Chapter 28: That’s distorted information (1)

As soon as Yukomis opened the door to the dungeon, she heard a voice that threatened to burst her eardrums.

“You guys! This is oppression! Oppression!”

Hearing that shout echoing throughout the prison, Yukomis, whose headache recurred, covered her eyes with one hand.

It was a voice she was all too familiar with.

“Why do you all turn away from grace? Even if you persecute me like this, do you not know that the voice of truth freely travels beyond this humble iron cage?”

“Haa…”

It was a beautiful way of speaking.

She knew how to make a voice that could be heard clearly even beyond the many noises of the battlefield.

That was a great quality as a warrior, but now she was using that ability in a completely wrong place.

“Fear not! I have come to deliver love, not swords!”

Thundering.

Only then did Yukomis realize why Count Odresa was reluctant to come here with her.

She had only handed over the keys to the dungeon, saying that they should have a “deep conversation”, and had run away somewhere.

Leaving Karat and Signa behind, Yukomis finally stood in front of the source of the voice.

One soldier guarding the prison was tightly closing his eyes and making a face as if he was about to die.

Something like cotton wool was thickly stuffed in his ears, but it was clear that it was of no help.

When Yukomis signaled the soldier to go out with a nod,

he smiled broadly like someone who had just encountered a birthday table and ran outside.

Inside the prison that the soldier was guarding, an elf was squatting down and shouting at the ceiling. Silver hair that emitted a blue glow lightly fluttered around her shoulders whenever she spoke.

“…Silissa. What on earth are you doing?”

She was a woman of average height, only slightly taller than Yukomis.

However, considering the average height of elves, who were larger than humans, her height was quite short among her own kind. A thin and long neck that you couldn’t believe had a vocal cord that spewed out such an enormous amount of volume, and a triangular shoulder line that sloped gently.

Breasts that were neither too big nor too small, and a thin but elegant frame…

But on top of that frame, there were surprisingly dense and firm muscles.

It was easy to tell even over the wide shirt she was wearing.

“That voice!”

The elf, who had been looking at the ceiling, turned her head sharply towards Yukomis.

“That unpleasantly chirping voice like a mountain bird!”

It was an unknown metaphor.

She, who had been squatting, used the elasticity of her whole body to jump up from her spot.

Then she ran towards them as if she was about to bury her nose against the bars.

Thanks to that, her exotic face could be seen greatly by the three people standing there.

Eyes that were much larger than humans and gray pupils, a sharp nose, and pointed ears that peeked out from her hair…

It was an unreal and mysterious-looking appearance.

However, Yukomis knew very well that there was a rather seriously screwed-up mind under her intellectual appearance.

“My old comrade! My friend! Yukomis! You’ve come here!”

“Hello. Silissa.”

It was a voice that was not at all well.

Silissa pretended to hug her, but of course, she inside the prison could not reach Yukomis.

“I can’t believe we’re meeting again in a place like this! Yukomis, you have no idea how much I missed you!”

“I didn’t miss you that much.”

Yukomis replied coldly.

But the elf inside the prison did not seem to be discouraged at all by her curt attitude.

“What are you saying between us! If it wasn’t for my situation, I’d be in the mood to share a toast with you!”

“I don’t know what kind of relationship we have. But I’m not in that mood.”

And she added one word.

“…And I don’t drink alcohol.”

“Aren’t you an adult now?”

“That’s not related to the story.”

“You’re still consistently gloomy! It still seems like a dark cloud is only staying above your head!”

“In case you don’t know, it’s because of you that I’m in a bad mood.”

“Don’t say that… Yukomis! You came at the right time!”

Silissa lightly shook the bars.

“Look at what these evil people have done to me!”

“What did they do to you?”

“Can’t you tell even if you look? It’s oppression! These guys have been imprisoning me here for several days!”

Silissa proudly spread out her hands towards the inside of the prison where she was.

‘…Oppression?’

It was a very strange shape for oppression.

On one wall beyond the iron bars, there was a bed covered with pure white bedding.

On the wooden table, there was a water bottle full of clean water and a plate with white bread, and on the opposite side of the bed, a brazier was burning brightly.

