Chapter 1: Crisis in the Elven Forest
Helping the exhausted Nowa, they all boarded a sailing ship that took the Northern Passage, leaving Sheldan behind.
During the several days that passed before they got to the closest human settlement to the elven forest, Fio regaled the sailors with his songs while Leina awaited the girl’s recovery.
And, not long before the ship reached its destination, she got up.
“From now on, it’s the real thing…”
Concealed within a primeval forest at the north of the Continent, the elven forest was shrouded in a mysterious veil that kept people away.
Without allying themselves with any of the forces that split the Continent in two, the elven city above the trees had managed to keep its independence, but from what the half-elf said, it was now on the verge of being destroyed by the wraiths’ attacks.
“Still, I managed to escape…”
The girl kept talking, staring at the circlet attached to her staff.
Ever since ancient times, the mere notion of wraiths invading the city on the trees—which kept receiving support and blessings from the spirit tree who protected the earth–should have been unthinkable.
To begin with, wraiths couldn’t even enter the forest. Secondly, they would never gather together. And even if they could manage to organize themselves, they could never take over a country.
However, the impossible had happened. Ambushed by an unexpected number of wraiths, the warriors in charge of protecting the forest were beaten without being given any time to regroup, and many people had ended up escaping the tree city.
Following the instructions from her teacher, the Combat Instructor Alleyne, Nowa had escaped danger, broken through the wraiths’ siege, and fled to Sheldan asking for help; that’s when she had met them.
“I won’t force you… but…”
After a downcast look, the girl looked at the serenading blade. Nowa knew about the fact that the Sword held a mighty influence on otherworldly creatures and that it supposedly had the best recovery abilities of all.
“Just what are you saying, now?”
Fio spoke cheerfully, guessing what the half-elf would say next.
“Leina won’t miss a chance to become a knight in shining armor, will she?”
“But, I don’t have any money.”
“I don’t need money.”
Leina smiled and patted the girl’s head, as if to reassure her.
***
The center of the tree city, built over multiple huge trees.
There was an assembly hall there, where the leaders of the forest elves gathered.
This hall, made from the hollow of a still growing tree, featured a huge crystal ball floating in its center. And what was being reflected there was the figure of the forest, and its metamorphosis from a world full of light to a golden world ruled by twilight.
After more than a thousand years, the scent of death had also begun to drift in the tree city that stitched the growing trees together.
Instead of elegant and beautiful elves, it was wraiths dressed in black robes who wandered the city. Due to their presence, the world filled with fresh green vitality was losing its luster, changing into a discolored world of death.
It wouldn’t be much longer until the tree city became a ghost city.
Observing the situation with a bored face, a girl in servant attire turned her gaze from the crystal ball to the evil spirits waiting around her.
“Have you still not found it?”
A hint of frustration mixed in her voice.
“Our apologies, Lady Airi.”
The wraiths in robes uniformly bowed their heads.
“We are searching hard for it. We just need a bit more time.”
It had been several weeks since they had begun searching for it. If they weren’t able to find what her mistress was looking for, despite defeating and bringing the tree city of the elves under their control, it would all be for naught.
“I would like to remind you that our Mistress is not kind with incompetents.”
The girl deliberately gave a big sigh.
Her name was Airi, the Infernal Temptress. She was a wraith competing in Queen’s Blade, a maid rumored to be the confidant of the Swamp Witch who ruled the south of the Continent.
“My Mistress will scold me for this. I brought this many wraiths with me to the elven forest, and I couldn’t accomplish anything?”
About one month had passed since, following her mistress’ instructions, she had taken over the forest with the help of the one thousand newly summoned evil spirits.
“At this rate, I don’t know what’s going to become of the materialization Mistress promised you all.”
“L-Lady Airi…”
The creatures rustled. The wraiths summoned from the Netherworld were unstable creatures without substance. In order for them to stay longer in this world, they would need life force to stabilize their spiritual matter and become an entity like Airi.
For so many wraiths to exist without disappearing, there was no place like the elven forest, brimming with vitality. However, that only meant they wouldn’t be able to continue existing anywhere else but there.
Many of the wraiths longed to remain in this world, rather than to return to the Netherworld. That was why, the best reward for them was a physical body that was actually materialized.
If they hadn’t been at the elven forest, they would have also had the means of possessing the flesh of the residents, but due to some unknown reason, the elves’ bodies unfortunately couldn’t bear being possessed by the wraiths.
“Be at ease. If you all work properly, I shall personally recommend you to our Mistress.”
The maid smiled brightly, and urged them to stand up.
[Carrot and stick is necessary sometimes.]
