140th Episode
“Don’t you hate me?”
At the woman’s question, the mage stopped fiddling with the artefact and turned his head.
“You hate me too, don’t you?”
“I do. You’ve done plenty of disgusting things after all.”
“Are you not considering the stupid things your group has done?”
“It was necessary.”
“All of you acted smart in front of me but were nothing more than fools.”
While muttering, the mage activated one by one the circles he had concealed.
“So that’s why that guy met his end, and now you’re in this state.”
The mage, who had been giggling, soon returned to his usual expression.
The woman watched as the number of rotating circles increased, closed her eyes with a troubled look on her face.
“…Does it have any meaning? Doing this.”
“It doesn’t.”
The mage stated firmly.
For what he was doing now to have any meaning, miracles would need to happen several times over, and mages were not originally a kind that relied on miracles.
But.
If one day, through the tiniest of coincidences layered upon each other,
in some distant future, you reach my descendants.
“…Then please, pass this on.”
Surpass my knowledge.
Grasp the power of the stars I could never reach.
“Definitely… kill him.”
*
The time for questioning the elf came near.
If there were accomplices, they might attempt something again, so the interrogation needed to be finished quickly.
Jimmy, who occasionally handled such tasks during his mercenary days, took charge of the questioning, while Ray and Jenkins decided to assist him.
On their way to the holding room, Ray asked Jimmy:
“What is an elf’s weakness?”
A pressure point, or perhaps a body part culturally valued.
And there was one organ that fit both categories for elves.
Jimmy pulled on his own ear and replied.
“Here.”
An elf’s ears are extremely delicate, complex, and sensitive organs, allowing them superior detection abilities compared to humans.
Upon hearing about how an elf’s ears function like a radar, Ray touched his own ears and jumped slightly.
“So it’s like an erogenous zone then?”
“Do you have some sort of heat cycle going on?”
“But I didn’t say anything completely absurd, did I?”
If a sensory organ is sensitive, wouldn’t it naturally serve that role too? At Ray’s comment, Jimmy frowned.
“If you’re that curious, go ahead and lick one yourself.”
“Eh, just joking, joking.”
During the remaining walk down the corridor, Jimmy, Ray, and Jenkins briefly discussed their interrogation strategy.
“Jimmy and I will play the bad cop.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“When Jimmy and I scare the elf, you’ll step in as the knightly figure to calm us down and win the elf’s trust.”
“…Not a bad plan.”
With that scheming settled, the three arrived at the entrance of the holding room and exchanged glances.
Jimmy entered first, kicking open the door loudly and shouting while breaking through the soundproof barrier surrounding the elf.
“Hey, pointy-ears!”
His attitude was quite brash.
Thus began the interrogation. However, the elf refused to speak despite the pressure from Jimmy and Ray.
Mineher wasn’t foolish. She’d seen too much while wandering through Phillips County.
Whether she spoke or stayed silent, death seemed inevitable. Speaking might only hasten it.
Mineher didn’t even reveal her name.
Seeing the difficulty of the situation, Jimmy took out a hammer, and Ray drew his dagger.
Ray approached the elf from behind, placing a sharply gleaming dagger near her ear.
“Listen, pointy-ears. If you keep acting like this… we might just turn you into an earless elf.”
Hearing Ray’s words, Jimmy chuckled.
An earless elf—what a concept.
Mineher trembled in fear and humiliation.
In that moment, Ray swiftly swung the dagger.
Zwack!!!
A harsh wind whistled past Mineher’s ears.
Terrified, Mineher went pale, unable to catch her breath, and gasped.
However, no severed ear fell to the ground.
Ray’s dagger had merely grazed her ear, leaving a small cut from which blood trickled.
Seeing the elf shrink back in terror, Ray and Jimmy burst into laughter again.
Realizing belatedly that her ears were still intact, the elf couldn’t contain her rising emotions and shouted.
“You, you devilish humans!!!”
Tears finally welled up and streamed down the elf’s striking features.
The sight of Mineher, with her elegant elven beauty, crying pitifully was enough to stir anyone’s emotions.
Unfortunately, her captors were not moved.
Though Jimmy and Jenkins were undoubtedly wise individuals, they understood priorities better than anyone else.
They weren’t swayed by the tears of an elf threatening their territory.
As for Ray, there was no need to mention it.
Rather than hesitating when the elf cried, Ray grew excited and snickered mockingly.
That wicked sight made Mineher cry even harder.
“Hiccup! Sniffle! Waaah…!”
She was scared and lonely.
Mineher didn’t want to die here.
Being a direct descendant of high elves cursed and exiled by the World Tree, Mineher had endured subtle disdain and discrimination from her own kind throughout her life.
Unable to bear it, she fled to the human empire.
Confident in her skills, she thought she could hold her own among humans.
Indeed, she had been hired by a prestigious noble family and lived a relatively respected life.
