episode_0073

The night of the Great Forest, where deep and wide darkness had settled.

While wandering through the labyrinth of the dark forest, a suspicious presence was felt not far away.

A human presence.

Yet at the same time—it was not human.

“Sisters of the Moon.”

The owner of the presence murmured in a low voice. It was a voice filled with chilly coldness.

Furthermore, they, like Selena, wore deep, dark hoods, concealing their dark elf skin that no moonlight could touch.

“Who are they?”

“—Why are they guiding mere humans?”

“You can’t be unaware of what it means to walk this place with outsiders.”

In front of the overtly wary and suspicious voices, Selena replied.

“My dear sisters.”

It was a voice imbued with the greatest respect and mercy she could express.

“The one I serve is not a mere outsider.”

“Serve…?”

As a fellow dark elf and Sister of the Moon.

“As a Sister of the Moon, are you shamefully saying you serve a mere human?”

“Surely not a mark of obedience—.”

At the same time, as a member of the Serpent, Selena of the Dark Moon paid no heed.

Among some of the elves, eyes imbued with magic seemed to suspect whether Selena’s body had been subjected to ‘obedience magic.’

“Unfortunately, I do not pledge loyalty to that person through such trivial tricks.”

“—.”

However, no artificial restraints or forced treatments by human or imperial hands were visible on her.

Selena, too, merely let out a bewildered laugh at their expressions.

“I know that no matter how I express or explain ‘that person’ in front of my kin, you will never understand or accept it.”

“…Does that mean this is an existence we cannot accept?”

“Most likely, yes.”

She continued with a laugh, her voice deliberately bitter. Perhaps they took her words as an overt sign of hostility, as the already sharp vigilance among the dark elves grew even keener.

“As she says, they don’t seem like simple imperial slave hunters.”

Hostility as cold as moonlight. While it wouldn’t be strange for an arrow to fly at any moment, drawn from a bowstring, I opened my mouth in the cool night air that had settled around us.

“I am….”

“In this sacred forest, I have never permitted a mere human to speak.”

No, I had tried to.

But with the dark elf’s words interrupting me, a blade glinted not far away.

It wasn’t an arrow. A dagger flew in without a presence, without any preliminary movement or warning.

The glint of a knife, shining alone in the darkness where even moonlight couldn’t penetrate.

It was the Mother Forest’s answer to humans, not permitting outsiders.

Faster than that glinting blade, Aria stepped in front of me as if to block, placing her hand on her sword hilt, and the shadows that should have been under Alice’s feet swallowed the enemy and prepared to become shields to protect allies.

Yet, faster than any action, I silently restrained the members.

It wasn’t Aria’s turn, nor Alice’s. What needed to be done here was solely my responsibility.

“I did not come here to receive your permission or understanding.”

“!”

Naturally, an outcome where that blade would reach me never existed from the start.

Everyone knew. Yet, the actions of the members trying to protect me were merely the blind loyalty befitting a member of the Serpent.

Because it was invisible, even with the reality that the elves’ blades could never reach me right before their eyes, they still acted like blind people who couldn’t see that reality.

Blindness is like that.

“That magic…!”

A barrier with a crystalline fractal structure blocked between me and the dark elves, and the recursive pattern showed no cracks.

Constant-activation defensive spell: .

Their race, inherently possessing high magic aptitude and understanding, could instinctively sense it, even if they didn’t know the specific spell’s name or operating method.

What level and caliber the defensive magic protecting me possessed.

“…Nothing will change.”

Undeniable agitation, along with a starlight-like pallor, settled on the faces of the dark elves hidden beneath their hoods.

Everyone must have instinctively realized that, as they were now, confronting me was impossible.

“Captain.”

At that moment, Selena of the Dark Moon broke the silence and interjected.

“Please, for the sake of my kin, will you allow me a moment to speak?”

“…Do as you wish.”

I didn’t care.

“My kin, that person never acts for the Empire or anything of the sort. —In a sense, you could even call them an enemy.”

