Chapter 61: Sanargia Great Forest Kingdom

The black unicorns gallop through the mountain road surrounded by trees. The magical beasts that targeted us could not keep up with the speed and those unlucky ones were trampled to death. From time to time, the passing travellers look at our unicorns with curious gazes. Well, that’s probably because they have never seen a black unicorn.

When we head to the Elf Kingdom, we also met a group of bandit. They numbered to about thirty people. The smell of a magical incense drifts from all over their body and they also wore the fur of a magical beast like that of a hunter. They blocked our way and demanded that I hand over Erna, the money we have and the unicorns. Well, with them like that, I gave them the small dragon breath’s flame as present. When a few of them were burned to death, they turned blue and they hastily fled. I decided to hurry ahead instead of chasing them.

Then, on the third day after we left Mana, we finally arrived at Zara, the capital of Sanargia Forest Kingdom.

“What you can see over there is Zara, the Forest Kingdom’s Capital. There is a sacred tree in the center of the city.”

We are overlooking the forest from the top of the hill. There is a big city in the direction that Erna pointed out. A huge tree can also be seen in the center. The enormous tree was so big that even from here, I could feel its overwhelming presence.

“How old is the sacred tree?”

“Hmm, I heard that it’s been alive for 100,000 years…”

“100,000 years !?”

I was shocked at the unbelievable age of the tree. Indeed, it should be called a sacred tree for living that long. As expected from a different world. It already broke my common sense many times.

We then ride the unicorns towards the city. We passed many people on the road as we approached the city. Most of them have long ears and they all have well-outlined features. It seems that elven race is a race of beautiful men and women.

“We are about to enter the city.”

In the direction of our travel, there is a white outer wall with an entrance resembling the Arc de Triomphe and a large number of people were crowded there. At the entrance, as many as five knights with a spear in one hand observe the passers-by. I got off the unicorn before I’m stopped by the knights. I decided to talk to them myself.

“We are travellers but, is it okay to take the unicorns inside the city?”

“I’ve never seen a black unicorn before… Well, if you can promise that they won’t run amok inside the city, I’ll allow it.”

“Thank you”

Aside from the unicorns, it appears that I am not treated as a suspicious person. Feeling relieved, we tried to enter the city but the soldier stopped us again.

“Wait a minute. You there… are you perhaps Erna?”

“N-No, you are mistaken. It’s just your imagination.”

Erna pulled the pointed hat she’s wearing on top of her head deeply. However, the soldier went around and called out to her happily.

“It’s me! Did you forget me!? Look, it’s Kevin, your next door neighbour!”

“Eh? Kevin?”

Erna looks up at the knight. Erna’s smiled broadly as soon as she confirmed that he is her friend.

“It’s been a long time! You look like you’re doing well!?”

“Yeah, as you can see, I got a job in the military. Even so, Erna has changed. You are now a special-grade mage, and you look even more beautiful than you used to be.”

“I-Is that so? I don’t think that my appearance changed but I believe that my magical ability has changed a lot since then.”

Erna replied shyly. On the other hand, the soldier named Kevin had a red face. From the perspective of other elves, Erna’s beautiful appearance is at another level. It would be unavoidable for a young man like him to be nervous. However, when I look at the two of them like that, strangely, it makes me feel irritated.

“Erna, it’s about time to go.”

“Yeah! I’ll get going! See you Kevin!”

Erna rushes to me. After we waved to Kevin, we went inside the city. Zara, the Forest Capital has a white wall and buildings and cobblestones were built from numerous marbles. Statues of women and men are set up everywhere, giving a strong impression of a stunning city.

In particular, the trees that are planted in a planned manner are fused with the city, and the sunlight shining through the gaps between the branches and leaves of the sacred tree that covers the sky of the city looks mysterious. I was impressed that this was Erna’s hometown.

“… By the way, who is Kevin?”

“Ah-, he’s my childhood friend and he lives in the neighbourhood. We used to play a lot together.”

“Hoh-, a childhood friend huh.”

“Yeah. I totally stopped staying in contact but I was relieved because he looks fine.”

Erna was grinning and she looks pleased. But more than that, I was worried about the gaze that was directed here. I could feel a hateful gaze toward Erna from somewhere. As I looked around, I found a group of five women looking into this area from the shadow of the building. All of them are beautiful elves, but their faces are distorted by hatred.

