Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: The War Hero Plans to Disappear (1)
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Personal deviation.
Regarding what the Elf Queen Asteria had said, I couldn't help but feel a certain sense of déjà vu.
"Isn't that just cutting off the tail?"
A common expression seen in all sorts of media.
Whether it's games, web novels, or movies, it's something often mentioned when someone in an organization or group screws up and gets caught.
In Imperial terms, it might be phrased as, "This wasn't us Dark Elves."
"So that's how you see it?"
The Asteria Queen placed a hand on her chest and let out a sigh.
Her white dress covered little of her body, and the fabric was so thin that it made averting one's gaze rather embarrassing.
"Is the elven perspective different?"
"I think the same. If we look purely at the Dark Elves, one might say 'it could happen,' but there's the Empire behind them."
The Asteria Queen held out a twig to me.
"It's a spirit's memory. Grip it, and you'll understand immediately."
Following the queen's guidance, the moment I grasped the twig, visions began to appear before me.
A spirit art akin to Recall Magic from the Magic Tower, but more fundamental and primal—reading the memories of plants.
Unlike CCTV footage where scenes are fixed, these memories flowed directly into my mind through the twig, far clearer than anything confirmed by Recall Magic.
[Is it really just acting alone?]
In a space entirely made of wood, the Asteria Queen interrogated a Dark Elf bound to a chair in the center.
The Dark Elf wasn't wearing the cloth garments typical of elves but hard leather made from animal hides, which was one of the standard black uniforms of the Empire.
[Of course. I'm just an individual.]
The Dark Elf sneered at the queen with a wicked grin.
Her eyes gleamed with the characteristic purple glow infused with demonic energy, and through the strands of her falling bangs, her blood-red lips curled wide in a blatant mocking laugh.
It wasn't just because I was viewing the queen's memory directly; even if I'd been there in person, I could have clearly sensed the Dark Elf assassin's emotions from that gaze.
[You're lying.]
[What?]
[You're looking down on us.]
Contempt and ridicule toward foolish elves.
As that scorn became evident, the Dark Elf assassin's expression gradually hardened.
[Unfortunately, we've experienced 'human errors' ourselves during the war.]
[You...!]
[Acting more like an Imperial than any Imperial, thinking and behaving just like one of the Empire's people. The Continental Shield, guardian of the World Tree, said the same. He—]
"Hold on."
I stopped reading the memory.
"Queen, don't tell me—"
"Imperial bastards never change."
"No."
It was hard to believe such vulgar, blunt words had come from the Elf Queen's mouth.
"Your Majesty, what did you just say...?"
"Oh my, how could I forget what the hero said while saving the World Tree?"
"Well, that's true, but!"
It was what I'd said when I beheaded the black mage leading the orc horde intent on burning the World Tree, upon realizing he was an Imperial mage dispatched from the Empire.
Imperials never change.
I couldn't say it exactly in English, but the word prefixed to it was enough to place it on the same level as "Imperial."
"We didn't know the depths of human malice. That's why we had no idea the Dark Elves had embraced that human malice and attacked the World Tree based on it."
There had once been a time when the World Tree nearly burned.
During the massive assault by over a hundred thousand orcs, the High Elves summoned guardians to protect the World Tree, including Dark Elves among them.
-How dare the corrupted ones...!
-We may walk the path of magic, but we are elves born from the World Tree!
At the time, I had warned that the Dark Elves were dangerous.
They could be Imperial spies, so they shouldn't be accepted.
But the queen and the elders at the time dismissed it with "an elf is still an elf" and let the Dark Elves in.
The result?
The damage inflicted internally by the Dark Elves assassinating elven elders or setting fires was far greater than the frontal assault by the hundred thousand orcs.
After those events, the Elf Kingdom began studying humans, and now they know humans well.
The ugliness of human malice.
"Still, the word 'imperial bastards' is a bit much."
"Hehehe. Just a joke. Officially, we call them 'Imperials never change.' For instance, some of our sisters still live as human slaves."
"......."
