The Strongest Elf's Unexpected Coin
A wave of irritation crashed over me.
It had all started the moment the subordinate of the Four Heavenly King, Kai, had thrust his sword at me to threaten me—right before I could slash his neck off and send blood spraying across my clothes.
The Four Heavenly King Orobas had appeared to lure me.
He was now sprawled on the ground staring at his dead subordinate Kai, his face already draining of color,
probably because he had just witnessed my Quick-draw / Battoujutsu technique, a sword method completely unfamiliar to this other world.
“I’ll say this first: don’t point your sword at me carelessly.”
“Ah… n-no… y-yes.”
Just in case the Four Heavenly King Orobas might do the same to me, I had given the warning beforehand,
and Orobas, already terrified out of his wits, had been switching between honorific speech and casual speech, unable to regain his composure.
I had no idea how rumors about me had spread within the Demon King’s army, but Orobas had begun to treat me with extreme caution,
his eyes lowered far more than before, avoiding eye contact entirely.
Of course…
He should have done exactly that from the start…
Even in my original world, the Four Heavenly Kings—including the Demon King—had always looked at me with that same wary gaze, treating me like nothing more than prey.
Then here in this other world, I had been exiled by a hero weaker than the Four Heavenly Kings…
“Go tell the Demon King. If you want me to scout for you, come right to me.”
“Ah… I understand…”
Orobas didn’t turn his back on me immediately; instead, he took several cautious steps backward, ordering his orc warriors to prepare for retreat in place of the fallen Kai.
“Oh, wait! Stand right there.”
I had intended to send the Four Heavenly King and his orc warriors away, but a sudden thought about my own pocket situation forced me to call them over.
“W-why… w-why this?”
Orobas struggled to hide the tremor in his voice as he answered, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool night air.
“Haa… I never wanted to be the kind of person who does this…”
“…..?”
The one thing I hadn’t been able to prepare for after hurriedly leaving the hero party…
“Do you have any money?”
“…..”
I hadn’t wanted to do this at all…
In truth, I had planned to sneak out of the inn at dawn to flee.
The wanted posters posted throughout the village were one reason, but receiving no pay after leaving the hero party had left me almost penniless.
Orobas stared at me for a long time before digging through his waist pouch, pulling out a small leather purse, and handing it over while shielding the action from his subordinate orc warriors.
“Is this all?”
“Y-yeah… t-that’s… all.”
“Huu… All right. I’ll pay you back later.”
“……”
Unintentionally picking the Four Heavenly King’s pocket, I sighed in disappointment at the tiny size of the purse,
but it was still a blessing in this desperate situation.
*
Soon after Orobas and the orc warriors left the village, the Moncrito Kingdom army dispatched to capture them arrived,
yet the only things left in the village were the orc corpses—no living Demon King soldiers remained.
Casualties had come only from the soldiers and adventurers who had fought the Demon King army; the villagers had suffered almost no losses.
I used the money I had borrowed from Orobas to settle the inn bill and slipped out of the village before the kingdom army arrived.
The footsteps carrying my exhausted body toward the shrine in the royal capital felt heavier than ever…
I had not rested peacefully all night before leaving, and having slain orcs all morning, my body felt leaden.
At that moment, the idea Orobas had suggested—the position of Four Heavenly King—suddenly resurfaced.
Well… whether the Demon King would actually grant me the title or not, the thought of accepting it crossed my mind.
I could issue orders without lifting a finger, eat and drink whatever I wanted…
More importantly, I could ride in a private carriage for travel; looking at my own weary walking figure, I wondered if I should accept the offer.
But the real problem was whether the goddess would simply leave me alone.
She had brought me to this other world, kneeling almost to the ground to beg me to help the hero defeat the Demon King…
If she learned I had allied with the Demon King, she would probably send me back to my original world anyway, even out of spite.
In that case…
I might have to live for the rest of my life as this elf girl…
Well…
It wasn’t entirely bad, in a way—
I sometimes lost myself in narcissism when admiring my reflection in the mirror, so I figured perhaps it was better to be a woman right now.
“Excuse me, where are you headed?”
Lost in my own thoughts as I walked, a man from the carriage had called out to me.
“Hm?”
“Where are you going?”
“Ah… I’m heading toward the royal capital.”
“How convenient. I’m also going there. If you’re not in a hurry, you can ride with me? There have been rumors of Demon King forces appearing nearby lately, so the roads have been restless.”
