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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Lord Fourth
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“This is like some survival show.”
Even the most fascinating scenery becomes tiresome after staring at it for days. I yawned, tossing another log onto the fire.
It had been a week since I entered the Great Forest. I had already passed Elvendel, the capital, and was now close to my destination, Nua Dhil.
I estimated I would arrive in three days.
My daily routine was simple. Walk during the day, build a fire in the evening.
Catch fish in the nearby streams, gather fruits and berries for meals, and climb a tree to sleep when the moon was high in the sky.
After a week, I had grown accustomed to this lifestyle. But I couldn’t shake the feeling of unease.
‘Dark elves. Dark mages.’
That’s what Archmage Elderian had said. He had no reason to lie to me. And with Owen’s involvement, I had no reason to doubt the information.
But I couldn’t understand why a dark mage would unleash monsters on Loren.
Why bother targeting a remote village like Loren when there were more important locations and larger cities?
“A variable, perhaps?”
I had a hunch. This world seemed to follow the game’s setting, but there were subtle discrepancies.
Ophelia’s personality, Owen’s talkative nature…
A small deviation, a butterfly effect, that had led to the hero’s death. It wasn’t an unreasonable assumption. Or…
“No, that can’t be.”
I shook my head, dismissing the worst-case scenario. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t good. It was potentially disastrous.
The hero was dead, which meant the Demon King couldn’t be defeated. The Demon King was an immortal, cyclical being. Defeating him required the hero’s Mark, bestowed by God.
Would the Mark appear on someone else now that the original hero was dead? I didn’t know. I had never considered this possibility.
“…Who knew things would turn out like this?”
In any case, I needed to find the person responsible for Loren and deal with them first.
I stood up, my immediate anxiety quelled, but another problem remained.
‘What should I do about them?’
I glanced at the dark forest. I had noticed them a few days ago. They were following me.
They probably thought they were being discreet, but I couldn’t be fooled.
The lands beyond the northern Wall were teeming with demons trying to infiltrate the human world. After four years in that environment, my senses had become incredibly sharp.
They had been tailing me for days, observing my every move. They didn’t seem hostile. If they were, they would have attacked me while I was sleeping.
Fourteen of them. Skilled climbers, adept at concealing their presence. Elven rangers, most likely. They were probably wary of a human traveling alone through the Great Forest.
In the game, one way to recruit elven companions was to wander around the Great Forest for a certain amount of time. The rangers tailing you would eventually reveal themselves to initiate a conversation, and that’s when you could offer them a position in your party.
“Hmm.”
Arriving in Nua Dhil with a tail would be troublesome. I needed to deal with this now. And teach these pesky elves a lesson. I poured the lye from my leather pouch onto the fire.
“He’s stopped.”
Uthmund muttered. His subordinates relayed the message through hand signals, and they moved to different trees, maintaining their surveillance. Their movements were practiced and efficient.
Uthmund’s ranger unit had been maintaining order in the Great Forest for over fifty years. The fact that his veteran unit was assigned to this mission meant that the man they were watching was someone to be wary of.
‘Elliot. Why has a high-ranking knight of the Holy City come to the Great Forest?’
Uthmund wondered. It was a question he had pondered countless times. It was unusual enough for a Holy Knight of the Holy City to leave the continent, but to enter the Great Forest… it didn’t make sense.
There were plenty of clergymen who traveled the continent on pilgrimages, but they never entered the Great Forest. There were several reasons for this.
Unlike other regions on the continent, the Great Forest was harsh and dangerous. In addition to the elves, countless wild beasts roamed the forest, and occasionally, even monsters appeared.
An ordinary human entering the Great Forest alone wouldn’t last more than a few days.
But this knight… he moved through the forest with ease, hunting and butchering beasts for food. He even seemed knowledgeable about herbalism, distinguishing between edible and poisonous plants.
He seemed more like a seasoned hunter than a Holy Knight of the Holy City.
But the biggest issue was that this Holy Knight was seamingly heading towards the territory of the dark elves.
Dark elves. They weren’t as tolerant as the high elves.
They were hostile even towards other elves, let alone humans. He would be lucky to escape with his life.
If he were an ordinary human, Uthmund would have dismissed it as a suicide mission.
But a Holy Knight of the Holy City dying at the hands of dark elves in the Great Forest? That would be a problem.
