“I-It’s not like I hate her or anything, okay? It’s just, every time I meet her, she pulls some kind of prank on me...”
“But her second name is Apparition...”
“Eeek!”
When Foll went by Valefor, she wore armor fit for a giant. Due to her short stature, the interior was largely vacant, which helped her earn her second name.
“I see... That’s why she’s so good at targeting my weaknesses...” Chastille said as she turned pale and began trembling.
Maybe it would’ve been better not to mention it... For the time being, Zagan decided to watch Chastille carefully as he continued to check out the state of the house.
“It doesn’t seem like there are any traps made with sorcery here.”
Elves avoided conflict when possible, but each of them possessed an extraordinary amount of mana. That was why Zagan assumed they set up traps to protect themselves and their secrets. However, oddly enough, he failed to locate anything of the sort.
“I never once saw the people of my village use sorcery. Perhaps I’m wrong, and they were just hiding it from me, but I don’t think anyone knew how,” Nephy said with downcast eyes.
Aside from sorcery, there was also the power of mysticism, but only high elves like Nephy and Nephteros could wield it.
“Really? But how did they defend themselves? It’s not like they could’ve just avoided all monsters in this place.”
Monsters were living creatures who possessed mana and differed greatly in appearance from people and animals. Among them, there were some who could even understand human speech, and it was rumored that those ones were closely related to demons. However, all they possessed was an impulse for destruction and hunger, so there was no way to ever talk them down.
Their population had grown thin around Kianoides, but monsters naturally attacked everything around them, and elves were no exception. It was said that such beings populated even the parts of Norden humans couldn’t reach.
Instead of answering this, Nephy simply opened a nearby door. It seemed that it led to a parlor with a large table surrounded by rock seats. Unfortunately, all of the seats were now covered in moss. It was obviously not a storehouse, but it still stank of mud. And upon closer inspection, the smell wasn’t all that surprising, as the stone seats were sticking out of the ground. It seemed the stones had been buried straight into the ground.
This was a type of a barrier... Or well, it may have been a means of building up the spiritual aura Chastille had mentioned.
Lizards were creeping about the gaps in the floorboards. Even Zagan, whose castle was once filled with torture devices and skeletons, found it hard to believe people actually once lived there. And on a wall in that room... was a single bow.
“Everyone used a bow like this when it was time to hunt,” Nephy said as she picked up the bow.
Zagan let out a ‘Hm’ in admiration as he gave it a once-over. The bow’s main body was made of wood, but it had been elaborately decorated with silver ornaments. It appeared to be quite valuable, but...
“Those symbols are Celestian, aren’t they?” Zagan spotted crests similar to those on a Sacred Sword on the bow.
“Yes. I don’t quite understand what it means, but it says Exousiai...” Nephy replied with a nod.
“It means ‘Evil’s bane.’ It’s a charm that wards off evil spirits,” Nephteros chimed in on their discussion.
“...You’re going to help us?” Zagan inquired, clearly confused.
“Are you sure it’s fine for you to tell us?”
“...It’s not like Master Bifrons gave me an order to keep quiet. Also, you’re going to head back as soon as you finish investigating this place, right? In that case, I’ll get home faster if I assist you,” Nephteros claimed arrogantly. However, her twitching and swaying ears gave her true intentions away.
This girl’s awfully easy to understand...
“Is something the matter?” Nephteros glared back at Zagan in response to his observant gaze.
“Well, it just seems like I’m the only one you’re treating coldly. Don’t you get tired of that?”
“Huh? Is that really the case?” Nephteros seemed unaware of her own behavior.
“Sure seemed like you were acting a lot more casual with Nephy and Gremory...”
“Perhaps you’re right. I wasn’t really conscious of it, though. It’s just...”
“What?”
“You are... an Archdemon.”
Did that mean she had to pay respect to him? Or perhaps it meant she feared him? For whatever reason, the thought bothered him.