“Thanks to your work, the elven forest has become ours. Next thing is, please look for the entrance of the spirit tree, the source of vitality of the forest.”
“We’ll make sure to meet your expectations.”
They disappeared, melting into the shadows.
“As for now…”
Airi turned towards the round table installed surrounding the crystal ball.
Forest elves were tied to all twelve seats around the round table.
That was the council responsible for the forest elves. The members of the council, as well as their leader—who went by ‘Mother Elder’—were confined there. While immobilized, they had been given a ringside seat to see how their own city turned into a world of the dead.
“So you won’t tell me the whereabouts of the spirit tree, even if I do this?”
As soon as Airi snapped her finger, the crystal ball showed the figures of female elves, taken prisoners like the very council.
“You coward!”
“Laying a finger on children, shame on you!”
Some of the council members shouted. For them, who had become prisoners on purpose to protect their people, what the maid was trying to do was unacceptable.
“Don’t get so riled up, there is no need to antagonize her.”
Mother Elder said with a calm voice, disregarding the existence of Airi and her group, to make the yelling members settle down.
“These people are trying to rule the capital, so whatever they do to the children, it is but a ripple in the water.”
The Mother Elder spoke to the councilors—without any emotion showing in her blue eyes reminiscent of jewels. Her clear white skin and golden hair served as further proof of her pure elven blood.
“Screaming out your emotions like humans… You councilors are supposed to be the model for the forest elves, have you forgotten your pride?”
Hearing her, the others carefully measured their words. Silence returned to the assembly.
“As expected from the Mother Elder, the rumored oldest elf in the Continent. That way of speaking, so transcendental and far-sighted, it truly is a wonderful thing.”
Airi clapped, staring at her. Even among the imprisoned elves, the leader looked exceptionally young. She’d have never pegged her for one of the elders if she had stayed silent.
At first glance, she appeared to be in her teens; it was said that this appearance was the result of a self-inflicted curse, but she didn’t know if that was true or not.
“You be silent as well, Airi or what have you.”
“Oh my, how scary. Did you get angry?”
“I’m not particularly angry. I just think it’s unforgivable.”
“And that’s good, Mother Elder.”
With a blooming smile, the maid turned her gaze to the other elders.
“Mother Elder might be fine with it, but if children get killed by evil fiends, will all you be able to keep saying the same? It is quite a sight, I assure you.”
The wraith’s words were met with jeers by all the other council members but the Elder. Just this time, not even their leader would be able to keep them in line.
Unlike the Mother Elder, who had raised many children, there weren’t many council members who had experienced the death of their own children in the thousands of years they had lived.
Since they were long-lived, elves were less likely to make children, so the children population was small; compared with other races, they were an aging society with a very low birth rate. No matter what the Mother Elder said, children were important.
“Please call me any names you wish. However, if you don’t tell us the location of the spirit tree, I’ll show you what these children…”
Still bathed in jeers, Airi pointed to the crystal ball… and choked on her words.
“Oh my?”
There were clearly less girls displayed in the ball now.
[Or rather, didn’t yet another disappear before my eyes just now?]
“What could have happened?”
Airi traced with her fingertips the pattern engraved on the floor of the building, adjusting the angle of the image projected in the crystal ball.
“Oh no, curses. Such a big shot was still remaining.”
The crystal ball projected the figure of a female elven forest warrior in green war attire, bringing down one wraith after another.
“It’s her, we might still have hope?”
Seeing the warrior, the councilors heaved a sigh of relief.
“That fool…”
The Mother Elder, captured but still maintaining her majestic attitude, spat out a whisper as soon as she saw that fighter, unlike the other council members.
“Fool? Who would that be?”
Airi heard her murmur and asked the leader. No reply came.
“If you were to ask me, the fools are all of you here, who rested on your laurels and neglected your defense after being at peace for a long time, only getting captured as a result.”
Although it was a polite tone, the maid’s words held nothing but contempt for Mother Elder and her peers. Her original role might have been that of a maid serving the Swamp Witch, but since she was a full-fledged Queen’s Blade participant now, there was nothing she hated more than people who criticized other fighters without ever daring to take up arms themselves.
“Lady Airi…”
Soundlessly, a wraith with an elegantly decorated long sword appeared from Airi’s shadow.
“Do you want to fight her?”
The specter asked her with a muffled voice.
“I would like to, yes.”
Airi answered honestly. There was no need to conceal her true feelings before him.
“She is strong.”
“You rate her far too highly, Hell Scream.”
“Yes… Lady Airi.”
The dead spirit called Hell Scream smiled in the darkness under his hood. He was no mere wraith. He was created as the amalgamation of many wraiths, a kin of darkness called a Specter, instrumental in the success of this operation.
