Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Fate 5: Promised Price
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A voice seemed to reach her not through her ears, but through the skin of her entire body. It was then that it came.
[-Not bad at all.]
[-The great hero.]
[-It'd be nice if you could see yourself right now.]
[-The image of that clueless, arrogant brat is nowhere to be seen.]
[Shut up!]
The hero shouted inwardly.
[That was the last of it. No more voices came.]
[Even as the hero lived in glory, she never fully shook off her unease.]
[Fearing that this glory she had achieved might one day crumble to nothing in an instant.]
[...In the end, it never happened.]
[One morning, everyone—even Radola herself—came to take Bendel's glory for granted.]
[News spread across the continent.]
[The Night of the Forest has ended.]
[Night.]
[It was the name given to the continent's most heinous beings.]
[And the Night of the Forest was the one who had made a contract with Radola Bendel, known to no one else.]
[Radola recalled her forgotten unease and regained her peace.]
[With this, Bendel's glory would be eternal.]
The bastard had defied the family head's will and left the mansion.
Taking Lady Roera with him, no less.
Gerhen's face was pale as he reported the facts, including his own mistake.
"Understood. Withdraw for now."
Alone in the room, Idor Bendel let out a deep sigh.
He rose from his seat and approached the window.
Beyond it, he took in the mansion's garden—and the statue at its center.
[In honor of the greatest Bendel, Radola Bendel]
Bendel's glory is the value achieved by our great ancestor.
Our mission is to carry on that glory.
That was the mindset the head of the Bendel Family must possess.
"I... was too lenient..."
Idor's love for Roera was genuine.
It remained unchanged even after she defied her father's will and brought him great disappointment.
However.
Idor was the head of the Bendel Family.
Before being Roera's father.
The Bendel bastard and lady had lost respect for the family head.
They would regain it.
Through that, Rishir would marry Diltan as planned, and Roera would develop a mindset more devoted to the family.
Willingly.
It was the moment Idor steeled his resolve.
An urgent voice came from outside the window.
Idor doubted his ears.
Intrusion?
Here, at the Bendel mansion?
Who would dare?
Idor left the study immediately.
In the corridor, Gerhen was speaking with the family soldiers.
"Fa-Family head!"
"Report."
"An intruder!"
"Scale?"
The soldier who came to report glanced nervously at the family head before speaking with difficulty.
As the detailed report continued, Idor's bewilderment grew.
"The intruder's scale... as far as we know, it's just one person."
"Entry route: they say they entered through the front gate of the mansion!"
"Current movements: in the garden... sightseeing the garden..."
"They've requested an audience with you, Family Head... and said they'll politely tour the garden until you grant it..."
Both the reporting soldier and the listening Idor looked like they had no idea what was being said.
"And notably, it's a Dark Elf."
But at those words, Idor's expression changed drastically.
He immediately flung open the corridor window and leaped out.
Despite the five-story height, his landing was as soft as a feather.
And his subsequent sprint was as fierce as an arrow.
Gerhen followed immediately, but by the time he landed, Idor had already vanished.
With movements that made even knights with superhuman abilities look pathetic, Bendel's family head Idor arrived at the mansion garden in an instant.
A purple robe of fine mesh fabric that seemed translucent yet opaque evoked a secretive mystique.
Her abundant silver hair cascading to her waist was like a waterfall of silver.
And above all, those sharply pointed ears.
Ears dyed in cursed color.
As the soldier reported, a Dark Elf was strolling through the garden.
With the leisure of someone walking in their own courtyard.
"Family Head...!"
The mansion's resident forces were already gathered around.
Over ten knights alone—a force that could invade but not be invaded lightly.
"What are you doing? Allowing that filth to leave its dirty footprints in Bendel!"
Idor's thunderous command. The soldiers fully understood his rage.
They too felt extreme disgust at the cursed being trespassing on their pride, Bendel.
Yet the reason they hadn't acted until the family head arrived...
"..."
The family head's gaze turned to one part of the garden.
It was an ornament carved into the shape of a woman from thickly grown bushes.
"Morie."
As Idor said, the ornament was modeled after Morie, one of Bendel's knights.
And Idor realized immediately.
It wasn't a bush ornament mimicking Morie—it was Morie, covered in bushes.
"Morie~ So that was your name~ Thanks for telling me? I asked the person herself, but no matter how much I asked, she wouldn't answer. Conversations just wouldn't flow, it was so frustrating."
Such a thing had happened. Truly awkward.
Her tone was like leisurely chatting with an acquaintance on a stroll.
