85 – Damage Control

The azure sky, seemingly unseen for ages, and the verdant wildflowers, now fill my vision.

Not a trace of blood’s stench lingers here; instead, a fragrant sweetness seems to seep into my very being.

Trees are all I see,

Beneath my feet, only blades of grass yield.

The grand forest, as it must have been before the carnage, in all its splendor,

unfolds before my eyes.

For a fleeting moment, I even dared to imagine it all a dream,

but the weight, still heavy in my right hand,

reminds me that what I endured was all too real.

So, where am I now?

A place utterly devoid of those horrific remnants.

Was I moved, transported far away?

While I lay lost in that place?

As I scanned my surroundings,

I began to hear signs of life nearby.

The soft crunch of footsteps crushing the grass.

The murmur of voices, carried on the air.

The rustle of clothing brushing against branches.

My senses, heightened by the battle only moments ago,

warn me.

Something is coming toward me.

And it is not alone.

This is not good.

This is a dire situation.

There is a limit to how far I can force my body with Dragon Tongue.

My forced concentration is already depleted, and now I face something unknown,

in a place I don’t recognize?

It was the worst possible scenario,

and those signs of life were rapidly approaching.

There is no choice.

I forcibly grip my dagger,

ready for whatever may come.

Having lavishly smeared poison all over it, that is.

“..Human?”

“….?”

My first thought was to charge.

The moment it came into view, I swung my arm,

with absolutely no intention of stopping.

Consideration like that was a luxury,

not when my own safety was not guaranteed.

But it registered in my eyes, a fleeting moment.

A humanoid face with a structure like mine, and

the pointed ears I’d seen to sickening excess.

“An…elf.”

“I-I found him..! It’s definitely that human. I’m sure!”

“What?! You found him?”

“Everyone, this way─”

‘..So noisy.’

Reassured, I sheathed my blade.

Judging by their reaction, they weren’t elves

hostile toward me, and

in my current state, that alone meant

I had no need to be hostile toward them either.

After that, as more and more elves

emerged from the forest,

a status window appeared before me, and

just like that, my body lurched forward.

≪You have defeated Envy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.≫

≪The vengeful spirits of countless people offer you their gratitude.≫

≪You have excessively used the Dragon Tongue. Side effects are…≫

≪As compensation…≫

Before I could even finish reading

the countless lines of text appearing before me.

*

About an hour had passed since

Jenison disappeared in the explosion.

Outside, the situation was more or less

being brought under control.

Relief supplies were being distributed

to treat the injured, and

mourning was being offered to the countless lives

caught up in this disaster, as they were laid to rest.

Just that alone, and time flew by.

Of course, the process wasn’t entirely smooth.

“Because of those humans!!

My mother… she died because of them!!”

“Don’t you still understand that the very act of

interacting with humans was the problem…!”

“What was there to gain from those wretches,

that we continued these exchanges for so long─”

The surviving Elves, they rose up.

Regardless of age, regardless of gender.

Allowing humans into our lands was the reason

this disaster even occurred.

Perhaps it was a scheme plotted by the Empire

to weaken our forces.

Even now, we must consider these humans

enemies of our people, and fight them.

It was a moment when the Elves’ hatred of humans

shone brightly once more.

And the knights’ reactions to it were varied.

“No, how is this *our* fault?

We too have lost precious comrades!!”

“…Calm yourselves. From their perspective,

it’s understandable that they’d think this way.”

“No, how can we just stand here and take it?

Our Vice Commander is dead, and the Commander… clings to life…”

“…This discourse of ours could completely sever

the ties between the Empire and the Great Forest─”

Some were enraged by the Elves’ claims,

others prioritized the future of the Empire.

But even they seemed to bear the same

anger and resentment towards the Elves’ words.

Before long, the words exchanged between them

became more heated, more fierce.

Just as the discord between the two races

was intensifying all the more.

Sylvia, the Elven princess who remained alone there,

stepped forward.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“P-Princess…”

“At a time when we should be focused on mending

this situation, what are you doing?”

“Do we have time for such squabbles?”

“N-No!! I’ll head out right away─”

“Hold a moment.”

The instant those words left her lips,

the elves, who were rushing back to the barracks,

turned back around at her single command.

“Have them assist as well.”

“Y-Yes? You mean the humans?”

“Knowing our situation, they’ll have no choice

but to lend a hand, one way or another.”

“Y-Yes…”

Though her order sat uncomfortably with them,

they had no other recourse.

