Chapter 32

“Let’s go. Our destination is west, so lead the way.”

With that one sentence, I cut short the tiresome bickering with Sergeant Trian. He looked like he had a mountain of things he wanted to say, but I wouldn’t indulge him.

He must have thought I was quite the character, too, because he clicked his tongue and sighed.

…I didn’t understand why *that* b*stard was looking at me like I was some weirdo, but drawing things out further with pointless arguments wouldn’t do any good.

I said nothing and started walking into the forest. As soon as I took the first step, Sergeant Trian silently strode past me.

At least he wasn’t the type to prioritize his pride so much that he’d abandon the mission he’d been given.

“Even so, this is fortunate.”

“Halt, trap ahead! Lir, can you disarm it?”

“Uh… yes! This much is simple, just a quick circuit scramble…”

“Hold on, poisonous foliage ahead. Be careful not to brush against it, and if you’re pricked, tell me immediately. I have the antidote.”

“Even for a mage, aren’t you tiring out a bit quickly? Hmph… wait there. I’ll find us a place to rest.”

The Elf, setting aside his pride and focusing on the task, was far more competent than I’d expected.

The breadth of knowledge and insight accumulated over a millennium was truly impressive.

With an Elf’s characteristic sharp eye, he warned me of dangerous traps, trees, and terrain ahead of time, even finding a safe, stump-dotted resting place for me when I grew weary from the long trek.

Thanks to his skillful guidance and exceptional perception, we were able to traverse the rugged, forested terrain more quickly than anticipated.

…Well, so what if he’s a bit rude? He’s this capable.

I could understand why so many commanders stubbornly crammed Elves, despite their disruptive behavior, into the archer corps.

“In a forest like this, sitting directly on the ground can lead to stings from poisonous twigs or leaves. If possible, refrain from lying down on bare earth.”

“…Are you being kind? Or just rude?”

“I’m simply doing my duty. And I’m not rude. It’s only natural that I, who has lived for over 1200 years, speak informally to youngsters like you.”

Did Elves have no concept of ‘being polite to strangers, regardless of age, is customary’?

And why had the concept of ‘soldiers should respect their superiors’ vanished?

“By the way, is direction the only way to describe the destination’s location? If you could pinpoint the location where that mysterious energy is felt, we could chart a more efficient course.”

Sergeant Trian, trusting solely in my words that ‘we must head west for now’, had been leading the way for approximately 5 kilometers from the dwarven outpost under heavy construction.

He seemed less than thrilled about blindly heading west, hacking our way through uncharted territory filled with cliffs and poisonous woodlands.

“Now that we’re closer, I can sense it more clearly. The largest tree… I feel like the oldest, largest tree in this forest is located at the far western edge…”

To ease Sergeant Trian’s worry, I closed my eyes and, as if feeling something, pressed a hand to my temple, wrinkling my brow.

…I felt pathetic, putting on a show that only charlatans would attempt, but what choice did I have?

“More specific instructions than I anticipated. Do you sense anything, Lir?”

“No, I still lack much… I’m ashamed to say I feel nothing at all.”

Lir hung his head with a sheepish expression, answering Sergeant Trian’s question.

It felt all too much like a con artist, peddling medicine to naive elders and children. It sat uncomfortably with me.

“Then wait here a bit. I’ll climb to higher ground and see if I can spot the largest tree on the western edge. Thanks to this concrete clue, the path should be easier.”

Sergeant Trian left us resting on the stump, disappearing between the trees. He returned almost as quickly.

“Did you confirm it already?”

“No, there are mines nearby. Lir, come with me. I think I need you to confirm it with me.”

It seemed that even the path to the nearby high ground was riddled with mines. Since disabling magic mines required special tools or a mage, I nodded and looked at Lir.

Lir wore a slightly disappointed look but rose without complaint to follow Sergeant Trian.

Even if he dislikes being alone with strangers, is showing such blatant disappointment really necessary?