"Yes. We know that humans in the Grates Kingdom and other human realms aren't much different from those types, but..."
Elven slaves don't exist only in the Empire.
Officially, there are no elven slaves in the Alliance, but surely they're hidden somewhere out of sight.
"Still, it's only been a short time since the armistice, so there's no reason to pick a fight with the Alliance side right now. The Elf Kingdom is still at war with the Empire, after all."
"The Elf Kingdom has a lot on its plate."
"Indeed. Purifying pollution, restoring the forests, granting rest to those who became slaves, and more."
"......."
At the word "rest," I set the twig down.
"Queen. Don't tell me?"
"Not yet. Not yet."
"...But in time, far in the future, it could happen?"
"We've realized that merely guarding the forest won't protect what's most important, and now we understand human thinking."
The Asteria Queen spread her arms toward me with a smile.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
"Planning revenge against all humans?"
"Not all humans. Starting with the Imperials."
"The armistice..."
"To elves, an armistice is but a fleeting moment. Even if it's roughly a century—100 years—mentioned in the agreement."
To humans, a 100-year armistice spans two or three generations, but to elves, it's about a decade in human terms.
"It's not even a full 100 years in reality, is it?"
"......."
"They are the type to start a war the moment you, the Continental Shield, die. They didn't abandon war because they lack the power to dominate the continent, but because they lack the power to surpass Hans Wilhelm."
"So the elves plan to form an army and build up your defenses now?"
"We lost because we had none. Is there any reason not to?"
The Asteria Queen pointed to the twig containing her memory.
"The Dark Elves still see us as fools who only take it lying down, continuing these attacks even after the armistice by calling them 'personal deviations.' If one or two Dark Elves come every month to commit terror acts, all labeled as personal deviations, can we truly see them as such?"
"......."
"What will you do, Grand Master?"
The Asteria Queen asked me.
"The peace of this continent—"
"Whether the Elf Kingdom reforms its nation or not, I have no interest in meddling with such political complexities."
Before the queen could ask, I stated my will first.
"All I want is a peaceful era where like-minded men and women can enjoy each other. That goes for elves too, and Dark Elves as well."
"Lord Wilhelm."
"During the World Tree arson attempt, I personally dealt with the Dark Elves who committed murder. Even master-level Dark Elves the elves couldn't eliminate—I killed them myself."
"But you spared the Dark Elves who only started the fire."
"Yes. I did."
She was a beauty, and I took her.
"That Dark Elf returned to the Empire afterward but never again pointed a blade at the Elf Kingdom."
"And if such women commit these 'personal deviations'?"
"I'd kill them. For the peace of the world and my own well-being."
"Even if you fancy them?"
"That's not why I spared her. It's something the entire continent knows."
During the war, I spared countless beauties.
But afterward, some did what the Asteria Queen called typical Imperial behavior.
Some by coercion.
Some by their own will.
Some, unable to revenge themselves directly on me, sought it in other ways to vent what they'd endured.
And they all died.
Some by my own hand, others by different means.
"To Asteria, monarch of all white elves and caretaker of the World Tree's garden."
"Speak, Grand Master."
"If the Dark Elves don't act like Imperials, would you consider reconciliation with them?"
"...We're too far gone to use the word 'reconciliation.'"
The Asteria Queen shook her head firmly.
"However, if they don't touch us first, we won't touch them either."
"What about building up forces?"
For example, troops armed like knight orders blocking the forest entrance.
"That's the power to protect ourselves and ensure they can't pull such stunts on us."
"......."
"Grand Master."
The queen reached out her hand to me.
"If you become the guardian of the World Tree, we would give you anything."
"Anything?"
"Yes. Even if it's... your hobby."
To mention it once more.
The queen had greeted me from the start in a dress that boldly exposed her chest.
"What do you say, Grand Master?"
"I'll think about it. Oh, by the way, Queen. How old are you this year?"
"I hear asking a lady's age is impolite among humans."
"So, how old?"
"...Hehehe."
The Asteria Queen smiled kindly.
"Not yet a thousand."
"......."