Editing Dark Elf:Volume1 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 4===

A cheerful energy permeated the simple village that night.

That was what Slender of the hunters and Glasses of the priests had wanted to protect no matter what. Klaus Knockburn burned the scene into his eyes.

From here on, he was acting on behalf of more than just himself.

Everyone’s lives and futures rested on his shoulders.

…''I’m honored.

With that thought, he walked away from the light. The dark elves had excellent archery skills and Archdragon Magic, plus they worked as a group, not as individuals. He would have loved to have them fighting alongside him, but he shook free of that temptation.

He loved dark elves.

So he didn’t want to get them involved. This was a human problem, so it was up to a human to solve it.

“That should about do it.”

He let out a soft breath.

He had made something out of a stick skinnier than a match. The dark elves said they were used to make bird nests and decorative wreaths. He couldn’t use anything as fancy as a rock, so he rounded out the edges of a broken shell on the edge of a boulder and fixed it in place with beeswax.

He had made a ring. It was more about breaking free of his regrets than a necessary part of his plan.

He hadn’t wanted to leave without finishing his plan to make an accessory to win his future wife’s heart. But now it was done, so he had to focus on the upcoming battle.

This would be a clash of ugly human deeds.

“''Wait up.''”

But as soon as he left the village, someone called out to him.

For some reason, the person he most wanted to protect was approaching him. The forest was not done betraying his expectations, so Slender was chasing after him!

“''Wh-what are you doing here, Slender!? The plan doesn’t work if they see you with me!!''”

“''Slender, huh?''”

He coughed, but what else could he do when he didn’t have another name for that girl staring at him with a hand on her hip? And changing names in the middle of his notes would only cause him more trouble down the line. He had stuck with Leader and Little Girl’s inaccurate names, so Slender would just have to accept hers too!!

“''Are you sure you can reach your destination walking through the forest alone at night? You do remember where these Rosehera and Elzane people are, don’t you?''”

“''…''”

He was not at all confident. It was entirely possible he would get lost and wander around half in tears until he ran out of time.

Slender winked and pressed a hand against her chest.

“''See, you need me with you. I can guide you to the site of your duel.''”

“''Th-thanks.''”

“''But if any stray shots come my way, I might just reach for my bow on reflex. I can’t be blamed for responding in self-defense, can I?''”

“''You’re going to ruin the plan, Slender!''”

They continued their discussion while walking through the forest together.

It was a little too dark out to call it a date and he feared that was a large carnivore he heard moving around nearby, but it was still vastly superior to when he had been out there alone. They felt so much closer than when he had been hiding in the bushes trying to guess what she was doing from her few remaining footprints.

“''Here.''” She pulled something from the cleavage formed by her white vest. “''When was the last time you ate any real food? We can’t have you collapsing before the battle even begins.''”

He greatly appreciated it.

After all, their food was all handmade, which made this the lovely Slender’s home cooking! ''I love it! Marry me!!'' He just about hugged her, but…

“What?”

He muttered to himself in his own tongue without thinking when he saw the small bottle. It contained a collection of fruits – peach, apple, grape, and more – chopped up, dried, and covered in a white powder.

He was surprised to find they had fruits like this in the conifer forest, but that wasn’t the primary issue.

…''What kind of choice is this? This is just as awkward as when your smiling grandma recommends you a subpar snack.

Klaus had bitten into a small rodent and a black beetle for sustenance, but he was turned off by this in a different way.

This was from his future wife.

It was her home cooking.

The white powder indicated the super-sweet love behind it. He could not reject it, but he also didn’t quite feel like accepting it. Noticing the awkward look on his face, Slender’s eyes angled upwards in displeasure.

“''What, are you saying you won’t eat it?''”

“No, ah ha ha. I will, uh, gladly eat it.”

He was so unconfident in his acting abilities he used the human language she couldn’t understand, so she ended up grabbing at him. She must have been proud of it and hated to have it rejected because she opened the lid and stuffed the contents into his mouth.

“''Eat it!! See, it’s good now that you’ve tried it! Admit it’s good!''”

“Mghghghgh!?”

Choking on dried fruit sounded the same in any language.