“Be quick about it.”

“Yes…”

My words meant to offer encouragement, were met with Lir’s listless reply. Trian didn’t even acknowledge my greeting. And so, they disappeared into the undergrowth, leaving me to a rare, quiet silence.

* * *

“You seem quite friendly with that fellow.”

“Yes… well, he did save my life…”

Lir sabotaged the circuit of a magic mine hidden beneath the leaves with a flash of lightning, replying to Trian’s words in a small voice.

When she was next to Bean, her voice was at least discernible. But separated from Bean, left alone with a stranger, her voice became something akin to a draft escaping a mouse hole.

“…Couldn’t you raise your voice a little?”

“I’m so sorryyyy…”

Being left alone with someone she’d never met was simply unsettling for her.

“Never mind. As long as you do your job well.”

Triane, unlike when he spoke to Bean, used a gentle tone. For him, Lierre, being another elf, was someone he might be seeing for the next 500, even 1000 years.

“It’s all finished…”

Lierre said, pointing at the tattered, pitch-black shards of the completely ruined circuitry.

“Let’s move, there’s a decent-sized cliff up ahead. Once we get there, we should have a rough grasp of the surrounding terrain.”

Triane, having been crouching to disarm the mana mines, extended a hand to Lierre.

Lierre stared at Triane’s hand for a long moment, squatting there, pondering before rising to her feet on her own, without taking it.

Even she didn’t quite know why she had bothered to reject Triane’s assistance.

Triane, seeing Lierre’s actions, paused, and then looked at her with concerned eyes.

“…It’s best not to grow too attached to other races besides elves. We live for thousands of years, but they die so quickly, unable to even reach a hundred.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s healthiest for elves to only interact with other elves. Other races leave our sides so soon.”

“…Where did that come from?”

Lierre, as if she truly didn’t understand what Triane was saying, looked up at him with her large, innocent eyes.

Could it be that not taking his hand had bothered him?

It wasn’t exactly that his dirtied hands were unpleasant, or that she felt bad, that made her act that way. Lierre, lost in thought about how to clear up this misunderstanding, stared at Triane’s back as he began to walk ahead.

“…Well, you’ll understand once you experience it yourself. I never listened when my own father said the same.”

Trian muttered to himself, his gaze fixed forward.

Accustomed to speaking in hushed tones, Lir was able to catch even his quiet murmurings and etch them into his memory.

…Still, he couldn’t quite grasp why Trian was saying such things.

How could an elf, barely twenty-one years of age, truly comprehend the heart of one who had lived for over twelve hundred years?

After that, they walked towards the cliff in silence. Lir wanted to apologize for not taking the hand he’d offered earlier and tried to speak, but he simply couldn’t summon the courage.

“Wait here.”

While Lir hesitated, they arrived at the base of the sheer cliff face. Trian, the sergeant, scanned the rock for a moment with practiced eyes, quickly discerning footholds and handholds, creating a path and beginning to climb.

Despite it being his first time on this path, he ascended with the skill of someone who trained on this cliff dozens of times a day, reaching the summit of the towering precipice in less than ten minutes.

“…Hmm.”

As Trian pulled himself onto the cliff top, a tree, its trunk exceptionally large and imposing compared to the others, came into view.

Its location, near the western edge of the woodland… This must be the place where the genius mage sensed that unusual magical energy.

“Let’s go back. I’ve got a rough idea of the route.”

Immediately, Trian displayed an exceptional sense of direction, even in the densely packed forest, retracing their steps without getting lost.

“Ah, um… well…”

During the suffocating forty-minute trek, Lir ultimately failed to offer an apology.

* * *

Back from the cliff, Sergeant Trian was a veritable living map.

Lir couldn’t fathom how he had memorized the terrain of this vast woodland, but he skillfully avoided perilous precipices and areas choked with poisonous plants, safely guiding them towards the western edge of the forest.

The woods were eerily silent.

