Chapter 1:
Back to the Sea!
The early morning light shone down upon me through the trees, the flitter of wind rustling through the leaves resounding loudly in the otherwise silent mountain.
The Lord Crown, towering menacingly out of the top of the mountain’s peak, seemed to defy all natural law with its sheer immensity. It looked like a mountain in its own right, stretching high above the treetops like a massive umbrella.
Faint rays of light made their way through the dense coverage, creating small spots that illuminated my work.
The mountaintop shrine’s stone walls were still largely intact, but the wooden roof had long since rotted away, leaving the building exposed.
The faint light that cascaded down into the roofless shrine reflected brilliantly off my armor.
I was dressed from head to toe in silvery armor accented with intricate white and blue designs. On my back I wore a black cape that glittered faintly, looking almost as if it were ripped straight from the night sky. Though my armor was truly magnificent—the stuff you only heard about in legends—my current weapons were…well, not the mythical sword and shield you might expect.
No, I was holding a wooden-handled spatula, its metal head covered in thick gray sludge—mortar for the bricks I was laying.
I slathered an even layer of mortar on the current row of bricks and neatly laid a new row atop it, making sure there were no gaps.
“Welp, that should be about it.”
I took a step back and surveyed my handiwork. The large brick semi-circle stretching out from the kitchen wall would serve as my oven.
I’d been able to acquire a cooktop-like magical item from the elven villages, but I still needed something to bake bread here, so I’d decided I would make my own oven.
I didn’t really have the option of calling a bricklayer all the way out to the middle of nowhere, so I decided to gather up all the materials and give it a shot on my own. Honestly, I was pretty impressed at what I’d pulled off.
Using my connections with the merchant Lahki from the town of Lamburt, I was able to acquire most of the materials I needed cheaply.
With my oven complete, I needn’t limit myself to just bread—I could even make pizza if I wanted.
After going on an adventure to the southern continent just to get some tomatoes, it’d be a waste not to.
I wiped off the last of the excess mortar with a damp cloth and then gave them a quick wipe down.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Ponta came running up between my legs.
“Kyii!”
Standing at about sixty centimeters—half of which was its long, cotton-like tail—Ponta had the face of a fox, but the thin membranes running between its front and hind legs gave it the appearance of a Japanese flying squirrel. It was a spirit creature, one of many here that could use magic.
Its back was a dark green, the color of grass, and acted like a form of camouflage that allowed it to easily blend in to the shrubs and trees.
I set the spatula down and gave Ponta’s head a rub.
“Hey, Ponta. Where’ve you been?”
Ponta enthusiastically rubbed its head against the palm of my hand as a low purr thrummed in its throat.
I scratched its cheeks and watched its billowy white tail wag back and forth. Suddenly, Ponta’s ears perked up, and it let out a startled cry.
“Kyii! Kyii!”
I looked in the direction Ponta was facing. Beyond the window, a large beast was peering into the kitchen.
Well, “beast” wasn’t the best way to describe it. It was more like a giant lizard.
Standing a little over four meters from snout to tail, the creature was protected with a layer of reddish-brown scales. Two large, white horns rose out of the top of its head. It was held up by six thick, muscular legs, and a dense mane of white hair ran down the middle of its back to the end of its tail.
The beast swung its head from side to side, light reflecting off its white beard as it let out a high-pitched screech that seemed almost humorous considering its appearance.
“Grweeeeeeee!”
It snorted in annoyance as it pressed its head against the window, unable to get all the way through due to its horns.
“Oh, off playing with Shiden, were you?”
I slowly approached the window, then reached through and rubbed Shiden’s muscular neck. It blinked its reptilian eyes several times.
It looked like it had gotten used to life here.
This beast, known as a driftpus, was originally from the southern continent, where it had served as a mount for the nomadic people known as the tiger clan.
Since I’d helped the tiger clan through a number of hardships, one of their leaders had gifted me this driftpus as a sign of our friendship.
Given all the work involved with looking after an animal as large as a car, I’d been hoping to leave it behind. But the chieftain had insisted, saying it was a token of their gratitude.
Seeing as I was a representative of the elves, by virtue of having taken on their village name, it didn’t seem wise to needlessly refuse their offer, especially considering the harm it could do to our relationship.
Or at least, that’s what I told myself.
The driftpus would undoubtedly draw attention to itself on the northern continent, but fortunately, that wasn’t a problem here at the mountain shrine, where we were far from any form of civilization. The nearest village was on the other side of the forest, where the mountain people were building a new home.
Besides, Shiden was far stronger than a horse in terms of lifting capacity, and would be a far better substitute to travel by foot on future journeys.
Best of all, though, was the fact that I’d secured preferential trading rights for chili peppers from the chieftain of the Ena clan, the largest among all the tiger clans and the only ones who grew the fruit they called “red nail.”
I figured I could use them to make spicy pepper sauce and tomato chili.
“What’s it been…ten days since we got back? Half a month?”
