In the Land of the Elves – 12
"That's the Hero, isn't it?"
"There's a half-elf, too."
"Shouldn't we say something?"
"But Captain Les is here."
"You're right — that's Captain Les."
The elves who had been going about their ordinary drills at the training ground seemed thoroughly flustered by our arrival.
Elves trained with more than just bows, of course. Sword and spear work was part of the curriculum as a matter of course, though it had the feel of foundational practice more than anything else. If you found yourself without a bow, you had to grab whatever weapon was at hand and fight — so it only made sense. I was most skilled with a sword myself, but I could use other weapons if I had to. The elves would have learned at least that much about other arms as well. They wouldn't be as effective with them as with their primary weapon, the bow, but whether you'd trained with something or not made a considerable difference in actual combat.
It was quite professional, and the training had a crisp discipline to it that I liked.
"Then, Hero. What shall we do about the swords?"
"Let's go with a wooden sword. You can come at me with a real one."
The moment the words left my mouth, I scratched my head.
"Ah, um. I didn't mean that as a slight against you. Sorry."
"Please think nothing of it. It's the truth, after all."
"Even so, that was rude of me."
I knew now that there were things you shouldn't say even if they were true. I understood that in my head — but the habit of my mouth running away with the moment was apparently still with me.
I gave the wooden sword a few swings. Hmm. Was it the quality of the wood? It felt far better than any wooden sword I'd used elsewhere — light, and easy in the hand.
I threw off the cloak I'd been wearing.
"Your condition is worse than I expected. I didn't notice because of the cloak."
"I'm certainly weaker now than I was when I dealt with the Demon King. But you don't need to worry about that. This might sound arrogant, but even like this, I'm far stronger than mediocre opponents."
To beat me as I was now, even a high-ranking monster wouldn't be enough — you'd need someone at the Demon King Army Cadre level. Well, there was quite a gap in ability even among the Cadre, so being a Cadre member didn't automatically make someone my match. Most of them would be, though, and some might even be stronger than I was now. After all, I couldn't properly draw on my mana, and the damage to my body was severe.
By my own estimate, my overall combat strength was cut in half… no, it might have fallen even further than that. When that building had collapsed earlier, the old me would have pulled those children out before it even came down and already had them somewhere safe. And yet, for some reason, saving people by working together had felt good in a way that saving them alone never had.
Les took up his sword and drew a deep breath.
He said it loudly, on purpose, so that everyone would hear — and every elf in the training ground turned to look. Plenty of them didn't look at me kindly, but as people who trained every day, they had no intention of missing a chance to see Hero Olivia Reinhardt's swordsmanship up close. When it came to this kind of training, at least, they didn't seem to care about race.
It would be interesting, I supposed.
All right, then.
"You can come at me first."
"Then I shall take the first move."
The elves around us were watching me. I found myself hesitating, just a little. Would winning be the right answer here, or losing? Either outcome could be seen as good or bad depending on how you looked at it, which was why I was somewhat torn — but in a situation like this, producing a result that went against my own heart would be a poor move. And more than anything, it would be an insult as a warrior.
"Hup!!"
The blow landed with a dull, heavy thud.
Heavy.
"She blocked Captain Les's attack with one hand!"
"That's just a regular wooden sword, right? It's not some special one made for the Hero?"
"She just grabbed one that was lying around a moment ago."
He had power, and the speed of his charge wasn't bad either. I see. He wasn't captain of the guard for nothing. Stronger than most high-ranking monsters, with little waste in his movement. Far stronger than Rayna.
Tak. Tak. Tak.
Les attacked again and again, and I met every strike, blocking them all. He was deliberately aiming for places that were hard to defend, but unfortunately for him, I hadn't trained so poorly that I'd fail to block something just because it was out of my line of sight.
Les stepped back warily and spoke.
"I expected there would be a gap in skill, but the disadvantages you currently carry are considerable as well. I thought I might give you a reasonably hard time."
"Don't think that. People around me call me 'the Hero to whom the Goddess granted a talent for battle.' I'm a Hero, and I'm strong enough that people say the only one among all the successive Heroes who might be stronger than me is the First Hero."
Of course, I had no way of knowing if that was actually true. The First Hero was from a truly distant age, and the other Heroes had each accomplished their own great deeds and protected the world. You couldn't diminish that greatness by measuring individuals against each other in strength — and more than anything, I wouldn't know if I was truly stronger than them until I fought them myself. They were all human, so unfortunately I'd never had the chance. There couldn't be two Heroes in a single era, after all.
