Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Stop the Fight
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After about two hours of short rest and reorganization, we joined up with Luna and Linian.
In truth, it wasn't so much rest and reorganization as it was Ravi, Lenis, and I tangled up together in a frenzy, but we'd secured some rations beforehand, so we had at least a minimal excuse.
As departure time arrived, Elfin's words dwindled sharply, worried about her kin back in the kingdom.
The kingdom wasn't some pushover nation without any power to hold out, so Lenis was a bit less concerned, but Elfin—whose homeland had already fallen, leaving her entire clan as refugees who'd built a new home in the kingdom's ruined capital—seemed gripped by deep anxiety.
"But how are we getting from here to the kingdom's border now? It's incomparably farther than when we went to our country's border..."
Last time, we'd already reached the border and just hopped from outpost to outpost, but now we had to cross from the heart of the empire's central city all the way to the border line.
A distance impossible to cover with Elfin's plants like before.
Linian shook her head preemptively, assuming I'd ask her to carry us.
"My body's not back to normal yet. Even I can't fly this many people with just my wings spread."
Come to think of it, Linian had been asleep in the lake and missed it.
"Don't worry. I've got a way."
I closed my eyes and focused my mind, recalling the border between the empire and kingdom from the game.
Moments later, an exclamation rose from beside me, and I opened my eyes.
Before us stretched the rainbow bridge Bifrost, arcing across the sky toward the distant horizon.
"Whoa... a rainbow? So pretty..."
"W-What's this? How did a rainbow suddenly appear from the ground...?"
"......"
"This is our ride. Get on. Once we're settled, it'll take us straight to the kingdom's border."
"What are you talking about? Rainbows aren't solid. Whether natural or magical fakes, you can't just ride them."
At Lenis's words, I scooped her up and carried her to the front of the Bifrost.
"No need for long talks. Just try it."
"H-Hey...?"
Lenis, set down on the Bifrost by me.
The real, solid rainbow bridge enveloped her body softly like absorption, and she widened her eyes in shock, patting it with her hands.
"H-How is this...?"
"Whoa, it's so fluffy! Doesn't feel like magic—what is this?"
Unlike the baffled Lenis, Ravi hopped on like an excited kid.
Linian, gaping at the Bifrost, turned to Luna.
"M-Mom...? This is what you summoned to come and go."
"As I said, my divinity now resides with Alvis. So it's only natural he can call Bifrost. He used this bridge to reach you first too."
"Hah... I knew it in my head, but seeing a human wield a god's power for real... and not some half-baked version like the Underground Vermin, but the full thing..."
"Jealous?"
"That's a totally different issue!"
I guided the grumbling Linian to the Bifrost, but she shook her head.
She didn't want to use a human's imitation of godhood.
I'd thought fixing part of her body turned her into a yes-man who obeyed me unconditionally, but she had subtle stubbornness here.
Linian spread her wings, floated slightly into the air, and looked for Luna.
"Mom, I'll carry you, so come with me...?"
Linian planned to carry Luna, but Luna had already settled naturally onto the Bifrost.
"M-Mom...?"
"What's wrong?"
"Why are you getting on that? I can carry you..."
"Coming hugged by you earlier was too rough; it upset my stomach. I'll take this."
"No way..."
Rejected by the goddess she saw as her parent, Linian looked crestfallen.
Even at thousands of years old, her mental state seemed childish.
Once everyone was aboard the Bifrost, it began carrying us automatically to our destination.
I chuckled at Linian, wearing a lost puppy expression beside Luna.
"By the way, you're calling her 'Mom' now instead of 'Goddess'?"
"W-What?! When did I?! I'm not some hatchling—think I'd say something so childish? Where's this slander from?! Kyaaah!"
Linian flailed to hide her embarrassment, then started spewing fire from her mouth.
Regardless, the Bifrost kept moving, and Luna ignored her.
After her tantrum, Linian belatedly flew alongside to match speed, but kept glancing at Luna with an inner expression like, 'Should I ask her to come over now...?'
