Editing Dark Elf:Volume1 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 3===

Klaus Knockburn did not understand.

His mind had gone entirely blank and this throat felt clogged up. What had that woman just said?

And time had not frozen along with his mind.

“''Catherine!!!!!!''”

With the sound of scorching friction, Slender pulled the bow from her arm, raised it, and nocked an arrow she pulled from the quiver at her hip.

That was a composite bow and she could boost its power with Archdragon Magic.

The dark elf elder kept her smile while staring down that weapon.

“''Calm down.''”

“''What have the priests been doing in this forest? And without informing the hunters!?''”

Klaus thought he was going to faint when he heard it.

Yes. Why hadn’t he considered this possibility? He had noticed the split between hunter and priest dark elves. He had noticed it before he even understood their language. And if there was a division in their village, this was possible.

The hunters and priests could have different plans for their village.

And that would mean an assurance of safety from a hunter like Slender was not enough. Glasses, leader of the priests, might do something else entirely.

For example, she might be resurrecting Brashgain from his bones.

Hadn’t Glasses said her recovery magic could “heal just about anything”!?

The grinning elder moved the fingers of her raised hands, but these were not just finger exercises. She seemed to be making fun of them.

“''If you suspect me that much, then go ahead and kill me with that bow. But then no one will be able to stop Brashgain. No one at all.''”

“''Is that a threat?''” growled Slender.

“''Just listen.''” Glasses sounded like she was trying to talk sense into a stubborn child. “''Calm down and I will explain everything. I have nothing to be ashamed of in this matter.''”

The tension seemed to have grown to the point that it was its own individual presence in the mansion.

And the unstable equilibrium was not broken by the hunter or the priest.

“Kah…ah…”

Klaus wobbled on his feet, unable to breathe through all that tension. He staggered to the side and Slender relaxed her bowstring so she could support him.

He was soaked with an unpleasant sweat. He hadn’t felt this bad even when he as wandering the dark forest in search of some magic derivative. His rotten teacher was awful in just about every regard, but she was only ever joking. No matter how bad it got, she made sure he would survive to do it all again next time.

…''But Glasses is different. She tears everything down so there is no next time. I finally found the dark elves I’ve searched for all my life and now they’ve betrayed me. I’ve never been in so much pain.

“What…but…why?”

“''I’m not going to bother converting your human language.''” The elder lowered her raised hands and shrugged. “''I freely admit we are casting magic on the massive dragon bones found across the entire forest. And not to suppress the creation of dragon bugs. We are interfering with the dragon’s own resurrection.''”

“''How could you!?”'' snapped Slender while supporting the weak boy.

“''Wait,'' he said to stop her. He managed to get the words out through his blue lips. “''What do you mean ‘interfere with’? You say that like the dragon’s resurrection is separate from what you’re doing.''”

“''You’re sharp.''” Glasses winked and raised a finger. “''Simply put, Brashgain will be resurrected sooner or later. His bones forcibly draw energy from the ground and trigger something much like recovery magic. His bones were made to do that from the beginning. All our magical interference can do is influence the ‘sooner or later’ part.''”

“''And you’re accelerating that process?''”

“''In a manner of speaking.''”

He felt dizzy all over again. What did this mean? Brashgain would resurrect on his own in ten thousand years’ time, but the priests were making it happen in a years’ time instead? Was a year from now and ten thousand years from now not all that different with the near-endless lifespan of a dark elf?

He shook his head and chose to trust Slender. From what he had seen of her, their long lifespan did not leave them detached from the flow of time.

“''The polygon and the star.''”

“?”

Klaus’s thoughts were pulled a step back from the precipice of despair. The elder had just mentioned two symbols used in his Camouflize magic. Even though they both had eight points, an octagon and an octagram had entirely different meanings. (An octagram’s shape could change depending on how the points were connected, but that can be omitted here.) Generally, a polygon represented the emanation of power and a star represented the gathering of power. But why would she be bringing that up here?

The dark elf elder laughed as she gave the final answer.

“''My priests have been accelerating the flow of power to the point that it cannot gather in a single point and the river of energy ruptures, allowing it to scatter everywhere. Simply put, we are preventing the resurrection process from ever making any progress.''”

Klaus Knockburn truly could not find any words this time.

“''Y-you mean…?''” After what felt like an eternity, he managed to ask a question with a tremor in his voice. “''The dark elves aren’t trying to resurrect Brashgain?''”

“''What, disappointed the elder wasn’t a secret villain''?”

“''N-not at all!''”

He frantically denied it and Glasses covered her laughing mouth with a hand.

