The Emperor and His 88 Elves
Outside the palace walls, Alex led the imperial knight brigade as if preparing to return to the empire.
But they turned back and headed toward the palace again...
Alex had never agreed to this operation in the first place.
This plan was too flawed to work.
If Lowell could not remove the slave collar...
Then, like the other elves, she would suffer the worst fate at Bardorf's hands...
He might truly lose his mind.
Of course, he knew Lowell was a member of the Hero's Party and that she was incredibly strong, but that alone could not calm his worries.
"Your Highness! The palace gates are closed!"
The knight brigade tried to enter the palace, but the palace guards, following some order from King Bardorf, refused to open the gates.
This only heightened Alex's growing unease.
"Mother is fine. So don't worry."
Cariel tried to reassure him, but it seemed useless.
"We have to open these gates at any cost!! There's no time!!"
Following Alex's command, the knights scattered across the royal capital to gather siege weapons in a hurry.
But after a short while, they saw an explosion and gathered again...
**BOOM!!!**
The instant Cariel's flame magic struck the gates, a massive explosion erupted.
Contrary to Cariel's intention of only destroying the gates, the explosion collapsed the entire wall that formed them.
"The gates are open!! Charge right through!!"
Under the commander Clift's orders, the imperial knight brigade launched a coordinated assault.
They fought the soldiers who burst out from the broken gates, but their strength was far inferior to that of an elite imperial knight brigade.
In the blink of an eye, the imperial knight brigade eliminated the soldiers rushing toward the gates and began heading toward the World Tree Garden.
Alex followed with Cariel close behind.
****
As the emperor-led imperial knight brigade passed through the gates and advanced this way, King Bardorf, watching from the corridor, escaped with his soldiers to the World Tree Garden.
This place was not truly safe, because 88 arrows already waited on the roof, their strings drawn and ready to be released at any moment.
**"FIRE!!"**
And...
Despite my lack of command, the elves, following Cariel's order, began a simultaneous volley.
Again, those arrows struck the royal guard knights and soldiers, filling the garden with screams.
"Keep shooting! Keep shooting!!"
Cariel's furious command followed, and the elves, boasting absurd reload speeds, poured arrows without pause.
As the number of soldiers hit by those arrows piled up, the once-lush World Tree Garden turned blood-red.
**"Protect Your Majesty!!"**
Following Sebide's orders, the royal guard knights formed a tight circle around King Bardorf, shielding him from the endless barrage of arrows.
But the elves had far more arrows than there were knights in the garden...
The longer time passed, the more royal guard knights fell to elf arrows, outnumbering those protecting the king.
"Commander! I have the shields!"
While the elves' assault continued, some knights brought steel shields from the armory and gathered around King Bardorf.
The arrows that were pure terror became useless in an instant, and a smile began to appear on King Bardorf's face.
**"Hehahaha! How is it! If you're going to shoot, shoot more!!"**
King Bardorf, hiding behind the knights' steel shields, was full of arrogance and even dared to taunt the elves.
The elves, seeing that disgusting face, continued to pour arrows without mercy.
**Clang! Clang!**
The arrowheads made of metal clashed against the steel shields, echoing with the sound of metal striking metal across the garden.
The louder that clatter grew, the more King Bardorf's laughter echoed.
"In a little while, the capital defense force and border guards will arrive here! Then you'll all be dead, understand! Hahaha... Well, of course, except for Lowell... Fuhrurur..."
King Bardorf, who had been shouting loudly from the roof while watching the elves, suddenly turned to me, flashing a lewd smile and wiping the drool running down his chin with his hand.
**"Huuu... I really can't stand to watch anymore."**
I had decided to stay out of it as long as possible until the elves locked in here could vent their anger...
But seeing King Bardorf call my name and do this, I could no longer just watch.
**SWAAAK!**
Drawing my rapier from my waist, I gave it a light infusion of sword aura and swung it at the knights holding the steel shields.
In an instant, the steel shields split in half and fell away.
**"Eh... How is this possible.... "**
King Bardorf, seeing his protective steel shields torn in half, was so shocked he could barely speak, stammering helplessly.
"If you gave me the chance... you should have knelt and begged by now... Why would you waste your life like this?"
