Orcs
Looking through the materials in the Imperial Palace's Grand Library this time, I learned that the war between the Hero and the Demon King in this world had been going on for far longer than I had imagined.
Once a Hero and a Demon King were chosen, the Human Alliance and the Demon King's domain would split into opposing camps and go to war. When one side fell, another figure would rise to take their place, and the fighting never truly ended. That was how the current system of Heroes and Demon Kings had come to be.
Enemies grow to resemble each other.
That line from one of the books had stuck with me more than anything else. Though the human allied nations and the Demon King's domain stood as bitter enemies, cultural exchange still found ways to take place somewhere in between, and in many respects the two sides had come to resemble each other more and more. From language to food to everyday customs, they had been quietly growing alike without anyone quite noticing.
The most startling part, though, was the accounts of humans living in the Demon King's domain—and, conversely, of demons and monsters dwelling in human territory. In a war where the ownership of land changed hands again and again, some villages simply gave up on fleeing. Whether one side or the other took control, they stayed put and went on living. In time, they stopped being targets for subjugation and came to be regarded as residents of occupied land. As long as they remained neutral, they were allowed to live in exchange for a fixed tax. That had become one of the unspoken rules of the battlefield.
Our carriage left the Imperial Palace, passed through several villages and cities, and finally reached the border. There we joined up with the unit of eighty-eight elves and set out again, this time for the Dwarf Kingdom.
When we had first arranged to meet at the border city, I had worried that something might go wrong on their journey. But seeing them near the border checkpoint in the uniforms of the Imperial Knights, mounted on horseback, put my mind at ease.
"Did you have any trouble getting to the border?"
"No, Lady Lowell. We followed the instructions His Highness the Crown Prince and Knight Commander Cliff gave us, and arrived without incident."
Cariel's speech had taken on something of the Imperial Knights' cadence in the time we had been apart, which felt a little strange—but the way they all lit up at seeing me again was pure, unmistakable Leoba. The same elves I had met in the Leoba Kingdom.
The Imperial women's uniforms they wore, the military horses they rode, the gear packed on those mounts—all of it spoke of Alex's thorough preparation, down to the last detail. I would have to send him a letter later to thank him.
As soon as we crossed the border and reached the checkpoint of the adjacent nation, the Kingdom of Benert, the soldiers there went rigid with tension. Between the massive coat of arms on the grand carriage that marked it as belonging to the imperial family, and the uniformed elves riding escort in a tight formation around it exactly as they had been trained, it was a full-blown emergency as far as these men were concerned.
"Um... if I may ask, who is riding in the carriage...?"
They did not dare look inside, so they approached Cariel, who stood before the carriage door.
"The one within is Lady Lowell, a High Elf."
"L-Lady Lowell... you don't mean... Lady Lowell of the Hero's Party...?"
"That is correct. She has left the Hero's Party, so mind how you address her."
"I—I'm sorry!!"
Cariel spoke not in her usual high, thin voice, but in a low, commanding tone that carried real presence. The soldier answered at the top of his lungs and hurried back into the checkpoint to open the gate.
Like the Leoba Kingdom, Benert sat on the route to the Empire as a neighboring state and felt the Empire's influence heavily. They called themselves allies, but in practice they were little better than a vassal.
How many hours had we been riding through Benert when—
Thud-clunk!
Unlike the paved roads of the Empire, the roads here were unpaved. The carriage jolted and bucked again and again over the ruts and ridges.
"Lady Lowell, the road surface is too poor. I think we will have to reduce our speed."
"All right."
Cariel had checked the road ahead from outside and called back. Cali and I gripped the handles fitted inside the carriage, bracing ourselves against the shocks as best we could.
Thud-clunk!!
How long this stretch would last, I had no idea, but the impacts kept coming hard enough that it felt as if the carriage might tip over at any moment.
And then—
Thud-clunk! KRA-BOOM!!!!
What had seemed like just another rut was followed by a violent jolt that nearly flipped us, and the carriage heeled hard to one side. Outside, Cariel's voice rose in panic, calling my name.
"Lady Lowell! Lady Lowell! Are you all right? Lady Lowell!"