“I’m not your master. I’m not saying to correct your tone, but you’re a guest. There’s no need to strain yourself when dealing with me... for now,” Zagan remarked, shrugging his shoulders at her as he spoke. It was an entirely different matter when she was acting as Bifrons’ servant, but at the moment, she was merely a guest who got dragged into Zagan’s affairs. Given the circumstances, it was his responsibility to treat her well. And after he informed her of his thoughts on the matter, Nephteros relaxed a little.
“Underst... Got it. I’ll talk a bit more casually, then.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Nephy’s ears happily quivered as she heard their exchange. Seeing that, Nephteros glared back at her, barking out her next words.
“What? You got any complaints!?”
“Not at all! Thank you very much, Miss Nephteros. Having someone who understands Celestian is a big help. I’m relying on you.”
“Th-That doesn’t make me happy at all!” Nephteros denied feeling any sense of joy, but her twitching ears acted as a dead giveaway once more.
This kind of feels like a sibling rivalry or something... Nephteros had once tried to hurt Nephy, but Nephy had put that aside and was trying to accept her. Fighting and then making up afterward was textbook sibling rivalry. The sight made Zagan suddenly remember something.
“I want to save her. And then, I want to teach her as her senior...” When Nephteros was singing her celestial mysticism, her memories flowed into Zagan. That was why he knew that she didn’t detest Nephy at all. In fact, she had even wanted to save Nephy after seeing how the people of her village treated her. Her current reactions made him think those feelings still resided within her. No, perhaps it was better to say those feelings had been reignited after all the time they spent together.
“This is likely a weapon built on the same concepts as a Sacred Sword... Though in comparison, it works a lot more like a toy. Simply drawing the string will allow anyone to fire off an arrow made of mana. Well, if they can actually use mana, anyway.”
“I see. The bow itself must be an antique, then...” Zagan commented.
“I think you’re right. This probably wasn’t made by the residents of this village. I’d say it’s from an age where high elves like myself and... this girl here were still common.”
“Is it something valuable?” Nephy tilted her head to the side as she asked that question.
“I’d say the words ‘legendary weapon’ fit best. If the church got their hands on it, they’d probably enshrine it as a new sacred treasure or something.”
“Uh, wouldn’t that... put it on the same level as the Sacred Swords?” Chastille asked. Their discovery seemed to have stunned her.
“It’s not quite on that level, but it’s probably only a step below it. At the very least, it’s far more powerful than your Anointed Armor.”
Chastille’s shoulders drooped down.
“Ugh, I finally came fully equipped and this happens...”
It made sense that a hidden elven village had such powerful artifacts lying around. In any case, Nephteros appeared to be quite proud of unraveling the mystery. Even the hostility she usually pointed toward Nephy had eased up.
Maybe I’m worrying too much... It may have been unreasonable at present, but perhaps the day would come where the two of them could spend time together happily.
After fixedly gazing at
the bow for a while, Chastille let out a nod in admiration and spoke up.
“If I remember right, legends say elves are masters of the bow. They’re a race who have a high amount of innate mana, so maybe this type of weapon suits them best.”
“...Thanks for the explanation. Think you can keep a little further away from me, though?” Nephteros asked. Before anyone knew it, Chastille had started clinging to the hem of her mantle.
“B-But the room over there is so dark! I keep thinking something’s going to pop out of there suddenly, so I just...”
“Are you really an Archangel? You’re saying the church actually puts you on the same level as that butler?” Nephteros looked to be truly astonished by that fact. However, she didn’t shake off Chastille’s hand despite her rather evident disdain. Instead, she simply returned the bow to Nephy, then walked away.
“Tell me, how long do you plan on just standing around? We need to finish looking through all the rooms before the others finish preparing dinner, remember?”
“W-W-W-Wait up!”
Nephteros walked ahead of the group with Chastille still clinging to her.
Zagan and Nephy exchanged befuddled glances before following them with slightly bitter smiles on their faces.
