Sharing the Bed
In truth, Elenoir kept her boundaries better than I'd expected. Sure, she'd grope me at every opportunity and push her body against mine suggesting we share a bed—but if I refused, she'd eventually back off. So if we'd promised to just hold hands and sleep, she probably wouldn't try anything funny.
Probably.
Or maybe not. I didn't have full confidence, but if Elenoir tried any bullshit, I could always stop her by force. The bed-sharing offer had been to fix my insomnia anyway, so no need to worry over nothing.
And it wasn't time to worry about that yet. Sleep was for night, and it was still broad daylight.
Afterward, I got a rough rundown from Elenoir about the war tangled up with the three major factions.
To start, the human kingdom's army—developed at a terrifying pace over the past century—had declared war on the elves under the banner of reclaiming territory. Apparently, the grand forest where the elves had settled was part of the human kingdom's land. But it hadn't been under effective control until now, and they planned to drive out the elves and seize the woods this time.
The problem? To reach the high elves' grand woodlands, they had to pass through dark elf territory.
And the kingdom's forces lumped the high elves and dark elves together as "heterogeneous forces occupying our territory." Meaning they intended to hit both without distinction.
Geographically, the dark elves would take the first hit, of course. Logically, the elves should ally to block the kingdom's army. But these fucking racist dogshit elf pricks didn't unite—instead, out of nowhere, the high elves declared war on the dark elves too.
Leaving the dark elves to fight a two-front war without warning or reason.
"Of course, they handed us the pretext first. We just didn't issue a formal declaration—the war had already started."
Yeah, figures. If they'd only been getting one-sidedly attacked, Elenoir wouldn't look this worn out.
"Still, the tree-huggers' declaration had some... odd points."
Well, a century-long war would have all sorts of tangled knots. At this stage, original justifications didn't matter much.
Honestly, forget the elves—a human kingdom sustaining war for a hundred years wasn't normal to begin with. And it wasn't the kingdom double-teaming the dark elves; all three were tangled in a chaotic back-and-forth.
"You... you're planning to fight, aren't you?"
Elenoir read my mind right away, her face etched with worry.
I nodded.
The kingdom's forces on Floor 9 were stronger than Floors 7 or 8, thanks to a century of buildup. And naturally, they'd have powerhouses on par with Elenoir or Mercedes.
Otherwise, the balance wouldn't hold.
My growth was plenty already; I didn't need to clash with those elites—but there was no reason not to fight either.
"It's ridiculous coming from me, stronger now than a century ago, but... don't die."
Elenoir, who used to love the blood scent clinging to me, was saying shit like this after a hundred years. Thinking about it, it was kinda funny.
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The war had dragged on for a century, but the battles hadn't. Beyond this fortress, the dark elves held more territory, with sporadic skirmishes in each zone.
Of course, the enemies' ultimate goal was breaching this fortress, so they'd head here no matter what.
The scouts' job was spotting them first and striking back. I joined in on that.
A short way from the village, in an area free of fog interference, the enemies appeared.
Judging by the flags, definitely kingdom forces. But the composition was weird.
"What the hell is that—zombies?"
Undead or monsters, anyway—not people—mixed in with the troops. Actually, more monsters than humans.
A few mages visible in their ranks, probably controlling or commanding them via some special method.
Makes sense—for a century-long war, they'd need to conserve manpower. Capture monsters, enslave them, send 'em to the front: saves soldiers and siege weapons.
"How many mages... let's see."
To gauge their numbers precisely, I lightly spread mana for detection.
-Kiiing!
But some weird noise cut it off. Simultaneously, a monster let out a screech.
-Grraaaagh!
They'd prepared some anti-detection measure. Stealth attack was out.
"■■■■, ■■■!"
A kingdom mage chanted some unintelligible spell, and the monsters' momentum shifted. They'd sensed me and entered combat mode.
Fine. Let's do this.
I equipped sword and shield, stepping forward.
The monster unit charged the second they spotted me.
-Thwack!
A casual kick sent the lead monster flying far off, smashing into trees repeatedly before crashing down. But the others didn't care, swarming in.
A human—not an elf—had appeared and blown away a monster, yet no hesitation. Either the mages hadn't clocked the situation, or they couldn't stop the beasts.
I'd half-expected some tactical army maneuvers, but nope.
-Slash!
I severed the next monster's neck in one stroke, then bashed through their lines with my shield.
Outnumbered? Better to punch in and annihilate than play defense.
Levels hadn't been rising lately—time for a monster massacre.
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No level up this time either. My level's too high for the floor, probably. Over a hundred monsters, and still nothing—better not expect gains for a while.
Levels aside, personal training was inching up my specs anyway. No big deal.
After wiping the monsters, I returned to the fortress to prep for sharing the bed with Elenoir—uh, sounds weird phrased like that.
Anyway, got ready properly. Covered in monster blood, bath first.
Wartime or not, the dark elves' baths were still top-notch. Felt even better than before—bigger overall, and herbs in the water eased the fatigue.
Ah, and the mixed bathing culture persisted. Dark elves, who dig humans, crowded in naked without a care, making things awkward as hell.
Finally bathed, we climbed into bed in the chamber inside the castle.
"……"
I'd agreed, but was this really okay? If Elenoir wasn't in that sheer negligee, I wouldn't mind so much.
"Come on, you must be tired too. Lie down—my bed's super comfy."
"Uh, yeah."
"Don't look so scared. I said we'd just hold hands."
Elenoir yanked my hand, pulling me down. I ended up lying side by side, staring at the ceiling.
Whether she meant it about just hands, who knows—but she grabbed mine and locked fingers the moment we lay down.
"If we're raided at night, we'll have to jump up anyway—no time for fooling around."
True, a lord wouldn't have leisure in wartime.
Probably.
-Fwoosh.
Elenoir gestured, extinguishing all the room's lights. I closed my eyes obediently, still lying there.
Not planning to just sleep, though. Figured I'd meditate, circulate mana.
Elenoir, true to her word and lying chastely beside me holding just my hand, breathed softly—then spoke in a small voice.
"You."
"What."
"Are you really human?"
"Yeah."
"Don't humans only live a century?"
"Normally, yeah."
"I see."
Elenoir hesitated, lips twitching. Unless she asked first, I wasn't volunteering.
I'd agonized all day during the fight about spilling my story to her. Thought it over and over, but no answer yet.
Beyond the NPC thing—was it even okay to tell her?
My feelings had poured out back on Floor 8 to the soulless Elenoir—like confessing to a wall. Different from now, and it hadn't helped anyway.
Would telling this sentient Elenoir change anything?
More than that, how would she—steeped in night elf free-spiritedness—take it?
Elenoir loved freedom. Hated being bound, always itching to roam anywhere, anytime.
Could I really tell her: You're an NPC slave to the Tower's system?
-Sigh... sigh...
Her steady breaths brushed my ear. The warmth from our clasped hands and touching shoulders was cozy.
Meditation, already hard to focus on, shattered completely. Slowly, I slipped into sleep.
And for the first time in years—
I dreamed long.