TO THE HOME OF THE ELVES
It’s been a few days since we rescued Leston and the others.
After the rescue, they all woke up without a problem, but we’re having them rest just to be safe.
I may have resurrected them, but the truth is that they were absolutely dead for a short time.
There’s no telling what sort of side effects there might be.
Still, maybe thanks to the fact that they’re taking it easy, there haven’t been any signs of trouble yet.
In the meantime, I finally removed Anna’s brainwashing.
It had been slow going before we rescued everyone, but over the past few days, it finally started to work quickly.
Now, if I Appraise her, I don’t see any status conditions.
As soon as the brainwashing started to come undone, she completely returned to her senses.
Even the strongest brainwashing seems to fall apart as soon as the victim starts to suspect that something is wrong.
However, with the brainwashing solved, another problem has emerged.
“I’ve wronged you so horribly, Master Schlain…”
Now Anna is deeply depressed.
Just like with Katia, she still has all her memories of the time she was brainwashed.
Even knowing she was forced to do it, she nevertheless harbors feelings of guilt over the things she did under Hugo’s control, and she spends all her time brooding about it.
There’s not really anything I can do about that.
I can only assure her that it was Hugo’s fault for brainwashing her and that Anna has nothing to feel guilty about.
It’s the truth, but saying it only seems to make her feel even guiltier, so she’s stuck in a vicious circle of depression.
All I can do now is watch over her and hope she’ll recover on her own.
Ms. Oka also finally woke up.
And at the same time, we received information that Hugo has dispatched an army to the forest where the elves live.
All of us are now meeting up in the conference room of the mansion.
We have to have a serious talk about what we’re going to do next.
“Now, let’s discuss our plans from here on out.”
Katia’s father, the duke, is in charge of the proceedings.
“Firstly, regarding the current state of the kingdom, the queen seems to have taken control of the administration. Cylis is officially stated to be bedridden with illness, which is why he hasn’t made an appearance. Most likely, he has yet to recover from the state you all witnessed him in.”
It’s possible Cylis would go back to normal if the brainwashing were removed.
But considering it took almost half a month to cure Anna of her brainwashing, I’m sure it would take them even longer to remove it.
Even if they could, I don’t know if Cylis would ever recover from the broken state Hugo’s extreme brainwashing reduced him to.
“The queen’s future plans are unknown, but it has apparently been decided that Sue will be marrying Prince Hugo of the empire. I am certain the empire will use this as a foothold to essentially rule our kingdom.”
That’s right. Hugo brainwashed Sue and has taken her away to the empire.
As his fiancée, no less.
“Starting with Leston, just about everyone here is a fugitive of the law. However, not all the nobles in the kingdom have fallen into the hands of Hugo or the queen. We must begin to secretly gather allies and take action toward eventually restoring the kingdom.”
Only some particularly influential nobles have been brainwashed by Hugo.
He left others alone, like certain neighboring lords who nonetheless have power in the kingdom and nobility in the capital without much influence.
Apparently, the duke, Leston, and others intend to persuade these nobles to help slowly regain their status.
“But that still doesn’t address the root of the problem.”
Leston looks at me as he speaks.
“Now that Hugo has taken control of even the Church, it’s safe to say his aim is to conquer the entire world. However, we cannot overlook that even as he attempts to throw humanity into chaos, we are in the midst of a war against the demons. Our own kingdom is important, of course, but if we leave humanity to take care of itself, it could easily create an opening for the demons to take over.”
My brother Julius lost his life in that battle.
If Hugo throws the whole world into chaos, Julius’s sacrifice could end up being in vain.
That’s one thing I refuse to allow.
More than anything, there’s no way I can ever forgive Hugo for everything he’s already done.
“Shun. As the true hero, will you step forward to defeat Prince Hugo, enemy of our kingdom and all humanity?”
Most likely, Leston is speaking not only for himself but for everyone here.
I feel the same way as all of them.
I have no reason to refuse.
“Of course.”
After the meeting, Katia, Hyrince, Ms. Oka, Anna, and I all gather in a different room.