The shelves that looked brand new were full of neatly folded underwear,

and ridiculously, there was even a thick carpet on the floor.

The only components that made this place look like a prison were the gloomy brick walls and iron bars.

“It looks like you’re enjoying great luxury.”

Just by looking at this half-baked ‘prison’, Yukomis seemed to be able to see the worries that the Count had.

She had to imprison the heretic for now, but she couldn’t treat the war hero harshly,

and Silissa was of noble birth even among the elves.

She was the daughter of the high priestess who worshiped Sonnet, the goddess of love of the elves.

“If you really hate this place, you can just get out.”

Silissa was also a magician, of course.

And originally, it was impossible to just roughly put a magician in the dungeon like this.

A magician was basically a one-person army, a living weapon.

Even with bare hands without a staff, they could use simple magic if there was mana.

Therefore, thorough preparation was essential to restrain the custody of a magician.

They had to gag them, blindfold them, bind their limbs, escort them with sufficient troops, and imprison them in a special prison that was isolated from external mana.

Of course, the process from beginning to end was too harsh.

Yukomis knew painfully well what kind of terrible things happened to the magicians who were captured by the Demon King’s subordinates during the Great War.

“Yukomis, as you said, it’s really easy for me to get out of here. But I have taken an oath! To respect human laws and orders in human territory!”

“Who did you swear to?”

“Of course, it’s your one and only sister, Lady Thermis Solenas!”

“My only lord, gospel! May there be infinite glory to her!”

Thundering.

Yukomis was speechless.

“The Count promised to release me as soon as I stop praising, but that can never happen!”

“Sil…”

Silissa, leaving such Yukomis behind, was spouting whatever she wanted.

“Yukomis, isn’t it strange? I only praised someone who deserved to be praised, but I’m imprisoned in a place like this!”

“Sili…”

“But I can’t break the oath because I swore it in front of my Lord! I’m just enduring this hardship!”

“The footsteps of justice may be slow, but they will eventually knock on the door of the blind, so I have never regretted being chosen as the messenger!”

“Silissa!!!!”

Yukomis shouted, stopping Silissa’s testimony.

Yukomis, who was angry, was almost panting.

“Shut up! Even for a moment!”

“…Ugh, okay.”

Yukomis and Silissa had personalities that were close to being incompatible.

She was willful, passionate, reckless, aggressive, and unilateral.

In Yukomis’s view, the proportion of the ego in her mind was so large that there was no room for anything else to squeeze in.

Yukomis could not get used to Silissa’s personality until the end of the war.

The only ‘operation’ that Silissa could think of on her own was to crash into the center of the enemy camp and destroy everything she saw.

The only person who could shut her mouth, appease her, and make her listen to instructions was her sister, Thermis.

“Okay, listen. I’m going to ask you a few questions.”

“Questions? Do you want to interrogate me too?”

“I’m only doing this to help you, so answer me for now.”

“Ugh, ugh. Okay.”

“That religion…”

Yukomis sighed and started asking questions.

“When did you start doing this ‘thing’? You weren’t originally this kind of elf.”

After Thermis’s death, she said that she needed to let her own people know this mythological story and that she would return to her hometown, the Northern Great Forest.

Even until then, Silissa wasn’t that crazy.

Just an elf who was incomprehensible, frustrating, and annoying.

“I only heard the news that you came out of the Great Forest recently. How did this happen?”

“Good question!”

Silissa, who had seemed a little depressed for a moment, quickly perked up.

“As you know, I wandered around the Great Forest for a while and told the locals there in detail about what I had experienced.”

“Yeah.”

“And… I was able to find a lot of like-minded comrades there unexpectedly. Quite a few comrades who fought against the Demon King had already returned home, and there were many who had witnessed my lord single-handedly slay the fire dragon!”

Although she didn’t show it outwardly,

Yukomis was trying to feel a little better at this point.

“And even to the point of ending the story of her self-sacrifice… Ah, really, her life was so heroic that there wasn’t a single flaw to be found!”

Yukomis felt a little better.

It was really not easy to feel good while talking to Silissa.

“We spent many nights celebrating while thanking the world for still being intact. While having fervent conversations, we eventually came across a question that we should have asked a long time ago.”

“Question?”