Thinking of the peppers brought to mind the end of my adventure down on the southern continent.
***
“Nngraaaaaaaaooooooowl!”
The darkened town shook with the death cry of the beast. The massive creature lay discarded in the middle of the road, staring vacantly up at the sky. Its cry could be felt reverberating through the ground nearby.
Heavy clouds blocked much of the moon’s light. On any other night this would have left the town in complete darkness, but the flames running rampant through the buildings cast an eerie glow over the town.
One of the causes of these fires, not to mention the chaos that had descended upon the town, was now lying in a pool of its own blood, its life slowly pouring out into the streets.
It was a giant, humanoid figure around six meters tall, covered in matted black fur.
Unlike a human, however, it had no head. Instead, it sported two large, black eyes in the middle of its chest and a gash full of yellow teeth beneath, which served as the creature’s mouth. Its arms were rather long compared to the rest of its body, making it look almost like a headless gorilla.
These creatures, which I’d dubbed “dark giants,” resided in the Black Forest, a massive sprawl of trees that ran along the southern part of the continent, largely uncharted.
To these forest-dwellers, humans were little more than a source of food.
When the giants first attacked, they’d thrown humans into their gaping mouths and gobbled them whole as they went on their destructive rampage.
We were in Tagent, the only human colony of the Revlon Empire, built on a peninsula jutting from the west coast of the southern continent.
Not only was the town under attack by a group of dark giants from the south, but it was also overrun by an army of undead soldiers that had come out of nowhere. In the midst of all this, fighters from the tiger clan had come to rescue their comrades who’d been taken as slaves. It was pure chaos.
“I’m about done here. How about you, Ariane?”
I wiped the blood off my sword, and it returned to its usual soft, azure glow. The mythical-class Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg was truly unmatched.
The two women behind me returned my gaze.
One of the women was tall, voluptuous, and sported hair as white as snow tied back in a ponytail that accented her amethyst skin. She was dressed in crude leather armor and a robe marked with intricately detailed runes.
This was the dark elf, Ariane, my friend and travel companion.
I caught a glimpse of her pointed ears as she turned to face me. She shook the blood off her thin sword, its hilt decorated with the head of a lion. The flames running up and down the blade traced an arc through the darkness.
“I should probably do something about the spirit magic.”
She let out a heavy sigh, and a moment later, the flames disappeared from her blade. Behind her, the remains of a burning giant tumbled to the ground, like a massive tree in the midst of a forest fire.
It made no sound as it fell, its throat probably burnt through, though it twitched for some time before all movement ceased.
The thick skin and matted hair that covered the giants’ bodies were hard to pierce, even with the sharpest of blades, but Ariane’s fire-based spirit magic made short work of them.
“Well, that takes care of the fodder.”
A girl stepped out of the darkness and passed the collapsed body of the giant. It was hard to reconcile what she was saying with just how small she was.
The girl, Chiyome, was dressed entirely in black garb and wore a dark headband with a metal buckle on her forehead. Cat ears poked out of her short black hair, and a long tail stretched out from her lower back, swaying gently behind her.
She belonged to a group of ninja founded by a human named Hanzo, who’d been brought to this world much like I had. He’d brought together the persecuted cat people in what would come to be known as the Jinshin clan. Despite her young age, Chiyome was one of their six great fighters.
She’d bonded with a spirit using one of the clan’s cherished pledge spirit crystals, which allowed her to use magic much like a spirit would, in the form of ninjutsu.
The usual clarity in Chiyome’s azure eyes had been replaced by a thick, brooding darkness. Something told me this wasn’t due to the darkness enveloping the town.
As far as I knew, they’d caught up with Sasuke—a man Chiyome looked up to like an older brother—but he’d been turned undead and had ended up fighting her.
She’d freed him of his immortality.
I could only imagine what she was feeling right now. Ariane was also concerned, the worry clear on her face as she watched the dejected girl, Chiyome’s cat ears drooping low atop her head.
Out of nowhere, a soldier wielding a sword appeared out of the darkness.
“Chiyome!!!”
The soldier didn’t scream, or even make a sound, as he swung his sword in Chiyome’s direction. She sensed the attack well in advance, however, and quickly sidestepped the slash.
She drew the dagger from her waist and, with a flash of light, slashed straight through the soldier’s neck, sending his body to the ground like a discarded doll.
The metal helmet toppled off his head and clinked down the cobblestone road, a skull clattering out of it.
This was one of the many undead soldiers now flooding the streets of Tagent.
Its body continued writhing on the ground until Chiyome walked over to the skull and crushed it beneath her foot. The body immediately ceased all movement.
Near-silence enveloped us, the only sound that of the giant’s crackling body burning.
While looking about, deciding where to go next, Ponta poked its head up from where it was wrapped around my neck and mewed.
“Kyii! Kyii!”
As if on cue, we began hearing people’s voices echoing off in the distance.
The cries of those fighting back could be faintly heard among the awful medley of townsfolk running for their lives.
