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142. The Result of the Choice – Part 1

「Ugh…」

When I opened my eyes, the reddish light streaming in through the window told me that the sun had sunk quite low. My body was still immobile, but at least I could open my eyes. The location hadn’t changed—I was still at the inn.

Well, that was the point of making sure I couldn’t be moved.

「Good thing I triggered…[Vajra Barrier] and also [Star Years] before I passed out…」

[Vajra Barrier] makes the body impossibly heavy and hard. Apparently, even though I was unconscious, I’d become as unmovable as a statue, which left my captors no choice but to stand guard. I could hear the men now, growing agitated.

「Hey, he’s awake already. Isn’t that way too soon?」

「He still shouldn’t be able to move. I’ll keep watch—go call Mom.」

‘Mom’ likely didn’t mean their actual mother. Probably just meant the boss.

I could hear footsteps coming up from downstairs.

「Well, color me surprised. Didn’t expect you to wake up this soon. Guess our special concoction still needs some work.」

A woman’s voice. I could feel her presence in the room now. It wasn’t Koe-san or Angelina. Her voice was huskier, closer in tone to Rinono, if I had to compare.

With effort, I turned my still-numb neck and saw a woman with long greenish-blonde hair seated in a chair. She held a bottle and a glass, as if she intended to sip while admiring the moon.

「Try to move and you’ll regret it. Best to stay down and behave.」

「The other two…?」

「They’re right behind you. We really wanted to carry them off to our place right away, you know.」

I managed to turn my head. Sure enough, Koe-san and Angelina lay in the same spot, still unconscious. The shards of broken glass scattered across the floor were undisturbed.

Normally, the two of them would’ve been abducted separately and used as hostages. The only reason that hadn’t happened—

「I dropped an ‘anchor’ using a skill. Thanks to Angelina’s quick thinking.」

「So that’s what caused that absurd heaviness and stiffness. You really do have some troublesome skills.」

A thin, tough membrane wrapped around our bodies—that was the effect of[Vajra Barrier]. I’d cast it on all three of us and used [Star Years] to extend its duration.

That way, we couldn’t be moved, stabbed, or drugged easily. It bought just enough time for us to wake up.

「Hmm. If that’s the case, relying on oral poisons might be a mistake. Maybe I should try something inhalable next time. Or a nice poison gas, even.」

「So it was the liquor, then?」

「Bingo. The booze Altora served you had our carefully crafted poison mixed in.」

The woman poured what was probably plain alcohol into her glass—no poison this time, I guessed—and raised it toward the indigo-stained sky before continuing.

「Poison brewed personally by me, Remonde Vehl, leader of the Elves.」

「Quite the dramatic introduction.」

「Originally, your poison resistance skill was supposed to fail, and you’d be dead before I had to introduce myself. Judging from how much spilled, I’m guessing you collapsed after a single sip. Maybe I overdid it on the fast-acting part.」

Remonde chuckled bitterly as she looked at the glass shards on the floor, clearly assuming I’d dropped the glass after drinking.

In truth, I’d been splashed with the stuff. I must have inhaled some of the toxin and absorbed it through my skin, which explained the numbness. Same for Koe-san and Angelina.

But not a single drop had entered our mouths. That’s why we were alive.

「Still, don’t expect to be moving properly for a while. Not until our plans are finished, anyway.」

「…You mean the plan to invade the Abik Domain through the drug trade.」

「Oh? So you figured it out. But that’s not the whole picture.」

Remonde took a sip of her drink and exhaled.

「Marge Siu. You came from the Abik Domain, right? Duke Abik’s a capable and decent noble. The trouble is—he’s too capable and too decent.」

「Too decent?」

「He rejects enemy bribes. He cracks down when drugs start spreading. All very proper responses. That’s why the Abik Domain is still clean and stable. Probably helps that it’s tucked away at the country’s edge.」

Then, with a trace of regret, Remonde continued.

「That’s why we have to destroy it. If he’d been just a little bit more corrupt, like the other lords, things would’ve been easier. He’d have gotten drugged up, we’d have invaded, occupied the land, and that’d be that.」

「You say ‘just occupied’ like it’s nothing. For the duke, there’s no difference between that and destruction.」

「Oh, but there is. If humans conquer the place, people die as humans. Human armies don’t eat people, after all.」

「…What?」

That could only mean one thing—they were using something that did eat humans. Monsters. Beasts mutated and empowered by mana.

