Chapter 106 — Contact (3)
Chapter 106 — Contact (3)
"Iris."
It was a very small voice, barely distinguishable from the sound of the wind.
The voice of a colleague calling her name.
The white-haired forest elf raised her head.
"Look at this."
The one who called Iris was a middle-aged forest elf.
He had been wandering the forest for over three hundred years. He was a guard in the same unit as Iris, and also her life partner.
"...?!"
Following the male forest elf's serious expression, Iris examined the traces on the cave floor, and her face flushed bright red.
"What the, these guys... d-did that here...?"
Seeing her ears instantly turn bright red, a faint laugh surfaced on the male forest elf's cold face.
"Cute. Iris. Hmm. It seems these two engaged in reproductive activity."
"...Shut up, Kouran."
Iris grumbled.
"Are they out of their minds? Coming all the way here to do something like this?"
"Perhaps they needed some novel entertainment."
Normally, Iris would have retorted without backing down at his sly remarks, but demons had been coming and going from this place until recently.
She couldn't let her guard down.
"There are traces of a cave worm, too..."
"This was originally a black bear's den."
"Did the cave worm eat the black bear and then fight the demons inside? I can tell there are signs of a fight, too. Kouran."
"A cave doesn't collapse to that extent from just that."
"Mm..."
At Kouran's words, Iris frowned but could only nod.
The stone of this cave was hard.
No matter how big an explosion,
unless someone was deliberately determined to blow the whole place up, the cave wouldn't collapse.
And a collapse that caused vibrations strong enough to be felt in the village—that wasn't something easily triggered.
Kouran, who had been checking the traces of mana left in the cave, reported.
"The traces of mana are similar to our own."
However, Iris spoke coldly.
"No dim-witted forest elf around here would use magic. And certainly not while trapped and doing this... sort of depraved thing."
"We can't be sure just from the traces. It's difficult to track mana in here. It seems clear the mana was propagated from this collapse, but we can't tell whether it was intentional or not."
At Kouran's conjecture, Iris fell into thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"We don't need to figure it out. If our report is accurate, the judgment is for the elders to make."
"Hmm. Understood. Captain."
"...Kouran."
Pretending to salute like a human, Kouran wiped the smile off his face and shut his mouth when Iris's gaze turned terrifying.
Iris simply couldn't guess what had happened.
Traces of a black bear.
Traces of a cave worm.
And on top of that, someone had... ahem. The traces of a heated night seemed to be from roughly the same time.
The combination alone was already baffling.
On top of that, demons had come this deep.
They seemed to be looking for something, and they even appeared quite desperate.
Thinking about it now, they might have been trying to rescue someone trapped by the cave collapse.
'But demons don't care that much about the lives of others.'
Unlike humans, forest elves had ample time to study the living habits of other species in depth.
Demons wouldn't go so far for a foolish kinsman trapped in a cave—enough to reorganize soldiers despite our surprise attack and then bring in equipment to open a collapsed cave. They didn't value anyone that much.
And, surprisingly enough,
there was a soldier with a shield among their group!
Clearly a formation made in preparation for our arrow attacks.
Originally, they were the kind to use the weak as meat shields. That was why forest elves had always despised demons.
But the sight of demons holding shields, protecting other soldiers as they searched the forest, had bewildered every forest elf.
'Could it have been someone of high rank?'
A while ago, demons had started mimicking other species, building a nation and serving the strong as nobles.
We thought it laughable, but for demons or humans, a century was time enough for a system to change.
If they were human, we could at least guess they were acting to save someone of high authority...
Iris suddenly laughed.
It was because she remembered her cute younger sister.
That girl might have voiced such a thought aloud. She was an angelic but peculiar child.
But Iris shook her head.
'The report just needs to be accurate.'
Her role was to convey what she saw to the elders as fact.
If action was needed on the scene, she would judge for herself. Thinking beyond that was unnecessary.
Her train of thought was interrupted by the voice of another guard.
"Iris. Here's something strange."
"Hm."
Kouran and Iris's eyes met.
Kouran, having found a paper pressed under a rock, carefully examined the surroundings.
After confirming there were no traps or magical devices, Kouran extracted the paper and handed it to Iris.
Iris's eyes widened.
It was a letter.
"...?"
Seeing her rare change in expression from her usual coldness, the other guard and Kouran looked at her with questions in their eyes.
Iris was about to read a historic note, perhaps the first one a demon had sent to a forest elf in hundreds of years.
— I'll make my first greeting with a modest note.
I am a representative of the demons. If you are reading this, I take it you are also in the process of figuring out what happened here.
'A representative of the demons...?'
Iris's face crumpled, but Kouran and the other guard waited without a stir for her to finish reading.
A forest elf whose emotions appeared on her face as much as hers did was rare. Perhaps it ran in her family.
It was this very trait that Kouran found cute and made her his life partner, but it wasn't just once or twice he'd worried she'd be looked down upon by other forest elves.
Of course, all the kin who showed such signs were ruthlessly crushed by Iris. In swordsmanship, archery, or magic.
And then Iris opened her mouth with a dumbfounded look.
Kouran's wandering thoughts were forced to vanish cleanly. Because her words were shocking.
Hearing something so shocking,
even a forest elf couldn't help but show astonishment.
"She says she's a representative of the demons?"
"...What?"
"A demon representative? Does she mean the centaur who is Lord of Zeno?"
"...We can't know that."
Shaking her head at Kouran's question, Iris relayed the next part, words she couldn't believe even as she read them, frowning once more.