But during what should’ve been a simple mission, she was captured by monstrous beings, and now faced the dishonor and loss of her life.
Her body trembled despite the lack of cold.
She yearned desperately for the home and family she thought she had left behind.
“Ah, Mommy…!! I want to go home, waaaah…!”
‘Hmm…?’
Ray was slightly surprised.
He had expected a mentally fortified soldier who wouldn’t yield under torture, but the elf’s mental breakdown happened faster than anticipated.
Given this, it seemed unnecessary to complicate matters with a good cop/bad cop routine.
‘…Should I try cutting off an ear?’
If he sliced off half her ears like a neutered cat, wouldn’t she spill everything she knew?
While contemplating this with his dagger in hand, Ray felt someone’s sharp gaze.
‘…?’
Looking up, Ray saw a cluster of light shaped like a person. It was Aptel.
Aptel stared at Ray with a disapproving expression, one that Ray had only seen once before when Aptel argued about destroying relics.
Frowning, Ray asked.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
[Master.]
Aptel glanced between Ray and the elf before speaking.
[Are you a racist, Master? I advise you to avoid using derogatory terms like ‘pointy-ears’.]
“…”
Is this AI malfunctioning?
Ray opened his mouth in disbelief.
Ignoring Ray’s reaction, Aptel continued.
[Elves value their ears greatly. Please refrain from harming them recklessly. Are you a barbarian, Master? How can you act so primitive and uncivilized?]
“Wait, what exactly…”
Remembering a past conversation with Aptel at the royal Magic Tower’s Obelisk, Ray closed his mouth.
– Hey. Aren’t you… well, wasn’t your creator also a mage? Why do you hate mages so much?
– My wise creator knew most mages, including himself, suffered from severe personality disorders. Hence, my personality was based on a third party, not Resina herself.
– Who is this third party?
– I do not know.
“Third party…”
Judging by Aptel’s reaction, the base personality was elven.
An elf closely associated with the great mage 600 years ago.
An elf trusted enough by Resina to adopt their identity instead of her own.
After much deliberation, Ray reached a possible conclusion.
“Could it be that you… the original of your personality…”
Staring at the elven personality cloaked in Resina’s youthful form, Ray instinctively stepped back and sighed.
Now he understood why Resina chose to preserve another’s personality rather than replicate her own.
The original personality of ‘Aptel’ and the identity the Great Mage Resina wished to convey to the distant future.
“The original of your personality… was Resina.”
Another remnant of the hero who saved the world 600 years ago but fell due to the World Tree’s curse, existed here.
*
Arriving at the Sigini Mountain Range, Count Philip gazed at a partially collapsed mountain and sighed deeply.
This situation was far too chaotic and grand to be caused by mere childish antics of Ray.
The count knew he had to restore the mountain as best as possible. Leaving traces of such powerful magic experiments around would invite unwanted scrutiny.
Contemplating Luna’s handiwork for a while, the count muttered.
“Isn’t it majestic?”
“Isn’t it?”
The count turned toward Ray with an annoyed expression but conceded inwardly.
Witnessing such an immense magical trace did indeed evoke awe.
“Is this the kind of miracle a mage can perform?”
This was precisely why mages were treated with greater respect than knights.
It’s commonly said that experts can handle low-level mages (up to 5th circle), and graduates can deal with high-level mages.
If a mage isn’t prepared for combat, this statement holds true.
In fact, unprepared mages are often easily hunted by knights.
Even an 8th circle mage can’t instantly deploy an 8th circle spell.
Even the simplest form of an 8th circle spell requires hours to construct its formula.
However, if provided with substantial resources and time, a mage can prepare spells beforehand.
Luna had gradually fixed and compressed energy masses in A-Space over weeks or months, expending them all in this spell.
That was the difference between mages and knights.
Even with months to prepare, a knight could hardly do more than refine their skills.
A high-level mage, given a few months, could sufficiently prepare a devastating annihilation spell.
That’s why mages always played central roles in the tactics and strategies of wars between nations.
Of course, if a master-level warrior existed, this balance would collapse again, but there has never been a time in human history where more than five masters coexisted.
Count Philip silently admired the transcendent spectacle, beyond what any human could achieve, and spoke again.
“Didn’t I hear that Luna has reached the 3rd circle level?”
“Yes.”
“Even with preparation, can a 3rd circle mage possibly wield such power?”
“By normal standards, at least a 7th circle would be required, even conservatively.”
“…Ray.”
“Yes.”
“Can you control her?”
“Don’t worry too much. Luna is kind and… destined to become a great mage.”
That was Ray’s unwavering belief.
Gazing calmly at the crumbled mountain, Ray brought up the main topic.
“There is something urgent I must discuss. About Resina.”
Upon hearing the sensitive name, the count’s expression hardened once more.
Encounter (5)
