#026 Elf
#026 Elf
Who in this world had faced the most Heroes?
Me.
I'd fought countless battles against beings called Heroes, had even pretended to travel with them and poisoned their food, and had studied what went through their minds when they came at me.
As the saying goes, no one knows an enemy better than that enemy's sworn foe.
As a Demon King, I could safely say I knew the habits of Heroes better than any other Demon King.
Watching the countless Heroes who came to attack the Demon King's castle, I often found myself realizing, "So this is the basic Hero template."
Like right now.
"Go, Lucius! The first thing you need to do is...!"
Lucius drew his Holy Sword.
The Holy Sword, rising from his two arms raised above his head, revealed its great and massive form toward the sky, and the orcs stared at it in a daze.
So did the elf trapped in the cage.
Whether it was because of the Holy Sword's light, or because she saw a light that could save her even amid the chaos.
The elf was staring at Lucius, entranced.
'Idiots.'
Orcs or elves, they're all equally foolish.
If an opponent prepares an attack with something visually striking, shouldn't you obviously prepare—defend or counterattack—rather than stand there mesmerized!
'Good for us, though.'
The orcs were frozen by the Holy Sword's power.
Since we had no intention of advertising this, we needed to deal with the enemy quickly.
First.
"Rescue the elf first!"
Lucius ran forward without hesitation.
The moment he took a single step onto the ground, a fierce wind coiled around him and launched him toward the elf in an instant.
Slash!
Lucius swung his Holy Sword at the iron cage with one hand.
The golden storm carrying Lucius's will sliced through the sturdy iron cage in a single stroke, and Lucius reached out, wrapping his arm around the elf's waist to protect her.
"Ah...."
From a distance, I could hear the elf's relieved voice.
Meanwhile, I quietly stepped back, counted the orcs, and scanned the surroundings.
No other enemies.
No other eyes watching this place.
"Burn, sacred flame!"
The word "sacred" from a Demon King's mouth.
It was a little ridiculous, but I figured it was best to keep using the Crimson Mage's incantations unchanged.
"Become a wall to protect my hero! 'Flame Wheel Shield'!"
The moment I planted my staff on the ground, my mana infused the staff in an instant and manifested outward.
FWOOSH.
Three fireballs revolving as if protecting me.
And at the same time, three more fireballs flew to Lucius and began circling around him.
"Sweep them away!"
The moment my order fell, Lucius swung his Holy Sword sideways.
KRAAAASH!!
With just one horizontal swing, the golden storm swept through the orcs and killed them in an instant.
The mere wind pressure of the sword swing made fountains of blood burst from the orcs' bodies.
Thirteen in one strike.
But Lucius's sword still held the golden storm within it.
"K-kill him!!"
The orc captain, Gess, only now bellowed at the top of his lungs and raised his weapon.
The orcs each raised their weapons toward Lucius, but it was not to charge—it was a defensive measure to protect themselves.
"Sn-snort...!!"
Their instincts must have known.
That before the Holy Sword's power, an orc was utterly helpless.
But true orcs fought on without retreating even before overwhelming power.
"SQUEEEAL!!"
—and all the true orcs like that were dead.
The orcs threw down their weapons and began scattering in all directions.
Some of them came running toward me.
Lucius looked at me in alarm, but I twirled my staff once and prepared the next incantation.
"Flame shall guide you. My power shall become an arrow that pierces the enemy, setting the enemy's heart ablaze."
Ah.
Me, a former Demon King, chanting three verses.
To conserve this pittance of mana, I wasn't even using silent casting or mana-based spontaneous combustion—I was chanting three full verses for a basic spell like Fire Arrow!
"Master!!"
But I couldn't rely on Lucius's protection forever.
'You need to focus on your own fight.'
One reason was to show him that I had a way to protect myself, so he'd worry about me less.
'And I can blow off some stress.'
The other reason was to personally execute the orcs that were defiling my memories.
"You go for the captain! I'll handle the small fry!"
"...!!"
I swung my staff forward in a wide arc.
"Flame Spear!"
The mana gathered at the tip of the staff transformed into flames in an instant, becoming a sharp spear of fire that flew toward the orcs' hearts.
Thunk, thunk, thunk.
The spears of flame lodged in the orcs' hearts.
With not even shirts, let alone armor, they were helpless against a spell I'd refined through a full three-verse incantation.
"Hmph."
The orcs targeting me began collapsing helplessly.
My attack brought them down far too easily, and the spears of flame lodged in their hearts began burning those hearts.
'This'll make Mana Stone farming easier later.'
I couldn't keep telling Lucius to gouge out hearts forever, so it was better to extract the enemy's Mana Stones while fighting.
It wasn't as though anyone was around to steal the Mana Stones....
"Grraaah!!"
In an instant, a red light began seeping from the orcs' eyes.
Something that boiled the blood—an instinct for combat and slaughter rising above reason.
"Grrr."
The orcs were all staring at me.
Even the already-dead orcs were staring at me with their bloodshot red eyes.
"......Tch."
I'd realized this back with the goblins—these things were targeting me.