And a vibrant smile like a flower-filled field.
All of it blended with Bendel's knight Morie, now turned to grass before their eyes, creating an extreme sense of dissonance.
"Hah... hah..."
The trainees were already terrified, having lost their will to fight.
"C-Curse... curse...! The Dark Elf's curse...!"
Some apprentice knights hadn't even thought to draw their swords.
"Get a grip, Humton!"
The knights scolded them.
"Don't forget you're in the Family Head's presence!"
"...!"
It was like magical words infused with some power.
Upon the knights' scolding, they belatedly noticed the family head and their demeanor shifted.
They straightened their posture and drew their swords, aiming at the Dark Elf.
Now, not a trace of fear showed on their faces.
That was the presence of Bendel's family head.
Idor's aura completely dominated the area.
"Everyone, fall back."
He drew his sword. Idor assumed position.
He first heightened his senses to scan the surroundings.
"Alone."
"It's business I can handle by myself."
"Are you challenging all of Bendel alone right now? Do you think you can take us all?"
"Hmm~"
The Dark Elf pointed at them one by one with her fingertip.
Family head. Knights. And. And—
She pointed at the family head and three knights, then shook her head.
"Taking on all of you—probably tough, right? But that's fine, isn't it? I'm not here to challenge Bendel or invade it."
Snap. The Dark Elf snapped her fingers.
At the same time, the grass covering Morie vanished.
"Ah..."
Glassy eyes.
"Ehehe..."
She staggered back to her comrades.
"What did you do to her?"
"Just gave her a little help to calm down? You know white new flowers are great for soothing body and mind? Oh, and the strong visual effect was just to make things efficient, so forgive me? See? Now we're face-to-face, having a polite chat. Great flow. Let's wrap up business and go our ways."
"Too arrogant. Dark Elf. Do you think I'll just let you leave? You who dared step through Bendel's front gate without permission with those filthy feet."
"Correction: it's not that I didn't get permission—it's that I don't need it."
Nonsense.
As Idor was about to shout, the Dark Elf pulled a parchment scroll from her bosom.
"Bendel? Time to fulfill the contract. As proxy, I'll receive Bendel's most precious treasure as promised."
"Fitting words of madness from a cursed breed."
"Oh? Forgetting already? No, doesn't seem like you're pretending. What's going on?"
Hmm.
The Dark Elf tapped her lips with her finger, lost in thought.
"Ah!"
She swung her finger cheerfully, expressing realization.
"No way, did that person—Radola Bendel—not say anything?"
"This is your first and last warning, Dark Elf. Don't utter that lady's name with your filthy mouth."
"See, this is why contracts need to be in writing. Right?"
To the family head's murderous fury, the Dark Elf responded with a vibrant smile.
She unrolled the parchment with both hands and showed it to Idor.
Superhuman eyesight could easily read it from afar.
[I, Radola Bendel, swear to the Night of the Forest]
[That when the castle built with borrowed power reaches its highest point, I will yield the most precious treasure from there.]
The family head's face filled with shock.
Night of the Forest.
It was one of the seven archfiends that ruled the era of chaos.
No more talk was meaningful.
No. It was dangerous.
The family head charged at the Dark Elf without hesitation.
"Soras."
Blocking him was a plant zombie bursting from the ground.
The same kind that had once burst pathetically under the bastard's strike—
"...!"
It took the family head's killing blow—meant to end it in one hit—with its bare body.
The family head swung his arm with all his might.
The sword embedded in the plant zombie's shoulder neither advanced nor retreated.
"Family Head!!!"
"Support the Family Head!!!"
The soldiers skillfully formed an encirclement and pressured the Dark Elf from all sides.
The Dark Elf uttered another ridiculous name.
It was a plant zombie markedly larger than before.
The one summoned as "Mumumu" raised its arm with full force and slammed the ground.
Boom!
"Aaaargh!!!"
"What is this!!!"
And screams of death.
The earth shattered literally to pieces.
Countless cracks formed, and innumerable vines burst through them.
They ensnared the soldiers' limbs with intent.
Just like that. Twice over.
The Dark Elf approached Idor.
Idor drew on all his power and swung his sword.
A diagonal slash from the shoulder cleaved the zombie's body.
Finally, Idor's sword was freed.
...And the zombie's bisected body regenerated as if nothing happened.
Idor realized the plant zombie was a type of golem.
To fully destroy it, he needed to smash the core hidden somewhere in its body.
Or blast it away with overwhelming force.
Idor's sword ignited.
Or so it seemed—clear, intense mana aura rose sharply.