Of course, Luna chose not to be carried, so Linian flew beside us with sad kitten eyes.
The Bifrost's speed was leagues beyond Elfin's plants; it covered over ten times the distance to the Carrot Duchy border in less than half the time.
At this altitude and speed, headwinds could've frozen us solid, but as a bridge made from goddess divinity, the Bifrost perfectly shielded us.
No cold, no oxygen shortage—just comfortable travel. Ravi and Lenis poked at it curiously in wonder.
Only Elfin, from takeoff, sat silent as the dead, lips sealed.
That worried about her clan?
After dozens of minutes, the Bifrost's altitude began descending gradually. The ground sharpened into view, revealing the chaos below.
Wind drowned most sounds, but our eyes saw clearly.
Forces in black-and-gold uniforms clashed bloodily with those in blue uniforms across the plain.
Dead from both sides lay scattered, uncollected everywhere.
Was this the first clash, or after several? Chaotic either way.
One certainty: As the Ebony Shadow Mercenaries—puppets of the Underground Vermin—had schemed, the Andras Empire and Pratea Kingdom had bitten hard, locked in meaningless mutual slaughter.
The mercenaries were annihilated, yet now living people killed each other in their stead. How ironic, how futile.
As the Bifrost's end neared the plain, an imperial officer's voice rose from their makeshift command post under the rainbow.
"Push harder! Leave no vile kingdom dogs alive! Make them regret clawing at our empire's nose hairs to their bones! Look behind us! Even the goddess sides with our cause, gracing us with this radiant rainbow! In His Imperial Majesty's name! In the goddess's name! Seize victory!"
"Twisting it to suit himself with goddess nonsense—such bullshit."
"?!"
The imperial officer snapped his head up at the voice from above.
Me, Ravi, Elfin, Lenis, Luna, and Linian landing from the side—all touched down behind the imperial command post. The Bifrost vanished in an instant.
The officer gawked at the sky invaders, drawing his sword in panic.
"W-Who are you!"
"Cut the crap and stop this fight now. No reason for empire and kingdom to draw swords in a war of attrition. Before losses mount further—quickly!"
But the officer ignored me, stared at my face, then gaped and shouted.
"T-That face! Wanted criminal! The Ebony Shadow Mercenaries and their underlings!"
Command post guards surged out, weapons drawn.
"So the kingdom scum's link to the Ebony Shadow Mercenaries was true! Damn bastards, slaughtering so many at our border! I'll send you to hell alongside those kingdom dogs!"
"You're being fooled! Stop the bullshit and halt the fight!"
Activating Ascension of Light, golden wings unfurled from my back.
Energy drain from fighting the real mercenaries dimmed the glow unlike in the underground lair, but it still seized attention.
The golden wings stunned officer and soldiers, eyes locked on me.
Seizing the gap, I slammed Light Saber into the ground, sending a shockwave to draw more gazes. Sensing enough focused on us, I broadcast the truth.
"The terror, sabotage, murders at this border—all Ebony Shadow Mercenaries' doing! But not me! I'm just labeled as them—I'm their enemy!
The Ebony Shadow Mercenaries are fully annihilated, gone from history! If you stop fighting here, their influence vanishes! Calm down and hear me out!"
But the officer glared, refusing to listen, and called reinforcements.
"Mages! Now!"
At his word, imperial mages fired flares skyward.
The signal magic burst high, and the officer brandished his sword, bellowing.
"Your positions are exposed! Detection magic from every border outpost— you'll be caught wherever you flee! Our empire's army and the goddess's sword's strongest unit commander comes for you! Go on, kill us! Even dead, you can't escape our and the church's grasp!"
"Pointless nonsense..."
Then Elfin stepped forward heavily, eyes dead, voice chillingly cold toward the officer.
"Want to die, huh? Fine, you picked the wrong one. I'll make you regret those words."
"...... Elfin?"