Dried fruit still reminded him of an unwanted gift from grandma, but he was surprised to find it was somewhat warm. Which made sense given it had been stored in her cleavage. With the white leather vest pulled tight, she actually did form a cleavage, even if she was less than 80cm. He didn’t think dried fruit worked as a cardiotonic, but he heard his heart pounding in his ears after eating it.

Then there was the sugar. How had she gotten that? The sugarcane didn’t grow this far north, so had they boiled down the inedible Witch Pumpkin? Klaus had felt like he knew his way around the place now, but the dark elf forest was still full of mysteries.

And no matter how much of a granny flavor it had, food was food. It may have been an emergency supply for when she failed to catch anything or accidentally got lost in the forest because the small bottle of dried fruit really packed a punch. The already sugary fruit was soaked in more sugar and the dried fruits may have soaked up the moisture and expanded in his stomach. He felt a lot fuller than he had expected.

“''Did you use honey in addition to the Witch Pumpkin?''”

“''Oh? I’m glad to see you know how to appreciate forest food.''”

That was fortunate. If Ghost Turnips or Witch Pumpkins had gone into making the honey, he could indirectly acquire the magic derivative from it.

…''I have five uses of Camouflize now. That’s the first time I’ve been fully charged since entering the forest.

Now he could fight using trickery. He still had no idea what he could do against an elite knight equipped with iron and silver and against legendary hope elf, but he could figure something out with his options open like this.

“''Hey.''” Satisfied that the bottle was empty, Slender spoke to him again. “''Did you really stick around to help even though you didn’t even know my name?''”

“''Um, well.''”

He wasn’t sure what to say since agreeing felt like officially branding himself her stalker.

But he was curious about something himself.

“''What about you?''”

“''What do you mean?'''”

“''Why did you save me from the fire? I’ll be kind of sad if you say you would have nobly saved anyone in that situation…''”

“''Did the drug make you forget?''”

“''What drug!?''”

That was a scary thing to hear from a dark elf hunter who knew all about mixing poisons and drugs for her arrows. Then again, he had noticed some unnatural gaps in his memory before and after he was initially captured and taken to the clearing and before and after she rescued him from the fire.

“''Quiz time.''” Slender flicked her long ear – the one wearing her single remaining earring. “''When you first ran across me bathing, which ear was I wearing this on?''”

“''…?''”

“''You were too busy staring at my naked body to notice, weren’t you, you pervert?''”

He didn’t dare tell her how right she was.

And another question came to mind.

“''Which ear? You weren’t wearing both of them then?''”

“''The other earring’s clasp is broken, so it has a habit of falling off.''” She laughed and continued on. “''So you found it on the ground and walked through those sticky plants, not knowing what they were, to return it to me. That is why you ran across me bathing.''”

The rest of that story was far from romantic.

He had been sent running all over the forest because of parasites, knights, and a giant dragon, ultimately finding himself here. He didn’t want to count how many times he had nearly died due to remarkable and very boring reasons alike.

He held a hand to his forehead and sighed, but she seemed to see things differently.

“''That doesn’t sound like much, does it?''”

She had such a kind look in her eyes.

This seemed like it should have been a disappointment to him, but…

“''But it meant a lot to me. The pair of earrings is a gift meant to draw destined lovers together. Admittedly, it’s more of a superstition or jinx than it is a serious ritual, but when you appeared with the ring in hand, it was just like a scene from the picture book my mother used to read me. I had given up on those superstitions long ago, but you made me believe again.''”

“…”

Come to think of it, hadn’t he seen the village kids breaking a stick in two and sharing the pieces?

But in the end, that’s all it really was. There was nothing special there and they weren’t the reincarnations of lovers from a past life. They hadn’t known each other’s names, but when they saw the other suffering, they hadn’t been able to sit idly by and let it continue.

They were both people who had continued to pursue their childhood dreams even as their belief in them waned.

They both smiled at about the same time.

That similarity may have been what drew them toward each other from the very beginning.

Both before and after they could understand each other’s words.

[[Image:Dark_Elf_v01_bw5.png|thumb]]

“''There’s so much we can discuss once this is over,''” she said.

“''Sure,''” he replied.