"Cali and I are fine."
"Please wait just a moment. We will get you out right away."
I was not sure how the carriage had ended up like this, but my best guess was that one of the wheels had come off. Nothing else would have tilted us this far.
Once we climbed out and inspected the damage, it became clear: running over the rough ground had snapped the fitting that kept the wheel locked to the axle, and the wheel had dropped free.
"Lady Lowell, we will try to repair it."
Hours had already passed since we left the border. Even if we made it to the next village, it was a small place—whether anyone there could fix a carriage was an open question. Stuck between bad options, the elves swarmed in to attempt repairs, but the carriage was so large they could barely lift it.
"Lady Lowell, the sun will be setting at this rate... Perhaps we should use our horses and move you to a nearby village for now..."
Even without this delay, we would only have reached the next village after nightfall. Factoring in the time we had already lost, we would be arriving near dawn.
"Haa... Looks like we may have to camp here tonight."
"...I am sorry, Lady Lowell."
"Why are you apologizing, Cariel?"
"We should have inspected everything thoroughly beforehand..."
I understood the guilt that made her say it, but Cariel knew nothing about carriage construction. Even if she had checked, there was no guarantee she would have spotted the fault.
"It's fine. This is not your responsibility. Don't worry about it."
Only then did she bow her head and go to prepare for camping out.
But—
"Elf. Tell me you felt that too."
"Yeah. I felt it."
Cali spoke first, but I had sensed roughly the same thing. Something heavy—too heavy to be human—was approaching us. Three or four of them, by the feel of it.
Cali and I could handle whatever it was. What worried me were the elves who had scattered to gather firewood for camp. I called to Cariel, still within my sight.
"Cariel."
"Yes, Lady Lowell."
"Combat readiness. Now."
"Pardon?"
"Unidentified creatures are approaching from up ahead. From the way they move, they look like monsters..."
At the word monsters, Cariel rushed to gather the other elves. Their training showed—every one of them closed in around the carriage and took up defensive positions.
Creak-creak-creak...
They drew their bowstrings as one, the sound rolling through the air around us. Sensing our reaction, the unknown monsters stopped where they were—neither advancing nor fleeing.
"Who goes there!! Show yourselves, or we will open fire as one!"
At Cariel's challenge, the shapes stirring in the forest slowly came forward into view.
"Orcs?"
Green-skinned, thick with muscle from head to toe, roughly two meters tall—the orcs approached us with both hands raised.
"D-Don't... shoot... Elf..."
And they were speaking the human tongue.
"Orc... not harm... Elf..."
Five orcs in all, hands still raised, edged slowly toward our carriage. The elves had not lowered their guard; every bow stayed trained on the orcs, the tension unbroken.
"What are orcs doing out here?"
"Orc... hunting... Deer... must catch... tribe... eat."
Come to think of it—when I stretched my senses, I could feel something walking on four legs not far from here. The deer they had mentioned, most likely.
"All units—nock arrows!!"
"Orc... do nothing wrong... want live... Elf..."
Even with the orcs fully surrendered, Cariel's eyes held no mercy.
"Cariel, how about we just let them go?"
"We cannot, Lady Lowell. If they bring their whole tribe back here..."
"You really think a few orcs could take me down?"
"Th-That is not what I meant, but..."
I slipped through the ring of elves and walked toward the orcs. The moment I entered their line of fire, the elves lowered their bows in unison and stood down.
"Could you give us a hand for a moment?"
"Orc... help... if can... so... Orc... want live."
The orc who kept begging for his life looked, by sheer bulk alone, as if elven arrows would barely sink into him. All solid muscle—he could probably thrash eighty elves by himself and still have fight left over.
"Could you lift this carriage for us? One of our wheels came off, and we need to raise it to make the repair."
The words were barely out of my mouth before the orc who had been speaking with us strode over to the carriage. Even with the elves still on edge and an arrow liable to fly at any second, he slid his hands under the body of the carriage and braced to lift.
"Orc... can lift..."
With that confident reply, he hoisted the enormous grand carriage as if it weighed nothing at all.