Apparently, the demise of some of the dark giants had given at least some of the people the will to fight back. Either that, or these were the yells of the tiger clan warriors freeing their enslaved comrades.
In either case, something was happening.
“We’ll find Goemon and then head to the outskirts, where Chieftain Houwe is waiting. I think the humans are finally starting to get things under control here.”
Along the way, we ran into Goemon, who’d joined up with several members of the tiger clan. They were leading a group of ten or so mountain people out of the town.
The tiger clan stood out easily from the rest of the mountain people—not only because of their round ears and gold-and-black fur, but also because they stood at over two meters tall. Though Goemon was a member of the same clan as Chiyome, he struck an imposing figure even next to these fearsome warriors.
Goemon was leading the pack through the town, taking out the countless undead that got in their way. None of them stood a chance against this group of warriors, and they hardly even slowed the group down as it made its hasty retreat.
Upon making it to a large hole in the town’s defensive wall, broken during the dark giants’ invasion, we met up with the other fighters as they prepared to leave.
Other than the mountain people, there were also a large number of townsfolk gathered at this spot in a desperate attempt to flee the dark giants and undead soldiers. They were clearly surprised, afraid even, at the sight of the muscle-bound tiger clan. Many moved to stay out of sight.
After clearing out of Tagent and making it to the other side of the wall, we found a large group of mountain people who’d already been liberated from the city, patiently waiting for the warriors to return.
It was hard to get a sense of how many there were in the darkness, but I’d guess there were nearly a thousand people or so gathered.
At the front of this group stood one of the most muscular members of the tiger clan that I’d ever seen. He looked as if he were standing watch over the gates of hell as he glared at the city of Tagent spread before him, arms crossed and legs firmly planted on the ground.
The nearly three-meter-tall man’s lips curled into a smile as he noticed us.
“Looks like we were able to free quite a few of our comrades. You even helped the humans out, I hear?”
The man was Chieftain Houwe, head of the Ena clan—the largest of all the tiger clans.
As I stood under his intense gaze, I simply shrugged nonchalantly and hefted my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg off my shoulder, stabbing it into the ground in front of me.
“All I did was lend a hand to those I saw suffering at the hands of a monster. Whether beast person or human, there is little difference to me.”
Chieftain Houwe smirked at this, amused by my response. “Such an interesting thing to hear coming from an elf. You’re a strange one.”
With that, Chieftain Houwe turned on his heel and shouted back at the group of warriors and newly liberated mountain people.
“The last of us has returned! Now, let’s get out of here before they have a chance to mount a counterattack! We’ll head east to Fobnach, the land of the beast people…the land of freedom!”
This elicited a thunderous cheer from the gathered crowd.
The tiger clan warriors began mounting their driftpus in order to surround and protect all the mountain people on foot.
The scene reminded me of a shepherd dog rounding up and leading a herd of sheep.
The group of over a thousand moved together like one massive living creature.
Goemon and I mounted our own driftpus that we’d been lent by the tiger clan. Chiyome and Ariane climbed up behind us.
Despite their initial excitement at being freed, by the time the sun rose, the group was clearly exhausted. Mountain people were stronger than normal humans, but even their strength had its limits.
When we made it to the large wall that separated the peninsula from the mainland, the group came to a halt. Though there were still concerns over the humans mounting a counterattack, we decided to take a break here. All we could do was hope that there were no more powerful forces back in Tagent.
“Well, this is no good. At this speed, I don’t know if we’ll be able to cross the prairie, much less make it Fobnach.”
Deep wrinkles spread across Chieftain Houwe’s forehead as he called several other important figures together into a huddle.
We hadn’t even planned to come all the way out here to Tagent in the first place.
Upon discovering that one of the tiger clan’s settlements on the Kuwana Prairie had been destroyed by dark giants, we’d taken off to rid the plains of this menace. Along the way, we’d come across a hole ripped through the massive wall that separated the human colony from the mainland, and quickly put together the liberation plan.
Had there only been a hundred or so slaves, we could have mounted them up together with the other warriors. But with the thousand or so standing here, it simply wasn’t possible.
The Great Fobnach Kingdom, a country founded by the mountain people, was located on the far side of two vast plains. We’d need ample water and food to make such a journey. And it would be reckless to try and take the recently liberated slaves across such harsh terrain.
The most practical plan would be to cross the wall into the mainland and then split into groups to travel to different tiger clan settlements. Once recuperated, the individual parties could make the trip east.
Depending on the group’s speed, it would take at least several days to travel across the plains. Factoring in multiple trips back and forth, it would take well over a month to move a thousand people to Fobnach.
I was listening to the huddled conversation when I suddenly felt someone’s eyes on me. I turned on my mount to catch Ariane’s gaze. I could tell she’d already figured out what I was going to suggest.
“What is it, Ariane?” I asked casually.
