/
“…”
“The barrier was unstable, but for it to break… Did you do that?”
“Yes, I broke it.”
“Huh?”
“Well, why are you not taking me away? You can tie me up if you’re worried.”
The elf looked confused when Davey stretched his hands out and stared. Then, the elf said, “You cannot go into the village. There is only one choice for you.”
“To die?”
The elf’s silence was enough.
“You are only giving me one choice, but I’ll give you two.”
When the elf slightly frowned in silence, Davey said, “Do you want to cooperate and let everyone live in peace or do you want to rot and be destroyed?”
Just as the elf was about to scoff, Davey added, “Half of your forest is corrupted, isn’t it? And it’s just getting worse. Your leader seemed desperate enough to sneak into the Heins Territory to fix it.”
“You…”
“Go and tell her that her boss is here.”
This land, this forest, was on Heins Territory.
‘I bet you guys don’t even pay rent.’
* * *
“L… Lady Yuria!”
“Did you look into it?” Yuria glanced at the guards calmly while comforting the young elves who were trembling in fear. She thought it was somewhat of a relief that the danger outside hadn’t gotten in yet.
“The enemy! Is it a human?! No way!”
“Yes… It’s a human. There’s also a strange being that isn’t human. I couldn’t feel any spirit energy from it… It was like it’s dead.”
There were only two cases where spirit energy was absent: either it was the Undead, who defied the laws of nature, or a manmade being.
The most important thing about this case was that an outsider had invaded the forest that had remained hidden for so long. It wasn’t an accidental run-in, but an intentional one. Furthermore, the barrier that was created using spirit magic had been blown to pieces and could no longer be repaired.
“Look at that!! Lady Yuria!”
Of course, Elder Condae was not going to let this slide. He huffed and complained, claiming that he had been right all along. He yelled, “We have been discovered at last! What are you going to do! Humans are greedy beings! How are you going to take responsibility!”
“Elder Condae,” Yuria said.
“What is everyone doing?! Gather all the guards and remove the invader! We must not leave any traces!” Elder Condae glanced at Yuria and added, “This has happened because of your foolish actions, Lady Yuria. We must leave this place before it is too late.”
“Elder Condae.”
Yuria addressed him in a low voice for the first time. However, not noticing that, Elder Condae continued on. “Are you worried about the corruption?! Go and beg for forgiveness from the World Tree right now!!”
This situation was an emergency, so the other elves could not refute Elder Condae. However, at that exact moment, one of the elf guards slowly raised his hand and said, “I… I’m sorry, but…the human has surrendered.”
“What?”
“And he wants me to give you a message.”
Yuria, who was slowly getting angered, returned to her usual expression. She asked, “What is it?”
“That is… He said you would know if I told you, 'Your boss is here’…”
Yuria’s eyes widened upon hearing the guard.
* * *
The forest was quiet. Feeling the strict and tense atmosphere, Rinne stood in front of Davey with her weapon still in her hand. She declared, “Rinne is an excellent golem. Rinne will protect Sir Davey.”
“Do you think you will ever have to protect me?”
“…Rinne thinks Sir Davey’s personality is terrible…”
“But you can do things that I can’t. That’s enough for me. It’s my job to protect and yours to help me.”
“Splitting the work… Understood.”
Davey stared at the wooden handcuffs, which almost seemed to be alive, in fascination. It was spirit magic, which different kinds were able to use. However, a certain type of it was given to the elves like a special right.
—Then, even you can’t use it?
‘Well…’
Even Davey couldn’t overcome the barriers of being a human. However, if he could use that system to his advantage, using it was a possibility.
—The person who taught you spirit magic… Yuriana, was it?
‘Yeah, the incredible elementalist who bonded with all thirteen Spirit Kings even though she was human.’
—Anyone else?
‘Um… The only married couple in the Hall, maybe? Ylgr, the Demon Lord from the same continent as her, is her husband.’
The Demon Lord, inspired by Stick Man and created crazy martial arts techniques, was married to Yuriana, the elementalist who taught Davey spirit magic. Of course, she wasn’t one of the four wicked women in the Hall, but she was also far from normal. Demon Lord Ylgr always vented in tears whenever Davey got a drink with him.
[Damn it, marriage is death! Davey! Don’t get married and be nagged all the time! Women are all monsters pretending to be foxes!]
There were four types of spirits: fire, earth, water, and wind. However, one could bond with more spirits if they were a kind with special powers, like the Light Spirit that High Elves bonded to, or Dark Spirits that Dark Elves bonded to.
