TERNLF Vol. 3 Chapter 3 Part 4

“Oho. Fate really was an interesting thing.”

“Huh?”

I tilted my head, wondering what on earth he had suddenly started talking about.

“Oh, it really was. Toa dear, you were quite the ladies’ man.”

“And here it had not even been that long since you left the fortress, yet you had already gathered several girls around you.”

Gathered girls around me?

I had done no such thing.

“H-Hey, you two. What are you even talki—”

I was left flustered by what sounded like complete nonsense.

“The girls I sold that robe to were companions of yours, were they not?”

“To think you got a present from girls like that. Toa dear, you really were quite popular.”

Only after hearing Rish’s and Lentret’s words did I finally understand what the two of them were talking about.

“No way… the pair who sold that robe to them were…”

“We were.”

Nikka and the others had definitely said it was a dwarf-and-elf pair.

But the thought that it could have been Rish and Lentret had never once crossed my mind.

“Then does that mean… the person you meant to give this robe to was me?”

“Oh? So you even heard that much.”

“Indeed. We heard you were coming back to the fortress, so those of us with free hands made it.”

When I left the royal capital, I had sent a letter to the fortress using a means of communication called a Courier Bird.

You could think of a Courier Bird as this world’s equivalent of a carrier pigeon. That said, the pigeons in this world were several times larger than the ones from my previous life, and their flight range was on a completely different level.

In that letter, I wrote that I would be heading to the fortress with a couple of companions.

I did not go into too much detail, though, since I had to consider the risk that someone else might read the letter if an accident happened along the way.

“But no matter how long we waited, you never showed up.”

“Don’t tell me… you got worried and came looking for me?”

If that were true, then I really had done something awful.

I should have contacted them while I was in the dwarven kingdom.

I had just started regretting that, when—

“As if.”

“Huh?”

“We just came here on other business. We only brought the robe along because we thought there was a chance we might run into you by coincidence while we were here.”

“Thanks to that, we managed to earn some travel money and that helped quite a bit.”

The two of them said that as casually as could be.

“I never thought I’d be the one to get pickpocketed.”

“That was why I told you over and over to put it in your storage bag.”

“But hanging it from my waist made it feel more like I was really traveling, did it not?”

“If things had kept going like that, you would have been the only one sleeping outside instead of at the inn.”

“That might have been amusing too.”

“Gahahaha.”

“Ahahahaha.”

Listening to their ridiculous exchange, as close as ever, filled me with a deep sense of nostalgia.

A dwarf and an elf.

Most people said those two races got along like cats and dogs, but these two had always been close.

It’s not like they’re in a romantic relationship; I had heard long ago that they were simply old friends bound together by a long, tangled history.

Still, neither the two of them nor anyone else at the Border Fortress ever told me more than that.

I would have been lying if I said I was not curious what had happened in their past to make them so close, but I had no hobby of prying into other people’s history.

I did not want to talk about my previous life either, if I could help it.

Partly because my memories of it were vague, but more than that because the painful memories leading up to my death were things I would rather not recall.

“I understand about the robe now.”

Pinching the collar of the perfectly fitted robe, I finally got to the main point.

“So then, why did the two of you come all the way out here?”

The Border Fortress had other formidable warriors besides them, but even so, dealing with the monsters from the forest and the elves was no easy task.

And yet those two, who were among its main fighting force, had come all the way north across the continent.

There was no way this was just sightseeing.

“Hm. Perhaps meeting here was the goddess’s guidance.”

“Perhaps. Since things worked out this way, we might as well have Toa dear help us too.”

“If that is settled, then there is no point standing around.”

At Lentret’s words, Rish nodded, created three chairs out of earth magic, and sat down.

After waiting for Lentret and me to sit as well, Rish began to speak.

“The truth is, not long after Toa headed for the royal capital, the elves’ sabotage stopped.”

“Stopped? Those same people who had been pulling annoying tricks nearly every day?”

“That is right. Ten days would not have been strange. There had been times before when they disappeared while preparing for a major assault…”

But even after twenty days, then thirty, not a single elf appeared.