「It’s a huge undertaking just for a human army to cross the mountains. You get that, right?」

「Yeah. That path’s too narrow and treacherous for a large force.」

To attack from the Fathie side, they’d have to cross the Leon Enagoris mountain range or take a roundabout route. Marching thousands of troops would be a nightmare. So using monsters did make sense… but how?

Then, of course, the obvious answer came to mind.

「…A dungeon.」

「Exactly. There’s one deep in those mountains, unknown to humans. We found it when we were being chased and fled over the mountains. If we’re using your terms, it’s probably an S-Class dungeon or worse.」

Its name was—

「The Icewood Labyrinth of the Dying Trees, blanketed in blizzards. ‘The Vigil’s End.’ Once Kinui and the Abik Domain are swallowed by a sea of monsters, that’ll be the end.」

Remonde turned her emerald gaze eastward and raised her drink toward the twilight. The snowy peaks of the Leon Enagoris mountains must’ve looked beautiful in the setting sun. But hidden among them, she claimed, was a dungeon of nightmares.

「A dungeon’s your trump card? It’s harmless unless someone goes inside—how do you plan to use it?」

「Heh. You already know, don’t you?」

「…You mean a Dungeon Break. If you think you can control something like that, you’re out of your mind.」

Dungeons are living labyrinths that grow. Once fully matured, they spew monsters into the world, transforming the surrounding region into an uninhabitable hell forever.

That’s what we call a Dungeon Break—a disaster no human hands can control. Every nation has measures to prevent it. In ours, the Adventurer’s Guild is officially recognized and tasked with delving into dungeons to prevent such outcomes. I’d witnessed the devastation provoked by it firsthand in Vita-Tama.

「That kind of thing isn’t something humans can manage.」

「Then you must not be human, since you managed to stop it.」

「…Fair enough. But Dungeon Breaks take centuries to occur. You can’t just force one.」

「With our alchemical skills, luring monsters out on command isn’t so hard. Don’t believe me?」

「…I believe you.」

No, I didn’t think it was a lie.

Scout Mero from the Bellman squad had done something similar in the Farthest Ends of the Blue. If humans could manage it with ordinary potions, then the Elves with their secret elixirs could certainly do the same—perhaps even better.

「A man-made Dungeon Break. That’s our ace in the hole.」

Remonde’s fearless smile brimmed with confidence. Maybe it was possible, in theory. But if they couldn’t defeat the monsters they unleashed, they’d lose the territory gained by it.

「And what would that get you? Is destruction the goal?」

「If Kinui becomes monster feed, the duke might change his mind. And if not—well, maybe the whole Abik Domain gets swallowed up. But hey, you’ve gotta spend something to gain something.」

「You’d go that far to take over a neighboring country? Feeding its people to monsters and turning fertile land into a wasteland?」

「Yes. We’d go that far. But you’re the real problem, Marge. King of the Werewolves, the man who stopped the Golden Land of Crimson Luxury’s Dungeon Break. We had to wrack our brains to deal with you. Harder than the conquest itself, honestly.」

「It doesn’t add up.」

Their motives were still murky. More than anything, their actions didn’t feel like something the Elves would do.

「I understand what you did and how—but why?」

The Elves are supposed to be a peaceful people, living quietly in small communities. Everything Remonde had done contradicted that image Asagi and the others had described.

What would drive them to start a war?

「I’ve heard your kind hates conflict. What made you get involved in one?」

「Oh? And if I tell you, will you hand over your territory?」

「No. But I might be willing to help. Maybe it’s fate that I’m still alive and talking to you, despite your attempt to kill me.」

「Fate, huh? Not a bad way to look at it. We Elves live deep in the woods, turning away from all encounters. That’s why we value the rare bonds we do form.」

She took another sip of her drink, eyes drifting to the window dyed with the last light of day, and began to speak—slowly, deliberately.

「We want a forest. Even a small, quiet one… An ‘Elven Forest.’」