They are probably Feria’s companion who bullied Erna before. Then there’s no need to hesitate. I casually used paralyzing eyes on the five of them. They trembled and the five of them collapsed in the shadow of the building. They won’t die, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

“What’s wrong Shinichi?”

“Nothing. Rather than that, how do we meet the important people in this kingdom?”

“Well, you should come to my house. Father and mother are VIP’s in this kingdom.”

“Hoh-, that’s good. Let’s visit there at once.”

“Y-Yeah”, Erna turned red after saying that and she quickly moved forward. As expected, it would be embarrassing to take a man home. However, I can’t say that such a thing apply to the current us.

Reinforcements need to be gathered before the empire can move in earnest. If we don’t get a promise of at least a military cooperation, this job will be a failure. I’ve taken on a completely tedious task.

We decided to go to Erna’s residence.

◇

“This is my parents’ house.”

“It’s big …”

Her parent’s residence is a mansion. The three-story mansion looks like a castle and the garden has a magnificent fountain. The flowers were in full bloom and there are small animals like rabbits that are taking a walk in the lawn without any fear.

“Hey, come in.”

After Erna opened the gate, she casually invites me inside. The gate was also decorated with gold and just looking at it seemed to hurt my eyes. After I entered the place as I was guided, I was surprised at the distance there is before we reach the mansion. After passing through that area in about 20 minutes, we finally arrive at the entrance of the mansion. Even the mansion of our Kingdom’s Duke Medil is not this big. Though I hate to say it, this only shows that Sanargia Great Forest Kingdom is one of those with great power.

“I’m back.”

Erna opens the door and enters the mansion. I also entered the mansion but I did so cautiously.

“Oh……”

The interior of the mansion is magnificent. Various works of art were displayed and a portrait of five people was hung on the front wall. The man has short blonde hair and a beard on his upper-lip. He wore a dark brown robe. The woman looks a lot like Erna and she is very stunning. And as expected, she too was wearing a dark brown robe. There are three girls at their feet and they all resembled Erna. One of them turned out to be Erna herself. It creates an optical illusion of coming to a foreign royal palace.

“Welcome home, Ojou-sama.”

“I’m home Sebastian. What about father and mother?”

“The family head and Madam are both at home. I will call them right away, please wait for them in the reception room.”

“Okay”

An old butler called Sebastian bowed to excuse himself and walked to the inner part of the house. Erna then guided me to their reception room.

“Somehow it’s kind of too spacious and it feels uncomfortable. I guess it’s because I became too used to the hidden room in the dungeon.”

Erna is sitting on the sofa and she appears to be more uneasy than me. I understand her feelings well. This mansion is uselessly too large. Regardless of the merit, this is how a common people felt.

“Erna!”

The door opened and a man came in. He looks exactly like the man depicted in the portrait so he is probably Erna’s father. He hugs Erna who stands up and they rub their cheeks together.

“Aaaah! My cute Erna! You are finally back! I’m so worried about you!”

“Y-Yeah … I’m sorry to worry…”

Erna is a little squeezed, but her father tightly hugs her beloved child to dote on her. I can understand how he feels about his child but I think he’s overdoing it a little.

“By the way… who is that man over there?”

Her father glares at me. His eyes were full of murderous intent.

“He is Shinichi, a party member! It’s all thanks to Shinichi that I became a full-fledged mage!”

“Hn? A full-fledged mage?”

Her father finally seemed to notice the color of Erna’s robe. It is purple in color, she’s undoubtedly dressed as a special-ranked mage.

“H-h-h-how…! Erna is now a special-ranked mage!? At last, my daughter, who was called a failure of a mage, has awakened!”

“The failure part is unnecessary!”

This time, her father looks happy and he lightly jumps up and down. Somehow, he appears to be a person whose facial expression quickly changes. However, when he looks at me again, he points the staff in his hand towards me.

“Thank you for helping my daughter. However, I don’t like a mere human like you next to Erna.”

“Father! Stop!! Shinichi is—“

Before Erna could say anything, I cut up her father’s staff into small pieces using my sword.

“Ha―!? My staff is― ―Uugh!!!?”

