Chapter 162: Toward The Forest
◆Serpent Prince, Dahark
Elios' sea of trees was a vast forest. Outside of that, the northern part was covered with a vast mountain district.
This mountain district was a mine, the place where the dwarves' village was located.
The dwarves dug a hole to mine the ore in the mountain.
We were currently hiding in one of the abandoned tunnels in that place.
Among my subordinates that gathered in this place were warriors from the Yig (Snakeman) and Lamia species.
A snake nest was a perfect name for this place.
Though our forces were also composed of wolfmen, they were currently infiltrating from the forest.
Though the angels sometimes passed by this place, they couldn't find us.
「Young Master. Dahark-sama.」As I was having fun with one of the Lamias in the hole to pass the time, someone called out to me.
That person had two legs like most of the two-legged races.
But that was just a temporary form, that person's true form was just like a Lamia.
That person was the Goddess of Craft, Botis.
This woman clad in a magician’s robe was my mother's most trusted aide, the wisest among the subordinates.
She was our strategist and also the one who had created the snake cult for humans who betrayed Elios.
She granted the most pious followers among the cultists a chance to be reborn as snake humans.
According to rumors, people from Elios seem to call it the Yig's curse.
And Botis came along with me as my watchdog.
「What's the matter, Botis? Do you have business with me? I did as you said and avoided confrontation with Alphos.」
I glared angrily at her as I asked that question.
「Do you really want to fight him so much?」
「That's only natural, Botis!」
And she forbade me from fighting Alphos.
That was the reason why I was really irritated at her.
I lost to Alphos before. But, the same couldn't be said with the current me.
My frustration kept piling up since I couldn't fight Alphos.
Had my mother not told me to obey Botis, I wouldn't have obeyed her at all.
「Fufufufu, my deepest apology, Young Master. You just need to endure it a bit more. The poison of the snake has already invaded those guys' organisms. We also received the Princess of Fresh Blood’s assistance this time. We will succeed this time.」
Botis laughed happily.
The Princess of Fresh Blood, Zaffrada had entered the forest to spread the poison that would kill trees.
That was also part of Botis' tactic.
The plan was to unseal the Wicked Beast with sheer, brute force.
「Humph, so everything went according to your plan eh, Botis?」
Then I looked at the person standing behind Botis.
Small stature. And that grotesque figure.
Body covered in metals from head to toe.
The metal wasn't armor. Its' upper body was simply made from metal.
In the first place, this person was the one who guided us to this hiding place.
I had no idea about this person's identity but they might be Botis' accomplice.
Well, it didn't really matter to me anyway.
「Yes Young Master. Everything is going according to plan.」
Botis laughed as she spoke.
◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki
We were gathered in one room in Eld Palace.
「Well… What shall we do then…」
We were worrying about Kouki who got kidnapped by the elves.
Properly speaking, we should take him back.
But we were wondering if we could do that.
Upon thinking carefully, Kouki was a child who got entrusted to Rena Temple. In short, he was offered to Goddess Rena.
And the elves were the kin of Elios.
Having Rena persuade the elves to return Kouki was the most obvious choice.
In that way, we didn't have to leave this country.
Priest Haurena had already conveyed this matter to the temple in the Holy Republic of Lenaria. From there, the news would be reported to Rena.
Rena might forgive this case.
It would be fine as long as this case had no direct connection with other Gods of Elios.
Though he was entrusted to our temple, we might not need to worry about a boy.
If Rena hadn't said anything about this, we would have nothing to say either.
Nor would we go to retake Kouki.
But, it seems we couldn't do that.
「Don't worry Sana-chan! We will take back Kouki-kun! Right, Chiyuki-san!」
Shirone shot a glance at me as she cradled Sana.
Shirone wanted to get the boy back.
「U~hm…」
I faltered for a few seconds.
I mean, what should I say here?
「Shirone. There's no need to save someone who got kidnapped by the elves right? I mean, he might live a better life over there.」
Reiji spoke to Shirone.
Reiji was right. The Elven race was composed of only young women, and all of them were beautiful without exception.
Many men wanted to be kidnapped by the elves.
That was the reason why it might be better for Kouki-kun to live in the elven country.
Well in Reiji's case, he might simply have wanted to separate his daughter from a man.
「Rei-kun, that will make Sana sad instead.」
Sahoko objected immediately.
Maybe because she understood our words, Sana seemed to be quite displeased too.
The same goes for Rino, Nao, and Kyouka.
By the way, Kaya was just as expressionless as ever.
「Surely, Sana will be sad for sure.」
「Yes. Poor Sana-chan.」
「Yes, we have to take back the handsome guy in the making.」
Rino's reason seemed to be completely different from the others.
By the way, the elven race was completely attracted only to physical appearance. Meaning that they would completely ignore ugly people.
「That's why let's take him back.」
Shirone puffed her chest as she spoke.
I guess I couldn't stop them anymore.
I heaved a sigh.
