Pandora's Box
“Haa…… I wonder if this will really work……” Bentley let out a heavy sigh in his office. Could he really stop the elves? ‘No, there’s no way he can.’ The elves were strong enough to slaughter his knight order with ease. In particular, the woman who appeared to be the elf elder leading them was extraordinarily powerful. According to the scouts, she was the one who had killed all the hired mercenaries and mages. The mercenaries and mages had stood no chance against her overwhelming, spine-chilling combat prowess.
‘What could three people possibly do against elves like that?’ When he heard there was a mage who could use teleportation, he had requested help on the off chance it might work, but now he was starting to regret how reckless it had been.
“……Did I just send someone to their death……? Have I committed another sin……?” Bentley’s expression darkened. Albert had spoken with absolute confidence. ‘The others would just get in the way. We’re going alone.’ ‘But they’re strong!’ ‘I know. But still—’ Right before vanishing in a flash of light, Albert had looked at Bentley and said, ‘I’m stronger.’ It was an incredibly irritating thing to say—arrogant, the kind of childish boast only a young man would make. Bentley had assumed it was the sort of remark someone who had never faced an elf would make. There were always people like that, deluding themselves into thinking they were strong and living in their own little world.
‘Should I have stopped him……? No, but……’ Why hadn’t he been able to speak up more firmly? Even now, he couldn’t understand it.
“Haa……”
“My lord.” While Bentley was lost in his worries, sighing repeatedly, the butler entered the room. “We’ve packed everything. We should leave now.”
“I see.” Bentley made his decision. He would run. The butler had already gathered the necessary belongings and loaded them onto the carriage. He had also explained the situation to the territory’s residents in advance. There had been some panic, but Bentley had calmly persuaded them, and they were now preparing to flee.
“Haa……” Running was the only option. He couldn’t fully trust Albert. As the head of the family and lord of the territory, Bentley had far too many people to protect. He couldn’t stake everything on a single person, so he had no choice but to make this painful decision. He would abandon the territory.
‘We can always rebuild the territory. But we can’t bring the people back.’ His ancestors who had protected this land for so long would surely understand. And if they didn’t…… well, what could they do about it? ‘They’re not going to crawl out of their graves, so the living have to survive.’ If they wanted to complain, they could rise from their tombs and file a formal protest. Of course, if that happened, he would report it to the temple and have them purified. Anyone crawling out of a grave was an undead, and the undead had no right to exist. They would have to be destroyed. They wouldn’t even get the chance to protest before being wiped out again. In short: ‘Complain and you die.’ He had no intention of entertaining the protests of stubborn old fossils.
“Everything’s packed, right?”
“Of course. All that’s left is for us to move.”
“Good. Then let’s get going right away. First, Park and……”
“My lord!” At that moment, a servant burst into the office in a panic. He was panting heavily, having sprinted the entire way.
“What’s going on?”
“Th-the front courtyard!!”
“The front courtyard?”
“Th-the front, front courtyard…… K-knights and th-th-th-that person!”
“Haa……” The servant was stammering so badly that Bentley couldn’t understand a word. The butler, standing nearby, sighed and lightly scolded him.
“Vank, haven’t I told you time and time again? If you have something to say, say it clearly. We don’t have time for this…… Breathe properly first!”
“Huuup……”
“Now report to His Lordship. What happened?”
“Huu…… Well, you see! Right now in the front courtyard! There was a flash of light, and then people in shining armor appeared with a sparkle……!”
“……”
“……” Bentley and the butler stared at the servant in disbelief. He seemed to be speaking calmly, yet they couldn’t understand a single thing he was saying. It wasn’t some ancient language—what on earth was he talking about?
“Speak clearly! Properly!”
“Th-that is! The knights and! Lord Albert has returned!”
“I-is that true!?”
“Yes! He’s in the front courtyard right now!”
“Butler…… C-could it be……”
“Don’t…… get your hopes up too high.” The butler continued calmly. “Only twenty minutes have passed since he left. It’s impossible for him to have killed that many elves and returned in such a short time.”
“Then……”
“He ran away. He probably got scared the moment he saw the elves after acting so confident, so he fled with the knights.”