A human showing me kindness…
In my long travels across my original world and beyond, the one consistent thing I had learned was:
be wary of strangers who offer you goodwill in unfamiliar places.
From experience, such people were usually criminals or Demon King infiltrators sent to kill me.
Even knowing that, I…
“Yes. Thank you.”
Since I had no desire to walk anymore, I accepted the offer and climbed into the suspiciously carriage.
Inside the carriage, crates of fruit, vegetables, and salted meat filled the space, making the driver look like a traveling merchant who had brought goods from the countryside to sell in the capital.
“Hahaha, I never expected to see an elf in a place like this… How did you end up so far from home?”
“I’m just traveling.”
“Oh~ Is that so? Still, impressive. Traveling alone in such a remote area as a woman…”
It was painfully obvious flattery…
Even though I had no desire to converse, the merchant kept talking in a forced friendly manner.
Despite his clearly suspicious behavior, I forced a smile and let the conversation continue.
“Oh! My apologies. You must have been exhausted walking this far. Would you like some water?”
Another thing to be cautious of among the kindness shown by strangers during travel…
Never accept food from a stranger.
Food provides necessary energy while traveling, but anything offered by a bad person could contain drugs or poisons alongside it.
The merchant in front of me had smiled at me and first reassured me before handing over his water flask…
A deep, mysterious fragrance wafted from the flask, stinging my nose.
As an elf whose territory was forests, herbs were a part of life itself, and I knew far more about them than any other race…
Yet the water in the flask contained Valerian root, a sedative herb.
In other words, this water was a sleeping draught.
“Drink this. It’s spring water drawn from the mountains before I came here—it’s so sweet and refreshing…”
“Thank you. I’ll drink it.”
Even though I knew the water was a sedative, I accepted the flask and downed it in one gulp.
Of course…
Before drinking, I had secretly cast a detoxification spell…
****
The royal capital of Moncrito Kingdom.
Lately, the royal capital had been in chaos since the elf Lowell, who had been exiled from the hero party, appeared and the Demon King army invaded.
Because of this, security had become even tighter, and only those who passed rigorous inspections could enter the capital.
But…
That was only for outsiders…
To the merchants who had long made this place their home, it was nothing more than a waste of time.
Tack tack tack
A quiet night where everyone slept…
At a late hour when patrols had strengthened and the city gates remained closed, a single carriage approached the city gate.
“Stop!”
The patrol soldier guarding the carriage raised his lantern and drew closer to check the driver.
“Oh dear! You’ve had a long night.”
“What brings you out at this hour?”
“It’s… the loading took longer than expected, so we’re late. Hahaha. Sorry, but can we enter the royal capital?”
“Haa… It’s difficult…”
“Can’t you make an exception? I have to unload these goods by tonight.”
“Normally, no, but there’s an emergency order from above right now, so we can’t help it.”
The merchant driver repeated his request to the soldier, who scratched his chin with a troubled expression but gave no sign of opening the gate.
“Ah… It’s nothing special, but… since you’ve been traveling at night…”
Reading the soldier’s attitude, the merchant pulled a single gold coin from his pouch and pressed it into the soldier’s hand.
“Oh? This much? You must have something urgent.”
“Hahaha, yes. If I don’t unload tonight, I’ll lose money.”
“Well… it’s just making a living… No choice. Just wait a moment.”
The soldier, now accepting the bribe, smiled and approached the gate again, spoke to his colleagues, and together they began opening the gates.
Tack tack tack
“Hahaha! Thank you!”
“Go safely.”
The merchant who had successfully entered the royal capital immediately drove the carriage toward the back alleys behind the market.
Even though almost every kingdom on the continent had them…
In cities with large markets, the main streets were lined with legally licensed shops,
but as the carriage entered the narrow, dark back alleys between tightly packed buildings, countless illegal establishments flourished.
From thief guilds committing crimes to assassin guilds specializing in murder-for-hire,
illegal weapon shops and illegal alchemists selling forbidden drugs…
At the entrance to these alleys, numerous pleasure houses stood, with scantily clad women outside them seductively calling out to passersby.
And among them, illegal slave traders who bought and sold women slaves were also present.
As the merchant’s carriage drew closer, his face showed no sign of stopping his smile,
as if he were excited at the prospect of becoming rich at any moment, the carriage sped toward the slave traders.