Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: Merald's Memory
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(97) Merald's Memory
Merald surveyed the damp but expansive area devoid of puddles.
An open space like this made it easy to detect approaching enemies, but it also exposed them to the enemy.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have chosen such a place to camp. But today was a special situation, leaving him no choice. Plus, it was a calculated decision, knowing he could leave any large-scale frontal assault to Ruby.
'Isn't this an overly complacent judgment, placing too much trust in Ruby? If something happens that she can't handle, I won't be able to cover for her. Then I shouldn't entrust it to her. It's not a matter of trust or not.'
On the way here, Merald had checked twice in the marshlands for any traces of fish komora or other enemies. Even so, the sound he'd missed just moments ago nagged at him, preventing any sense of security.
That was definitely not a water cone—it had been the work of another mage.
'Perhaps it was that person I know.'
Echo flowers grew in this marsh too, producing false coughs and murmurs. Merald worried the noise might cause him to miss sounds from other enemies.
'I need to check once more.'
Merald retraced his steps to the spots he'd already confirmed twice, preparing for any possible traps or ambushes. He went back about two dupons (author's note: roughly 90 meters), but found nothing. Still, he didn't consider it a waste of time. At least it brought him peace of mind.
Merald returned to where the group was.
The campfire marked the exact location. But then Saf left the fire and approached Merald.
Seeing Ruby's red eyes glowing as she kept watch on Saf, it didn't seem like an enemy approaching unexpectedly.
Saf walked 'meticulously' toward Merald, apparently intending to step only where he had stepped in the darkness. Even so, she accidentally kicked a marsh mushroom he hadn't trodden on.
Red-glowing mushrooms along her path sprayed spores. They weren't highly toxic, but the powder was poisonous, so Merald warned her.
"Hold your breath. Inhaling the mushroom powder isn't good."
Saf didn't panic and kept walking. Meanwhile, the echo flowers' whispers continued.
"Hello, I'm ……"
"Honestly, that could be called ……
"If that's the case, then we....... are too lacking in…… hunting……
The sounds weren't precise in pronunciation and lacked any coherence, making them hard to follow. They were soft too—if you didn't strain your ears, they just sounded like wind.
Then a relatively clear, familiar woman's voice rang out.
"……It doesn't matter to me if you're an elf or an orc. Stand down."
Merald startled and raised his bow. But it came from an echo flower about ten paces away. Astonishingly, it was a conversation from three years ago, when he had visited this place.
Even if no other elves had passed by since then, what were the odds that an echo flower, remembering over a thousand years, would precisely replay that voice at this exact moment? Suspecting intent behind it, Merald stayed alert.
Saf, on the other hand, froze in greater shock.
Merald lowered his bow and gestured.
"It's fine. I was just startled by the echo flower's whisper."
Saf slowly resumed walking and reached Merald.
Unintentionally, Merald spoke in a scolding tone.
"Why come so dangerously? If you had something to say, you could've waited until I returned."
"It felt like something we needed to discuss alone."
Saf said politely.
Looking back toward the campfire, Ruby's eyes had vanished.
She had watched closely only until Saf reached Merald, apparently deciding no further attention was needed upon arrival.
'She says otherwise, but it seems she's subconsciously trusting me. Maybe I should open up a bit more about our cooperative relationship.'
Merald looked down threateningly at Saf's face, which only reached his chest.
"Something to discuss alone?"
Even with the orc's fearsome face before her, Saf spoke without fear.
"Sage worries a lot about Merald. Just like worrying over a son."
"The old woman thinks of everything that enters her domain as her own child."
"I've caught that worry too. I'm concerned about Merald."
To Merald, it sounded like a one-cubit vine rat fretting that a champion deer might run too late. But he realized why she was starting this conversation.
"Is this about the demon's weapon?"
Merald considered drawing the Buffalord dagger at his waist to show her, but recalled she feared such things and stuck to words.
"That topic is partly included."
Saf continued slowly.
"I've been thinking about it since leaving Sage's hut. Merald, you've guarded the forest alone for hundreds of years. How lonely must that have been? How badly must you have needed someone to talk to? I bet there are tons of things you couldn't even tell Sage, piled up inside."
"So you're offering to listen to those?"
"No."
Saf glanced back briefly.
"It's Priestess Jade."
"Huh?"
"In the Caitlic faith, people confess their sins to a priest and receive forgiveness. The priest who hears the confession must keep it secret forever, known only to God."
Merald tried not to mock her faith.
"If you're thinking of imposing your religion's rules on me, stop. Would you offer sacrifices to the forest trees if I told you to?"
"It was just an example. I don't know what troubles Merald has. But I know you're alone. You must have things you want to say. I'm ready to listen, but no one would hear you better than Priestess Jade."
"Cut the nonsense."
"It's not nonsense. Everyone has worries."
"My only worry is the forest's safety. What good would telling Jade do? Even if I had sins, what meaning would seeking forgiveness from your god have for me?"
"Then what about petty worries—not grand ones like the forest's safety, but trivial ones you could vent by the campfire and forget?"
"I don't have any such worries."
"Then why did you startle just now?"
Merald jolted as if shot by an arrow in a moment of carelessness.
'It was just the echo flower's voice. None of your concern.'
If not for Saf's serious yet expressionless face, Merald would have brushed it off and ended the topic. But now he thought differently.
Saf had a point.
'To focus on major worries, it's best to shake off the trivial ones quickly.'
Merald brought up something that had bothered him since entering the ancient marsh ruins.
"There is one thing on my mind."
"What is it?"
"……Three years ago, before I knew Buffalord's true nature as a demon."
