Dying By a Hair on Day Three of the Otherworld
The air was heavy.
It wasn't just a feeling—it pressed down on me like a literal weight, crushing the breath from my lungs.
"R-Ria!"
"I cannot tolerate any further insult to my Master."
It was infuriating. My fists were clenched, but Ria's face remained utterly blank. That expression terrified me more than any shout ever could.
"Hmph. A maid challenging a Knight Order Captain?"
The sight of her made my knees tremble. But Captain Esrael only laughed at her, his voice dripping with mockery.
"Reflect on how deeply your actions have wronged me."
Above Ria's head, a colossal ice spear materialized—easily twenty meters long, its tip gleaming like a blade of death.
'Is it really that big?'
Even from where I stood, it looked massive enough to turn a reflection into a nightmare.
"Blizzard Spear."
Whoosh!
CRACK!!!
"Holy crap..."
The spear rocketed straight toward Esrael.
I half-expected it to split him in two or freeze him solid forever.
Instead, he simply met the tip of the spear with his own sword, the clash echoing like thunder.
"Kyuuk!!"
Chilly air rippled outward, freezing the surrounding trees in an instant. The ground beneath them turned to brittle ice as powerful as any battlefield.
This was the raw might of an Archmage.
Thankfully, Ria's defensive wards had already layered around me, keeping me safe.
'How strong is this Knight Order Captain exactly?'
He blocked Ria's assault like casually swatting away a fly—smiling the entire time, as if the gale of ice was nothing more than a playful breeze.
"Hmph!"
CHAK-CHAK-CHAK-CHAK!!
Esrael's sword surged forward with a brutal push. The ice spear shattered instantly, shards exploding outward.
"I will not spare you simply because you are the Maids' daughter."
Now Esrael was preparing something. The air itself felt strained, making each breath an effort.
"Kuek!!... Ugh!"
"Ian-nim!"
Ria panicked the moment she saw me writhing in pain. My instincts screamed that whatever attack was coming would slice right through even her defenses.
"Repent for being born into an inferior race."
Esrael's sword tip aimed straight at me.
Fwoosh!
Flames erupted, wrapping the blade in searing fire.
"Die, insect."
"Stop!"
Ria threw herself in front of me, chanting spell after spell.
But I could feel it—the barrier wouldn't hold.
"Ria... run..."
As the flames around Esrael's sword burned closer to white-hot...
"Enough."
Elphie appeared.
"Your Highness."
The oppressive weight in the air vanished the instant Elphie spoke, as if it had never existed.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
Esrael's sword returned to normal, flames dying out.
"The explanation can wait. Ian-nim, take him to the infirmary immediately and secure the area."
Elphie's regal presence filled the room as she took command without hesitation.
"Esrael, Knight Order Captain, remain on standby. What happened today will not be swept under the rug."
"Understood."
Esrael obeyed Elphie's orders without question.
Once the immediate danger passed and the tension broke, I collapsed right where I stood.
"Ugh... Where am I?"
I slowly opened my eyes.
My body felt as though it were submerged in water, my vision slightly tinted blue.
Once my blurry sight cleared, I saw Elphie and Ria standing before me.
"Ian-nim!"
"Thank goodness you're awake."
"Squish-squish-squish (Thanks for worrying, Master.)"
What the—?
"Blub-blub-blub-blub?!?"
'Where am I?!'
I was really underwater!
I floated inside a massive glass tank filled with a strange, unidentified liquid.
"Squish-squish-squish-squish (H-Help!!)"
"Relax. Breathing is easy here."
"Squish-squish-squish (Really?)"
Believing Elphie, I inhaled normally. It felt completely different from the panicked gasps I expected.
"Squish-squish-squish-squish (Why am I even here?)"
"I'll pull you out right away."
Whoosh!
"Pffha!! Hic... hic..."
Elphie's hands moved and the world shifted instantly.
I stepped out of the tank into fresh air, standing right in front of her.
"It was a bit disorienting."
"Everyone feels that way the first time they teleport. Are you feeling alright otherwise?"
Elphie watched me with worried eyes.
Ria used magic to cleanse the strange liquid from my body.
"I'm fine. But what happened here?"
"This device was meant to extract the mana accumulated in your body."
"Mana?"
"Yes. After Esrael attacked, you fell into mana poisoning."
"What even is that?"
Even after hearing the explanation, I didn't fully understand.
"Mana poisoning occurs when someone without mana tolerance is exposed to overwhelming magical pressure."
"Oh."
The heavy air earlier had been mana pressing down on me.
"If you had been a second later, your body would have slowly disintegrated into dust."
