The Rough Stone Meets the Chisel (6)
"Uh… what's… that… over there…?"
"What."
"Eek?! Th-that axe! Put the axe away first!"
Celebrian Assir, Second Princess of the Elven Kingdom—for all the noble blood in her veins—was currently on her knees on the floor, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes as she wailed pitifully.
"Tsk…"
Shrring—
"Hwaah…! …Ahem…! Wh-what do you think you're doing! Do you have any idea how grave a crime it is to intimidate and threaten me—Celebrian Assir, Second Princess of the elves—inside the Great Forest, the very nest of our people!"
Darian clicked his tongue at her sniveling and hauled the axe that had been buried in the ground back up onto his shoulder. Assir, who had been rolling her eyes about just enough to watch him, immediately straightened up and spoke with solemn dignity, as if none of the previous display had ever happened.
Of course, her legs were still jelly, so striking a dignified pose while slumped on the floor rather undercut the effect.
"Enough. It was Ganix, wasn't it? That bastard."
"Hic?!"
Darian looked down at her with open contempt and brought up Ganix without warning. Assir's whole body flinched.
"Ganix Obina. That Third Prince bastard ordered you to do this, didn't he? Am I wrong?"
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about!"
The moment Ganix's name left Darian's mouth, the whole scheme was already blown—but Assir still stuck out her lip, turned her head away, and played dumb.
"You little—!"
"Eek?!"
Furious at the act, Darian raised his hand. Assir clapped both hands over her face in pure terror.
"Darling, don't."
Freya closed her hand gently over Darian's fist and stopped him.
"The elves will come running after that commotion. The situation is already going to cause considerable chaos—if an outsider lays a hand on an elven princess in front of her people, it's over."
"Grrgh…!"
Even the disturbance they had already caused would have earned an ordinary human a death sentence. No matter how infuriating the woman in front of them was, her official status was still Second Princess of the Elven Kingdom.
"…Ha, haha! That's right! Do you really think you can pull something like this on an elven princess and simply walk away! You there! Is no one coming! Drag these scoundrels away at once!"
Even as Freya spoke, Assir's characteristically long ears twitched, eavesdropping on every word. Emboldened all over again, she started putting on airs.
"This is really—!"
"Eek…!? A-are you going to hit me…? And you're ready for what comes after…? I-if I die or get hurt… you'll never get a leaf from the World Tree…!"
Now she was actively using her own situation to needle Darian, outright goading him.
"…Hey! Tene! You handle this!"
"Yes?!"
"Elven princess or whatever—you're a dragon, what are they going to say? Just swallow her whole!"
"Eeh?!"
"Te-Tenebrix Nox…! H-hmph…! I-if you go that far, th-that's really the end of it!"
So Darian tried shoving Tene—the dragon—forward as a threat instead.
"That will be quite enough."
Estelle, who had been quietly watching the situation unfold until now, finally spoke.
"Listen here, young lady."
"Young la-lady?"
"I do not know what this Ganix Obina fellow offered you in exchange for this little performance… but is there any real need for us to stand opposed like this?"
"………"
"If, by chance, that man is blackmailing you, set your mind at ease. We will help you as much as we can. Would you not rather come over to our side?"
"…Blackmail?"
"Indeed. In that case, I will protect you without fail. Not merely your personal safety—I am prepared to accommodate whatever conditions you desire as well."
Darian pressed hard with threats; Estelle approached with a soft hand. The classic bad-cop, good-cop routine. Estelle watched Assir's expression shift for a moment.
At this rate, she might just tip over to our side, she thought.
But then—
"…Blackmail? A price? Ha. Unbelievable."
"…What was that?"
Assir twisted her mouth into a sneer and looked at Estelle with pure scorn.
"Right… so you people don't know. That's what this was. That's why you're making such a scene."
"Don't know? What do you mean by—"
Assir kept spouting cryptic remarks whose meaning no one could parse, and Estelle was about to press her on them when—
"What is the meaning of this?!"
Drawn by the uproar, elven soldiers appeared with bows in hand.
"Ah, they got here a little fast."
"Looks like our stalling time just ran out."
Before staging this confrontation, Estelle had ordered the nearby forces pulled back—buying them a window. That window was now completely spent.
"Even if you are the Third Princess and a Dragon… Lord… this is still the Great Forest! Step away from the Second Princess at once!"
Even within the Great Forest, the faction supporting the Third Princess currently outnumbered the Second's—but this incident had crossed a line. Push any harder, and the elves would genuinely loose the arrows trained on them.