「Can't be helped then, but we can't just send everyone. Sahoko-san has to stay to take care of Sana-chan, and it'll be much better if her father stayed too… And the ones who will go will be Shirone-san, Nao-san, and Rino-san…」
I chose the most suitable candidates.
Since we were going to the Elven kingdom, it might be better to bring along Rino who excels in spirit magic, Nao with her excellent detection ability, and Shirone with her combat prowess.
But in that case, no one could stop Shirone once she went berserk.
In that case, either Kaya or I should go with them.
「In that case, it might be much better for Chiyuki-sama to go. Leave the matter of this country to me.」
Kaya told me as if noticing my intention.
In fact, I knew that Kaya was suited for jobs that involved politics more than me.
That was the reason why it was preferable for Kaya to stay than me.
Kaya also mentioned working on building a rampart.
In the end, we decided to build a rampart around Eld.
With a rampart, we could restrict the number of citizens.
The reason being simply for safety, the citizen must be given the right to live in the rampart.
If the number of citizens increased until there was not enough space left in the rampart, this country would be punctured.
Before long, Eld would become similar to the Holy Republic of Lenaria.
But it couldn't be helped, a rampart was necessary to guarantee safety in this monster filled world.
In addition, this project would be done together with the assistance from Rena’s faith.
Rena was the Goddess of Protection, and the craftsmen who would build the rampart were her believers.
We were planning to hire the dwarves too, but since their number was small, we needed to hire human craftsmen, too.
Thus we need to relocate the location of Rena’s temple, moving it out from inside the palace.
In addition, we decided to have Templars from the Holy Republic of Lenaria to help us, too.
Eld was a new country. Thus we couldn't afford to use our knights to keep the safety of the highways.
We were relying on the Holy Republic of Lenaria for that instead.
In this way, the influence of the religious organization became bigger.
But, seeing that we became the enemy of the lizardmen who live in the wetland, Eld was in dire need to raise their defensive capabilities as soon as possible.
We couldn't halt the training of the knights, too.
The negotiation with the chivalric order and the building of the rampart was better left to Kaya than me.
「Okay then, I'll go. Take care of this place, Kaya-san.」
Shirone smiled delightfully when I said so.
And lastly Kyouka, she would remain as the representative of this country along with Reiji.
Thus, the members to retake Kouki had been decided.
Maybe we should depart as soon as possible.
In this way, we headed toward the Elven Kingdom.
◆Elven Princess, Luthien
Contrary to when we departed, returning to the sea forest of Elios was easy.
The reason being we could return immediately with teleportation magic.
But even with that, we couldn't teleport directly to the Capital of Eternal Youth, Arseidia.
The closest we could teleport was up to the outskirts of the forest. We had to walk back toward Arseidia from there.
But that wasn't a big deal either as long as we rode the carriage pulled by Ceryneia.
I lowered my gaze.
There was one boy who was sleeping soundly on my lap pillow.
He was such an adorable boy.
I wanted him the moment he caught my eyes.
This was the first time I felt something like this.
「Guhehehehe.」
I was so happy that I ended up laughing by myself.
Only when I raised my face did I realize that Tess, Piara, and Aureola were looking at me.
「What's the matter? Do you have something to tell me?」
The three of them averted their gaze when I glared at them.
「No, it's nothing. Luthien-sama.」
「Yeah, it really is nothing. We definitely do not feel creeped out by you at all.」
「Yes Your Highness. It just as Piara-dono has said, you're not creepy at all.」
The heck. If it was really nothing, then they should stop looking at me with that kind of gaze.
To begin with, these girls must be dissatisfied.
Originally, we planned to stay for a long time in the Hero's country.
Especially Piara and Aureola, wanted to stay by the Hero's side no matter what.
Yet they lost the chance to get close to the hero since I told them to go back quickly.
Well, we had to go back as fast as possible after all.
「But, are you sure about this? It doesn't really matter if it is your average human but, we're talking about the person around the Hero and co.」
Aureola spoke with a worried look on his face.
「Oh my, it doesn't seem to be a big deal. This boy is just the babysitter of the Hero's daughter, he is by no means related to the Hero and co. And it's not like Rena-sama’s going to make a big deal out of a boy either.」
I replied as if it was a matter of course.
Human children would wither in no time. They were such a fleeting existence.
Thus entrusting Kouki to me was the best choice.
「Well, surely…」
Piara nodded in agreement with me.
Piara already had the same experience in the past.
「That's right, being with us is a million times better than with human girls who will wither away immediately.」
I caressed the adorable boy's cheek.
He must be having a nice dream since he was sleeping soundly like this.
「He'll become a splendid Elvin Knight for sure.」
I hugged Kouki's head.
「Sleep my boy♪
Sleep soundly♪
My adorable boy♪
We will take you to our country♪
Country of the Elves, a country of happiness where you won't grow old♪
You will dance in the midst of flower gardens once you wake up.♪
Now sleep♪
Sleep soundly♪
My adorable boy♪」
I sang a song.
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