Ch.278Chapter 278 – The Dark Elf’s Test (2)

Vanilla’s eyes were slightly disturbed.

Chris, Sera, and Eve showed expressions of relief.

Beatrice had a slightly curious look, while Sia and Gigas were quietly watching me.

Then Vanilla asked.

“Why did you refuse?”

She questioned with a slightly pressing tone.

“You heard what I said, right? That you could die before finding any other method. That this was a certain and easy way. So why are you refusing?”

Vanilla quietly asked.

“Do you think there’s something more precious than your own life?”

“Of course.”

I answered calmly.

“It’s not that I don’t value myself. I’m human too. Sometimes I want to keep good things for myself, sometimes I want to earn more money.”

“Then…”

“But unfortunately, my life is no longer mine alone.”

I said slowly, looking at my companions.

“Once, I tried desperately to solve problems on my own. I almost died.”

“You managed to survive?”

“Yes. Thanks to those three who came for me.”

I said, looking at Eve, Sera, and Chris.

“Since then, I’ve owed my life to them. And from that moment, my life, my existence, was no longer mine alone.”

I spoke quietly, organizing my thoughts.

“There are people who would be sad if I died. And I think those people would be sad if I took the wrong path.”

Of course, I believe they’re people who would forgive me even if I made mistakes.

But even so, I didn’t want to commit those mistakes in the first place.

“I don’t want to do things that would make them sad. That’s why I refused.”

“But isn’t dying scary? Wouldn’t they eventually understand if it’s for your survival?”

Vanilla asked again, as if testing me.

Looking at her, I quietly said.

“For anything, you should struggle until the very end before giving up.”

I could see Vanilla quietly listening to my words.

“That’s what a great alchemist once told me.”

I said quietly, looking at Sera.

“There’s still time left. And I know one way. It’s difficult, but it’s a way that won’t make the people who care for me sad.”

I had already been shown the way.

Everyone was walking that path with me.

“When everyone is risking danger to help me, changing direction just because there’s an easier path—especially doing something those people would dislike—would be like turning their efforts into nothing. That’s a kind of betrayal too, isn’t it?”

It would be the worst kind of betrayal, betraying everyone’s efforts and expectations.

…I’d rather die than do that.

“I don’t want to betray them.”

I omitted my earlier thought and stated my intention.

I didn’t want to casually say I’d rather die when everyone was trying to save my life.

And after quietly listening to me, Vanilla sighed and said.

“So there are dull humans who choose the difficult path even when their own life is at stake.”

“I suppose so.”

“Well, fine. You’re too kind-hearted.”

Vanilla raised both hands as if giving up.

Then with a slight smile, she said.

“Actually, I couldn’t have done it right away anyway, so this was going to end as just a conversation.”

Vanilla said this while slightly turning her head away from me.

Looking at her, I quietly asked.

“…You can’t do it right away?”

“Right. It wasn’t something I could do immediately anyway.”

Vanilla said with a smile.

“To begin with, neither Gigas nor I have the ability to turn other creatures into demons. Such abilities are extremely rare even among demons.”

“I didn’t know that.”

I had thought any demon could turn others into demons, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

Vanilla grinned and said.

“Besides, even with such ability, it’s questionable whether turning you into a demon would be possible. You’re stronger than a mediocre demon, aren’t you?”

“Are you saying only those weaker than the caster can be turned into demons?”

“Generally, yes. For ordinary people it might be different, but the stronger someone is, whether in magic or otherwise, the harder it is to turn them into a demon.”

Vanilla quietly said.

“To begin with, White Dragon, you’re essentially a dragon, and… it hurts my pride to admit this, but you’re probably stronger than most demon generals. You have strong resistance, so you can’t be easily turned into a demon.”

It seems it would be a bit easier if I accepted it willingly, but still difficult.

Then Vanilla chuckled and said.

“Still, there is someone who could turn you into a demon in this situation. Just one person.”

“Who?”

“Who else?”

Vanilla slowly said.

“The one we acknowledge. Our Demon King.”

The Demon King they acknowledge.

It must be the one I fought in Albheim.

“Our Demon King has such a good personality. If you asked, he would probably help even an enemy.”

“Is that so?”

“Though he might say something like ‘Become my comrade in return!’ or such.”

Vanilla said, “Just like what happened to me.”

“…But he was recently severely injured, and while Demon Lord was rebelling, he ended up missing. In such a situation, it’s difficult to meet and ask him right away.”

“How did he go missing?”

To my question, Vanilla sighed and said.

“Well, when the Demon King was in danger, Merry, who was unconscious at the time, flew her entire body to protect him in a mindless state, and soon after I woke up and warped him away.”

“Danger?”

The Demon King in danger.

“This might sound strange, but I find it hard to imagine.”

The Demon King was strong even when severely injured.

When I fought the Demon King in Beatrice’s memory magic, he was such a powerful opponent.

Honestly, I could hardly imagine him being in a dangerous situation.

Vanilla laughed and said.

“Half of it is because of you, White Dragon. He was already severely injured from forcibly flying from the demon realm, and then fighting you weakened him significantly. That’s what created the opportunity for Demon Lord to rebel.”

“I see.”

“What, aren’t you going to apologize?”

“Of course not.”

We were enemies back then.

Vanilla laughed softly and said.

“I can’t even joke with you. Well, back then, both sides were fighting for what we wanted.”

Vanilla nodded in agreement.

“…Anyway, I was in such a hurry that I warped him without specifying a destination. That’s why he went missing.”

Vanilla turned her gaze away as she answered, seeming a bit guilty.

Behind her, Gigas was quietly glaring at her.