“The warrior who went through our siege once has now come back. What could that mean? Please think about it.”
The two looked at the crystal ball, which reflected the elven warrior making good use of her war staff to mow down wraiths left and right.
[It seems some holy symbols are engraved on her war staff, that’s why she can smash the evil spirits one by one: she’s crushing the spiritual substance in them. I don’t think your average wraith can stop her.]
“If she really came to save the children, she might actually be a true fool.”
Airi told him, and headed towards the exit of the assembly hall.
“Where to?”
“I am going to fight. I tire of seeing the face of all these fools.”
“The Combat Instructor Alleyne is this forest’s strongest woman, she has battle experience spanning more than a thousand years old. Get careless, and you might regret it straight away, Lady Airi.”
“Well well, it appears I will be enjoying myself quite a bit, does it not?”
“Be careful…”
Hell Scream gave a deep bow, and again without a sound, moved to a position where he could monitor the elves staring at the crystal ball.
***
“Protecting the young while risking losing sight of the big picture… I’m still so naïve, aren’t I?”
The Combat Instructor Alleyne released the last captured one and threw a small bottle of holy water towards the wraith leaping upon her.
“You should return to whence you came from.”
Matching her whisper, the lid’s bottle opened, scattering the holy liquid.
“Gugaaaaaaaaah!”
With a ghastly scream, the creatures exposed to the holy water evaporated. As expected from the article called the Priestess’ Golden Water, its effects were outstanding.
However, only a few evil spirits disappeared, and the remaining ones flocked to Alleyne like a moth to the flame.
[What is going on?]
She clicked her tongue, and poised her weapon.
[The tree city, a sanctuary for the forest elves, is but a city of the dead by now, isn’t it?]
The evil spirits were coming one after another, from everywhere around.
“No time to be picky.”
Quickly rotating her staff, Alleyne advanced while quite literally scattering the wraiths away.
[I have to release the elders as soon as possible. The presence of the wraiths has damaged and weakened the spirit tree, so if the elders don’t restore it, this city will become a true wraith city.]
She walked towards the air corridor that led to the assembly hall, but halted suddenly; her skin could feel a heavy presence.
“I expected no less.”
A girl’s voice echoed in the corridor.
*Whoosh whoosh*, she appeared in front of her while waving a scythe.
[This is no mere wraith. This presence means, she has substance to her.]
“Step back. I shall be her opponent.”
The girl’s voice resounded through the corridor, and following orders, the creatures disappeared all at once.
The redhead girl in maid clothes stood in front of Alleyne, large scythe in hand, on the other side of the air corridor.
“My name is Airi, Infernal Temptress. Please tell me your name.”
She bowed with a slight pinch of her skirt.
“Alleyne… people call me the Combat Instructor.”
The elf readied her staff as she introduced herself.
[It appears I have to break through her if I want to make my way to the assembly hall.
In this air corridor, the only valid tactics are attacking from the front. There’s no reason to hesitate.]
Alleyne thrust with her staff, rushing to charge at her foe.
“I do not fancy making this a preliminary.”
The maid rotated her weapon to parry the stuck out staff. With centrifugal force behind it, the scythe hit the tip of the war staff with exquisite timing.
“How naïve. For the so-called strongest warrior of the forest elves, who has lived more than a thousand years, to carry out such monotonous attacks, I am slightly disappointed.”
After parrying the hit aimed at her, the maid criticized her opponent.
“The naïve one is you, wraith.”
Making her foe hit the staff, the elf had changed the direction of her charge from the front to upwards, and soared up into the sky with a pole vault jump. Then, she had shot a weapon difficult to handle, called Bolas: a straw rope with weights on both ends, made for capturing.
“Eh?”
The maid’s eyes betrayed her surprise at the unexpected attack.
“Making light of an opponent you fight for the first time. That’s the first step towards defeat. 30 points.”
The elf informed her opponent, whose upper body was still immobilized due to the Bolas.
“That isn’t a simple rope right there either. I improved it a bit to fight you wraiths.”
“Kuh!”
Tightened by the straw rope, Airi’s cleavage was emphasized.
“The more you struggle, the more the rope bites into you.”
Every time she squirmed trying to break free, her clothes slipped off, her fair skin being gradually revealed.
Her rich curves, tied up by a ribbon—as if emphasizing her originally wide cleavage—seemed to be getting pushed out in both directions, appearing to be about to overflow at any moment.
“Resistance is futile.”
Judging the maid to have been neutralized, the elf advanced through the air corridor.
“Lesser spirits! Stop gawking and help me!”