No matter how well I hid it, I couldn't conceal the essence flowing from the Demon Core that formed my heart.
They might not know I was the Demon King Belphegor, but they could certainly tell that a powerful Demonfolk had been weakened!
"AAARGH!!"
The orcs all began charging at me at once.
Before I knew it, an orc had reached me and was bringing a massive axe down toward me, and I reached out my hand toward it.
Boom, boom, boom!!
The fireballs circling around me flew at the orc and exploded.
The orc collapsed forward, charred to charcoal.
The problem was.
"Ngh...!"
The fireballs were supposed to fly out, detonate, and return when an enemy approached, but they had lodged in the orc's flesh and wouldn't come out.
I barely managed to pull them free, but the enemy was faster, charging at me.
At this rate.
'This is your cue.'
WHOOOOSH!!
A golden storm swept across both my sides, and Lucius had arrived in front of me before I knew it.
"Are you all right, Master?"
"Yeah. Do you have a rough idea of when you should come save me?"
"When you're in danger and using a huge amount of mana."
"Right. Exactly."
Every bit of mana I used was backed by my life force.
Lucius's role was to save me when I had to use far more mana than I'd planned.
Of course, in a worst-case scenario I would use magic, but against orcs, spending more mana than I'd gain from their Mana Stones was far too wasteful.
"Hey. Are you okay?"
"Ah, y-yes...."
The silver-haired, purple-eyed elf stood there with an uncomfortable expression.
Lucius still had his arm around her waist, and she clearly looked somewhat uncomfortable.
Could it be that she disliked the touch of a human man?
If so, even a Hero might be overstepping.
'I can't make a bad impression on an elf.'
Elves were a people who would be a great help to Lucius in fighting Demon Kings.
They would recoil at the very mention of Demon Kings or Demonfolk, and as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend—they would surely be a great help to Lucius, the Holy Sword Hero.
"Lucius, she seems uncomfortable. How long are you going to keep holding her there?"
"Huh? Ah, aah! I-I'm sorry!!"
Lucius recoiled and backed away from the elf.
The elf fiddled with the spot where Lucius had been holding her, glared at me for a moment, then squeezed her eyes shut as if deep in thought.
"U-um...."
"Hey."
I tapped Lucius's thigh with my staff and pointed at his clothes.
Put your coat on her.
The elf was currently wearing clothes that were practically rags, little better than naked.
Lucius hastily took off his robe and draped it over the elf's shoulders.
"Ah...."
As expected.
The hostility in the elf's gaze toward Lucius began to slowly melt away.
I was starting to feel pleased that my romance coaching seemed to have worked—
"......."
What?
Why was she glaring at me?
* * *
She had been curious about the human world.
So she had secretly run away from home, shaken off her elven escort, and slipped into the human world.
People didn't pay much attention to the existence of a silver-haired, purple-eyed elf.
Over the past several hundred years, elves had blended into human society without much trouble—so much so that an elf had driven out all the dwarves with sheer skill and was running the representative smithy in a human city.
But where there is light, there is also darkness.
'Rosemas' fell into a trap in no time.
She was captured by orcs and was about to be eaten alive.
She was the princess of the elf kingdom.
But if a princess ran away, shook off her escort, hid her identity, and deliberately wandered around, it would obviously take time to find her.
—Ngh...?! Why are the spirits—?!
—Hahaha! The spirits follow me!
—That's impossible!
—Impossible? Of course it's possible! Because I am a shaman! Hahaha!
And if, in the meantime, an incident like this occurred—if there was an unidentified orc who could even suppress the spirits she took pride in.
—Stoke the fire! I'll cook her crispy on the outside, moist on the inside!
—I-I am the princess of the elf kingdom! The elves will not stand for this!
—Then we'll just eat and run.
—Ah....
Rosemas despaired.
They really were going to eat her.
The moment she thought being eaten was her fate.
—O wind!
Rosemas fell in love at first sight with the man who came charging in, wreathed in a golden storm.
Her heart pounded as the man swung his Holy Sword at the enemy and smiled at her as if to say, "You're safe now."
And then.
—Master!!
The moment the witch behind him fell into danger, Rosemas saw him rush toward her faster and with more urgency than he'd shown when coming to Rosemas's rescue, and she knew instinctively.
"......."
The witch called Master.
The Hero wore an expression for the witch that he'd never shown Rosemas.
"Honestly, you didn't need to come save me...."
That witch truly was a witch.
"Ahem, anyway. What's your name?"
"...Rosemas Tervation."
"Rosemas, can you fight?"
"...Of course."
Whoosh.
Rosemas released her mana and formed a bow.
The Hero let out a gasp of admiration at the silver bow, the same color as her hair—but that was all.
"Lucius. You can keep going, right?"
"Of course, Master. I won't let even a single one of their attacks reach you."
"Hmph. Big words...."
Rosemas, princess of the elf kingdom, bit her lip as she watched the crimson witch.
"Lucius."
"Yes, Master."
"Go take them down. I'll be waiting, trusting you."
The moment the witch's words ended.
Slash.
The golden storm covered the forest.