CHAPTER 6
THE ELF HERO
“Are you all right? Does it hurt?” Regina asked.
“Ugh…” The girl lying on the ground grimaced.
“I treated the wound, but it still isn’t a good idea to move all that much, okay?”
“You seem quite accustomed to this… Are you an apothecary or healer?”
“I’m a maid.”
“What is a servant doing in such a place…?” the girl asked quizzically, looking down at her bandaged flank.
“Still, I’m surprised you could keep up with Sakuya in a sword fight with those injures,” Elfiné remarked.
The young woman looked a few years younger than the members of the eighteenth platoon. She had bound her green hair back in a ponytail, and her large eyes wavered slightly when she suffered occasional pangs of pain. Her most striking physical feature was her long, sharp ears—a telltale characteristic of elven heritage.
“So,” Regina began as she stowed a medical kit, “why did you try to attack us earlier?”
“I thought you were in league with those monsters.” The girl averted her gaze, sulking.
“Monsters? You mean Voids?”
“…” The girl nodded silently.
“I know some Voids resemble humans, but…” Elfiné trailed off, bringing her index fingers together in thought.
Some Voids, like the merman and Brain Eater classes, had forms that resembled people, but their outward countenances helped quickly identify them as different sorts of creatures.
“There are Voids that look identical to humans,” Sakuya, who had just returned from scouting out their surroundings, commented. “I’ve seen them before.”
“Completely humanlike Voids?” Elfiné furrowed her brow. “Nothing like that has ever been reported.”
“No, I’d imagine it hasn’t,” Sakuya retorted, and then she leaned forward to address the wounded girl. “That injury. Did those Voids do it to you?”
“…Yes,” the green-haired girl admitted with no shortage of bitterness over it. “I was careless, and they caught me by surprise.”
“What’s your name?”
“…” She seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then, “…Arle. Arle Kirlesio.”
“Arle. That’s a nice name,” Sakuya said with a smile.
Arle averted her gaze awkwardly. Elfiné quickly activated one of her Holy Sword’s orbs. In response, it began to display a sea of words.
“An elf called Arle… No one matching that description exists in the Seventh Assault Garden’s database.”
“Were you the one who sent the distress signals to the academy?” Regina questioned.
“What are you talking about?” Arle shook her head and then turned her own queries to the group. “Who are you people? What are you doing in this place?”
“We’re a reconnaissance team dispatched by the Seventh Assault Garden to investigate this ruined city.”
Elfiné briefly explained their circumstances. She told Arle of how this floating metropolis had been destroyed six years ago, as well as its mysterious reappearance.
“An Assault Garden…,” Arle whispered to herself upon hearing the explanation. “I see. So humankind still has some strongholds left.”
“We’ve told you our side of things. Could you share yours?” Elfiné asked.
“I’ve come here to strike down the goddess,” Arle admitted after a pause, gripping the sword in her hands tightly.
“…Goddess?” Elfiné and Regina exchanged a look.
“…So the legend hasn’t survived the years,” Arle whispered to herself with a hint of disappointment upon seeing the bemused reactions. “I suppose it stands to reason. It has been one thousand years…”
Raising her voice, she then addressed Elfiné, Regina, and Sakuya.
“I have no duty to tell you. I, erm, I’m grateful for your poultice, but I implore you to leave me be.”
“I’m sorry, but we can’t do that.” Elfiné shook her head. “You might be the sole survivor here. We can’t abandon you. Part of a Holy Swordsman reconnaissance team’s duty is to shelter refugees.”
“…”
“We won’t mistreat you, so how about staying with us for a while?” Sakuya retrieved something from a pocket and offered it to Arle.
“…What is this thing?” Arle asked.
“It’s called a monaka. It’s a treat I’m fond of.”
“Y-you are trying to win me over with a treat?” Arle’s face twisted in anger, and she bared her small teeth. “Do you take me for a child?!”
As if on cue, however, her stomach let out an adorable growl.
“…” The members of the eighteenth platoon remained silent.
“D-do as you’d like!” Arle looked away, her cheeks visibly flushed.
What is that woman doing here?
As she watched over the group from the shadows of the ruins, Shary’s hands froze in midair just as she was about to take a bite of a doughnut.
Arle Kirlesio, the Sword Tempest Fae. A princess of the Spirit Forest and final apprentice to Shardark, the Six Heroes’ Swordmaster. Many generals of the Dark Lords’ Armies had fallen to her blade. She was regarded as a one-woman battalion on the battlefield. She’d even infiltrated Necrozoa’s Death Hold three times over and made attempts on Leonis’s life.
