by Ennki Hakari
“The spell is of limited use in crowded areas.”
Though the spell was incredibly useful for teleporting around, it was limited by how far you could see. In an overgrown forest where you didn’t have a good view of the ground, the risks outweighed its usefulness. You could easily teleport into a swamp, or even off the side of a cliff.
“Huh, I guess that makes sense.” Uhna nodded slowly. “Still, it’s pretty useful!”
Sena, on the other hand, was concerned about all the magic I must have been expending. “It must take a lot of power to use a spell like that.”
Since the base class of Mage also provided supplemental magic, however, it wasn’t much of a burden to continuously use the spell. The black cape hanging from my back, the Twilight Cloak, had the bonus effect of restoring magic at regular intervals while equipped, so I never really ran out of power.
The elven women looked at me with great interest as I continued to teleport us upstream.
Eventually, we arrived at a point where the river coming down from the Furyu mountain range off to the north split into two. The Lydel’s sister stream was called the Librout. In addition to the sheer width of the river, it also appeared quite deep. Considering the volume and speed of the water rushing past, it seemed like people typically crossed farther upstream.
We’d come here because this location served as a guidepost to the elf village of Lalatoya, and also because this was where we’d agreed to meet the others.
I heard a rustle from within the shadows along the banks of the Lydel. Moments later, several people stepped from the trees.
An elven man draped in a tan-colored cloak kept his head on a constant pivot as he walked toward us. Four elven girls came running out after him.
This was Danka, the elf who’d accompanied us on our mission into the Diento slave houses, and the girls we’d saved.
The girls were running straight toward me, so I dropped down on one knee to meet them. Ponta hopped from my head and sat back on its haunches in front of me, instantly becoming the center of the elven girls’ attention as they let out shrieks of joy.
“Kyiiiiiii!”
The girls passed Ponta around, hugging the animal in turn as Ponta cheerfully swung its cotton-like tail back and forth.
Ponta always got all the attention.
“You were faster than I expected. Wait…you don’t actually think you’re bringing him with us, do you?” Danka’s voice dropped as he spoke to Ariane, glancing over to where I knelt.
“He’s done a lot for us. There are some…well, things…that I’d like him to discuss with the Lalatoya elder.”
Danka closed his eyes for a moment before replying. “Try to avoid causing any trouble for the old man.”
Ariane bowed her head slightly, her white hair rippling in the breeze. “I understand.” She turned her attention back to me, tapping my shoulder gently. “Well, we can’t just sit around here all day. Arc, can you take us across the river?”
I stood up slowly and nodded.
It wasn’t much of a river crossing, considering I simply used Dimensional Step to teleport us to the opposite shore. Even though I had to make three trips to ferry everyone across, it didn’t take long at all.
The four girls hung from my shoulders as I teleported them across, leading to a flurry of excited cheers. If I wanted to beat Ponta’s sheer cuteness, I’d need to play up my wild side.
Once everyone was across safe and sound, we made our way into the forest on the other side.
Even though I was still impeded by the large bags of loot, I had nothing to fear, since all of the elves were able to use their spirit magic, at least to some degree.
Unlike our earlier route, where we simply followed the river, our path now took us on a winding journey through the maze of trees.
Given my terrible sense of direction to begin with, I was quickly and completely turned around, so I simply stayed quiet and followed the elves in front of me. If I lost sight of them, I’d almost certainly never find my way back, but as a last resort, I could always use my long-distance teleportation spell Transport Gate to return to town.
Ponta, however, didn’t seem to share my concerns. The cottontail fox busied itself by using its spirit magic to call up gusts of wind, flying high into the air to snack on the fruits and nuts growing in the trees. I patted Ponta gently, causing it to cheerfully flatten its ears against its head.
I was surprised that our party included such young children, but I supposed that was how the elves did things. Even taking small breaks here and there, we were moving through the forest at a rather quick pace.
We reached our destination just as the sky turned a dark shade of crimson, the shadows growing long and bleak.
The forest opened out into a large clearing containing a settlement, though it looked nothing like the human settlements I’d seen. A thirty-meter-tall barrier made out of stacked pieces of lumber, almost like a wall, surrounded the settlement. The wall curved gently around the clearing, wooden pillars standing at various points along the curve. The top of the wall bowed outward in wooden waves, like rat guards on power lines. Farther up the pillars, the greenery increased, giving way to a thorny moss likely meant to catch anyone attempting to climb over. The massive wall gave off an oppressive aura in its superb workmanship and flawless exterior, stretching on as far as the eye could see in either direction.
The entrance consisted of a short, arched doorway, just wide enough for two people to walk through side by side. The gate itself was made of a shiny black metal, held firmly in place in front of the entrance.
Watchtowers stood above the gate, their gently sloping roofs giving them the appearance of large mushrooms growing from the sides of massive trees.
The girls squealed with joy as soon as the gate came into view and began running toward it. Sena and Uhna both let out sighs, looks of happiness—or maybe even relief—showing on their faces.
“We’re finally home!”
“Boy, am I exhausted!”
Two sentries stationed in one of the watchtowers noticed us and began speaking among themselves as they gestured in our direction.