Ariane just shrugged and averted her gaze, stroking Ponta’s back. “It’s nothing. Do whatever you want. After all, you’re the one who’ll be doing all the work.”
She pouted and buried her face in Ponta’s stomach.
“Kyii!”
Ponta was more than happy to have someone to play with. It wagged its legs around in the air.
After staring at them for another moment, I hopped off my mount and made my way toward the huddle.
***
Several hours later, I’d successfully transported the one thousand former slaves and the tiger clan warriors just outside Fernandes, a town in the Great Fobnach Kingdom that bordered the plains.
The former slaves cheered at the sight of the town, while the warriors looked on in surprise before turning to me.
I ignored their unspoken questions and focused my attention on the massive figure approaching me. Chieftain Houwe’s face lit up with excitement.
“I’d heard that elves were renowned for their magic, but this is far more than I ever imagined possible! I never expected to find someone who could use such legendary magic!”
This magic he referred to was teleportation magic, which was said to have been used by the elves’ founding elder and creator of the Great Canada Forest, Evanjulin.
Using my Transport Gate ability, I’d teleported the former slaves and tiger clan warriors from the border wall to a spot right between the Dodgas River and the wall outside Fernandes.
There was no way I could do the whole group at once, though, so I had to make several trips back and forth.
Though I normally wouldn’t have been able to teleport to the middle of a prairie where there weren’t any notable landmarks, the hole the giants had made in the border wall served as a good point of reference.
It was difficult to convince the skeptical tiger clan leaders of my plan…until I grabbed a nearby warrior and used Transport Gate to teleport her to the town and back. It was a bit rash, but it worked.
“It’s been quite a journey, but it’s thanks to you that we were able to see this through, Arc. I really appreciate it, and I want you to have this as a token of my appreciation.”
Chieftain Houwe reached down and untied a bag hanging from his saddle before handing it over to me. He gestured for me to look inside.
It was filled with peppers the color of rubies.
Though this was the reason why I’d sought out the tiger clan settlements in the first place, I hadn’t even mentioned it to him yet. I gave Chieftain Houwe a puzzled look. He laughed.
“Aene told me everything. This is all I have on hand, but I’ll be sure to get more together the next time you visit. Also, as a token of our gratitude, I want you to keep that driftpus. Think of it as a gift from everyone in the tiger clan.”
I hesitated for a second, the words slowly registering as I looked down at this “token of gratitude” beneath me.
The driftpus seemed to understand what was being said and cast its narrow, reptilian eyes up at me. It gave a loud snort, as if to ask what my problem was.
All I could do was shake my head. “Thank you. I graciously accept.”
Now I needed to figure out what to name it.
***
I rubbed Shiden’s massive neck and shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts.
“Well, it looks like you’ve gotten used to the forest well enough. But I should still take you out to the plains once in a while to run around.”
The driftpus was actually pretty intelligent as far as mounts went, and was quite capable of finding its own food and a place to rest for the night.
When I first brought it here, I’d given it a wash at the nearby hot spring. It seemed to like the experience, and I would occasionally find it bathing all by itself.
However, whenever Dragon Lord Villiers Fim, who lived on the massive Lord Crown that towered over us, would come down to the shrine, Shiden would run off into the forest to hide.
To be fair, that was a perfectly normal reaction for most animals. It was uncommon to come across a creature like Ponta, who would just gleefully play under the Dragon Lord’s eye as he lazed in the hot spring.
Shiden, however, had spent most of its life living out on the expansive plains. I could only imagine how restricting it must feel here in the confined space of a mountaintop forest.
The new village being built on the bank of the lake off to the east was still under construction, but given all the space they had, I thought it might be a good idea to build a road to there from the shrine sometime.
I could feel the presence of someone coming up behind me.
I looked back and caught a glimpse of skin the color of amethyst. A figure was drying its snow-white hair with a long towel. It was Ariane, apparently having just gotten out of the hot spring behind the shrine.
From time to time, Ariane would join me when I came here to work on my shrine and take a dip in the spring. It seemed she’d taken quite a liking to it. She wasn’t wearing her usual travel attire at the moment, but rather traditional elven garb stitched with all sorts of intricate designs. She was an absolute beauty fresh out of the bath like this.
She looked intently at the stove and mumbled to herself. “Oh, did you finish? I never would have figured you to be so good with your hands, Arc.”
As she leaned over and looked down at my most recent creation, Ariane’s robes started giving in to gravity, her ample bosom pressing against the fabric, drawing it down. My gaze fixed on her figure.
Ponta, seeing an opening, charged forward and dove straight for her chest.
“P-P-Ponta!!! Stop it! That tickles! Hahaha!”
I was jealous beyond words. My mind wandered pleasantly as I watched the playful interaction between dark elf and spirit creature.
Eventually, Ariane pulled Ponta into an embrace and looked up at me.
“Hey, Arc, it’s almost noon. Maybe we should be heading back to the village.”
I looked up. The sun was already high in the sky. I’d really lost track of time while laying those bricks.