In a typical woodland, the sounds of monsters or animals would echo, but the demonic forces had already used most living things as ingredients for their twisted creations. Not even a single ant remained in this forsaken land.

This absence of even the smallest insect in such a lush forest was an eerie spectacle.

We continued our trek, my ragged breaths the only soundtrack, and finally, just before sunset, we reached the western edge of the woods.

“Hah… huff, hah…”

I leaned against a tree, struggling to catch my breath.

Lir, used to my state, wordlessly produced a handkerchief and dabbed the sweat from my brow. Sergeant Trian, however, just stared at me with disdain, sprawled on the ground after barely a few kilometers.

“Is this the tree?”

He placed his hand against the trunk I was leaning on and asked.

“Huff… Yes? Ah, yes. Yes, it’s the one.”

With trembling hands, I pointed to the base of the tree.

“Beneath it… a Runestone is hidden.”

“…Runestone?”

“Ah, well… the feeling of magic, it just feels like a Runestone…”

Ah, I had only mentioned a mysterious magical presence, hadn’t I? I hadn’t specified Runestone.

I must have slipped up, my mind clouded by exhaustion.

“…Impressive. I still don’t feel anything, even after coming all this way. To discern the nature of an object with magic alone…”

Thankfully, Lir’s incredible assist (unintentional, of course) allowed me to gloss over the blunder.

The truth was, I didn’t sense any Runestone or anything else for that matter, but well, that wasn’t the important thing right now.

What mattered was that a Runestone was hidden beneath this tree, and that Runestone possessed the ability to communicate with the spirit of lightning.

How I came to know that fact… what does it matter now?

“Dig.”

Having caught my breath somewhat, I requested that of Sergeant Trian.

“…”

Sergeant Trian regarded me with a look unique to elves, one of inherent superiority, as though genuinely displeased. Sharp eyes filled with revulsion… come to think of it, that was the same expression the Elven Queen wore when looking at criminals.

“That’s an order.”

But so what if you’re displeased?

Based on my experience thus far, this elf wasn’t the type to sabotage a superior out of sheer spite or abandon his duties because he felt like it.

If his character were that rotten, he wouldn’t have become a soldier willing to die for the greater good in the first place.

Meaning his nature wasn’t fundamentally flawed. It was merely his pride in his race and the experience of living for thousands of years that made him arrogant.

“…The audacity, from those so young.”

As I’d predicted, Sergeant Trian only muttered under his breath, offering no direct insubordination. Probably because I’d asserted my authority from the start, ensuring he wouldn’t try to rise above his station.

He began to slowly dig at the ground with his bare hands. Lyr, perhaps feeling sorry for the 1200-year-old elf squatting and digging at the earth, began to help him with her delicate hands.

Of course, Lyr’s assistance, who had likely never done manual labor in her life, was more of a hindrance than anything.

“You’re in the way. Just go.”

He spoke to Lyr kindly, unlike how he addressed me. If I were standing there doing that, he’d be snapping at me to get lost.

“If! Only! You had mentioned! Bringing a shovel! Sooner! This is why! I should never listen! To those so… young!”

Sergeant Trian was outright berating me now, but I remained consistently indifferent, as if to say, ‘So what?’

Logically speaking, a general couldn’t just let a sergeant do all the digging.

…Though, it was also strange to see someone 1200 years old digging in the dirt while someone not even twenty sat idly by, relaxing.

But what could I do? My body was practically running on fumes now.

A chorus of screams echoed from the muscles in my body, and I was certain that even with a blade pressed to my throat and a command to vanish, I wouldn’t be able to move a single step.

Though, one had to be able to move to vanish or flee in the first place, didn’t one?

“Hai, dammit…!”

And so, until the moon hung high overhead, Trian toiled, digging at the earth.

Moonlight pierced through the leaves, but it wasn’t nearly enough to illuminate the surroundings. I lit the lantern Trian had brought, casting its glow before them.

