Chapter 13
Chapter 13
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: The Fallen Archmage
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Black Rose Knights, having captured the elves, loaded the live-captured elves onto their horses' backs like baggage and began moving slowly.
Enri called out to Luca, who was leading the knights.
"Deliver them carefully. Don't take any detours along the way."
"Got it! Whose orders do you think these are?"
"And if you get spotted—eliminate them."
Kill without mercy. If there were any witnesses, they had to silence them, no matter what. Luca nodded familiarly at Enri's words and gave her firm confirmation. This mission absolutely could not be discovered. Even if it meant killing innocent civilians who spotted them.
Of course, among the knights participating in this operation, there would surely be others like them trying to smuggle elves out the back way. Elves, after all. Forest fairies. The race of beauty. Creatures that were not only stunning but also possessed exceptional magical aptitude.
If their numbers had been greater, they would have surpassed humans and dominated this world—a superior race.
"Go."
"Be careful, Captain."
"Careful? Of whom?"
At Luca's concern, Enri tilted his head as if he couldn't comprehend. Only then did Luca let out a dry chuckle, as if to say who should be worrying about whom, and gripped the reins.
Watching his subordinates depart the operation zone with the elves, Enri confirmed that the smoke rising from the distant forest had stopped. The fire caused by the cannons had been extinguished.
Confirming that sight, Enri turned his gaze to the tunnel from which the elves had escaped.
"Time to get to work."
A moment later, Enri hurled himself into the tunnel.
The forest blazed fiercely.
Charred black stumps stood tall, the only proof that a forest had once been here.
The elves who had extinguished the fire with magic stared at the scene in disbelief, their faces hollow. The forest they had lived in and protected their entire lives had been reduced to ashes overnight.
"Lady Marsil. You must escape."
"...You all go first."
"But—"
"Someone has to hold the rear, don't they?"
Marsil, an executive of the Anti-Kingdom Alliance, offered a bitter smile as she spoke. Seeing her expression, the elves plunged into the tunnel one by one, as if they could delay no longer.
Watching the elves disappear underground, Marsil let out a deep sigh, wondering just when the elves' status had fallen so low.
"Time is truly merciless."
This was not the status of elves. It hadn't been like this in the past. Elves had roamed vast lands far greater than those of any other race, their steps unhindered by anyone, blessed eternally by the radiant sun.
What about now? Elves now hid in dark forests where not a single ray of sunlight penetrated. Countless elves who ventured outside were captured by humans and turned into slaves, their territory a mere fraction of its former glory.
She didn't know exactly when it had become this way, but one thing was certain.
Humans were the ones who had reduced the elves to this state.
Whoosh—!
At the familiar sound of arrows flying from afar, Marsil frowned and waved her hand. A barrier rose around her, deflecting the incoming arrows.
"—An elf!"
"She's here!"
"Careful, she deflected the arrows—she's a mage!"
Humans who had set the forest ablaze began to reveal themselves one by one. They were all knights clad in magic-enhanced armor and bearing swords.
The knights did not let their guard down or charge at the lone Marsil. Instead, they shouted to gather their comrades. Marsil, too, waited quietly without provoking them by chanting a spell.
"So here you were, you ugly elf."
Roengram, arriving late, took the lead and gripped his reins as if ready to charge at any moment. Seeing the knights arrayed behind him felt like a massive spear aimed straight at her.
Sensing that Roengram at the forefront was their leader, Marsil quietly spoke.
"Ugly? Hearing that from a human makes me laugh. Don't humans have mirrors?"
"Shut your mouth, filthy rebel! You'll pay dearly for touching the bloodline of the great Gracia Kingdom!"
"—Just one question."
Marsil asked, gazing at the humans confidently aiming their spears.
"Humans... what did we do wrong to deserve this persecution? This land was originally ours, the elves'. Our homeland. Does it bother you so much that we live in our own home?"
"Nonsense."
Roengram bellowed in response.
"This land is territory conquered by His Majesty the founding king of Gracia. Defeated like you, you need only live on the land His Majesty permitted! The sin of overreaching beyond what was granted to you! The arrogance of coveting more despite your defeat!"
The elves' sin was precisely...
"To covet the strong's possessions despite being weak! Knights, charge!"
"Charge!"
The knights tucked spears under their arms and spurred their horses forward. As the signaled mounts surged fiercely, Marsil at the front felt the pressure of an oncoming train.
The collective charge of knights, each superhuman, was like magic itself.
Watching them, Marsil let out a wry smile and raised her hand.
"Weakness is the sin, is it?"
