The Storm-Calling, Helter-Skelter Rescue of Kang Jinwoo (3)
Arthur and Kailan ran without once breaking stride. The instant either of them so much as brushed the ground, roots like tentacles would snatch at their legs.
Boom—! Crash—!
"Damn it, there are too many of them!"
"Haha! Now this is more like it!"
The roots lashing out to seize them were trouble enough, but the thick plant stalks erupting without warning from underground were every bit as much of a headache. Arthur kept his senses strained to the limit, slipping each attack as it came. Kailan only grinned, weaving past the stalks as if they were nothing at all. How is he even doing that? Awe at movement that bordered on the miraculous lasted no more than a heartbeat. The attacks poured in without rest, and there was no room to let his guard down.
"Give Jinwoo up... just give Jinwoo up!!"
"I told you! We're Sir Jinwoo's companions!"
"And you expect me to believe that?!"
Arthur shouted their innocence whenever he found a gap, but the elven woman—eyes already gone wild—wasn't hearing a word of it. Damn it. What proof do I even have? He cut down the roots lunging for him and racked his brain. There was no document naming Kang Jinwoo honorary supply officer of the knight order, nor so much as a receipt from the restaurant he visited so often. Ah—Iseria? If he spoke that elf's name, perhaps a crack of conversation might open, if only for a moment.
"Iseria! The elf who travels with Sir Jinwoo—you're Iseria, aren't you?!"
"You even know Iseria. Quite the thorough background check."
"No... ha."
He had failed to produce anything that would actually convince her, true enough. But the woman had her ears open only to whatever she wished to hear. From her words alone she seemed to know Sir Jinwoo, and he hadn't wanted to use force. There was no helping it now. He would have to subdue her.
Arthur's gaze locked onto the elf commanding the plants, and he reset his stance. Kailan, who had held his attack in case words might still settle it, laughed.
"Right. Let's just take her down quick and go!"
"Yes... that would be best."
The ease of it all but said they could have harmed her whenever they pleased. That arrogance scraped her nerves raw, and she shouted.
"Do I look like a joke to you? Our house may not specialize in combat, but the likes of you I could handle right this—"
"Ah. So that's why it felt so sloppy."
"Nnngh...!!"
Boom—! Crash—!
Thoroughly baited, she began dumping mana even more wildly, and the stalks answering her from underground surged up faster and harder than before. Arthur and Kailan flicked a glance at each other.
She sat astride a tree that had shot high into the air, perched where a single leap could never reach her. Climb the surrounding terrain step by step, and countless roots would only foul the ascent. What they needed was propulsion—enough thrust to clear that height in one bound. And, as luck would have it, the elf herself was providing it.
They focused on the tremor rising through the soles of their feet. Rumble, rumble, rumble... Her plant attacks were not summons. They were growth. Using her mana as a medium, she forced the surrounding plants into explosive growth and turned them into weapons, which meant the plants at the root of each strike had merely gotten bigger and faster. Time it right, and there was no danger at all in using them as footholds.
Now!
The instant solid ground split and a thick stalk erupted beneath their feet, Arthur and Kailan loaded power into their legs and leapt. Whoosh—! Superhuman bodies and the stalk's raw physical force fused into a movement on an entirely different order. She had never even imagined an attack like this. Panic flooded her blue eyes.
"Wh—wha—?!"
"Took long enough to get on your level."
They landed on her tree with tremendous force. Even a skilled mage, forced into close quarters with a knight, saw the odds of victory drop near zero—and this woman was no fighter at all, only the owner of a brewery. Against two warriors who had survived every kind of battle, she was far too frail.
Slash—! Shhk—! In a panic she flung roots out in every direction, but Arthur's blade, without an inch of error, shut down every possibility.
"Cool your head for a bit."
"Ghek."
Thud—! While her attention was fixed on Arthur, Kailan closed in from behind and cracked the shaft of his spear across the nape of her neck. No more, no less—just enough to knock her out. She went limp and crumpled, consciousness gone.
From high in the tree, the two of them looked down on a village that until moments ago had been immaculate. By its place and its size it was an outlying settlement, yet the roads had been kept as neatly as any city street, and the houses had been built small, charming, and close to the living green. It had been a landscape out of a fairy tale. Now it was a ruin, as if some plant-beast had terraformed the place.
"Is this our doing?"
"Mm... We were only going to talk."
They still didn't know which elves had taken Kang Jinwoo, but it hadn't been the one they'd just fought. The trace of mana found at his house and this woman's mana signature were quite different. They had meant only to ask a few questions and move on.
"Feels like this keeps getting bigger. Not that I ever thought it would be simple."
"If you had only tried talking from the start..."
"Arthur. We do not negotiate with criminals. The elves took Jinwoo first, did they not?"
"That is true, but..."
Whatever the case, the milk was already spilled. They climbed down from the tree and set their course once more for the heart of Nuardel.
The servants of the Sildiel manor had been bustling since early morning, and the reason was a visitor who had come to the parlor reserved for honored guests.
"Lady Trea. I should have been the one to call on you. I'm sorry to have put you to such trouble."
"Not at all, Elioren. I have only just woken after a long while, and I wished to move a little."
