TERNLF Vol. 3 Chapter 2 Part 3

“How long do you intend to keep me waiting?”

The moment I entered the audience chamber to board Empipi, that voice flew into my ears.

“Know that making us elves, the goddess’s apostles, wait is an unforgivable act.”

It was a shrill male voice coming from beyond the curtain hanging down to conceal Empipi from view.

Its owner did indeed seem to be the elf who had come to request an audience.

A demon man who had apparently escorted him as far as the audience chamber tried to placate him.

“Please wait just a little longer, Lord Rastel.”

“Enough! Do not let filthy demons like yourselves speak my name!”

“Filthy… did you say?”

The demon man’s voice turned icy.

“Hmph. You are nothing more than an inferior race cast aside in the northern lands, unblessed by the goddess’s favor. And yet your pride is as swollen as ever.”

I had already had more than enough experience with elven arrogance back at the Border Fortress.

But this man called Rastel gave off an even more dangerous air than that.

“Faura, let’s hurry.”

“Agreed.”

The atmosphere coming from beyond the curtain had changed.

It could not be helped after he had said all that, but if it escalated into drawn blades here, it would be a disaster.

We immediately entered Empipi and jumped into the elevator.

Then, the moment we reached the control room, Faura practically leaped into the pilot’s seat.

“Alright, all set. Empipi, do it like usual.”

“Roger… External speaker on.”

Along with a faint vibration, a lamp in front of Faura lit up green.

“I have kept you waiting, guest.”

Faura spoke toward that lamp.

If my memory was right, the MPPRD’s cockpit sound collection system was installed in many places throughout the room, so it should not have mattered which direction she faced when she spoke.

And the voice passed through those mics and was converted into the same deep, weighty voice we had heard when we first met the Demon King, then transmitted outside Empipi. I had to admit, having a voice changer too was impressive.

At the same time as those words from the Demon King, the curtain rose.

“So you finally decide to show yourself.”

“My apologies for the wait, elven envoy.”

Empipi displayed a close-up of the elf on the side monitor.

Fine features, long ears, and a slender frame that was probably around 190 centimeters tall.

And on that handsome face was an overbearing expression that looked down on everyone except his own kind.

He was exactly the kind of elf I knew.

“Looking at him now, even Theo back when he was putting on an act was still better than this…”

I remembered Theo, the elf who had tried to kill me in the royal capital, and muttered under my breath, quiet enough not to get picked up by the mic.

If it had not been for my experience at the Border Fortress, I might never have seen through that man’s mask.

Compared to Theo, this elf called Rastel was much easier to read.

…Or rather, he probably just did not think there was any need to hide his true nature here.

“To get straight to the point, would you tell me the reason for this visit?”

“I shall be blunt. We have received a divine oracle from Lady Selene, the goddess herself, granting you demons the honor of assisting in the destruction of the goddess’s cage, that loathsome prison built by the humans.”

“The goddess’s cage, you say? I know of no such thing. And why must we demons obey you elves?”

He spoke as though it were only natural that every other race should obey whatever they decided.

The sheer one-sidedness of it made a furrow appear on Faura’s brow.

“We elves are the sole race to receive divine oracles from Lady Selene, the creator of this world. In other words, you may regard our words as equal to those of the Creator herself.”

“You make it sound as though you and the goddess stand as equals.”

“Our words are the goddess’s words. You may think of it that way.”

Looking up at the Demon King’s face, Rastel declared that without hesitation.

Watching him, I recalled something I had long found strange, ever since my days at the Border Fortress.

Why did the elves think of themselves as those specially chosen above even the goddess herself?

Why were they so determined to destroy the Border Fortress, the one place that continued to keep the monsters of the Demon Forest from pouring out?

I had heard many times from the elven envoys who came that it was all because of a “divine oracle from the goddess.”

But they had never once shown any proof that this so-called oracle was genuine.

“To begin with, what exactly is this divine oracle of the goddess? And is it truly something worthy of belief?”

Faura returned the obvious question, but that seemed to have been the wrong move.

“And just who does a mere puppet think it is—”

Rastel’s expression twisted as he looked up at us.

His eyes were like someone staring at garbage lying by the roadside, not a gaze one would ever direct at the ruler of a nation.

“Very well. It is far more than a lowly race like yours deserves, but…”

Yet Rastel wiped that expression away in an instant.

“I shall enlighten you as to why we elves are the apostles of Lady Selene.”