“I’m pretty much finished here. Let’s head back.”
After putting all my tools away, I followed Ariane and Ponta out to the yard in front of the shrine before summoning Transport Gate to take us to Lalatoya. A large magical rune of light appeared at our feet as we said our goodbyes.
“You’re in charge of the shrine, Shiden!”
“Kyiii!”
Shiden hefted its large body up, snorting and shaking its beard in acknowledgement. This had become a tradition we repeated every time we left.
Ponta wagged its large tail one last time to its friend before the magical light enveloped us.
An instant later, the world around us had changed completely. We were now in the Great Canada Forest, a massive forest that sprawled across the southeastern part of the northern continent. The elves, long persecuted by the humans, had escaped into the woods and built their own empire among the trees, separated from humans by the natural barriers and myriad monsters the forest contained.
In the depths of the forest lay multiple villages, surrounded by walls of trees created using elven magic. They were a sight to behold, like something out of a fairytale. There were houses that looked like giant mushrooms and larger buildings that had been carved out of the trees themselves, a perfect combination of natural and artificial construction.
We were currently standing in front of Ariane’s tree house in Lalatoya—the village overseen by her father, where I had been taken in as a citizen.
The tree in front of us was far thinner than the Lord Crown we’d left behind on the mountain moments ago, but it was still large enough for people to live comfortably inside. Looking up, I could see the dense cover of foliage casting its shade down upon us.
Ariane walked in without any hesitation, and I followed behind her.
Upon entering, we found ourselves in a large, spacious hallway flanked on either side by stairs leading up to a second floor that opened into a large dining room. There, we came upon a woman who was a dead ringer for Ariane. She seemed surprised to see us.
“Oh, you’re back already? When I heard that you were making something, I figured I wouldn’t see you for the rest of the day.”
Glenys, Ariane’s mother, smiled over at us. While her husband was out of the village on business, Glenys Alna Lalatoya was acting head of the village. Judging by appearance alone, she looked no older than her daughter Ariane. However, this was a byproduct of the elves’ long lifespans. I had no idea how old she truly was.
Of course, bringing up the topic of age with her would immediately end with a blow straight to my head. After all, she’d trained Ariane in the art of swordsmanship and had sparred with me many times over. I wouldn’t stand a chance at even defending myself.
So, naturally, I just smiled. “My apologies, Glenys. I kind of got absorbed in the task at hand.”
I’d originally planned to get the oven ready before noon, and had prepared the ingredients I needed to cook, even going so far as to volunteer to make lunch myself. I promptly made my way to the back of the dining room and into the kitchen, still fully adorned in my armor.
While the humans in this world cooked with firewood, the elves had all sorts of magical implements to help them out, vastly improving their standard of living. Though there was a typical wood-burning stove here in the kitchen, there was also a device that acted similarly to a gas cooktop. However, the elves generally preferred to use the wood version, on account of the fact that the other option used rune stones as fuel.
Ariane peeked into the kitchen. “So, what exactly are these early morning preparations you were talking about?”
Her gaze was fixed on the two large, ceramic jars sitting in front of me. Both of these vessels were filled with water—dried tomatoes soaking in one and dried mushrooms in the other.
“I figured I’d try a new dish today.” As I spoke, I slowly began pouring out the rehydrated tomatoes and mushrooms.
I planned on trying to make soy sauce. Normally, I’d need to ferment soybeans and malted rice and then follow a long series of convoluted steps, closely monitoring the heat along the way. It was an all-day undertaking, far beyond the skills of a mere amateur.
However, I could use chemistry to replace some of the necessary elements. That was why I’d started soaking the dried tomatoes and mushrooms last night. I would have preferred to use a yellow morel in place of the kinoko mushrooms available here, but I hadn’t found any yet. Glenys was kind enough to get the most fragrant mushrooms she could find for me, which looked rather similar to eryngii.
I poured the two jars, liquid and all, into a cooking pot and began finely chopping a chicken breast. I put some of the chopped meat to the side and poured the rest into the pot, then turned up the heat. Once it reached a boil, I used a cloth to strain it.
Now I had my soup stock.
I gave the stock a whiff and tasted it. It was actually pretty good. Ariane, however, remained unconvinced, her eyes narrowed and nose scrunched up as she watched.
“Just what are you making anyway? It smells pretty rank…”
I could only shrug. These were all familiar smells to Japanese people, things we’d grown up with. But to anyone else, I could imagine it might smell like wet laundry. It all came down to what you were used to.
Welp, it was about time to start making my improvised soy sauce.
If you broke it down to its very basics, soy sauce was essentially a combination of amino acids and sugar. At least, that was the logic I was following in my attempt. I had more than enough amino acids, so I took out the minced chicken I’d boiled, put it into a bowl, poured some Great Canada Forest maple syrup over it, and started mixing. I then put everything into a pot over high heat to cook until the sugars began caramelizing, giving the meat a nice brown color. I added some salt and alcohol to the mix and lowered the flame.