“Is this really the achievement of a single human being?”

“Could anyone other than her do this?”

Silissa’s face changed seriously for a moment.

“Who on earth can be someone who pursues honor and cause rather than their own glory?”

“Who on earth can become a dragon slayer, not retreat in the face of the forces of destruction, truly embrace other races, treat the wings of a wyvern like their own, put all the heroes of the world under them, and finally kill the Demon King alone?”

“Is it really possible for a short-lived species, not even a magician, to have done all this alone?”

Silissa’s face was soaked with a fervent ecstasy.

“Yukomis. If someone can really do these things.”

She swallowed and said.

“Tell me. Why should we call such a person a human?”

“Self-sacrifice. It is the noblest form of love. So shouldn’t we understand that the goddess Sonnet was residing next to us in the form of a mere mortal? So shouldn’t we praise Thermis as we praise the goddess Sonnet?”

And Yukomis’s pupils, who was listening to that, shook a little.

It was because she knew that another stupid and unexpected nonsense would come out, but the words were much more moving than she thought.

While Yukomis was at a loss for words for a moment, someone gently put their hand on her shoulder.

When she turned around, Karat, who had a pitiful expression, was shaking his head.

Yukomis, who had regained some sense, continued asking questions again.

“You said you got along well, so did your comrades think the same thing?”

“That’s right!”

“Then what are those people doing who get along with you… what are your comrades doing now?”

“They’re proselytizing!”

“With your delusions?”

“Please say it’s a fact, not a delusion?”

“Then why are you the only one caught here?”

“Ah, that’s…”

She, who had been confident all along, stuttered for the first time.

“Um… Let’s just say there was a slight difference of opinion in the catechism. So we parted ways for a while.”

“You’re saying there was a dispute with those people?”

“I didn’t say that far. Just… that’s…”

It was clearly a look of being uneasy about something.

“Silissa. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”

Actually, she didn’t really want to help, but anyway, she needed Silissa’s help.

There was a reason why Yukomis had to come here and find Silissa.

Yukomis had just realized how much more powerless she was in Kifoll than she had thought.

She, who could have suppressed two magicians like playing with a child during the Great War, had been knocked out pathetically.

The vacancy of the authority she had lost was too great.

As Ilesha had said…

It was better to have at least one powerful companion before visiting Bildur.

To be honest, she was stupid, annoying, and had a tiresome personality, but Silissa’s skills were real.

And she was an elf who would not betray her no matter what happened.

“That’s…”

Silissa continued to hesitate.

“Um… I don’t know if I should really tell you this…”

“I’ll judge that.”

“Okay. I got it. You said it yourself.”

She slowly opened her mouth.

“That’s… um… to explain slowly, Thermis knew a lot of amazing stories, right?”

“That’s right.”

Yukomis nodded.

Her sister knew a lot of exotic stories and legends that she didn’t even know where she had picked up.

“I especially liked the story ‘Ramiel and Silhouette’ that she told me.”

“Silissa. That’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’.”

Yukomis corrected, putting her hand on her forehead.

“Th, that’s not the important thing! The important thing is… um… It was a story I had already heard several times, but it was a story I liked very much, so… One night, I went to her accommodation late at night. The story starts there.”

“…Continue.”

“It was almost midnight, but the tent was lit up. She was, as always, fighting with unknown documents. Even though I interrupted, she didn’t show any signs of dislike and said that she would tell it to me again.”

Yeah. That was the kind of person she was. A person who didn’t refuse such small requests.

“As with all the stories she told, it was… a very romantic and love-filled story. You know what kind of story it is, right?”

A light nod.

“For a while, nothing special happened while she continued the story. Sitting on her bed, I was holding her pillow tightly and listening intently so as not to miss a word.”

Silissa’s eyes became hazy in an instant.

“But when I reached the part where Romeo confesses his love under the window. When I reached that part that I liked the most, I was overwhelmed with an indescribable feeling. When she whispered as if not to let the voice leak into the next tent, ‘Ah, Romeo, why is your name Romeo?'”

It was becoming a story that had nothing to do with the original purpose of the interrogation, but Yukomis was listening to the story without realizing it.

