Chapter 50: It Wasn't My Intention (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 50: It Wasn't My Intention (2)
A smirk touched Elder Jer’s lips when Calian changed his mind. Seeing it, Calian felt a pang of embarrassment. After all, he had been acting stiff and uncooperative until the mere mention of the Forest Path had made him do a complete one-eighty.
Since he had sat back down the very instant Jer finished speaking, there was no way to sugarcoat his eagerness. Calian met Jer’s gaze and spoke honestly.
"Fine. I'm only doing this because of the Forest Path, so make sure you keep your promise."
"The King of the Human Race is a straightforward one. Do not worry. Elves are a race that holds promises in high regard."
Calian frowned.
It wasn't the promise that bothered him, but the title Jer kept using. It had been grating on his nerves for a while now.
"I gave you my name. Stop calling me whatever you want."
Jer simply smiled and nodded without another word.
Calian pressed on. "The missing elves. Is there any information I can use?"
"They are all male elves, in their early to mid-twenties."
"Do they know how to fight?"
"They would be no match for your knights, but they can hold their own."
Hearing this, Calian looked slightly puzzled. They were searching so actively for these elves who could fight, yet no one had ever come looking for Sia, who had been missing for much longer.
"Then why didn't you look for Sia?"
"Luca said he saw that you were protecting him."
"Aren't you being a bit too trusting? He's your son, after all."
Jer pointed to his own face and replied, "He said Sia did not look frightened, so I believed him."
Calian briefly recalled Sia's face, which had been utterly terrified when they first met, but Jer continued speaking.
"And all the young elves in this village are my sons and daughters."
Realizing his misunderstanding, Calian let out a soft, "Ah." The word "son" wasn't literal. Understanding it to mean something more like "my young subjects," Calian nodded.
"Then what did this elf named Luca say he was going to do when he left?"
Jer suddenly shook his head and heaved a deep sigh.
"He must have gone off to make money. He visited a human village once and became completely enchanted by it. He's run away from the village to earn money several times already, but he has never been gone this long before."
A dry chuckle escaped Calian. He finally understood why Luca had been selling sculptures and had stolen a seemingly expensive sacred artifact. Come to think of it, wasn't Luca the one who had dragged him into the Latran incident in the first place? Feeling a touch of resentment, Calian decided to report his misdeeds to Jer.
"Are you aware that this elf, Luca, stole from humans?"
At that, Jer's expression turned incredibly grave.
It was a natural reaction. Even Calian had been shocked when he first learned that an elf had committed theft.
"When you find him, make sure to discipline him properly. The item he stole caused me quite a headache."
"I understand."
"Anyway, an elf selling sculptures shouldn't be a common sight. We'll start searching tomorrow."
Jer raised his hand, pointing to his right and left.
"There are two cities on either side of the forest: Nerika and Sting. It will be easier if you start your search there, so keep that in mind."
Calian nodded, committing the names to memory. After thanking Calian for his help, Jer instructed another elf to prepare lodging and dinner for the group.
* * *
The dinner provided by the elves was surprisingly decent.
Calian had worried they might only eat raw grass, but that wasn't the case at all. He was happily eating rye bread—which had a characteristically sour and earthy taste—spread with orange jam when he felt a strange shift in the atmosphere.
It was the topic of conversation drifting from the knights.
They were discussing the recent events in Latran. It wasn't something Calian particularly wanted to dwell on, but since he couldn't stop them from talking, he simply listened in silence.
However, the conversation soon veered in an odd direction.
A debate began—almost as if they wanted Calian to hear—on the topic of "How can one shatter a sword into pieces?"
"He must have blocked a mana bomb."
"There were no scorch marks on the sword. Besides, the mana bomb didn't detonate. You saw how cleanly it was cut."
Their voices grew louder. They were clearly hoping he would overhear and explain it himself. Calian pretended not to notice and continued tearing off pieces of his bread.
After glancing at Calian and seeing no sign of an answer, the knights turned their attention to Arsen.
"How would you do it, Sir Arsen?"
Calian's hand paused for a moment.
In truth, he was curious too. In the past, hadn't a sword that wouldn't break, no matter how much aura was channeled into it, shattered with a single gesture from Arsen?
Instead of answering, Arsen focused his mana into the knife in his hand. Instantly, a white frost coated the blade, freezing it solid before a long crack formed with a sharp clink. Staring at the fractured metal, Arsen spoke quietly.
"Of course, the forging process for a knife is different from a sword, so a sword cannot be frozen and shattered this quickly. Still, I believe it might be possible to destroy one using a similar method."
It seemed he hadn't fully mastered the technique yet.
At his words, one of the knights let out a hearty laugh.
"Shattering a sword… If you set your mind to it, you could even take down a Sword Master."
Yeah. I was.
While Calian firmly committed the knight's name to memory, the eyes of the other knights all landed on him at once.
"A Sword…?"
They were Suleiman's knights. With the term "Sword Master" now hanging in the air, their thoughts inevitably turned to Calian's shattered iron sword.
Calian simply offered a placid smile and took another bite of his bread.