"…We will withdraw for now."
"Grandpa!"
"There is simply no other way at present."
In that tense moment, as the soldiers' fingers began to ease on their bowstrings, Estelle raised both hands high and stepped back first.
"That's right! Seize them at once and throw them in the dungeon! Lock those ruffians up!"
Surrounded by soldiers, the Evergarden party withdrew without resistance. Assir's voice, shrieking after their retreating backs, gradually faded into the distance.
The investigation wrapped up quickly.
It was already well established that the Second and Third Princesses were at odds even within the Great Forest, and plenty of elves resented Assir—who had abandoned the forest once, only to waltz back in and claim the title of Second Princess. No matter how much they valued tradition, they were hardly going to look kindly on someone who had cast that weight aside.
And besides—what exactly was anyone going to pin on a dragon?
Rather than prosecute the party for disrespecting the Second Princess, the elves were more inclined to thank Tene for standing there quietly and not doing anything at all.
Still, they had received a warning. Even the elves would not tolerate the same approach a second time.
Investigation concluded, the Evergarden family gathered once more in Estelle's office.
"We did get something out of it. As expected, she was acting on that Ganix fellow's orders."
They had not come away empty-handed.
"But she didn't feel like a simple subordinate," Freya said. "More like a business partner of some kind."
"Didn't feel like she was being forced into it by blackmail, either."
"Which actually improves our position. If she had been a deeply loyal subordinate, that would have been far more troublesome."
Had Assir been Ganix's devoted underling—or under genuine blackmail—the situation would have been far harder. Neither threats nor persuasion would have worked.
"Right. We found a crack we can wedge into."
From what they could see, Assir fit neither of those two cases. That meant an opportunity to create an opening somehow.
"By the way… what was that last thing she said? 'You don't know'…"
"That's what I keep wondering."
Estelle and Freya could not stop turning Assir's words over in their minds. That claim that they knew nothing—what did it mean? It almost seemed as if Ganix and his associates were holding far more cards than expected.
"We can set that aside for later. For now, let us focus on our present objective."
There was plenty to think about, but the leaf of the World Tree came first.
"Great-granddaughter. Are the preparations complete?"
"It took a little time, but it should function perfectly."
In answer to Estelle's question, Felix smiled and held out something in his hand.
"Good. This should be more than enough."
That object would be the key that brought this entire affair to a close.
"Scared the hell out of me… those lunatics."
Late that night, Assir's heart was still hammering from the events of the afternoon. She had half expected something—but she had never imagined they would barge in that recklessly and start making threats.
"Especially the Black Flame Dragon. Looks cute on the outside, but… I'm amazed I didn't wet myself. How do those people even stand next to that monster?"
Not one of them was ordinary, but the greatest threat by far was still Tene. She had stood there blankly like any ordinary girl who knew nothing—but the moment Assir felt her presence up close, she had barely managed to keep from throwing up.
A being that twisted your guts and sent chills through you just by standing nearby. Exactly as her reputation claimed: a monster on a completely different level from Assir herself.
"…Still, that blond guy was right. They really can't touch me."
Just as Ganix had said, the Black Flame Dragon had not stepped in. And for all their sudden invasion, they had not laid a single finger on Assir—again, just as Ganix predicted. If they had been serious, they could have had Tene reduce her to pulp and force the World Tree's leaf out of her. Strangely, though, they were diligently obeying this world's rules.
"Working so hard against a bunch of NPCs. If you're going to live like that, I should've been the one who reincarnated as the dragon…"
It almost made her regret not ending up as the Black Flame Dragon herself. If she had been the Black Flame Dragon, she would have taken everything she wanted and done whatever she pleased.
"Anyway, they won't come after me now. If I just tough it out for a few weeks like that guy said, I'll finally be free of this godforsaken forest…"
Having realized they would not kill her, Assir stretched out luxuriously on her bed and hummed under her breath.
"Yeah, when I leave this forest, I should burn that damn prompt or whatever it is to ash—"
Knock, knock—
"…What?"
A knock echoed softly through her chambers—chambers that had been restored to perfect order in an instant.
"Who at this hour…?"
Assir tilted her head at the sound of knocking so late at night.
"It's me. Let us talk for a moment."
"That voice… from earlier?!"
At the familiar voice from the other side of the door, Assir bolted upright on the bed and stared at it.
Celebrian Estelle.
The Third Princess of the elves had come calling at the Second Princess's chambers in the dead of night.