“That looks about right.”
I ran my finger along the bottom of the pot, coating it in the dark brown liquid, and gave it a taste.
While it wasn’t exactly spot-on, it was a pretty good substitute for soy sauce. The only alcohol I’d been able to get my hands on was a fruity white wine, which added more of a Western flavor to it than I’d planned. This was probably what imitation soy sauce tasted like at “Japanese-inspired” restaurants in the West.
The name was a bit of a misnomer, though, considering there was no soy in it.
Ariane watched me intently—Ponta clutched tightly, as her ever-present companion—before venturing in close enough to cautiously sniff my concoction.
“What do you think? Still put off by the smell?”
She tilted her head to the side as she carefully considered her response. “Well, it definitely smells better than before. Almost…like flowers.”
At least she wasn’t flat-out turning it down. All I could hope was that the teriyaki chicken would go over well.
Next, I started preparing a thick sauce to steep the chicken in. Up to this point, Glenys had been quietly watching the whole process, but she suddenly stood up, as if she’d remembered something, and left the room. After some time, she walked back, this time accompanied by a familiar figure.
“Elder Dillan, you’re finally back?”
The man behind Glenys smiled faintly and waved when he spotted Ariane and me standing in the kitchen. “Well, hello, Arc, Ariane. I just got back a few moments ago. It’s quite a long journey from the Rhoden capital. However, I return with good news.”
Dillan Tahg Lalatoya was Ariane’s father and Lalatoya’s village elder. He was a thin man with long, green-tinged blond hair and elongated pointed ears, a look generally shared among all the elves here in the forest.
He shot us a knowing smile before turning his gaze to his side. “I also brought a guest. She was interested in seeing you two.”
A young girl stepped out from his shadow.
“Chiyome? What are you doing here?” Ariane beat me to the punch, immediately recognizing the figure.
The black-haired cat girl bowed her head in greeting, her long tail swaying ever so slightly behind her. “It’s been quite some time, hasn’t it?”
There was a certain cheerfulness to the way her tail wagged back and forth. It was the best way to gauge how she was feeling, since her expression usually remained blank.
We hadn’t seen her since our last adventure. After finishing our mission, I’d teleported her and Goemon to the hidden village that served as home to the Jinshin clan, off in the Calcut Mountains. While we were down on the southern continent, Chiyome had run into her long-lost mentor and surrogate big brother, Sasuke, but he’d been killed and raised as one of the undead. He wound up attacking her, and she was forced to end his life.
She’d returned to her village to make her report.
“Are you okay, Chiyome?” I was at a total loss for what to say to her, so I decided to keep it vague. It’d only been a couple weeks since I’d last seen her, but the mountain people must’ve held a funeral in that time. I couldn’t even imagine the trauma Chiyome must have suffered, killing a man she’d looked up to like a brother.
Chiyome looked back at me with her clear, azure eyes and nodded. “I’m fine. After we parted, I told Master Hanzo what happened, and then we held a funeral.”
Her tail drooped, and her gaze fell to the floor. Ariane’s brow furrowed as she watched with great concern.
“Oh, Chiyome…”
“After that, I decided that I’d retrace Sasuke’s footsteps in the hopes of understanding what he was trying to tell me with his dying words.”
She paused before looking back up at me.
Though I hadn’t heard his final words myself, according to Chiyome, the last thing Sasuke had said before he died was, “Be careful of the Hilk,” or something to that effect. From that, we deduced that the Holy Hilk Kingdom had been responsible for turning Sasuke undead.
Even more noteworthy, however, was the fact that he hadn’t been anything like a typical undead, a fact that Chiyome, Ariane, and Goemon all agreed on. Generally, undead sprang forth of their own accord when spirits in mana-rich regions infested the bodies of the dead. This meant that in order for a corpse to become undead, it would need to be in a mana-rich area for a substantial period time, which in turn meant that most undead were already in an advanced state of decomposition when they rose.
Sasuke, on the other hand, had looked nothing like that. He looked like a perfectly normal living person. The only thing that had suggested he was undead was the stench of death Chiyome was able to pick up on him with her superior sense of smell and the “contamination” that Ariane and other elves could see hanging over him.
In fact, this ability to sense the undead was what had brought both women to the conclusion that the skeleton body beneath my army wasn’t, in fact, undead. It had helped bring us together. If they both concluded that Sasuke was undead, then I was sold.
But the fact that Sasuke had become one of the undead in such an unnatural way, and had a very specific objective, left me with a bad taste in my mouth regarding the inner workings of the church.
That, and Sasuke’s parting words, made it Chiyome’s duty as a member of the Jinshin clan to solve this mystery.
“However, I ran into a problem while I was doing some undercover research into the church. I know that Sasuke passed through the Febient Marsh along the Rhoden Kingdom’s northwest border and into the Delfrent Kingdom, but I lost his trail after that.”