In addition to that, I gave a roundhouse kick to her father’s abdomen, which was full of opening. And just like that, he was sent flying and breaks through the door, and then he crashed into the wall on the hallway and collapses.

“Aah―, that’s why I tried to stop…”

Erna seemed disappointed at her father who has collapsed. A mage’s weapon is their staff. Since it is pointed at me, it is the same with me being held at a gunpoint. I don’t know if it was just a threat or an attack, but it’s my principle to reply in kind.

Right, even if it’s my comrade’s father, that applies to everyone.

“I’d like to ask, that thing just now was not an elf-style greeting right?”

“No. Since before, my father would always lose his cool right away. Well, I brought a man so my father probably flared up.”

While saying so, Erna does not go to help her father. It’s like she’s saying, you reap what you sow. He looks a little pitiful.

“Oh my-, you did something stupid again.”

A woman appeared beside her unconscious father. She wears a moss green dress that emphasizes her cleavage and she looks like Erna. She’s probably her mother.

“Mother!”

Erna hugs her mother. The two began talking, ignoring the unconscious father.

“You become more beautiful. And you are now a special-ranked mage. It’s hard to believe that you are called as a failure of a mage before.”

“Stop saying that I’m a failure! However, I really got stronger! I even defeated a pseudo dragon and I also knocked down the March Bulls!”

“Fufu, a maiden in love will really get stronger.”

Her mother turned her gaze on me. Subsequently, Erna’s face turned red.

“I-It’s different! Shinichi isn’t like that!”

“Hoh-, is that so? I’m certain…”

Her mother is smiling and she looks warmly at Erna. Well, Erna is of a marriageable age so she’s probably embarrassed for me to be mistaken as her lover. Even if it was me, if we suddenly talk about such topic, I would feel embarrassed. It’s a very normal reaction.

“Uh… what am I …”

Her father unexpectedly stands up. Then her mother tapped her father’s head with the staff in her hand.

“Did you do something rude to the guest?”

“No! When I pointed my staff, I set it up so that it point to the other side! I’m not that evil!”

“You’re not evil. Please apologize to the guest.”

“Kuu…”

Her father reluctantly approached me and he apologized in a blunt manner.

“Let me apologize for what I did a while ago. ….However, I can’t forgive my precious staff for being such rubbish! For me to be defeated by a human, there’s clearly something wrong! Let’s have a rematch!”

He pointed out his index finger in front of me and his saliva even spatters as he kept on talking without a pause. Apparently, he doesn’t have any intention of apologizing.

“Father, that’s enough! Shinichi is not the kind of opponent that you can win against!”

“I don’t like him more and more! As a mage, I competed for the first or second place in this kingdom and you are saying that I won’t be able to beat a human!? Actually, I’m especially angry that Erna brought a man along!”

Her father seemed to have blown his top as he clearly didn’t listen to what Erna was saying. Moreover, nobody can tell whether the things that he said is really what he meant to say. In short, he just said that he can’t approve that Erna brought me here. He’s a really over-doting parent.

“Understood. How about a duel-style match? I can’t stand killing my comrade’s father you see.”

“Ha-, huh…? A human can kill me? It’s a very funny joke. Alright, we’ll go with that. Let’s put it in a duel style so that I don’t kill you.”

Her father is laughing but blood vessels were evident in his temples. His facial muscles were cramping because of his anger.

“Okay, then let’s have the match tomorrow. For the place, let’s do it in a location that suits your convenience.”

“Very well, I hope you stay at my house today. I’ll feed you a lot of delicious treat.”

Her father glanced at me and then he slowly left the room. Immediately after that, Erna rushed towards to me.

“What do you mean by you’ll have a match against my father? You won’t kill him, right?”

“Don’t worry. It’s only a duel format for that very reason. And did you forget why I came here?”

“Eh?”

“I came here as a representative of the kingdom. I have to show the elves that humans are their equal.”

“Ah, I see. If you convince my father, that might be possible, he is a minister of this Kingdom after all.”

I was startled. I already heard that he is a VIP but it turned out that he is a minister of this kingdom. In that case, isn’t this even more like an opportunity? I’ll just let them know that there are strong humans.

In spite of her father’s words, I decided to stay overnight in their residence.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.

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