TERNLF Vol. 2 Chapter 4 Part 6

“Then let’s begin our meeting.”

After waiting for the two of them to finish their exchange, I brought up the main point.

“Could you start by telling us what you wanted us to hear so badly that you even cleared the room?”

“So you noticed.”

King Grenga said that, then walked over to a corner of the room. A large mirror had been installed there, and he murmured something under his breath—almost like an incantation—toward its surface.

In an instant, the reflective pane vanished, leaving behind a gaping side opening wide enough for a person to pass through.

“A hidden passage?”

“That’s right. There are several hidden passages in this country that only the reigning king can use. Follow me.”

He stepped into the opening, and we followed after him.

If “only the reigning king can use it,” then the spell must be changed every time the crown changed hands. Thinking it was kind of funny—like a login password that gets updated whenever the administrator changes—I took a step into the mirror’s opening.

“So it’s a separate space?”

“I thought it’d be pitch-black inside, but it’s actually pretty bright.”

Was it accurate to call it “inside the mirror”? Either way, it was a place like a library—dim, but lit by several magical devices. The stone-built room was about the size of two classrooms, with a ceiling roughly three meters high. Rows of shelves stretched all the way up to that height, and the sheer sight of them was overwhelming.

“So many books… I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Me neither.”

“Would you hurry and come over here?”

As we stood there stunned, King Grenga—who had already gone deeper—urged us on.

“Let’s go, Toa.”

We threaded between the shelves toward his voice.

“Have a seat.”

Ahead was a large desk and several chairs. It looked like the books here were meant to be read on the spot. King Grenga was already seated, and two volumes had been laid out in front of him. The moment I saw them, I understood why he’d brought us here.

“What exactly is this place?”

“A place known as the Dwarves’ Memory Vault.”

“Memory Vault… not Record Archive?”

“It’s much the same, but we call it a Memory Vault. From the day the dwarves first came to this land until today, it contains everything—our public history, and our hidden history as well.”

We looked again at the staggering number of books surrounding us. Each one likely contained the dwarves’ records—no, their memories.

“The kingdom had something similar, but this is on an entirely different scale.”

Back when I’d just reincarnated and finally had freedom of movement, I used to visit the library near the royal castle to learn about this world. There had been a corner packed with books on the kingdom’s history and the broader history of the world, including other nations—and I’d managed to learn a piece of this world there. But compared to the collection housed in the Dwarves’ Memory Vault, it had been laughably small.

“So, Your Majesty. What’s written in these two ‘memories’?”

“—They describe why the Eldwa Autonomous District came to exist… and the battle that became the catalyst.”

With a deep furrow in his brow, King Grenga opened a book nearly ten centimeters thick and began to speak.

— 

Long ago, in the vague borderlands between the dwarven lands, the elven lands, and the demon territory, an incident occurred.

According to the records, several years before the trouble began, the demon territory underwent sudden environmental upheaval, and a famine broke out among the demons. As a ripple effect, disputes over food began to erupt along the border as well.

At first, demons merely came to the dwarves and elves living near the boundary and begged them to share their provisions. But both races, known for their insularity, refused. That was when the demons resorted to force.

Dwarves and elves grew sick of demons who stole crops and livestock under cover of night, and each side began taking measures to defend themselves. However, a mere village watch could not easily drive off demons who wielded powerful magic and possessed formidable bodies. No one died, but once the number of injured began to climb, each settlement appealed to its homeland for aid.

What was happening at the border was little more than a series of skirmishes, yet both races had long lived with the fear that these powerful enemies called “demons” would someday push south and threaten their territory.

That fear, in the end, drove both sides into extreme action.

“At first, this record says it’s unclear who moved first. But the outcome was the same. The dwarven army and the elven army used overwhelming numbers to wipe out every demon settlement along the border.”

“Wipe out…?”

“At the time, we knew little of demons. We dwarves and the elves both avoided involvement with other races to an extreme degree, and the demons themselves had never tried to engage with others either.”

Because they did not understand the reality, “demons” became, in the minds of both races, an unimaginably vicious and overwhelming threat. And when that terror reached its conclusion, it became an act of annihilation, one that destroyed everything, noncombatants included.

“Now I understand this much. The demons who were forced to live on the border were the sort who had been driven out by stronger demons. In other words, it was only natural that we kept winning battle after battle.”

But drunk on victory, they did not realize it.

In the village they intended to trample last, a terrifying man was waiting.

“This memory says only that he was a gigantic vampire. But that creature was, without question—”

“Luchimada.”

“Yes. And our army, which tried to raze the village before the elves could reach it, apparently fell in less than a day.”

Even if they were dwarves, numbers meant little against a vampire who possessed the power of a progenitor. And if they had grown complacent after so many easy victories, it would have been worse.

“After that, the elves also suffered defeat, and we were forced to learn anew what demons were capable of.”

Near the lands where dwarves and elves lived, there existed a demon so monstrously vicious that neither side could defeat him. Worse still, they had already attacked countless villages and massacred every demon they found.