“''There’s a lot I can tell you and there’s a lot I want to hear from you.''”

“''Sure.''”

“''So…''”

Something had changed.

This wasn’t the chirping insects or the nocturnal animals. They sensed a messier and more oppressive presence out there.

It was the humans.

No other lifeform was more openly indifferent to the other life around it. Slender looked out ahead and spoke with a firm, determined voice.

“''Do not let them win. I will never forgive you if you don’t return from this.''”

''Crack

''Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!!!!!!

A bolt of lighting really did crash down from the heavens and split a thick conifer tree down the center.

Maybe it was the harm to one of the forest’s trees and maybe it was the ignition of fire in the forest, but the look in Slender’s eyes sharpened.

The dark elves would silently hide in the forest and take up positions before the enemy ever knew they were there, but the knights would make their presence known as they surrounded the battlefield and then charged in for a direct attack.

Had that lightning been fearsome divine punishment or the symbol of humanity’s new toy?

The two halves of the split tree collapsed in opposite directions, revealing someone on the other side. She only wore lightweight chainmail on her upper body for ease of arm movement, but she wore thick armor on her legs, creating a very odd silhouette. Her massive double ringlets spread out to the sides and fell to her ankles. She used a single arm to easily wield a complex lance known as a chauve-souris, named for the side blades that resembled bat wings.

Her sky blue eyes carried a powerful will and her lemon yellow hair had the artificial color of the neon tube experiments held at the royal capital’s school. The unnatural color of her hair seemed to defy the power of nature all around her.

Klaus knew her name.

“Elzane Livzy.”

“So we meet again, boy.”

Had she left her horse behind to prioritize mobility over speed? He could tell she intended to tail his every move so he could never escape. Last Resort Unit’s commander reached a hand out to the pitiful runaway while prepared to kill him at any moment.

She used her other hand to toy with her hair because that was how she controlled her magic.

“Hope Elf Rosehera had hoped to complete her magic circles earlier than expected, but I had her stop until we could find you. Now hurry this way. We can burn away the forest and the dragon bones within once you are safely away. The other knights have already left.”

She approached him and gave him a chance. But he had to refuse. And then she would take his life with her overwhelming power. She might as well have thrown the white glove in his face to declare a duel. That was how a knight forced people to obey.

Klaus just about spat at her feet, but then he remembered this was still part of the dark elf forest. He could not spit on the ground while slender was watching.

He used his words instead.

“What if I said I’m not going back?”

“That’s too bad. …I like you, boy, and I mean it. So I really wish I could find some way to avoid killing you.”

Of course, Elzane wouldn’t have cared if all the dark elves had worked together to oppose her. She would have wielded her devastating magic and repelled them all on her own. So a human like Klaus would have to be insane to try and fight her. The dark elves had taught him how to survive, so he wasn’t going to get dragged into a fight with this knight. His best option was to borrow the dark elf tactics of remaining hidden until he had a winning position and launching a swift attack from there.

…''What can I use to do that? I have plenty of knowledge built up on my note-taking stick, but that’s all on the Forest of No Return and the dark elves. That won’t tell me what to do against a human. So my only option is Camouflize. What can I camouflage myself as to get the upper hand here?

There was another crucial factor here.

“Where is Hope Elf Rosehera?”

“Looking for me?”

Thick-soled shoes crushed the underbrush as another blonde girl made a casual appearance. She looked to be around 12 and she wore the loose green garb of a priestess as well as a small crown. She was the one and only hope elf in the world and she spoke with some amusement in her voice but also with a slight pouting of her lips.

“I see you aren’t calling me a saint anymore. You wound me, student.”

The hope elf’s magic was central to Elzane’s tactics. He had no idea how it worked, but Rosehera could apparently “lend” her power to others. That meant any magic cast by Elzane Livzy was given the power of a hope elf. Didn’t that mean the knight wouldn’t be as much of a threat if he could take out Rosehera first?

The knight in the bottom-heavy armor clearly knew that because she looked surprised by Rosehera’s appearance.

“Stay back, Madam Hope Elf. You are not needed here.”

“Oh, don’t mind me. Now, student, you aren’t thinking of defeating me first, are you?”

“Kh.”