Replacing it with the same haughty, self-assured look as before, he spread his arms wide.

And then he began to speak in a ringing voice about the divine oracle the elves had received from the goddess Selene.

◆　◇　◆　◇　◆

It had been several hundred years ago that the elves first received a divine oracle from the goddess.

Deep within the forest where the elves lived, it fell from the sky.

At first, the elves did not know what it was.

They tried to investigate it, but found nothing within their knowledge that matched it, and only time continued to pass.

Then one day, a young elf noticed the voice.

“I can hear the goddess’s voice.”

Murmuring that, the young man reached out and touched it.

And at that very moment, it, which had remained utterly motionless no matter what the elves had done to it, suddenly trembled, and then an opening large enough for a single person to pass through appeared in its side.

“Enter within.”

This time, not only the young man, but also the elven scholars who had gathered after hearing the commotion heard that voice clearly.

Drawn onward by the voice, the elves went inside.

A corridor lined with cold, inorganic metal walls.

And in the little chamber at the very end, a sight unlike anything they had ever seen before spread out before them.

“I am the goddess Selene.”

That chamber at the very end overflowed with mysterious light.

The voice issued forth from a sphere set atop a pedestal that would later come to be known as Aarlvarim.

“I shall bestow divine wisdom upon you.”

That had been the first encounter between the goddess and the elves.

“Well then, to begin with…”

The many divine oracles bestowed with those words granted blessings to the elves, and in time, it came to be known as the Ark of God.

“I shall teach you the means to protect this forest where you dwell from those base creatures.”

In those days, the elves were a frail and feeble race to a degree almost unimaginable now.

It was not by choice that they had come to dwell deep within the forest. They had merely been driven there by the other races.

But from that day onward, their history changed.

The young elf who had first received the goddess’s divine oracle became king, and gained the means to receive divine wisdom.

And so, as they learned the truths of magic and passed through the generations, eventually evolving into a race that wielded mighty magic, the time came when the goddess granted them a momentous divine oracle.

“You have already evolved into a race fit to stand at the summit of all the races that inhabit this world.”

The one who received that oracle was a man named Landros.

He was a young elf who had only just ascended the throne as king, and had been granted the honor of receiving the goddess’s words.

“I command you, my apostles among the elves. Rescue me from the traitorous Ten Gods.”

The creation myth commonly known throughout the world had, of course, also been passed down among the elves.

It said that Selene, the goddess of creation, had come to loathe the beings born into the world she herself had created and sought to erase them all, only to be cast into an eternal sleep by the Ten Gods, who condemned her actions.

But the goddess’s voice declared otherwise.

It said that the Ten Gods’ betrayal, born of their own desires, had been twisted into a false history designed to make it seem as though they themselves were justice, and that this fabrication was what had become the creation myth.

“They sought to take my place and become the gods of this world, and so they sealed me within the Ark of God.”

The Ark of God.

The divine vessel that had descended upon this world in the age of creation, when no life had yet budded forth.

According to the creation myth passed down among the elves, that ship had carried the seeds that allowed countless lives to sprout, then fallen into slumber together with the goddess after filling the world with life.

But the goddess said that while this was true, it was also false.

“It was not to protect the world that they put me and the Ark to sleep. It was simply that, to the Ten Gods who wished to create a world suited to themselves, my existence as the Creator God was an obstacle.”

The truth of the creation myth.

For Landros, who had only recently inherited the throne, it was a shocking revelation.

To the elves, who had been saved and elevated by the wisdom the goddess had bestowed upon them, the goddess’s words were absolute truth. The very notion of doubting them did not exist.

After a brief silence, Landros asked the goddess whether there was any way to save her from captivity.

“The Ten Gods’ seals have weakened with the passage of what seemed like eternity, and all but the last have now been broken. The very fact that I am now able to deliver my voice to you is proof of that.”

But the final seal placed by the Ten Gods still remained intact.

The goddess said that if only that last seal were broken, she would be freed, and in turn would be able to seal away the Ten Gods instead.

“From this point onward, I shall bestow upon you, my apostles, the mission you must carry out as a divine oracle. Listen well.”

At the divine words echoing forth from Aarlvarim, Landros straightened his back and listened intently.

He finally understood the true reason the elves had been chosen by the goddess.

The time had come for them, who had been saved by the goddess, to repay that grace.