Growing suspicious, the people at the fortress followed the eastern coastline and went to scout the elven forward base built just before the Illusion Forest.

However, even at that forward base, which ordinarily should have been defended by several elves, there had apparently been no sign of them.

“We knew something was wrong, but even if we wanted to investigate, once you entered the Illusion Forest, you got lost. So we had to decide what to do.”

“We thought that if anyone might have some information, it would be the Volga Empire, since they trade with the elves. So the two of us came to gather intelligence.”

“And I cannot pass through the dwarven tunnels by myself.”

“And I cannot get elves to talk if I go alone.”

I see.

Now I understood why these two had been chosen specifically. It was not just because they got along well.

“So, did you find anything out?”

But the two of them shook their heads.

“We do not know anything for certain, but apparently even in the Volga Empire, elves have hardly been seen lately.”

“Other than elves like me who abandoned the elven nation, it seems all of them returned to the forest without saying a word.”

Now that she mentioned it, I really had barely seen any elves in the Demon Capital.

The Empire and the elven nation were supposed to trade with each other, yet I could not remember seeing a single elf who looked like a merchant.

“So we could hardly go back with only that much. We thought maybe something had happened in the Illusion Forest, so we decided to go investigate just in case.”

“And while we were resting here on the way, a familiar-looking face came riding in on a strange lizard.”

“And then we thought it might be fun to surprise you, so we hid and watched. But then you got caught by that thing. So we had no choice but to save you.”

So I nearly died for the sake of a surprise.

…No, I knew it was my own fault for letting my guard down.

If I had still been the me who lived at the Border Fortress, I might have noticed the two of them hiding, and more importantly, I should have been able to avoid a dungeon’s attacks easily.

“There is a lot I want to say, but first…”

I closed my eyes for a moment, then bowed my head to them.

“Thank you for saving me.”

Now that I understood why they had come here, it was my turn to explain everything that had happened to me since leaving the fortress.

How I returned to the Kashit family and, exactly as expected, was formally cast out from the noble house.

How I followed what I had been taught at the fortress and went to register with the Adventurers’ Guild, only to end up nearly being assassinated there.

How I met Nikka and Grassa amid all that chaos.

And how I fought against those after them because of the rare skills they possessed.

I also told them how I left the matter of dealing with the corrupt nobles in the royal capital to my brother, and chose instead to head for the fortress for the sake of Nikka and the others’ safety.

“I see. So that was why you sent a letter saying you were bringing two girls back with you.”

“We really thought you had already found yourself a bride.”

Apparently, at the Border Fortress, quite a few people believed I was returning to introduce my future wife.

To think that not writing the details about Nikka and the others had led to that sort of misunderstanding… that was a blunder.

“I am starting to feel less and less like going back to the fortress…”

It was obvious as fire that I was going to be teased relentlessly.

As I slumped my shoulders, Rish tilted his head.

“So then, could you tell us why you lot, who were supposed to come to the fortress, ended up in the Volga Empire instead?”

The Empire was not merely off the route from the royal capital to the fortress. It was in the opposite direction.

Rish’s question was perfectly reasonable.

“There is a complicated reason for that too.”

I told them about the kidnapping incident that happened on the way to the fortress.

I told them everything I experienced in the Dwarf Kingdom, including the special skill Cheki possessed and the tragedy Luchimada described as having befallen his homeland.

“Hm. From the way you speak, this Luchimada must have been quite strong.”

“Yeah. He was strong… really strong.”

I muttered that while recalling my battle with Luchimada.

“To hear even you say that.”

“If we are talking about magic alone, I lost completely.”

“That demon named Luchimada was part of the Progenitor Lineage, was he not? There was only so much a human like Toa dear could do.”

“But I never thought I would lose.”

At Rish’s repeated nodding, I only shrugged.

If it came to a direct clash of raw power, there were countless opponents I would never be able to beat.

But I had been taught again and again at the fortress that battle was not decided by strength alone.

Those who possessed power were easily intoxicated by it and prone to overconfidence.

That became their greatest opening.

In the end, the proof was that Luchimada lost to me precisely because he overestimated his own strength.

