Pure Extortion
When two sides run on parallel tracks with zero hope of ever finding common ground, yet the objective remains an absolute necessity, only one method remains: forcing total submission.
"Well then, looks like it's time for some delightful torture."
"Do you honestly think I will simply submit?"
"You never know until you try."
"Even under torture, I will never break. Not even if it costs me my life."
"Haha. I don't harbor any grand delusions about breaking a Master. But tell me—would you stay quite so stoic watching the deaths of your kin?"
"...You bastard."
"I wonder. If I severed the limbs of that darling little elf girl, Elanche, and scattered her innards on the dirt, would your resolve still hold? What if I uprooted the Elftree that serves as the flesh and grave of your parents and chopped it into firewood? Would you still feel no regrets? If the World Tree you revere and worship withers and dies, will you truly not despair?"
Watching her expression twist into something savage and venomous, I bared my teeth in a wickedly dark grin.
"I'm genuinely curious, Latipi. Proud archer of the elves."
"...Vile scum. You, at least, I will kill with my own two hands."
Ominous, murderous intent coiled and surged off her in waves. Aura began manifesting physically across her skin; clashing with her right now would definitely leave a few bruises. Even if she was an Archer Master and technically weaker at close quarters, a Master was still a Master.
"...Lord Alzen. We are surrounded outside."
Besides, it seemed she had her own ace in the hole. Lowering my voice to match Muriel's faint whisper, I murmured, "How many?"
"Quite a few. Among them is a presence comparable to a Master."
"Benoite, huh."
The elf Archmage, Benoite... Taking on Latipi, Benoite, and a swarm of elven warriors all at once certainly wouldn't be a walk in the park.
"Have you finally grasped the situation? You are the ones backed into a corner. So hand over your information quietly."
I chuckled under my breath at her face—still coolly composed, yet dripping with quiet confidence.
"Why keep demanding information you're never going to believe anyway? Besides, did you honestly think I'd back down just because of this?"
I sparked a cigarette, took a deep, deliberate drag, savored the bitter bite, and exhaled a long plume of smoke.
"Cut her down, Muriel."
A casual order, devoid of urgency or a spirited battle cry. No reply came. Before the last syllable even faded, Muriel's shadow-wrapped dagger had already slashed toward Latipi's right arm.
"Kh...!?"
Latipi reacted instantly, twisting away while attempting to draw her bow, but she was already too late. The crimson malice of the Absolute Ring of Taunt had sunk into her an instant faster.
"What...!?"
Squelch!
Before she even realized what had happened, her arm was severed, spurting a fountain of blood.
"Aaaagh...!"
Even stripped of an arm, the ring's forced compulsion still held her in its grip. She whipped an arrow from her quiver with her remaining hand and slashed it toward me, but a shimmering purple light was already draped around my frame.
Whoosh! Thunk-crunch!
"How could...!"
A black spear slammed through her flailing, bewildered body.
"Guhk...!"
"Rebecca."
"Hup!"
Shhk!
Rebecca's blades flashed, cleanly taking another arm and a leg.
"...Hmm."
Looking down at the severed limbs and the gore-spattered floor, I wiped a stray fleck of blood from my cheek.
"Man, this really is broken as hell."
Back in the game, the Absolute Ring Set wasn't an artifact that let allies interfere during its trigger window like this. But brought to life in reality, it had warped into a downright absurd relic that forcefully tore open fatal openings against any foe. It almost made me feel dirty.
"W-Wait just a second, Sir Alzen! No matter how I look at this, it's completely wrong!"
Cecilia, pale as a ghost, rushed forward, grabbed my arm, and shrieked.
"What's wrong about it now? Don't you think it's a little late for that?"
"I understand your reasoning, Sir Alzen! But surely there had to be another way?!"
"...Hmm."
It wasn't like there were none. In the original game, you were supposed to slowly build up trust by clearing a chain of tedious elf quests. But why bother? When there was a fast, simple, and effortless shortcut staring me in the face, why on earth would I take the scenic route?
Affinity? Trust? Who gives a damn? Once this business was wrapped up, I wouldn't have to look at an elf's face ever again. If I were the designated Hero, sure, maybe I'd pretend to care, but I wasn't.
"Cecilia. Sometimes violence is simply necessary."
"I know that! But forcing them like this is fundamentally unjust!"
"...Vivian. Arpe. Do you two feel the same way?"
Vivian and Arpe, who had been watching with stern expressions, slowly shook their heads.
"I think it's an unavoidable situation," Vivian said. "If it has to be done, we do it."
"I agree, Sir Alzen," Arpe chimed in. "The fault lies with the elves for refusing to cooperate even when this outcome was entirely foreseeable."
Arpe was one thing, but Vivian was surprisingly pragmatic as well. Or maybe it was more accurate to say our resident fanatic, Cecilia, was the odd one out.
"...You said it's unjust, Cecilia. Just whose dignity are you choosing to prioritize right now?"
"What?"
I gripped her shoulder and lowered my voice. Startled, she shrank back, her shoulders cowering under the sudden chill in my tone.
"You saw it too, didn't you? How anxious Nemeth was. How furious she was at the High Demon. The despair and sorrow she felt watching her people slaughtered."
"T-That's..."
"You witnessed all of that, yet you choose to prioritize an elf you just met today?"
"T-That's not what I mean! I just want to be fair, in accordance with my justice...!"
"Fairness and justice aren't absolute truths. They can be bent, broken, and discarded whenever necessary."
"That's not justice at all!"
"Haaah... Cecilia. Please. I'm begging you."