“My beloved children of the elves. In the name of Selene, the Mother Goddess, I command you: free me from the Ten Gods’ seal, and guide the world to its rightful form.”

◆　◇　◆　◇　◆

“With this, even you inferior races should be able to understand that we elves are the goddess’s apostles, yes?”

Rastel puffed out his chest arrogantly as he looked up at the Demon King.

His expression overflowed with confidence in the belief that they alone had been chosen by the “Goddess of Creation.”

If what he had just said was true, then I could at least understand why the elves had always been so exclusionary toward the other races.

They probably saw every race besides themselves as inferior beings not chosen by the goddess, and thought that while it might be acceptable for them to serve beneath the elves, it was laughably presumptuous for them to seek a relationship on equal footing.

From the perspective of those on the receiving end, of course, the elves could only seem arrogant and exclusionary.

That said, the elves who had lived elsewhere, my mentor included, were nothing like that.

The best example of that was the now-vanished Eldwa Autonomous District.

“Demon King. I shall ask you once more.”

Rastel continued, an arrogant smile pasted across his lips.

“Will you heed the words of our merciful goddess and accept the honor of placing yourselves under our command for the destruction of the ‘goddess’s cage,’ which has stolen the goddess’s freedom and twisted the world?”

“Place the demons under the elves’ command… you say?”

Anger crept into Faura’s voice.

She herself was a kind girl.

But even if she had borrowed Empipi’s power, she was still unquestionably the empress who had pacified the chaotic Demon Territory, where conflict had never ceased.

“You think I would accept such a demand?”

Hearing that voice resound through the audience chamber, most people would probably have started trembling.

It was Empipi’s voice run through the voice changer.

It had probably activated some function meant to inspire fear and awe in whoever heard it.

Even I might have broken into a cold sweat if I had not known that the one speaking so cutely right in front of me was Faura.

“So that means you have no intention of heeding the goddess’s words, correct?”

And yet it seemed to have had no effect whatsoever on the man at whom that voice was directed.

Without the slightest sign of changing his attitude, Rastel looked up at us, no, at the Demon King, with eyes as if he were gazing upon something pitiful.

“Well, very well.”

Then, after giving a small shake of his head, Rastel backed down.

From the way he had acted and spoken up to this point, I had expected him to press the matter harder, but his retreat was unexpectedly abrupt.

“Oh? How graceful of you.”

“I have no intention of dragging out pointless negotiations any longer with lesser breeds.”

Turning his back on the Demon King, Rastel started walking and opened the doors leading out of the audience chamber.

“Just be sure you do not come to regret spurning our goddess’s wish.”

After exchanging a few words with the attendants waiting outside, he left only that parting remark behind and disappeared through the doors.

—

“—What do you think?”

“It was obviously suspicious.”

After the meeting with the elf, Faura gathered the Volga Empire’s high officials and gave them her report.

Nikka, Grassa, Cheki, and I were also present, since she wanted to hear perspectives from the human and dwarven sides as well.

For the record, she had not repeated Rastel’s words verbatim.

If she had, there was a chance the more hot-blooded demons might act rashly.

Even Faura herself was raging inside of Empipi after Rastel left, after all.

“Even if he truly received a divine oracle from the goddess, no one in their right mind would think, from that attitude of his, that he sincerely wanted our help.”

“Probably not. If that’s the case, then he must have had some other reason for requesting an audience with the Demon King. Can anyone think of what it might be?”

I looked around at everyone assembled in the room.

“Um… I have no idea.”

“I can’t think of anything either.”

“Reconnaissance on enemy territory… maybe? Ah, but the elves aren’t hostile to the demons right now, so that probably isn’t it.”

Nikka, Grassa, and Cheki all shook their heads together.

Maybe it had been too much to expect an answer from those three.

“I fought elves many times at the Border Fortress.”

Back when I was stationed at the Border Fortress, most of the battles that broke out from time to time were against the monsters trying to spill out of the Demon Forest.

Those monsters were powerful, but thanks to the fortress’s warriors, we always managed to hold them back with only minor losses.

The elves were different.

Every time they attacked in an attempt to bring down the fortress, they employed scheme after scheme, and there were even times when they infiltrated the inside and left multiple dead behind.

That was how cunning they were, and each individual one was strong in combat too. Strong enough that the me from those days had nearly been killed more than once.

When I explained that, Nikka spoke up uneasily.

“Even you couldn’t beat them, Mr. Toa?”

I answered her worried look with a smile.

