The Elves' Forest (4)
"…Make you a baby? Really? Human, are you insane?"
Floren shielded her body, her face flushing scarlet.
What is this girl even saying?
With a look of utter disbelief, I set her straight.
"Get your mind out of the gutter. Not a baby — a weapon. I need you to make me a weapon."
Only then did the words seem to register. She cleared her throat once and spoke as if nothing had happened.
"I'm not a blacksmith. I'm an alchemist. But I do know a human who could pull it off — I'll put in a word for you. His skills are the real deal."
"Would that be Taliesin, by any chance?"
She jerked back, startled.
"How did you know that?"
"He's already forging my weapon. All I needed was you."
"…I see."
Floren studied me intently, as if cataloging a strange specimen. Then, at last, she spoke.
"Ah! Got it. You're planning to make a magical weapon, aren't you?"
"You catch on fast."
She was a sharp one, true to reputation — one hint and she'd solved the whole puzzle. With a satisfied look, I pointed toward the door, all but ushering her out.
"But here's the thing — I don't want to leave the forest."
"Then I have no choice but to expose your location to the Tower of Magic."
When we'd first met, she'd asked whether I was from the Tower. In other words, she was wary of it. Handled properly, that wariness could produce exactly the outcome I wanted.
"Go ahead, then."
"…What?"
"The moment I leave this forest, the Tower's people will know anyway. They have plenty of eyes watching."
Resignation written across her face, she flopped into a wooden chair as though collapsing into it.
"All I wanted was to do my research in peace… these insufferable humans!"
"Something happened at the Tower, I take it?"
"Oh, plenty. Humans are exhausting. You included."
"I'd like to hear the details. Perhaps I can actually help."
"You?"
Floren snorted with laughter.
"A mere human thinks he can hold back the Tower?"
"Maybe I can."
When I answered with an easy smile, she slowly opened her mouth again.
"Fine, whatever. Telling a story isn't hard. This was about a year ago."
I settled in to listen.
One year earlier.
"Wow! This is all… mine?"
Floren had left the forest early and entered the Tower of Magic. A closed world like Solia Forest imposed too many constraints on anyone trying to kindle a talent for alchemy.
"Maybe here I can actually finish my research."
She was happy. The finest facilities and equipment the forest could never offer, and assistants she could command at will. It was, quite literally, like owning the world.
That is, until the incident.
"Ugh, this is a disaster…"
She had been absorbed, as on any ordinary day, in her research on cells and neurology, when a fellow mage from the Tower came to her wallowing in complaints.
"Why am I such an idiot? Why did I ever accept this commission?"
It was noisy, and she was curious, so Floren spoke up.
"What's the problem?"
"A ducal house asked for a weapon enchantment. I jumped at it, but the formula won't resolve. Am I about to get fired?"
Floren glanced at the paper clutched in the woman's hand and clicked her tongue.
"That formula should be an octagon, not a square. Only then can the enchantment travel the full circuit without any mana loss and manifest properly."
"Oh wow…! You're right! Thank you!"
"Great. Now kindly disappear? I have research to do."
"Got it! Good luck with your research!"
She'd only said it because the woman would otherwise hover around pestering her forever.
"Tsk. Do humans really not know even the basics?"
She couldn't have imagined that this tiny spark would spread into a blaze and bring disaster down on her head.
"Floren! How do you do this one?"
"I heard about it. Apparently you explain things so kindly? Teach me this too!"
"Me too!"
After that first incident, people began flocking to her laboratory. Most of their problems took less than ten seconds to solve, so despite the irritation, she helped.
"Don't come anymore. I have research to do."
"Okay, don't worry!"
"We've got your back!"
But for all their promises, the crowds at her laboratory only swelled.
"I'm conducting experiments on eternal life. If you don't mind, could you offer a bit of advice?"
"I want to create an elixir that can heal any wound. I need your help."
"Can you really turn copper into gold? Floren, I think it'd be possible if you helped me."
They began prying into research problems that most mages couldn't crack in years of effort.
"Oh, come on—!"
Her research time shrank by the day. Refuse, and they'd whine at her elbow all day for answers. Pretend not to know, and her pride took the hit. Lock the door, and they'd break it down. It was a situation with no way out.
"Ugh, seriously!"
