That was precisely why elves hated the undead, and in outward appearance
Shrekheimer was undeniably undead.
‘Well, a tremendous number of elves died during the Dark War…….’
Shaking his head to clear the thought, Shrekheimer looked at Damon.
“For now, I believe we should leave this forest.”
“Let’s do that.”
Once permission was given, the party began to hurry their steps again.
The group still walked with their eyes wide, scrutinizing Illumina as she led the way.
‘She really is beautiful.’
‘I never knew elves could be this lovely.’
Mitchel, who had been walking silently, quickened his pace and approached Illumina’s side.
Hearing him, Illumina turned her head.
“What is it?”
Mitchel scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression.
“I’d like to apologize for my rudeness earlier. Please understand.
The situation was so urgent that there was no other way.”
“It’s all right. Please don’t take it to heart.”
When Illumina smiled faintly, Mitchel suddenly felt dizzy.
White teeth revealed between red lips. Her smile was far too beautiful.
‘In a word, a murderous smile.’
When Illumina turned her head forward again, Mitchel grew frantic. His honest feeling was that he wanted to create
some topic, anything, to keep the conversation going.
“By the way, your archery was truly splendid.
In all my life, I’ve never seen such swift and accurate bowmanship.”
“You subdued me, so your…… skills must be even greater.”
When Illumina addressed him awkwardly, Mitchel seized the chance to give his name.
“My name is Mitchel. Please call me by my name from now on.”
“All right, Sir Mitchel. My name is Illumina.”
Having given her name, Illumina smiled brightly, and Mitchel’s face once again took on a dazed
expression. The others watched him with curiosity.
Kasim smiled and opened his mouth.
“It seems Mitchel has had his heart stolen by that elf lady…….”
“It does look that way. To think that Instructor Mitchel, who was always so proud, would take an interest in
an elf lady. Well, she certainly is beautiful.”
Yuliana also seemed quite surprised.
“Look at him. He sure has high standards……. But their races are different from the start. It seems like
an impossible love, doesn’t it? Don’t you think so, Damon?”
Damon said nothing. He was currently brooding deeply over what he had done
to the orc squad leaders several days earlier.
‘Strange. Even in the past, I wouldn’t have done something like I did a few days ago.
And I wouldn’t have left twenty village youths to die either…….’
Even when he had been consumed by the Heavenly Blood Demon Art, he had never subjected his enemies to pointless torture.
If he sent them cleanly to the next world, that was that; there was no reason to inflict unnecessary pain.
As he recalled that time when he had reveled in blood and slaughter, Damon’s brow suddenly furrowed. It seemed that the fact
that he had drawn out an excessive amount of dark mana to restore Russelent was weighing on his mind.
‘Could it be that I’m being influenced by the Demon King’s mana? Could the Demon King have awakened……?’
But that could not be. If the Demon King had awakened, his consciousness would have been absorbed as part of the Demon King,
and even his body would have become completely Nidelhark’s. As he sank into thought,
his side suddenly stung. Because of that, Damon was finally able to escape
the anguish that had been binding his mind.
“Wh-what is it?”
The pain was fairly sharp, so Damon hurriedly rubbed his side and turned his head.
Yuliana’s angry face came into view. When Damon had shown no response, she had outright
pinched him in the side.
“What on earth were you thinking about? Do my words just go in one ear and out the other?”
“Wh-what did you say?”
When he actually heard what she wanted, Damon’s expression turned fierce.
“You damned girl. What does it matter who Mitchel loves? Is that really
something to ask me? I’ll catch you a decent orc too, so why don’t you try falling in love with it?”
Having finished speaking, Damon swiftly took a defensive stance. As expected, Yuliana’s fist shot out sharply
toward a vital point. Damon leisurely caught Yuliana’s wrist and began twisting it.
“Heh heh heh. It’s not as if I’ve only been hit by you once or twice.”
“Aaah! Let go! Agh!”
Watching the two scuffle, the party let out a sigh. Katroi looked
as if he found them pathetic, and Illumina, who had turned around at the scream, also turned her head forward again.
“Is that dark mage also one of your companions?”
“That’s right. He is our actual leader.”
A puzzled expression appeared on Illumina’s face.
“Is the dragon not the leader?”
Mitchel nodded without hesitation.
“No. Lord Katroi is merely a temporary member.
He too must follow Damon’s orders.”
As if unable to understand, Illumina quietly turned her head. As expected, Katroi’s face
had crumpled. But perhaps because he had nothing to say in rebuttal, he merely remained silent.
Seeing that, Illumina could not help but be astonished.
“I cannot understand it. A human who can give orders to a dragon…….”
“If you spend more time with us, you will be surprised. By the way, there is something I’m curious about.”
Illumina received Mitchel’s gaze with sparkling eyes.
“What are you curious about?”
“I’m very curious about elven swordsmanship. Are there any warriors among the elves who use swords?”
Illumina smiled faintly and shook her head.