“That was a few years ago. If it were now, I’m confident I could handle about five of them at once.”

“Five? I don’t know that much about elves either, but don’t they use incredibly powerful magic?”

Grassa said that with a startled expression.

“Even if their magic is powerful, the variety of magic they can use is limited, so there are plenty of ways to deal with them.”

Magic had affinities, just like rock-paper-scissors.

Fire was weak to water, water was weak to earth, and so on.

When it came to magic, I could not use the single strongest spells.

But as far as I knew, I could wield every attribute of magic.

Fire, wind, water, earth, space…

If I combined them, I was confident I would not lose to anyone.

I had been sent to the Border Fortress and put through brushes with death again and again.

But if I had not gone through all that, my rare ability, 【Multiple Magic】, probably never would have awakened.

Nikka’s 【Resurrection】.

Grassa’s 【Duplicate】.

Cheki’s 【Appraisal】.

Maybe the reason these three holders of unique skills were now with me was because they had been drawn to the special power I possessed, 【Multiple Magic】.

I could only feel grateful toward the mentors at the fortress who had seen through that trait in me and raised me accordingly.

Well, during training, I had resented them sometimes because it was so brutally harsh.

“Mr. Toa really is amazing. Even with my power, yours is the only one I can’t see.”

“Come to think of it, you did say that.”

It had been a little while ago.

I had asked Cheki to tell me in more detail about her 【Appraisal】.

Her ability let her look at a target or object with her skill and discern things like race, and depending on the case, even names and attributes.

But unlike the cheat abilities you saw in the novels I knew, it apparently did not display numerical stats, and it could not reveal detailed information down to every last detail.

Still, it did seem to convey certain things intuitively, such as whether something was dangerous or not, and whether the target harbored hostile intent.

Curious about that power, which had even seen through Empipi’s true identity, I asked Cheki to use it on me as well.

She had been reluctant, saying she could not appraise a companion, but I pressed her into doing it, and the result was exactly what she had just said.

“I can’t see anything.”

Whether that was because I was a reincarnator from another world or for some other reason, I had no idea.

But even just learning that “there are things Cheki’s power cannot see” had made it worthwhile.

“So then, what should I do?”

Faura’s voice snapped me back to the present.

What we needed to discuss now was the problem of the elves.

Judging by Rastel’s manner, it did not seem as though the elves would turn hostile to the demons immediately just because their offer of cooperation had been refused.

But that was precisely why it did not sit right with me.

He had seemed prepared from the beginning to be turned down, and more than that, he had almost looked as though he was trying to provoke us into refusing him.

“I guess we’ll have to go investigate.”

“Go where?”

“To the elven nation, obviously.”

At my answer, everyone in the room stared at me blankly.

“You mean the elven nation inside the Illusion Forest, right? Only people chosen by the elves are allowed in there.”

Nikka was the first to speak.

“Only merchants who trade with them, or diplomatic missions from other countries that received permission, right?”

“Exactly. And I’ve heard from my father that there’s just a little guest house near the edge of the forest, and that’s as far as anyone can go.”

Grassa’s father was a merchant.

So he had probably heard that from traders who did business with the elves.

“Even back when the Eldwa Autonomous District still existed, anyone who wasn’t a full-blooded elf was made to wait outside. They were that closed-off.”

Picking up where Grassa left off, Cheki added that.

“Really? I assumed people could move back and forth freely back then. Was that not the case?”

“No. Not every elf was supportive of the Eldwa Autonomous District. Especially the ones who stayed shut up in the forest.”

Now that she mentioned it, Luchimada had said the same thing.

The Eldwa Republic had not been united. There had been many dissenters who refused to accept elves and dwarves joining hands.

And it should have been one such faction that knowingly brought him into their fold despite being aware he was a demon.

“I’d never gone to the elven nation even once myself. Apparently some people tried forcing their way in too, but not a single one of them made it to the inner parts—”

“It’s fine. I can get in.”

Cutting Cheki off before she could continue, I declared that with complete confidence.

Then I pulled a certain magic tool out of storage.

“Th-That’s…”

“You brought that with you?”

“When did you…?”

That was right. It was the one-of-a-kind magic tool Luchimada had created by staking everything on his revenge.

“With this 【Illusion Canceler】, I should be able to break through the Illusion Forest and sneak into the center of their nation.”

It was the only magic tool capable of breaking through the Illusion Forest: the 【Illusion Canceler】.