Ariane stood before the gate and called up to them. “Summon the elder at once! It is Ariane Glenys Maple and Danka Niel Maple. We have returned with the captured elves!”
After announcing her name and purpose, she waited silently for a response.
One of the sentries began slowly raising the hunk of metal in front of the entrance, which squeaked as it moved, revealing another gate farther inside. Then this second gate, too, began to rise.
“I’ll get permission from the elder. Arc, wait here.”
As the sentries stepped outside, Ariane slipped through the gate, followed by Danka, Sena, Uhna, and the young girls.
I watched the elves disappear over the threshold, leaving me alone with the two sentries. One glared at me while the other gawked at Ponta, who was perched on my head.
I walked a short distance away from the gate and set the large sacks of gold on the ground, then sat down next to them to await Ariane’s return.
Ponta, however, suddenly had a serious look on its face as it tried to catch its own tail. Round and round, the cottontail fox twisted faster and faster, hoping to claim its prize. It reminded me of the cat I had back home. I wondered if there was something instinctual about the behavior. My mind strayed from one thought to another as I watched Ponta engage in this one-sided struggle.
The sky continued to darken as I waited. I figured about thirty minutes or so had passed.
Above the gates, lanterns of some sort began to emit an orange glow from within the watchtowers, chasing away the darkness. The light seemed almost artificial. It was unlike anything I’d seen in the human towns so far.
Actually, I had seen something like this before, back in the Diento estate…
Ariane stepped out of the entrance, her back illuminated by the same glow. “Arc, the village elder has given you permission to enter! Hurry up!”<
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I stood and hefted the large sacks over my shoulder, making my way toward the gate. Ponta, not wanting to be left behind, bounded after me.
I followed Ariane into the settlement.
The wall was around five meters thick. Though it was undoubtedly an artificial construction, it looked almost like a solid tree. Roots were even growing out from the pillars and into the ground.
After passing through the second gate on the far side of the living wall, we stepped into Lalatoya proper. The village had a rather arcane aura about it.
Inside the walls lay vast fields for farming crops and grazing livestock, the land marked with the occasional wooden structure. In stark contrast to the homes I’d seen in human towns, each of these had the same mushroom roof design. The eaves extended beyond the wooden deck that surrounded each of the buildings. The outer pillars supporting the roofs were carved with unique designs, providing an interesting insight into their culture.
A trail of beautiful stones interrupted this tranquil scene, the path illuminated by torches placed at even intervals along the way. This eliminated any concern I had about getting tripped up while walking in the dark.
The lights seemed to float off into the distance, giving the path a rather mystical appearance under the night sky.
From what I’d seen so far, it seemed like the elves had a much better standard of living than the humans.
As I followed Ariane along the path into the village, we were immediately joined by two soldiers who’d been waiting in side chambers. They kept silent the entire time, likely keeping an eye on me.
After walking a short ways, we arrived at what I assumed was our destination. Directly in front of me stood a massive tree…or rather, a building made out of a tree.
The tree, about as wide as a large house, towered over us. I had no idea how they’d built it, but it looked like some sort of combined natural and artificial creation.
Lanterns flickered from within several windows carved into the massive trunk, looking almost like Christmas lights. The dancing shadows they produced only added to the tree’s majestic and mysterious appearance. It looked like a fairy house, the kind you’d read about in a children’s book.
“This is the elder’s house. Come on.”
Ariane opened the large double doors and ushered me inside. Before I even had a chance to enter, Ponta dove through the open door.
What was that delicious smell?
I followed Ponta into the massive tree. Once inside, we found ourselves standing in an entry hall that seemed to run around the outer perimeter of the house. A massive pillar standing in the center went straight up through the ceiling. Stairways marched off to my left and right, and I could see straight up to the second and third floors, multiple doors lining the walls along the way. Several crystals had been placed throughout the interior of the building, casting a soft glow. These were nothing like the oil lamps I’d seen in human towns.
Ariane stepped forward to join the two elves that stood at the center of the hall.
One was a twenty- to thirty-year-old elven man with long, green-tinted blond hair. He had one eyebrow raised as he watched me closely. He wore what I assumed were the robes of a priest, covered with various elven symbols.
The other was a woman—a dark elf like Ariane—with amethyst-colored skin and her white hair tied back in braids. She wore a simple dress, like you might find on a commoner.
The male elf put out his right hand. “I take it that you are the one they call Arc? You’ve come quite a long way. My name is Dillan Tahg Lalatoya, the elder of this village. I hear you’ve gone above and beyond to assist my daughter.”
The man looked over to Ariane, who seemed to shrink a bit under his gaze.
She’d said that she was affiliated with Maple, but not that she was born here.
I took Ariane’s father’s hand and shook it, then turned my attention to the woman next to him, who offered a gentle smile in return.
“I’m Ariane’s mother, Glenys Alna Lalatoya. I’m one hundred years old.”
I glanced back at Ariane. She shook her head ever so slightly, appearing somewhat embarrassed at her mother’s white lie about her age. In my opinion, once someone lives past a hundred, I don’t think a little fib in either direction matters much, even for humans.