“We elven Sentinels use only bows. Of course, the elders
of the second rank or higher use magic instead of bows…….”
Mitchel looked surprised.
“If you use only bows, how do you respond when the enemy closes in? I simply can’t understand it.”
“The only weapons God has permitted to elves are bows and arrows.”
Looking at Illumina as she dismissed the matter with a single simple sentence, Mitchel kept tilting his head.
With bows alone, it was impossible to form a proper battle line. This time, Illumina
showered Mitchel with questions.
“By the way, your attainment in swordsmanship is truly remarkable. Until now, there has been no one
who has blocked my arrows three times.”
“Haha. Well, that’s…….”
Mitchel, feeling proud, quietly changed the subject.
“By the way, you look very young. Would it be rude of me to ask how old you are……?”
Illumina answered as if it were nothing important.
“Among fourth-rank warriors, I’m on the younger side. I’ve lived only a hundred years and twenty more.”
Mitchel’s mouth fell open. Illumina, who did not look even twenty, had lived nearly five
times longer than he had……. He was so dumbfounded he could not close his mouth, and this time
Illumina asked him a question.
“Then how old are you, Sir Mitchel?”
Shaking his head to calm himself, Mitchel hurriedly answered.
“I-I have lived twenty-five more years.”
“Then one hundred and twenty-five?”
“Y-yes, something like that.”
Mitchel answered while sweating profusely. He had lied because he thought Illumina would not even deal with him
if she knew his true age. But Yuliana, who was behind him, completely ruined it.
“Don’t lie, Mitchel. Why are you adding a hundred to twenty-five? If what you said is true,
you should already be a corpse in a coffin, shouldn’t you?”
‘Damn it.’
Mitchel’s face crumpled. As expected, Yuliana’s nasty habit of ruining things at crucial moments
had not changed. When Illumina’s startled gaze entered his eyes, Mitchel was utterly at a loss
as to what to do. After looking at Mitchel for a while, Illumina spoke.
“Twenty-five? That’s truly surprising.”
“……….”
“To have such astonishing swordsmanship at that age……. You must have trained very hard.”
“Y-yes, something like that.”
Fortunately, Illumina did not seem to care much about his age, and Mitchel let out a long sigh.
At the same time, he did not forget to glare at Yuliana with angry eyes. To that Mitchel,
Yuliana stuck out her tongue at length, as if she found it satisfying.
“Serves you right.”
At that moment, Shrekheimer’s low voice rang out.
“We have arrived.”
The forest ended there, and a silent plain revealed itself. At the end of the plain, a lush green forest
stretched out so far that no end could be seen. It was so dense that it could not even
be compared to the forest they had passed through. Since there was nothing that even resembled a road,
the party’s eyes grew round.
“Where on earth are we supposed to enter?”
The party cautiously entered the plain where the grass grew thick. Illumina stretched out her finger
and pointed toward the forest.
“That is the Elven Forest. Lord Olivier is probably waiting there
with the Sentinels.”
At Illumina’s explanation, Shrekheimer nodded.
“Would you tell them our intentions? Tell them we have not come to fight.”
At those words, Illumina looked troubled.
“But I am not of a status that can report to Lord Olivier. I can only
report to a third-rank warrior of the Sentinel chapter to which I belong.”
Because he possessed at least some knowledge of elven society, Shrekheimer did not press her any further.
“I understand. I will speak to them myself.”
The party began moving again. As if something seemed odd, Damon spoke to Shrekheimer.
With magic, he blocked the space between them so that Illumina would not hear.
“This is a little strange. She is, in name at least, the person in charge of the guard unit, so how does she not have the right to report to the leader?”
“Elven society operates strictly according to rank. It means that the roles of each class are rigidly defined.
And if it is the captain leading the Sentinels, in all likelihood, that person is male. Among elves, the ranks permitted to deal with
males are strictly determined.”
“How surprising. To think elves have such a closed society.”
Shrekheimer continued his explanation impassively.
“The sex ratio of elves is extremely imbalanced. Out of a hundred children, the elves born
male number only one or two at most. Since the vast majority are female, they cannot help but
have an extremely distorted social structure. You may not know this, but in elven society, even the right to conceive a child is determined by rank.
Only elven women with bloodlines of at least the third rank or higher may bear children.”
Damon’s mouth fell open.
“S-such a thing exists in this world……. Then what is elven married life like?”
“Elves do not marry. Therefore, they have no concept of wife and husband. Elves of a certain status
and age lie with a male elf once a year to conceive a child.
The child that is born is raised entirely by women. Thus, it can be said that elves live
in a thoroughly matriarchal society.”
Damon clicked his tongue as if he could not understand.
“Those are some blessed bastards. If men knew about this, they’d be swarming in droves.”
“But elven women rarely take a liking to humans.
Of course, it is not that such cases never happen…… hm?”
Shrekheimer could not even finish his words before turning his head.
A clear, ringing voice had come from the forest.