She exchanged looks with Ariane and me.
“Whenever one of us is carrying out our duties, we usually stop by one of the ‘plants’ we have along the way, but they all seem to have disappeared.”
These “plants” she referred to were probably some sort of information network that she and her fellow ninjas used. Without them, they would be greatly hampered in their ability to gather information.
“These plants… I’m guessing they’re comrades of yours that provide a place to hide out, yeah? And you haven’t been able to figure out where they went?”
Chiyome nodded. “The Holy Hilk Kingdom has pushed its religion hard in its three neighboring countries, so living there was pretty much out of the question for the mountain people…and even the elves. If discovered, we’d likely either be killed or enslaved, so we didn’t have many plants there to begin with. But still, they all seem to have just…vanished.”
She clenched her fists, anger twisting across her face.
Dillan continued on where Chiyome had left off. “Chiyome approached me as I was returning from the Rhoden capital to ask for your help once more, Arc. Her information network and ability to infiltrate places undetected are quite impressive. I felt a chill run up my spine when I first spotted her standing in my room in the castle!”
The older man’s casual way of speaking helped break the tension that had been slowly building.
“Hmm… So we’re off to the Holy Hilk Kingdom next?”
Chiyome’s eyes went wide at my response. “You mean you’ll help? We haven’t even discussed payment or anything…” Her voice trailed off as she gazed up at me.
Unlike the other times when I’d helped her out, this time we wouldn’t be involved in any sort of great endeavor, like liberating her enslaved comrades. Rather, this was a far more personal affair for her, one involving the man she’d thought of as a brother.
But I was also intrigued by Sasuke’s parting words. I chuckled as I replied, “Actually, I’m also interested in this matter. If I can be of some assistance to you, then I’m more than happy to help out.”
Chiyome bowed her head down low, her cat ears fluttering rapidly.
The Hilk church used its teachings to promote persecution of the elves and mountain people. Not only that, but Sasuke becoming undead seemed to have something to do with the Holy King’s teachings. If so, then the Holy Hilk Kingdom was likely responsible for the undead soldiers as well.
This wasn’t the first time we’d seen the undead controlled as a single group with a unified purpose. After passing through the Furyu Mountains and entering the cave in the side of the Dragon Wonder, we’d discovered a massive cavern full of skeletons and four-legged man-spiders.
That group had been down there with a clear purpose. There was something going on behind the scenes, and I wanted to know what it was. Maybe I was just overly curious?
While I was lost in my own thoughts, Ariane also volunteered to join Chiyome’s cause.
“I’m going too! I’d worry if I sent you off alone with Arc, and it’s not like I can turn my back on a friend.” Ariane puffed out her chest at this.
Out of nowhere, a random question popped into my mind. “Hey, Ariane, aren’t you a soldier of the capital city of Maple? Is it okay for you to be spending all your time in Lalatoya like this?”
“Huh? I mean, uh, well…” Ariane stuttered, suddenly at a loss for words.
Glenys smiled widely and stepped up behind Ariane, pulling her into a tight embrace. “Have you not told him yet?”
Ariane faintly muttered an objection to her mother’s rather ambiguous statement. I tilted my head to the side in confusion.
“Little Arin here changed her village recently, and her name with it. That makes her a Lalatoya, just like you, Arc.”
The younger woman pushed her mother off, her ears turning a faint pink.
“Huh, so I guess that makes us members of the same village.”
Ariane averted her gaze. “Don’t make too much of it. I just wanted to keep an eye on you until you officially become a member. Stop overthinking things.”
Dillan, who’d been quietly watching this exchange, spoke up. “Is that so? I guess that means Glenys offered for you to take on the name of Lalatoya, Arc?”
“Yes, Glenys recently asked me to join the village. But we were waiting for your formal approval.”
Dillan smiled broadly. “I see, I see. That’s good. Well, I think you would be a great benefit to our village if you would be so kind as to join us. Besides, it would probably be best for you to be around people who understand your rather unique situation.”
He cast a smile toward his daughter.
Apparently, there would be no problem with me officially becoming a member of Lalatoya Village.
“Oh, right…there’s one more thing I wanted to discuss. If you’re going to the Holy Hilk Kingdom with Chiyome, I was hoping we could accompany you to the Salma Kingdom along the southern coast.”
“Us…?” Glenys spoke up suddenly. “You mean you’re leaving the village again?”
The annoyance was clear in her voice. Dillan responded quickly, frowning.
“No, well, I mean, you see…the capital received an urgent request for assistance from the village of Drant, so I need to speak to the village elder there. I couldn’t turn down a request from the high elders. I’m sorry, Glenys.”
Glenys sighed. “Fine, whatever. I’ll just have to lodge a complaint with Father, since he’s a member of the high elders.”
Dillan’s shoulders slumped.
Ariane stepped in and broke up her parents’ spat. “What was this request for assistance from Drant about? They’re fiercely independent, so I can’t imagine they would come to us for help.”