Bendel Style ultimate technique.
The moment Idor's sword aura sought to devour the plant zombie.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.
The Dark Elf spat out successive silly names.
Idor couldn't laugh at all.
Plant zombies that had blocked Idor's strikes alone.
They began emerging one after another.
The massive zombie named Mumumu, which had already subdued all soldiers, was crouched in place, admiring flowers on the ground.
"..."
Idor's battle intent scattered into a hollow chuckle.
"You... what are you...!"
The steadfast knight's eyes were gone.
Idor's gaze on the Dark Elf wavered with bewitchment.
The Dark Elf replied with her unchanging vibrant smile.
"As I said, I'm the contract proxy? No relation to the Night of the Forest."
It was obviously a lie.
But Idor lacked the courage to call it out.
"Well then. Bendel? What now?"
The Dark Elf closed the distance.
Idor tried to retreat, but vines from the ground bound his movements.
"...What do you want."
"What to do~ You didn't listen at all~"
The Dark Elf mock-wailed dramatically, then whispered in Idor's ear.
"Do you want the world to know the truth? Bendel. That your great ancestor was a liar. That your true roots lie not with a great hero, but with one of the past archfiends."
"That's...!"
Idor's despair wasn't just from overwhelming force.
He felt the power within the parchment.
The Dark Elf's inscrutable power. Part of it rooted in the parchment.
She truly was the contract proxy.
Bendel truly was bound by the contract.
The great ancestor Radola.
She truly was a coward who begged power from an archfiend.
A liar who hid it and played the honorable hero.
"Hmm~"
Suddenly, the Dark Elf stared at Idor up close.
Strangely, Idor felt none of her attention.
The Dark Elf was clearly looking at him, but seeking another on his face.
Soon, she sighed in relief—whoosh.
"Good~ You don't resemble him at all~"
For some reason suddenly in high spirits, the Dark Elf offered the parchment to Idor.
"Let's not complicate things? As I said, I'm just the proxy. I could expose your shameful underbelly, but no need if I get what I want."
"...Speak."
"As I said, I'll take Bendel's most precious thing?"
"What... is that..."
"Something you won't understand, but the child named Rishir."
"...!"
Idor's eyes widened.
His face filled with bewilderment.
"I accept the demand."
Then overlaid with relief.
Idor saw new potential in Rishir.
The value he could bring to the family.
But if the immediate problem could be solved, nothing exceeded that potential and value.
"..."
Watching such an Idor, the Dark Elf briefly lost her vibrant smile.
Pamon found Idor's reaction utterly distasteful.
Bendel's most precious possession.
Taking Rishir as payment, and that's the response?
She got pissed.
She wanted to take not what she deemed most precious, but what he valued most.
'No.'
Foolish.
Harboring personal feelings against such a pathetic human.
Pamon disliked this human.
That's why she was even more determined to take Rishir from him.
Pamon completely withdrew her interest from Idor and extended the parchment.
A vine's thorn pricked Idor's thumb, drawing blood.
After brief hesitation, Idor pressed his thumbprint to the parchment.
"There, now Rishir is—... Huh?"
Pamon urgently checked the parchment.
"Oh my oh my oh my."
She covered her mouth in delight.
"Foolish people. Should've guarded him better."
"What...?"
Even with Idor's thumbprint, the contract wasn't fulfilled.
Rishir.
He was no longer Bendel's property.
The promise known only to the family head and the bastard.
If the bastard won the duel, he would be allowed to leave the family.
That lightly regarded promise—to the bastard—now took effect.
"...!"
Realizing it, Idor's eyes widened enormously.
"W-Wait!!! If you give me a little time—"
"No? I'm quite busy. The print is done, so I'll choose at my discretion."
"What do you—... Mmph!!!"
Vines sealed Idor's mouth.
Pamon left the Bendel mansion with light steps.
No more business here.
No pursuit came.
"Family Head. About the lady..."
"...Forget it."
"Pardon?"
"Forget everything that happened today."
The pursuit of the Dark Elf.
The pursuit of the bastard and lady who left the mansion.
Idor strained to forget today's events.
He hoped the bastard who left with the cursed Dark Elf and his daughter wouldn't return—
That nothing would happen.
Just as his respected ancestor had in the past.
The price of the promise.
It had traveled a long road and finally reached Bendel.
Ruin.
As late as it was, it swiftly eroded Bendel.
Several hours after leaving the Bendel mansion.
Rishir reunited with Pamon at the promised location.
And heard a very sudden story.
"So that's how it is, my disciple. What do you want?"
"...Pardon?"