◈ Episode 161. Elves (1)
Scheduled update.
A newly surfaced update notice.──────A new region is coming to your side.
New region, “Battlefield: Pain-Eating Mountain Beasts vs Elves,” has been added.
You may join a faction and begin the quest.
However, depending on your choice, your relationship with a certain faction may deteriorate.
New named monsters have been added.‘Pain-Eating Mountain Beast Leader’: Lv.900‘Pain-Eating Mountain Beast Adult’: Lv.700‘Pain-Eating Mountain Beast Young’: Lv.500──────The reactions did not differ greatly.
“It’s been a while since a region update, but…… what?”
“A battlefield?”
“You mean the battlefield I know?!”[Labyrinth], [Dungeon], [Battlefield]
had all been generated in reality?
Back when Arcana was nothing more than a game.
To players, battlefields had been no different from a windfall.
“You just had to read the room and side with the faction that looked like it was going to win.”
“Even if the quest rewards were given according to combat contribution, your fame went up just by participating. That’s why there were players who went around looking only for battlefields, weren’t there?”
“That’s right, especially mercenaries!”
A battlefield, in other words, a place overflowing with spoils of war.
Just as they said, the ones more familiar with battlefields than anyone were mercenaries.
So it was only natural that attention would be focused on the Shadow Mercenaries, counted among the strongest mercenary bands.
Yusra Kingdom.
Golden Calf Tavern.
Bang!
The source of the roar was Lakid again this time.
“They said it’s a battlefield, a battlefield! Weren’t all of you itching to move anyway?”
A booming voice, as though he were speaking into a loudspeaker.
Thanks to that, quite a few gazes gathered on the Shadow Mercenaries.
From the Alliance explorers who had been camping at tables since earlier to gather information.
To informants from famous guilds, and NetTuber players.
“As expected of Lakid. He never disappoints.”
“My eardrums seriously hurt. But thanks to him……”
“Wait! Everyone, shh! Looks like they’re about to get to the point.”
As though she didn’t care about the gazes around her.
Gulp—Captain Kichi emptied her glass.
Then she glared at Lakid.
“Hey, bottom seat.”
“……
Huh?”
“Bottom, bottom, bottom. You rock-headed idiot!!”
“!!!”
In the end, Kichi exploded.
It was a rare occurrence, but every member of the Shadow Mercenaries knew just how fierce the aftermath could be. Sneak, sneak. Starting with Alkari, several of them left their seats early.
Kichi’s eyes, which had changed in an instant, turned toward Lakid.
“Do my words not sound like words to you?”
To the point that her usual drunken rambling felt like an act.
A clear murderous intent flowed from that gaze.
It was so sharp that merely meeting it felt as though one would be cut.……
Gulp.
Lakid swallowed dryly without realizing it.
As expected, she was worthy of being the one who had made this great Lakid set foot in a mere mercenary band. Truly, a Star of Slaughter. A presence that would not fall short even if called Heaven’s Dagger.‘It’s a feeling I haven’t had in a long time.’There was not a single weapon in Kichi’s hand.
Even so, he felt a pressure as though a blade had been pressed against his Adam’s apple.
A murderous intent he had never felt even in the colosseum, where life and death crossed paths.
But Lakid forced the corners of his mouth upward.
“Good. Now you finally seem like the captain I know.”
“Bullshit.”……
I got worked up.
Kichi regained her reason at Lakid’s shamelessness.
Damn it, when she came to her senses, there were far, far too many eyes watching.
Kichi scattered her killing intent.
“Sorry. I’ve got a lot to worry about, so I couldn’t endure it like usual.”
Because I really do have a damn lot to worry about.
Thinking about it again made her head throb.
Of all things, why did they have to get tangled up in such a huge incident!‘It’s not even on the level of a battlefield, the Holy War.’That was right.
The Shadow Mercenaries had also ended up participating in the Holy War.
If someone who knew them well heard that, they would probably say this.
Pride, from the Shadow Mercenaries? As if they’d have anything like that left.
They would be right.
Because the reason Kichi had joined the Holy War wasn’t some pride she didn’t even understand.‘……
This damn loose mouth of mine!’Her mouth was always the problem.
Kichi had received an official invitation from Yusra’s king, Hakuna.
Asking whether she had any intention of participating in the Holy War.
To the king’s question, Kichi had answered slyly.