Having only recently become a member of the village, I really didn’t understand much of the inner workings, so I decided to just listen.
“I only realized it myself when I was on my way back and had spoken with Chiyome,” Dillan said, “but it seems that Drant was attacked by the undead, led by some of the man-spiders you told me about.”
Ariane and I exchanged a look.
“They attacked Drant?”
“There were at least three of them, accompanied by countless undead soldiers outfitted in armor. They appeared in the Ruanne Forest without any warning, leading to mass casualties. Tomorrow, we’ll be departing from Landfrea with a party of all available healers and soldiers.”
“Tomorrow?” I asked. “That’s a pretty short notice. I can do some healing, so maybe I should join you?”
Dillan turned down my offer with a quick shake of his head. “I appreciate it, but the people of Drant wouldn’t look too kindly on bringing foreigners into the village. Both of you dark elves would stand out, to say nothing of Chiyome.”
Dillan offered a weak smile as his shoulders slumped.
Apparently, not all elves were open-minded.
Thinking about it a little more, though, it made sense. After all, I was only accepted here in Lalatoya because of Ariane and her father. If my actions were to cause them any sort of issues, I’d be kicked out in an instant.
Something else also struck me as strange…
“You said that we’d be departing by ship from Landfrea to help out those in the Ruanne Forest. Does that mean that the village isn’t here in the Great Canada Forest?”
“That’s correct. Ruanne, where Drant is located, lies off to the west, separate from the Great Canada Forest, along the South Central Sea.”
“Hunh. I’d figured the vast majority of elves moved to the Great Canada Forest under the guidance of the founding elder. Is that not the case?” The words were out of my mouth before I had a chance to think about what I was saying.
Ariane shook her head and rubbed her temples.
“The people of Drant turned down the founding elder’s invitation, choosing instead to live on their own. Little has changed in their thinking in the intervening years. They’ve always been a people known for their fighting prowess.”
Judging by her body language, there was something about the situation that she found unpleasant. She didn’t seem to think too highly of Drant.
“No matter how much they might dislike outsiders, those man-spiders must have inflicted heavy casualties in order to push them to seek help. Are you sure these are the same creatures we fought before?”
While the man-spiders we faced back in the cave were pretty fearsome, and more than a match for a normal person, they were still no match for the likes of Ariane, a soldier of Maple, and Chiyome, one of the Jinshin clan’s six great fighters. Something didn’t seem right.
Then again, these two were hardly the norm.
Dillan wore an odd expression on his face, but he said nothing.
Finally, Glenys spoke up. “Their fighting legacy is a thing of the past, you know. Not only do we simply have better soldiers here, but we’ve got more of them too. Plus, they don’t even allow their women to become soldiers. And their treatment of dark elves is just awful.”
She scowled as she spoke, Ariane nodding along emphatically. Evidently, neither mother nor daughter had a high opinion of Drant.
Glenys was right—the quality of fighters wasn’t everything. Numbers played an important role as well. Keeping women out of the ranks only reduced these numbers further.
Viewed charitably, keeping women off the battlefield could be seen as special treatment. But it seemed like an incredible waste in light of Glenys and Ariane’s skills. They’d give any man a run for his money.
Besides, without knowing more about Drant itself, it was hard to say what the motivation behind this exclusion might be.
Chiyome spoke up next. “I hear their magical technology isn’t anywhere near the level of the stuff you guys have here.”
“Well…”
“I mean…”
“Right?”
Ariane, Dillan, and Glenys exchanged awkward glances at this. I got the sense that there was something deeper going on here. Certainly, the sheer number of elves living in the Great Canada Forest was a factor, but it clearly wasn’t everything.
Guuuuuuuuurrrrrrrgggggglllllle!
Suddenly, the sound of a grumbling stomach interrupted the silence. All eyes turned to the source of the noise.
Ariane’s cheeks flushed, and she quickly put her hands over her stomach, worried that it was her.
“Kyiiiiiiii!”
However, a moment later, we all witnessed Ponta stumble out from between Ariane’s legs, its large cotton-like tail swaying weakly in the air as it made its way over and mewed pathetically. So, that’s where the sound had come from.
“It looks like we got a little too caught up in conversation. I’ve already prepared some meat, so how about I throw together some lunch for us? We can talk about the details later.”
I moved the soy-sauce-drenched chicken breast over to the oven. After receiving a round of nods, I finished getting lunch ready.
The sauce caramelized nicely on the meat as it hung over the fire, filling the whole room with an amazing fragrance. I, for one, felt great.
Ponta weaved through my feet over and over, tracing a lazy circle around me while occasionally standing up on its hind legs to look at the food.
As the fire worked its magic, the not-so-soy sauce started smelling just like the real thing.
I gazed impatiently into the fire, my stomach longing for the taste of freshly grilled teriyaki chicken. Deep down, I could feel my stomach starting to growl aggressively…never mind the fact that skeletons didn’t actually have stomachs.
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