"...She says she wants to talk in person."
"...Huh?"
Roan might have been quite amused if he could see the forest elves' current reaction.
Because they were repeating the same reactions the demons had shown when he first came to this world.
He probably would have remarked on how long it had been.
Kouran, revealing wrinkles on his perpetually gentle face for the first time, frowned deeply.
"...Did some young ones take a prank too far?"
"...Mm."
In the end, Iris pressed her fingers to her brow and rubbed.
Rather than the demons of Zeno suddenly saying, 'We don't want to fight, let's talk,' it was more plausible that a young kinsman had fooled around sexually out of bravado then giggled while impersonating demons...
If she had to believe one, the latter was definitely the more likely occurrence.
Every generation, there were always a few young ones—like her own sister who, in her infancy, had run away and hidden here because it was a forbidden place and then passed out.
In any case, Iris realized that if this note really was from a demon, the matter had already exceeded her authority to handle.
Her voice turned cold.
"Stop the search. We're heading back. Let's report to the elders as fast as possible. Then we can respond."
"Understood. Iris."
"Got it."
Aside from teacher-student relationships, parent-child, and elders, forest elves maintained relatively equal relationships.
In their society, the only ones who warranted formal speech were those who passed something down to you.
Thus, Kouran and the other guard did not use honorifics even for the guard captain, Iris.
"Summon the members outside too. Let's go."
"Mm."
As she strode out of the cave, what came to Iris's mind was the image of her younger sister, whom she'd last met over 150 years ago.
'How strange.'
Why couldn't she get it out of her head today?
Of course, she was that lovable a child.
Hadn't the latest news said she was lingering around a human village?
Strangely crooked and rebellious, but actually tender....
A child who craved love.
If she said she sensed her younger sister's presence in the mischievous traces found inside the cave, even Kouran would burst out laughing.
So Iris hid her thoughts.
Her job was to go back and report.
That would be enough.
"What a strange demon."
With those words, Iris put away her thoughts and quickened her pace toward the village.
**
That same time.
"Everyone is gathered, Your Majesty."
Though her form wasn't visible, Aranya's voice transmitted from beyond the magic orb.
This was a small conference room in Zeno Castle.
In terms of soundproofing and safety, it was a place guaranteed to be as secure as the small council chamber in Basel.
'First, the size of this room is familiar.'
For over seven months since becoming the Demon King,
the place where Roan had talked the most with his ministers and spent his time was none other than the small council chamber of the imperial palace.
The officials who had been bustling around installing equipment until just a moment ago had all vacated the room.
The only ones remaining in Zeno's small council chamber were
Roan, who had convened the meeting,
the Lord of the West Blood Territory, who was attending with him,
and the lord's secretary, who would record the meeting and advise the Grand Lord.
"Then please speak, Your Majesty."
Aranya's calm voice came through, and the two Grand Dukes and the chancellor waited for Roan's words.
Before the few high nobles whom Roan had come to trust over the months,
Roan made a bombshell announcement.
"I will grow forests and crops."
Silence.
A fairly long silence.
We haven't even properly started and this is the reaction? Weren't the chancellor and the Grand Dukes expecting something like this to some extent?
Roan was the one caught off guard, turning to look at the Lord of the West Blood Territory beside him.
Meeting the emperor's eyes, the Grand Duke fumbled, unsure of what to do, and stammered out a remark.
"So.... All of a sudden."
"Hm?"
And then the Grand Duke whispered.
"...Is it alright? Proclaiming it already like this."
His concern was genuine.
"...Ah."
Finally, Roan understood what their silence meant.
They might trust Roan,
but they didn't trust each other yet.
What the Lord of the West Blood Territory was worried about was a situation like the times of the Former Emperor, where Roan proclaimed farming and was attacked and ridiculed by other nobles.
The Grand Duke meant that he couldn't yet trust the Lord of the East Yellow Territory or the chancellor the way he trusted the emperor.
No matter how close a drinking buddy the Lord of the East Yellow Territory was, sharing past stories was different from letting the current emperor become a laughingstock.
And the chancellor and the Lord of the East Yellow Territory were probably thinking exactly the same thing.
So they hadn't said a word, each merely gauging the others' reactions.
In a fierce battle of nerves, and partly out of loyalty protecting Roan.
A smile surfaced on Roan's face.
"Those of you here listening to my words now are the ones I trust most. I would like you to share your thoughts candidly."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Aranya fired off a question.
"Your Majesty. Have you finally found a method?"
Without any preamble, it was a question that carried not a shred of doubt that the emperor would accomplish it.
The Grand Duke and the Duke, who had never experienced a council meeting with the emperor, were flustered by the chancellor's aggressive question, but the emperor and chancellor were already accustomed to each other's way of questioning and answering after dozens, hundreds of meetings together.
"Mm."
The chancellor waited for an explanation. The Grand Duke blinked and looked at Roan.
"The reason I came to Zeno was not only for the treaty, but to search for an ore believed to be nearby that restores soil fertility."
"You mean... soil restoration?"
"Yes. I was told our land cannot retain its fertility."
After a moment of silence, the Lord of the East Yellow Territory spoke for the first time.
"It may be because of the corrupted land."
Everyone fell silent.
At words he was hearing for the first time in his life, Roan was taken aback.
"...What is that?"
It was an honest question from Roan.
The Grand Duke, seated across from him, unconsciously widened his eyes and stared at the emperor before realizing his discourtesy and quietly averted his gaze.