“Lady Yuria has allowed it. Follow us, human.” One of the elf guards approached Davey warily and covered his eyes with a cloth. He warned, “Your head will be pierced with an arrow if you try anything stupid.”
“You can tie me up harder if you really can’t trust me.”
“Quiet!”
Davey didn’t see these elves as his enemy; to him, they were valuable workers that were going to work for the territory. Not wanting to provoke these elves who were already on alert, he just smiled and stayed quiet like they asked him to. In fact, Perserque was asking him questions like she wasn’t anxious about this situation at all.
—Then, what about the other spirits? You said thirteen, didn’t you?
“Um, so, there are like illusion types, confusion types, time, space, ice. Well, there are a lot.”
“What are you talking about, human?!”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Let’s go.” Chuckling, Davey took a step forward. His footsteps were so light that it was like he wasn’t even blindfolded.
* * *
The elf village’s atmosphere was nothing like when Davey had visited the Yellowstone Tribe’s dwarf village. The dwarves were wary of humans, but there wasn’t any hostility; they just seemed to be surprised. However, the elves were different. Their hostility, wariness, and fear were clear. They had successfully erased their existence from the world for the past three hundred years. Even the most skilled informants couldn’t get any closer because of the wide barrier which had been created by spirit magic. Although they had covered Davey’s eyes with an old cloth, he could definitely feel their gazes and attention.
‘I sense it…’
“You guys…aren’t ready yet.”
-What are you talking about?
“You’re not ready as residents of the territory yet.”
How dare they treat the owner of the building and land with anger and hostility?
‘Have some more respect, you foolish pointy ears.’
“Hurry up and move, human.”
As the elf growled and pushed Davey, Rinne clenched her jaw and stared up at the elf. “Rinne, warning. Rinne will present you with high-quality assault if you push Sir Davey one more time.”
“Funn…”
“Rinne will do it. Rinne will. Rinne will do it if Rinne said so.”
Rinne was also in handcuffs like Davey, but a bat appeared in her hands. It shone for a second before it disappeared.
“Huh…”
“Rinne will do it if she says so. Don’t provoke her. I’m not here to fight, and I’m not here to harm you, either.”
As Davey walked calmly, the elves looked at him with even more hostility. He could distinguish their faces through the vibrations, knowing exactly how they looked even though he couldn’t actually see. This was the Eye of the Mind: it was still a sensation, but it was a higher level of power rather than a sense. In a way, it was a level one could only attain after reaching the Sword of the Mind, a higher power than the Telekinetic Blade.
[Remember, hiccup! Ah, I’m getting drunk. The Sword of the Mind is something that will allow you to see the invisible, and smell what is odorless. It is like when an elementalist can see and smell spirits: seeing and feeling the invisible. That is the Sword of the Mind.]
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
This was what Dokgo Jun, the Heavenly Destroyer, had said to Davey when he had been trying to find a way to learn the Sword of the Mind.
[The one who has learned the Sword of the Mind can see the flow of the world and has the ability to go against the flow sometimes. Others may think they have hidden themselves and their intentions perfectly, but it would be clear to you. Same with assassins, too.]
Sword Lord Ares had also told Davey the same thing.
“We have brought him, Lady Yuria. Human! Kneel!”
“That’s all right.”
The elf that was going to push Davey once again stopped after hearing the command. Then, they took his blindfold off, and he could see the village now. There weren’t a lot of elves, just a little over a hundred, but the fact that they were elves, beings that one would see in fantasy novels or fairy tales, reminded Davey that this was no ordinary scene.
The plants that grew in the Forest of Elves were different from the plants in regular forests; some were shining, and some budded with flowers from a light touch unlike normal plants, which almost didn’t move at all.
‘If I use it right, this will make me rich.’
Davey knew that he would be able to make some very effective medicine if he harvested these plants, but he took his eyes off them for now. The important thing was not the plants but the picky pointy ears in front of him right now.
After looking around a little, Davey smiled at the girl with sky-blue hair who was standing in the middle of the elves. He asked, “How is your vacation going?”
“I suspected that you knew about my identity.”
“Why?”
“You already knew about the existence of elves, did you not? And…” Faintly smiling, Yuria told Davey about what he had said to her about leaving the territory in her hands when she was disguised as a maid. She went on, “Then, when the corrupt nobility invaded the territory, I pushed them out with the Light Spirit… That’s when I knew that you knew.”
Then, the elves’ hostility intensified as Davey spoke.