Elves And Dark Elves

“So, with that in mind, I was hoping I could provide the elves with various forms of support…”

“Ooh! Is that truly so?! That would be a tremendous help to us!”

After discussing it with Nadja and Shekuri-san and the others, I decided to cooperate with the elves fully.

As for the food shortage, I could almost certainly solve it.

Akabane-san must have understood that after seeing how food was produced in this village, because he was overjoyed at my words.

Mego-san and Mago-san looked conflicted—happy, but unable to rejoice openly.

Of course, “full cooperation” didn’t stop at solving their food problem.

It included lending out military strength in the form of Wood Golems, and even fundamentally resolving the leyline abnormality that had brought the elves here in the first place.

Naturally, the elves would learn a lot about my aptitude—but I couldn’t afford to worry about that right now.

And though I didn’t say this to Akabane-san, in the worst case I was even considering creating a new village where the elves could live.

If the leyline problem turned out to be on a level even we couldn’t solve, then in the long run they might need to consider relocating.

“I believe I have understood Guinea to a certain extent, and thanks to Wheel-sama I have also confirmed there is no issue here. For the sake of reporting, we would like to return to the settlement once.”

It seemed Akabane-san and the others planned to return and explain the situation to the elders and other high-ranking figures.

Utena-san had said something similar, so the higher-ups were probably going to make a comprehensive decision based on information gathered from all four groups.

“Then could you take this golem with you?”

As I said that, I issued an order to the Wood Golem standing by my side.

The order was: “Follow Akabane-san.”

The reason I went out of my way to do that was, of course, because I was thinking ahead.

“You see… I can teleport to wherever a Wood Golem is.”

When I activated Tree-to-Tree Teleportation, all three of them looked surprised.

In truth, I could go anywhere there was one of my planted trees, but there was no need to tell them everything.

Besides, it wasn’t a lie.

“Whatever support we provide, it will be much faster if I can go to the elf settlement in person.”

—Realistically, it wasn’t feasible for me to travel to the elf settlement together with Akabane-san and the others.

As the lord, I couldn’t leave Wenti for an extended period.

So this time, I would use Tree-to-Tree Teleportation to go directly to the elf settlement.

That was why I was lending them a single Wood Golem.

“I see… understood. The elders will likely be angry, but this is an emergency. We will ask them to overlook it.”

“Is that acceptable, Akabane-sama?!”

“I permit it under my authority as captain of the investigation unit. To protect the World Tree and the settlement, we are no longer in a situation where we can be picky about methods.”

And so Akabane-san and the others decided to return to Bibi Village—the settlement where the elves lived—bringing my Wood Golem with them.

Once they were there, the other elf teams would likely have traced the cause of the leyline abnormality, and later I could have Akabane-san tell me what they learned.

Now I needed to think about how to handle House Conrad.

With so much to do, I headed back to Tree Village.

Then Miria-san summoned me.

When I went beneath the House Tree I had lent her…

“I have stayed too long… but I believe we will return to our people. If dark elves like us remain here, we will cause trouble for you, Woody, and for everyone in Tree Village.”

Hearing those unexpected words from Miria-san… I realized my body was trembling.

Was it anger, or sadness?

I didn’t know. But I stared at her, letting my emotions take the lead.

“There’s no need for that. You and the others are already comrades living in Wenti. If the elves say anything to you, I’ll give them a solid piece of my mind.”

“No, but… still…”

“No ‘but’ and no ‘still’! But… I do agree with returning to your people once. If you’re willing, please bring the other dark elves back with you when you come.”

For everyone’s sake, I would defy even Father.

Maybe because I’d made that resolve, I felt bolder than I ever expected.

It might also be because I had once again recognized that Nadja and Aira—two precious girls—were by my side.

Or maybe, after being the “good kid” my whole life, I was getting a little high on the backlash.

But I didn’t mind if that was the case.

It felt far worse to smother this momentum.

So, in the end, I rejected Miria-san’s proposal and decided to bring the dark elves to Tree Village as well.