I managed to get over my surprise at their introductions and say a few words. “It’s a great honor to meet you, Your Greatness. I am the traveling mercenary, Arc.”
“Well, we can’t just stand around here all night blathering. Would you care to join us for a meal upstairs while we continue this conversation?” Dillan motioned toward the second floor. I nodded and followed him up the stairs.
He led us to a sprawling room that reminded me of a dining hall. It had large wooden tables and chairs, and was filled with a delightful smell wafting over from a kitchen area in the back.
Ponta rushed up onto the table, sitting patiently on its haunches while waiting for us to make our way over. The village elder gestured toward a seat, so I sat, placing my bags at my feet.
Ariane’s mother, Glenys, said that she would heat up some stew for us and made her way toward the kitchen. Ariane took a seat across from her father, giving him a slight nod.
“My daughter has filled me in on most of the details of what happened. On behalf of the elven people, I would like to offer you my thanks. Frankly speaking, I was surprised to learn that there was a human out there who could use teleportation magic. I was even more surprised that my daughter was able to make use of this unimaginable power to pull off something as remarkable as toppling the marquis…” Dillan scratched the back of his head and gave a rueful laugh.
Ariane seemed entirely unimpressed with her father’s speech and averted her gaze. “I mean, the Rhoden nobility were flagrantly ignoring our treaty. I can hardly imagine they’re in any position to complain about being killed!”
“Be that as it may, your actions were rash. The plan was for you to focus on the slave traders, so why were you in the marquis’ estate?”
Ariane looked unconvinced even as her father scolded her, but she kept her mouth shut.
I decided to change the topic and brought up the ninja girl that I’d run into.
After quietly listening to my story, Dillan stroked his beard. “That sounds like one of the mountain clans… I think the humans refer to them as beastmen? The humans hunt them and use them as slaves.”
Just as I feared, these beastmen were also being persecuted. That cat-eared ninja girl had probably been looking for her comrades.
“This is just a guess, but she could very well be a rescuer, someone dedicated to setting the enslaved mountain people free. I heard they’re the descendants of spies who served under the Revlon Empire nearly six hundred years ago. They have a vast information network—unlike us elves, who just keep to ourselves in the forest.”
Dillan crossed his arms, looking convinced by his own explanation. A moment later, however, his shoulders slumped.
“If this were a normal operation, we’d send a whispering fowl to notify the central powers of our success. However, considering what’s happened, we’ll have to explain everything in person at a general meeting of the elders. Using the teleportation point will consume a lot of rune stones…” The elder rubbed his forehead and let out a heavy sigh.
I suddenly remembered something. “In that case, this might help…”
I yanked my personal bag from one of the large gold-filled sacks and pulled out a stone the size of a child’s fist, handing it to the village elder. Under the lantern light, the stone gave off a slight purple glow, like an unpolished gemstone.
This was the rune stone from the giant basilisk I’d killed while harvesting herbs near the village of Rata.
Dillan turned the rune stone over in his hand, a look of surprise on his face. “Are you sure about this? A rune stone with this level of purity would provide a considerable amount of power to your magic items.”
Rune stones were appar
ently used as a fuel of sorts for various magical items in this world. Considering I lacked any such items, rune stones were little more than pretty baubles to me. It wasn’t a great loss.
“I have no use for rune stones. Also, I found these purchase contracts at the slave trade house.”
I reached back into my bag and pulled out seven sheepskin scrolls, tied with twine. I handed them to Dillan. Setting the rune stone aside, he undid the twine and looked the contracts over.
“The same man, Drassos du Barysimon, is named in five of the seven contracts. I can’t say the name sounds familiar. The other two mention a Lundes du Lamburt and Fulish du Houvan. ‘Houvan’… I recall hearing of a town with that name, located on the route between the Anetto and Telnassos mountain ranges.”
Dillan’s face hardened as he looked over the purchase contracts. When he finally lifted his head, a strained smile had appeared on his face.
“Tomorrow, we will make our way to Maple to report on this incident and hand over these contracts. Since we don’t have any formal relationships with the Rhoden Kingdom, we may need to send Ariane out again to gather information…and possibly rescue other enslaved elves.”
Ariane didn’t seem surprised by this announcement. She appeared to have reached the same conclusion on her own.
I decided this was a good opportunity to address another pertinent issue.
“Do you think you could bring this money with you while you’re at it?”
Dillan looked at me in surprise. “But…isn’t that yours?”
Not only did these sacks contain the proceeds from selling elves into slavery, but carrying them around had gotten to be a huge hassle. I’d already taken my share of the money. Besides, it wasn’t like the people we’d taken it from could make any open demands for its return, considering where it had come from. They probably didn’t even know who’d stolen it. I said as much to Dillan.
After listening to my argument with his brow furrowed, the village elder finally relented. This was, quite literally, a huge weight off my shoulders.
Even though this world had no credit cards or checks, burdening my travels with heavy sacks wouldn’t do me any good, either. The excitement I’d felt while scooping up all of the gold back at the marquis’s estate had slowly turned to regret as I trudged through the forests with these massive bags over my shoulder.