-“If you can match the price for every member of the mercenary band, that is.”
The Shadow Mercenaries’ price?
You would be sorely mistaken if you thought of an ordinary mercenary band.
Bluntly speaking, even if one brought a thousand gold, the most they could offer would be two or three members. So it had been a kind of tactful refusal.-‘A Holy War against demons? I wouldn’t do that even for ten thousand gold. Seriously.’But Kichi had overlooked something.
Yusra.
Why this ancient kingdom had been called Treasure Island.
“Seriouslyyyyy.”
It was a sum so large it could not be refused.
If ten thousand gold was not enough, then one hundred thousand gold; if that was still not enough, then one million gold. The financial power of the Yusra Kingdom was on a level that surpassed Kichi’s expectations. By a staggering margin! Kichi slapped her own mouth.
“If I’d known this would happen, I should have at least tried asking for a hundred million gold……!”
A shift in emotion so abrupt it was worrying.
“……
Kichi, are you drunk?”
“I think we can forget what she just said. It must have been drunken rambling.”
“She started drinking in broad daylight, and she’s already blacked out?”
Everyone watching could only think it was drunken rambling.
But Lakid knew.
Just now, the captain’s killing intent had clearly been genuine.
Even so, he could not back down.
“I think this is just the time when we need a warm-up before the Holy War.”
“……
A warm-up?”
“We’ll just go and take a look, Captain. More importantly, why doesn’t everyone get honest? You’re honestly curious, aren’t you?”
“?”
“About what elves look like.”
“……!”
Kichi looked into Lakid’s eyes.
They were sparkling, and he didn’t seem to have even the slightest intention of giving up.
Besides, Lakid’s words weren’t exactly wrong.‘……
Elves, huh.’If dwarves were a rare race, elves were beings of legend.
Among the commissions that flooded into the Shadow Mercenaries, she had never seen even a single request related to elves. Not even among the commissions handed down through the generations.
That alone was enough to guess just how mysterious a race elves were.‘Well, if they suddenly popped up, there must be a reason.’Hmm, information was always important to a mercenary band.
At Lakid’s words, Kichi nodded.
Fine, good.
“But no fighting, under any circumstances.”
“……
What?! No fighting on a battlefield? What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Captain, are you worried about me? If so, that’s a little touching!”
“Touching, my ass. We’ve already received an advance! Do you think your body belongs to you right now?! Just try getting injured and dropping out of the Holy War. Are you going to cough up the commission fee instead?!”*Magic Tower.
The sole elder mage, Yugweed, opened her mouth.
“Elves, is it. If it weren’t for our Chief Lee Hoyeol’s words, it would be news too hard to believe. So the question is how we should approach those ill-mannered bastards…….”……
Ill-mannered? An elder beginning with vulgar language?
I looked at Yugweed while hiding my inner thoughts.‘I’m feeling it all over again.’Unlike her gentle appearance, Yugweed had a rough tongue. At this point, I could be certain.
Senios, too, and mages in general, were beings one should never judge by appearance.‘Let’s not trust first impressions.’However, Marcelo is an exception.
Your scrawny body was still the same.
But you no longer seemed so lifeless as before.
It was worth going through hell to lift that terminal curse.
“At the present point, the elves are a major variable.”
So dependable, Marcelo.
You really know how to speak, Marcelo.
As expected, you’re different from me, the parachute hire.
The knowledge and experience befitting the Chief of the Magic Tower.
Marcelo continued to express his opinion.
“The fact that, of all times, they have appeared on the Arcana Continent from their homeland of Sisley now, while the Holy War is underway, must certainly have a reason. However, we cannot predict what effect that reason will have on us.”……
Wait a second, this.
High-grade information is flashing by in the blink of an eye, isn’t it?
Elves.
To be honest, the moment I saw those two syllables in the update notice, I thought, damn. That cursed gap of ten years and several more would catch me by the ankle again.
But then, the benefits of civilization.
After opening the internet and searching for elves. Whether ten years and several years ago or now, nothing had been revealed about elves.
It meant that players had not even been able to find out whether elves were merely legends or actually existed.
And yet.‘Not only are they ill-mannered bastards. The elves’ homeland is Sisley?’From the mouths of Marcelo and Yugweed.
Information no player had discovered was spilling out smoothly!
I carefully engraved the information pouring in in real time into my mind.
Of course, I showed no sign of being surprised.