"Really?"
That sounded way worse than a few days of soreness.
"The liquid in that tank absorbed the mana and stabilized you."
"I see."
Thankfully, I was fine. In fact, my body felt lighter than before.
"So that Knight Order Captain really tried to kill me?"
"...Yes. I'm truly sorry."
Elphie bowed her head in apology.
I told her it was okay and looked up, but her face was filled with genuine concern.
"As I mentioned earlier, there are factions that oppose your summoning."
"I already knew that."
"Although Elphie and the elders agreed to summon you, quite a few people still oppose it."
"Is that Knight Order Captain part of the opposing faction?"
"Yes."
Calling a human an inferior race was enough to skip the rest of the question.
"Even so, he really tried to kill me?"
"I'm truly sorry. I never imagined he would go that far."
I almost died learning magic—because a magic spell almost killed me.
If Ria hadn't blocked him and Elphie hadn't arrived in time, I would have been dead on the spot.
"The Knight Order Captain will be sentenced to at least one hundred years in prison for his actions. Even if it's for the sake of elven tradition, that's the minimum sentence he deserves."
That would keep me safe for a while, right?
Of course, if he escaped and tried again, that wouldn't help.
'But he hates me that much?'
If he had succeeded, he himself would have been executed.
Since I survived, he got a century in prison instead.
But his desire to kill me hadn't changed one bit—regardless of the consequences to himself.
"Why does he want me dead so badly?"
"Among some elves, there are those who believe elves are the superior race and look down on all other species."
Every species has its own brand of superiority complex.
Humans probably had plenty of elves who thought they were better than elves.
Of course, I believed in total equality.
"If we capture that Knight Order Captain, will the rest of the opposing faction back off?"
"I can't be certain."
Elphie's serious expression made it clear this was unprecedented for the elves.
From an elven supremacist perspective, I was an abhorrent being—simply because a lowly human existed.
That a human became their queen's master was beyond insulting.
Many elves even welcomed the news with joy, waiting for their turn to "claim" the queen.
From the opposing faction's viewpoint, everyone involved must have gone completely insane.
"Just locking him in prison might be enough?"
"...If you wish, I can conduct a deeper investigation and impose a harsher sentence..."
"No way. That's the opposing side. Just lock him up—don't do anything else."
"Huh?"
Elphie looked stunned by my simple request to let him go.
Ria’s eyebrows rose in surprise too.
"One Knight Order Captain in prison won't stop the opposing faction from rebelling."
The opposing faction was apparently small in number.
But if they were still active, they must have incredibly strong unity.
If Esrael knew he was in prison, he might turn even more hostile toward me.
'I finally understand just how strong an Archmage is today...'
I had seen Ria's overwhelming magic firsthand.
And then I had seen Esrael casually deflect it.
Even as fellow Archmages, he was clearly far stronger because he had honed his combat skills relentlessly.
There was no guarantee another skilled fighter like him existed in the opposing faction.
Would one madman just come to kill me?
Honestly, I might as well give up.
Without seeing that Captain in person, I couldn't rule out the possibility of another crazy elf.
"So I have to settle this with the Captain myself."
"You, personally?"
"Yeah, that's the only way."
I had to defeat him directly—either by making him surrender or making him acknowledge me.
Once that happened, the opposing faction would hopefully calm down.
"But if I fight him now, I'll lose."
"That's true."
Elphie answered without hesitation.
I felt a pang of pain hearing it, but there was no way to deny it.
"If I keep studying magic, will I reach a level where I can fight the Captain?"
"Humans learn magic faster than elves, so it's possible."
"Really? How long until then?"
Hope flared in Elphie's words.
"Five hundred years... maybe six hundred."
The hope crashed and burned.
"Is the Captain really that strong?"
"Honestly, the probability of you winning against him is lower than the probability of a manticore stepping on a banana peel and instantly dying right there."
"That's rough."
"Yes."
Ria spoke firmly.
I had hoped for some miraculous chance of victory like in a manga...
'But in the comics the protagonist always wins...'
Reading about another world like a comic had shown me just how different my reality truly was.
"Ugh... Is there no other way?"
"I can't think of any method that would make the Captain acknowledge you."
Both Elphie and Ria looked troubled.
They clearly believed it would be impossible for me to win no matter what I did against the Captain.
"So is there no weakness?"
It was a bit of a stretch, but I needed any loophole that could help me win.
"There is one thing."
"Really?"
"Yes. The Captain has one weakness."
"What is it?"
I asked, still clinging to the hope that I could beat him.
"An arrow."