◇
“Even a run-down place like this has some nice liquor, huh?” Zagan let out a sigh of admiration as he knocked back some wine from a bottle he found in the cellar. It seemed to be quite well-aged wine, and its refined maturity danced about his tongue.
He was currently in one of the bedrooms in the village elder’s manor. It was fairly empty, sporting only a plain side table next to a wooden bedframe and a small bookshelf with several handwritten books lining each row. After skimming through them, he quickly realized they were journals written in the language of elves.
The bed was packed with straw instead of cotton. Zagan tried taking a seat on it, and he found it quite pleasant. Usually, he slept on his throne, so actually sleeping on his back was a good change of pace. Moreover, this was the first time Nephy’s room was completely separate from his, which allowed him to relax more. Back at the castle, Nephy’s room was directly above the throne room. That meant she had to walk through the throne room to get to any of the common areas, so he had to be ready to meet her at any moment.
Zagan recalled what went on during dinner as he sat there and indulged in the wine. In the end, there were no traps in the manor that used sorcery or mysticism. After going back to reconvene with the rest of their group, the search party found dinner laid out for them in one of the larger rooms of the manor. The cooking team had managed to make a decent dinner out of whatever ingredients were left in the kitchen. However, since Foll decided to “help” with preparations, there was barely enough food left to fill everyone’s bellies.
Gremory messed with Nephteros again as they ate. Zagan couldn’t help but think she did it on purpose to ease Nephy’s mind.
“Nephy... looked quite perplexed,” Zagan said with a sigh as he gazed at the bright red liquid in his glass.
Her face... or rather, her ears told him that she didn’t really know how to react, and that worried her far more than the state of her hometown. It appeared Gremory and Kimaris had caught on to her predicament as well. That was fairly surprising, as they’d only known her a short while.
Zagan was, of course, worried about her, but he knew asking someone if they were alright when they clearly weren’t was irritating. Due to all that, their meal ended without Zagan even getting in a word. And after that, they all split up and went to rest in their rooms. For better or worse, the place had more than eight bedrooms, so everyone got their own.
Chastille, surprisingly, ended up taking dinner over to Barbatos. That undesirable friend of Zagan’s had not woken up by the time dinner rolled around. Perhaps he had hit him a little too hard.
“That man may be utter trash, but he also has a good side that he shows once in a while. Sure, I’m stuck here because of his antics, but I got to meet you and Nephy and Zagan thanks to that,” Chastille had said. Barbatos had been protecting Chastille on Zagan’s command, so he had himself to blame, as well. Though, he was surprised that Chastille had stopped hating him.
Barbatos doesn’t seem that bothered by it anymore, either... Well, all things considered, that was probably a good sign.
“More importantly, is Nephy...” Zagan finally had his own private room, but all he wanted to do was talk to Nephy. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what to say when Nephy was so clearly upset. Plus, there was also the fact that she probably wanted to be left alone, though what was the point of inviting him, in that case?
“...How ridiculous. I’ve got no reason to worry, right?” Zagan shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind after worrying over such thoughts for over half an hour. Then, he took the wine bottle in hand and stood up.
If I can’t think of anything to say, I’ll just stay by her side! Both Zagan and Nephy were terrible at putting their feelings into words. That was why they usually nestled up to each other when they were troubled. Why had he been hesitating when the answer was so obvious?
Oh, someone’s here... He didn’t realize it because he was lost in thought, but there was someone pacing restlessly in front of his door. After taking several steps to the right, they spun around and walked to the left. Zagan could tell that they had been repeating this cycle for quite some time now.
Nephy... No, those aren’t her footsteps... Nephy always took great care to walk about silently, so Zagan would have known right away if that were her. Still, such light footsteps surely didn’t belong to Kimaris or Barbatos either, which meant it was likely a woman. Having said that, they weren’t light enough to be Foll’s or loud enough to be Chastille’s. Perhaps Gremory fit, as she could morph her body as she pleased, but she also wasn’t very meek. In that case, the only remaining suspect was...