I’d heard she went missing after the battle for the Skeleton Fort… Shary narrowed her crimson eyes. What was this swordswoman, who had menaced the Dark Lords’ Armies, doing in this era? The elves were known for their longevity, but they weren’t immortal. At best, they lived to be three hundred. Not even one of their kind could live for a thousand years.
Perhaps she was reborn as my lord was?
That couldn’t be it. The reincarnation ritual was a thirteenth-order spell, accomplished only with assistance from the goddess Roselia. Even the elven sages would not have been able to achieve such a feat.
Either way, I must investigate this carefully.
It appeared Arle was injured, but Shary’s master often warned her against acting recklessly. Swallowing a piece of her doughnut, Shary faded into shadow.
Leonis’s magical light cast a soft glow over the vast warehouse. As Riselia waited for her body to heal naturally, Leonis investigated the place.
“I found some food, Miss Selia,” he called, carrying over a box of preserves. According to the expiration date on them, they were still safe for consumption.
They’ve been sitting here for ten years. Just what kind of marvels have humans developed? Leonis thought with incredulity. He could achieve a similar result using a time fixation spell, but that was eighth-order magic, far beyond what regular people could achieve.
“Hmm, so how is this supposed to be eaten…?” Leonis took out one of the pouches and read the instructions.
“Do you want me to make it for you, Leo?” Riselia inquired.
“Stop treating me like a child. I can handle this on my own.”
“R-really? All right. I’ll leave it to you, Leo.” Riselia smiled, seemingly a bit happy.
Hmm. The instructions say to heat it with fire. Leonis lit a small flame over his fingertip and tried to warm the bag.
“…L-Leo! A pot! You’re supposed to cook it with water in a pot!”
“A pot?”
“Yes. You boil the water and put it in.”
“Understood.”
Leonis summoned a metallic vessel from his vault in the Realm of Shadows. It was a priceless treasure called the Holy Grail. The Dark Lord had pillaged it from some country or another, but it would do fine for this purpose. Leonis poured some water he had stored and dumped the sealed pack’s contents into the liquid.
“That’s how it’s done…right?”
“Yep, you did it. Good on you.” Riselia patted Leonis on the head. As she did so, however, Leonis noticed that her cheeks were reddening.
Her breathing is a bit labored, too. Is something wrong with her?
“You should rest a little, Miss Selia,” instructed Leonis.
“Y-yeah…” She nodded with a slightly haggard voice.
As Leonis waited for the water to boil, he tried to put his thoughts into order. First Archsage Arakael, and now she’s back…
Tearis Resurrectia was one of Leonis’s sworn enemies, yet he had never fought her directly during his reign as the Undead King. Her powers could heal and revive, making them the opposite of Leonis’s death-based ones.
She empowered the gods’ armies and resurrected human warriors time after time as they perished on the battlefield. That was the Holy Woman’s role within the Six Heroes.
I suppose that answers one question, though.
Tearis was a symbol to followers of the Holy Sect. The Voids she produced had likely been the ones that’d drawn the symbol Leonis had spotted around the Third Assault Garden.
The Holy Woman was consumed by the Voids, same as Arakael the Archsage. Why have the Six Heroes returned now, after all this time? Roselia never prophesized anything of the sort…
The mysterious invaders called Voids, humanity developing a society of oddly advanced magical technology, and the Holy Swords’ peculiar power—none of it added up. It went beyond what the Goddess of Rebellion had foreseen.
“L-Leo…”
“?!”
Leonis stiffened as he realized Riselia’s face was awfully close to his.
“M-Miss Selia?” Leonis swallowed nervously, feeling his heart skip a beat.
The silver-haired girl’s cheeks were crimson. A faint breath escaped her lovely pink lips as her watery red eyes fixed themselves passionately on Leonis.
“I-I’m… I’m sorry, Leo…”
“…?”
“…I want your blood…,” Riselia admitted in a coaxing whisper.
Leonis could clearly hear her swallow.
Oh, right…
Riselia’s healing ability consumed her mana, which spurred her vampiric impulse.
“U-understood,” Leonis accepted, and he started rolling up one sleeve of his uniform. Before he’d finished, however…
“?!”
Riselia grabbed Leonis by the shoulders hard and thrust her small, newly formed fangs into his neck.
“Mmmm… Haaah… Nnng…”
“…M-Miss Selia… W-wait…”
“Mmm… Schluuuurp… Nha…”
Even when her thirst got the better of her, Riselia had always obeyed Leonis in the past. This time was very clearly different, however. She craved blood as if it was the only thing that mattered to her.