♦
Merald had been tracking a certain being with an undying body. At the time, he didn't even know its name—Buffalord—just saw it as some intruder.
Buffalord moved so swiftly that Merald crossed the dark forest's border, passed through the black pine woodland, and reached the whispering marsh.
Just as Merald arrived in the marsh and was about to close in on Buffalord, he came under attack from an unidentified mage.
It was night then too.
The mage mainly used water magic. In the darkness, water pillars erupted and crashed down like boulders.
Merald had no choice but to retreat. His counterarrow was blocked by a shield of water.
Unable to pinpoint the opponent's position, he couldn't close for melee. Winds carried weight like water, and ice spears frozen from water flew from all directions, making approach impossible.
Merald did have means to pierce such magic. But doing so would obliterate the enemy mage without a trace.
He couldn't do that.
Because the attacking mage wasn't a monster like Buffalord—she was an elf woman. She had the white skin and pointed ears unique to wood elves.
Unlike earth elves, wood elves grew very tall upon adulthood, but this mage was tiny. So she was likely still a child.
The girl mage gripped a magic staff no bigger than Merald's dagger, which looked huge due to her small frame.
She wore a belt with ornate decorations utterly mismatched to her figure, and a short skirt. Through her lightly swaying long golden hair, large gem earrings peeked out.
She seemed like a child desperately imitating an adult.
Merald was familiar with mages appearing different from their true age, thanks to Sage. Still, that didn't erase his hesitation to attack a girl with a childlike form.
"Don't come closer."
The girl mage spoke for the first time.
Merald had been surprised by her appearance, but she was startled by him too.
And it was an odd demand. He'd expected her not to speak at all, or if she did, to issue a more aggressive threat. But just "don't come closer"?
"I don't want to kill you."
The girl said, thrusting her staff forward. Her magic might be threatening, but her gestures and tone showed no threat at all.
Merald had to admit her appearance softened his resolve.
"The feeling is mutual."
The girl clamped her mouth shut and glared fiercely at Merald for a long while.
Why was that? Merald felt as if her eyes held back tears.
"Then withdraw. I don't want to fight and kill one of my own kind."
The girl said.
Merald was bewildered.
"You think I'm an elf?"
The girl was bewildered too.
"Aren't you an orc?"
"Aren't you an elf?"
Their crossed conversation paused briefly.
"Forget it."
The girl raised her staff and extended her other hand forward.
A water pillar surged ten meters beneath her feet, supporting her like a platform, while massive snake-shaped pillars formed to either side.
"It doesn't matter to me if you're an elf or an orc. Stand down."
"I am the guardian of the dark forest. I must eliminate all dangers that arise in it. And that black pig-shaped monster you're protecting has killed over twenty elves in the past week alone."
"Merely twenty? Far more elves will die ahead. Not hundreds, but thousands, tens of thousands. Can you stop that?"
Her words were a threat, yet her voice carried a bitter emotion.
"I will stop it."
"Even though you can't kill a single Buffalord?"
The girl unleashed the water pillars.
Merald was swept back like in a tsunami.
Regaining his balance and rising, the spot where the girl had stood was empty. Instead, nearby echo flowers mimicked her voice.
"Even though you can't kill a single Buffalord……"
♦
"……For the past three years, while fighting Buffalord in the dark forest, that incident has stayed on my mind."
Even as he told Saf, Merald kept picturing the girl's expression—pouting as if angry yet sad.
Saf listened with remarkable seriousness. Her face was blank by nature, but he could feel her focus.
'Just as she said. Having someone listen is quite comforting.'
It was something he hadn't even told Sage. Not because it was a deliberate secret, but because he'd focused solely on immediate matters.
"A strange conversation. So Merald was originally an elf?"
Saf asked.
"We'll talk about that later."
"That's the past you're hiding, then. Got it. I won't pry."
"At this distance, Ruby's already overheard."
"Ruby's curious, but she won't force questions on someone who dislikes it."
Saf spoke as if warning Ruby, who might be eavesdropping now.
Plucking a nearby echo flower, Saf continued.
"Even just hearing the story, I feel like that mage wanted to say something. It seems like 'Even though you can't kill a single Buffalord?' left the rest unsaid."
"I want to hear the rest too."
Merald continued, overlaying the scene he'd witnessed onto somewhere in the current marsh.
"I've killed Buffalord now, and I can kill even greater demons. So, what is it you want to say……. That's what I'd ask her."
"You'll get to say that soon enough."
Saf fiddled with one hand using the other. The expressionless face made the gesture look odd yet cute.
"If you have something to say, say it."
Given the chance by Merald, Saf spoke as if she'd been waiting.
"For some reason, I don't think that elf mage was a demon."
"Don't jump to conclusions. Demons can take any form."
"But I haven't seen her form."
"Then you're influenced by my account."
"Doesn't that mean Merald doesn't think the girl was a demon either?"
"Is that how it is? Could be. But it's not important. Elf or not, if she's sided with demons, I have to kill her. Let's head back."
Saf nodded and walked beside him through the marsh.
"Talking like this feels refreshing, but I wonder if it's the right thing."
Merald felt relieved yet somewhat regretful.
"You did well. If the chance arises, try confession with Priestess Jade."
"As I said, I have no intention of praying to your god."
"Priestess Jade won't pray to God herself. She doesn't think she qualifies."
"Then it's not really confession, is it?"
"It doesn't have to be. Merald doesn't believe in our god anyway."
For a moment, Merald felt persuaded by Saf.
The two returned side by side to the campfire where Ruby and Jade waited.
Jade was sleeping deeply for the first time in a while.
It was welcome news to Merald.
The echo flowers' whispers continued through the night.