“Is that okay?”

“As long as he didn’t unluckily end up in a pool of lava or something, he should be alive.”

“He’s tougher than he looks,” Vanilla added.

“…You seem surprisingly calm about it.”

Despite calling it an emergency, Vanilla was more composed than expected considering she was the cause of his disappearance.

Perhaps this was her way of showing faith in the Demon King.

Meanwhile, Vanilla cleared her throat and said.

“Actually, we’ve roughly located him recently. That’s why I was coming to this country. He seems to be hiding his presence for some reason.”

It seems they’ve managed to locate him, though I thought they had no contact.

It seems the Demon King either doesn’t want to rejoin them or is planning something.

“If you couldn’t do it anyway, this was a pointless discussion.”

“Hmm, I don’t know about that. At least I learned what kind of person you are. White Dragon.”

Vanilla said with a grin.

Then she bowed deeply to Chris and said.

“I apologize for my rudeness, Goddess. I meant no harm, but I sincerely apologize for speaking words that betrayed compassion.”

“Please don’t do it again.”

Chris accepted Vanilla’s apology.

Then Vanilla looked at me and said.

“I’ll be in your care for a while, White Dragon.”

“Sure.”

Hearing my answer, she smiled playfully.

+

And a little later.

We went out to the street.

“Going out… I wonder if it’s okay after yesterday’s commotion?”

“It’ll be fine. After all, they retreated after hearing Domestica’s name.”

To my question, Beatrice pointed behind us and said.

“And with that level of disguise magic, no one will notice unless they’re extremely sensitive to magic. Honestly, even I would have to look carefully to notice.”

Beatrice spoke quietly, seemingly acknowledging the quality of the magic.

Hearing this, Vanilla patted her chest a few times and said.

“Heh, don’t underestimate someone who’s been researching magic for hundreds of years.”

“For someone like that, you seemed weaker than I expected.”

“I’m actually closer to a scholar, you see.”

Vanilla lightly brushed off Beatrice’s comment.

Then she looked at Eve and said.

“So, where are we going?”

“Why do you need to know that?”

To Eve’s question, Vanilla answered leisurely.

“After all, Gigas and I are essentially your prisoners. We’ll be within your sight, so wouldn’t it be better to know our destination?”

Eve seemed to be considering this.

But as Vanilla pointed out, the two demons needed to stay within our sight.

Although Sia had volunteered to monitor them, we couldn’t leave everything to her from start to finish.

“Can’t be helped.”

I quietly looked at Eve, and she met my gaze.

Seeming to have similar thoughts, she nodded and looked at Vanilla.

“So, what’s the destination?”

Vanilla asked casually.

“The dock, of course.”

Eve answered quietly.

Soon Gigas tilted his head and asked.

“Why the dock? To take a ship?”

“Yes.”

I answered Gigas’s question.

Our original goal was to go to sea to break the seal.

Although there was a sea dragon roaming around, we first needed to check if we could get a ship and if we could go there.

“It won’t be easy, but we need to investigate first.”

New information might have emerged while we were unaware, or there might be a captain and ship willing to take us to those waters despite the sea dragon.

Perhaps we might ultimately need to defeat the sea dragon, so we needed to secure a ship that could serve as a base for that.

“It would be nice if there’s a good ship we could just depart on.”

“I know, right.”

I smiled in response to Sera’s words.

It would be best if all these concerns turned out to be needless worries.

As Sera and I were conversing, Sia interjected.

“But renting a ship will probably cost quite a bit. Do we have enough money?”

Sia asked with curiosity.

Eve smiled at her and said.

“More than enough. And we’re not planning to rent.”

“Not renting? You’re buying one outright?”

“Yes.”

Eve grinned and said.

“It probably won’t be easy to rent one anyway.”

“That seems like a waste.”

To my comment, Eve smiled and said.

“We have plenty of money, so don’t worry.”

Since Eve, who manages our budget, spoke so confidently, I guess we don’t need to worry about money.

“We should check out the ships at the dock first.”

“Right. It’s coming into view now.”

As we were talking, the dock began to come into sight.

And an unexpected problem appeared.

“It looks like there are only small boats?”

Sera said in a slightly surprised voice.

At the dock, there were only boats that looked like they would just sail around the harbor.

There were no large ships that could go further out to sea.

“Did they all go fishing?”

“That’s unlikely.”

When Vanilla jokingly suggested this, Beatrice quietly said.

“If all the large ships had gone fishing, a significant number of these small boats would be gone too.”

Beatrice frowned, saying that if it was a big enough occasion for all the large ships to go out, the small boats would have gone out as much as possible too.

“With a sea dragon roaming around, there would be fewer ships sailing in the first place.”

Beatrice nodded at my words.

If a sea dragon was roaming the seas of Firenze, ships wouldn’t be able to travel properly to other places.

So there should have been many ships, both large and small, at the dock.

But what was actually there were only small boats.

All the large ships had disappeared.

“And they don’t seem well-maintained either.”

Even from a distance, those boats looked abandoned in places.

Some were being maintained, but there were many that seemed neglected.

“We should ask around first.”

Since this wasn’t simply due to the sea dragon, gathering information was our priority.

As we were quickly looking for someone to ask, Chris extended her hand and said.

“Look, that person seems to be a manager.”

Chris pointed to a place where a man who seemed to be checking the boats and someone who appeared to be a boat owner were visible.

It wasn’t an argument, but they seemed to be sharing complaints with each other.

Seeing this, Eve looked at me.

“Let’s go ask what happened.”

“Let’s go together.”

“By all means.”

Eve nodded with a smile at my words.

Soon we approached the two men.