There was no way the demons would forgive them.

It took no time at all for an overwhelming dread to spread through both races. When the reports reached both nations, and their leaders met and made a decision, the answer was simple: dwarves and elves would fight together.

“No matter how strong Luchimada was, he was still alone. You can see why it would be impossible for him to protect the entire village for days on end against a coalition army that possessed numbers, strength, and strategy.”

“Even I couldn’t pull that off.”

If he had even one ally, he could have had that person defend the village while he raided the coalition’s camp and crushed them. But Luchimada, however fearsome, could not fight forever without sleep or rest. In the end, he would fall before the coalition’s relentless waves of attacks.

“It says he took a fatal wound while shielding the villagers, but—”

“And even so, he was still alive…”

The coalition, knowing nothing about demons, must have overlooked Luchimada’s core. And once he revived, what he saw was that subspace landscape.

“Even a single demon can wield power on that level. Once we understood that, we feared retaliation. If it became a true war, we would have no chance of victory.”

In fact, I had heard that deeper in the demon territory, there were many demons even stronger than Luchimada. They were individualists, so at that time they likely would not have joined forces to invade, but the dwarves could not have known that.

“If we could buy even a few days, those in the homeland could escape. We concluded that we needed something that could serve as a barrier between our nation and the demon territory.”

“So that’s what the Eldwa Autonomous District was? We were your barrier?!”

At King Grenga’s words, Cheki shot to her feet and shouted.

In other words, the Eldwa Autonomous District had not been created to foster friendship between dwarves and elves. It had been created as a delaying measure in the event of a demon invasion.

For Cheki, the symbol of unity between the two races, that truth was more than enough to shake the foundation of her existence.

“At first, yes… but once the Eldwa Autonomous District was established and exchange between our peoples advanced, our way of thinking changed.”

“It changed…?”

“Yes. Dwarves and elves had spent years avoiding one another, so there was much we did not know. We learned how wonderful the things were that could be created when we combined our strengths.”

At the time, the Eldwa Autonomous District produced many magic tools, weapons, and works of art that drew on the best of both races. It was said to be so impressive that it even changed the minds of those who had mocked the district as nothing more than a gathering place for eccentrics.

“The district’s presence had already grown immense. Proof of that lies here: my father, a royal aide trusted above all others, a man who handled many affairs of state, was posted there.”

I’d heard in the courtroom that King Grenga’s father had been in the Eldwa Autonomous District… but I hadn’t imagined he’d been that high-ranking.

“In those days, dwarves and elves truly dreamed of a new era. And Racheki… when you were born, that dream was about to become reality.”

King Grenga spoke while meeting Cheki’s gaze head-on.

“But that day… no, it seems the real collapse had begun even earlier.”

“The day” he meant was likely the day Cheki exposed Luchimada’s true identity and her parents were killed.

“As both peoples’ perceptions changed, there were those who could not change with them. Didn’t you find it strange?”

“Strange… in what way?”

“Racheki kept uncovering agitators, and it was even confirmed that demons were among them. Yet none of it became a major issue until Luchimada committed his atrocities.”

He was right.

For a young Cheki to expose their identities, she must have seen them in a place close to the nation’s center of power, something like a royal palace. If demons had infiltrated such a place, it should have caused an uproar. Especially because the Eldwa Autonomous District had been born from fear of demon invasion, they should have been particularly sensitive.

As we fell silent with grim expressions, King Grenga delivered the answer bluntly.

“It’s simple. All of it was covered up.”

“Covered up… by whom?”

“By pitiful ghosts left behind by the times, those who could not accept dwarves and elves as equals.”

In fact, they had originally been the ones to propose the district.

At the time, not knowing what demons truly were, they believed the demons would soon raise an army and attack. So they planned to cram the district with “nuisances,” those who sought reconciliation between elves and dwarves, and then use the demon invasion to eliminate them.

“Yet no invasion came, no matter how long they waited. Instead, the district began producing results, and then a child was even born between our races.”

Two races could join hands. They should deepen their exchange. Those sentiments spread at accelerating speed throughout both nations.

“They knew this could not continue. Even if they wanted to stop it, they had no way to halt the tide… and then they learned that demons were operating in the district.”

They secretly protected the demons whose identities Cheki had exposed and used every means to bury the incident. Because they had once been the mainstream faction, they still retained enough political power to do so, even at that stage.

Eventually, through the demons they protected, they made contact with Luchimada, and they began moving in earnest to destroy the district by using demons as tools. The murder of the royal couple may not have been part of the plan, but they exploited it all the same. In the end, they succeeded in destroying the district and driving an even deeper wedge between the two races.

“They likely believed they were using Luchimada, but in truth, they were merely being used.”

Luchimada’s ultimate objective was the extermination of both dwarves and elves. The one who destroyed the district likely set his next target on the Dwarf Kingdom.