The wraith realized she couldn’t escape her bindings even if she struggled, and called out to the lesser spirits who should have hidden themselves to watch the fight. She couldn’t afford to show such an appearance to the wraiths under Hell Scream; she had to do her best to show a dignified look.
“Uhyohyohyohyo~”
An ominous magic circle appeared under her feet, and spirit orbs emerged with a hideous laugh.
“Were you calling?”
“Waoh, Lady Airi, since when do you have this bondage hobby?”
“Is this where the “M” from “maid” comes from?”
The lower spirits flew about Airi blurting out whatever they pleased.
“Unravel this rope. Then, stop that elf!”
She issued them some orders without a pause. She didn’t care what her underlings said, but she still couldn’t be showing such an unladylike figure so impudently.
“Aye, aye, sir!”
The lower spirits split into two groups to carry out her orders: one group chased after Alleyne, and the other group went to undo her bindings. The latter group was the unlucky one:
“Gugyaaaaaaaaah!”
“I’m disappearing! I’m disappeariiiing!”
With a horrifying scream and a dim glow, the lower spirits that touched the Bolas vanished.
“W-What was that?”
Yet another shock came to Airi. Alleyne had put in enough spiritual power into her weapon to erase any wraith it came into contact with, as long as they didn’t have substance like Airi. There was no doubt that the elf had taken measures before coming.
After extinguishing the spirits, the rope crumbled in tatters.
“That *was* smart.”
Now free, the maid hurried after the elf.
***
As Alleyne ran through the air corridor, she noticed a part that was subtly shaking in the scenery that spread under her eyes.
The invisible cloak. The fluctuations were caused by the magical cloak that hid its existence from others.
“That’s fine, don’t turn around, just keep moving.”
It was something the elf had lent the children rescued from the specters. With that holy attire she had bought from a man who came to the east of the forest in pilgrimage, it would be easy for them to escape the pursuit from the specters. Not to mention, once they entered the forest proper, nothing would be there to chase them anymore.
Seeing off the cloak under her, the elf warrior kept running through the corridor.
“Mh!”
[It doesn’t seem like I can afford seeing them off.]
Spirit orbs—in other words, the wraith’s underlings—approached from behind.
“Spirit orbs in broad daylight? What is this?”
She complained, then quickened her step. However, they quickly wrapped around her feet.
“Your feet are unguarded, miss.”
With a vulgar smile, the orbs at her feet looked up at her.
“Kuh!”
Imagining what that kind of guy would be looking at, she quickly changed her stride.
“Uhyohyo! I see it! I can see it! The forbidden…!”
The elf blushed and trampled on the orb.
“Gufeh!”
For some reason, it gave some kind of cry of delight upon being trampled.
“Two… leaves…”
The lower spirit scattered with a subdued murmur, looking like a man who had accomplished something.
“Morons! You can’t even hold her down for a while?”
A voice came from behind, reproaching the creatures. It seemed Airi had broken free from the rope somehow and came in hot pursuit.
“Ooh, did you sacrifice your colleagues? That’s some cool-headed judgment, 80 points.”
[There’s only so many tactics I can use in this air corridor, where you can only walk in a line. I have to reach somewhere wide as soon as I can!]
“Wait!”
The maid proceeded to literally slide through the corridor, attacking the elf from behind with the momentum. Her foe noticed her approaching however (even without footsteps as she was), and stabbed the staff into the ground to jump right above.
“Oh my!?”
Airi lost sight of her attack target and passed by the elf’s feet.
“Kuh, always on the move, aren’t you?”
“It’s the second time I show you this technique, and yet you show no signs of having learnt from it. 0 points.”
Getting behind the maid, the elf jumped off to land on the corridor again.
“However, the surprise attack from behind was effective. 20 points.”
“There is no need for you to evaluate me!”
With a vein beginning to pop up on her temple, Airi casually brandished her scythe.
“In these cases, the correct answer is to take the proper distance. 0 points.”
The elf deflected the wraith’s weapon with the striking force of her staff and informed her opponent in a cool tone, just as the other lost her balance completely and was about to collapse.
“I would appreciate it if you stopped scoring each and every action!”
The wraith’s fingertips stretched lightly. The tips, extended as if it was a tentacle, became transparent, completely hiding how they crept close to the opponent.
It was the essence absorption skill wraiths specialized in.
“It’s a bad habit of mine, I’ll try restraining myself.”
The elf calmly predicted the trajectory of the disappeared fingertips, and hit them with her staff.
“Kuh!”
The maid frowned at her fingertips having been repelled, then gauged their distance.
“It’s too late to run away now.”