“W-Weoooo… I’m shorry…”
Riselia pushed Leonis down to the floor, nearly tearing his uniform off. This was the first time Leonis had ever seen Riselia behave this way. Perhaps the mixed emotions of returning to the ruins of her birthplace had left her unstable.
“Schlurp. Nibble. Nibble.”
The curtain of Riselia’s argent locks hung over his face.
“…A-aaah…!” A light moan escaped Leonis’s throat.
Typically, Riselia’s bloodsucking was accompanied by a sweet, intoxicating pain. On this occasion, Leonis only felt a sharp stab into his neck, proof of how utterly lost to bloodlust Riselia was.
“Schlurp… Nibble. Nibble. Schlurp…!”
Leonis’s magic flame flickered in the darkness as the suggestive sound of wet lips echoed through the warehouse.
“M-Miss…Selia…”
Boing. Riselia’s soft, supple breasts pressed against Leonis’s body. His fingertips reflexively grabbed tight at the back of the young woman’s uniform.
“…Aah… Leo… Mmm, aah. ” Paying no mind to her disheveled skirt, Riselia continued biting into Leonis’s neck. Her blouse came undone, slightly revealing the white underwear beneath.
“…Aah… W-we can’t go…any further than this…” Leonis’s fingers were gradually growing limp. Riselia had lost all reason and was now driven only by the vampiric urge.
Th-this is bad… Leonis’s body was that of a ten-year-old. If this continued for much longer, Riselia would bleed him dry.
I have no choice… I have to use my sorcery to put her to sleep…
Leonis reached for the Staff of Sealed Sins lying on the ground, when…
“Mm… Weeeeo… Mha… Schlrp… Mm… ”
“—lia… Selia…!”
“Just…a little longer… Mm…”
“Erm… Selia, can you hear me?” A voice spoke to her from above.
“Ah… Mm… Haaaaaaa?!” At the sound of that voice, Riselia came to her senses and let out a panicked screech. “Elfiné?!”
Looking up, Leonis saw one of Elfiné’s Eye of the Witch orbs floating nearby.
“…I-I’m sorry we, erm, worried you, Miss Finé!” Riselia bowed apologetically in front of the sphere after fixing her clothes.
“…Your voice is kind of high-pitched. Is everything okay?”
“I-I-I’m perfectly fine! Peachy, even! You must be imagining it!” Riselia squeaked as she shook her head. Her face was practically a tomato.
“R-right…”
Thankfully, Riselia somehow managed to convince Elfiné nothing untoward was happening. Meanwhile, Leonis was languishing powerlessly on the floor behind Riselia’s bowed figure.
I…really am…too soft when it comes to my minions…, Leonis chided himself as he listened in on Riselia and Elfiné’s exchange. Back when he was the Undead King, he would never have allowed anyone to…manhandle him like that. A Dark Lord dying to a servant bleeding them out would undoubtedly become a shameful story mocked for centuries.
“I heard you two got into a tough scrap with some Voids. Are you injured?” Elfiné inquired.
“Y-yes. I’m a bit hurt, but it shouldn’t get in the way of the mission.”
“I’m surprised you’re fine after falling from that height.”
“Er, Leo used his Holy Sword’s power…,” Riselia managed evasively.
“Well, either way, I’m glad you’re both all right. Regina and Sakuya are relieved, too.”
Even though the only connection Riselia and Leonis had to the others was the orb, they still felt their comrades’ sense of ease at knowing the pair was okay.
“You’re at the bottommost underground sector right now, right? We don’t have a way to get down there, so we’ll need to regroup somewhere on the surface.”
“Roger. Ah, Miss Finé, there’s something I have to report first,” Riselia said.
“…Report?”
“Yes. There’s a chance there’s a Void Lord in this city.”
“What?!” Elfiné cried in surprise.
Leaving out the part about the ghosts, Riselia told Elfiné about the Void they fought on the surface and that there was a chance that a Void Lord had merged with the mana furnace beneath the Central Garden.
The humans of this era did not believe in ghosts or other undead. Riselia correctly assumed that telling the others about the ghosts would simply confuse and distract them.
“A Void Lord… No…,” Elfiné whispered in a strained voice.
“This is all speculation, of course, but…,” Riselia began, now more composed, “since the Third Assault Garden is still advancing toward the Seventh, I think we should consider the possibility of a Stampede.”
“You’re right. If a gigantic Void appeared, it’s likely a Void Lord was behind it. Either way, we have to investigate the mana furnace in the Central Garden.” The Eye of the Witch orb flickered in midair, as if nodding.
“What about on your end, Elfiné? Anything happen?” Riselia asked.