“…Still, I am impressed you remembered the side tunnel I told you about long ago.”

“I only heard about it once when I was little, but I remembered it because, as a kid, I really wanted to ride it.”

A minecart racing at high speed underground had sounded like something straight out of an adventure film or a game. Of course it would stick in my memory.

In reality, though, it was just a dark tunnel with no lights, not exactly something you could enjoy for the scenery.

“By the way, that girl Cheki you mentioned earlier was the one among those three, right? The half-elf one.”

“Yeah. We had no idea Cheki was a half-elf, so that shocked us.”

“So in other words, you came to the Volga Empire as that girl Cheki’s escort.”

“That is right.”

Then I continued and told them about everything that happened after reaching the Volga Empire.

I left out the Demon King’s true identity, though.

Unlike Nikka and the others, whose circumstances I would have to explain when asking the fortress to shelter them, I judged that there was no need to reveal Faura’s secret yet.

So I glossed over that part and brought the story up to the point of the elf, Rastel, coming to visit.

“Oh? An elf came to meet the Demon King?”

“That is new information.”

I told the two of them about Rastel’s baffling behavior.

And I told them how, because I found those actions suspicious, I had decided to head for the elven nation.

After hearing the whole story, Rish and Lentret spoke in turn.

“So he went out of his way to demand help in taking down the fortress, yet the moment he was refused, he simply left without showing the slightest attachment to the matter…”

“That certainly is strange behavior for an elven envoy, considering their pride is usually higher than a mountain.”

“We know from bitter experience just how impossible those people are to reason with.”

“How did they become such a people, I wonder… Back when I still lived in the country, they were a much gentler and more honest race.”

Lentret let out a sigh.

I had never heard the full story, but apparently it had been more than a hundred years since she left the elven nation.

Even if elves lived far longer than humans, a hundred years was more than enough time to change an entire race.

“Judging from what Toa said, it still seems likely that the so-called ‘goddess’ who grants oracles to the elves is at the heart of it.”

“Perhaps. But do you think this ‘goddess’ is the same ‘goddess’ we know?”

“That, I cannot say. However…”

Rish went that far, then glanced at me and fell silent.

“What is it?”

“No, nothing. It is only that the goddess was sealed away by the Ten Gods and should still be asleep even now.”

As Rish tilted his head with a troubled look, Lentret voiced her own thoughts.

“If that is the case, then maybe someone is using the goddess’s name falsely in order to manipulate the elves?”

“But that elf named Rastel said the elves of today had become so powerful thanks to receiving the goddess’s wisdom, wisdom only a creator god could have known…”

“Toa, did you hear what kind of wisdom that was?”

At that question, I shook my head.

“No, but… you know what the elves were like back then, don’t you, Lentret?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Then you should be able to tell how much they have changed compared to the elves of today, right?”

“The elves of the time when I was there really were a far weaker race than they are now. Even so… no, precisely because of that, we all lived by helping one another. And of course, we never looked down on other races either.”

“So they really are completely different from the elves of today.”

“Yes. I once tried going back to the elven nation myself to find out what had happened, but just as I said earlier, I could not get through the forest anymore.”

Apparently, the illusion magic cast over the forest had grown even stronger than it used to be, which was why even Lentret could not break through it.

So she tried to gather information from elves traveling in and out of the forest instead, but elves who abandoned the forest were known as “stray elves,” and to the elves still living within the forest, they were no longer considered kin.

Not a single one of them listened to anything Lentret said, and none gave her any information.

“I do not think we will get inside this time either. But after hearing all this, I think I can no longer afford to give up on investigating that country.”

Lentret nodded as she said that, her eyes filled with resolve.

“That is true. But drawing information out of them may be even harder than before.”

“I plan to use one of my medicines, capture an elf lurking near the forest, and force the truth out of them if I have to.”

A dangerous light flared in Lentret’s eyes.

Maybe she really did have something like a truth serum on hand.

Given that she bore the epithet Herb Elf, it would hardly have been surprising if she made such things.

But Rish shook his head.

