We discussed an operation against Keraino at the High Elf village.
“Hah, I shouldn’t have been wasting time drinking tea with you all. It’s a complete waste of time.”
Lorenz left without even offering his thanks. It’s rude, considering he was the one who instigated things. Though he had readily accepted the tea Pauline had offered. Not that I envy them, no matter how long-lived or superior to other races they may be.
The next morning, we departed while the sky was still white. My injuries hadn’t fully healed, and I was still exhausted. Despite finally finding a village, we couldn’t even stay at an inn. For some reason, I felt an overwhelming anger. There were far less comfortable and more dangerous places where I *could* stay at an inn. So why not here, a safe place governed by High Elves? We had to sleep outside.
They act so high and mighty with their grand name. If that’s the case, they should at least prepare a place to stay.
“Arisugawa, are you alright? Your complexion is a little off.”
“Huh? Ah, well, yeah. Honestly, I’m tired. I haven’t slept in a proper bed for a long time.”
Now that I think about it, we hadn’t had a decent inn since we left the Giant Clan village. We’d been exposed to blizzards, chased underground, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept soundly. Honestly, I wanted to rest, to drink my fill of sake and sleep like the dead without thinking about tomorrow.
I shook my head, dispelling such desires. Now wasn’t the time for that.
It had been a while since we entered the forest, but there was no sign of Keraino attacking. Perhaps, as Cecilia said, they were sleeping at this hour? Well, I’d rather not meet them if I could help it.
“Oh, hey, look! I found a beautiful feather.”
Piyo brought over a black feather she’d picked up. Hmm, could this be from Keraino, whom we met yesterday? Tilting it, I saw that it wasn’t pure black but had a faint purple and blue sheen. It shimmered as if sprinkled with sequins.
“There’s one here too! Hey, it’s pretty, Nina, look!”
“It really is, like a jewel. That’s right, if we collect these, we could make amazing accessories!”
Nina gathered a few fallen black feathers. Come to think of it, the Naga Tribe had a custom of making accessories from the feathers of Dark Harpies they defeated. In essence, it was a way to show off how many enemies they had slain.
Of course, there was nothing so morbid these days. Only the part about making accessories remained. Real Dark Harpy feathers were expensive, so most of what circulated were dyed Flower Harpy feathers.
The feathers were scattered further on. Was this the route they had been chasing me on? They were leading me away from the village. What would have happened to me now if the Servitaurus youth who saved us then hadn’t been there?
I picked up a feather that had fallen at my feet.
“There’s one here too. What is this?”
The texture felt different. Flipping it over, I saw that the black feather had been dyed a reddish-brown. Was it my blood or the blood from a jagged rock?
“Hiro, look here!”
“What—”
As I bent down slightly at Piyo’s words, something passed by behind me with tremendous speed.
Thwack!
Ah, what was that? Moving my eyes, I saw an arrow stuck in a tree to my side. Was it an enemy attack? Just as I was about to say it, my vision erupted in white light. A moment later, a tremendous explosion ripped through my eardrums.
“—!!”
“—!”
Wh-what? What happened? My vision blurred, and I couldn’t see anything. Someone was pulling my hand. I felt the cold earth all over my body. Was it Sharin? I couldn’t hear or see anything.
More hands reached out and pulled me up. Yet, my knees had no strength, and my body collapsed like a broken puppet.
“Ga… Shiro.”
I was smacked on the cheek. Forcefully, I was pulled along and made to run. Was I attacked? But the last thing I saw was an arrow stuck in a tree. Was it rigged with a bomb?
Sharin’s face was grim as she moved her mouth widely. It seemed my ears were damaged by the recent explosion. I had a terrible ringing in my ears and couldn’t hear anything.
“Gawa, i-is it disappearing?”
“Ah, what, disappearing?”
I looked up and saw that the tree where the arrow had been stuck was scorched black. And a large vertical crack ran through it. It looked as if it had been struck by lightning.
Lightning…? So, this was also one of Keraino’s abilities? They might have been targeting us from somewhere.
“Concen-trate! Hey, a-are yo-u okay?!”
“Nnngh, oww.”
It seemed I hit my whole body when I was blown away.
“What happened? Sharin, did you see anything?”
“No, but the enemy is close, you see.”
Everyone lowered their posture, searching for the enemy’s position. I looked in the direction the arrow had come from but couldn’t spot anything.
“Let’s split up and search. Philiana and Cecilia, you two go that way. Nina and Elana, you two go this way.”
Sharin gave instructions to everyone. The back of my ear throbbed painfully. It didn’t seem to be bleeding, though.
“Do you think it was Keraino’s doing?”
“I don’t know. From what you said, your opponent wasn’t carrying a bow, but they might have just not used it.”
Everyone paired up and began their search for the enemy. The remaining members were Pauline and Lauren, and Sharin, who stayed with me. Veronica, who couldn’t be active during the day, was also nearby. The enemies truly gave us no time to rest.