“Erm…” Elfiné paused for a moment before replying. “We…may have secured a civilian. An elf girl.”
“A civilian? You found a survivor in the ruins?!” Riselia exclaimed in surprise.
“No. She has a Holy Sword, so we’re not sure if she’s a civilian or not, but I think it’d be better if we tell you the details when we regroup.”
“A-all right, understood. Where do we rendezvous, then?”
“Well, this is your hometown. Do you have somewhere in mind?”
Riselia paused for thought, then said, “How about the Crystalia estate at the Central Garden?”
“The Crystalia estate… Roger that. Regina can show us the way. Be careful, you two.”
“Same to you all, too.”
The transmission ended, and the Eye of the Witch sphere lost its light as it went into sleep mode. Evidently, keeping her Holy Sword active wore away at Elfiné’s mental strength. Riselia took a deep breath and turned around to face Leonis.
“Finally feeling calmer?” Leonis asked with a hint of malice.
“…I-I’m sorry, Leo!” Riselia apologized, her face red.
“I told you you’re allowed to drink some blood, but if you suck too much… It’s, well, a problem.”
“…U-um, that was, m-my mind went blank. I wasn’t myself, and…” Riselia’s shoulders slumped. There were tears in her eyes.
That’s probably enough antagonizing.
Ever kind to his favorite minion, Leonis cleared his throat and said, “I was joking. I’m glad you’ve recovered your mana, Miss Selia.”
“Leo…”
“Let me rest a while longer, and then we can head to the rendezvous point,” Leonis said, rising to his feet. While anemic and dizzy, he could still move. Pouring some of the ration stew he’d heated up into a bowl, he handed it to Riselia.
“Thank you.” Riselia brought her hands together in gratitude and smiled.
“By the way, that Crystalia estate you mentioned to Miss Elfiné…”
“Yeah. It’s my family home,” Riselia confirmed. “It’s on the island at the heart of this city, the administrative ward in the Central Garden. Most buildings are destroyed beyond recognition, so we can’t use them as landmarks, but I figured Regina and I could find the Crystalia estate easily enough. And…”
Riselia trailed off. Even without putting it into words, Leonis understood the reason. Her father, Duke Crystalia, could be wandering the remnants of his home, just as the souls of the Crystalia Knights had been down here.
Or perhaps he’s already been turned into a Void by the Holy Woman…
Either way, Leonis was as interested in investigating the place as Riselia was. He had to uncover the truth of all this.
On the lowermost underground level beneath the Central Garden, the mana furnace stood, emitting a glow that illuminated the walls around it.
“Aaah, soon. Soon, the goddess’s vessel shall be filled.”
In that quiet, templelike place, a young man in a priest’s garb—Nefakess Void Lord—enjoyed a laugh. He stood before an altar where several dozen Demon Swords that his cult had gathered were resting. He took each one and thrust it into the mana furnace, as if adding fuel to a fire.
Vnnn… Vnnn… Vnnn…
Each sword Nefakess offered was swallowed up by the mana furnace.
“Oh, goddess, we’ve waited one thousand long years.” Nefakess looked up, his eyes full of ecstasy. “The lofty one, the sole divinity brave enough to oppose the Luminous Powers…” His eyes were fixed on the pale form of the woman fused with the mana furnace.
The Holy Woman of the Six Heroes had reappeared in the same era as a certain deity. Her lightless eyes gazed blankly into the air as her lips whispered a hymn.
“Aaah, such a sweet tone, Tearis Resurrectia. To think the song of the sworn enemy of my goddess’s armies would ever be so pleasant to my ears.”
The hero consumed by the Voids would now serve as the vessel of rebirth for the Goddess of Rebellion. A fragment of Roselia Ishtaris’s soul would rise again within this emptiness.
“…Soon. It will come soon…”
Just as Nefakess finished throwing the last of the Demon Swords into the furnace, a dove-shaped Artificial Elemental landed on his shoulder.
“What? How boorish.” He grimaced upon hearing its report, but his expression soon returned to its usual calm. “The angel was destroyed?” He’d dispatched that massive Void to dispose of the assassin from the Sanctuary.
Did I underestimate that elven hero? No…
Nefakess activated a terminal linking into the Assault Garden’s security system. After a moment, the network detected a suspicious object nearby—an imperial combat aircraft.
“…A Holy Swordsmen investigation team. They found this place faster than I expected.” Nefakess shrugged with a tired sigh. It was hard to believe mere Holy Swordsmen had defeated that angel. “Well, so be it. I suppose I should go and clean out the trash,” Nefakess whispered, looking up at the pulsating mana furnace with a satisfied smile.
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