Relations with the Holy City were already strained due to the Continental Alliance. It would be foolish to escalate the situation.
‘Should we apprehend him?’
That was the reason Uthmund’s rangers were monitoring Elliot. They planned to detain him before he reached Nua Dhil. They had been watching him, hoping he would change his mind and turn back south, but he seemed determined to continue.
A peaceful resolution was no longer an option.
‘It’s time.’
Uthmund signaled his subordinate. Having worked together for decades, his subordinate understood the signal and nocked an arrow tipped with paralytic poison. A single graze would incapacitate him for days. They could then carry him out of the Great Forest.
He wouldn’t die. Elliot wouldn’t even know what hit him.
Uthmund raised his hand, about to give the signal to fire…
Whoosh.
The fire suddenly flared brightly, then died. Darkness enveloped them. Elliot had extinguished the fire.
“….”
Uthmund quickly raised his hand, then cursed inwardly. He had intended to signal his subordinate, but dark clouds had suddenly obscured the moon.
The forest, without a light source, was pitch black. His signal wouldn’t be seen.
“Tsk.”
Just as he clicked his tongue, a bright light filled the forest.
Had he rekindled the fire? Uthmund thought for a moment, then realized he was wrong.
It was a sword. A silver sword, held by Elliot, its blade engulfed in golden flames.
‘Sword… aura…’
An intangible energy wielded by highly skilled swordsmen. Only those who had mastered mana manipulation could imbue their blades with such power. He had heard that the Holy Knights of the Holy City were on par with the Empire’s Sword Masters.
It wasn’t surprising that Elliot could use sword aura. But the aura emanating from his blade was blindingly bright. Few in the Great Forest could generate such power.
“He’s discovered us! Subdue him!”
He had noticed them. Since when? Since the beginning? No, it didn’t matter anymore.
“Damn it!”
Uthmund nocked an arrow and fired. Even with sword aura, he was still unarmored. If they could incapacitate him with the poison, they could handle the rest.
He fired the arrow, but Elliot dodged it with a slight twist of his torso.
The volley of arrows that followed…
Shing! Shing! Shing!
…were cut down. He had deflected a volley of arrows fired by trained rangers in the dead of night, with a single sword.
Uthmund realized he had underestimated Elliot. This knight was as powerful as an Elven Chieftain.
Thud!
Elliot suddenly leaped. His mana-enhanced legs propelled him to the tree where the rangers were positioned.
The rangers, startled, threw daggers and fired arrows, but they were swallowed by Elliot’s golden sword aura. Landing on the branch, Elliot swung his sword a few times.
Rangers fell from the tree with cries of pain. He hadn’t killed them. He had struck them with the flat of his blade.
But a sword imbued with aura was as powerful as a blunt weapon.
“Stop, human! We mean you no harm!”
“Bullshit. Were those arrows you fired just a prank? I can’t trust a word that comes out of a pointy-eared bastard’s mouth.”
Uthmund blinked at Elliot’s words.
Was it appropriate for a Holy Knight to speak like that? And “pointy-eared bastard”? That was a grave insult to an elf.
But before Uthmund could react, Elliot shifted his stance in midair and leaped again.
“What?!”
He was practically walking on air. Uthmund had seen Eastern martial artists use similar techniques. But Elliot’s method was different. He was manipulating mana to create footholds in midair.
It was a display of near-miraculous mana control.
“Ugh!”
Elliot was suddenly upon him. Uthmund gritted his teeth and drew his shortsword.
Elven rangers were trained in both archery and swordsmanship. They were capable fighters in close combat. But he was outmatched.
Clang!
Their swords clashed. The force of the impact made Uthmund’s hand go numb. But Elliot, instead of engaging in a power struggle, twisted his grip and slid his sword along Uthmund’s blade, aiming for his throat.
Screech.
The metallic shriek was as chilling as the blade of a guillotine.
Uthmund, sensing death, dodged, but Elliot wasn’t aiming for his throat.
Thud.
Elliot’s knee slammed into his groin. A vulnerable spot for any male.
Uthmund vomited.
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Hi Lord Fourth here!
I’m still new to translating as this is my second novel to pick up, so if you find some mistakes or inconsistencies let me know about it on the dedicated channel on discord.
The descendents deleter, poor elf