Chapter 7 - Identity
"Wh-Whatever are you talking about!? W-We are the elders of elves!! Th-There's no way we are humans!!"
It's not very convincing when you are flustered like that. You'd better learn how to act and try it again. Now that I think about it, Dia's vomiting blood act was pretty good.
"From the beginning, I felt there was something strange about the elders. I'm convinced now!" (Mittor)
Mittor unsheathed his rapier and held it towards the elders. His smiley face turned unusually serious.
Go for it, Mittor! For my sake.
"Mittor! To point your sword at the elders, do you understand what are you doing?" (Captain)
This captain guy is still useless. People like Mittor are more usefull during an unexpected situation like this.
"Captain, they are fakes!" (Mittor)
"Th-That can't be...." (Captain)
He seems need a little more push. Let's provide him with additional information.
"For your information, these absent-minded guys are actually elves, not humans." (Fell)
I pointed at the three people sitting beside me as I declared so.
Maybe these elves are the real elders. I'm don't know when, but it seems they had swapped places with the elders at some point.
The suspicion spread like a wildfire. The captain also unsheathed his sword and focused his attention at the elders.
"Elders, please give me your testimony!" (Captain)
"How can I prove it?"
"........ 300 years ago, there was a certain child who had a difficult birth. You saved both mother and child at that time. What is the name of that child?" (Captain)
I see. Human race can't live that long after all. How would they answer that?
"Because of my age, I'm afraid I have already forgotten such old things."
Did you forget what you didn't know? He's obviously just trying to make an excuse.
Hearing his answer, the captain looked somewhat sad.
"Catch these guys and dedicate them to the World Tree!" (Captain)
The elves surrounded the elder while holding their respective weapons.
"Wh-What are you doing!? We are the elders!"
"Forgetting the name of your own children is a grave sin. You should know that if you are really an elf. But at this point, it doesn't matter whether you guys are the elders or just impostors. You will be dedicated to the World Tree as punishment." (Captain)
Oh, nice trap. He can't talk his way out of this situation now. Captain, good job!
"I guess it's a checkmate, Onee-chan."
One of the elders spoke in female voice in contrary to his appearance.
"Yeah, we have completely misjudged the power of this demon."
The elders quickly stood up, took off their hooded robes, and threw them away. Three human women were standing before us.
Their movements are so villain-ish. I want to try doing it when I had a chance.
By human standards, they’re probably beautiful. Their hairstyles are completely different, but their facial features are similar here and there. That woman called the other 'Onee-chan', maybe the three of them are sisters.
"Should we kill them all?"
The other woman said such dangerous words without batting an eye.
Maybe I'm included?
"No, let's stop. Now our priority is to escape from this place, but...."
The woman who was called Onee-chan before, paused, and the turned her line of sight at me.
"I will kill her at least!"
The woman closed the distance in a matter of seconds. I didn't know where she hid it, but she was brandishing a curved sword at me when I noticed it. Still in sitting position, I rolled backwards to avoid her attack while widening our distance.
My jacket also got dirty. I will make sure to charge her for the laundry fees later.
I thought of fighting back, but the handcuffs got in the way.
"Oi, Mittor! Take off the handcuffs. I can't fight properly like this." (Fell)
"The elders were supposed to holding the keys. It’s impossible now!" (Mittor)
He is useless. I thought he had become a little more reliable.
"Then, help me out here at least!" (Fell)
"My body won't move!" (Mittor)
Mittor and the other elves are apparently under the effect of binding magic. Maybe one of those three sisters casted it on them. Still, to be bested by humans in the field of magic, are they really elves? Or perhaps these humans are just special case.
I suddenly feel a killing intent from behind. Turned around in hurry, I saw one of the three sisters leaped out of my shadow as she tried to stab me with a dagger.
Like Yato, it seems she can use Shadow Movement as well. However, it's pointless if she doesn't hide her killing intent.
"I won't miss next!"
The woman dove into shadow again after throwing such words at me.
I don't think so.
Still, this problem was originally between these humans and the elves, why am I getting dragged into their fight? But, well, I guess this is how the human race and the demon race normally should be. The people of Sodogora Village are just weird.... I mean, exceptionally good people.
Now then, it's bothersome but there's no helping it.
"Mittor, I'm going to break the handcuffs. Don't ask me to reimburse them later, okay? If you still want to make a claim, make it to these humans." (Fell)
"Those are made of mithril. There's no way you can break it using brute force." (Mittor)
Is that so?
The chain part snapped when I spread both my arms to the left and to the right.
The effect of handcuffs didn't disappear, but at least, I can move my arms freely now.
I rotated the joints of my right shoulder and my left shoulder in order. Next I entwined my fingers, turned my palms outwards, and raised them overhead. Lastly, I crouched down and then stood up again several times.
No matter how strong you are, you can still get muscle cramps. I don't get it.... Oops, my thought was wandering about. I need concentrate on the fight in front of me.
"I've kept you waiting.... Now then, as a handicap, I won't break the rings so that the effect of handcuffs doesn't disappear. I've let you to make the first move, so it's my turn next." (Fell)
Sorry, but I will put this to an end quickly. It's almost lunch time, after all.
I disappeared and re-appeared right in front of the woman who just came out of the shadow using teleportation. I unleashed a body blow a.k.a super painful punch before she could react.
There's killing punch but I won't use it. It's fine to be a little rough as long as she doesn't die.
The woman who received my punch got blown several meters to the back and crashed into a tree.
That should be enough to knock her out. Okay, next!
"Dammit! Acceleration, Strength Up, Sharp Sword."
The woman with sword charged at me after using strengthening magic on herself and her sword.
Fast. It would be hard to keep dodging her attacks. Her sword has been strengthened by magic, it might scratch me. But before that, my clothes will be damaged. That's one thing I have to prevent no matter what.
Having no other choice, I used the rings part of the handcuffs that were left on my wrist to shift the trajectory of her sword. The crash between sword and handcuffs produced a high pitched noise.
I must say as expected of mithril. It's so hard that she couldn't even scratch it. I can see that she's kind of surprised.
After that, she kept trying to cut me with her sword relentlessly. I either dodged or parried all of her attacks. No damage received.
"I wonder if my swordsmanship is so bad that all you need is broken handcuffs to counter it."
"No, that's not the case. It's just that there's nothing else I can use right now." (Fell)
I won’t need them if I can dodge all of your attacks.
"Fireball. Fireball. Fireball."
Next she combined her sword attack with offensive magic.
Maybe she is a magic swordswoman? It's quite easy to cast three consecutive Fireballs, but hers are lacking in firepower.
I punched the fireballs to extinguish them.
I will hate it if my clothes catch fire. That being said, that possibility still exists. I will make sure to get a reimbursement from her when that happens.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
It's fine to be surprised, but you leave a lot of openings.
Extinguishing the last fireball, I closed our distance and entered the attack range. I unleashed a body blow with my left fist.
Came back to her sense, she used the flat side of her sword to receive my punch in panic. However, such a normal metal sword was insignificant before my strength. My punch easily destroyed it and landed a clean hit on her stomach.
Either because of the sword or because the defensive barrier she managed to deploy at the last minute, she only took several steps backwards before fell on her knees on the spot without getting blown away like her sister from before.
Next....
Mittor and the other elves seemed managed to break free from the binding magic at some point, and successfully defeated the last woman.
Yup, it's over now.
I'm hungry. Let's have a lunch!