Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: The War Hero Plans to Disappear (3)
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In the space stretching from the crack exposed between the stems beneath the World Tree toward its very heart.
Whoosh!!
Purple-black flames—never to be seen, no, never meant to exist in the Elf Forest—raged wildly.
"Undine!"
Rushing toward those flames, the High Elves summoned water spirits to counter the blistering heat.
To protect the forest and the World Tree, the High Elves who had hurriedly gathered gritted their teeth and focused on their bond with the spirits.
Whoosh!!
"Kyaaak!!"
But before the overwhelming difference in firepower, their bond with the spirits proved useless.
The water spirits, summoned at the elves' behest, burst apart the instant they touched the purple-black flames, evaporating like withered leaves without a trace.
Fwoosh.
At the center of the fiery hell that blanketed the surroundings in pitch-black flames.
Hiss.
A Dark Elf in a black leather military uniform, her face covered by a gas mask-like covering and her hands fitted with magic devices, aimed the machine forward.
The moment flames sparked along the mana line connected to the magic device.
Whoosh!!
From the alchemy-forged magic device—a flamethrower—black flames erupted like a dragon's breath, incinerating everything around.
"Ugh, everyone, get back!"
At Asteria Queen's command, the elves hurriedly retreated, and the queen swung her turquoise wooden staff.
A massive tree trunk surged upward from below.
The trunk, extended from the World Tree for its protection, became a barrier blocking the flames and the forest's shield safeguarding the elves.
However.
"Kee, hee hee hit...!"
Beyond that barrier, the Dark Elf spewing fire from her flamethrower curled her lips at the sight of the trunk's shield.
"Elves who claim to love nature, sacrificing spirits and burning trees to save yourselves...! Don't you find that contradictory!"
"Silence, you fallen traitor!"
"Who calls me fallen! You lot, trapped by nature, blind to the flow of the era, ignoring your kin enslaved all because 'we mustn't intervene in history'!"
At the Dark Elf's shout, the elves, including the queen, gritted their teeth.
"You're right. That was our mistake. But...!"
"Shut up and die!!"
Spitting out only her piece before pouring more mana into the flamethrower to amp up the firepower, the Dark Elf bellowed.
"Burn and vanish with the World Tree, you filthy hypocrites!"
Was it even reasonable that the elves—even with their queen stepping up—were being pushed back by a single Dark Elf?
If someone watched from afar, they would immediately point out the three misfortunes weighing on the elves.
"Ugh, everyone, protect the World Tree!"
One. The World Tree.
The World Tree was the cradle of life allowing elves to reincarnate as elves.
Any damage to that source of life would inflict fatal harm on the elves.
"Keep communing with the water spirits! We absolutely cannot let those flames touch the World Tree!"
Two. The flames.
The reason the Elf Kingdom refused to accept humans was entirely because of fire.
Open flames were one of the elves' greatest weaknesses, living alongside plants.
And the final third.
"Kyahaha! Burn to ashes, all of you!"
The Dark Elf's power itself—not some mana tank, but mana lines connected directly to her own body, linked to the flamethrower's output device.
"Ugh, you... an Empire Master...!"
Though wielding alchemy's power, this Dark Elf was one of the monstrous few with Master-level ability.
"Forest Guardians! Let's kill the Empire's Master, the Dark Elf!!"
High Elves leaped out from behind the Dark Elf, nocking arrows and drawing their bowstrings taut.
Wind arrows flew like hawks toward the Dark Elf's back, but she casually swung the flamethrower behind her to deflect them.
Clang!
The wind arrows vanished in an instant.
Seizing that opening, a few High Elves charged with spears, thrusting toward the Dark Elf's face.
Clang!
"?!?!"
"Keehee hit...!"
The Dark Elf precisely bit down on the spear tip with her teeth.
Aura flickered at the tips of her teeth, and the mana-wreathed spear instantly crumbled with a 'crack,' engulfed in eerie flames.
The elf who thrust it too.
"Aaaahk!!"
"N-No!"
The Forest Guardian elf, her entire body wrapped in the Dark Elf's flames, writhed in agony on the ground.
Other elves hurriedly summoned water spirits to douse her, but the elf's body was already burning red-hot.
"Why scream so much? You'll just reincarnate as a kid inside a World Tree fruit anyway. Memories all reset! Ahaha!"
"You...! What do you take the armistice agreement for!"
At Asteria Queen's cry, the Dark Elf briefly eased mana to the flamethrower and shrugged.
"Armistice agreement? None of my concern! An emperor who signs trash like that ain't my emperor!"
"Ugh, you mad...!"