As I approached King Bardorf, who was cornered, some soldiers began fleeing, and the royal guard knights, still trying to protect him while seeing the sword aura from my rapier tremble, could only stand frozen, their sword tips shaking faintly.
**"Lo... Lowell... No... Your Highness Lowell! W-Wait... Please hear my story..."**
Only then did King Bardorf kneel before me and beg...
**"That's right! Be... be my queen instead of a slave! Well... think it over! It's like giving me half of this kingdom!"**
Calling this a negotiation...
King Bardorf was saying something even more terrifying...
I had already decided to finish him off with my full resolve when I could no longer stand the sight.
**"Your Highness Lowell. I have a request."**
Suddenly, Cariel approached from behind me, grabbed my arm, and spoke to me with a solemn face far more intense than a mere request.
"It has been ten years. For those ten years, every day, I have had that monster-like King Bardorf steal my body and my purity and live. Please give me the chance to end this human with my own hands."
Tears, hot enough that merely watching them would be enough, flowed from Cariel's eyes as she held my arm and made her plea.
I had only seen that face for a couple of days, but she had endured it for ten years, suffering every cruelty imaginable...
Thinking about it made me nauseous, but feeling pity for Cariel, I couldn't speak.
**"Very well. But you must take revenge in the most wretched way."**
**"Yes. I will definitely take revenge with the resolve to go to hell."**
I handed my rapier to her and stepped back.
The elves on the roof came down to watch either the scene of Cariel taking revenge or to witness King Bardorf dying in utter wretchedness.
**"Ca... Cariel! N-You... you didn't like me! So I didn't treat you nicely at night!"**
**"I don't like you? The way you looked, pleading with tears to be saved, seemed nice to you?"**
Cariel, holding the rapier I had given her, was approached by one of the knights, but...
**Swoosh!**
The rapier Cariel thrust pierced through the knight's armor gaps and instantly killed him.
Another knight, seeing this, charged forward, but...
**Pusssh!**
He too was pierced through the armor gaps by the rapier and collapsed instantly.
Now the only ones left...
were King Bardorf...
No royal guard knights or soldiers remained around him to protect him.
Most had fled or were used to drench the World Tree Garden in blood.
**"Ah... No... S-Save me!! Save me!!!!"**
The closer Cariel got, the more desperately King Bardorf screamed, and the first fear he felt—the fear that was not born of the love he had felt for Cariel for ten years—made his legs weak, and he tried to flee from her, crawling more than walking.
**"Then, I'll treat you nicely too... You should try feeling it too..."**
**"W-Wait... I was wrong! I was wrong! So... so... just my life..."**
Cariel stood right in front of King Bardorf, raising the rapier high.
King Bardorf, seeing her, made one final plea to her...
**"Die. Bardorf."**
**Pusssh!!!!!**
The rapier I had lent to Cariel pierced his vital point and passed through, the blade tip emerging from his back.
The remaining 87 elves, watching from afar, slowly approached Cariel.
And...
**Pusssh!!**
**Swoosh!!**
**Swoosh!!!**
Using their daggers, swords, or arrowheads, the elves began to hack at King Bardorf.
Despite Cariel having killed him instantly, the accumulated grievances from the past years caused them to continue striking his body with their weapons until it was unrecognizable.
**"Your Highness Lowell, you used the rapier well."**
Cariel, who had instantly killed King Bardorf, approached me and returned the rapier I had lent, but I refused it.
**"Keep the rapier. It's a precious one that ended the hellish time."**
Cariel, simply hearing my words, hugged the rapier to her chest, sat down, and burst into tears.
The elves who had been hacking King Bardorf with revenge also gathered around Cariel to soothe their empty hearts after the act, hugging one another and beginning to sob.
**"Grandmother!!!"**
Suddenly, Alex and the imperial knight brigade he led arrived in the garden, but seeing the changed scene and King Bardorf's tragic corpse, they could not move and stood frozen.
Alex alone noticed me and rushed over without a glance around, checking my body to see if I had been injured.
**"Are you hurt anywhere, Grandmother?"**
**"No. I'm fine."**
Alex, who had relaxed after hearing I was fine, was suddenly unable to speak as he noticed the corpses scattered around and King Bardorf's mutilated corpse.
His eyes widened in shock at the sight.