For a full eight months she'd been pushed around by these humans. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Floren began preparing her resignation.
The Tower of Magic was, by its nature, an institution devoted to scholarship and learning — to producing beneficial results through study. But when the research wasn't passing through her own thinking, only arriving at her desk as a stream of consultations, the work lost all meaning while piling ever higher.
Will they actually let me go, though?
The problem was, the more she thought about it, the clearer it became that they would never release her easily. Even if she forced her way out of the Tower through sheer stubbornness, they would surely track her down to Solia Forest itself. And then humans would come face to face with the tribes of the forest — a headache of an entirely different order.
"Then maybe I should just… disappear."
That was when a brilliant idea struck her. If she simply vanished — vanished so thoroughly that no one could ever find her — wouldn't that solve everything?
Deliberation didn't take long. She drew up her disappearance plan on the spot. Naturally, she had no illusions about vanishing forever. Three months. If she could stay hidden at least that long, it would count as a success.
And so, in the present day, Floren arrived at her current predicament.
"…And that's the whole story. Though I never dreamed you'd track me down in two months."
When Floren finished, I nodded along, lost in thought.
So in the end, wasn't that all just bragging?
She'd rattled on and on, but boiled down to a sentence, it amounted to: I was too competent, and it exhausted me. Still, in one respect it was a relief — this was a problem I could solve.
"I'll help you."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?"
"What you need, in the end, is a facility where you can research in peace and quiet. Am I wrong?"
"…That's right."
"Then come with me. I know just the place."
"Even if I went there, the Tower's people would still come after me."
"I guarantee it — they won't be chasing you anymore."
At the unwavering certainty in my voice, Floren shot me a suspicious look.
"Fine. I'll trust you. But who exactly are you?"
"The 7th Legion Commander."
"Ha! What a funny human. When was it the 7th Lord died, again?"
She'd been holed up in the forest for months — her news must simply be out of date. I let it slide and stepped out of the entrance with Floren in tow.
"Halt—!"
The elves had surrounded the laboratory.
"Ge-Gerard!"
Glancing left, I saw Seina bound by the bastards. She must have been overwhelmed by their numbers.
"Titania. What is the meaning of this?"
My voice came out cold as frost.
"You cannot take Floren. Leave quietly."
At Titania's words, Floren spoke up.
"Titania, I'm fine. I'll just be gone a short while."
"Silence, Floren. Do you know how long those humans have run you ragged? I cannot stand by and watch it any longer."
"You heard her."
Floren shrugged at me. I let out a long breath and answered.
"Don't do something you'll regret, Titania."
"You are the one who should stop wasting your strength and turn back."
Like a warrior maiden, Titania stretched her hand toward the empty air, her face set with resolve.
"Could it be…? Celestin, the highest-grade wind spirit said to be bound to Lady Titania alone!"
"Haha! That human's finished!"
The elves murmured, voices thick with anticipation. Titania, treating their reaction as her due, began to chant.
"Come forth, Celestin, spirit of wind! Show this insolent human the terror of the gale!"
Blue light began to ripple in her palm. The ambient wind turned rough, spiraling together into her hand.
-Pfffwwsh.
But within seconds it dissipated with a sound like escaping air.
"…?"
"…Chieftain?"
The elves stared at her, utterly baffled. Titania herself wore an expression of pure bewilderment, as though she couldn't fathom what had gone wrong.
"…Celestin? Come forth, I say."
This time there wasn't even a response at all. Her face began to redden, little by little.
"I… I must verify something. All of you, guard me."
Sensing something amiss, Titania squeezed her eyes shut. She appeared to be departing to converse with her spirit. At once, the elves closed ranks around her, shielding her body.
How much time passed, I couldn't say.
"Pa—part the way, immediately!"
Titania shouted, her voice edged with urgency.
"What on earth is the matter…?"
"Just move! If I say move, then move!"
Her voice trembled, as though she were terrified out of her wits by something. Then she looked at me, clasped her hands together, and bowed.
"Fo—forgive me…! I was mad not to have recognized you at once. Lord Sylphid—!"
The elves watched the scene, jaws hanging wide open. And honestly, who could blame them? Summoning a high spirit in the presence of the Spirit King himself? Utter nonsense.
Sneaky little witch.
I smirked and strode forward. Nothing remained that could stand in my way.