“What are you doing here... Nephteros!?”
“Erk?!” Nephteros stiffened up completely, a surprised look on her face, as Zagan swung his door open.
Seeing that expression on someone with the same face as Nephy is pretty refreshing... No matter what happened, Nephy would never make that kind of face. Nephteros’ mouth was flapping open and shut for a while, as she was unable to say anything, but eventually, she brushed back her silver hair in an attempt to keep up appearances.
“I just happened to be passing by.”
“Oh, that’s nice...” Zagan decided to spare her dignity and let her lie slide. And though Nephteros averted her face from him in a huff, he could tell she had some business with him from the way she was casting him fleeting glances.
I want to head over to Nephy right away... Zagan wanted to be rid of Nephteros, but he had decided to treat her like a guest earlier, and a guest deserved some courtesy. Left with no other choice, Zagan tried to cut straight to the chase.
“Do you want something?”
“Um, well...” Nephteros winced and began to mumble. It seemed being questioned had gotten her all worked up.
What a troublesome girl... Since urging her had done nothing to help his situation, Zagan simply stared at Nephteros and waited for her to respond. Eventually, she seemed to realize he was waiting for her to act. And then, she stuck out what she was carrying in her arms, a conflicted look on her face.
“Here, I came to return your mantle.”
“My mantle?” Zagan remembered what she was talking about as the words left his mouth.
Now that I think about it, I gave this to her when she lost her clothes on the boat, didn’t I? Zagan had saved Nephteros when she was transformed into a monster by the residual thoughts of the Demon Lord. And at that time, he lent her the mantle in question.
“That’s odd. You came all the way here just to return it?”
“Weren’t you the one who said I had to return it myself!?”
“I did?” Zagan was focused on brewing up his ‘gift’ to Bifrons back then, so he didn’t really remember much of what he sai
d. At any rate, she brought it over all the way to him. He had to accept it graciously.
“Hm? Was it always this... pretty?” Nephy had mended it a number of times, but the fabric was quite old. Moreover, he remembered it being damaged heavily during his battle with the Sludge Demon Lord. And, as Zagan tilted his head to the side in confusion, Nephteros averted her gaze from him. The tips of her ears had started to go red.
“Fixing up tattered clothing is the least I can do.”
“You mended it for me? Good job,” Zagan said as he tried on the mantle, a strained smile on his face.
“Wow, not bad. If you ever get fed up with Bifrons, come to my castle. There’s a whole mountain of work waiting for you.”
“...Do you take me for some sort of laundry lady?”
“No, you also happen to know a lot about celestial mysticism, so you’re far more than that.”
“Well, I’ll think about it,” Nephteros replied, scoffing back at him as if she didn’t hate the idea entirely. At the very least, Zagan couldn’t sense any enthusiasm or disdain in her words.
“I assume things are going well with Bifrons?”
“I wonder...” Nephteros pulled a piece of paper out from the mantle as she said that. On first glance, it appeared to be the invitation Bifrons sent Zagan, but there was a unique mechanism woven into it. One that made a mana-powered fist swoop down on Bifrons any time they angered Nephteros.
“Oh, yeah. Allow me to thank you for this little trinket. It’s taught Master Bifrons the importance of personal space.”
“Now that’s unexpected. You sure he learned his lesson? Doesn’t really seem like the learning type...”
“Master Bifrons’ head has been blown off several times already. It’s like they say: fear is a powerful motivator,” Nephteros claimed as she shook her head in exasperation.
“Hmmm...” Zagan hadn’t expected that response.
Bifrons still can’t defend against it? Bifrons was an Archdemon. Sure, Zagan set up a fairly intricate trap, but someone so powerful should have overcome it already. Plus, he could have just confiscated the letter if it really came down to it. The fact that Bifrons hadn’t done so already meant they wanted it in place. Perhaps Bifrons actually had learned ‘the importance of personal space,’ as Nephteros put it.
An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride: Volume 4 Page 6