Then...
Doesn't that make you all sinners?
"Gaaahhh—!"
"What—!?"
"Dismount! Dismount now!"
The magic of Marsil, executive of the Anti-Kingdom Alliance and elf archmage, erupted, shattering the knights' formation. As the disrupted knights fell from their horses one after another before the archmage's spell, Marsil chanted another incantation while regarding those rolling on the ground.
"Do you even know where you are?"
Of course.
A mage cannot defeat a knight.
But a prepared mage can face a knight.
And an archmage who turns the forest into her own workshop can shatter a knight order head-on.
"Die, you scum."
The archmage's magic rained down upon the knights.
"Haa... haa..."
Marsil panted, calming the mana raging inside her. Having expended a massive amount in such a short time, her head spun.
The silver lining was that no knights remained to harm her.
All the knights lay collapsed on the ground, unconscious. The magic on their armor must have protected their lives. But unconscious, it meant nothing.
As she began chanting a spell to finish off the knights...
"Killing her would be a bit inconvenient."
"—!!"
The voice from behind.
Marsil, sensing no presence at all, whipped around in alarm—only to see her arm soaring high into the sky.
A sword was in the green-haired knight's hand, though she hadn't even seen him draw or swing it. Clutching her severed forearm, Marsil slowly backed away.
"...Who are you?"
"Enri. Knight of the Claudia Duchy."
"...Marsil."
"Right, Marsil. I've got a favor to ask."
Enri pointed to the tunnel he had emerged from.
"Mind sealing this up?"
"...What?"
"So others can't find it. Collapse it."
It was incomprehensible. Even without his request, Marsil had planned to destroy the tunnel and erase its traces... but for the human who had just attacked her to ask this?
Unable to understand, she glared fiercely at him, but Enri just shrugged lightly, as if to say what are you going to do.
"If the other knights find this tunnel, it'd be a problem for me."
"...Fine, I'll do it."
"Thanks."
His intentions were unknown, but in any case...
Marsil chanted a spell and collapsed the tunnel. Now, humans wouldn't even know a tunnel had been here, let alone where it led.
The escaped elves could survive now. Thinking that, Marsil gazed at the green-haired knight.
"—Going to kill me, human?"
"Hm... probably?"
"Thought so."
Enri gave a wry, apologetic smile and raised his sword. Letting her live was impossible. She was undoubtedly a skilled archmage, but did she have enough value to smuggle out from here? No.
No matter how capable Enri was, sneaking her out undiscovered in this place was impossible. He'd have to kill every knight here at least.
And no matter that she was an elf archmage, she wasn't valuable enough to slaughter all these knights and make enemies of the nobles they served.
"Then."
Realizing this, Marsil began her final resistance, drawing up all her mana to inflict as much damage as possible.
However.
Enri was no pushover she could escape with mere struggling. The moment she gathered her mana, a blade pierced her abdomen, and she rolled on the ground, spilling her guts.
No time even for last words. To spare her pain, Enri swung the blade again. Blood sprayed, her head rolled across the ground.
Even an elf archmage wouldn't survive having her entrails ripped out and head severed. Thinking that, Enri left the body and approached the knights rolling on the ground.
Pouring potions from his pouch into their mouths, the knights began to regain consciousness one by one, opening their eyes.
"Where...?"
"If you're awake, get up. Sir Roengram."
"Sir Enri...? What are you doing here?"
Enri silently turned and pointed to Marsil's corpse on the ground. Seeing it, Roengram grasped the situation and recalled what happened before he passed out.
The memory of being swept away one by one by the elf archmage's magic. Scenes that shamed the name of the Royal 2nd Knights...
"...Did you take her down?"
"It was only possible with everyone's help."
"Haha—thanks for saying that."
Noting that Enri's armor bore not a single scratch or speck of dirt, Roengram realized Enri was just flattering them.
However, he didn't point it out. He wasn't so obtuse as to refute a superior knight boosting their morale.
Still...
"There were fewer elves than the intel suggested. They must be hiding somewhere."
"Ah—right."
"Care to join the hunt?"
Roengram proposed sharing the glory. He doubted there were two archmages like Marsil, so those they'd encounter now would likely be powerless elves.
Hunting prey for mounted knights.
But Enri pretended to ponder with a hum before smiling and declining.
"No, I'll pass."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm good."
Enri looked down at the ground. Roengram followed his gaze to see the elf archmage's head lying there. And for some reason, soil of a different color around it...
"I've got plenty of merit already."
At those words, Roengram was filled with admiration, as if he had met a true knight worthy of emulation.