Elves lived long and kept their youth across vast spans of years. Even so, the face of the elf called the Great Elder was etched with clear wrinkles, and golden hair that must once have blazed brilliant had faded until it only recalled that past glory. Even a human elder, who lived a hundred years at the very longest, sometimes carried a weight of wisdom—so what of an elf grown truly old?
Trea, her faded gold neatly braided, took a quiet sip of fragrant herb tea. Dignity lay steeped in every motion, and with it the profound mystery of knowledge gathered over ages. She was the model of every elf, and the only High Elf who could commune with the World Tree. When a living legend appeared without warning, Elioren could not hide his dismay.
"Haha... Has the World Tree had nothing particular to say?"
"Mm. As it happens, that is why I came today."
"Yes?"
"It seems you let a human in not long ago. Did something happen? There was no special report, so I let it pass, but it has been weighing on me."
He had assumed they would be noticed the moment anyone pierced the World Tree's barrier. Letting a human in was rare, but it was not against the rules. The manner of it, though, had been... less than honorable. While he was still choosing his words, Trea went on.
"I am not here to interrogate you. Pure curiosity. From what I felt as they passed the veil, it was not even a human of particularly strong mana."
"He is a chef my daughter Iseria met after she left Nuardel. His skill is first-rate—he turns out elven cuisine without a hitch. Taken with that skill, Iseria invited him for a short while. Haha."
"An invitation? I see. I should like to try his cooking myself, if the chance comes."
"We will receive you with every courtesy. He is staying at our manor now, so I will arrange a seat."
"Hoho. Thank you."
Trea answered with a kindly smile. Thinking he had smoothed it over well enough, Elioren let one worry go and lifted his own cup. Just as he was about to sip, her lips parted again.
"Hmm... Then the humans who crossed the veil earlier—are they acquaintances of that chef?"
"What? What do you—"
No sooner had her baffling words ended than an urgent sound came from outside the parlor. Knock, knock, knock—!
"Lord Elioren! I have something to report at once!!"
To interrupt even knowing the Great Elder was present meant the report could not wait a single moment. Elioren glanced at Trea. A small nod. She smiled at her leisure and permitted it.
"Enter."
"Forgive the discourtesy! The matter is urgent... Around dawn today, two humans of unknown identity crossed the veil."
"What? And then?"
"And then... after subduing the sentries on watch, they let one of them go, I'm told. They should have reached the outer district by now."
Humans invading Nuardel was unlikely, but not impossible, and that much he could grant. Overpowering elf sentries without hesitation, and then deliberately releasing one of them? It could only be an intrusion with a purpose.
"Where is the elf soldier they released?"
"We've brought him."
"Eek... L-Lord Elioren!"
Whether he had tripped while fleeing in a panic, a grimy, disheveled elf soldier stumbled forward.
"What happened? What did they say?"
"They said they'd come to take Sir Kang Jinwoo back... and to bring a higher-ranking elf..."
"Haa..."
He had hoped, if at all possible, that nothing like this would happen. Kang Jinwoo's extraordinary ability must have shone in the Empire as well. Otherwise a mere two humans would never have stormed Nuardel. And since the way they had brought him here had been badly wrong from the start, if someone had found that trace and come looking...
Damn it. This is going to be a headache...
He didn't know why they had ignored proper procedure and struck without warning, but the cause lay with the elves. If the incident grew any larger and became a war of reparations between nations, then not only he himself, but the very survival of this house, would be uncertain. Given how things stood, the best course was to end it himself before it spread any further.
"A higher-ranking elf... I'll go. Have Seiran and Veila ready."
"Yes. Understood."
Creeeak... The report that had overturned the parlor's calm came to an end, and the soldiers withdrew. Elioren sat facing Trea once more.
A chill. The eyes that had always rested on elves with gentle fondness were narrowed to threads, and those thin lids were open just a little.
"Kang Jinwoo... that would be the chef, I take it. And 'take him back'? The nuance is almost as if he were taken by force..."
"Ah, that is—Lady Trea..."
Tak— Trea set the herb tea she had been sipping down on the table. A dry, hard crack rang out and cut his excuse short. In that instant both her eyes flashed open.
"Elioren. Have you been deceiving me?"
"Hhk! N-no! I meant to tell you…"
"Enough. If there is something you have hidden, I will hear it after this is finished."
"Understood..."
As if she had no interest in excuses, she pressed him to see it resolved. Unable to answer further, Elioren rose in a hurry to make for the outer district. As he left the parlor, Trea spoke one last time.
"That they breached as far as the outer district is partly my fault, for judging too complacently, so I will let that pass without inquiry. But the matter of bringing this chef called Kang Jinwoo, and the humans who have intruded now—the problems tangled up with them—handle them properly, so that no disgrace comes of it. Do you understand?"
"Yes. I'll see to it without fail."
Thoroughly dressed down, Elioren gathered his gear in a fluster and went out the main gate. Seiran and Veila were waiting there.
"Lord Elioren. What is this about?"
"I'll explain the details on the way. For now, we go."
"Right!"
Whoooosh—! Wind spirit arts drove bodies reinforced with mana, building a sprint to match a galloping horse. Around the time Kang Jinwoo, possessed by the spirit of Gordon Ramsay, was tearing into Elfina over her onion-chopping, Elioren, Seiran, and Veila were already racing for the outer district.