The five of us, together with Fei, are going to head to the elves’ village to stop Hugo.
Apparently, Hugo himself is heading up the invasion.
With the help of Ms. Oka’s connections, we’ll meet with the elves and strike back against Hugo’s imperial army.
Since there are few soldiers in the kingdom who can currently be deployed, and we don’t know who might be in the hands of Hugo or the queen, we decided to go in the form of a small, elite unit instead.
Fei, Hyrince, and I were all a given, as well as Ms. Oka as our intermediary with the elves, but there was a bit of a quarrel over Katia and Anna coming along.
Katia is the duke’s daughter.
Her father was against sending her into danger, and he demanded that she stay.
Katia flat-out refused, and a parent-child quarrel broke out.
It took all day, but Katia finally talked her parents into allowing it, so now she’s coming with us.
“I ended up telling them I was going even if I had to use force, so that finally shut them up.”
So the duke didn’t actually agree, but he knew he couldn’t stop his daughter if she got serious.
My condolences, Duke and Duchess.
Your daughter has grown into a terrible delinquent who won’t listen to her parents.
As for Anna, she ended up facing down all our protests.
She says she wants to come to atone for her sins.
To be honest, I can’t say I’m in favor of her coming with us.
Anna is strong enough to have served as my and Sue’s maid-slash-bodyguard, but she’s still not on the same level as the other members of the group.
On top of that, Anna is a half elf.
Elves are deeply prejudiced against any mingling of their bloodline with other races.
They hold no fondness toward any such child.
Anna was born in the elf village and cast out.
I don’t know the details of that past, but it’s obvious she doesn’t have good memories of the elves.
And yet, we’re about to bring her back to that same place.
I don’t think any good can come of that.
Still, leaving her behind would be worrisome in its own right.
Since recovering from her brainwashing, Anna has been emotionally unstable.
She’s spent a lot of time brooding, the crimes she committed while brainwashed weighing heavily on her.
To the point where I’m worried it might become permanent psychological damage if left alone.
So, I am hopeful that bringing her outside will have a positive effect on that mood.
And since I’ll be worried about her either way, I decided it’d be better if I can at least keep an eye on her, so we agreed to take her with us.
With our members thus decided, the next question is how we’ll get to the elf village.
Unlike our kingdom, which is on the continent of Daztrudia, the village is on the continent of Kasanagara.
And there are only two ways to cross between those continents.
One is to use a teleport point, like the one that was in the castle.
However, most teleport points are similarly located in places like the royal castles of various kingdoms.
The only people who can use them are royalty, high-ranking nobles, and the like.
We might meet that condition normally, but right now, we’re on the most-wanted list.
It’s doubtful anyone would let us use a teleport point.
The only possibility I can think of is the kingdom my older sister, whom I’ve never met, married into, but unfortunately, that kingdom is quite far away.
Which leaves us with only one choice.
To pass through the largest labyrinth in the world, the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
You might think we could just cross the ocean, but that’s not an option.
The ocean is the domain of an enormous water dragon that will sink any ship attempting to cross it.
It might be possible to go by way of the sky, but even Fei would have difficulty with such a long-distance flight between continents.
Because of all this, despite the immense danger of the Great Elroe Labyrinth, people still come and go through it quite frequently.
Incidentally, there was the question of whether Fei’s large body would fit inside the labyrinth, but she’s assured us it won’t be a problem.
“The real issue is whether we’ll make it in time once we get through the labyrinth.”
“Not to worry. Once we reach the other continent, the elves have a hidden teleport point we can use. By my calculation, we should be able to get to the elves’ village before the imperial army attacks.”
With that, Ms. Oka has solved the last of our problems.
Now we just have to make sure we reach the elf village safely.
“Before we leave, there’s something I must talk to all of you about.”
Our teacher’s expression is grave.
True enough, I do still have a lot of questions for her.
About Sophia, about Hugo, about what the elves have been doing…
But her next words stop all my questions in their tracks.
“Before I tell you everything, let me say this. This world was created as part of a game among gods.”
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