“You think so……?” If he thought about it calmly, it was entirely possible. Twenty minutes wasn’t a short amount of time, but it wasn’t nearly enough to accomplish something significant. It wasn’t even enough time to write ten lines of a novel, read a picture book, or finish a meal.
‘That must be it.’
“Let’s go see for ourselves.” When Bentley stepped out into the front courtyard, he found the knights sitting on the ground with their heads bowed. They were badly injured—some had lost arms, others were groaning from broken bones.
‘So many…… died……’ His heart grew heavy. Over twenty knights had gone out, but only fifteen remained. Once again, precious knights had been lost.
“……Still…… I’m glad.” At least they hadn’t all died.
“Oh? You’re here?” Albert greeted him with a cheerful wave. He had run away from the elves. ‘But what did that matter? He had saved my knights—that was enough.’
“I…… truly thank you. For saving my knights…… Really……” Bentley, overcome with relief, shed tears. Seeing this, Albert held out something white.
‘A handkerchief? How embarrassing, showing such a pathetic sight to a younger man at my age.’
“This is…… embarrassing. Even lending me a handkerchief.” Bentley accepted the handkerchief Albert offered. But something felt off. A handkerchief should be made of cloth, yet the one Albert handed him had a strangely stiff texture.
“This is……?”
“A handkerchief? What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Huh?”
“We’re not close enough to be lending each other handkerchiefs, are we?”
“Then what is this……?”
“A receipt.”
“……” Only then did Bentley properly look at what Albert had given him.
“A-a receipt?”
“I brought back fifteen people, so that’s 30,000 gold each—450,000 gold total.” Albert wasn’t the kind of person who would offer a handkerchief just because someone was crying. There was only one thing he wanted.
“Shall we settle the bill first?” Payment.
* * *
“……So……” Bentley looked up at Albert in disbelief. “You killed all the elves?”
“Yeah.”
“Th-that’s……”
“How can we believe that!” At that moment, the butler standing nearby raised his voice. “Only twenty minutes have passed since you left. And you’re saying you killed all the elves!? That’s ridiculous.”
“……” The butler was openly staring at him with distrust.
“So you’re saying I’m lying?”
“Are you claiming otherwise? How could anyone kill all the elves in just twenty minutes using common sense!? I simply cannot believe it!” The butler’s attitude was firm. Albert’s face twisted in displeasure.
“Then what? Are you saying I’m lying? Me, a noble?” Albert replied with clear irritation. Only then did the butler realize his mistake and panic.
“Ah…… Th-that…… I’m sorry. I got carried away and was disrespectful.”
“No, it’s fine. If you’re that suspicious, what can I do? Want to come with me for a moment?”
“M-me……? Why?”
“I want to show you the evidence, but it’s a bit much to show it here.” The butler had no choice but to follow Albert. When he returned a short while later, his face was deathly pale.
“B-butler, you……”
“M-my lord……”
“Wh-what on earth did you see to make you look like that? Your complexion……”
“I-it’s true!”
“True? What do you mean……”
“The elves! They’re all dead!”
“No, what are you suddenly saying? Just a moment ago, you……”
“I-I saw it with my own eyes! The elves’ corpses!!”
“Elves’ corpses?”
“Yes!” Bentley looked at Albert, who simply shrugged as if to answer for him. Bentley went to the next room, and only then did he understand why the butler’s face had turned so pale—and why the man who had been so skeptical suddenly believed.
“……All of this……”
“I brought all the elf corpses just in case.” The room was filled with elf corpses. A nauseating stench of blood and grotesque elf bodies piled up like a mountain. Albert had gathered them all before coming here, just in case. As evidence.
“……Then you really did it in twenty minutes……?”
“Of course. Why would I lie? The evidence is right in front of you.”
“That’s……”
“And yet you doubted me first.”
“I-I’m sorry about that.”
“Well, apology accepted. If you’re sorry, just make it worth my while later.” The best way to heal emotional wounds was, after all, financial compensation. Bentley gave an awkward smile.
“……I’ll make it 40,000 per person.”