“Something, I couldn’t control a boiling emotion in my heart. My breathing became rapid, my cheeks were full of heat, and everything started to disappear except for the side profile of her conveying a romantic transmission.”

Rather, it seemed that Yukomis was becoming more and more immersed in Silissa’s story.

“While she was catching her breath for a moment during the story, I unknowingly whispered in her ear. I didn’t even know why I had that thought. ‘Ah, Lady Thermis, why is my lord’s name Thermis?’ Then… then everything happened like magic…”

“She smiled and whispered back sweetly, ‘Do you want to know the reason?’ Hearing that fragrant and sweet word, I… I made up my mind that I had to give everything to her.”

“Wait, what?”

Yukomis’s immersion was broken in the sudden development part.

“What can I hide anymore. Yukomis. I received the grace of Thermis that day.”

“Rece…received what?”

Stagger.

“Her hand gently caressed my cheek. I said. ‘My Lord. I don’t even know why I feel this way.'”

“We faced each other on a small bed, I don’t know why I feel this way either.”

“I said. ‘Maybe… I was in love with my lord.’ Then she said. ‘I knew it.’ Ah… how sweet those two words can be!”

“Wa, wait a minute!”

“At that moment, I decided to entrust everything to her. Her long fingers caressed my skin, which had allowed everything, and I felt like I was about to lose my mind just by touching the tip of her fingers.”

Karat quietly covered his ears with both hands.

“There’s no way, wa…!“

“But, of course, she didn’t intend to end it with that. When I tried to avoid her gaze, she turned my chin and said, ‘How would you like me to do it?’ So I answered, of course. ‘As my lord wishes.’ Ahh…”

“No…”

“It was as if she was enjoying my anxious voice. She waited with a mischievous expression until I said this. ‘Everything. All of me is my lord’s.’ And then, of course, I…”

Yukomis closed her eyes tightly.

“No way!!!! That didn’t happen!!!!”

And she couldn’t hold back any longer and shouted.

“Yukomis, this is clearly lie…”

“My sister wouldn’t do that!”

“I swear that happened!!”

“My sister is definitely not the kind of person to do that!!!!”

Her unique calmness and cold contempt were nowhere to be found.

Silissa’s disclosure shook every part of Yukomis, a human being.

“How dare you, how dare you tell such a lie that won’t work even if you plant a seed in front of me…!”

Only raw anger remained, shouting and pointing at Silissa.

Yukomis’s pale lips trembled.

“To, to dare to say such outrageous things that defile my sister…!”

“Yukomis! Grow up! Love isn’t dirty!”

Silissa didn’t give in either.

“Why are you doing this! Like a child who just found out that their mom and dad had s*x!”

“Hey!!!! Silissa! Are you my mom???”

Almost tears were welling up in Yukomis’s eyes.

“Si, si, sister… sister!”

Karat, unable to endure this terrible conversation any longer, suddenly ran out of the prison.

He could hear their shouts seeping into both ears that he had blocked.

“My sister was a virgin!!!”

Yukomis finally screamed like a child.

She didn’t seem to know what she was saying anymore.

“That’s a terrible thing to say! Lady Thermis is definitely a virgin!”

“Just now, just now se, service, s*x or something… you said such, such words!”

“That’s the fun part of same-s*x relationships! It may be difficult for your race, where heterosexuality is the default, to understand…”

“As if I would understand that!!!!”

“Since she unilaterally gave me grace, strictly speaking, she’s still ch…”

“Kyaaaaaaaaak!!!!”

Suddenly, another voice that Silissa heard for the first time intervened between the two.

“Kyaaaaaaaaak!!!!! Stop it!!!!!!!!”

A girl behind Yukomis, who had not been paying attention to until now, started screaming.

“No, no! Absolutely not! It’s all a lie!!!”

The girl was trembling all over, so much that it could be seen even over the robe she had completely turned upside down.

Needless to say, that was Signa.

“You lie, idiot, idiot!!!”

The end of her one hand towards Silissa drew a large circle as it shook with agitation and anger.

“If you lie, I’ll punish you!!!! Where on earth, where on earth did you!!!!”

Having said that much, she could not control her emotions and began to cry.

“Sniff…sniff…! Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!!!”