The elf thrust her staff at the maid trying to jump backwards.
[I got some feedback.]
The metal attached to the tip of her staff tore off the wraith’s clothes, revealing her fair skin. A holy symbol was engraved in the tip of the staff; it should be effective even for wraiths like Airi.
“Ugh!”
Bending her knees, almost falling flat, she reflexively reached for the floor.
“As expected from you, Lady Combat Instructor Alleyne.”
With a faint smile, she summoned lesser spirits in a whisper. As soon as she saw the magic circle opening up underfoot, the elf made a big leap with her weapon.
“All you, gawk at her as much as you like!”
At Airi’s behest, the lower spirits rushed at the foe.
“I have no time to play around with spirit orbs.”
Ignoring the orbs springing up at her, the instructor violently swung down her weapon in midair at her foe.
“How would that reach?!”
Since she had used the staff to jump, even if she swung it in midair, it wouldn’t possibly reach the maid.
“What a futile bluff…”
Before her eyes, the weapon soundlessly stretched.
“Its range is… longer?”
One could tell the surprise the maid felt just with her expression.
“It’s not extending.”
A grin popped up in the elf’s lips. Indeed, the weapon hadn’t stretched at all. What had happened was, she had jumped lower than the first time. That was why, if she moved her hand’s position to the last part of the grip, inevitably her weapon’s range would increase.
“Misjudging it was your undoing!”
The maid quickly prepared her scythe, bracing herself for the upcoming impact.
*Thudd!*
The impact sound of two hard objects meeting each other resounded in the air corridor.
Surprisingly, it was Alleyne who was holding her arms. The impact transmitted through her staff made her arms numb as she landed on the corridor.
“Who was that?”
The elf ignored the lower spirits wrapping around her and searched for the enemy.
[As long as the effects from the holy water I obtained in the east forest persist, the orbs shouldn’t be able to do much to me; the one I have to watch out for is whoever parried the staff from an unexpected direction.]
“There!”
The elf suddenly felt a presence, and swung her weapon at it.
*Thump!*
Another shock, as if hitting metal, reverberated to her arm.
“Nice reaction, Alleyne.”
With a wave of his black robe, the specter who had taken the staff head on thrust his long sword at the elf.
“To let the likes of a specter surprise me, just how immature am I?”
Whispering in self-mockery, she took a suitable distance and fixed her posture.
The maid was in front of her, and the skilled specter behind.
[If I was fighting only Airi, my chances of victory would be certain. However, if I have to fight this newcomer too, I won’t walk away from this with just a few bruises.]
Fixing her breathing, she watched the movement of the two wraiths.
“Hell Scream…”
As the redhead re-materialized the clothing torn off by the elf’s weapon, she sent a discontent gaze at the owner of the long sword.
“I am aware that I am being boorish, do forgive me.”
He lowered his head towards Airi, then snapped his fingers to summon his wraith subordinates.
They oozed out of the floor and walls to surround the elf. In the blink of an eye, the space around the air corridor was fully covered by an inordinate number of wraiths.
The situation was overwhelmingly disadvantageous for Alleyne.
However, that didn’t mean she had no chances of victory; there weren’t many enemies who could prevent her from moving. For her, wraiths were no better than lower spirits.
[The problem is this specter, Hell Scream, who suddenly showed up here.]
He had the strength to alter the trajectory of the staff with her whole weight behind it, the sword agility to match her falling speed while airborne, and the defensive power to withstand her weapon’s striking force.
She could say that he was a troublesome opponent.
“Lady Combat Instructor Alleyne, I wish you would quit your pointless struggle.”
He told her calmly, despite the elf still being ready to fight.
“I’ll be the one to decide if it’s pointless or not.”
Even facing those overwhelmingly adverse conditions, the captain didn’t break her dignified attitude.
“I do not wish to resort to this, but… if you continue to resist, I will use the elders as sustenance to maintain my materialization. Will you be alright with that?”
For otherworldly beings as the specter, in order to continue living in this world, they needed corresponding vitality. For further proof, one only needed to note the fact that the forest had lost its vitality since the wraiths’ invasion.
“You coward.”
Alleyne bit her lips. She might have succeeded in helping the children—the hope of the future—escape, but losing the elders—the most knowledgeable in the elven forest—would be akin to losing the long story of the elven forest, that harkened back to times immemorial.
Past and future; unless she conserved both, her efforts would be meaningless.
“Cowardice is fine.”
*Fufufu*, Hell Scream’s face warped as he laughed, making an expression like the revenant he was.
“Please call me however you like. So, your reply is?”
The half-materialized face inside the hood shone dimly, as he pressed the elf for a decision.
***
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