Chapter 73: Flashback Episode 2

“Haaah…”

As soon as I got a room at the inn, I collapsed on the bed, laying the girl next to me and closing my eyes. I need to wash up. I need to wash this child too, but my body won’t listen.

It was because I had overdone it.

The technique of gathering mana in the scabbard and accelerating the sword to shoot it is by no means a simple thing.

In the first place, it is a technique created to deal with flying demon noble-class monsters. The power is strong enough to leave a huge sword mark on the cliff, but the energy required is also great.

“…”

…I should practice how to reduce the range a little.”

It’s quite annoying to stop a running carriage. No matter how strong my abilities are, this body is still just a fifteen-year-old kid.

If you hit a person with a carriage, they die. It was no different for me, a mana user.

Therefore, even if it was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, I had no choice but to do this. Otherwise, I would have to continue a tiresome pursuit.

As I was continuing such thoughts, I heard a faint groan from next to me.

“Ugh…”

“Oh, you’re cold, aren’t you.”

“…”

She’s a girl who was trapped in that cold carriage all day wearing only rags on her bare body. She would have survived because she was an elf, but if she was an ordinary human girl, she would have died.

Putting more firewood into the fireplace raises the temperature of the room. When I covered the girl with my share of the blanket, she fell back into a deep sleep.

My tired body has also recovered somewhat, so I got up to bring soup from downstairs.

The elf girl woke up when the soup was ready.

The princess of Elvenheim, Lea Forest, was a curious girl.

Because she was a young girl, about 15 years old in human age, full of energy.

To such Lea, the conservative atmosphere of the Elvenheim royal family was a stuffy prison. The thinking of the Elvenheim royal family, made up of high elves who live for more than a thousand years, was quite rigid.

Whenever that happened, she roamed the forest to her heart’s content,

but from a certain point on, that too became boring. Elvenheim, no matter how huge the great forest it boasts, was ultimately just a closed space surrounded by the Erelim Mountains.

Lea’s curiosity was much greater than the great forest that Elvenheim boasts. Naturally, her interest was bound to turn towards the outside of the mountains.

To the elves, the outside of the mountains was an unknown space.

Because most elves live their whole lives only within the peaceful Elvenheim.

There are a very few elves who spread throughout the world, and special forces dispatched by the royal family, but that was a very small number, not even 1 percent of the total population of Elvenheim.

Romantic adventure stories and heroic chivalry-filled fairy tales made Lea harbor a vague fantasy about the outside world.

So, she packed her bags and came out into the outside world.

“Hello?”

“Oh my, why is a cute child out at this hour…”

The first humans Lea encountered after coming out of Elvenheim were kind and warm like in fairy tales.

The old couple, who seemed to live alone, let Lea, who was wandering alone outside in the cold, stay overnight in their house.

It was the same in the village near the Erelim Mountains. The rural villagers she saw were generally simple.

So, Lea forgot the words of the adults in the royal family. ‘The humans of the outside world are cunning and dangerous. Don’t trust them carelessly.’

Having experienced warm hospitality twice, Lea completely let go of her guard against people. So, when the s*ave hunters approached her with impure intentions, she couldn’t properly respond.

Lea’s magic skills were quite outstanding. But without even a chance to use those magic skills, she was knocked unconscious by the sleeping pills the s*ave hunters put in her tea.

“You guys, if you do this, do you think Elvenheim will stand still?!”

“Hahaha, of course! Will the cowardly race hiding beyond the mountains cross the mountains to save a little kid?”

“Urk…!”

Lea bit her lip, suppressing her frustrated heart. The reason she didn’t reveal her identity was thanks to her last remaining reason.

She didn’t think they would believe her even if she revealed her identity as a princess, and even if they did, problems would arise.

If the princess of the elves carelessly went out into the outside world and was captured, it could damage the honor of Elvenheim, and she didn’t know what the guys would do to her.

“Sometimes there are these elves who don’t know their place. Stupid guys who come out into the outside world and get caught… Ack!?”