For she had proven her strength, joining that

hellish battle firsthand,

and despite being royalty, different from them

since birth, she hadn’t shied away, but fought alongside them.

Daring to argue against her words

was unthinkable, not to be done.

But, there always existed those who defied common sense.

“Ha, does the Princess truly hold such affection for humans?!”

“Hey, hey, what’s gotten into you?!

Are you mad? She’s the Princess…!”

“Hey, do I look like I’m alright? It’s strange, isn’t it,

that the Princess herself brought those humans into the forest in the first place!!”

Sylvia’s eyes sharpened,

directed at the young elf acting without knowing his place.

“Who’s to say she isn’t trying to pick up the crumbs

that humans drop?”

“Hey, enough already…!”

“Yes, even so, what disrespect to the Princess─”

“My family and girlfriend died!!

Because of what happened today, do you think I *can* calm down?”

The young elf’s words and behavior grew increasingly coarse,

causing even those nearby to frown,

but his actions did not cease.

Instead, he only lashed out more fiercely,

insulting her.

If it were any other time, she would have thought of him as a childish fool.

Ignoring it as something done in ignorance, perhaps, but…

“You, come here.”

“Ha, what is this? A willing admission, perhaps—”

“Know your place.”

In an instant, the knees of the one who had been raging like a mad foal

touched the ground.

Not by his own volition, but by her power.

“Wh..what the—! L..look at this,

finally showing your true colors…Urgh!”

“Do you even know how many died and were injured

because of this situation?”

“Wh..what are you suddenly…saying.”

“Just helping, healing,

burying, and offering condolences to those countless people alone…

Do you even realize how much time that will take, right now…!”

The head of the young elf, kneeling,

continued to lower until it finally touched the floor.

No matter how hard he struggled,

his body showed no sign of lifting from the ground,

and all he could do was grit his teeth

and glare upwards.

“I have no time to listen to

each and every one of your circumstances.”

“Ho..how could you—

How much my family did for you…!”

As if expressing the feelings

burning fiercely within his heart.

Resentment bloomed in his eyes.

Like a single, blazing torch.

But it was soon suppressed,

by her ice-cold gaze.

“So, what am I supposed to do?

No matter what I do, your family

will never return from the dead, will they?”

“Th..this is…!”

“Enough of this and face reality.

Your people are dying even at this very moment,

the injured who must, inevitably, lose limbs.

You are not the only one in pain, you know.”

Suddenly, the pressure weighing him down vanished.

And at that very instant, he lunges.

Filled to the brim with resentment and rage.

Had he only heeded the voices of the other elves,

Paid even the slightest mind to their gaze,

things wouldn’t have come to this.

But his mind, already brimming with delusion,

rejected it all.

Sylvia judged that she could no longer,

reason with this one.

“…I have no more time to waste on this.”

“What… urgh!”

“You two there, move this one.

Bind him so he causes no trouble when he wakes.”

“Yes… yes, ma’am!”

“We will obey your command!”

With that brief uproar subdued,

she surveys the elves standing there, dazed.

“You there, the one in the back.”

“Yes…yes? Are you speaking to me?”

“Indeed. I have a separate order for you.

Search for any humans in the vicinity, by any means necessary.”

“H…humans, you say?”

“Yes, the one with the black hair who came with us then…

Why that look on your face? Do you perhaps object?”

“N…no! How could I ever dare…”

“You must find him,

even if it’s just a trace.”

In truth, the elf who received the order as well,

harbored little fondness for humans.

But he was not foolish enough,

to so much as consider disobeying the princess’s command.

Sylvia, herself, yearned to seek him out directly,

but she could not indulge that desire.

She couldn’t abandon her own kin, suffering and dying,

simply to pursue a man who piqued her interest.

So she had no choice but to entrust the task to him,

sent as a temporary measure.

And then, at long last,

roughly six hours after she dispatched him,

word reached her ears that he had been found.

It was him, without a doubt.

The black hair, the black eyes.

Even the affinity that drew spirits to him.

Wounded elves and even

Imperial knights, all rejoiced

at his return, without exception.

He had, undeniably,

rescued them from this crisis.

Even elves with lingering human-hatred

were openly happy at his homecoming.

What did it matter if he was unconscious?

He was alive and had returned, that was all that mattered.

Let us hold a festival when he wakes.

How shall we express our gratitude to him?

There was a trustworthy person even among humans.

The convivial atmosphere persisted, and

the restoration of the Great Forest progressed successfully.

Everything seemed to be working out.

Except for one thing: the news that he still hadn’t awakened.

Not since that day, three days past.