"I'm Cadensia the Dark Elf! I'll torch this forest full of hypocrisy and force you elves to truly see how to live in this world!"
Dark Elf Master Cadensia aimed the flamethrower upward with a madness-twisted face.
"Because of this damn World Tree, you elves endure all that suffering—"
"Bullshit."
"!!"
The tip of the flamethrower aimed at the wooden barricade.
"Y-You...!"
A man stood with both feet planted on a branch extending from the World Tree, holding a greatsword in one hand pointed toward the sky.
"Hans Wilhelm...?! How are you here?!"
"What. I said I came from the Empire—didn't know I was here?"
"Ugh, ugh...! Damn it...! No wonder those Empire bitches left me alone...!"
The moment she recognized Hans Wilhelm, Dark Elf Cadensia ripped the flamethrower from her body and bolted, fleeing while other elves dashed through the trees.
"Where do you think you're running."
Though she ditched all her gear and fled with the other elves jumping tree to tree.
"I tend to save the beauties first."
Whirr.
"But guys committing arson in someone else's house? Exceptions."
The greatsword flew like a boomerang, slamming into Dark Elf Cadensia's back.
"This—"
"Even if they're virgins."
Thud.
The greatsword lodged in the tree trunk's center.
Between the blade gleaming with pulsing crimson aura, the Dark Elf pinned to the tree had the greatsword through her heart.
"Th...is...."
Dead before she could utter last words.
"Beauties... you said... you'd save..."
"What're you saying."
Thump.
The one Master who defected from the Empire died just like that, without even last words.
"Think a pretty face saves everyone."
To a single strike from Grand Master Hans Wilhelm.
"As expected... the Continental Shield."
"No big deal."
To let the tension-soaked, sweating Queen Asteria calm down, I channeled mana into my greatsword to snuff out the lingering embers around us.
"Truly, thank you, Sir Wilhelm. Without you, we couldn't have withstood this ambush."
"Yeah. Who'd have thought she'd bring a Magic Artillery Weapon [Pafnil] and go berserk like this."
I lightly tapped the magic weapon the Dark Elf had discarded with my foot.
It looked like an arm-mounted flamethrower on the surface, but in truth, it was the Empire's pinnacle of magic engineering and alchemy.
Click.
Prying off the shell slightly with my greatsword revealed intricate geometric magic circuit boards inside.
And at the center of that board gleamed a faintly red gem—this was the very foundation allowing the Empire to wage war on the continent.
Mana Core.
A pseudo-dragon heart forged by human hands.
The Empire had used technology to craft weapons generating immense mana, reaping massive gains in the war.
And for a Master-level user to wield one?
This was the basis for the Empire conquering five kingdoms in just a week at war's outset.
The problem was, despite possessing this Empire weapon...
"Tch. Lucky it's not an armistice violation, I guess."
It wasn't an act by the Empire.
"What do you mean, Sir Wilhelm."
"Exactly that."
The Elf Queen hardened her expression in fury, but ironically, this could truly be called a 'personal deviation.'
"The Imperial Intelligence Agency is competent. They track my location here in real-time. Would they sanction a raid like this? Insane."
"...So it really was just Cadensia's personal act?"
"Pretty much. However..."
I kicked the magic weapon toward the figures approaching from deep in the forest.
"What bugs me is the Empire knew and just watched."
"My apologies."
The black-haired, red-eyed woman in uniform snatched the magic weapon I'd kicked her way and bowed toward me.
"Sorry, Sir Wilhelm. We were a bit late."
"Not on purpose, right?"
"......."
"Empire hawks plotting to use me to eliminate her, huh."
"Not quite."
The black-haired, red-eyed woman snapped her fingers, and figures in black robes began emerging behind her one by one.
"As you see, we came to apprehend the defector who stole the magic weapon and fled."
"H-Hold on. Don't tell me they...!"
"Looks like they were serious."
The Empire's Masters.
All of them shot me complex or menacing glares from beneath their robes.
Familiar faces.
Familiar bodies too.
"Here to assassinate me?"
"As if. We don't want to die. We rushed here because that Dark Elf might jeopardize the armistice."
"...Yeah?"
"It's true. If it's a lie, take my body right now."
"...Ha, damn it."
Not a lie.
Truly unfortunate—wish it were—
....
"Hey."
Because it wasn't a lie.
"You lot, let's do a job together."
"......?"
I hefted my greatsword.
"You do whatever heinous crap, and the world just shrugs, right? So."
Clank.
"Without sparking war, let's get our stories straight."
And so.
"Today, you assassinate me, and I go missing. Got it?"