“We do not care for empires or kingdoms. We have watched all human nations, blinded by greed, defile and violate this forest with their ugliness.”

“That person does not act for any human nation.”

One dark elf questioned back.

“Then, for whom do they act?”

“Not for anyone. —Not even for themselves.”

Selena said. Of course, if one had to name one thing, there would be a single name. But I didn’t bother correcting her words.

“It is just for this moment that person wishes to act for my ‘kin’.”

The elven territories, cut off from the outside world, do not know about the Serpent. No, they might have heard the name.

But it’s different from the human world, where every single piece of information is processed and spread in the form of newspapers, and a myriad of details are added, inflating it into preposterous tales.

It’s not possible to simply resolve all problems with the name of the Serpent, as it usually is.

“Sisters, please believe my words.”

“Are you telling us to believe a mere human?”

Selena spoke. Her voice was more desperate than ever, imbued with a light of uncharacteristic earnestness.

“—There’s no need to believe.”

It was then that I, who had been silent, finally opened my mouth.

“Whether you believe or not, my objective from the start was the human nation parasitic in this forest.”

It was simply that from the beginning. There was no such thing as a choice given to them from the start.

They would simply see.

“To blindly believe a human’s words without any proof—”

It was at that very moment.

“How truly pitiful.”

Aria, who had been silent, opened her mouth. Her voice was devoid of emotion, accompanied by a cold, freezing sneer.

“The ignorance of a stagnant race, unable to understand anything about humans.”

“….”

“Even after being completely plundered, violated, and burned by human hands, do you still not understand ‘humans’?”

Overt mockery directed at the elves. Selena frowned, and Alice burst into childish giggles.

“After suffering that much, even if you’re dull-witted, you should probably start to realize by now.”

“Exactly! Big sisters, you’re completely foolish!”

Alice laughed as if it were someone else’s business.

“Shall I tell you the true human way, the end you should have met long ago?”

Aria continued, undisturbed, in a calm voice.

“First, to break your will to resist, they would horrifically murder a few as an example. In the most overwhelming and violent manner possible, to engrave the fact that no struggle is futile.”

“—!”

“Next, they would leave only a few alive to extract information, forcing them to reveal the truth through obedience magic or alchemical elixirs, or perhaps even splitting open their skulls and extracting their brains ‘directly’ to ask. Then, based on that information, they would raid your stronghold—”

“Don’t be ridiculous! In the face of such threats, the will of our kin…!”

“Will is merely a very trivial emotion, you pitiful, foolish elves of the moon.”

Aria stated.

“The very fact that your limbs are still attached, and you haven’t become living meat puppets, is already part of the boundless mercy the Captain has bestowed upon you—”

Her words shone light on the dark blade now held in her hand.

“Yet, if you fail to understand the mercy the Captain has shown, respecting Selena-yang—”

“You’ll learn it whether you like it or not.”

Alice giggled, showing off a terrifyingly torn smile that stretched across her face, following her steps.

“The true ‘human way’.”

The monsters who called themselves humans, clearer than ever.

A brief silence descended.

“—Stop, Sisters of the Moon.”

A voice was heard at the end of the silence.

“…Their words are true.”

A soft voice, utterly different from before, almost resigned.

Among those who joined them, realizing the considerable commotion that had occurred, a faintly familiar figure appeared.

It was an elf with pure white skin and golden hair, neither moon nor darkness nor night suiting her.

The high elf rescued earlier from the underground auction house.

“Sister of Dawn—”

One of the dark elves opened their mouth towards her, who suited the sunlight more than anyone. The high elf, called the Sister of Dawn, bowed her head before us, uncaring.

“It’s been a long time, Selena-nim.”

“…Rana.”

“I knew you would come.”

Rana, the elf who had earlier led her to the Mother Forest, replied with a smile.

“Your elder sister, Elder Eos, is waiting.”

Along with an unexpected connection even I hadn’t foreseen.