“Good. Now, shall we start talking?” Albert returned to the reception room, sat down in a chair, and asked, “Now tell me. The truth about my parents, and who orchestrated the treason against our family?”
Bentley’s expression grew tense. He had originally planned to take this story to his grave, never telling anyone. He had sworn to lock the box and never open it. But to protect his territory, he had no choice but to open it and reveal its contents. He sent the butler out, his face grave. Then, as if forcing open a rusted lid that hadn’t been oiled in years, he slowly began to speak.
“Listen carefully…… Your parents……” He hadn’t known it at the time. That the box he was opening was the very one known to contain all manner of disasters—Pandora’s Box.
* * *
“……The elf elder is dead?” Deep within the elf village, in a garden created solely for the World Tree. This was a sacred place, a sanctuary that even elves could not approach without permission. Only a select few elves and the elders were allowed into the World Tree’s garden. Yet now, a man and a woman had entered this sanctuary. Their appearances were strange. Dark skin, red eyes, long fangs, and five horns growing from their heads. Mains. And not just any Mains—these were high-ranking demonkin, said to be special even among their kind.
“That’s right. I heard the connection to the elf elder was severed just a moment ago.”
“That’s impossible. The elf elder was half Main—there’s no way someone could kill her…… Was it the temple?”
“No. We’ve been monitoring the temple’s movements, but there hasn’t been any notable activity.”
“Then who?”
“Who knows? By the time we got there, it was already over.”
“Tsk.” The man clicked his tongue. “We lost a valuable test subject. We put quite a bit of effort into creating her.” The man looked at the World Tree before him with regret. But something was wrong—the World Tree was completely withered and dried up. The fruit that symbolized the birth of life had already rotted and was polluting the ground, and the leaves had dried out and were scattering in the wind. It was dead. The World Tree was dead.
“Still, we got some results. Corrupting the World Tree affected the minds of the connected elves, causing them to fall just the same.”
“It’s a shame we missed some.”
“The World Tree sensed the danger and severed the connection before it could be fully corrupted.” The woman gazed at the World Tree. When she had first seen it, it had seemed so noble and sacred, but now it only looked pitiful.
“It was an interesting experiment. Just by corrupting the World Tree, the elves became corrupted as well, and when the elves were corrupted, the World Tree became corrupted again.”
“I heard it’s because the World Tree and the elves are connected.” Corruption called to corruption, and depravity called to corruption. The World Tree had been the starting point, but what accelerated the corruption was the elves’ minds. As the elves gradually fell by calling the dark elves Nebulas, the corruption of the connected World Tree grew stronger. Through this endless cycle of evil, both the World Tree and the elves had died.
“Tsk. We should have gathered more information this time. The elf elder still had plenty of uses, but thanks to this, our plans are in shambles.”
“What can we do? She’s already dead. We’re already looking into the one who killed the elf elder, so we should get some information soon.”
“I suppose. And what about the one who killed the Chimera we created? Did you find them?” At the man’s question, the woman shrugged.
“Not yet.”
“What about the Main who assaulted a noble?”
“That too.”
“The one who beat up the holy knight and the saintess?”
“That too.”
“……”
“Don’t look at me like I’m incompetent. Instead of doubting our abilities, why not just say the opponent did well?”
“You’re saying the opponent erased their traces well?”
“They did more than that—they covered it up perfectly.”
“Then there’s nothing we can do. Still, find them as quickly as possible. We need to know who’s impersonating our name and what their goal is.”
“Aah~ I know~ Don’t worry~ The higher-ups are fully aware of this situation as well.” Black energy flowed from the woman’s body. It wrapped around the withered, dead World Tree and spun violently. Like an automatic saw, the rapidly rotating black energy sliced through the World Tree. The woman smiled in satisfaction and continued.
“We’ll catch that guy soon. And we’ll make him understand what price he’ll pay for messing with us Mains.” Until now, they had known nothing. When they finally caught the one who had been impersonating the name of Mains and committing identity theft, the ones who would pay the price wouldn’t be him—but themselves. They should have been careful with their horns. They still didn’t know that a horn collector who gathered Main horns was waiting for them.