Free Web Novel“Some things can’t be explained to you in complete detail, but perhaps this is just my intuition. From the moment I left my clan to travel alone until now, my footprints have crossed the frozen north, I’ve gone to the mirage nation of the floating seas in the east... All those memorable moments of the journey, I wove them into the poems of a bard. The southern lands were supposed to be my final stop...”
“But do you know something?”
The elven girl stood with her sword, facing the gradually thawing waters and the dense, tadpole-like black beasts stirring beneath the surface. ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) She turned her face toward the blue-haired Hero and suddenly smiled.
“I actually embarked on this journey carrying a mission and a secret. For many years, our clan and humanity have always been divided. If not for the common enemy of the demon race, there would never have been such a chance for us to live in harmony. Don’t you agree, Hero miss?”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.” Rotisha frowned.
“Power,” the elven girl said slowly. “Whether it’s our clan or you humans, all have always sought to grasp greater power—the kind of power that monsters wield.”
“We elves, though long-lived and gifted in magic, still lack what you humans possess—a Hero. When faced with Demon Kings, we must depend on cooperation with humans. That is why our people have always searched for a way to break free of this reliance.”
“The power of the silver deer Oriana alone is not enough to change that situation. So among us, the radical faction began to imitate certain humans, learning how to take risks and seize power from monsters themselves.”
“Yet if humanity has its Heroes, why would anyone need to risk stealing that chaotic and unruly monster power? Who organized such things in the shadows? Was it some human? Or some monster disguised as one? No matter who it was, it proves that within humanity there are those who wish to take the place of the Heroes.”
Rotisha felt as though she were stepping deeper into an abyss. Yes, why had she overlooked that? She had assumed this incident was nothing more than collusion with monsters by a few who wished to hinder their arrival at the war front.
But she had forgotten—since the death of the greatest Demon King, the demons had plunged into civil war, and border pressure had sharply decreased. Some human factions had begun to resist the Heroes, believing there was no need to maintain more than ten of them. Just two or three would suffice, they said, the rest should retire.
“Humanity has already touched the doorway to the root of monster power. But that is Pandora’s box. The day they open the door and step through will be the day of their own destruction.”
The elven girl spoke softly:
“I’m telling you this not to sow discord. I hope that when I become weakened, you’ll guard against your own kind a little more. At the very least, please find Vieya and return her to her family.”
“From your words, it sounds like they’re targeting me, not you.” Rotisha hurled a monster into the air and swung it like a hammer into the crowd pressing in. “Why speak as if you’re about to die?”
“All life comes to an end one day. I am, after all, an elf with no grand ambition. Otherwise I would never have chosen to be a bard, fleeing the pomp of my clan. All I wanted was new sights, new foods. When I left, neither my father nor mother came to see me off. They knew I was only trying to escape, like a coward.”
Her voice grew lower and lower, as a faint pale light shimmered across her body. “Even though Lord Oriana told me in a dream that my father and mother never once thought me a coward, and always waited for my return. Even though I too want to go back, I dare not. I fear that if I return, I’ll never have the courage to leave again.”
The bolts of her sleeve-crossbow had long since run out. She drew her slender elven sword and pierced straight into a monster’s heart. If one looked closely, the blade edge bore deep scars from relentless thrusts and slashes.
“When the southern conflict settles, go back and see them.” Rotisha, after a long time, managed a faint smile. It was unnatural, but still an effort. “We’re not companions on the same road, but if there’s a chance, I could let you hitch a ride on my ship.”
“That would be wonderful!”
The elven girl tossed away her sword and smashed a lunging beast flat with her fist. “The truth is I really do love being a bard—free to wander, to live as I please, and to draw my sword when I see injustice. Looking back, this journey wasn’t so bad! I even got to ride one of humanity’s four great arks, and meet interesting, kind humans like you.” She paused. “Leave the rest to you! Don’t let me waste this chance in vain!”
She seized the blue-haired Hero and, with sudden force, flung her toward the direction where Vieya had vanished. Then she turned and leapt into the surging tide of monsters. Rotisha, armored head to toe and heavier than most monsters of her size, was nonetheless hurled through the air by that monstrous strength!
“Damn it!”
Rotisha gritted her teeth, about to use her force-dispelling technique to counter the terrible momentum and return to the battlefield—
But from within the monster horde, a pale light erupted, followed by an overwhelming surge of magic power that crushed everything!
That strange outpouring of power immediately drew nearly every monster in the waters. They surged toward it like starved fish thrown feed after days of hunger. freewebnøvel.com
Rotisha struggled to straighten her body and turned her head toward the elven girl. Amid the endless waves of pitch-black monsters, that single point of silver light, bright as the moon, shone all the more, breathtakingly beautiful.
