Please, Just Stop!!
Elioren, Seiran, and Veila tore toward the outskirts at a speed like the wind itself.
Elioren relayed the details without once breaking stride, and Seiran's eyes flashed.
"Ah—do we at least know what those intruding humans look like?"
"One is said to be a young male knight in armor. The other, a middle-aged man with silver hair who fights with a spear."
"As I thought. Those humans from back then."
"Now that I hear it, I remember them too!"
Seiran and Veila clearly knew something. The two of them had been charged with searching for Iseria, and they had spent several days lodging at Kang Jinwoo's restaurant, so they might well hold information Elioren did not.
"Tell me properly. Do you know them?"
"Yes. We never actually spoke with them, or faced them up close, but..."
"One is an Expert-class knight! The other wasn't holding a spear at the time, but if it's a silver-haired man of that age, it has to be him. I'm certain he's the Duke of Silbaerin..."
"Ha... a Sword Expert and the Duke of Silbaerin. The duke just charged in and attacked, of all things?"
The unidentified humans had names now, and somehow that only deepened the confusion. A man styled a duke, invading another nation with a party of two?
No. If it's the current Duke of Silbaerin, then it has to be... Kailan. If it's that man, he could do it.
By any ordinary measure the act was incomprehensible, but how convincing it was depended entirely on who had done it. Nuardel might keep itself closed off, yet House Sildiel maintained at least a minimum of intelligence. The Empire's reigning emperor, the heirs in line for the throne, the Silbaerin nobles nearest to Nuardel—none of it was knowledge that could hurt to have.
And by that intelligence, the present Duke of Silbaerin was Kailan. His martial prowess had been famous since he was young. In his student days at the Academy he had hunted a high-rank magical beast alone, and even when his body was torn to rags, the spear clenched in his fist never left his hand. They said he knew no pain and simply enjoyed the fight with a mind that was not right, and so they named him the Mad Spear.
A man like that, paired with a Sword Expert, was force enough to walk in brimming with confidence.
"They're strong humans, but... in a way, that's fortunate."
"What? Isn't that a bad thing?"
Veila looked doubtful at Elioren's words. Wouldn't weaker opponents be easier to handle?
"What matters isn't their combat strength, Veila. It's their station."
"Uh... is that how it is?"
"A duke and his knight are people capable of telling right from wrong. They wouldn't have come in meaning to simply fight Lord Jinwoo and drag him off."
"But didn't they ambush the elves standing watch? If talk was the goal, there'd be no reason for that..."
"Hm. Surely not. It was just... a coincidence."
At Seiran's sharp point, Elioren brushed it aside as chance. Weighed by common sense, his own view was sound. And yet, somehow, the small bud Seiran's remark had planted caught in his chest.
What if they attack the moment we arrive?
Surely they would not. But if, by some slim chance, they did, resolving the situation would only grow harder. He could not simply take the blow, and pulling his punches against opponents that strong was out of the question. Elioren shook his head hard and flung the stray thoughts off.
It'll be fine. We settle this with words.
Not long after he had ordered his thoughts that way, the outskirts came into view.
"Lord Elioren! There are humans up ahead!"
"Seiran, Veila. From here, we walk. Do not draw your swords first, no matter what. Understood?"
"Yes. Understood."
Elioren spoke with force. He and the rest of House Sildiel were, when all was said, the party that had to yield. What mattered to them was one thing only: resolve the incident while keeping it as small as possible. Elioren fixed that fact in his mind and stepped forward.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Elioren, head of House Sildiel..."
"So you're the bastards who kidnapped Jinwoo!!!"
The blast hit before Elioren could so much as react. Kailan's spear, loosed on the heels of that roar, detonated like a flash of light.
It was just as Arthur and Kailan were leaving the outskirts, making for the heart of the realm. They had not walked far before elves came charging in from the distance at a monstrous speed.
"Arthur, those ones..."
"Three elves, sir. Judging by their dress, they look like people the elf we released earlier went and fetched."
As Arthur said, the elves racing toward them were dressed with considerable formality: two elf knights in armor, and one elf in clothing that was, in its way, aristocratic. Kailan dropped into a guarded stance and took the measure of their mana. A low, heavy hum rose off them.
The noble elf's mana was on the strong side, but it was not what he had felt at Kang Jinwoo's house. The signatures of the two elf knights, though, matched the traces from that day exactly.
"Arthur. It's them. I feel the same mana from those two knights."
"You're right. I feel it too. Those ones are..."
All the way here, Arthur had pursued a peaceful resolution wherever he could. Even he, set before Jinwoo's kidnappers, was swept by a thin flare of anger. A precious quartermaster. The only curry chef alive. A living hardtack factory. Kang Jinwoo was now someone Silbaerin could not do without.