“After the war, Luchimada exploited his ties with them to infiltrate this country. He manipulated them and rose as far as becoming a candidate for the next king.”

With that, King Grenga closed the book on the table.

The hidden history of dwarves, elves, and the district…

Even in another world, even among different races, it was no different from my previous life. I let out a long breath, and for a moment, I even wondered if it would have been better if both elves and dwarves had been destroyed by Luchimada.

While I was thinking that, Cheki’s small voice reached my ears.

“But… it’s still true, isn’t it? That there were people who dreamed of a future where dwarves and elves could live together in happiness.”

There was no despair in her voice.

“Yes. The survivors who dreamed that dream in the district still wish for it even now… like my father. But—”

“Then I’ll make that dream real.”

It was a strong, intensely strong declaration.

She hadn’t raised her voice, but there was power in her words all the same.

“I don’t know how long it’ll take, and maybe what I can do right now is limited.”

“Cheki…”

“But I feel like that future isn’t so far away. Because I already know a country where many races live together.”

As Cheki clenched her fist, King Grenga watched her with narrowed eyes, as if he were looking at something dazzling.

“The country you speak of is the Volga Empire, isn’t it?”

The Volga Empire was a nation forged when the Demon King unified demons who had once been scattered.

“Yes. After I woke up, and until I became an adventurer and stood on my own, I lived in an imperial orphanage the whole time.”

“After you woke up? Come to think of it, how old are you now, Cheki?”

Many years should have passed since the fall of the Eldwa Autonomous District. And yet she looked like nothing more than a teenage girl. I had assumed it was because of her elven blood, but neither her words nor her behavior felt like someone who had lived for a very long time.

“Um… I don’t really know. Because after that incident, I was asleep the whole time.”

Asleep?

“I was sleeping inside a magic tool my dad and mom made.”

After her mother helped her escape, Cheki had climbed into a box-shaped magic tool her parents had told her to use in an emergency. Trembling with fear and crying inside, she eventually fell asleep, and when she woke, decades had passed.

Fortunately, the exit of the hidden passage hadn’t been buried under rubble, so she was able to get out. But what awaited her was the ruined remains of the district.

“No way… they had created a cold sleep device.”

We’d just heard that many technologies had been born in the Eldwa Autonomous District, but I never expected something like that had been invented.

“The one who helped me when I was still little was a merchant from the Volga Empire who just happened to be traveling along a nearby highway.”

The merchant took Cheki to a nearby town and left her with the local office. But there were no records of the district left, and her story was dismissed as a delusion she had invented after being abandoned by her parents. In the end, she was sent to an orphanage.

“Since it was a country built by demons, demons were the most common there. So most of the people who raised me were demons.”

At first, she’d kept her guard up around demons. But once her ability showed her that they truly cared for her, she gradually let down that wall.

“That’s why I can hate Luchimada, but I can’t hate demons… because they were kind to me, even though I wasn’t a demon, the same way they were kind to demon children.”

Under the Demon King’s rule, the Volga Empire had become a prosperous nation. More than that, it was famous as the only country on the continent without discrimination against other races.

Perhaps part of that was because demons were strong enough that they didn’t fear being preyed upon by others. But it was also said that the main reason lay in the diversity of demons themselves.

Unlike other races, they had undergone their own evolution in lands dense with demonic mana. Even within the single category of “demons,” their appearances varied wildly. In a world like that, the presence of other races probably wasn’t something anyone bothered to obsess over.

“There were human kids too, and dwarf kids, and elf kids besides me. So I never imagined the relationship between elves and dwarves was this bad.”

When she turned fifteen and became independent from the orphanage, she chose to travel the world as an adventurer.

“I wanted to see the world. And I was lucky, because I also had the magic power I inherited from my parents.”

After gaining experience, she left the Volga Empire and first headed for the Dwarf Kingdom, her mother’s homeland. But she couldn’t pass through the gates of that closed-off nation, so she stepped into the southern part of the continent, into human territory instead.

“I wanted to see what a country full of humans was like at least once. But on the way…”

In the city of Loch, she let her guard down and was abducted by the Three Idiots.

“I got dragged here, had this unbelievable malice thrown at me, they cut my hair, and even with Luchimada right in front of me I couldn’t do anything. I just thought, fine, whatever, I don’t care anymore.”

“Cheki…”

“But you changed everything. You saved me when I’d already given up on everything.”

Cheki, who had almost looked down, lifted a bright smile toward me as she said it.

“So this time, I wanted to be the one to make the dream come true, the dream dwarves and elves gave up on.”

Her smile, filled with resolve, made me overlap her with who I used to be. I remembered the faces of everyone at the border fortress, the people who saved me when I was cast out of the Kashit family and had nearly surrendered to despair.

“Racheki. Could you grant me a request?”

At that moment, King Grenga, who had been silently listening, finally spoke. He bowed deeply and—

“Racheki Eldwa. In order to confirm the Volga Empire’s position on this matter, I want you to go as a plenipotentiary ambassador.”

That was what he declared.