I pressed down firmly on both her shoulders and spoke with dead seriousness. Having never seen me like this, Cecilia's eyes went wide.
"Pardon...?"
"Hold onto your humanity. Bend anything else, break anything else, discard anything else—just don't throw that away."
"What are you talking about?! What kind of person do you think I am?!"
"Then tell me, Cecilia. For the sake of your lofty ideals, you'd prioritize Latipi, someone you met mere minutes ago, over Nemeth—a dear friend who shared your road and a comrade who bled beside you through deadly peril? You stand in my way preaching equality and justice. Do you honestly think that's being human?"
"......"
"Answer me, Cecilia. Disregarding your own experiences, your emotions, and your bonds with the people around you just to uphold justice, equality, and abstract dogma—does that seem human to you?"
"...No."
"Right. That's the correct answer, Cecilia."
Pat, pat. I tapped her head lightly and ruffled her hair.
"That doesn't mean everything you said was wrong, though."
"It doesn't...?"
"We were forced into this because circumstances left us no other choice... but under ordinary circumstances, you'd probably be right far more often."
"......"
"So agonize over it. Struggle with it. That wrestling will become the fertilizer that helps you grow."
"...I understand."
"Good girl."
"I'm not a child, you know...!"
"Heh. Whatever you say."
After teasing Cecilia a bit, I strolled over to Latipi, who lay slumped in a heap on the floor. While we'd been chatting, Muriel and Rebecca had already stopped the bleeding; no more crimson pooled from the clean cuts where her limbs used to be.
"Tough break, Lady Elf."
"...Just kill me."
Latipi closed her eyes, her face etched with total resignation. Taking a heavy swig from my flask, I let the warmth of the alcohol fuel my most sinister grin.
"Can't do that. You're our hostage now."
I grabbed a fistful of her hair and hoisted her upright. Missing two arms and a leg made her light, but without the physical boost granted by the Permanent Flesh, lifting an adult like a ragdoll would've still been tough. Weak flesh, truly.
"Kh... you bastard...!"
"Alright, ladies, let's roll! In a manner of speaking, isn't this basically a heroic procession?"
"I really don't think that's what this is..."
Smirking at Arpe's deadpan retort, I kicked the door open and stepped out into the open air.
"Oho. My, my, what a lavish welcome. I hardly know what to do with myself."
Just as we had sensed earlier, a dense crowd of elves surrounded the clearing outside, bows drawn with hostile glares pinned to us. At their forefront floated Archmage Benoite, draped in vast currents of mana, flanked by elven elders radiating palpable pressure.
"...What is the meaning of this, human? Are you courting death?"
Catching sight of Latipi's mangled state, Benoite spat each word with venomous murderous intent. I merely shrugged, hoisting Latipi forward like a grotesque shield for all to see.
"Lady Latipi?!"
"That filthy human scum...!"
"Release Lady Latipi, you vile ape!"
"Why are you terrorizing us when we've done nothing to you?!"
Letting their shrieks wash in one ear and out the other, I stared directly up at Benoite.
"First off, let's get one thing straight. We came here to fix the crisis with your World Tree and slaughter the High Demon."
"...What? A crisis with the World Tree? What crisis?"
"Did he just say a High Demon?"
"Wait, does this have to do with that demonic energy bursting from our kin earlier...?"
The agitated elves began murmuring among themselves, but Benoite didn't waver. Her glare remained fixed on me.
"So I'd appreciate it if you gave us an escort. Straight to the roots of the World Tree."
"...If cooperation was what you desired, you should not have committed such an atrocity."
"Such an atrocity? Oh, this?"
"Khh...!"
I shook my heavy arm from side to side, jostling Latipi's limbless torso and eliciting a pained groan.
"You seem to be mistaken. Hate to break it to you, but I never asked for your cooperation. I came for your submission. Right now, I'm extorting you. And this here is my bargaining chip."
"...Do you honestly believe such a crude tactic will work?"
"If one hostage doesn't work, I'll take two. If two don't work, four. If four don't work, eight..."
I held out a hand toward Muriel, who smoothly placed her dagger into my palm. Pressing the cold edge against Latipi's throat, I watched Benoite's long eyelashes finally tremble.
"If I keep going until it works, it's bound to work eventually, don't you think?"
"...You cross the line."
"You're the ones who forced me across it, you damn pointy-eared Kkanf."
Snarl slipping into my voice, I pressed the dagger deeper.
"Now, make your choice. What's it going to be?"
"Are you prepared to make an enemy of the entire elven race?"
"Aren't we already enemies? Considering what I'm doing right this second."
I yanked Latipi's hair back, dragging the edge along her throat until a bead of crimson swelled and ran down her pale neck.
"...I will make you regret this."
"Does that mean you're in?"
"Haaah... Follow me."
"Oh?"
My eyes widened in surprise as she wheeled around in midair.
"What, you're actually going to guide us?"
"Is that not what you demanded?"
"Well, yeah, I said it... but I didn't actually expect you to just roll over and do it."
To be frank, I had already mentally prepared to butcher the entire village, so this sudden compliance felt almost awkward.
"Unlike Latipi, I am not entirely devoid of flexibility."
"Bullshit. An elf is an elf."
"......"
"Well, whatever. Works for me. Lead the way."
"I shall."
Keeping the possibility of an ambush firmly in mind, I followed her as she led the way through the elven settlement. Oh, and naturally, I kept Latipi hoisted high above my head the entire time.
Glancing around, the elves surrounding us were trembling with pure, incandescent fury. If they were that pissed, they could at least speak up to Benoite... Whether it was sheer cowardice or unshakeable faith in their Archmage, I had no clue.