Trrrk!
With that shout, she immediately drew her longbow.
No hesitation this time, no giving me room to react—just a much swifter motion.
Like she meant to kill me right then and there.
The other elves waiting nearby did the same.
Trk! Trrrk!
As if they'd anticipated this, they nocked their arrows too.
Shwaaaaak!
Arrows rained down from all directions at once.
But for some reason...
I wasn't tense at all.
'Guess I've gotten stronger.'
Even in a situation like this, danger didn't even cross my mind.
I just felt my quickened heartbeat and naturally moved my hand.
Thump!
"[Barrier]."
Thudududung!
The arrows slammed into the translucent barrier and tumbled harmlessly to the ground.
Grinding her teeth, she loosed dozens more arrows, but the result was the same.
Thudududuk!
Five blocked by [Barrier], ten crushed by gravity magic, seven dodged with [Teleport].
A total of twenty-two arrows neutralized, pounding nothing but the innocent dirt.
Then—
Shweeeeak!
A single arrow, different from the rest, hurtled toward me with immense force.
An arrow wrapped in intangible energy.
No ordinary arrow.
'Blocking with [Barrier] could be risky.'
I quickly judged and immediately cast [Teleport] to evade—
Shrik—shweeeeak!
'...Homing?'
The arrow curved its trajectory and came after me again.
Just as I'd suspected—not an ordinary arrow.
Two more like it were fired in the meantime, putting me at the mercy of three homing arrows. I instantly unleashed light magic.
Three beams of light bloomed from my fingertips.
Pung!
[Luminescent Grasp] seized the three arrows and erupted with holy power.
Thud, plop.
Fortunately, the arrows lost their momentum and plummeted.
In that subtle tension, I looked up at the elf who'd fired them.
"The elder elf's arrows are indeed different."
Erveheim. It was hers.
"Not bad, kid. That wasn't something you could block easily."
It was tricky, sure.
If I weren't a mage.
Keeping my battle stance, I asked her,
"...Shall we continue?"
"Hmm, who knows? Maybe?"
Erveheim tilted her head with an enigmatic expression.
Her bow was aimed at the sky.
And nocked in her longbow were nearly ten arrows, all cloaked in that same intangible energy.
"It does seem like that might be more fun."
Drrdrdrdr!
Ten arrows trembled in the drawn string, ready to fire at any moment.
But I kept a calm expression and spoke.
"You know it's pointless."
"Pointless?"
"You can't change the course of this war with that."
Erveheim's attack was threatening, no doubt.
But it wouldn't alter the current situation.
"The dwarves are already free of the plague. They can rebuild their full strength anytime."
"True enough. But you think that means the elves will lose?"
She twitched her eyebrow as she asked.
A reaction she only showed when she was pissed...
"I wouldn't know. But what I do know is there'll be massive casualties."
Honestly, the outcome seemed obvious, but I phrased it diplomatically.
Adding a bit of a white lie for good measure.
"Above all, we could side with the dwarves."
"Hah, you'd join an interspecies war? A human?"
"..."
"Only start what you can handle, kid."
Too bad she saw right through it.
As expected of an elder—she had my number in situations like this.
'Up till now, it was about neutralizing the elves without casualties. I avoided them on purpose.'
But direct intervention was a different story.
If we didn't want a human-elf war, participating was practically impossible.
That's why the elves were responding so mildly.
If I were in a position to truly intervene, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
I'd be surrounded by hundreds of elves under concentrated fire right now.
Anyway.
The key point was one thing.
"So, no ceasefire agreement?"
"..."
An awkward silence flowed.
Erveheim finally spoke after a few minutes.
"Hand it over."
"Yes."
I offered the agreement, and she reached out.
Smoke rose from the paper, engraving her name.
Erveheim.
Her speech was aggressive, but she was a wise elder.
She knew when to fold.
Continuing the war would mean massive losses for the elves, no matter how you spun it.
Slap.
Erveheim handed the agreement back and said,
"Now get lost, kid."
"...Yes."
Grumbling to the end.
Slap, flick!
"What, it's over?"
"Looks that way."
My comrades had arrived just in time, so I let them know it was done.
The war had ended without a hitch.
***
That evening.
Back in Kazandur, we attended a banquet at Bagran's invitation.
It was to celebrate the dwarves' recovery from the plague and the war's peaceful end.
As guests, we naturally sat beside Bagran and shared plenty of talk.
Or rather, we listened to him talk.
"I've never heard of taking down a demon legion commander like that. Did you plan it ahead?"
"There was this funny incident at the Red Rock Cliffs. A dwarf climbing that cliff path..."
"Truth is, banning other races was unavoidable. Given Kazandur's nature..."
I hadn't noticed before, but Bagran was one chatty dwarf.
It wasn't boring, though, so I listened quietly while Barundel shook his head like he was fed up.
Seeing that reminded me of something I'd been curious about.
"But Barundel, why'd you leave Kazandur?"
The reason Barundel had left Kazandur.
I'd never heard about it, so I was pretty curious, and Barundel answered readily.
"Kazandur was where I mainly did demon hunter work. So... after that incident, I just didn't want to stay anymore."
"Ah..."
That made sense.
Bad memories as a demon hunter—plenty of reason to leave.
"Contact naturally dried up after that."
As Barundel said that—
Thwack!
Bagran smacked him on the forehead with a scowl.
"You little punk! Cutting off your uncle like that?!"
"...My apologies."
Barundel accepted it without argument.
The talk naturally shifted to Barundel's life after leaving Kazandur, and the banter continued for a while.
The banquet was winding down.
"Thanks again. You solved two huge problems for us."
Bagran suddenly bowed politely.
"Felt like I hadn't thanked you properly."
"Ah, no need. We're the ones who might end up owing you."
"Right, I haven't gotten to that yet, have I?"
He knew exactly what I meant and gave the answer he'd been holding back.
"I'll tell you about that place I mentioned before."
"Thank you."
Starting tomorrow, it was EXP fever time.
***
Kazandur's Altar Rock Zone.
Bagran had said it was like Alvheim's 'Black Forest,' and sure enough, demons were everywhere.
At least twenty right in front of us.
And...
'...This is pretty damn good.'
The varieties were solid too.
Starting with [Demon Rock Turtles], [Demon Gargoyles], [Demon Moles], and so on.
Not too hard to hunt, but generous with EXP— a great cluster of demons.
Plus the quest we'd picked up from Kazandur Square's board before heading out.
'Earning gold and EXP... best of both worlds!'
Not quite Black Forest level, but more than satisfying.
No, it was damn good.
My mouth was watering even before we started.
Guess it showed.
"The top dog's in a good mood, huh?"
Thompson grinned warmly.
No reason to deny it, so I let my excitement show.
"Heh, you bet. Bunch of fun ones right in front of us."
"Just sweep 'em all?"
"Yep."
I nodded, and Thompson drew up his mana.
His body began to change immediately.
Grk! Grrrk!
[Body Transformation Magic].
Soon, horned quadruped Thompson kicked off the ground.
Dudududu!
His charge drew every eye, and the demons swarmed right to him.
Perfect for us.
Kueeeek!
Demons flew back with every clash.
That satisfying fullness filled me up fast.
Gaining EXP always felt amazing.
'It's shooting up!'
How much time passed like that?
In the midst of our hunt—
"Take a look at this!"
Barundel, herding demons from the corner, shouted.
"What's up?"