The elves closed to a distance where words could be exchanged. A faint flame flickered in Arthur's chest, but he clenched his fist and held it down.
Right. Losing my temper won't solve anything. Demand a fitting punishment, and enormous compensation.
There were plenty of ways to win without a fight. Should he ask outright for byproducts of the World Tree—its fruit, or a branch? Befitting that mysterious power, the World Tree's leavings were prized as the finest materials in magical research.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Elioren, head of House Sildiel..."
The elf who had named himself Elioren stepped forward. Arthur turned his gaze to answer him—and realized, all at once, that someone at his side was compressing an aura on the verge of bursting.
Oh no. Don't—!
Shock sent Arthur's thoughts racing, and he chose action over words. But far faster than the hand he flung out to stop Kailan—
"So you're the bastards who kidnapped Jinwoo!!!"
The blast of Kailan's vented rage outran him by a wide margin. Arthur's eyes were still chasing the long silver afterimage when the impact was already exploding among the elves. Steel screamed against steel.
"Kh—damn it..."
"Duke Kailan! Please, just hear me out for a moment!"
If there was any fortune in it, one of the elf knights guarding Elioren's flank had drawn in time and caught Kailan on his sword. Blade and spear locked in a razor-thin contest of strength. Let either of them slip for an instant, and the offensive would break straight through. Kailan, as if the knight posed no threat worth noting, looked at the one who had called his name.
"Elioren, was it. You know me?"
"Yes. You are the current Duke of Silbaerin, are you not? If you would first lower your spear..."
"No. I don't want to hear excuses."
Kailan's declaration cut the talk dead. Steel rang.
"You old human!! What kind of strength is—"
Breaking the deadlock in the same motion, Kailan shoved the elf knight back hard. Unlike an ordinary spear, keen only at the tip, Kailan's weapon was closer to what one would call a glaive, or a bardiche—a brutish thing an ordinary man could not even lift, for the balance of its weight. Driven with full force against a sword, there was no hope of holding a stance.
"Weak. Too weak! You ought to weather at least this much, shouldn't you?"
"You mad human!"
A vicious whistle of air. Then another, sharper still. Thrusts screaming with killing intent crashed down on the elf knight whose posture had already collapsed. His tone was arrogant, but before Kailan's overwhelming might his body could not afford the same insolence. Even so, he chased the spear-strikes. The keen edge caught on the sword and was shed aside, or slapped away to the flank. At the skill of an elf knight who could follow his movements, the corner of Kailan's mouth curved.
The spear drew back, and the elf knight settled his stance to match. One set himself to thrust again; the other braced to meet it with the sword. The domain of those beyond human, splitting a brief span of time into still finer shards. In that space, as exchange after exchange unfolded and the exhilaration of battle began to boil up from both warriors' hearts—
A sharp crack. Into a gap that opened for only an instant, Elioren cut in. The wall of ice he summoned with magic stopped Kailan's spear and broke the flow.
"Seiran! Watch your tone. Lord Kailan, if you keep this up, it puts us in a difficult position."
"Tch. The ones in a difficult position are you, not me. Isn't that so?"
Borrowing the brief lull he had barely won, Elioren tried to persuade him. Kailan, his fight interrupted, only glared and fired his words back.
"I can see plain as day that you're scrambling to bury this. House Sildiel, was it? The kidnapping was your house's doing alone, I take it."
"H-how did you—"
"You're advertising it yourselves, aren't you? You aren't even trying to fight, and the elf elders haven't shown their faces. You want to end this on your own authority, if you can."
Struck dead center, Elioren's brow furrowed. Just as they held information on the human world, the humans, it seemed, held at least the minimum on Nuardel. Their hand was already face-up on the table. In truth, defeat had been decided from the moment Iseria kidnapped Kang Jinwoo. The only way out would have been Jinwoo's own will. Had he taken a liking to this life and chosen, of his own accord, to remain in Nuardel, things might have gone differently. But even that had failed.
Elioren let out a small sigh.
"You're right. If possible, I want to settle this on my own. Since you brought that up first, I take it there's something you want. What is it?"
"Hmm. Arthur. What do you think?"
"Yes. A word, if I may."
Kailan and Arthur stepped back and conferred in low voices.
"Seiran! Are you all right? That old human was so strong I couldn't even get a blow in."
"I'm fine. Not a scratch. Following him was all I could manage."
"I'm glad you're unhurt. But Veila, Seiran—watch your words. We are not in a position to speak roughly. You two, especially, took part in the kidnapping."
"Ugh. I'm sorry."
"Sorry..."
In the meantime Elioren scolded the two of them as well. It might look somewhat servile, but keeping to courtesy as far as possible would grate on their tempers less. Before long Kailan finished the discussion and came forward, and Elioren matched him, taking the posture of a man ready to listen.
"First. You forcibly kidnapped Kang Jinwoo, regardless of his own wishes. Do you admit it?"