He figured Suleiman would see his aura the moment they met anyway, so what did it matter if his knights found out a few days early? That was his line of thinking.
* * *
Fortunately, the knights didn't pester Calian for the truth or demand duels afterward. This was because Calian had sent them all out of the forest to investigate on his behalf.
Without even seeing the prince's face, the knights donned plain clothes and spread out to see if any of the nearby cities showed suspicious activity. Calian didn't go himself because he needed to proceed with caution.
The moment he had heard Jer's words, his first thought was of elf slave trafficking. They were young, healthy male elves who, based on Jer's description, could fight but weren't exceptionally skilled—making them prime targets.
If word got out that a prince was personally investigating slave trafficking, the culprits would undoubtedly go into hiding or flee. That was why he had sent only the knights.
"There doesn't seem to be any slave trafficking in the vicinity. We occasionally spotted people who looked like mercenaries, but it was difficult to link them to any criminal activity," Yuran reported upon returning to the forest.
Thus, the next day, Calian went out himself. He was accompanied only by Kyrie, who had not yet participated in the investigation. The knights who had already searched the towns remained behind, as their faces might now be recognized.
"Which way first?" Kyrie asked after they left the elf village. He was asking whether they should head to Sting or Nerika, the two towns on opposite sides of the forest.
Upon hearing the question, Calian recalled what Yan had told him. The two places were similar in size, and their lords were viscounts of similar ages, locked in fierce competition. Because of this, it was difficult to choose which one to visit first.
"Let's go to the one with the shorter name."
There was no need to overthink it. His plan was to start with the closest place and expand his search from there; surely, something would turn up.
After riding in silence through the forest for about two hours, they arrived in Sting.
Calian immediately threw on a robe and pulled up the hood.
Sting was not a very large city. Even from a distance, its scale was visibly smaller than Latran's. Still, it was well-organized, and more people were passing through than he expected. Judging by their appearance, they didn't seem to be struggling financially.
Just as Yuran had said, there were no obvious problems on the surface, so Calian decided to satisfy his empty stomach first. Looking at Kyrie, he said simply, "Meat. I want meat."
Kyrie's smile was more visible than usual. To think that after pondering so seriously all this way, the prince's first words would be about meat. Pretending not to notice the smile, Calian continued.
"We'll eat, go to a weapon shop to buy a decent sword, and then look around a bit more."
"Why not get a better sword?"
"Do I need one?"
"You won't be able to use an ordinary sword for long, Your Highness. It can't hold your aura."
Kyrie was in the position of learning swordsmanship from Calian. Because of this, Calian had been forced to explain how he could wield aura, and since he wasn't very good at hiding things, he ended up revealing some of his secrets. Of course, he hadn't told Kyrie when or why Bern and he were fated to die.
"Besides, I won't be able to use it once I return to the palace anyway."
With that, Calian raised a finger and pointed to the sky.
"And I think some good material will be falling from up there soon."
Kyrie's gaze drifted upward, but the riddling words were difficult to understand. Calian nudged Raven forward without saying anything more. He didn't feel like making prophet-like statements about a meteorite that was due to fall early next year.
In any case, after finding a restaurant and finishing a meat-heavy meal, the two stepped outside and located a weapon shop. However, the shop owner's words made them exchange a confused glance.
"There are no swords."
"No swords? Are you sold out?"
"You mercenaries? You seem a bit young for it, though," the owner asked, glancing at Calian instead of answering.
Calian gave a small nod, pointing to Kyrie and then himself. "He's a swordsman, and I'm a mage. We need a sword. Is it going to be hard to get one?"
At that, the owner crossed his arms and began to ponder, clearly hesitating. Knowing exactly what to do, Calian pulled two silver coins from his pocket and handed them over.
Taking them, the owner hesitated a bit more. Only after receiving one more silver coin did he look around and speak quietly.
"It seems mercenaries have been gathering secretly for some time now."
"Secretly? Without any public notice?"
The owner nodded. Then, lowering his voice even further, he added, "And earlier today, two soldiers came by. Told me they'd be taking all the weapons tonight, so I should pack them up."
Calian frowned slightly.
As a bad premonition began to creep over him, the owner continued.
"So, if you're mercenaries, you should head over there."
The owner gestured with his chin toward the lord's castle.
Calian's eyes gleamed. Two small cities of similar size located close to each other, secretly gathering mercenaries, and confiscating weapons… it could only mean one thing.
"...They're planning to go to war."
Having figured out in a single meal what had taken Yuran three days of investigation, Calian lowered his head and scratched his cheek.
"Well, look at that."
He was fairly certain he now knew where a group of elves who could fight and wanted to make money had gone. He also knew, all too well, that he had just stepped into another goddamn mess.
The elf village in the Hirisca Forest lay right between the two cities. If a fight broke out, the village would inevitably suffer collateral damage. Now he understood why Jer had gone out of his way to ask for his help.
Jer wasn't just asking him to find some missing elves. He wanted the Prince of Kairis to stop a war.
Beneath his hood, Calian's brow furrowed deeply.