Unable to endure the ensuing ridicule of the guys, Lea bit the hand of one of the s*ave hunters. Then, a fist the size of a pot lid came flying at her.

“You, damn, b*tch!”

The relentless violence that poured down was too harsh for Lea, who had lived her whole life under the protection of royalty.

After being mercilessly beaten and trapped in a cold prison wearing only rags, Lea finally regretted her decision.

In the outside world, the identity of a princess had no meaning. Her magical abilities were blocked by mana-restraining tools, and she had to tremble in the cold and hunger she had never experienced before in her life.

In that, she clearly felt her own helplessness. But it didn’t change anything to regret. No matter how much she cried, the prison door wouldn’t open.

About a week passed after giving up everything.

The carriage, which was said to be going to the imperial capital, suddenly received a huge shock and stopped.

Trapped in the cold, which reached minus 10 degrees, without being able to eat properly, Lea could not withstand the shock. Her head hit the wall of the carriage, and she lost consciousness.

The last scene Lea saw was a girl holding a sword and reaching out to her.

“…?”

“Ah, you’re awake?”

As soon as I brought two bowls of soup carefully, the elf girl slowly opened her eyes. I smiled faintly at the girl, placing the soup bowls on the small table.

The elf girl had a pretty cute appearance. Even in her shabby clothes and pale face because she couldn’t eat, a subtle elegance flowed. Perhaps she was an elf noble.

Thinking to myself, I put the small table on the bed. The smell of warm soup filled the room.

“Ugh…!”

The girl, who was looking at me and the soup alternately with dazed eyes, suddenly grabbed her forehead with one hand as if she had a headache. I waited quietly by her side until she came to her senses.

The girl looked at my appearance, looked around the room slowly, and tried to grasp the situation. Then, she asked carefully in a wary voice.

“Where, is this…?”

“An inn near the Erelim Mountains.”

“Inn…?”

“Yes. I brought you here because you were unconscious. You seemed very cold.”

“…”

Grabbing her head for a moment and tracing her memory, Lea recalled the last memory before she lost consciousness.

A girl who appeared like a prince in front of her who had given up everything. One girl who swept away those devil-like s*ave traders at once and saved me…

“…Thank you.”

“Hey, it’s a natural thing, so what.”

I answered lightly and sat down in front of the elf girl. It was because the girl couldn’t bring the spoon to the soup rashly.

It wasn’t difficult to infer why.

Most s*ave traders use sleeping pills when catching elves.

Elves don’t know much about the human world. Especially young elves are even more so.

Therefore, most young elves are caught after unknowingly accepting and eating food given by s*ave traders. Perhaps this girl was also caught in a similar way.

Betrayal suffered at a young age remains deep in the heart. So I can’t help but doubt even the person who was saved.

“Don’t worry. There’s nothing strange in here.”

So, I deliberately scooped up a spoonful of the soup I gave to the elf girl and ate it.

“See, I’m fine, right?”

“…I’m sorry for doubting you.”

“No. I understand that feeling. Bad people tried to do something strange to you using food.”

I said that and moved back a little. The girl’s eyes, who confirmed that the food was safe, felt a desire to eat.

There’s a saying that even a mountain view is after a meal.

I had no intention of holding a hungry girl in front of food for a long time. Self-introduction is enough after eating.

“Let’s eat and talk first. Because you must be very hungry.”

“Thank you, I’ll eat well.”

The elf girl quickly emptied the soup bowl.

Perhaps because she was quite hungry, the soup bowl was emptied in an instant. The girl, who emptied the soup bowl as if she had licked it clean, looked at me with a slightly relaxed appearance.

She hesitated for a moment, not knowing what to say, but eventually the girl who made up her mind asked carefully.

“May I ask, who are you?”

“Silver-ranked adventurer, Sian. I’m fifteen years old.”

“…I’m Lea Forest.”

As soon as I heard her name, my body flinched without me realizing it.

Lea Forest’s name is a name that anyone who plays games would know. She is, the princess of the elven kingdom Elvenheim.