“What are your thoughts, sir?”
At Marcelo’s question, I answered shamelessly.
“Indeed, their intentions are unclear.”
Why the elves clashed with demons.
I had no way of knowing the circumstances.[Demon Eye’s Telescope]
Even if I had that, considering the flow of time and the cooldown time…… hoping that elves would just happen to be caught in view would be shameless.
Still, one thing was certain.
“But we can know the demons’ intentions.”
That’s right.
What mattered to Grandfell’s noble pride was not elves, but demons.
Still, that level is brutal. Level 900.
It’s similar to the giant demon-type monster I saw on the Arcana Continent, isn’t it?
Of course, level is not everything. Even a level 950 monster was only a named monster, a true-name demon. It meant there was a difference in weight class compared to boss monsters like Demon Kings or great evils.‘Even if I think modestly…….’A new realm called Sword Force.
And on top of that, with [First World Tree’s Blessing]
still ongoing right now.‘Couldn’t I take it down by myself?’Of course, there was no need for that.
“Then we move according to the agreement made beforehand?”
When Yugweed asked, Marcelo answered.
“That is correct. From the Magic Tower, it is Senior Matisse’s turn to step forward.”
Everything according to procedure.
The Magic Tower, as well as the Yusra Kingdom, Frost, Muon, and the Shadow Mercenaries. It meant the order in which they would enter the rift had already been decided by prior agreement.
Yugweed looked at me.
“By the way, our Chief Lee doesn’t seem to have any days off, does he?”
No days off.
If a superior at work had said something like that.
I would have wondered if they were teasing me, or if they really wanted to have it out.
But this too was something brought on by my own loose tongue……!
In a word, I was the wild card.
It meant I had been guaranteed the “authority” to enter the rift regardless of procedure or fixed order. This pride that cannot look away when it comes to demons is truly exhausting.
However, I couldn’t reveal my pitiful feelings.
“We shall discuss the details at the round-table conference after I return.”
Yes, even if I regretted it now, it was not something I could take back.
Let’s accept the fate of a wild card, Hoyeol.
Still, before entering the rift, there was something I needed to grasp clearly.‘Why did a battle break out between the two factions?’The elves must have appeared from Sisley onto the Arcana Continent recently. The demons probably would not have picked a fight with those elves first.
Because the demons were ahead of the [Demon King Succession War].
They were already busy fighting among themselves.
There was no justification for them to provoke the elves.‘Then that means the elves picked the fight first, doesn’t it?’Beginning, middle, and end—pride.
Just as Grandfell had done.
If the elves had moved because they couldn’t stand watching the Arcana Continent be turned into a wasteland by demonic forces, the timing was far too late. There was certainly another reason, but…….‘……
She definitely called them ill-mannered bastards, didn’t she?’I never thought Yugweed’s words would feel this meaningful.
In that sense, it was truly fortunate that the senior accompanying me was Matisse.
Imagine if it had been another senior, especially Bensch.‘He’d nag so much we wouldn’t even notice the rift had been cleared.’I headed to my office.
I immediately boiled water for tea.
Not for the purpose of leisurely enjoying tea time, but because of elixir-herb doping.
Now that a variable called elves existed.
No amount of preparation would be excessive.
Clack—However, before long, I put down the teacup.
Because of the message that appeared on my smartphone.
Because of the breaking news.[Breaking News: The battle in the new region, Battlefield, appears to have ended……!][Players state, “The quest that appeared has been cleared.”][It has been confirmed that no players participated in the battlefield quest…….]
They said the battle had ended before the players even jumped into the battlefield.
What that meant was simple.
Elves and demons.
The battle between the two factions had been settled faster than expected.
“To think they won’t even give me time to enjoy a cup of tea. How impatient.”
Whoever the victor was.
It meant that either the elves or the demons would appear in reality....
Lakid looked at the battlefield.
And faced it.
Long, pointed ears.
An appearance like a sculpture.
An extraordinary aura that could be felt.
That guy was an elf.
Had he sensed his presence?
The elf looked at Lakid.
He spoke in a cold voice.
“Do you know where our blessing is?”
“……
Blessing? What kind of bullshit is this all of a sudden?”
“Foolishly, it seems you do not even know what the blessing is.”
Then he raised his sword.
“As expected, demons or humans.”
“……?”
“Neither are worth dealing with.”
“……!”
Kwa-kwa-bang!!!