“Did I not just tell you? There were no elves even at the forward base.”

“Are you saying you think there are no longer any elves outside the forest who could tell us anything?”

“Indeed. I told you the information we got from asking around in the Demon Capital, did I not?”

Right. Most of the elves in the Demon Capital had apparently returned to the elven nation without giving any explanation.

If that was true, then it meant the elves had gathered all their people into the forest and shut themselves away.

Which in turn meant that there were probably no elves at all anywhere near the forest, making it impossible to extract information from them in the first place.

“In that case, just like I planned, the only option is to force my way through the Illusion Forest and enter.”

The moment I muttered that, Rish and Lentret both looked startled.

“Just like you planned? Surely you were not intending to enter that Illusion Forest?”

“Even we tried countless times to break through that forest and failed. No matter how capable you are, Toa dear, it is impossible.”

Seeing their reaction, I realized there was something I forgot to tell them when I spoke about Luchimada.

I took out from storage the magic tool he had devoted everything to creating.

“What is that?”

“A magic tool?”

The two of them looked puzzled, unable to tell what I had suddenly produced.

So I told them exactly what it was.

“This is the magic tool that the demon named Luchimada, the one I mentioned earlier, created by exploiting dwarven craftsmanship for the sole purpose of breaking through the Illusion Forest, the Illusion Canceler.”

— 

Zack, zack, zack.

As the Mobi Dragon carried us over the pathless wasteland, we headed toward the Illusion Forest where the elves lived.

“This dragon knockoff is surprisingly comfortable.”

“Maybe because its center of gravity is so low. It really is not as bumpy as I expected.”

Even with two more passengers added, the Mobi Dragon’s speed had not changed from when I was riding alone.

From what Faura told me, Mobi Dragons were widely used not only for travel, but also for transporting supplies. If that was the case, then me riding alone had probably been too light a load for it.

“So anyway, if what you two said is right, and the elves really are not keeping watch outside the forest, then that means we should be fine heading straight there like this, right?”

“That is right. At the very least, when the fortress sent out scouts, the elves did not come out even when they got close to the forest.”

“Ordinarily, the moment anyone so much as approached the forest, blades of wind would come flying all at once.”

To the elves, we who defended the Border Fortress were enemies they hated.

We had never once launched an attack from our side, but even so, getting close to the forest had always meant being met with fierce attacks.

“I just hope it is the same when we approach from this side.”

“There is no way to know until we get there.”

At the hope I voiced, Lentret shook her head.

At the Mobi Dragon’s current pace, even factoring in breaks, we ought to reach a point where we could observe the forest by around the evening three days from now.

Once we did, we would get off the Mobi Dragon, approach the forest while confirming whether there really were no elves around, and if we confirmed that there were none, then we would make a dash for it.

The illusions of the Illusion Forest bared their fangs about fifty meters in from the forest’s outer edge.

So first we planned to slip into the outer woods, prepare there, and only then activate the Illusion Canceler before pushing deeper inside.

“But if you use this so-called Illusion Canceler, would that not alert the elves?”

Rish asked that with a puzzled look, and I answered him with a grin.

“That part is fine. I had them investigate all sorts of things in the Dwarf Kingdom, and after that Nikka and the others helped me test it out for real too.”

We had learned that the Illusion Canceler actually had two different abilities.

One was the ability Luchimada had intended to use, the power to cancel out every illusion cast over the Illusion Forest.

But in order to bring out that power, you had to surround the forest, which naturally meant needing several Illusion Cancelers.

“And the other ability is the one we plan to use this time.”

The Illusion Canceler’s second ability.

That was the function I had tested in the Demon Capital on Nikka and the others, the ability to dispel only the illusions affecting the area around the user.

At the time, I had not activated the Illusion Canceler on Nikka and Grassa themselves while they were under illusion magic. What I had actually dispelled was the illusion magic affecting the surrounding space.

“One alone has its limits, but depending on how much mana you pour into the magic circuit, you can widen or narrow the range where it dispels illusions. So this time, as long as I limit it to just enough for the three of us to enter without the elves noticing, I think we will be fine.”