Loren, whose prized long hair was cut by the enemy, swore revenge.
I was left alone in the hallway. Had she recovered…? Well, that’s for her to deal with, but now that I knew everyone was safe, I had a lot of questions. I returned to the entrance and spoke to the Unicorn Man standing at the edge of the room.
“Thank you for saving me.”
“No, it was not I who saved you, but Hekactor.”
Hekactor… wasn’t that the boy I met before who slept all the time? Was that figure I saw then him? But how on earth did he save us?
“Where is Hekactor now? I want to thank him.”
“He has already returned. Moreover, he is not someone you can easily meet just because we want to. He is Hypnos III, one of the executives of the Dark Religion.”
I didn’t know what this Hypnos was, but being an executive meant he was an important person. That’s why this man was in a hurry back then.
“Oh, I see. I’m sorry, I didn’t know. By the way, there’s one more thing I want to ask.”
I took out a letter from my luggage.
“About the Other World written here, you know something about it, don’t you? And about the Dark Elves too.”
The man fell silent. He really did know something.
“Please tell me. We fought for our lives. I believe we have the right to know the truth.”
All eyes in the room turned to the man. No one spoke, but it seemed everyone agreed.
“That… Sigh, well, you are right. I am from that Other World. To be clear, this world is divided into two.”
“Divided? Where on this map?”
I spread the map on the table and showed it to him.
“No, it’s not on this map. Look, there are continents to the north and south, and Kubaiá to the west. Then there’s Zetsuky, and this is Gold Island, a continent far to the east. But there is another large continent even further east.”
Everyone looked as if they could hardly believe it. I felt the same way; even if they said there was more to this map, I couldn’t quite grasp it.
“So, why did it become like that?”
“The reason is simple. It’s an uncharted land. A region beyond human reach. Well, officially, beyond *human* reach. It has its own unique culture.”
“Unique culture? Are there no humans there? Just forests where no one lives? But there are Dark Elves, right?”
The man groaned under my barrage of questions.
“That… there are no humans there. Only those you call non-humans. So I was surprised when I first landed on this continent. It wasn’t in their towns, but everyone stared at me. Elves are an exclusive race, but even they seemed strange and odd.”
So, they weren’t Elves, but humans. Perhaps in another world, where humans didn’t interfere, the Dark Elves held power.
“But you must understand by now. You all did well. It is not easy to cross over to the Other World. Go back as soon as possible.”
Yes, he was right. The village chief’s wife had said that the Dark Elves in the other world were even more powerful. The journey ahead would expose everyone to further danger. Besides, this was the extent of my promise with Veronica. I turned to look at everyone.