"I'm mediocre at everything else. This is the one thing that makes me a Hero."
"You are humble. In the past, you had more confidence."
"I just couldn't tell the difference between confidence and arrogance."
"I see. Then I shall come at you harder this time."
"Go ahead."
The next blow came faster than before. This time it wasn't coming from a hard-to-read angle — it was coming straight on.
A provocation?
I liked that. Then I ought to match him.
A sharp clang rang out.
"Ghk."
He recovered his stance quickly, too.
At some point, the elves around us had naturally stopped their training and were watching Les and me spar. I could have ended it in a single blow, but I thought I needed to gather everyone's attention, so I was deliberately holding out, defending against Les's attacks. I wasn't attacking at all from my side — just defending against whatever he threw at me.
Les was not weak. I could see why he'd chosen swordsmanship despite being of a race that used bows. An elf with more talent for the sword than the bow was a genuinely rare sight. If anything, this was a race that would probably be better at swinging a bow like a club.
The successive strikes grew faster and faster, but I stood still and blocked every one of them.
"Hup!!"
Putting his strength into both hands, Les brought his sword down.
A tremendous clang rang out. The full-power downward strike cracked the ground, and it felt as though even the air around us trembled. It was an attack packed with mana, with enough force to bisect most monsters in a single blow. I'd been certain I could block it without issue — that was why I'd let it happen. And besides, it had a certain spectacle that was useful when you wanted to draw every eye.
At the same time, I stepped to the side, struck Les's wrist hard, and went straight for his neck. The sword fell from his hand, and my wooden blade was already at his throat.
"…I have lost."
"That's incredible! To be that strong with a sword, as an elf!"
"I was simply born with more talent for the sword than the bow."
"That's not what I'm talking about."
"Pardon?"
"I don't know about now, but when you were young, that would have been hundreds of years ago, right?"
"That is correct."
"Lois told me that unlike now, people used to look unkindly on anyone who used a weapon other than a bow."
"That is true. Until Titania, unable to stand it any longer, took up other weapons herself and learned them firsthand, everyone felt a resistance toward anything but the bow. Myself included."
I hadn't known that. So Titania had solved it by learning and using other weapons herself. She'd seemed so rigid, but she had a surprisingly flexible side. It'd be nice if she applied a little of that to the half-elves, too.
"Those unreasonable feelings must have wounded you. And you endured them, swinging your sword in silence, until you reached this level. The kind of injustice you can't do anything about must have caused you real pain. That's incredible."
Les stared at me with a startled expression, and in an instant, the surroundings went quiet.
Ah. Did I put my foot in my mouth again?
I replayed what I'd said. I didn't think I'd said anything that qualified as a blunder, but this silence gave me the feeling that I might have committed another grave discourtesy.
"Hero."
"Hm? Huh? Wh-what is it?"
What did I do wrong? I couldn't think of anything I needed to apologize for, but there had to be something.
"My thanks."
"Huh?"
"Until just now, I thought of you as nothing more than a new step toward changing this Elvenheim."
I'd had a feeling about that, somehow.
"To put it more extremely, I intended to make use of your existence. I simply wanted to create an opportunity for fresh water to flow into this Elvenheim, which had grown stagnant."
"I see."
That wasn't particularly bad, was it? Everyone had it in them to use someone, and as long as the intent wasn't that malicious, it was fine, wasn't it? Well, I supposed some people would get angry about it. I might get angry depending on the situation, too — but Les had shown a rather good attitude as a warrior so far, and he'd treated us as guests, so I wasn't particularly offended by what he'd just said.
"Ah, no. If you do that too much, it makes me uncomfortable."
"So then… what will you do now?"
I looked around. The elves were still watching us in silence.
Hmm. Their eyes were burning. Those were the eyes of warriors that said, I want to spar too. Wanting to fight the strong and find your own weaknesses was an unavoidable warrior's instinct. Whether they held a sword. Whether they held a bow. Anyone who took up a weapon and fought an enemy could be called a warrior.
My physical condition wasn't bad. I was still all right.
"All right. Anyone want to spar with me? Sword, bow, spear, axe — whatever you like."
I smiled.
"Come at me with whatever weapon you want. Given the state I'm in, I don't know when I'll be back, or when my condition might get worse. Fortune favors the ones who come quick."
"M-me!"
"Me too!"
"We can fight with bows? Th-then me too!"
They all reacted fiercely, and I looked at Les and said,
"You were aiming for this?"
"It would be a lie to say I wasn't."
Les smiled.
"This is beyond what I imagined."