～【Side: Elves on the Battlefield】～
“That Anemone, she’s late… I’ve been waiting for over an hour already.”
In the forest, dominated by complete darkness, two elves stood on the thick branches of a tree that must have been over a thousand years old.
“We were supposed to wrap up the search for the Urklow quickly and regroup here, right? Did you pass that on to her, Kinseika ?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I think I did…”
“You think you did? Which one is it?”
“Ummm… I might have forgotten. Sorry?”
The elf called Kinseika gave an indifferent tilt of her head, her pale yellow hair waving slightly in the wind.
“You… are something else…”
With a big sigh, the other elf—Rose—looked at her with an exhausted face and said:
“I asked you to make sure she knew.”
“Come on. You know I’m forgetful, right? Why do you ask me to do it? You could have just told her yourself.”
“I had to report to the Elf from the World Tree at that time!”
“Did you?”
“Yes, I did!”
Rose glared at Kinseika with her red eyes, matching the color of her hair.
But Kinseika remained unfazed. Her round eyes, like chestnuts, shimmered with “eyes that see through the darkness” magic as she spoke.
“She’s not here yet. What could’ve happened to her, I wonder, Anemone?”
“…”
Rose sighed again, lowering her eyebrows and letting out a deeper breath this time.
“As a possibility, she might have been spotted by that Urklow … It could have happened.”
“Does that mean she’s dead?”
“…It’s just a possibility.”
“I see…”
Kinseika , still expressionless, asked:
“So, in this case, what are we supposed to do?”
“The number of elves lost in the Urklow extermination mission has already exceeded seven. To prevent further casualties, any team that has taken losses must mark their position and merge with another team… that’s the order.”
“So, we can’t go look for Anemone?”
“That’s the order. From that narcissist sage.”
Rose clicked her tongue with that remark.
Kinseika , after a moment of thought, replied:
“Ah, you mean Marrow, right?”
“If we disobey orders, we’ll all be killed.”
“Yeah. The whole team gets killed for our collective responsibility… but,”
Rose looked down, biting her lip in frustration.
“Anemone… isn’t necessarily dead. She could still be alive. She’s only a little over three hundred years old, but she’s not the type to die easily.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“Maybe, just maybe, she was spotted by the Urklow , but somehow escaped, and is just injured and unable to move…”
“She could just use Healing magic, right?”
“…Right, but maybe she’s out of holy power and can’t use it…”
“Ah, yeah, that’s true.”
Kinseika clapped her hands together.
“Well, then it’s a big problem. We’ve got to go save her.”
“What?”
Without hesitation, Kinseika jumped down from the thick branch, turning to look back at Rose.
“You’re coming too, right? To rescue Anemone?”
“…Is it okay, Kinseika ? If they find out we disobeyed orders, you’ll be in trouble too…”
“I don’t want Marrow to kill me. He probably won’t even take over my research. But,”
Kinseika , with a blank expression, smiled faintly.
“Anemone is more important, right? She’s been my friend since we grew up in the same village.”
“…Yeah. That’s obvious.”
Nodding deeply, Rose also jumped down to the ground.
“Let’s go find her. Anemone.”
＊ ＊ ＊
“I didn’t have any ulterior motive… I just happened to run into that human man while I was in a hurry to pee…”
Anemone.
That was the name of the elf who had interrupted me during my business.
“Don’t lie! What elf just happens to show up right where Lady Alaya is taking a piss!?”
“It’s not a lie…”
“How did you find our location? Tell me!”
“I told you, it was just a coincidence…”
Forced into a kneeling position, Anemone continued to deny, but the soldier from the Bear Demon tribe didn’t ease up and kept pressing.
…Well, I get the frustration. There was the possibility that our team’s numbers and positions had been leaked to the elves.
However,
“Let’s stop. This is just a waste of time.”
“But, Lady Alaya …”
I stepped in, and the Bear Demon soldier frowned, looking troubled.
I understood the need to confirm the information, but I didn’t think this elf would easily betray her people or sell out the mission details.
“Anemone showing up in front of me is most likely a misunderstanding. She had no reason to reveal herself. Let’s leave it at that for now. We have things to do.”
“…Yes. Then, what will we do with this elf? Dispose of her here?”
“No, let’s take her with us. She’s a valuable source of information. After all, even from a random encounter like this, we’ve gained two new pieces of knowledge.”
I tapped the palm of my hand with the wooden staff I had taken from Anemone.
“Anemone has been acting as though I’m an elf from the start. At first, I thought it was because she mistook me for an elf due to my similar appearance, but…”
“I thought it was strange that she was interacting with me without any doubt.”
The staff I held was similar in structure to the one on my back. Inside, there were rolled-up parchment papers, likely her research notes.
“Elves can cast holy magic from this staff. So, it wouldn’t be surprising if the staff had some sort of mechanism built into it.”
“Wait, does it use holy magic to inform distant elves of its location…?!”
“You’re mostly right. And these are the two new pieces of knowledge I’ve gained. First, the location can only be communicated within a range of a few dozen to a few hundred meters. Second, the location is not precise enough to identify an individual.”
“What do you mean?”
I firmly asserted to the confused Bear Demon soldier:
“I’ve had the staff of an elf who ambushed us a few weeks ago in my medical camp on the front lines. However, despite being involved in large-scale battles with elves, we never suffered any surprise attacks. If the staff had been able to pinpoint its location from several kilometers away, the elves would have used that information to execute more effective military operations much sooner.”
“Ah, I see… But what’s your evidence that it can’t identify an individual?”
“I have evidence for that as well.”
I took the staff from my bag and presented it to Anemone.
“This ‘Iberis'”
“!”
Anemone’s eyes widened.
I could feel her emotions shift as the air around us seemed to tremble.
“Anemone, you called this ‘Iberis’s Holy Staff,’ didn’t you? Iberis is likely the name of the elf who originally owned this staff, right? And you knew her.”
“…”
“But you didn’t recognize who it belonged to until you saw the staff itself. That’s the reason I believe it can’t pinpoint individuals.”
“…Yeah, you’re mostly right.”
After letting out a deep sigh, Anemone looked at me with empty eyes.
“Also, Iberis wasn’t just an acquaintance. She was a long-time friend. We were drafted from the same hometown.”
“I see.”
“So, what happened to her?”
“She’s dead.”
I said it plainly.
Just the truth.
“I killed her.”
“…I knew it.”
Anemone slumped, her small shoulders drooping as though drained of strength.