“''The dragon corpse absorbs a massive amount of energy from the ground, so an emanating polygon on its own wouldn’t be enough. The emanation would be too weak and the power would gather back together again. Like it was being drawn into a funnel. So we needed to accelerate it to ensure it had the necessary force behind it. Even if that meant adding a star.''” The dark elf elder’s long ears moved gently up and down at that point. “''And it might not be entirely wrong to call me a villain.''”

She smiled in a way that told him it was best not to say anything here. And she made no attempt to flee.

“''We are accelerating the dragon’s power and letting the resurrection process run in vain, but what happens to all that energy after it breaks free? It does harm the world in a different form. Usually as natural disasters like earthquakes and tornadoes.''”

“''…''”

“''That’s better than the destruction of the world, right? But it does cause damage. If someone had a loved one’s life taken by one of those disaster, then I probably would look like someone worth killing even if it meant bringing the entire world down with me.''”

Klaus felt it wasn’t his place to decide whether or not it had been necessary. He was not the one taking lives or the one having a precious life taken. If he was, he knew ''his emotions would keep him from reaching a logical conclusion.''

“''But wait.''” Another problem occurred to him. A much greater problem. “''Rosehera and Elzane are trying to end this by burning down the entire Forest of No Return! By dawn at the latest! If that happens…!!''”

“''Yes, it would be a problem. One that puts the entire world at risk.''”

The human operation to prevent Brashgain’s resurrection would instead ensure he was resurrected. It was irony of the worst kind. The elder knew all of that, but she still had a question for him.

“''So what do you expect us to do with this information?''”

“''What do you mean?''”

“''We dealt with that dissection-obsessed freak and his knights, but did that solve the problem? Things only got worse. As you well know after seeing that hope elf’s magic circles. We did nothing wrong. We never threw a glove at you and demanded a duel. All we did was refuse to play by your rules.''”

“Oh, hell!!'' shouted Klaus, forgetting to convert it into dark elf.

Elzane’s group was not evil. But he could not tell them the truth about Brashgain. Hadn’t his rotten teacher said that letting people know about their impending doom would only cause a panic? What if a new cult wanted to use it to destroy the world? What if an army attempted to control the extent of the damage so it would destroy just their enemies? He couldn’t even guess what that chaos would bring. In all likelihood, the current system would collapse and ''something worse than he could imagine'' would happen. But even a faulty plan could end up triggering the world’s destruction, so he could not explain all this to the angry people.

And if he couldn’t explain it, the conflict between dark elves and humans would never end. The humans would continue resenting the dark elves. What could he do to end that downward spiral? He squeezed his eye shut in thought. This was going to be a painful decision. He couldn’t get any help from the true allies he had finally found.

“''Okay.''”

But he said it anyway.

After reaching this point, he wanted to say it.

“''I’ll do this on my own. If the dark elves don’t harm Rosehera or Elzane, then the nobles’ grudge will be redirected toward me! That will free Slender and all the rest of you!!!!!!''”

The dark elf elder stared blankly at him. Earning that look from crafty Glasses made him glad he had said it. Except he was focusing on the wrong thing here.

A moment later, he heard an icy voice from the girl supporting him.

“''Slender? Is that supposed to mean me?''”

“Uh, oh.”

“''What about me inspired that name!? Can you answer me that!?''”

Slender grabbed his collar and shook him while blushing. That may have been something of a complex for her.

Meanwhile, the more mature Glasses held her sides in laughter.

“''Pff. Ah ha ha!! I see, I see. So she’s Slender, is she?''”

“''Don’t think you’ve won this!!''”

“''All I’m saying is I don’t have to use a vest strap to make my chest look bigger.''”

“''You had to say it, didn’t you!? We could have gotten through this without specifying my chest!!''”

“''Anyway.''” The dark elf elder pushed up her glasses and wiped the tears from her eyes. “''He calls me Glasses and you Slender. I bet he has names for the others too, but this means he doesn’t know any of our real names, doesn’t it?''”

“''Oh.''”

“''And it didn’t matter to him that he didn’t even know our names. When he saw someone in need, he decided to risk his life to help them. …You are an awfully kind human.''”

She called him a kind “human”, not just a kind “person”.

She was marking him as a member of another species.

That may have been an important distinction for her.

“''I now accept you as one of us. From now on, we will invite you into our village whenever you enter this forest.''” She stood in front of Klaus Knockburn and lowered her head as a sign of respect. “''But at the moment, there is little we can do to help aside from trust you. I, Catherine Apple, am in awe of your courage. The fate of the dark elves and of the entire world are in your hands. Please do everything in your power to save us all, our kind hero.''”