“Oh…”

After digging for what felt like an eternity, Sergeant Trian’s fingers seemed to brush against something.

Lir, eyes wide, stared into Trian’s pit. I, too, eager at the thought that we had finally found the runestone, leaned forward to peer inside.

“…Haa, so this is it, huh?”

“Good work. I’ll see to it you get a reward when we return.”

“Forget the reward. Just explain what this thing even does.”

It seemed even an elf of 1200 years knew little of the runestones that allowed communion with spirits.

Unlike the artifacts scattered throughout the world, only five runestones existed that could connect with spirits, one for each magical element.

“This is… what, exactly…?”

Lir, diligent in his study of magic, echoed the sergeant’s confusion.

Trian dug away more of the earth surrounding the runestone, completely revealing it above the ground. The massive stone, large enough for two or three people to lie on, was etched with ancient words whose meaning was, for now, obscured.

“…”

Lir stared, transfixed, like a maiden smitten with a new love. An understandable reaction for one born with the gift of magic.

The essence of lightning magic, the elucidation of mana, the tantalizing sensation of approaching the heart of magic’s mysteries—a sense of excitement filled both Lir’s and my own heart.

A sense of wonder, that with a mere touch one might unlock the secrets of the world, pulsed from the stone.

We simply stared, dumbstruck, at the rune stone caked with earth.

Lir swallowed, wetting her lips. She seemed to instinctively grasp that something tremendous would occur if a lightning mage like herself touched this stone.

“Y-you go first.”

She unconsciously reached out, but then deferred to me.

“Even with it radiating such immense power… I couldn’t even sense it… Our Master didn’t mention feeling any particular magic either, so perhaps this rune stone only calls out to you, Bin-nim, specifically.”

“Huh?”

What’s she going on about?

“I don’t know which entity this rune stone communes with… but its master pinpointed and summoned Bin-nim. A terrible thing might happen if someone else tries to commune first…”

“That’s a valid point.”

Sergeant Trian, washing dirt from his hands, echoed Lir’s concern.

*Mana energy and whatnot. I wonder what their reaction will be when they realize it was all my made-up nonsense.*

“…Understood.”

I put on the most solemn expression I could muster and slowly reached out to touch the rune stone. I was bothered that I had to keep up the charade until the very end… but what else could I do, given how things had unfolded?

The next moment. Blue-white lightning sparked between me and the stone, then spread out through the roots of the tree in all directions.

Strangely, the tree didn’t catch fire despite the lightning surging outward. The trees around us, as if conductors, absorbed the lightning and began to glow, soon concentrating the electricity above us on the massive crown of the tree.

…It was a power incomparable to what I’d seen on the screen. The air around us grew searingly hot, but oddly, no thunderstorm formed.

The crackling of sparks echoed through the leaves overhead.

The lightning slowly formed a snow-white claw, a torso, and then magnificent horns, eventually taking the shape of a beautiful stag.

“…”

The Lightning Spirit had descended.

I felt a strange urge to bow my head, almost involuntarily. Lir, another lightning mage, seemed similarly affected, his face filled with a reverent awe. Even the Sergeant, who had lived for 1200 years, let out a low exclamation, clearly impressed by the sight.

What should I say? How was I supposed to greet it? What kind of dialogue took place in the game…

“This shiiiiiiiiit!”

And just like that, the lightning spirit in the form of a deer, eyes wide with fury, unleashed a torrent of the most unexpected curse words.

…Huh?

“…E-excuse me? Wha-? Huh?”

So dumbfounded was I, that only foolish sounds reflexively escaped my lips.

I had encountered this very lightning spirit countless times beyond the screen, but never had I seen it react with such… passion.

“Uwaaa…”

Unlike me, who possessed the [Calm] trait, Lir momentarily succumbed to terror, slamming his forehead onto the ground.

“I’m so damn mad, you little b*stards. I should just burn you all to a crisp!”

Hmm…

What’s got *him* all riled up?