"Seiran, Veila. You admit it, don't you?"
"Yes... we're sorry."
Kailan began putting the matter in order from the very start. What had to come first was a confession from those who had done it.
"Under imperial law, the punishment for kidnapping is to cut off the wrists, so it can never be done again. And this was no ordinary citizen—you kidnapped the knights' quartermaster. It could become a dispute between nations."
"Ah... that..."
"I know. You don't want that. Truth be told, neither do I. I'm already buried in official duties. I'd rather not pile on more work for no reason."
"Then what is it you wish us to do?"
At words that left room to negotiate, Elioren's expression eased. So long as the demand was not absurd, straining a little to meet it would still come far cheaper. He waited.
At last Kailan opened his mouth.
"First, bring Jinwoo here. I'll decide the details of what I want after I've seen his condition and heard his account."
"Understood. Then, Seiran? Go and fetch Lord Jinwoo..."
"No. The knights stay here. Elioren—you bring him."
"Yes? Understood."
It hardly mattered who went, and yet he had specifically singled Elioren out. Elioren wondered at the intent, and the very next thing Kailan said answered him.
"Until you bring Jinwoo back, let's have ourselves a proper bout. You there, elf. What's your name?"
"Seiran. Duke Kailan... sir."
"Hm! Right. Seiran. And the woman beside you. Sword at your hip—you're a knight too, I take it?"
"I'm... Veila."
Arthur, the Expert knight standing at Kailan's side, shook his head. That look of pure resignation—there is no stopping him—said more than a hundred words. He ought to have known from the moment a man called duke attacked without a second's pause. Elioren looked again at the human before him.
A mad battle-junkie...
"Come on! Draw your swords! We're playing until Jinwoo gets here!"
"Uh, what do we do, Lord Elioren?"
"Are we really fighting His Grace the Duke? He seems... really strong..."
Veila turned to him with the face of a small animal frozen in fear. Certainly, the spirit rolling off Kailan with his favored weapon in hand was no different from that of a general of a hundred battles. But what choice was there?
"I'll be right back! Both of you, just hold on a little!"
"N-no!!"
"Yes!!"
The impact crashed down as Elioren sprinted off, swift wind wrapping his legs. Veila and Seiran stared after him in a daze, then snapped back to themselves under Kailan's attack.
The longer this drags on, the more the outskirts get wrecked.
Only now did Elioren feel he was starting to get a handle on Kailanese. On Kaik.
Oh! Let's have a proper match! meant Let's fight, and who cares if everything around us gets smashed!
Even Arthur, who had spent long years at Kailan's side, sometimes mixed the dialect up. There was, it seemed, some reward after all in living an age-long life and piling up knowledge. And so Elioren raced back toward the mansion at full tilt.
I had been enthusiastically preaching the joy of cooking to the elf crowd when Elioren suddenly grabbed me and hauled me off toward the outskirts.
Whoa. This is stupid fast. What even is this.
A cool wind I could not see wrapped around my legs. Like a gale of about twenty meters a second shoving me from behind? Actually it felt much faster than that. Elioren's magic seemed to be helping me endure the speed.
Anyway. I was glad they had come looking for me, but what was all this, first thing in the morning? From what Elioren said, they had broken in at dawn and were raising hell right now. Since I was at the center of the uproar, I had better get there fast and sort it out. Truly, not a quiet day to be had, any way you looked at it.
"There! Over there, Lord Jinwoo!"
"Uh... what is that?"
The outskirts were already coming into view. And the closer we got, the more my jaw went slack. A residential quarter of cozy little wooden houses clustered together. Dirt paths, unpaved, but packed flat and firm. And even Eilenna's brewery, lush and green, where I had taken a tour only days ago.
"What, is this the apocalypse?"
Every last bit of it had lost its original shape, destroyed or warped. Hideous tree roots sprawled across the paths however they pleased. Plant stalks jutted up like the sharp cornstalks left standing after a harvest. And—
A crash. A bang.
"Argh, you crazy old man!!! Know when to quit!"
"Damn it, Seiran! If you hadn't kidnapped Jinwoo, we could've been great partners!"
Duke Kailan and Seiran, turning that entire landscape into ruins in real time. Veila was hesitating, trying to join Seiran, but Arthur was stubbornly holding her off.
Haha. What a shitshow.
Turn ten stray dogs loose in the countryside and it still would not be this chaotic. Elioren spoke as if he were about to cling to me, desperate.
"Lord Jinwoo!! Please stop that madman—no, Lord Kailan. Please!"
"Haa..."
Silbaerin or Nuardel, neither of them knew the meaning of moderation. Still, one thing was certain. The time to go home was getting close. That single fact was a great comfort as I drew a deep breath, and then I shouted.
Let's just go home already. And quit causing disasters.