“Ah ha ha!! Adorable. Simply adorable. I only lent Elzane a fraction of my power, while I have control of it all, and you think ''I'' will be the first to fall?”

…''I had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy.

That monster had been born an elf, but her magical power had been so great she no longer counted as an ordinary elf. She was a higher being who had required the creation of the hope elf species just to explain her existence. He couldn’t hope to break through an opening left by the knight and rush at the hope elf. If that was enough to defeat her, she would still only be known as an elf.

“This is a discussion between knights. Innocent boy, please leave us.”

Elzane moved her heavy lance.

Its tip shifted from Klaus to the girl next to him. What did the distance between them even matter with that lightning magic of hers? She had Slender in her sights.

“And, dark elf, whatever your reasons, you took the life of the honorable Sir Rainbook. You must pay for your crime. Your rules might deem it barbaric, but a life can only be paid for with a life.”

They didn’t have time for these overly dramatic customs.

Klaus clenched his teeth. If the dark elves were slaughtered to satisfy the knights, nothing would remain to stop Brashgain’s resurrection and then the entire world would be destroyed. The knights might be willing to admit to their mistake and accept death, but that wasn’t fair to everyone else who had to die along with them. Elzane had arrived from outside the forest, so she had no way of knowing that the fundamental issue regarding Brashgain had gotten twisted around, but if he said so, it would lead to another problem.

Why had his rotten teacher Reika Kickpleats entered the forest with only her tightlipped #1 student with her?

In order to avoid triggering a panic about Brashgain’s resurrection and the end of the world.

He hated this predicament, but he noticed something odd while going over the conditions in his head.

Yes…

“Wait…why?”	

“Boy?”

Elzane gave him a puzzled look, but he wasn’t looking at her. His focus was on the smaller girl with distinctively long ears.

“I get how humans could be confused about the whole Brashgain thing.”

“Oh?” she said, sounding surprised.

She viewed the trembling boy like he was an amusing spectacle.

“We don’t know anything about Archdragon Magic, so we have no way of predicting what it can or can’t do. But Rosehera, you scoffed when you first saw the dark elves’ magic, didn’t you? You called it a mere parlor trick. ''So you must understand how their magic works.'' Then you should have realized the truth when you saw the dragon bones scattered around the forest. You would have known the stars drawn on the ground were to accelerate and scatter the energy, not to resurrect Brashgain. You would know that the dark elves have been working to prevent his resurrection, so you would know destroying them would instead lead to his resurrection.”

What if Rosehera had known all that, but feigned ignorance and continued to assist the human knights?

Klaus didn’t know how much of it she had planned. Maybe the deaths of Professor Dissection and Sir Rainbook had been a stroke of good luck for her, or maybe she had sent Sir Rainbook to guard Professor Dissection to set up exactly that situation.

The knights’ presence there had seemed strange from the beginning.

Klaus had to think this through once more. Maybe that eccentric had managed to learn some compromising information on important people to keep his position, but Kyle Hardjuicer’s actions had not been the kind of thing an honorable knight would ordinarily condone. And a noble did not normally accept a short, mercenary-style job away from the royal capital like that. Klaus had never met Sir Rainbook and didn’t know what kind of man he had been, but the average noble would never agree to that unless convinced to do so by some political pressure from above.

Yes. For example, if the one and only hope elf had bowed down and asked him.

“You were never working with the humans to solve this problem.”

So what if she had set this all up, received word of Phase 1’s success from Loinbelt’s carrier pigeon, and grinned behind everyone’s backs?

“Hey, Elzane, when you and your knights were hurrying to prepare for this mission, did that duplicitous elf happen to say she wanted to tag along and settle the score herself because she was the one to introduce Sir Rainbook to this job?”

He was only guessing, but the knight girl’s gasp was all the answer he needed. That meant Rosehera had prepared herself a tear-jerking excuse to join the battle without anyone asking too many questions. And she had been ready to make the suggestion whenever the distant clash might occur.

That settled it.

He knew the blue-eyed hope elf’s true objective now.

“She wanted to wipe out the dark elves so Brashgain could be fully resurrected. All so she could wipe out the very humans who she had tricked into helping her resurrect the dragon!!”

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